1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio. 5 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt. 6 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 2: Our colleague Nol is still on an adventure. 7 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 3: But will be returning suit They called me Ben. We're 8 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 3: joined with our guest super producer, Gnomes Griffith. Most importantly, 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 3: you are you. You are here. That makes this the 10 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 3: stuff they don't want you to know. This is a 11 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 3: little bit of an unusual case for us. We're spending 12 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 3: the entire week on the notorious infamous death cult Aum Shinrico. So, Matt, 13 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 3: what do you say we get that with the housekeeping 14 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 3: Listen to part one. Okay, we got to say that part, 15 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,759 Speaker 3: and then let's just dive in media arrests. 16 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we already got past all the part where 17 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 2: it was a nice, a nice spiritual movement and now 18 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 2: we're into full apocalyptic mode. Let's go. So we've got 19 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 2: all of this propaganda coming out really pushing hard that 20 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 2: this dude Choco a Sahara has some kind of powers, maybe, 21 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 2: like is he is so special? And has all these 22 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 2: things that even the fluids that come out of his 23 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 2: body are special enough that you probably want them. You 24 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 2: actually you know what, you need them? 25 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, and you can have them if you pay for it, right, 26 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 3: And these are pretty pricey, but what what isn't worth superpowers? 27 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 3: Don't you want to be able to tell the future? 28 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 3: Would you like to fly or maybe float a little bit? 29 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: Uh? 30 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 2: Well, well, let's let's talk about what these things were, 31 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 2: because I've heard rumors. Some of it comes directly from followers, 32 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 2: their like quotations, and some of it's honestly hard to 33 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 2: believe at times. But we've seen instances of this in 34 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 2: the past. There's I believe this thing where you could 35 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 2: pay a certain amount of money and you would get 36 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:31,360 Speaker 2: his bathwater. 37 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:37,359 Speaker 3: Yeah, very e girl. Find Yeah, who's that act? 38 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 2: There's an actor who just Sweeney. Something Sidney Sweeney just 39 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 2: just released and I think a joke way we talked 40 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 2: about it on the show. 41 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 3: It was a soap with her bathwater, right. 42 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, or soap made with her bathwater as a 43 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 2: part of the thing, you know, because it's special, and 44 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 2: that crap sold out immediately. And just imagine it's a 45 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 2: spiritual leader that you really do personally look up to 46 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 2: you're getting his bath water. There's other fluids. I know. 47 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 2: There was at least one person who said they took 48 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 2: part in a blood ritual where they ingested what was 49 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:21,359 Speaker 2: supposedly the blood of Asahara. 50 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, we saw that as well. The idea being that 51 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 3: this consumption of these it's similar to the idea of 52 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 3: imbuing intension and things or some other factors and some 53 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 3: pseudo medicinal practices. The concept is that this guy is 54 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 3: so powerful, emanates such divine ability that by consuming things 55 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 3: associated with him, you are ingesting also some very small 56 00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 3: portion of his powers. 57 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, right, and you and everybody goes, oh god, that's gross, 58 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 2: and then wait, oh, think about what's the last time 59 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 2: you took communion. You're supposedly eating the blood and body 60 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ every time you. 61 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 3: Do that, especially if you practice if you're in a 62 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 3: denomination that practices transubstantiation. Right, yeah, not that, not that 63 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 3: weak middle of the road stuff where it's supposed to 64 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 3: be symbolic. If you're in a denomination that does practice 65 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 3: symbolic cannibalism, then let's hesitate to throw some stones. 66 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 2: It's it's weirder than you will let yourself believe. Hearing 67 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 2: us talk about it right now, it's weirder than that. 68 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, check out, check it out, you know what I mean? 69 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,720 Speaker 3: Just you know what, whatever your visive choice is, makes 70 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 3: some make some nice tea, get a stiff drink if 71 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 3: that's your jam, Like, Matt, what you got? You got 72 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 3: a month Celtius Celsius, Papa Celsius, and then be prepared 73 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 3: to lose the afternoon, because this is hectic. This is 74 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 3: where we're heading into the darker territory. By this point, 75 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 3: outsiders are getting worried, right, where's our daughter? Where's our son? 76 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:17,280 Speaker 3: You know what happened to my sibling? The support of 77 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 3: followers from the upper class, and the infiltration of those 78 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 3: institutions by OHM. As you mentioned, Matt, this provides a 79 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 3: certain degree of indemnity, but that is an envelope that 80 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 3: can only be pushed so far. Family members are going 81 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 3: to the authorities, you know, help us find our kid? Right, 82 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 3: where's Toshi? They are also sharing and encountering rumors. Were 83 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,559 Speaker 3: spreads of these increasingly bizarre practices that start to echo 84 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 3: some of the stuff from other Western organizations like the 85 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:57,839 Speaker 3: Manson family. Rumors of kidnapping, extortion, torturous marathon, initiation rights. 86 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 3: This is a very Manson part with physical abuse and 87 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 3: forced ingestion of hallucinogens right where people can really get 88 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 3: under the hood of your mind and tinker with your 89 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,280 Speaker 3: cognitive functions ego death kind of stuff. 90 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,600 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, there's a full length documentary you can wash 91 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 2: right now that came out in twenty twenty three. It's 92 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,160 Speaker 2: titled A U m On colon The Cult at the 93 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 2: End of the World. Highly recommend that you can watch 94 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 2: a trailer or I think you find it on YouTube 95 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 2: right now? Yea rent it? 96 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And there are there's a there are 97 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 3: another couple of great documentaries about this that dwell maybe 98 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 3: a little bit less on the context we're establishing and 99 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 3: a little bit more on the events that made this 100 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 3: cult known to the world's entire Yes. 101 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 2: Absolutely. Inside the Endeavor documentary, they describe one of the 102 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 2: practices of putting devotees inside a box inside a hollowed 103 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 2: out hill. Oh yeah, and like a box that has 104 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 2: just enough oxygen to keep multiple people alive for an 105 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 2: extended amount of time and zero light. So the idea 106 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 2: is you put your followers in there and they go 107 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 2: into a state of meditation of some sort, and they 108 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 2: endure all of that as a show of faith, as 109 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:24,679 Speaker 2: a show of they're essentially at their abilities to withstand 110 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff and discomfort. 111 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of a symbolic rebirth as well. 112 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it was very intense. It did remind me 113 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 2: of some of the scientology like punishments that would happen 114 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 2: at Sea Org that we talked about. And there's some 115 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 2: other thing. Did you hear about one particular person who 116 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 2: was made to be tied up upside down? Yes, yeah, 117 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 2: for an extended period of time, and then allegedly, you know, 118 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 2: some of the followers said, hey, he doesn't look good. 119 00:07:57,600 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 2: Something's wrong. We need to get him down, and then 120 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 2: the leader said, no, this is you know, this is 121 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 2: his test. He has to do this, and he ended 122 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 2: up passing away. 123 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, these torturous initiation rights did result in a couple 124 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 3: of deaths, even now we're not sure how many because 125 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 3: then this is where again, this is the part of 126 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 3: the ride in this series where our little roller coaster 127 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,680 Speaker 3: car starts coasting into the darkness. We're going into the tunnel. Now, 128 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 3: we're going into the Mountain. It's mid nineteen eighty nine. 129 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 3: These rumors are increasingly credible. There's a guy named Sakamoto Sutsumi. 