Amy Carlson "Mother God" who claimed to be a reincarnated version of multiple famous religious leaders (and some celebrities). Actively used social media to attract followers.
UFO enthusiast and believer in 9/11 conspiracy theories.
The Olde Good Things store is a front that funds the COBU, a New Religious Movement, who some people accuse of being a cult. Tens of millions of dollars supposedly used to help orphaned children, particularly two orphanages in Haiti, were instead used by the founder of the church for his own personal living expenses.
In June 2025, the Founder and Sales Director were convicted of forced labor in connection with sex trafficking of employees to "customers." All businesses in the US were shut down after FBI investigation uncovered evidence of prostitution and sex trafficking. Sentencing has not happened yet and both women remain in prison awaiting appeals/sentencing hearings.
And not just the usual suspects (Ozzy, Marilyn Manson), but also classical composers (Franz Liszt) and 1930s/40s/50s era blues musicians, almost exclusively Black men and women, (Leadbelly, Ma Rainey, Muddy Watters)
This is not the first, nor last, to suggest the connection. In fact, Scientology was created by mostly failed sci-fi writer whose stories of alien cultures formed the basis of his "religious" texts. Most Western countries have banned Scientology and refuse to recognize it as a religion.
"New" cult made up of gender nonconforming anti-AI tech nerds with unclassifiable beliefs that broadly align with progressive values
This appears to be a manufactured moral panic, primarily of traditional Christian groups, particularly those who became aware of Mesopotamian Pazuzu (a completely unrelated, but "sound alike" entity) after its namechecking in movies like The Exorcist.
Labubu is in the same vein of a lot of Japanese monster creatures, like Pokemon, in particular. Pokemon is literally pocket monsters. That said, many of the same fundamentalist groups also think the whole Pokemon franchise is Satanic.
Mass hysteria leads people to believe unsubstantiated claims. Under pressure, people will confess to crimes they did not commit, and point at other innocent people just to lessen the pressure on them.
Psychology was given a black eye by therapists who either intentionally or unintentionally convinced children of abuse that did not happen. This, like the Salem Witch panic, caused others to follow suit.
Trying not to be expressly political, but the articles shared used MAGA and its concerted efforts to blame immigrants, the news media, non-Christians, anyone with left of center political views, and those not conforming to standard heterodox sexuality as being demonic or evil or unAmerican, so as to sow fear and distrust.
The article suggested that, much like Greek gods as the reason for thunder and the like, cryptids served a purpose to explain otherwise unexplainable or misunderstood natural phenomena
Specifically calling attention to the word "cult" as a negative term that stigmatizes people whose faith doesn't conform to standardly accepted beliefs.
The specific sub criteria, in a clinical language sense, for a cult is a "New Religious Movement, High Control Group."
High Control Group is specifically related to the amount of social control exerted upon its members, usually by a charismatic leader. Some High Control Groups are not expressly religious, and some New Religious Movements are not expressly high control. There is some overlap/wiggle room. It's why I've personally chosen to continue to use the more loaded/archaic term "cult."