WEBVTT - Season 08 Episode 23: My God, My God

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<v Speaker 1>Please be aware this episode contains scenes of gore and mutilation.

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<v Speaker 1>Parental discretion is advised. For many, the idea of joining

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<v Speaker 1>a cult might seem almost as remote as the prospect

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<v Speaker 1>of going to space. Nonetheless, there is something undeniably magnetic

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<v Speaker 1>about the notion of cults. A testament to our fascination

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<v Speaker 1>with them can be seen in the popularity of cult

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<v Speaker 1>related documentaries and news stories, which we devour with the

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<v Speaker 1>same dark enthusiasm we have for serial killers and true crime.

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<v Speaker 1>Perhaps we feel drawn to them like the way some

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<v Speaker 1>people who, despite being afraid of heights, find themselves drawn

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<v Speaker 1>to the edge of cliffs, not because they fear they

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<v Speaker 1>will fall, but because they fear they might jump. In French,

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<v Speaker 1>they call it lapel d vide, the call of the void.

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<v Speaker 1>I would never join a cult, we might think, congratulating

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<v Speaker 1>ourselves on our own relative lack of gullibility. I would

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<v Speaker 1>never be caught under the spell of a megalomaniac like

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<v Speaker 1>Jim Jones or David Koresh, we casually reassure ourselves. But

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<v Speaker 1>what if submitting to cultish behavior was about more than

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<v Speaker 1>simply following a charismatic leader. What if all it took

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<v Speaker 1>for someone to be considered a member of a cult

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<v Speaker 1>was to unthinkingly submit themselves to prevailing orthodoxy, to something

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<v Speaker 1>we might otherwise take for granted as normal. In Shirley

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<v Speaker 1>Jackson's classic nineteen forty eight horo novella The Lottery, residents

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<v Speaker 1>from an unnamed fictional village in New England practice and

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<v Speaker 1>annual ritual. Despite all other aspects of their existence. Appearing

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<v Speaker 1>friendly and mundane, the ritual betrays a sinister adherence to

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<v Speaker 1>group think at the heart of society. I won't spoil

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<v Speaker 1>the story for anyone who hasn't read it, but needless

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<v Speaker 1>to say it is well worth the read. James Demonico's

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<v Speaker 1>twenty thirteen dystopian thriller The Purge deals with a similar concept,

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<v Speaker 1>as does Robert Hardy's nineteen seventy three folk horror masterpiece

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<v Speaker 1>The wicker Man. What makes the artistic representations of cult

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<v Speaker 1>like behavior such as these so terrifying isn't that we're

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<v Speaker 1>forced to imagine a world in which their scenarios are

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<v Speaker 1>alien or outlandish. On the contrary, each story heightens the

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<v Speaker 1>normalcy of everyday life to emphasize how plausible our collective

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<v Speaker 1>descent into violence actually is, how the maintenance of our

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<v Speaker 1>liberal way of life in the Western world might ultimately

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<v Speaker 1>require it, and how each of us is complicit in

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<v Speaker 1>turning a blind eye to its prevalence. In her twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty one book Cultish, The Language of Fanaticism, American linguist

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<v Speaker 1>Amanda Montell describes the twenty first century utilization of cult

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<v Speaker 1>like language to inspire consumer devotion to everything from multi

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<v Speaker 1>level marketing schemes like Amwaycore, Avon, and Neutralite to fitness

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<v Speaker 1>societies like Soul Cycle, CrossFit, and Peloton. She suggests that

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<v Speaker 1>the prevalence of online communities has facilitated the spread of

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<v Speaker 1>fringe ideas and conspiracy theories like QAnon. What all these

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<v Speaker 1>groups seem to have in common is the promise of

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<v Speaker 1>individual betterment through adherence to an ideology, while frequently perpetrating

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<v Speaker 1>financial manipula on its members at the same time. Ultimately,

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<v Speaker 1>Montell's thesis is that we shouldn't be so quick to

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<v Speaker 1>judge when we hear stories about people's involvement with cults.

