Cult News

A low budget independent film is attempting to cash in on the sensational real-life story of a “vampire cult,” reports the Orlando Sentinel.

The story sounds like Goths gone wrong.

However, the so-called “Goth” movement is essentially benign and composed of somewhat odd and often anti-mainstream young people that like to dress in black, avoid the sunshine and live within their own rather dark subculture.

But one Goth group in Florida came under the spell of a psychopath.

This self-styled “vampire clan” was dominated by a leader called “The Maker,” who took his followers on a journey from a quirky group to a destructive cult.

This type of idiosyncratic cult was reminiscent of the Manson Family. That is, a group playing out the deluded fantasies of a deranged leader.

Rather than an indictment of the Goth movement, the film “Vampire Clan” serves, as a reminder of how personality-driven groups dominated by disturbed leaders can easily become destructive.

“The Maker” was sentencedd to death in the electric chair for murder, which was later reduced to life in prison.

CBS News Affiliate Channel 2 in Chicago did an excellent two-part story last month about the power of hypnosis and controversial therapies.

Within this compelling piece reported by Pam Zekman viewers actually can observe hypnotherapy sessions and see how suggestible people are, while in a hypnotic trance.

Under the influence of a self-proclaimed “psychologist” participants recall “past lives.”

It is easy to see through this televised two-part series how some bizarre claims of “ritual abuse” and/or “alien UFO abductions” can be created through implanted or false memories.

A virtual subculture exists in America today composed of “satanic ritual abuse” and “alien abduction” “survivors,” many basing their claims upon “recovered” memories brought forth through such controversial modes of therapy.

Some animal rights and environmental extremists have moved from the fringe to violence.

Such groups as the so-called “Earth Liberation Front” (ELF) have gone beyond the ballot box and political rhetoric to express their opinions through criminal acts.

ELF claimed responsibility for torching houses in Michigan, reports the Associated Press.

$400,000 dollars in damage was the end result of ELF’s latest hit and run guerrilla warfare. And this is not the first time they have committed arson to make a political point.

But even more troubling is the possibility that ELF may be recruiting minor children.

Authorities in California picked up a juvenile runaway, she had been traveling with an ELF group.

The 16-year-old girl was ultimately booked, reports the Napa Valley Register.

It seems that ELF is willing to work with minor children without parental consent.

The organization might be recruiting through the Internet.

Web surfers can see photos of recent fires they claim responsibility for on the ELF official website.

Some families say such extremist groups have “brainwashed” their children, not unlike destructive cults.

Groups like ELF are one more reason for parents to closely monitor the Internet use of their minor children.

Eric Rudolph, once one of the ten most wanted criminals sought by the FBI, is now behind bars, reports MSNBC.

Indicted for terrorist bombings the white supremacist eluded law enforcement for years and had not been seen since 1998.

Many believed Rudolph was dead, his remains rotting in some remote and forgotten refuge.

But the FBI has confirmed that the alleged murderer is alive.

Rudolph was found by a Sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina, apparently scavenging for food in a garbage dumpster.

The suspicious officer brought in the apparent vagrant, who was later identified as a wanted fugitive.

A former member of the Missouri “Church of Israel” led by Dan Gayman, Rudolph grew up in a world filled with hatred, bigotry and paranoid conspiracy theories.

Beginning in childhood he was submerged in a subculture that includes as many as 50,000 Americans in more than a hundred desperate groups scattered across the country. This subculture is often called the “Christian Identity” movement.

Christian Identity believes that whites are the descendants of the biblical tribes of Israel and God’s elect. And also that the world will soon be engulfed in an apocalyptic struggle. In that struggle whites will battle against a worldwide Jewish conspiracy.

According to the movement’s proponents Jews and non-whites are actually descended biologically from Satan. That is, Satan had sex with Eve in the Garden of Eden and this union produced the other races.

Dan Gayman preaches a so-called “two seedline doctrine.” He says the offspring of Satan inhabit the Earth today, but rather slyly insists he doesn’t know who they are.

Gayman has a history of trying to carefully spin his beliefs, in an apparent effort to disarm critics.

Eric Rudolph’s mother introduced her son to Christian Identity.

The widowed Mrs. Rudolph eventually found a haven and home within Gayman’s Missouri compound, where the charismatic preacher became a mentor and paternal figure to her teenage son.

Within this controlled milieu Gayman nurtured Eric Rudolph’s hate and seemingly reinforced it.

It appears that the boy’s mindset was hardened at the Church of Israel. And the beliefs he largely learned there and amongst his other Identity brethren would be the impetus behind Rudolph’s “holy war” as the “Army of God.”

The FBI searching for Rudolph would later question Gayman. But like many hate group leaders, the prejudiced pastor would disavow any responsibility for the crimes committed by his one time follower.

