The Rise and Fall of the Doomsday Cult, Aum Shinrikyo
9 min readJan 4, 2022
Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) is a doomsday cult that began in 1984 by Shoko Asahara. Aum (its common name) is responsible for two sarin gas attacks and multiple murders and kidnappings.
At its peak, Aum Shinrikyo had tens of thousands of worshipers worldwide and carried out the worst domestic terror attack on Japanese soil. On March 20, 1995, the attack carried out on the subway killed 13 and injured 5,800, some permanently.
