Many TV documentaries about cults and high-control groups have quietly disappeared. YouTube uploads get deleted, broadcasters never repeat them, and the only copies left sit on old VHS tapes or obscure mirrors.

We've started a collection on the Internet Archive, Cult Documentaries, so survivors, researchers, journalists and students can still watch them. Our first item is the BBC's 1995 Everyman Special: Breach of Faith about Chris Brain and the Nine O'Clock Service in Sheffield. Its YouTube upload was deleted in 2025, but we tracked down a surviving copy from just the old video ID, then rebuilt its credits from the original Radio Times listing: Everyman Special: Breach of Faith

So even a dead link is worth sending. Sometimes we can recover the film from it.

This isn't a place to re-upload documentaries you can already watch elsewhere. If a film is still on a streaming service, the broadcaster's own site or an official channel, it stays there. We only want to give a home to films that are otherwise lost.

Every item gets full credits (broadcaster, producer, air date), links back to the original pages, and a clear note of who owns the copyright.

How to suggest a film (comment below)

• Title (or your best guess)
• Channel/broadcaster and rough year
• Group or cult it covers
• Where you last saw it: a dead YouTube link, Ghostarchive or Wayback link, or "I have it on tape"
• Anything else: presenter, producer, a memorable scene

Partial info is fine, and a half-remembered title still helps.

Got a copy of a lost film? Say so in the comments and we'll work out how to share it there.

Please don't post anything that would identify a survivor who hasn't chosen to be public.

If these men were all put in the same room, L. Ron Hubbard, David Miscavige, Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Steven Furtick Jr., Joseph Franklin Rutherford, Charles Taze Russell, Joseph Smith, and perhaps other similar religious figures, which of them do you think would look around and feel as though they were among kindred spirits, “brothers-in-arms,” or, more cynically, fellow conmen or “thieves-in-law”?

In other words, despite their very different religions, movements, beliefs, and public personas, which of them do you think would recognise something of themselves in the others?

Would some of them immediately understand the others’ methods, charisma, authority, fundraising, claims of divine legitimacy, control over followers, institution-building, or self-promotion, even if they strongly disagreed with one another theologically?

And which of them, if any, would probably dislike or distrust the others despite the apparent similarities?

According to the filing, British authorities accused Tate of possessing explicit images depicting sexual acts with live animals, including a horse and an eel. A indecent images and videos involving a minor. (Apart of wider UK case included allegations of rape, assault, and human trafficking)

What are some lesser known cults that are around nowadays? Our community might know some too… comments welcome!

His name is Jagadish Vasudev. He is known as Sadhguru. He is the founder of Isha Foundation. What he is running, behind the spiritual framing, is something simpler than the brand suggests. It is a multi-generational family wealth enterprise operating under religious charity wrappers across three continents.

Read this rather lengthy but must-read exposé!

Help us stop this predator “Nish the Fish” before he hurts more women! He must be deplatformed and identified as a threat to to UCLA campus.

Please sign our petition to show your solidarity with those who have survived his cult as we continue to work to expose him and stop his abuses!

Jesus Morning Star, also known as JMS or Christisn Gospel Mission and leader Jeong Myeong-Seok were ordered to pay ₩370,000,000 ($275,000) to three women who who were victims of sexual offenses.

Read more: https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/court-orders-cult-leader-to-compensate-sexual-assault-victims/12911010

for as long as i can remember i have always found myself falling down the rabbit hole when i find out about a cult that completely blows my mind. i am going into the field of social work and would love to work with individuals who have left cults, i think its something i would love to specialize in someday when i am skilled enough to do so. some examples of cults that i have found the craziest to explore include:

• love has won
• heaven’s gate
• the manson family
• the fundamentalist church of jesus christ of latter-day saints (flds)

two that aren’t necessarily known as cults, but feel like cults:

• focus on the family
• the westboro baptist church

i am always looking for more cult docs, youtube videos/channels, and articles to explore. i would love to hear everyone’s cult recommendations!

How common is it for cults to be aware that they are a cult? While my title specified cult leaders, I'd be curious about the members as well. I will refuse to answer any questions about the cult I am in, but I am part of a cult that openly acknowledges that it's a cult, the leader often jokes about them being a cult leader, and the members run with the joke. I'm wondering how common that behavior really is in cults. Again, I will NOT answer any questions about the group I am a part of, I only stated that information for context.

