[Fredric Rice, The Skeptic Tank:  The authorship of these files on
    cults has his or her own motivations for providing them and will
    contain his or her own bias.  What I find typical is that
    individuals and organizations which report on cults are usually
    themselves a competition cult yet like to think of themselves as
    "a religion, not a cult."  In actual fact, _ALL_ religions are
    cults by the primary, secondary, and terciary usage definition of
    the term.  Some of the information you find here is inaccurate and
    contains urban legend -- take what you find with a grain of salt.
    If you wish to acquire a copy of the Law Enforcement Guide on
    Occult Crime, contact myself at frice@stbbs.com or at The Skeptic
    Tank (818) 335-9601 and I'll forward the address and information
    you need.]

Aum Shinrikyo

Formed in 1987 to predict the effective end of the world in 1997,
the history of Aum was aways likely to be an action-packed affair.
Such is the vast number of cults in Japan (183,000 according to one
count), neither the police or press had paid special attention to
allegations brought against Aum until the infamous subway gas attack
inMarch. Now its chubby leader, Shoko Asahara, a professed admirer
of Hitler, isone of the most demonised men in Japan.

What has since been uncovered, under the glare of the world's cameras,
is an exceptionally well-organised sect with contacts outside Japan,
notably in Russia and South Korea. Its 10,000 members formed a strict
hierarchy of 13 levels, with specially coloured uniforms denoting
which class each belonged to. For those at the bottom (or for those
being punished) conditions at the cult's main compound at Kamikuishiki
were exceptionally spartan, and in some cases cruel. It is claimed
that child members were only allowed to wash once a week, ate frugally
and were subject to solitary confinement for bad behaviour. Some also
had their eyebrows dyed green and many were forced to wear special
battery-powered headgear designed to produce the same electronic
frequency as their leader's own brainwaves.


Police have also discovered manuals used by the cult in which
methods of recruitingwere outlined as well as suggestions on 
which type of recruits were most likely to give the most money
to the cult. When they searched Asahara's office, police
discovered 22lb of gold and 700 million yen (£5 million)
in cash.

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