This is a cult directory of cults and high-control groups, built to help you look a group up, understand how it operates and decide for yourself. Each profile lists what the group teaches, how it is organized, what former members and researchers have reported, and which sources support each claim. We describe groups by their behavior using published criteria such as the BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control), not by their beliefs. A cult is a group that uses undue control over its members. Many groups sit on a spectrum, so we call this a directory of high-control groups where that is the more accurate term. Browse the list of cults below or use the search box.
Answer a short set of questions about the group's behavior and see how it compares with the warning signs researchers use.
Browse 13 profiles. Filter by type, country or status, or jump to a letter.
An intensive 60-hour, two-weekend Large Group Awareness Training founded by Werner Erhard in 1971 that blended Zen non-duality, cybernetics, existentialism, and encounter-group confrontation to produce rapid cognitive reframing among 700,000+ graduates.
A closed, self-contained fundamentalist Christian commune of roughly 600 residents in New Zealand's remote Haupiri Valley, founded by convicted sex offender Neville Cooper ('Hopeful Christian') and characterized by zero private property, arranged marriages, child labor, and total geographic and informational isolation.
An avant-garde internet art collective and decentralized NFT subculture founded in 2021 that explicitly weaponizes 'network spirituality', hyperstition, and ironic cult aesthetics to generate high-cohesion pseudonymous swarm behavior across social platforms.
A multi-level corporate executive coaching company that evolved into an insular hierarchical high-demand group, featuring systematic behavioral monitoring, sleep disruption, and collateral-enforced loyalty structures.
A San Francisco-founded sexual wellness and mindfulness company built around 'Orgasmic Meditation' (OM) that marketed female empowerment to affluent urban professionals while operating an internal high-control sales and residential matrix resulting in federal forced-labor convictions.
An official personal prelature of the Catholic Church focused on sanctifying secular profession, recognized for disciplined spiritual direction, corporate mortification, and significant presence across civil governance.
A South Korean new religious movement founded in 1980 by Jung Myung-seok that targets high-achieving college students globally through secular campus sports, arts, and modeling front clubs, using a staged 30-lesson theology to normalize systemic sexual exploitation under the guise of messianic purification.
A decentralized, crowdsourced digital millenarian phenomenon characterized by collaborative cryptic interpretation ('baking drops'), apocalyptic dualism, and algorithmically reinforced epistemic closure across social media.
A South Korean apocalyptic movement founded in 1984 by Lee Man-hee ('The Promised Pastor') that relies on systematic covert proselytization—using planted undercover 'Leafs', 6-month 'blind' Bible centers, and a formal 'theology of lying' (Mosa) that conceals the church's identity until cognitive conversion is complete.
Founded in 1958 by Charles Dederich as a groundbreaking peer-led drug rehabilitation program, Synanon evolved into a violent totalitarian commune and self-declared church that pioneered 'The Game' (attack therapy), forced vasectomies, mandatory partner-swapping, and paramilitary terror.
A secular, conspiratorial political organization founded by Lyndon LaRouche in 1968 that evolved from a New Left student faction into a syncretic far-right ideological sect utilizing 'ego-stripping' psychotherapy, 16-hour phone-bank fundraising quotas, and apocalyptic intelligence narratives.
An ancient Roman mystery religion popular among legions and merchants, distinguished by subterranean temple sanctuaries, a strict seven-grade initiatory hierarchy, sacred communal banquets, and esoteric cosmic oaths.
An online New Age relationship coaching enterprise and self-declared 'Church of Union' founded by Jeff and Shaleia Ayan that exploits romantic loneliness through closed Facebook forums, high-cost Zoom classes, 'Mirror Exercise' self-blame, and assigned 'Twin Flame' pairings.
Explore profiles grouped by how the organization operates and recruits.
New religious movements, apostolic revivals and charismatic groups.
Large group awareness trainings, multi-level marketing and high-ticket coaching communities.
Movements that demand total loyalty to a cause or leader.
Internet groups with shared rituals, language and leaders.
Groups that share living space, money and daily routine.
Mystery schools, secret societies and earlier movements.
Groups with documented isolation, leverage over members or criminal convictions.
We list a group when credible sources document patterns of control, such as limiting contact with outsiders, discouraging doubt, or demanding more time, money or loyalty over time. We assess groups against the same published criteria, show the evidence and cite every claim. Being in this directory is not a legal finding. Groups can respond or request corrections through our contact page (info@cults.page).
Read our full method →Common warning signs researchers describe:
If you or someone you care about is involved in a high-control group, you are not alone. Read our guide on how to leave a cult or how to help a loved one in a cult, and find support and recovery resources.
Direct, sourced answers to common questions about cults, high-control groups, and the BITE model.
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