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<v Speaker 1>Many of us already adhere to cult like behavior without

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<v Speaker 1>even realizing it, and have the potential to be swindled

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<v Speaker 1>just as comprehensively as anyone else. More alarming is the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that once we've already drunk the cool aid, as

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<v Speaker 1>they say, Montell shows that escalation can lead seamlessly to

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<v Speaker 1>acts of self sabotage, the committing of crimes, and even murder.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes the cult has insinuated itself so completely into the

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<v Speaker 1>life of its subject that it isn't immediately clear whether

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<v Speaker 1>a crime has been committed at all. The line between

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<v Speaker 1>what's acceptable and what constitutes strange or abnormal behavior becomes

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<v Speaker 1>so blurred that the perarameters of reality itself seemed to

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<v Speaker 1>shift and upbraid. For one South Korean man in twenty eleven,

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<v Speaker 1>this lack of clarity appears to have led to one

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<v Speaker 1>of the most baffling acts of self mutilation in recent history.

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith. By

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<v Speaker 1>all accounts, Kim John Bong was a quiet, unassuming man,

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<v Speaker 1>someone who shied away from the trappings of the modern world.

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<v Speaker 1>He worked hard and cared for his family, but always

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<v Speaker 1>seemed to be yearning for something more, as though he

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<v Speaker 1>were waiting for something meaningful to save him from the

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<v Speaker 1>unrelenting grind of life. Something cosmic and world shaking something

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<v Speaker 1>that might write him into history, he hoped. Many Koreans

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<v Speaker 1>of the fifty eight year olds generation, Kim's upbringing was

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<v Speaker 1>marred by political strife and civil unrest. Kim himself was

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<v Speaker 1>born in nineteen fifty three, in the immediate aftermath of

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<v Speaker 1>the Korean War, when the division of the country into

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<v Speaker 1>North and South produced a psychosocial sense of displacement that

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<v Speaker 1>would take years to rectify. Against this backdrop, Kim's childhood

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<v Speaker 1>and early adulthood would have played out under the shadow

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<v Speaker 1>of military coups, presidential assassinations, popular uprisings, and government crackdowns.

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<v Speaker 1>His parentage and schooling would have struggled to cut through

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<v Speaker 1>against all the uncertainty of the future. With so much

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<v Speaker 1>of Korean society up for grabs, the young man's identity

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<v Speaker 1>was ripe for molding by the first source of promise

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<v Speaker 1>to offer him salvation, a clear sighted path out of sad.

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<v Speaker 1>The chaos following the division of the country in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>fifty three, South Korea was a powder cake waiting to

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<v Speaker 1>ignite with the formation of the rigidly totalitarian state to

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<v Speaker 1>the north with its atheistic doctrine, and the more capitalists

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<v Speaker 1>right leaning state to the south, many conservative Christian movements

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<v Speaker 1>fired for influence and control among those who felt confused

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<v Speaker 1>by it all. Out of this turmoil, in nineteen fifty four,

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<v Speaker 1>the Unification Church was established. Its followers became known as

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<v Speaker 1>Mooney's after its founder Sun May Young Moon. Despite its

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<v Speaker 1>somewhat traditional Christian leanings, the church is often referred to

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<v Speaker 1>as being cult like in nature, with between one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty and three hundred thousand members in South Korea today,

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<v Speaker 1>the Moonies are known for their leader's radical claim to

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<v Speaker 1>be the embodiment of the Second Coming of Jesus, as

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<v Speaker 1>well as for their mass wedding ceremonies for him and

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<v Speaker 1>opposition to left leaning ideology, and significant influence over Korean

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<v Speaker 1>business and politics. Kim Junbong would have been a teenager

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<v Speaker 1>during the Mooney's aggressive global expansion in the mid nineteen seventies.

