The death toll in an investigation linked to a Kenyan cult that practised starvation to "meet Jesus Christ" has exceeded 400 after 12 more bodies were found on Monday, a senior official said.

Death toll in Kenya starvation cult case passes 400

“Total death Toll - 403,” Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha told AFP in a message, following the latest round of exhumations in the Shakahola forest, where cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie allegedly urged followers to starve to death.

“Exhumation continues tomorrow,” Onyancha added, as investigators search for more graves in the forest, where the first victims – some dead, others alive but weakened and emaciated – were discovered on April 13.

According to government autopsies, starvation appears to have been the main cause of death, although some victims, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated.

  • WrittenWeird@lemmy.worldEnglish
    195·
    1 year ago

    Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live as a commoner in various points throughout history. Prehistory, Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, Rome…

    This. This is what it’s like. Living and dying by superstitious nonsense, spouted by con men.

    • yeepyorp@mtgzone.comEnglish
      222·
      1 year ago

      edit: the comment above is edgy as hell, people in history pet their cats and made art and told stories, some of which they believed were true. the text below is a reminder that you’re not superior to them, and not all religions are cults.

      reminder to everyone that you are not immune to cults

      • ivanafterall@kbin.social
        9·
        1 year ago

        Reminder to those of us who grew up in cults: not everyone is out to trick you into joining another cult. Sometimes a guy is just offering you free samples in the grocery store.