Plot Synopsis

Using archival footage and interviews with cult experts and former cult members, CULT OF PERSONALITY is a series of one-hour specials that reveal the story behind deadly cults. Each program focuses on a different cult, including:

"Jonestown" (Friday, August 7, 2020): He told his people that they would live in an idyllic paradise and his name was Jim Jones a charismatic but tyrannical preacher who led more than 900 followers to their deaths in the remote commune of Jonestown Guyana. During the late 1960s a generation of Americans rebelled against conservative values and called for the end of the war in Vietnam and racial segregation while promoting free love and a more egalitarian society. Jones was a charismatic preacher who embraced this struggle by founding a Christian commune based on socialism and multicultural principles. Its members are willing to sacrifice their money, time and liberties for the cause. The Temple's growth and its social justice work bring Jones notoriety as a civil rights activist but the dark side of Jones' personality had him manipulating followers and abusing them verbally, physically and sexually. Jones moved 1,000 members of his commune to the Guyanese jungle convincing them of a promised land. But as soon as they arrive the reality is beyond their leader's promises and that his declining mental state has him ruling the commune with an iron fist. When U.S. congressman Leo Ryan demands to visit Jonestown along with a group of concerned relatives of Jones' followers he is murdered by the Jones' henchmen. A few hours later after manipulating more than 900 of his followers to commit a revolutionary mass murder-suicide Jones would shoot himself. In this episode hear the powerful testimonials of Jonestown survivors Yulanda Williams, Vernon Gosney and Leslie Wilson complemented with the extensive research of award winning author and journalist Julia Scheeres.

"Charles Manson" (Friday, August 14, 2020): On August 9, 1969 America woke up in shock with the news of the murder of actress Sharon Tate who was eight months pregnant from her husband and director Roman Polansky. In the gruesome crime scene authorities would find the bodies of four other victims and the word "pig" written using Tate's blood. The following morning not far from Tate's home in Los Angeles the bodies of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca couple are found slaughtered. Some months latter Susan Atkins confesses she and other members of a hippie commune living on a ranch isolated in the California desert committed the murders. She claimed that they followed the instructions of their leader Charles Manson who ordered them to trigger a race war. What kind of man would lead people to commit such atrocities? In this episode viewers will see the story behind the small but deadly cult of Charles Manson as told by former members Dianne "Snake" Lake and Catherine "Gipsy" Share, as well as AESOP, a musician and movie maker who followed the Manson family in their final years complemented by the expertise of cult specialist Rick Ross and author Deborah Herman.

"David Koresh" (Friday, August 21, 2020): David Koresh was the so-called Sinful Messiah Of Waco Texas who prepared his followers for a battle with the federal government but also slept with whoever he chose including young girls. It is the early '90s when Koresh with his rock star good looks and charisma rises to the top of a religious sect one that is already preparing for the end of the world. By the time the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms show up to investigate claims of illegal arms sales his followers are fully prepared to make a last stand. Whether that means fighting a gun battle, holding out in a siege or starting a blazing inferno Koresh's followers will stay true to the last moment. But what kind of person inspires this kind of fanatical devotion? In this episode viewers will see the rise and fall of David Koresh with insight form law enforcement professionals who were there at the time, an expert on cults and deprogramming and one of the few survivors in Graeme Craddock. Now more than 25 years later the tragic events that took place on a ranch a few miles out of Waco spawned endless conspiracy theories and even played a role in motivating the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

"Warren Jeffs" (Friday, August 28, 2020): At the border of Utah and Arizona a remote theocratic community has been thriving for decades. They live in full obedience to a spiritual leader whom they believe to be ordained by God. His name is Warren Jeffs the Prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints. On a quiet summer night Flora Jessup is on a dangerous mission: to rescue two teenage girls who are trying to flee this same religious community that she escaped years before. Having its stronghold in the twin towns of Hildale Utah and Colorado City Arizona the Fundamentalists are a splinter group from the Mormon Church who strive to preserve the polygamist practices abandoned by the original movement. Its members live under strict religious rules dictated by polygamist Prophet Warren Jeffs a manipulative and tyrannical leader who rules over his congregation from their properties to work and even who they can marry which includes teenage and child brides that Jeffs occasionally takes for himself. Disobeying the will of the prophet is like disobeying a direct commandment of God and punishment is harsh. Jeffs would be arrested and given a life sentence for the sexual abuse of minors. Viewers will hear from cult experts, researchers, award winning journalists and former congregation members Flora Jessop and Brielle Dekker who was Jeffs' 65th wife. Even from behind bars Jeffs continues to send orders to those who keep loyal to him and blindly believe that it is God's will to obey him.