130 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:49,319 Speaker 3: He is a lawyer from Yokohama, and he is getting 131 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 3: a lot of complaints from separate families but also groups 132 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 3: of concerned parents of all members. These families have connected 133 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 3: right of it, similar to evaluating a class action lawsuit. Right. 134 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 3: They want to take collective action, and so Sakamoto leads 135 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 3: an investigation into the group. 136 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 2: I think private detectives that kind of thing. 137 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,679 Speaker 3: Yeah, gumshoe stuff, right, And so fast forward. It's November 138 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 3: nineteen eighty nine. Sakamoto, his wife, and their baby. 139 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:24,600 Speaker 2: Son fifteen months old. 140 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 3: Fifteen months yes, still got that new car smell. They disappear, 141 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 3: They are gone. The evidence implicating A Sahara and his 142 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 3: followers eventually emerges and is reported to the authorities. And 143 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 3: what do they do. 144 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 2: They don't seem to do anything, at least according to 145 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 2: everybody who's around at the time, who's interested in this case, 146 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 2: who is trying to find this family, there's at least 147 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 2: the perception is that nothing is done. 148 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I love the way you phrase that, 149 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 3: because that's also how had to talk about operations snow 150 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 3: white with Scientology. Right, Scientology says it wasn't them, you know, 151 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 3: very shaggy. It wasn't me. It was some followers or 152 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 3: associates of Scientology. But we didn't tell them to do anything. 153 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 3: We had nothing to do with it. And then how 154 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,959 Speaker 3: do we put it? A lot of people disagreed with that, 155 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 3: including the Supreme Court of the United States. Right, So 156 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:30,560 Speaker 3: we're being respectful and honest here when we say that 157 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 3: the police, according to all reports, yes, didn't do bub gis. 158 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 3: You know, they didn't do anything. It was later discovered 159 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 3: there was irrefutable proof that the Sakamoto family was indeed 160 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 3: murdered in horrific ways, but the authorities didn't know about 161 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 3: this until far far after the fact. Whoever did this 162 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 3: was a pretty accomplished or very lucky, but definitely brutal. Well. 163 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:11,239 Speaker 2: Yeah, this is what was discussed in the Endeavor documentary, 164 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 2: that all free members of the family were abducted in 165 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,000 Speaker 2: that apartment. They were poisoned, they were strangled. That is 166 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 2: actually the mode of death there succording that documentary, they 167 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 2: were mutilated in an attempt to make their bodies more 168 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 2: difficult to identify. Than they all three were buried in 169 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 2: separate remote locations, and that's information that didn't come forward 170 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 2: until much much later. 171 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, and so when we say obviously we're talking about 172 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 3: mutilation with the goal of obscuring identity at this point, 173 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 3: at the time the murders occurred in nineteen eighty nine 174 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 3: D the evidence isn't really a thing. So we're talking 175 00:11:54,640 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 3: about removing teeth, eyes somehow, burning off or damaging or 176 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 3: prints that kind of stuff. It's real, real nasty. It's 177 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 3: really not happy science. It's not the positive message that 178 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 3: Osahara began with. Because all and Osahara are growing increasingly 179 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 3: militant and apocalyptic. Osahara is believed to have ordered more 180 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 3: murders on occasion, and followers even creating kill list of 181 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 3: perceived enemies in the halls of politics, in the halls 182 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 3: of journalism, and so on. And the reason it's tough 183 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 3: to know exactly how many homicides may have occurred is 184 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,480 Speaker 3: because there was often no physical evidence left behind. Right, 185 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 3: we do know one other case from this period. There's 186 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 3: an individual named Karia Kiyoshi was what they would call 187 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 3: like a public sector employee killed by a barbituate overdose 188 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 3: and then cremated in a commercial size industrial microwave of 189 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 3: in February of nineteen ninety five. So these are horrific members. 190 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 3: This still isn't the craziest stuff. 191 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 2: Oh no, no, no, not at all. But we do 192 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 2: see that there are substances being used here. The poisons 193 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 2: that were used in the attack on Sakamoto's family were 194 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 2: created by the group. Like we talked about scientists and 195 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 2: other specialists who were being recruited, the members of the 196 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 2: group were trying to produce their own substances and chemicals 197 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:34,320 Speaker 2: that could be used as weapons like that one. There's 198 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 2: another instance where a journalist, Shoko Igawa, was writing about 199 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 2: this group and somebody through her letterbox sprayed phosgene gas, 200 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 2: which is a World War two chemical weapon meant to 201 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 2: injure or kill people. 202 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 3: And she gets such a badass in that documentary. I 203 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 3: love the frank way she talks about it, and you 204 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 3: should tune in to hear her talk about the end 205 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:08,080 Speaker 3: days of Asahara as well. Oh, she is not buying 206 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 3: the official narrative. 207 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 2: No oh, but hey, let's let's we got to switch 208 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 2: gears here a little bit. Uh, we got to talk 209 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 2: about how someone who believes in themselves so much the 210 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 2: way this leader does. What if they want to get 211 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 2: into political stuff? 212 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 3: Love it? Love it? 213 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 1: Hate that. 214 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 3: I have to ask you specifically whom you're referring to, 215 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 3: oh A Sahara Okay, still in Japan? Tight, yeah, special powers, yes, yeah, okay, okay, 216 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 3: I was thinking of someone else. So Asahara also wants 217 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 3: political power, as you said, Matt, he uh, he starts 218 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 3: his own political party, which is way easier to do 219 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 3: in Japan to start a viable alternative political party. Right. 220 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 3: It's it's a little bit more tricky here in the 221 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 3: United States because both of the primary political powerhouses, which 222 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 3: is rather you didn't, you know what I mean, They 223 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 3: would just rather you didn't, and they've got a lot 224 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 3: of money to impact their wishes. Right. 225 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 2: It's hard to grow a whole third hand when you've 226 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 2: already got two great hands on the same body, you know. 227 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just an inact, but impact works as well. 228 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 3: You nailed it there. So am through its new political party, 229 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 3: and this is happening in conjunction with front companies abroad, 230 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 3: which we'll get to in a second. Their political party 231 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:40,000 Speaker 3: fields or nominates twenty five candidates for Japan's upper House 232 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 3: primo political positions, and of course, in a burst of humility, 233 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 3: Asahara also presents himself as a candidate. Every single candidate 234 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 3: from the OM party loses by a pretty significant margin. 235 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 3: Asahara himself gets less than two thousand votes and eighty 236 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 3: five and so, you know, let's practice a little empathy here. 237 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 3: Let's say we're a cult leader, we're the Tokyo Christ 238 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 3: and we got less than two thousand votes. This is 239 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 3: a big blow to the old ego. Maybe something's wrong 240 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 3: with the world. It's not me, it's everybody else. So 241 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 3: on becomes darker, darker. Asara, through those vast spiritual powers 242 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 3: you mentioned, Matt receives a prophecy natural disasters he realizes 243 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 3: will destroy Japan. And to step out of the context 244 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 3: here for a second, that's not really a crazy prediction. 245 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 3: Japan has a more than a share of natural disasters. 246 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 3: That's arguably if you want to be cynical, and if 247 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 3: you if we are looking at this through the lens 248 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 3: of a con artist instead of a guy drinks his 249 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 3: own flavor eighth, then we have to admit it's a 250 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 3: lot like saying I've had a vision July and Atlanta 251 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,920 Speaker 3: will be somewhat warm, you know what I mean? Oh, 252 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 3: the country on the on the ring of fire by 253 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 3: the Pacific might have an earthquake, do you. 254 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:19,640 Speaker 2: Tell Yeah, But I guess I would just say there's 255 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:27,399 Speaker 2: also a sprinkling in there of the people that he 256 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 2: doesn't say the quiet part out loud as in like 257 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 2: these enemies will be destroyed kind of thing. But what 258 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 2: he is saying is if people die who are not 259 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:41,920 Speaker 2: followers who understand the truth. You know that we all 260 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 2: understand in this group, if they do die, then they 261 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 2: will get to be resurrected and try again, and maybe 262 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 2: they'll do better next time and learn the truth and 263 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,560 Speaker 2: join us. So really, if people who aren't in our 264 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:58,120 Speaker 2: group die, it's not that big. 265 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 3: Of a deal, right, because if you think about it, 266 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 3: we're helping them. With that in mind. Since you are 267 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,159 Speaker 3: the small quadre of people smart enough to follow me, 268 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 3: you are fast forwarding to enlightenment and get this, you 269 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 3: can help other people along the way. This is the 270 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 3: point where Asahara kicks it up a notch, similar to 271 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 3: how Charles Manson went from predicting a race war in 272 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 3: the US to trying to enact to begin a race 273 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 3: war in the US via Helter Skelter. 274 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's ridiculously similar. 275 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, Asahara again, it's infinite wisdom and humility. He says 276 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,560 Speaker 3: to his followers, you know, we have to kind of 277 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:43,399 Speaker 3: be the change. We can't wait for these disasters because 278 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 3: here's another thing about the prophecy. We got to create them. 279 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 3: We've got to serve the greater good by creating mass 280 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 3: casualty events. The world and all the people in it 281 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:59,320 Speaker 3: who are not followers of all must be destroyed to 282 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,920 Speaker 3: be saved. And this is where, oh, this is a diversion, 283 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:05,880 Speaker 3: I know. I mean, this is a series, so we're 284 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:09,119 Speaker 3: okay with a couple of sidetracks, but this is what 285 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 3: we have to mention, the creation of mass casualty events 286 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:15,680 Speaker 3: already kind of like you said, the quiet part out 287 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 3: loud there, because he's got some boffins who are radicalized 288 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 3: working with chemical weaponry and bioweapon development. But then something 289 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:34,159 Speaker 3: curious happens. This is nineteen ninety three. Something strange occurs 290 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 3: in Australia. May twenty eighth. There's a small disturbance out 291 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 3: in the middle of nowhere in the western out back, 292 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 3: like twelve some hours east of Perth, which is already 293 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:50,679 Speaker 3: a cartoonishly isolated city. Sorry Perth. In Geoscience Australia, the 294 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 3: folks who monitor this for a living, they clock this temblore, 295 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 3: this tremble under the ground at three point six on 296 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 3: the Richter scale. They record it. You can find this online. 297 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 3: They write it down and they're like, Okay, that's lunch. 298 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,199 Speaker 3: I guess ten o'clock out has three point six on 299 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 3: Richter scale for them at the time in that part 300 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 3: of the world. 301 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 2: Eh, we get those in Atlanta, like on a pretty 302 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 2: frequom basis if we're in the surrounding parts of Atlanta. 303 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 2: Very small little rumbles. 304 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, tem blows. Yeah. So this is a tease, folks, 305 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 3: remember it for later. Right now. That happens May twenty eighth, 306 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 3: nineteen ninety three. No one cares. 307 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,200 Speaker 2: Nobody cares. Let's also remember that in February of that 308 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 2: same year, little thing called the Waco Siege begins and 309 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 2: lasts for a while. It's a weird time in the 310 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 2: world in nineteen ninety three. 311 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,359 Speaker 3: Yes, very much so. And it's also a busy time 312 00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 3: for all that same year and inner circle of a 313 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 3: Sahara's closest followers make some breakthroughs. They're teaching themselves to 314 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 3: create an enormously dangerous substance, saren gas. And when they're 315 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 3: doing this, this is occurring at Kami kushiki mura, pardon 316 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 3: my pronunciation. They're pretty sloppy with their opsec and their 317 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 3: hygiene and their sanitary conditions, so much so that it's 318 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 3: kind of like if you've ever had the dubious privilege 319 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 3: of driving by a home based methamphetamine entrepreneur, you know 320 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 3: what I mean. There's a smell to it, right, and 321 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 3: a lot of times those poor folks end up seriously 322 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 3: injuring themselves because they're not sure what they're doing. And 323 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:56,120 Speaker 3: so everybody in this neighborhood is going to the police 324 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 3: at this point and they're saying, what is this phenomenal 325 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,880 Speaker 3: noxious gas? What are these weird smells? What are those 326 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,120 Speaker 3: creeps from that cult doing? Officer? 327 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, well, because it let's talk about this saren 328 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 2: If you are unfortunate enough to smell saren gas, you 329 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 2: will likely get the sensation of paint thinner if you've 330 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 2: ever smelled that before, similar chemicals like that, that there's 331 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,560 Speaker 2: a specific smell to it. But if it's not concentrated, 332 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 2: you know, to a certain extent. Theoretically, I'm not going 333 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 2: to say you're gonna be okay, but you're not going 334 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 2: to pass away. If you're just smelling some weird stuff 335 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 2: that's like the other chemicals used to make this thing. 336 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, that means yeah, if they're precursor chemicals, it still 337 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 3: means it's time to scooch yes ctfo, as the Internet 338 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 3: used to say. Because saren is an extremely powerful nerve 339 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,400 Speaker 3: agent is what we call it, which means that even 340 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:08,080 Speaker 3: if you let's just establish this, saren itself is what 341 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 3: we'll call a volatile colorless odorless liquid in that in 342 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 3: that form, exposure is lethal. Very very tiny doses kind 343 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 3: of like fentanyl, can kill you in less than a 344 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 3: few grains. If you directly inhale a lethal dose of saren, 345 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:31,199 Speaker 3: you are dead within sixty seconds to maybe ten minutes, 346 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 3: and you're going to die due to respiratory paralysis unless 347 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 3: someone gets to you in that window of time, which 348 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 3: is a very short window of time. And even if 349 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,920 Speaker 3: you get a non lethal dose, friends and neighbors, you'll 350 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:49,879 Speaker 3: need immediate medical treatment to avoid serious damage. Neurological stuff 351 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:51,879 Speaker 3: that will haunt you for the rest of your life. 352 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 2: Yeah. And just to clarify there, I am talking about 353 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 2: the other chemicals used to like generate yeah, a version 354 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 2: of saren gas that would be used as a weapon. 355 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Saren is widely it has 356 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 3: always been considered a weapon of mass destruction, and as 357 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 3: we'll see, is a big time for Sarah in the 358 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 3: nineteen nineties. In nineteen ninety seven, across the world, the 359 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 3: production and stockpiling of saren was made illegal, like hard stop. 360 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 3: This is not one of those things where you can say, oh, 361 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 3: there's like, you know, peaceful medical uses. Oh my Honda 362 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,399 Speaker 3: runs on saren. It doesn't. There's only one reason to 363 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,400 Speaker 3: make that stuff. Yeah, and it's an evil reason anyway. 364 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 3: So they go to the police. They're reporting, as you said, Matt, 365 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 3: these precursor chemicals that are used in the creation of 366 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 3: saren and those have a smell, like you said, those 367 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 3: having order an odor, and the police don't do anything. 368 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 3: They they don't do anything. And because and I hate 369 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 3: to say it this way, but because they did not 370 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,040 Speaker 3: do anything for one reason or another. We fast forward 371 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:13,120 Speaker 3: to June twenty seventh, nineteen ninety four, ALM conducts their 372 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 3: first pilot program of releasing saren and they do this 373 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 3: in the Kida Fukashi district of Matsumoto. Seven people, innocent 374 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 3: people die as a result. Hundreds are injured. And some 375 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 3: of those folks who have injuries, like injuries to their eyes, 376 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,639 Speaker 3: their respiratory tract, things like that, some of them recover, 377 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,440 Speaker 3: but a lot of them get hit with long term 378 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 3: disabilities that follow them to the great you know what 379 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 3: I mean. And now, like you're the police, you got 380 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 3: to do something. 381 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, something, something has to be done. Is this 382 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,920 Speaker 2: the incident where they were attempting to attack like politicians 383 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 2: and lawmakers, but they ended up hurting innocent people instead. 384 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,120 Speaker 2: I can't remember. There's there are like two or three 385 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 2: versions of this where they, yeah, attempt to use an attack, 386 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 2: a wide scale attack, and they just don't seem to 387 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 2: be able to have the effect they want, right. 388 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,120 Speaker 3: It doesn't hit the order of magnitude nor the specific 389 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 3: people that they're aiming for. And a lot of times 390 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 3: at this point, they're trying, as you said, to go 391 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,400 Speaker 3: after government employees. You know what. We're gonna pause here 392 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,760 Speaker 3: just for a moment for a word from our sponsors. 393 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:40,680 Speaker 3: We'll be back in a jiffy and we have returned. 394 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 3: The police do act. They find a local farmer who 395 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 3: is just super unlucky in this regard. He's a genuinely 396 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 3: not bad guy. He's not a member of AM at all. 397 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 3: His name is Kono Yoshiyuki. And the authorities say, look, 398 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:03,919 Speaker 3: this guy is responsible for this mass casualty event, but 399 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,959 Speaker 3: he's not a terrorist. He's just a dummy. And he 400 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:13,439 Speaker 3: mixes his fertilizer all wrong, and he's like, I'm the 401 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 3: farmer guy. Fertilizer is like a thing I make and 402 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 3: I do it so I can grow food for you jerks, 403 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,399 Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And he's jammed up for 404 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 3: a year, even though there's like no real evidence that 405 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,640 Speaker 3: he is in any way involved other than it he's 406 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,480 Speaker 3: a farmer with access to fertilizer. 407 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:36,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know it's possible that this guy could 408 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 2: have done it. Well, we'll put him away. Well, it 409 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 2: isn't until a while later, I think a full year later, 410 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 2: after some of the other attacks that we're going to 411 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,919 Speaker 2: talk about occur, that individual members come forward and claim responsibility. 412 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 2: And we do have to point out it is not 413 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 2: the organization claiming responsibility. It is individual members of the organization. 414 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,199 Speaker 3: Yeah, they're lining up to take the fall, right, to 415 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 3: fall on the sword for the sacrifice themselves for the 416 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 3: good of the organization as they see it. That's logic. 417 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 3: But because of this, a conspiracy unfolds in the public eye. 418 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 3: Journalists like the one we mentioned earlier, many many journalists 419 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:25,440 Speaker 3: at this point have already held serious concerns about individual 420 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:31,359 Speaker 3: cases connected with all and they start to link these disappearances, 421 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 3: these criminal acts that may have seen, like, you know, terrifying. 422 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 3: One offs, they say, hey, there's a common thread through 423 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 3: all of this, the shadow of Asahara. 424 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 2: And so then in nineteen ninety five, as Are actually 425 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 2: ends up taking the law into his own hands and 426 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 2: he sues one of these papers that's writing about him 427 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 2: and his group for libel. You know, you're you're saying 428 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 2: untrue things about us, and you're harming us. And kind 429 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 2: of like his other attempts to use the mechanics of 430 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 2: society for his own gain, this is unsuccessful. It doesn't work. 431 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 2: The suit is unsuccessful, and he can feel as though 432 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 2: all of those mechanisms are now aimed at him and 433 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 2: closing in on him. 434 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, like Han Solo and Star Wars, you know what 435 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 3: I mean. The halls are pushing in. But this guy 436 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 3: is no Han Solo, right, and his mental state, depending 437 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 3: upon whom you ask again, his mental state is deteriorating. 438 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,360 Speaker 3: That's what we get from a lot of the reports. 439 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 3: Combining this with the possibility of being arrested, the sunk 440 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 3: cost of creating a small army of radicalized people who 441 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 3: genuinely believe the key to salvation, to saving the world 442 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,840 Speaker 3: can only be mass casualty events. Now Asa harr is 443 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 3: passed the point of no return logically, like in game theory. 444 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 3: Now he has nowhere to swim but further into a 445 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 3: dark ocean. 446 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,240 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and we should mention he and his followers 447 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 2: are amassing an arsenal of conventional weapons. Yeah, there are photographs, 448 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 2: video evidence of the actual arms laid out. And we're 449 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 2: not just talking rifles and pistols and things. We're talking 450 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 2: explosives like RPGs, things that you would see, to be 451 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,239 Speaker 2: quite honest, a terrorist organization collecting or maybe even like 452 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 2: a high level cartel. 453 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 3: Arsenal right, right, right, or private militia. This is military 454 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,480 Speaker 3: grade stuff, you know what I mean. These aren't p shooters. 455 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 3: That's a fantastic point. So they are you could argue, organizationally, 456 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 3: they are being forced into by the consequence of their 457 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 3: own actions. They're being forced into further and increasingly extreme acts. 458 00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 2: Right, So with the leader who's ready for war. 459 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, whether the leader is not saving anything for this 460 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 3: swim back, right, he has passed the point of de escalation. 