The Most Evil Secret Societies in History

by Shelley Klein

  Upon graduating, the young Matsumoto spent several years trying to gain entrance to Tokyo University. To attend this establishment was almost a pre-requisite for anyone wishing to enter Japan’s governing elite, an ambition that Matsumoto had harbored since he was a child. Whether through bad luck or lack of application, Matsumoto failed to realize his dream – a setback that played bitterly on the young man’s mind. Returning to his home town of Kumamoto, he took up a job in a massage parlor. It was hardly an auspicious beginning for an ambitious youngster, but at the age of twenty-three, determined to better himself, he returned to Tokyo. Here he set up the Matsumoto acupuncture clinic and married a nineteen-year-old college student called Tomoko, with whom he was to have six children. Shortly after setting up business in Tokyo, however, Matsumoto was arrested for the first time, for attempting to sell fake remedies to an unsuspecting public. He had apparently concocted a potion out of orange peel soaked in alcohol, that he called ‘Almighty Medicine’ and which he claimed was a traditional Chinese remedy for treating all types of illness. Together with a three-month course of acupuncture and yoga, Almighty Medicine was sold for $7,000 a pop.

  After his arrest and a fine of $1,000, Matsumoto decided, during the 1980s, to travel to India, where he was inspired to take further yoga classes. He became fascinated by the idea of spiritual enlightenment, which certain types of yoga and meditation are said to promote. Suddenly Matsumoto knew what he wanted to do; he would return to Japan, set up his own yoga center, and encourage members not only to study a new type of faith, but also to regard him as this new faith’s spiritual leader.

  By 1987, Matsumoto’s ambitions were realized; he named his group Aum Shinrikyo Matsumoto and it was at this time that he adopted the name Shoku Asahara. Initiates to the cult claimed that their leader had taught them not only spiritual enlightenment based on an eclectic mix of Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, the writings of Nostradamus, apocalyptic Christianity and New Age beliefs, but also supernatural powers such as how to levitate and the art of telepathy. To most people these claims might seem ludicrous, but, disturbingly, within two years of its conception in 1989, Aum Shinrikyo had so many converts that the Japanese government was forced to grant it legal status as a religion (a move which also granted Asahara huge tax concessions). Indeed, at the height of Aum Shinrikyo’s powers, in the mid-1990s, membership in Japan swelled to well over 10,000, with over 30,000 admirers and followers around the world, including a large group in Russia.

  Shoko Asahara, a partially sighted academic failure and con artist, established a legal religion with himself as its head. He sold his beard clippings and bath water to followers, telling them they had curative or magic powers.

  As the cult grew, so Asahara became increasingly confident. Anything he said was taken as truth. His followers didn’t balk even when it came to some of the more bizarre rituals, such as the drinking of Asahara’s blood, which they were informed had magical properties. At other times followers were encouraged to buy Asahara’s bath water – which was also said to have miraculous powers. Clippings from Asahara’s beard were sold with instructions to boil them in water and afterwards ingest the solution. Anything Asahara said was believed. There appeared to be no stopping either the cult or its leader – and naturally with such great power, also came great wealth. In March, 1995, one of Aum Shinrikyo’s leading members estimated the cult’s net worth as being in the region of $1.5 billion.

  Initially, when Shoku Asahara first began teaching yoga, he had shied away from charging his pupils any money or, if they did pay, it was simply by way of a token donation. But, with the legalization of Aum Shinrikyo as a religion, all this was to change. Suddenly donations weren’t just welcomed, they were expected. The cult also set up a huge merchandising operation (much as a large corporation might) for the sale of videos, books, magazines and other paraphernalia. Asahara wrote several books himself, a few of the most popular being Secrets of Developing Your Spiritual Powers (which promised, among other things, to teach trainees how to see into the future and how to read minds), Beyond Life and Death and Mahayana Sutra and Initiation. Seminars and training courses were also popular and easy ways to rake in money, with tens of thousands of dollars being charged for each session. Aum Shinrikyo also diversified into running several ‘outside’ businesses, such as a computer manufacturing company, which imported parts from Taiwan to be assembled in a cult-run factory back in Japan, with the end products sold in Aum Shinrikyo shops in the capital. It has also been suggested by Kyle B. Olson, in an article entitled ‘Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat?’, that another method by which the cult raked in money was via the practice of ‘green mail’ which in effect meant that Asahara would threaten to set up a cult operation in any number of cities – unless the local government paid him not to do so. The ruse worked over and over again, earning Aum Shinrikyo hundreds of thousands of dollars.