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<v Speaker 1>From what little we know about him, it seems that

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<v Speaker 1>it was during this period in his life that he

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<v Speaker 1>became an active member of the wider Christian community. As

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<v Speaker 1>Kim grew older, married, and settled down, he became involved

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<v Speaker 1>with a number of fringed religious sects. Kim's family became

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<v Speaker 1>deeply concerned about the people he was associating with. One

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<v Speaker 1>such example was sole based Master Jarrok Lee, founder of

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<v Speaker 1>Careers man Mint Central Church. In twenty eighteen, Lee was

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<v Speaker 1>convicted on multiple accounts of sexual assault and rape against

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<v Speaker 1>several members of his own congregation. Like the Moonies, the

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<v Speaker 1>man Min Central Church became notable for its founder's claim

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<v Speaker 1>that he was sinless and exempt from dying. As Kim's

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<v Speaker 1>devotion to this extremist sect deepened, so too did his

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<v Speaker 1>suspicions of any idea to the contrary. Working under the

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<v Speaker 1>apprehension that he was now part of a beleagued minority

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<v Speaker 1>subject to persecution and ridicule, Kim began fervently promoting the faith.

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<v Speaker 1>He started to leave home, sometimes for days or weeks

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<v Speaker 1>on end, supposedly to undertake missionary work, the details of

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<v Speaker 1>which were never made entirely clear to his family. Over time,

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<v Speaker 1>Kimjin Bond's wife and children started to notice that their

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<v Speaker 1>address in Mungjong had become a target for crank phone

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<v Speaker 1>calls and mysterious visitors. When word of their father's involvement

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<v Speaker 1>with the man Min's Central Church spread throughout the community,

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<v Speaker 1>Kim's children were ostracized by their peers at school, but

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<v Speaker 1>all this seemed only to harden Kim's devotion to his

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<v Speaker 1>church and justify his commitment to the cause. Worryingly, what

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<v Speaker 1>Kim's family were not aware of was that their father

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<v Speaker 1>was now regularly volunteering himself for some of the church's

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<v Speaker 1>most extreme missions. Members within the church were hardened to

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<v Speaker 1>have found in Kim a devotee who was so committed

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<v Speaker 1>to their cause that he started to neglect all other

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<v Speaker 1>facets of his life. He seemed uninterested in developing himself professionally.

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<v Speaker 1>He spent days away from home and stop looking. After

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<v Speaker 1>his appearance, his hair grew matted and his beard unkempt,

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<v Speaker 1>and in what his colleagues regarded as his utter abjection

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<v Speaker 1>and self humiliation, he reminded them of a modern day

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<v Speaker 1>Jesus Christ. And then in May twenty eleven, Kim Junpong disappeared.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a clear sunny day in early May twenty eleven.

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<v Speaker 1>Three men are hiking in the mountains near Mugong in

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<v Speaker 1>southern Korea. They're on the hunt for the perfect spot

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<v Speaker 1>to establish a b colony. As they step further and

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<v Speaker 1>further away from the city, the men revel in the

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<v Speaker 1>serenity of the landscape that morning. Something about the Saobak

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<v Speaker 1>Mountains seems to exude an extra note of tranquility. Perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>it's simply the lack of traffic noise, one of the

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<v Speaker 1>men observes. Or perhaps it's the fact that there seems

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<v Speaker 1>to be so little noise of any kind, neither insect

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<v Speaker 1>nor animal, which was odd given the vast array of

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<v Speaker 1>vegetation surrounding them. The men trudge on and soon arrive

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<v Speaker 1>at the edge of an abandoned granite quarry. One of

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<v Speaker 1>the men has brought a flask of coffee and suggests

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<v Speaker 1>they stop for a break before continuing on their journey.

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<v Speaker 1>They head down a steep pathway for a short while

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<v Speaker 1>until they spot the perfect outcrop of rocks to set

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<v Speaker 1>down their packs. One of the men talks excitedly about

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<v Speaker 1>the recent trip he took with his church group to Japan.

