cults

Paramount+ has released the docuseries 'Devotion: Obedience Or Betrayal', examining a religious sect in New Zealand that allegedly exercised deep psychological control and abuse over its members — the latest entry in true crime's growing obsession with cult culture.

Netflix has released the documentary series Trust Me: The False Prophet, which examines the FLDS cult and the new leadership emerging in Short Creek, Utah, after former leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison in 2011. The series follows the community from the inside as a new figure attempts to fill the power vacuum Jeffs left behind.

From Nazi pedophile cult rings to doomsday murder cases and drug rehabilitation communes turned prisons, these seven podcast episodes expose the darkest corners of cult and sect culture. Selected by the truecrime.news editorial team based on episodes that deal directly with high-control groups, sect-related crimes, and the psychology of manipulation.

Founded in the late 1960s by former pastor David Brandt Berg, the Children of God grew into a global organization with an estimated 10,000 members by the 1970s. Operating across 70 countries, the group systematized child sexual abuse under religious doctrine, leaving survivors with lifelong trauma.

Ervil LeBaron, leader of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist cult, orchestrated at least 25 to 33 murders across two decades from his base in San Diego, California. Even after his death in Utah State Prison in 1981, his followers continued committing killings in his name well into the 1990s.

In March 1997, 39 members of the UFO cult Heaven's Gate died in a mass suicide at a luxury villa in Rancho Santa Fe, California. The cult believed they could reach a higher existence by leaving their bodies behind.

On November 18, 1978, more than 900 members of Jim Jones's Peoples Temple died in Jonestown, Guyana, in what Jones called 'revolutionary suicide.' The event followed the murder of U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan and marked the culmination of years of isolation, control, and psychological manipulation.

Tracy Burleson, a Texas pastor, has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife. The case drew significant media attention as investigators uncovered evidence suggesting premeditation in the killing.

Swiss conductor Michel Tabachnik was twice acquitted in Grenoble of complicity in 74 deaths linked to the Order of the Solar Temple between 1994 and 1997.

The Family International, founded in 1968 by David Brandt Berg in California, grew from a small Jesus Movement offshoot into a worldwide organization with thousands of members—and a documented history of systematic child abuse that would eventually trigger international investigations and legal action.

The Last Podcast on the Left, a weekly show hosted by Marcus Parks, Henry Zebrowski, and Ed Larson, has built a devoted international audience by blending rigorous true crime research with dark humour. Broadcasting through the Last Podcast Network, the show investigates everything from serial killers to conspiracy theories and the paranormal.