  With such great wealth at his disposal, it was only a matter of time before Asahara decided to plough some of the money into property. In 1988 he decided that what his cult needed was a temple and compound, within which his followers could live.

  Mount Fuji is without doubt one of Japan’s most easily recognizable landmarks. An inspiration to artists over the centuries, it has come to symbolize both the beauty and mystery of the country as a whole. Sadly, in 1988, it received a far less noble addition to its grandeur. At the foot of the mountain Aum Shinrikyo, having bought a plot of land, erected a series of bunker-like buildings, which were to serve as its headquarters. Huge dormitories were built, in which the faithful could sleep upon the bare wooden floors. A giant refectory was also erected – here followers (if they were lucky) were served one meal a day consisting of steamed vegetables and rice. With such basic living conditions, and given that they were required to donate huge amounts of money to the cult, it might seem surprising that so many men and women were willing to join this organization. But the numbers kept on growing, with many young professionals among the new recruits. Hideo Murai was one such individual. An exceptionally talented young man who had trained as an astrophysicist, after meeting Asahara he turned his back on his former life and instead joined Aum Shinrikyo. Another member was Seiichi Endo, a genetic engineer with a Ph.D in molecular biology. Many others followed. But, although on the surface the cult appeared to be fulfilling all these people’s expectations, underneath cracks were beginning to appear, and several disillusioned followers were now starting to look for a way out.

  The disillusionment (or even fear) felt by some newcomers to the sect stemmed in part from the weird, masochistic initiation ceremonies that a large number of them endured, the most famous of which involved boiling water. Candidates would be made to submerse themselves in a tub of boiling water until their skin peeled away, after which they would be forced to meditate night and day, while all the time listening to a tape of Shoku Asahara chanting mantras. Food and sleep were also used as weapons, with initiates receiving very little of either, a well-known cult technique used to lower people’s resistance, making it easier to brainwash them. Candidates were also forced to take hallucinogenic drugs, either to subdue them or to help incite them to commit criminal acts. Refusal to do any of the above would result in punishments that included several weeks of hard labor.

  Shuji Taguchi had joined Aum Shinrikyo with every intention of making a lifelong commitment to the cult. He was a model member of the group, with a deep-rooted conviction that Asahara was little less than a god. His faith was unshakable – until, that is, one of his closest friends asked permission to leave the cult. Asahara informed everyone that this man must be mentally unstable and needed specialist treatment. The type of assistance he received was closer to torture than counseling – for the man was hung upside-down and then dropped repeatedly into a container of ice-cold water. Eventually, having been submersed so many times that his heart could no longer bear the strain, the man died.

  Taguchi was shocked by his friend’s death and, understandably, began tal
king to other Aum Shinrikyo members about his concerns. It was the last they would ever see of him. Angered by what he saw as one of his disciples’ insubordination, Asahara had Taguchi executed. His body was then burned. A few weeks later, concerned about their son, his parents tried to contact the compound, only to be told he was unavailable. Further attempts to get in touch with Taguchi also failed to yield results, after which the police were contacted, but, even though they had received several requests from other worried parents concerning their ‘lost’ children, the police, too, drew a blank. It wasn’t until a young lawyer, Tsutsumi Sakamoto, heard about the cult and the anguish of those parents whose children had joined, that questions began to be asked and alarm bells were sounded.