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<v Speaker 1>Then he suddenly notices that the other two aren't listening

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<v Speaker 1>to him. Both have stopped dead in their tracks. Aren't

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<v Speaker 1>you coming, he says, not stopping for coffee, The man's

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<v Speaker 1>companions say nothing. Transfixed by something in the middle distance,

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<v Speaker 1>he follows their gaze toward the outcrop, where he then

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<v Speaker 1>seeks what appears to be three large crucifixes that have

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<v Speaker 1>been erected on a rocky plinth. Drawing closer, he pushes

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<v Speaker 1>aside the branches of a laurel tree to get a

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<v Speaker 1>closer look. Given the remote location and mountainous to Reign,

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<v Speaker 1>he couldn't help thinking that the Bazaarre scene before him

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<v Speaker 1>reminded him of Christ's final resting place at Calvary. Remembering

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<v Speaker 1>that he has brought his small leather bound copy of

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<v Speaker 1>the King James Bible, he flips it to Matthew chapter

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<v Speaker 1>twenty seven, verse forty five. Then he reads it aloud,

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<v Speaker 1>and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a

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<v Speaker 1>loud voice, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

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<v Speaker 1>Then one of the other men points toward the cross

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle. Only then did the first man appear

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<v Speaker 1>to notice the strange effigy that had been placed on it.

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<v Speaker 1>As the three men draw closer to the middle cross,

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<v Speaker 1>they hear the sound of buzzing. The place is teeming

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<v Speaker 1>with flies because it isn't an effigy that has been

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<v Speaker 1>placed on the cross, it's the body of a man

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<v Speaker 1>that appears to have been crucified. The smell hits them first,

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<v Speaker 1>the warm, putrid meat stench of death and day's old

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<v Speaker 1>human waste. One of the men recoils and vomits on

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<v Speaker 1>the ground. Another, all color drained from his cheeks, begins

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<v Speaker 1>to babble incoherently to himself. He points meekly toward one

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<v Speaker 1>of the figures hands. It's been bound with rope and

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<v Speaker 1>nailed through the wood. There's blood, he manages, almost in

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<v Speaker 1>a whisper. Up close, they can now see the dark

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<v Speaker 1>brown streak caked into the grain of the crucifix's crossbeam,

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<v Speaker 1>and the crown of thorns on the dead man's head

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<v Speaker 1>that dig into the flesh. At the top of his skull,

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<v Speaker 1>A thick black puddle of congealed blood as formed around

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<v Speaker 1>the cross's base. Strikingly, the man is dressed modestly as

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<v Speaker 1>Jesus had been, in a makeshift loincloth, with his hands

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<v Speaker 1>and feet bound tightly to the wood. One large casing

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<v Speaker 1>nail has been driven through both feet, and there was

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<v Speaker 1>a nail driven through the palm of both hands. As

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<v Speaker 1>he looks upon the terrible scene, the Christian among the

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<v Speaker 1>men can't help remembering how the chapter from Matthew finished

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<v Speaker 1>when it became clear to all who were present that

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<v Speaker 1>the life of their Lord Jesus had finally expired. He

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<v Speaker 1>recites it out loud, so when the centurion and those

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<v Speaker 1>with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and

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<v Speaker 1>the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, truly,

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<v Speaker 1>this was the son of God. When police arrive later,

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<v Speaker 1>more details come to light. The full bulk of the

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<v Speaker 1>dead man's weight is held in place by two crudely

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<v Speaker 1>fastened pieces of plywood, while the tools that were used

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<v Speaker 1>to construct the crucifix and crucify the man have been

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<v Speaker 1>left at the base of the pedestal. The man's car

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<v Speaker 1>is found in a layby leading up to the site.

