Evan Peters Is Playing 3 Notorious Cult Leaders on AHS, and We Are Terrified

Charles made a name for himself in the '60s when he became the leader of the cult known as the Manson Family. He believed that an apocalyptic race war was coming (something he called "Helter Skelter" after the Beatles song). To aid this war, Manson had his followers, many of whom were young women, murder people and write messages on the walls with their blood. His following carried out the infamous slaying of Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant with her first child with husband Roman Polanski, in 1969.

David Koresh was a member of a cult in Texas that called themselves Branch Davidians. Koresh thought of himself as their "final prophet" but ultimately branched out on his own after being forced away by the cult's leader, Lois Roden, whose son wanted to take over instead. Koresh was able to attract a loyal following because he said he had "religious visions," despite forcing women to perform sex acts on him because they were required to be his "spiritual wives." He ultimately met his end in 1993 when the US government raided his cult's headquarters, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 80 cult members after the center burned down.

Jim Jones founded People's Temple in the '50s and promised his followers "paradise" if they lived in the cult's community in Guyana, which was also known as Jonestown. Cult members endured things like behavioral modifications and mind control techniques, but it all came to a tragic end in 1978 when US Congressman Leo Ryan led an investigation into Jonestown after it was reported human rights were being violated. Ryan was murdered before he was able to leave Jonestown, and Jones then led more than 900 of his followers, including children, to their deaths through forced suicide by making them drink grape Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. Jones was found with a single bullet wound to his head, but it's still unclear whether he shot himself or had one of his followers do it for him.

Andy Warhol wasn't a cult leader, but his influence in the art world in the '60s earned him a very dedicated following, which included one dangerously obsessed "fan." In 1968, radical feminist Valerie Solanas, who advocated for the elimination of men, shot Warhol and Mario Amaya, an art critic and curator, at Warhol's studio. Amaya suffered minor injuries while Warhol barely survived and suffered physical effects from the attack for the rest of his life.