However, Rudolph’s alleged crimes directly reflected the doctrinal focus of hatred inherent within both the Christian Identity movement and the Gayman church.

His targets for destruction would be gays, abortion clinics and the supposed “New World Order,” as expressed by nations coming together at the World Olympics.

How did Eric Rudolph survive for five years in hiding?

Did the subculture that created him sustain the fugitive?

What underground network of friends and support may have existed, that might have made Rudolph’s long-term survival in hiding possible?

Did such a support system suddenly collapse, forcing the fugitive to forage through garbage to feed himself?

The Christian Identity movement has spawned a litany of murderers and violent criminals.

How many more potential Eric Rudolphs are stewing in this sordid subculture, waiting to launch their holy wars?

As investigators unravel the past five years of Rudolph’s life, more will likely become known about this dark organized movement of hate that exists within America.

Since 9-11 Americans have looked outside of the country for the face of terror.

But long before that terrible day it was Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma bombing that made domestic terrorism the primary focus of the FBI.

Since that bombing of the Murrah Federal Building investigations and arrests have put many members of the Christian Identity movement, white supremacists, so-called “militia” men and an assortment of anti-government extremists behind bars.

The saga of Eric Rudolph offers compelling testimony that there are those within America that have a darkly twisted interpretation of religious scriptures, which often leads to bloodshed.

Osama bin Laden’s is not the only hate filled proponent of “holy war.”

The life of singer Whitney Houston has become increasingly rocky, rife with rumors of drug abuse, family estrangements and marital problems.

But now it seems to have taken an even stranger course.

Houston went to Israel and stayed with a bizarre “cult” called the “Black Hebrews.”

She referred to its members as her “brothers and sisters,” reports News 24.

Houston was supposedly “looking for inspiration for her upcoming Christmas album,” reports USA Today.

But this group of polygamists seems like a dubious source for Christmas spirit.

Ben Carter, a former Chicago resident who now calls himself “Ben Ammi Ben Israel,” leads the “cult.”

Carter claims that the “Archangel Gabriel told him that many African Americans were descendants of the lost Israeli tribe of Judah.”

He led his “lost…tribe” to Israel in 1969.

First the group lived on the dole as refugees, but later achieved resident status through the clout of the US government and no doubt due to the influence of some African American leaders.

However, the “Black Hebrews” claim of ancient Jewish heritage has never been proven or officially recognized.

Carter created an idiosyncratic religion that includes a vegetarian diet and polygamy.

Largely through the practice of polygamy the group has increased and now numbers about 2,000 in Israel, though it claims to have 30,000 members worldwide.

As Houston left Israel she waved her arm referring to the Jewish State as “my land.”

What did she mean?

Her parting statement seems eerily consistent with Carter’s teachings about Israel as the “Promised Land” of the “Black Hebrews.”

Has Whitney Houston joined a “cult”?

Her spokesperson said, “She is a spiritual woman and wanted to…touch the land and be around the saints of Dimona,” reports the Denver Post.

Accepting this “cult’s” hospitality may be the worst choice the pop singer has made since saying “I do” to bad boy Bobbie Brown.

Louis Farrakhan’s son, previously arrested for drunk driving and hit and run, is now being sued over his reckless behavior, reports Associated Press.

The elderly couple he hit while under the influence is suing the apparent bad boy from the Farrakhan brood, 44-year-old Joshua Nasir Farrakhan.

Should the Nation of Islam, which is known for reforming drunks, make a more concerted effort with the son of its founder?

Kirstie Alley is husband hunting, but her prospects seem rather limited.

The former TV star told the Washington Post while campaigning for yet another Scientology cause that she’s shopping for another husband.

The actress who plugs for Pier 1 said husband number three should be “from 40 to 60…very funny, very smart…married before…had children [and not]…a psychiatrist.”

Scientologists are virtually phobic about mental health professionals. It seems that the religion’s founder L. Ron Hubbard was a bit “crazy” and perhaps feared being locked up.

There is one glaring matrimonial requirement Alley seems to have left out though.

She didn’t mention that perhaps the most important criteria for any potential suitor is his willingness to become involved with Scientology, or at least passively resigned to its influential role in the actress’s life.

Just ask Alley’s last husband actor Parker Stevenson.

Romantic interests and spouses of celebrity Scientologists are likely to be dumped if they don’t at least take a few courses sold by the church.

Ask Lisa Marie’s Presley’s last two husbands.

Nicole Kidman might also have some insight on this subject.

Alley explained that she’s “an absolutist.”

No doubt.

There is little room for much else in the black and white world of most “cult” members.

Hate group leader Matt Hale feels the “Windy City” isn’t blowing his way, reports Associated Press.

