…and see how easy it is to convince others someone has convinced others through various means to take their own lives, the guilt then gives the interloper a way into your mind for whatever reason he or she may have conjured up in their minds.
NOV. 13, 1900
In czarist Russia, a district called Kargopol (about 400 mi. from St. Petersburg) contained a 200-year-old secret sect which called itself the Brothers and Sisters of Red Death. The brothers and sisters shared some very provocative ideas. Although marriages were forbidden, sexual intercourse was permitted providing that the sinners immediately submitted themselves to suffocation with a large red cushion. Every member was obliged to recruit new members, and when he had added 12 followers to the flock and thus assured himself a place in heaven, he was allowed the privilege of committing suicide. Believing the end of the world was to be Nov. 13 (Nov. 1 Old Style), 862 members of the cult thought it would please God if they all sacrificed their lives by locking themselves in their homes and setting them on fire. When news of the threatened suicides reached St. Petersburg, troops were rushed out to Kargopol, but by the time they arrived, more than 100 members had already perished. The rest were prevented from committing suicide, and when the appointed day passed without catastrophe, the sect disbanded.
Trivia on Predicitions for the End of the World from 1843 to 1900 | Trivia Library