461 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 3: This is where we fast forward just a little bit 462 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 3: further to March twentieth, nineteen ninety five. It's eight am. 463 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 3: It's busy, busy time in Tokyo. This is where all 464 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 3: members launch five concurrent attacks, releasing saren gas into three 465 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:29,920 Speaker 3: subway lines. And if you've ever been in a rush hour, 466 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 3: then you know, you know they kind of suck. And 467 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,800 Speaker 3: the thing about Tokyo's amazing public transit system is that 468 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 3: even it gets overloaded because there are just a ton 469 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 3: of people who live in Tokyo and there's like no 470 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 3: room on the train. It's very, very crowded. 471 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about how these five individuals did this. 472 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 2: It's unfortunately cunning and terrifying. 473 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 3: And pretty easily executed. 474 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:03,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, each individual of these five people had a plastic 475 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:07,080 Speaker 2: bag wrapped in newspaper to look like an innocuous object, 476 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 2: and they had an umbrella that had a specially sharpened 477 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 2: tip to it. So imagine just seeing somebody on the 478 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,000 Speaker 2: subway who's carrying something in newspaper and an umbrella, you 479 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,200 Speaker 2: wouldn't think twice, probably each of them, when the attack 480 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 2: is being carried out, dropped this object covered in newspaper 481 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 2: on the ground, then stabbed it with the umbrella they're carrying, 482 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,080 Speaker 2: releasing seren gas. 483 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it happens quickly. And look, we're we're pointing 484 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 3: out missteps by the authorities. But in this kind of situation, 485 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 3: at this point in time, that's simply not something people 486 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 3: would have checked for. There are so many people, right, 487 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 3: and there are so many ways to hide device or 488 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 3: mechanism or a process of this of this size. They're 489 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 3: prioritizing routes that are likely to serve government employees. They 490 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,239 Speaker 3: want to hit people going to work at Japanese at 491 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 3: the Japanese National Diet. Right, so the legislative body, twelve 492 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 3: people die immediately, a thirteenth person die shortly after, thousands 493 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 3: are injured to some degree, and some of them again 494 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:25,560 Speaker 3: are going to be permanently disabled for the rest of 495 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 3: their lives. As a result of these injuries in this 496 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 3: mass casualty event, some people will solder on for a 497 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 3: few months and then expire later. This is an absolute disaster. 498 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 3: This is a horror. The police realize that this time, 499 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 3: there is no denying that this has to be the 500 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 3: group that previously did this. There's a little bit of 501 00:33:54,920 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 3: initial wondering whether it's a copycat, but that's just the 502 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:04,360 Speaker 3: investigative process. They know what's going on, so they raid 503 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 3: all locations, they raid homes and known locations of members, 504 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 3: and when they do, they discover enough saren to kill 505 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:18,520 Speaker 3: more than one million people. For perspective nineteen ninety five, right, 506 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,320 Speaker 3: population of Japan's about one hundred and twenty five million 507 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 3: or more one hundred and twenty five point five million 508 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,760 Speaker 3: or so one million people. 509 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:33,880 Speaker 2: That's astounding, just that they could produce enough to do that. 510 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 2: And it wasn't the only gas like the weapon that 511 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:39,960 Speaker 2: they were producing, the only chemical weapon they were producing. 512 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,640 Speaker 2: They were again working on all kinds of different things 513 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 2: they could be used to take out humans. 514 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:51,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, by hook or by crook, which shows us 515 00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 3: that they were definitely exploring multiple avenues, of multiple paths 516 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 3: toward an act. These apocalyptic visions of their leader. The 517 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:09,160 Speaker 3: arrest roll in Okay and the Japanese authorities apprehend something 518 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:12,640 Speaker 3: like two hundred members of all. And remember at this 519 00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 3: point it's still a pretty big organization. A lot of 520 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,279 Speaker 3: people are associated with it, but they don't get the 521 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:24,120 Speaker 3: Golden Goose. Police cannot initially find the kingpin. Tokyo's christ 522 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 3: Asahara is in the wind. And this is where we 523 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 3: bring back that weird tremble we mentioned in the Australian 524 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 3: Outback earlier, right, we were writing about this right at 525 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 3: the geologist Harry Mason. 526 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, a reminder, this is two years before the 527 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 2: seren gas attack in Tokyo. 528 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So nineteen ninety three, Earth has a little 529 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:56,880 Speaker 3: little fartsy, little templore, a little shiver in its buddocks 530 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,120 Speaker 3: that nobody offense Australia, just like in the ground, and 531 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 3: nobody really pays attention to it because like everybody farts, right, 532 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:10,319 Speaker 3: and now with all this news, these revelations about this 533 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 3: conspiratorial death cult at this point in Japan, Harry Mason 534 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 3: starts looking back into this. He is a geologist, he 535 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,520 Speaker 3: does have the expertise, He's got a lot of experience mining, 536 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,319 Speaker 3: and he says, I don't think this three point six 537 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 3: Richter scale disturbance was a natural earthquake and earthfart. I 538 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:37,160 Speaker 3: think these lunatics from all have conducted a secret weapons 539 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,839 Speaker 3: test out there in the middle of nowhere. And I 540 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 3: think he says it was a nuclear device. That is terrifying. 541 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,720 Speaker 3: And also, if you've listened to any of our previous 542 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 3: episodes on this, if you have studied nuclear non proliferation, 543 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 3: you know it's actually really difficult to build a nuke 544 00:36:55,239 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 3: that works, even like a not goodwin is scientifically super impressive. 545 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,279 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, think about how difficult it is just to 546 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 2: get your hands on the fissile materials needed to create 547 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,319 Speaker 2: a nuke. And once you've got that, you have to 548 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 2: build a mechanism that can effectively start a chain reaction, 549 00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:19,440 Speaker 2: which is not easy to do. Yeah, and then you 550 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:22,600 Speaker 2: got to set it off somehow safely, and you got 551 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 2: to do it in a place that nobody's gonna think 552 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:28,279 Speaker 2: twice about, like, oh, I don't know a sheep farm. 553 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,400 Speaker 3: Right, And you also have to uh, all the components 554 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,800 Speaker 3: you need. In addition to that, fissile material are closely 555 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:41,719 Speaker 3: monitored by very powerful institutions who stay up around the 556 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,319 Speaker 3: clock just waiting up your day. If you're trying to 557 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:50,160 Speaker 3: make a nuke like that is there, that's their vocation. 558 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,919 Speaker 3: It's beyond a career. Yeah, they believe it. They're radicalized 559 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:54,840 Speaker 3: in their own way. 560 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 2: And they have access to stealth bombers baby. 561 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,800 Speaker 3: Yeah right, And look at this. There's all sorts of 562 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:04,239 Speaker 3: crazy stuff in the news, so it's very difficult to 563 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 3: discern facts from fiction. But the more you hear about 564 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,800 Speaker 3: what Mason is saying at this time, the less crazy 565 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:16,480 Speaker 3: it seems. Because we later could confirm that members of 566 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:20,919 Speaker 3: ALL did indeed visit Australia and they were looking likely 567 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,800 Speaker 3: for a place to test something one of those biochemical 568 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,799 Speaker 3: weapons or some other evil thing they cooked up. And 569 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,600 Speaker 3: they did as you said, Matt, they honed in on 570 00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:33,560 Speaker 3: a large sheep farm. It's like three hundred and seventy 571 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 3: five miles northeast of Perth, twelve hour drive if traffic 572 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,479 Speaker 3: is good in the outback. We're not qualified to speak 573 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 3: on that part, but this you'll see it sometimes referred 574 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:48,000 Speaker 3: to as a station instead of a sheep farm, but 575 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:51,240 Speaker 3: that's just another word for sheep farm. And they bought 576 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 3: this through a front company. Later investigations also showed they 577 00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:01,280 Speaker 3: made some troublingly similar overtures in Russia. 