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<v Speaker 1>The police trace it back to its owner, and from

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<v Speaker 1>there the dead man's identify is confirmed. It was, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>Kim Jun Bong. After an extensive investigation, the police concluded

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<v Speaker 1>incredibly that Kim Jen Bong had apparently acted alone, much

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<v Speaker 1>to the astonishment of his family and anyone else. Following

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<v Speaker 1>the story on the news, many voiced their concern that

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<v Speaker 1>it would have been simply impossible for Kim to carry

0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:41.520
<v Speaker 1>out the operation by himself. The logistics alone were enough

0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:47.160
<v Speaker 1>to confuse anyone. Questions began to be asked about how

0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.199
<v Speaker 1>someone could physically withstand the pain of such a procedure,

0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.040
<v Speaker 1>but also how had he been able to nail one

0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.679
<v Speaker 1>hand at the crossbeam before nailing the other without a

0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:03.160
<v Speaker 1>hand to hold. Then, in order to nail both feet

0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.359
<v Speaker 1>to the cross, Kim would have needed to hammer the

0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:10.800
<v Speaker 1>nail through the bones of both feet without passing out.

0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.080
<v Speaker 1>There was little to no evidence of painkillers in his system,

0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.760
<v Speaker 1>and the rapid advancement of blood loss from his wounds

0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.000
<v Speaker 1>would have meant that Kim would likely have needed to

0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:28.720
<v Speaker 1>complete the act while simultaneously losing consciousness. Either way, if

0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.720
<v Speaker 1>Kim had managed to crucify himself, it would have required

0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:39.480
<v Speaker 1>superhuman levels of strength and endurance. Then something new came

0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.720
<v Speaker 1>to light. Kim had been in communication with one of

0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.560
<v Speaker 1>his church's senior clerics in the days and weeks leading

0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:51.800
<v Speaker 1>up to his death. He outlined a desire to emulate

0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:56.840
<v Speaker 1>his Lord and savior, Jesus Christ by making the ultimate sacrifice.

0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.360
<v Speaker 1>He seemed to suggest also that a real life crucifixion

0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.840
<v Speaker 1>would send a message that would be hard for society

0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:09.240
<v Speaker 1>to ignore and that if that was what it would take,

0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.320
<v Speaker 1>he could be the man to do it. But the

0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:24.440
<v Speaker 1>question remains did he do it alone? Not only did

0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.480
<v Speaker 1>the senior cleric that Kim jn Bong had been in

0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.960
<v Speaker 1>contact with not to do anything to prevent him from

0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:34.960
<v Speaker 1>carrying out his ambition, something was about to emerge that

0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:40.320
<v Speaker 1>turns the entire case on its head, because, as it happens,

0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:44.159
<v Speaker 1>this senior cleric was one of the three men that

0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:48.520
<v Speaker 1>discovered the body, the one with all those Matthew quotes

0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:54.399
<v Speaker 1>readily to hand. Perhaps he had genuinely been stunned to

0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:59.080
<v Speaker 1>come across the body, or perhaps he had smiled radiantly

0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:03.359
<v Speaker 1>at the thought thought of his disciples ultimate sacrifice and

0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.959
<v Speaker 1>the tacit power of his own guiding hand that had

0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:14.240
<v Speaker 1>led him to that shocking end. We will likely never know. Surprisingly,

0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:21.280
<v Speaker 1>Kimjn Bond's gruesome act didn't remotely discourage his compatriots. In fact,

0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.879
<v Speaker 1>he came to be regarded as a martyr within his sect.

0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.000
<v Speaker 1>His example inspired others in the group to continue his

0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:33.119
<v Speaker 1>faith spreading mission and served for them as just further

0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:38.119
<v Speaker 1>evidence of their own persecution. His death was viewed as

0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:43.800
<v Speaker 1>a necessary, albeit extreme method of spreading Christ's teachings, and

0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.280
<v Speaker 1>the attention it drew to their cause likely served as

0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:53.480
<v Speaker 1>encouragement to inspire new recruits. Since Kim's death, there have

0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:58.120
<v Speaker 1>been a number of commemorations and memorials established by devotees

0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:04.080
<v Speaker 1>of his faith, including staffatues, plaques, and annual events. Like

0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:08.600
<v Speaker 1>other modern day Christian martyrs Ireland's Matt Talbot in nineteen

0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:14.960
<v Speaker 1>twenty five Matthew Iaiga in twenty fifteen, his asceticism serves

0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:19.080
<v Speaker 1>as a stark counterpoint to the frivolities of modern life,

0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:23.280
<v Speaker 1>offering an alternative vision of what it means to give

0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.800
<v Speaker 1>oneself wholly to a faith, regardless of what society at

0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:39.600
<v Speaker 1>large dictates. The opportunity to somehow escape or better yet,

0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:44.240
<v Speaker 1>transcend modern life are essential to the appeal of the cult.

0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.800
<v Speaker 1>The rejection of modernity in favor of so called traditional

0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:53.679
<v Speaker 1>values like self sacrifice and humility are often used to

0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:58.879
<v Speaker 1>justify the cult's existence. This, in turn, must be safeguarded

0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:03.879
<v Speaker 1>from outside corrupt, meaning members are encouraged to gradually shut

0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:09.080
<v Speaker 1>themselves off from anything that threatens these ideals, from family

0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:13.040
<v Speaker 1>and friends to the concept of their social standing and

0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:18.479
<v Speaker 1>even their entire sense of self. The growth of mass

0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:22.480
<v Speaker 1>media appears to play a significant role in modern day cults,

0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:27.920
<v Speaker 1>first the newspaper, then radio and television, and now the Internet.

0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.919
<v Speaker 1>It is perhaps no accident that with the further atomisation

0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:37.240
<v Speaker 1>of the so called civilized world, many people have started

0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:41.159
<v Speaker 1>to seek more radical alternatives to the pressures of information

0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:48.840
<v Speaker 1>overloadd and personal attainment. And with atomisation comes alienation. Though

0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.399
<v Speaker 1>you may well have found your tribe, for many, modern

0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.040
<v Speaker 1>life is an unceasing grind, in which we are continually

0:22:56.119 --> 0:23:01.359
<v Speaker 1>surrounded by people, be they are colleagues, fellow mutas, or

0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:04.240
<v Speaker 1>the hundreds of people that might read your socials on

0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:08.080
<v Speaker 1>any given day. And yet how many of these people

0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:12.639
<v Speaker 1>do we actually have a meaningful connection to. It is

0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:17.400
<v Speaker 1>little wonder that movements like Heaven's Gate, the People's Temple,

0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:22.360
<v Speaker 1>Agricultural Project better known as Jonestown, or even the Islamic

0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:26.359
<v Speaker 1>State of Iraq and the Levant or Isilfa short have

0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:31.440
<v Speaker 1>proliferated the way they have. Why they often fall apart, however,

0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:35.400
<v Speaker 1>is because more often than not, they center around one

0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:39.560
<v Speaker 1>singular figure, as earth bound and human as anyone else,

0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:43.760
<v Speaker 1>and often not quite as without ego as they might

0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.840
<v Speaker 1>like you to believe. One example of this would be

0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:52.400
<v Speaker 1>Charles Manson, of course, whose so called family committed murder

0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:56.560
<v Speaker 1>during the late nineteen sixties, but the Asia Pacific region

0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:01.960
<v Speaker 1>is not without its parallels. The twentieth of March nineteen

0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:05.960
<v Speaker 1>ninety five, a group known as I Am Shinyiko or

0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:10.400
<v Speaker 1>ALEF for short, committed the worst act of Japanese domestic

0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:14.560
<v Speaker 1>terrorism in the country's history when they killed fourteen people

0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:18.440
<v Speaker 1>and injured over one thousand others on the Tokyo Subway.

