Mass Murderers

MATT WHYBREW
A definition

The FBI definesmass murderas murdering four or more

persons during an event with no "cooling-off period" between
themurders. Amass murdertypically occurs in a single
location where one or more people kill several others.
In Particular

Mass Murderers who have used Cults to influence and eventually

kill their patrons.
Case Studies
Jim Jones
David Koresh
Lets Take a Survey

How many of you think you would follow a guy named Jim into
the jungles of Guyana, to a town he named after himself.
Then, the man decides that he is actually the reincarnation of
Jesus, and wants all of you to worship him.
THEN, he says that there will be a celebration during which all of
you will have a feast, and then drink something that will KILL
YOU.
Do you drink the Kool-aid?
The Jonestown Massacre

Jim Jones was the leader of the Peoples Temple religious

organization.
But before that, he was just a kid from Crete, INDIANA, which is
about an hour and a half away from here.
He was born in 1931, to a disabled WWI veteran and a working
mother.
He was raised Pentecostal, and eventually formed his own
version of the faith.
And then it starts to get good.
The Jonestown Massacre
Continued
Jim Jones began to accrue followers at the Somerset Methodist
Church in Indianapolis.
He did not follow the denominations standards, his were much more
strict.
He then branched out on his own, starting the Wings of
Deliverance church, which became known as the Peoples
Temple.
He moved the church to California and grew his congregation to
over 1000 people.
Finally, after pressure from religious organizations, he moved his
followers to Guyana.
The Jonestown Massacre
Continued
Once in Guyana, Jones ran his compound like a prison. No one
was allowed to leave, and he posted armed guards at all of the
entrances.
He would perform loyalty tests in which he would give his
patrons a red drink, which he told them contained poison. If they
drank, they were then told that there was no poison after all.
But then, the Guyanese government began to take interest in
Jonestown.
Jones did not like this, so he threatened mass suicide if they did
not leave them be.
The Jonestown Massacre
Continued
Then a congressman and a CNN reporter came to visit.
Guards killed the congressman and the CNN reporter and their
camera crew.
Then, Jones passed out what was thought to be Kool-aid laced
with cyanide and vallium.
The children would not drink it, so the guards forced them.
In all, over 900 people committed suicide, all under the influence
of Jones.
That included 276 children.
However, Jones chose to shoot himself instead of taking the more
painful poison.
David Koresh and the Branch
Davidians
David Koresh was born to an unwed teenage mother, and was
raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist.
However, when Koresh was in his early 20s, the Seventh-Day
Adventist church forced him out, and he decided to move to
Waco Texas.
There, he found the Branch Davidians, a cult, and lived in their
Mount Carmel compound.
Koresh then began a relationship with the cults chief prophetess,
Lois Roden.
David Koresh Continued

When Roden died, there was an argument over who would take
over leadership of the cult.
Koresh moved away for a time, taking some of the followers with
him.
Then, Rodens son was mysteriously murdered, and Koresh
returned to assume leadership.
David Koresh Continued

Koresh became the leader of the Branch Davidians, which

allowed him to sleep with God-Chosen women, no matter their
age.
These unions were known as spiritual weddings
Koresh had many children with women other than his wife.
He then told the congregation that he had cracked the code on
the Seven Seals from the book of Revelation.
He told them that they are supposed to be Gods Army, so they
began to stockpile weapons.
The Waco Standoff

The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raided the

compound in 1993.
Five of the Branch Davidians were killed, along with four ATF
agents.
Believing that he had opened the Fifth Seal of Revelation, Koresh
decided that it was time for the faithful to be killed, in order to
inherit their eternal reward.
After a 51-day standoff, the ATF found Koresh dead, after a self-
inflicted gunshot wound.
Only nine of the congregation made it out alive.
References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ql3yrDs6Cc
http://www.biography.com/people/jim-jones-10367607
http://www.biography.com/people/david-koresh-9368416
http://
www.nytimes.com/1993/05/04/us/growing-up-under-koresh-cult-ch
ildren-tell-of-abuses.html?pagewanted=all
Marvin, C., & Ingle, D. W. (1996). Blood sacrifice and the nation:
Revisiting civil religion.Journal of the American Academy of
Religion,64(4), 767-780.
Olsson, P. A. (2005).Malignant pied pipers of our time: a
psychological study of destructive cult leaders from Rev. Jim
Jones to Osama bin Laden. PublishAmerica.