578 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:05,360 Speaker 2: Where they still operate today under different names. 579 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:08,319 Speaker 3: Very much so, very much so. Who doesn't love a 580 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:15,480 Speaker 3: front company. So Mason realizes something screwy is up because 581 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 3: this is this is not primo real estate. It is 582 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:20,479 Speaker 3: out in the middle of nowhere, but it's a lot 583 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:24,359 Speaker 3: of land, hundreds of thousands of acres of land. They 584 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:28,799 Speaker 3: buy this and a small group of followers from all 585 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 3: stay on this Australian property, purpose unknown, and then suddenly, 586 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,160 Speaker 3: in October of nineteen ninety four, for reasons no one 587 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:43,239 Speaker 3: can divine, they sell it at a massive loss and 588 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,960 Speaker 3: then boom, they skip down, They leave the country. They ghost, 589 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 3: they skidattle. What happens after the proving chemical attacks? Mason 590 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 3: is certain that they have tested a nuclear device, and 591 00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:00,839 Speaker 3: he also notes the property we did have a high 592 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:05,319 Speaker 3: grade source of uranium. What yeah, right, which is still 593 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,640 Speaker 3: not the same thing as making a bomb. That's very tricky, 594 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,880 Speaker 3: and those guys will get you if you have the 595 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:16,960 Speaker 3: wrong You have the wrong list of things on your 596 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:17,920 Speaker 3: Amazon orders. 597 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,719 Speaker 2: So wait a second, are we saying that potentially a 598 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:26,080 Speaker 2: group of cult members got on this sheep farm because 599 00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:29,319 Speaker 2: it had some uranium underneath it, and then had the 600 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,040 Speaker 2: tools and know it and know how to get the 601 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,200 Speaker 2: uranium out and then somehow make a dirty bomb I 602 00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:36,160 Speaker 2: guess out of it. 603 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:41,320 Speaker 3: They Yeah, I don't think we can say that, okay, 604 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:44,760 Speaker 3: because his history would be really different, and I'm glad 605 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,839 Speaker 3: that we cannot say that. But I think, yeah, we're 606 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 3: doing a little bit of myth busting here because you 607 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,640 Speaker 3: clearly pointed it out right. The tools, the expertise, they're 608 00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 3: not the same thing. It's just knowing where the uranium is, 609 00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:02,200 Speaker 3: so we do so they had the ambition. We do 610 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,480 Speaker 3: know that at least a few high ranking members of 611 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:10,200 Speaker 3: all purposely were there. Like they wrote this down in 612 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:14,880 Speaker 3: notebooks authorities found. They said, this sheep farm, we're buying 613 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,560 Speaker 3: it because it has uranium. We're gonna mind the uranium. 614 00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:22,000 Speaker 2: That's scary and so on. 615 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:24,799 Speaker 3: Yeah. I think we can all agree they already got 616 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:25,360 Speaker 3: too close. 617 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:32,560 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, wow, So I guess everything worked out. 618 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:36,319 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah yeah. Speaking with Weiss later, they have 619 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,800 Speaker 3: a great article on this. A geology professor at Princeton 620 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:43,719 Speaker 3: named doctor Gregory Vandervink. He says this was quote a 621 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,560 Speaker 3: rather unusual seismic recording. Though it was not a nuclear 622 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:51,319 Speaker 3: weapons test, the seismic signal was not characteristic of the 623 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:57,600 Speaker 3: type produced by explosions, So this one geologist, Mason, believed 624 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:03,719 Speaker 3: it was very much nuclear tests. Other scientists, the majority 625 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 3: of other scientists who have looked at this, will maintain 626 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:08,799 Speaker 3: that it was not a nuclear test. But it was 627 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:13,439 Speaker 3: definitely in the car, so it's definitely something that all 628 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:18,120 Speaker 3: members wanted to do to please Asahara weird. 629 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 2: That's so weird, man, that's this strange thing. 630 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,960 Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't like anybody that much. No offense. 631 00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,640 Speaker 2: Well, I do wonder if it could have been an attempt, 632 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:34,439 Speaker 2: if it wasn't an explosive, you know, seismic event, then 633 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,480 Speaker 2: maybe it's not what I'm about to say, but I 634 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:39,680 Speaker 2: can imagine it being an attempt to use dynamite or 635 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,880 Speaker 2: large explosives to get at the uranium, to get to it. 636 00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, especially if you know, if you know, 637 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:51,239 Speaker 3: you have a very small chance of being noticed. Right, Yeah, 638 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:54,000 Speaker 3: that makes sense to me. That does feel like if 639 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:56,520 Speaker 3: it's man made, that feels like the most likely explanation. 640 00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,759 Speaker 3: But it doesn't work out like so many other of 641 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:08,320 Speaker 3: Osahara's ambitions. He is eventually captured in Japan. It's May sixteenth. 642 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:11,040 Speaker 3: He's discovered in a I believe, a hidden room in 643 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:15,240 Speaker 3: an a compound. The world is waiting for the trial. 644 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:19,720 Speaker 3: The trial begins in the next year, on April twenty fourth. 645 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:24,040 Speaker 3: The legal proceedings continue till February twenty seventh, two thousand 646 00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 3: and four. This takes a long time. Yeah. 647 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,439 Speaker 2: Well, part of the big trouble with the trial is 648 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:35,440 Speaker 2: that his mental state was in question throughout the entire trial, 649 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,080 Speaker 2: and it was a big thing about whether or not 650 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:40,600 Speaker 2: this guy could actually stand trial. Is he mentally fit 651 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:44,200 Speaker 2: to even go through these proceedings and be convicted in 652 00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:45,720 Speaker 2: these ways for these things? 653 00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:51,239 Speaker 3: Is he genuinely to the point of decline where he 654 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:55,080 Speaker 3: is nonverbal, or is it performative exactly. 655 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:57,879 Speaker 2: It was a huge thing. You can read all about that. 656 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:02,799 Speaker 2: Just that the trial of his trial, or the tribulations 657 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:04,840 Speaker 2: of his trial, I don't know, whatever, is trying to 658 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:09,279 Speaker 2: go biblical. Yeah, okay, let's take another break. We'll be 659 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:17,520 Speaker 2: right back. Oh, thank goodness, we've returned. Okay. One thing 660 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,279 Speaker 2: to really point out here is that time between the 661 00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:24,680 Speaker 2: attack on March twentieth, and then him finally being apprehended 662 00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:28,000 Speaker 2: on May sixteenth, and the fact that he was on 663 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:32,040 Speaker 2: the compound, the primary headquarters compound, the entire time, at 664 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,600 Speaker 2: least most people think, because when he was discovered he 665 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,920 Speaker 2: was in one of those little Heidi hole places on 666 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,239 Speaker 2: the compound, like a secret room. Yeah, just big enough 667 00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:42,360 Speaker 2: for him and some food. 668 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:48,280 Speaker 3: Apparently, makes wonder how many times they checked it, right, 669 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,239 Speaker 3: and to what extent they checked it and who those 670 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:56,880 Speaker 3: specific authorities were conducting the search, right, No accusation. 671 00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,080 Speaker 2: It's just a long time to be hidden like that. 672 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:05,080 Speaker 3: Observation asking questions, So don't get me jammed up at 673 00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:10,840 Speaker 3: passport control. Yeah, that's a really important point in the trial. 674 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:15,920 Speaker 3: Legal proceedings begin with a reading of the individual names 675 00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:20,000 Speaker 3: three thousand something victims. Right, this is just a horrific 676 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:24,920 Speaker 3: thing to happen. Osahara is spoiler ultimately convicted. He is 677 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:28,480 Speaker 3: sentenced to death. There is an appeal system in the 678 00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:33,799 Speaker 3: Japanese courts, just like in most modern court systems. His 679 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:38,200 Speaker 3: appeals are exhausted. The time limit on them runs out 680 00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:41,640 Speaker 3: of March twenty seventh, two thousand and six. Aside from 681 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:48,319 Speaker 3: Osahara twelve senior All Members are also convicted. They are 682 00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:51,600 Speaker 3: sentenced to death. Right. There are other convictions, but the 683 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:56,240 Speaker 3: thirteen people are sentenced to execution. The very last appeal 684 00:45:56,760 --> 00:46:02,160 Speaker 3: expired in January of twenty eighteen, and so that summer 685 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:07,640 Speaker 3: July twenty eighteen, the notoriously secret of Japanese justice system 686 00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:12,360 Speaker 3: says all of the convicts have been executed. The last 687 00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:16,239 Speaker 3: batch was Asahara and six other all members. They were 688 00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:20,200 Speaker 3: hanged to death on July sixth, and I think off 689 00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:23,440 Speaker 3: air we've discussed this in the past, but we need 690 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:29,640 Speaker 3: to bring it up. The Japanese prison system has some 691 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:34,120 Speaker 3: marked differences to Western prison systems. One of the things 692 00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:38,960 Speaker 3: that surprises people a lot is that if you are 693 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:44,440 Speaker 3: on death row in Japan, it's not uncommon that you 694 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:48,560 Speaker 3: will not know the day of your execution yea one. 695 00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:53,799 Speaker 3: You will live day to day until one day a 696 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:57,239 Speaker 3: prison guard comes to you and says it's time to go. 697 00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:00,200 Speaker 3: Which is a torch sure? 698 00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:06,400 Speaker 2: You know, yeah, for sure. But you know, if you 699 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:08,319 Speaker 2: listen to some of the journalists who were reporting on it, 700 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:12,839 Speaker 2: who were even there at you know, I don't think 701 00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:16,960 Speaker 2: they actually go to the execution in Japan the way 702 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,600 Speaker 2: you know, in America, when there's an execution, it's like 703 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:22,800 Speaker 2: people are invited to it, like it's an event. I 704 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:25,359 Speaker 2: don't know how functions in Japan, but several journalists were 705 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,880 Speaker 2: talking about the people that they knew right who were victims, 706 00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:32,560 Speaker 2: who were loved ones of people who died, just the 707 00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:37,240 Speaker 2: relief that was felt when the people were gone. Yeah, 708 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:41,000 Speaker 2: but it's not as though it stops there, because in 709 00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:45,719 Speaker 2: like two years before the executions in Russia, there were 710 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:49,440 Speaker 2: raids on compounds that were allegedly run by the same 711 00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:53,640 Speaker 2: group by Amshinrikyo, and ten people ended up getting arrested, 712 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:59,160 Speaker 2: and forty four Russians were expelled from other places like 713 00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:05,000 Speaker 2: Montenegro who were being investigated for strange actions, illegal actions 714 00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:08,360 Speaker 2: being taken in other countries, and not just in Russia, 715 00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:14,480 Speaker 2: in lots of places where this group proliferated, and for 716 00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,359 Speaker 2: most accounts, at least for people who are still in 717 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:21,000 Speaker 2: the organization, none of this kind of stuff exists anymore. 718 00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:26,240 Speaker 2: The anti government, anti people, creating weapons that those concepts 719 00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:30,840 Speaker 2: kind of left when the leader was taken away and stopped. 720 00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:34,680 Speaker 2: But it does. I don't know, I can understand why 721 00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:40,840 Speaker 2: it would make law enforcement organizations nervous knowing that the 722 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:42,640 Speaker 2: group is active in your neck of the woods. 723 00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:48,360 Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, And that international piece is vital because again 724 00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:54,160 Speaker 3: Asahara went from predicting natural disasters in Japan to attempting 725 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:59,080 Speaker 3: to enact disasters. But through the twisted logic of the organization, 726 00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:03,120 Speaker 3: to really save the world, you need more mass casualty 727 00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,799 Speaker 3: events outside of Japan's. So this is a very, very 728 00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:09,080 Speaker 3: dangerous thing, right, This is what they would see as 729 00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:16,080 Speaker 3: a holy war. And the point you make about about 730 00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:20,839 Speaker 3: just how fundamentally this rocks authorities in law enforcement, not 731 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:27,120 Speaker 3: just in Japan but the world abroad, it cannot be overstated. Likewise, 732 00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:34,680 Speaker 3: we can't really articulate just how profoundly this affected Japanese society, 733 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:39,839 Speaker 3: this vast international conspiracy going for decades. It rocked the 734 00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:44,600 Speaker 3: perception of new religious movements. It violated understanding of the 735 00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:47,680 Speaker 3: social compact and the sense of safety. This is a 736 00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:51,080 Speaker 3: society that rightly or wrongly, prides itself is one of 737 00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:54,879 Speaker 3: the safest places on the planet. And they fell victim 738 00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:59,839 Speaker 3: not to the foreign hordes that xenophobia often you know 739 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:03,120 Speaker 3: trays as the villains, but instead to an enemy within. 740 00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:08,680 Speaker 3: And the events of those terrible days or decades past now, 741 00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:14,799 Speaker 3: but the shadow, the horror of all remains, you know, 742 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:18,560 Speaker 3: and like you said, it still exists today, the organization 743 00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:22,400 Speaker 3: called ALAPH And maybe we talk a little bit about 744 00:50:22,560 --> 00:50:27,440 Speaker 3: how our friends in the Japanese government approach those folks. 745 00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:32,319 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think it's elf alf or how do 746 00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:32,759 Speaker 2: you spell it? 747 00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:34,440 Speaker 3: Been a L E p H. 748 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:41,040 Speaker 2: There's also one called Hikari Noah, which is a separate organization. 749 00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:43,400 Speaker 3: Mentioned in that documentary, Right, yeah. 750 00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:47,319 Speaker 2: That splintered off again like similar concepts, but without the 751 00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:53,280 Speaker 2: you know, all the leader stuff. These groups still remain, 752 00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,680 Speaker 2: are still allowed to exist, but they are considered, at 753 00:50:56,760 --> 00:51:01,560 Speaker 2: least by Japanese authorities to be dangerous organizations. I think 754 00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:04,439 Speaker 2: that's how they put it, something like a dangerous group 755 00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:09,080 Speaker 2: or dangerous organization. So they are subject to pretty intense 756 00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:12,480 Speaker 2: surveillance and check ins with authorities. 757 00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:16,000 Speaker 3: Right on a routine and thorough basis. And this is 758 00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:20,440 Speaker 3: this occurs even though members of these offshoot groups or 759 00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:25,000 Speaker 3: members of the direct descendant ALIP, even though they are 760 00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:28,040 Speaker 3: often you know, they're not part of the inner circle. Right, 761 00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,319 Speaker 3: they were investigated, there was not really a crime to 762 00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:33,600 Speaker 3: convict them of. They did not participate in the attacks. 763 00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:36,880 Speaker 3: Many will claim they had no knowledge of the terrors 764 00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:42,839 Speaker 3: that Asahara sought on the horizon. But it shows us 765 00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:47,240 Speaker 3: how quickly these groups can coalesce and escalate and function 766 00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:51,520 Speaker 3: in relative open silence before it's too late to react. 767 00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:54,480 Speaker 3: And this is okay, this is another. This is like 768 00:51:54,520 --> 00:51:57,839 Speaker 3: the faith healing moment. I'm cursing so much in this 769 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:02,280 Speaker 3: Holy shit, are we accidentally arguing for a surveillance state? 