Cults have a way of seeping into everyday life, from the phrases we use to the songs on the radio. Here are three cult facts that sound made up, and every single one of them is true.
1. Where "drinking the Kool-Aid" comes from
The phrase traces back to the Jonestown massacre in November 1978, when more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple died in Guyana after leader Jim Jones had them drink a fruit drink laced with cyanide and other drugs.
Here's the twist: the drink wasn't Kool-Aid. It was mostly Flavor Aid, a cheaper competitor. Film footage from inside the compound shows Jones opening a chest stocked with Flavor Aid boxes, and Kraft, Kool-Aid's maker, has said the same. Packets of both brands were found at the scene, but Kool-Aid was the name Americans knew, so that's the one that stuck.
Over time, "drinking the Kool-Aid" turned into a casual way to describe blind loyalty. Many survivors and relatives of the victims find the phrase offensive, in part because many people at Jonestown didn't drink willingly: some were held at gunpoint.
2. The cult that poisoned salad bars to win an election
In the fall of 1984, 751 people in The Dalles, Oregon, got sick after followers of a guru named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh contaminated the salad bars at 10 local restaurants with salmonella. It remains the largest bioterror attack in U.S. history.
The Rajneeshees had built a commune of thousands on a ranch in rural Wasco County, and its leaders feared they would lose an upcoming county election. The plan was to make enough local voters sick that the group's candidates would win. The salad bars were only a trial run, and the group also tried to contaminate the town's water supply.
Forty-five people were hospitalized, and all survived. The election plot failed, and two of the commune's leaders were later convicted of attempted murder. The guru himself was famous for driving past his followers every day in a fleet of Rolls-Royces.
3. The Beach Boys song Charles Manson wrote
In 1968, Charles Manson and members of his "Family" moved into the Los Angeles home of Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, who had met two of Manson's followers after giving them a ride while they were hitchhiking.
Manson dreamed of becoming a rock star, and Wilson took one of his songs, "Cease to Exist," to the band. The Beach Boys reworked it into "Never Learn Not to Love" and released it as a B-side that December, with Wilson credited as the songwriter.
Manson was furious that his lyrics had been changed. According to one Manson biography, he handed Wilson a bullet and told him, "I know where you live." Wilson cut ties with the group, and less than a year later, the Manson Family committed the murders that made them infamous.
