The Uganda Cult Tragedy

Book excerpt: In March 2000, more than 500 members of religious cult, The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, succumbed to a blazing inferno in the remote hills of southwest Uganda. Over the next few days, locals uncovered hundreds of additional bodies in mass graves across the countryside, upping the death count and making it the world's second largest ritual mass suicide. Seeking to shed light on these largely underreported events and the cult psyche in general, this private investigation of the mass graves uncovered in Uganda documents the highly dangerous and rapidly growing cult phenomenon. Through interviews with former cult members, this survey examines the growth of The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, why the cult rooted itself so firmly in Uganda, what it means to be a member of a cult, and how this specific movement passed unnoticed by authorities.