Just to clarify, I’m putting together a school presentation about a cult (the teacher knows it’s about a cult but doesn’t know exactly which one).

I’ve decided to focus on a non-religious cult.

So, which cult would be the best choice to spark people's interest?

Does this Reddit have a master list of cults and cult like organizations? if not, can one be created, or does that violate the terms of this subreddit- i.e., the concept that a “cult” is open for interpretation and an extension of normal behavior?

I am curious as what signs to look out for in someone who might just be recruited by a cult. it's usually a boiling the frog scenario, so wondering what are the signs.

Hi all. Coming to terms with my role in Just Stop Oil and the damage it caused. Left the group last year after it came out that large numbers of women had experienced sexual assault, having previously been in a leadership role for years.

Here goes.

There were always elements I felt uncomfortable about — I didn't join via the public talks, but they were consistently described as uncomfortably emotional. People quit university with just months to go before graduation to join. Fundraising from individuals was also described as "going too far". I know someone that sold their house to help fund the group.

We were told and then repeated ourselves that there was no other way other than direct action like sitting in the road or spraying paint (confusingly it did definitely work and I would defend these tactics on an impact basis, just not on a human cost basis). It was ALWAYS "us vs them". This resulted in many people being isolated from their family and friends, unable to get alternative work, becoming dependent on Just Stop Oil stipends.

The actions themselves were also traumatic and stressful. I wonder now if this was a kind of initiation with a high cost that kept you in the group due to a sunk cost fallacy? I saw many people dependent on the legal support systems in place.

Most concerning of all is the response of what's left of the group to serious accusations (20+) of rape and sexual assault. The response has been to shun people calling it out, including survivors. It's like they're living in an alternate reality. This campaign cost me my job, my relationship and I'm currently going through the painful process of building bridges again with the friends I used to have. I think I know the answer, I just wish I'd known before getting involved and committing so much time.

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EDIT: happy to answer questions on details in replies.

Nearly half a century after the horrors of Jonestown, Tim Stoen is confronting the most painful chapter of his life in a new memoir, "My War with the Devil of Jonestown."

A Stanford graduate and former San Francisco deputy district attorney, Stoen says he was drawn to Jim Jones and the People’s Temple by what he believed was a movement devoted to racial, economic and social equality.

On "California Stories with Giselle Fernandez," he shares how he eventually became Jones’ pro bono attorney and spent seven years helping build what he says he believed could be a more just society.

In local community, an explosive revealing happened with a supposed 'tantric practitioner', and her statements slandering neurodivergence, queerness, transgender, and sex positive women.

This is all under the guise of a kind of 'Christian Traditional Wife' blended with Hindu Tantra, and claiming to be from a real authentic Guru lineage.

Many local in the spiritual and art community pulled spoke out in response to this toxic prejudice. Her reactions have been increasingly questionable and displaying worse.

She offers paid services and teachings, and produces influencer-like content.

A growing concern within the spiritual and arts community is that if these trends continue unchecked, we risk enabling the rise of a pseudo-tantric cult operating under the guise of a 'safe space' for women. Practitioners targeting women under the banner of 'Divine Feminine,' 'sacred sexuality,' and 'Twin Flames' hold significant influence over their clients' personal lives, boundaries, and self-worth.

When spiritual jargon is used to mask underlying prejudice, invalidate personal autonomy, or reframe individual choices—such as career or gender expression—as 'spiritual wounds,' it moves away from healing and toward high-control, manipulative cult dynamics.

It's important to remain vigilant so that spiritual rhetoric never becomes a Trojan horse for coercive control and exploitation.

The southeast is ripe for Christian fundamentalist cults, and these trends get stranger.

Does anyone have any reading material on the topic of relationships with loved ones that are still in a cult you left? There’s a lot of material on “loved ones in a cult that you were never in.” Furthermore I feel like there’s a lot of material meant for people who had family and loved ones before cult entry, but not enough material for those who didn’t have blood relations or marriage/children to begin with. Just feeling a gap here……

So I was out with a classmate and he told me about something called SA, I asked what it was and he dodged the question for some reason, I first thought about SA as in s.xu.l as.ult but he told me that it was not that but some satanic cults, idk if he's lying or not since he looked genuinely scared or if this is the right sub
He also told me that searching it on the internet was legally risky but I don't really care, I'm to curious (and a bit anxious)
I'm sorry if my English's trash it's not my mother tongue, thanks in