  Initially, Sakamoto, who was married with one small child, was employed by one family to demand the release of their under-age daughter from the cult’s clutches. Word quickly spread, however, and soon Sakamoto was working on behalf of twenty-three families, all seeking to help their children escape. Firstly the young lawyer organized the individual complainants into one single group, named the Society of Aum Supreme Truth Victims. Only then did he approach the cult with a request to allow the parents proper access to their offspring. This offensive brought him into contact with one of the cult’s lawyers, Yoshinobu Aoyama, who had joined the cult in 1988 after being credited as one of the youngest students ever to pass the bar exams at the renowned Kyoto Law School. Aoyama at first tried to placate Sakamoto by allowing one set of parents access to their child, but Sakamoto was having none of this and demanded the release of all the named youngsters. In addition, Sakamoto surprised Aoyama by informing him that he was also acting on behalf of a cult member who had purchased some of Asahara’s ‘miracle drug’ but who had received none of the benefits that the cult claimed would occur upon ingestion of the liquid.

  Aum Shinrikyo’s chief scientist Hideo Murai (left) and spokesman Fumihiro Joyu leave a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo, after having claimed that chemical stockpiles found by police on the cult’s premises were to ensure Aum’s survival when the world ended.

  Very soon, given the nature of Sakamoto’s enquiries and his persistent hectoring of Aum Shinrikyo, the media became involved, interviewing the lawyer who once again accused the cult of holding members against their will. Asahara was furious and immediately mounted an assault – initially handing out leaflets in Sakamoto’s home district, which discredited the lawyer and accused him of all manner of indecencies. When that failed to have an effect, Sakamoto began receiving threatening calls at home and at work until, on November 3, 1989, Asahara upped the stakes and sent three of his henchmen (Hideo Murai, by then the cult’s chief scientist, Satoro Hashimoto, a martial arts expert, and Dr. Nakagawa) to Sakamoto’s home. The plan was for the three men to wait outside Sakamoto’s house until his return from work, then kidnap and kill him. But the plan didn’t work because November 3 was a public holiday, and Sakamoto was already at home with his wife and child. In the middle of the night, the three men broke in to Sakamoto’s house and, with chilling efficiency, killed not only Sakamoto but also his wife (Satoko) and their baby son (Tatsuhiko). They wrapped the bodies up in old sheets to take them back to Aum Shinrikyo headquarters. Later, each body was loaded into a tin drum and driven out into the countryside. All three corpses were then dumped in separate locations.

  The disappearance of an entire family immediately aroused concern and suspicion. Sakamoto’s mother, on discovering her son’s home empty, called the police, but although they found an Aum Shinrikyo badge on the premises, they seemed unable or unwilling to investigate further. Even when the media took up the cause and stated a link between the family’s disappearance and the cult, the police did nothing and soon not even the media were interested in the case.

  Safe in the knowledge that he had ordered the execution of an entire family without being discovered, Shoku Asahara now decided to attempt to have a handful of his disciples elected to parliament. It was a bold step, but one that Asahara felt was necessary to achieve his dreams of ultimate power. Of course, as with almost everything Asahara was involved in, his approach to canvassing votes involved a certain level of violence. Opposition party workers were intimidated, they had their phones tapped and threats were made against their families. Asahara fielded twenty-five candidates and threw millions of dollars into his campaign … but not one of the twenty-five succeeded in being elected. It was a terrible blow to Asahara, whose thoughts immediately turned to retaliation against the country. He now began speaking of a coming Armageddon. Suddenly, Shoku Asahara’s rhetoric included plans to raise an army to fight against all those opposed to his plans. More terrifying still, Asahara charged his chief scientist, Hideo Murai, with the task of creating a means of countrywide devastation. Murai spent months developing different types of chemical weapons, including one toxin best known as Clostridium Botulinum.

