Modern Day Mass Murder
For most people today cults are things of the past, relics of old worlds or the plot for an overdone horror film. It can be easy to forget that these organizations still exist today, in all factions of society.
They can hide under the guise of religion or business, but they are present everywhere and often go unreported. Historically, cults have been known for their exclusive operations and often sinister activity which stereotypically ends in tragedy. Of those that are brought to the attention of the general public, there is often a lack of information known because of the nature in which cults operate. One such cult, founded in the early 1990’s was called The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. Based in Uganda, it started as small group and eventually grew to network of people who believed in following the 10 commandments strictly in order to avoid the apocalypse. The members of the group were discouraged from talking for fear of breaking the ninth commandment and they were prohibited from using many modern conveniences including soap.
The feasted often and spent much of their lives preparing for the end of the world, which the leader predicted, would occur on January 1st, 2000. When the date passed and nothing happened, the leader predicted a new doomsday would occur on March 17th.A group of 530 of the cult members congregated in a church on the date, praying and celebrating before the church promptly exploded, killing all the people in attendance including dozens of children. After the explosion, authorities investigated the various properties owned by the cult and discovered about 200 more bodies buried throughout the grounds, all strangled or beaten to death. While the original assumption was mass suicide, after further investigation the police concluded that the original apocalypse failed, there was a rebellion in the ranks and the cult leaders predicted a new day for the explicit purpose of killing off their followers.
An unexpected mass murder- horrifying enough on its own is surpassed only by the idea that a similar occurrence could happen anywhere, any day, and to any one.
