269 - Japan's Deadliest Doomsday Cult: Aum Shinrikyo

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

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 - all woven into a message focused largely on bringing about Armageddon. And this cult would try and bring about Armageddon by carrying out large scale chemical warfare attacks in Japan, hoping to have Japan blame the US, and then kick off WW3. The story of this cult is wild - machine gun and chemical weapons manufacturing, strange rituals involving LSD, attempted nuclear bomb creation and acquisition, having dissident cult members executing, assassinating critics, and more.
The Bad Magic Productions charity of the month is IAVA - Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America- thanks to you we are able to give $15,800 to this very deserving cause.

IAVA serves and empowers the post-9/11 veterans' community. They offer guidance and support, such as helping vets get and use their GI bill, helping them with housing, directing them towards mental health support, and more.

For additional information, please go to https://iava.org/

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