  As Murai slaved away trying to concoct these poisons, Asahara decided to expand his empire even further. In 1992, the sect set its sights on Russia. Arriving in Moscow in March, Aum Shinrikyo was a huge success, attracting thousands of Russians to its cause within only a few months. Even government officials joined the cult’s ranks, and soon Asahara had made important contacts not only within the Russian security council, but also within the Soviet scientific community. Aum Shinrikyo now began purchasing ex-Soviet military weapons, enough to form its own army. Indeed, Asahara’s plans for Armageddon were growing ever closer to fruition, with biological warfare the preferred weapon of choice. The conventional firearms, supplied by the Russians, were also to be used. By this time Hideo Murai had made huge inroads into developing chemical weaponry, by introducing a nerve gas into Aum Shinrikyo’s arsenal – one that was first invented by the Nazis: sarin.

  Shoku Asahara’s goal was the complete militarization of Aum Shinrikyo. Every member had to receive rigorous training, after which an elite few were chosen to lead separate commando units. Asahara also built a huge factory at his compound, known to cult members as ‘The Supreme Science Institute’, to manufacture conventional weaponry so that every man and woman could enter battle fully armed. It was only a matter of time before Asahara decided to test out his strength, and the upcoming marriage of Japan’s Prince Naruhito appeared to be the ideal opportunity – a date on which the country’s leading dignitaries would all be gathered in one spot. Asahara ordered his men to organize the spraying of the botulism toxin throughout Tokyo, with the intention of causing a major epidemic. Although the operation went ahead, the toxin failed to take effect, and not one person was struck down or died. Aum Shinrikyo needed another, more effective weapon of mass destruction – and in late 1993 the deadly anthrax virus was deployed. The results of this second assault were as disappointing as those of the first. Releasing the toxin from the roof of one of his many buildings, Asahara stood back and waited for citizens to start dropping like flies. Instead, local residents complained of stomach pains and headaches, but no one died. So, why hadn’t the deadly anthrax spray worked? According to the magazine, the New Scientist, the cult had produced the toxin in liquid form as opposed to powder which is by far the more effective killer. Furthermore, the cults’s scientists had sourced their anthrax from a veterinary strain of the bacteria, which was far less capable of causing disease. It was at this point that Aum Shinrikyo focused all its attention on one chemical weapon – sarin gas. The substance had first been discovered by the Germans in 1936 while investigating organophosphates, and it was afterwards manufactured by the Nazis, though ultimately it was never used by them as a battlefield weapon. Asahara ordered that an entire building within the Mount Fuji complex be given over to the production of this new gas, stating that he required a minimum seventy tons of the poison – enough to kill not only every man, woman and child on the planet, but also every living creature.

  The toxin worked in a particularly vicious way. First the victim’s nasal passages would begin to run, after which they would e
xperience an acute tightening of the chest, violent body spasms (accompanied by vomiting), loss of bowel control and afterwards death. It was not a pleasant way to die; but sarin was the perfect weapon for a cult intending to inflict a doomsday scenario on the world.

  Despite sarin gas’s potentially devastating effects, the initial tests were conducted. At one point, in poor safety conditions the sects’s head of security was splashed with the toxin, and only just escaped death after a quick-thinking scientist injected him with an antidote. Nevertheless, the cult was not discouraged from using its latest weapon, and in yet another attempt to test its effectiveness, Shoku Asahara, chose as his first victims three district court judges, who were all engaged in a lawsuit against Aum Shinrikyo.

  On June 27,1994, two trucks set out from the cult’s compound loaded with sarin gas – but in an episode demonstrating an almost comic ineptitude, a combination of bad timekeeping and hideous traffic jams meant that by the time the vehicles arrived at the courthouse, the judges had gone home. Determined that all their efforts would not go to waste, Asahara ordered that the gas be released in a nearby residential area. His commands were swiftly executed and, although a change in wind direction caused the gas to be blown in the opposite direction to that intended, seven people lost their lives and more than 150 were admitted to hospital suffering from acute stomach pains and shortness of breath.

  The incident was reported widely on TV and the police were called in to mount a thorough inquiry. Despite all the official efforts, however, Aum Shinrikyo miraculously escaped even a mention in connection with the attack.