0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:23.800
<v Speaker 1>The incident became known as the Saren gas attack after

0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:28.040
<v Speaker 1>members from the group dropped two newspaper packages laced with

0:24:28.119 --> 0:24:31.480
<v Speaker 1>the deadly nerve agent on the busy Chioda line of

0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:36.000
<v Speaker 1>the city's underground. Their hope was that it would start

0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:40.040
<v Speaker 1>a war, from which they believed armageddon would come, and

0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:43.520
<v Speaker 1>with that a cleansing of the entire world to start

0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:49.560
<v Speaker 1>anew als. Leaders were caught and eventually brought to justice,

0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:54.200
<v Speaker 1>but much like Kim Jin Bong, their example inspired as

0:24:54.280 --> 0:24:59.320
<v Speaker 1>much as it horrified. Numerous copycat incidents have been foiled

0:24:59.320 --> 0:25:02.560
<v Speaker 1>by police in the years since, and the group's core

0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:07.000
<v Speaker 1>message continues to spread in the darker corners of the Internet.

0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:14.119
<v Speaker 1>It's tempting to dismiss Aleph's acolytes as deluded drones, or

0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:18.040
<v Speaker 1>the members of Heaven's Gate as gullible fools for truly

0:25:18.119 --> 0:25:22.959
<v Speaker 1>believing as they did that an alien spaceship hiding behind

0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:26.080
<v Speaker 1>the hail Bob Comet would take their souls to a

0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:30.919
<v Speaker 1>better place as long as they ended their own lives first.

0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:35.920
<v Speaker 1>We might look upon these and other examples of cults

0:25:36.280 --> 0:25:40.399
<v Speaker 1>as warnings about the danger of Messiah figures who seemed

0:25:40.480 --> 0:25:44.760
<v Speaker 1>to offer easy solutions to all the travails and complexities

0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:49.919
<v Speaker 1>of the modern world. But perhaps more than anything, what

0:25:50.040 --> 0:25:54.639
<v Speaker 1>the success of these cults demonstrate is simply the power

0:25:54.800 --> 0:25:58.639
<v Speaker 1>of a good story. So if we don't like the

0:25:58.720 --> 0:26:02.919
<v Speaker 1>stories that others telling, and we're tired of watching people

0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:07.159
<v Speaker 1>for for them, perhaps the only real solution is to

0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:16.479
<v Speaker 1>come up with a better one. This episode was written

0:26:16.560 --> 0:26:21.159
<v Speaker 1>by James Connor Patterson and Richard McLain Smith. James as

0:26:21.200 --> 0:26:24.800
<v Speaker 1>a brilliant writer and poet. His debut collection of poems

0:26:25.000 --> 0:26:28.920
<v Speaker 1>titled Bandit Country, Exploring the hinterland between the North of

0:26:28.960 --> 0:26:33.080
<v Speaker 1>Ireland and Republic, was shortlisted for the twenty twenty two T. S.

0:26:33.160 --> 0:26:36.320
<v Speaker 1>Eliot Prize and is out now to buy. Do check

0:26:36.359 --> 0:26:39.920
<v Speaker 1>it out. Thank you as ever for listening to the show.

0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:43.199
<v Speaker 1>Please subscribe and rate it if you haven't already done so.

0:26:43.840 --> 0:26:46.480
<v Speaker 1>You can also now find us on TikTok at TikTok

0:26:46.520 --> 0:26:50.600
<v Speaker 1>dot com. Forward Slash at Unexplained Podcast. Unexplained as an

0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:55.680
<v Speaker 1>Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard McClain Smith. All

0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:59.080
<v Speaker 1>other elements of the podcast, including the music, were also

0:26:59.160 --> 0:27:03.560
<v Speaker 1>produced by me Richard McLean Smith. Unexplained. The book and

0:27:03.640 --> 0:27:07.920
<v Speaker 1>audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase

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<v Speaker 1>from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Please

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<v Speaker 1>subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts,

0:27:16.960 --> 0:27:19.280
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0:27:19.359 --> 0:27:22.560
<v Speaker 1>or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show.

0:27:22.840 --> 0:27:25.280
<v Speaker 1>Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like

0:27:25.320 --> 0:27:28.960
<v Speaker 1>to share. You can find out more at Unexplained podcast

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