The jailed former head of the so-called “World Church of the Creator,” now named “The Creativity Movement,” wants a coming criminal trial moved to his hometown of Peoria, where he lived with his father.

But it’s unlikely the judge will grant a change of venue. The racist’s trial is currently scheduled for September.

Hale has been on a losing streak for some time.

First, he was refused admission to the Illinois State Bar, upheld on appeal.

Then he lost the use of the name “World Church of the Creator,” which actually was originated by a group in Oregon.

It was that setback that apparently led to Hale losing it entirely.

Then it seems a federal judge became the focus of his fury. Hale is charged for plotting to murder that judge.

A Chicago jail cell is now Hale’s new home. And he may not get back to the old bedroom at Daddy’s house for a long time.

According to one psychiatrist in California “dreams do have meaning.” But what does he mean?

David Hoffman a retired psychiatrist writes a “dear doctor” column dispensing advice and answering questions through the “La Jolla Light.” One recent column was rerun within the Mammoth Times.

After recounting his personal history Hoffman eventually answers a reader’s inquiry about the meaning of dreams. He says, “Much of my life is guided and directed by [dreams].”

But the doctor’s column really raises more questions than it answers.

Hoffman discusses his “exploration into what was called ‘New Age Psychiatry,'” which might be more objectively seen as his odyssey through the world of “cults.”

The doctor admits he has studied with “Rajneesh, Shirley McLaine, Kevin Ryerson, Edgar Cayce, Ramtha, and Yogananda.”

These controversial sources are hardly what medical doctors would typically rely upon to form any clinical opinion. And it certainly is questionable that any mental health professional would base an opinion on such specious and subjective sources.

Never-the-less Hoffman concludes, “From all that, I learned to adapt the value of dreams to my own life.”

But such statements only raise more questions.

It is understood that people seeking help from a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or professional counselor are typically at a time of personal need often also accompanied by stress, depression and/or anxiety.

This means that the patient is frequently very vulnerable and suggestible. And the helping professional occupies a position of power and influence in that person’s life during the course of their therapy/counseling.

Unfortunately, some mental health professionals may see this as an opportunity to express their personal beliefs. Perhaps even proselytizing for a certain group and/or belief system.

Thankfully this is apparently a very small minority. And exercising such an influence over a patient is most often seen as a violation of the ethical code prescribed by most State Boards and/or mental health licensing organizations.

So where then is the proper place for the practice of “New Age psychiatry”?

It seems that there would be no proper place for such a practice amongst ethical psychiatrists, who should remain objective and not project their personal beliefs into the lives of their patients.

Doctors like Hoffman may believe whatever the want, but such personal beliefs should not be passed off as part of the practice of medicine. That is, unless you are a “witch doctor.”

According to one psychiatrist in California “dreams do have meaning.” But what does he mean?

David Hoffman a retired psychiatrist writes a “dear doctor” column dispensing advice and answering questions through the “La Jolla Light.” One recent column was rerun within the Mammoth Times.

After recounting his personal history Hoffman eventually answers a reader’s inquiry about the meaning of dreams. He says, “Much of my life is guided and directed by [dreams].”

But the doctor’s column really raises more questions than it answers.

Hoffman discusses his “exploration into what was called ‘New Age Psychiatry,'” which might be more objectively seen as his odyssey through the world of “cults.”

The doctor admits he has studied with “Rajneesh, Shirley McLaine, Kevin Ryerson, Edgar Cayce, Ramtha, and Yogananda.”

These controversial sources are hardly what medical doctors would typically rely upon to form any clinical opinion. And it certainly is questionable that any mental health professional would base an opinion on such specious and subjective and sources.

Never-the-less Hoffman concludes, “From all that, I learned to adapt the value of dreams to my own life.”

But such statements only raise more questions.

It is understood that people seeking help from a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or professional counselor are typically at a time of personal need often also accompanied by stress, depression and/or anxiety.

This means that the patient is frequently very vulnerable and suggestible. And the helping professional occupies a position of power and influence in that person’s life during the course of their therapy/counseling.

Unfortunately, some mental health professionals may see this as an opportunity to express their personal beliefs. Perhaps even proselytizing for a certain group and/or belief system.

Thankfully this is apparently a very small minority. And exercising such an influence over a patient is most often seen as a violation of the ethical code prescribed by most State Boards and/or mental health licensing organizations.

So where then is the proper place for the practice of “New Age psychiatry”?

It seems that there would be no proper place for such a practice amongst ethical psychiatrists, who should remain objective and not project their personal beliefs into the lives of their patients.

Doctors like Hoffman may believe whatever the want, but such personal beliefs should not be passed off as part of the practice of medicine. That is, unless you are a “witch doctor.”