Aum Shinrikyo and Cults that Went Wacko

The People's Temple
Leader: Jim Jones

Born in an Indiana town that specialized in casketmaking, Jones as a boy used to hold funerals for animals — and friends piously joined in. After becoming a magnetic preacher, he found his home too narrow and racist. He moved his family and the followers of his Peoples Temple to California, where he received much public acclaim. But then he began to call himself God...

Messiah from the Midwest

• The 1992 Waco Standoff