6. Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese doomsday cult led by Shogo Asahara. It operated under the front of being a yoga-style organization, and its teachings were a conglomeration of Buddhist, Hindu, and apocalyptic beliefs. However, the message preached by Asahara was that anyone outside of the cult was doomed to go to hell. The only way for them to be saved was to be killed by members of Aum Shinrikyo, thereby elevating them to a higher spiritual state. The group operated its own research and development center, where its members amassed firearms and prepared chemical weapons.
On March 20, 1995, members of the cult boarded the Tokyo subways at rush hour with bags containing the nerve agent known as sarin. They punctured the bags, and within seconds, people on the subway began vomiting and choking. A total of 13 people died, and many more were injured in what was the worst terrorist attack in Japan’s modern history. The cult’s members later tried unsuccessfully to release hydrogen cyanide into crowded subway stations. At least seven members of Aum Shinrikyo have been executed by hanging for the attacks. Today, Aum Shinrikyo is still in existence and has many followers, though its members claim that they no longer hold to the violent ideology of Shogo Asahara.