770 00:52:03,120 --> 00:52:03,640 Speaker 2: Yeah? 771 00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:04,960 Speaker 3: Is that what it gets us too? 772 00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:08,960 Speaker 2: I think that's where're at. Well, here's the problem. The 773 00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:14,720 Speaker 2: lowest level members of the group. Right, we as humans 774 00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:17,440 Speaker 2: are unaware of the small things we do that end 775 00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:22,680 Speaker 2: up aiding a much larger action. Right, So something as 776 00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:27,520 Speaker 2: simple as going to get somebody water. Right, Let's say 777 00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:29,920 Speaker 2: you're a gopher on a film set. Sure, and you're 778 00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:33,000 Speaker 2: the person who goes and gets water for some of 779 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:35,880 Speaker 2: the talent that's on screen. Or you're the person that 780 00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,320 Speaker 2: runs over to the craft services table and gets a 781 00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:40,680 Speaker 2: quick plate for the director because he's he or she's 782 00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:42,160 Speaker 2: too busy to go do that. 783 00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:46,240 Speaker 3: Or you're an intern at a cartel and your only 784 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:47,640 Speaker 3: job is to have snacks. 785 00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:51,440 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but are you're part of the organization. And 786 00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:54,760 Speaker 2: if you don't do your thing, does the thing still happen? Yeah, 787 00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:58,600 Speaker 2: it still happens. But it is strange to imagine all 788 00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:02,480 Speaker 2: of us as time any pieces in whatever complex machine 789 00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:06,759 Speaker 2: we're operating within, right, Yeah, so it is weird to 790 00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:09,680 Speaker 2: imagine it just I would say personally for all of us, like, 791 00:53:09,760 --> 00:53:11,359 Speaker 2: what are the things we do every day that ends 792 00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:15,279 Speaker 2: up enabling something crazy to happen. I don't mean to 793 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:17,040 Speaker 2: put it that way. I'm not saying we're all bad 794 00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:20,680 Speaker 2: doing bad things. I just mean we're all connected in 795 00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:23,560 Speaker 2: every little action that we take in some way in 796 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:25,799 Speaker 2: these in these strange ways. 797 00:53:26,239 --> 00:53:30,759 Speaker 3: And they are connections that the average person has on 798 00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:37,520 Speaker 3: some level willfully chose to ignore, to not investigate too closely, 799 00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:40,720 Speaker 3: because when you turn on the flashlight, you always find 800 00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:43,360 Speaker 3: something that was in the dark. You know that. And 801 00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,440 Speaker 3: I would say further, there's always going to be the 802 00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:52,040 Speaker 3: deep ethical dilemma of, in addition to wilful ignorance, how 803 00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:57,000 Speaker 3: far and how long can you reasonably function in an 804 00:53:57,080 --> 00:54:04,200 Speaker 3: organization like this without knowing there's something terrible afoot? You know, Like, oh, yeah, 805 00:54:04,320 --> 00:54:08,279 Speaker 3: I was in the Snola cartel. My street name was 806 00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:10,960 Speaker 3: snacks because that was my job. I was just supposed 807 00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:13,800 Speaker 3: to have beef jerky. Now, yeah, the guys were intense, 808 00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:16,399 Speaker 3: but I had no idea what they were really doing. 809 00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:21,520 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, well yeah, I mean, you know, I'm just 810 00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:25,640 Speaker 2: imagining that moment when you're completely actually unaware of the 811 00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:28,560 Speaker 2: stuff and you open the wrong door and the compound 812 00:54:28,680 --> 00:54:31,520 Speaker 2: and you see the arsenal of RPGs or something and 813 00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:33,840 Speaker 2: you just kind of slowly close the door and be like, 814 00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:34,560 Speaker 2: all right. 815 00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:40,799 Speaker 3: You're a pa. It's an excellent career opportunity to work 816 00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:44,719 Speaker 3: for Weinstein, right, Oh, how far do you push the envelope, 817 00:54:45,239 --> 00:54:48,239 Speaker 3: especially when in combats when it may contradict your own 818 00:54:48,280 --> 00:54:53,320 Speaker 3: self interest. The biggest thing here for me now, and 819 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:56,760 Speaker 3: I think for a lot of us, is that this constructs, 820 00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:02,600 Speaker 3: this vast conspiracy does can instruct a valid argument for 821 00:55:02,640 --> 00:55:06,160 Speaker 3: a surveillance state. Very uncomfortable with that. Don't know where 822 00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:08,920 Speaker 3: to take it. So glad that we made this a 823 00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:12,800 Speaker 3: two part or big banks, big thanks to Gnomes. We hope, 824 00:55:13,200 --> 00:55:16,319 Speaker 3: we hope this wasn't too terrible. We want to hear 825 00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:21,080 Speaker 3: from you, folks, so please let us know your thoughts. Nomes, 826 00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:22,000 Speaker 3: what we got, what do we. 827 00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:23,880 Speaker 4: Got Yeah, well I've had a great time, not just 828 00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:28,080 Speaker 4: because Matt's my EP obviously, these cults are always so 829 00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:31,200 Speaker 4: interesting to me, and it's truly like, but yeah, what 830 00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:34,560 Speaker 4: y'all were saying about, like the innocuous ways that you 831 00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:38,520 Speaker 4: can be involved, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, 832 00:55:38,719 --> 00:55:39,759 Speaker 4: oh my god, oh my. 833 00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:42,120 Speaker 5: God, that's what it was. Yeah, I would have never 834 00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:43,839 Speaker 5: if I had known that that's what it was, maybe 835 00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:48,960 Speaker 5: I would have turned around. Uh yeah, yeah, I don't know. 836 00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:52,760 Speaker 5: I always find it so interesting and then also scary. 837 00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:54,799 Speaker 2: That's how we feel too. 838 00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:59,960 Speaker 3: Nomes fantastic, So again shout out to our guest souper 839 00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:04,400 Speaker 3: producer for Marathon series, the One and Only Nomes Griffin 840 00:56:04,480 --> 00:56:06,719 Speaker 3: Hey Nomes. While we're at it, I always like to 841 00:56:06,719 --> 00:56:08,600 Speaker 3: ask I always like to ask guests this, and you're 842 00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:11,799 Speaker 3: our VIP guest board tonight. Don't look too closely into 843 00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:14,600 Speaker 3: the doors behind me. Where can people learn more about 844 00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:15,080 Speaker 3: your work? 845 00:56:17,520 --> 00:56:20,320 Speaker 5: Oh that's a great question. You can follow me on Instagram. 846 00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:24,120 Speaker 5: I'm at Nomes. It's like garden Domes, but it's spelled 847 00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:28,640 Speaker 5: different and if you switch the in the M it's 848 00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:31,440 Speaker 5: g n o e ms. The fun thing about being 849 00:56:31,480 --> 00:56:33,279 Speaker 5: trans is that you get to make your own name 850 00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:37,600 Speaker 5: and nobody can fight you on that. So I have 851 00:56:37,640 --> 00:56:43,719 Speaker 5: a fun, whimsical name. I'm on Instagram at nomes. 852 00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:45,960 Speaker 2: Fantastic and Nomes is a huge part of the what 853 00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:49,000 Speaker 2: can we say it, the roller derby community here in Atlanta. 854 00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:52,759 Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, you can see me. Well, this will not 855 00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:56,840 Speaker 5: be out but or this will have happened already. We 856 00:56:56,920 --> 00:56:59,439 Speaker 5: have games on Saturday. I'm playing in two of them. 857 00:56:59,880 --> 00:57:02,240 Speaker 5: I'm looking forward to getting my butt kicked by my friends. 858 00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:10,040 Speaker 3: And in addition, Nomes is an absolute legend amongst our 859 00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:16,240 Speaker 3: cohort of producers, engineers, and your hapless hosts who are 860 00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:19,840 Speaker 3: ending the episode now. While you're on the Internet checking 861 00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:22,640 Speaker 3: out the grams, sip in the social meds, you can 862 00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:27,280 Speaker 3: find us online conspiracy stuff, show conspiracy stuff in the 863 00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:31,800 Speaker 3: places that use an at sign. Look and you will 864 00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:34,720 Speaker 3: find us time after time. You can also call us 865 00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:37,600 Speaker 3: on the phone or send us a good old fashioned email. 866 00:57:37,640 --> 00:57:39,880 Speaker 3: Maybe we do the phone thing. Huh when the last 867 00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:41,560 Speaker 3: time you hopped on a phone. 868 00:57:41,280 --> 00:57:44,560 Speaker 2: Matt Hey, pick up your phone, go to the thing, 869 00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:47,120 Speaker 2: the part of it where you can dial actual numbers, 870 00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:52,680 Speaker 2: and then dial one eight three three, STDWYTK. You got 871 00:57:52,720 --> 00:57:54,400 Speaker 2: to turn the letters into numbers. 872 00:57:54,400 --> 00:57:54,600 Speaker 3: There. 873 00:57:54,640 --> 00:57:56,960 Speaker 2: You'll figure it out when you do call in. You've 874 00:57:57,000 --> 00:57:59,800 Speaker 2: got three minutes. Give yourself a cool nickname and let 875 00:57:59,920 --> 00:58:02,240 Speaker 2: us know if we can use your name and message 876 00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:04,880 Speaker 2: on the air. If you've got more to say, they 877 00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:07,360 Speaker 2: can fit in a three minute voicemail. If you've got links, 878 00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:10,160 Speaker 2: if you've got pictures, if you've got other cool stuff, 879 00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:13,200 Speaker 2: why not instead send us a fax? Oh wait, no, wait, 880 00:58:13,320 --> 00:58:18,200 Speaker 2: that's that's not it. It's an email. We are the. 881 00:58:18,240 --> 00:58:21,000 Speaker 3: Entities that read each piece of correspondence we receive. Be 882 00:58:21,080 --> 00:58:25,160 Speaker 3: well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the void writes back, what 883 00:58:25,200 --> 00:58:27,840 Speaker 3: are we talking about? Join us out here in the 884 00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:48,480 Speaker 3: dark conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com. 885 00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:50,720 Speaker 2: Stuff they don't want you to know is a production 886 00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:55,360 Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 887 00:58:55,440 --> 00:58:58,520 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.