Shocking stuff.
There have been some notorious cult leaders over the years, from Jim Jones and The People’s Temple, to Charles Manson and the Manson family.
While the cult leader who’s become Netflix’s latest subject might be lesser known, his crimes are just as appalling.
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey documents the rise of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Short Creek, Utah – a movement based off the Mormon religion.
Of course, the church’s teachings differ from Mormonism in many ways, predominately with its absolute obsession and enforcement of polygamy.
Over the years, Jeffs, who referred to himself as a prophet, used his religious beliefs to justify horrific sexual abuse and paedophilia.
Under the ‘rules’ of the cult, he allowed himself to have 78 wives at the same time. 24 of his wives were under the age of 18.
He was imprisoned for his crimes back in 2011 and is currently serving a life sentence. For years before his arrest, he had been on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list.
When he was convicted, he promised “sickness and death” would fall on those who prosecuted him.
Jeffs originally took over the church in 2002, shortly after the death of the previous leader – his father Rulon Jeffs.
His father also had multiple wives, as well as 60 children. Jeffs married the majority of his his father’s wives after his passing.
The four-part documentary will include unseen archive footage showing what life was like inside the cult, share the harrowing stories of his victims, and examine how he managed to get away with his crimes for so long.
One of the survivors who appears in the documentary says she was forced to marry Jeffs when she was just 14-years-old.
Perhaps the most shocking part of the whole story is that Jeffs is still running the organisation from behind bars.
The official bio reads: “From forced underage marriage and pregnancy to a complete unravelling into an oppressive criminal cult under Warren Jeffs’ rule, the story uncovers extraordinary bravery battling tyrannical control in modern America.”
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey lands on Netflix on 8 June.
Watch the full trailer below:
