Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Timesuck with Dan Cummins
Episode: 269 - Japan's Deadliest Doomsday Cult: Aum Shinrikyo
Description: Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese doomsday cult led by psychotic madman Shoko Asahara, a man who claimed to be Jesus who was nicknamed the Japanese Charles Manson. He was actually a much more dangerous cult leader than Manson was. He pulled tens of thousands into his dark insanity, instead of just a handful. He had thousands of followers willing to help him violently bring about the end times. Aum started in the 1980s as a small spiritual group based on tenets of Buddhism. And then he soon incorporated elements of Hinduism, Nostradamus doomsday prophecies, Christian apocalyptic prophecies and more...