FROM AMERICAN HAUNTINGS INK

troy taylor’s biggest and strangest book so far…

taking up serpents

american cults, messiahs and madmen by troy taylor

autographed copies on sale now!
click here to order the book!

One man’s cult is another man’s religion. That’s often been said – but is it true? Despite the fact that every mainstream religion in America was considered a cult at one point in history, when does faith go too far? America’s past is filled with stories of cults that strike most of us as strange, bizarre, incomprehensible, and even insane, and yet, many of those of “cults” have turned into mainstream churches that can be found in almost every city and town. But what about the rest? The madmen and would-be messiahs whose weird beliefs descended into a horrific and maniacal mixture of death, depravity, sex, murder, mayhem, and suicide? As twisted as they may be, they are fixtures on the American landscape of religious zealotry.

Among these pages, you’ll find accounts of witch trials, faith healing, snake handling, speaking in tongues, human and animal sacrifices, attempted resurrection of the dead, strange rituals, orgies, and attempts to bring on the apocalypse – and those are just the mainstream churches. You’ll also find stories of utopian societies, end of the world predictions, Antichrist prophecies, the rise of Christian Science, Amish life, cults of personality, the dark history of the Mormons, polygamist cults, a religion based on the “Hollow Earth,” UFO cults, the sinister Blackburn Cult, Jim Jones and the People’s Temple, the Orange People, the Ant Hill Kids, the Children of God, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, Scientology, and much more!

This is Troy Taylor’s largest and strangest book so far – a wild mix of American cults, true crime, and the supernatural, delving into a search for the divine that has, far too often, sent seekers in regrettable directions – and to places from which they never returned. Discover the larger-than-life characters within these pages and find out how the elaborate mythologies of America’s homegrown religions have taken us all to a place where horror co-exists with the highest of human aspirations! $22

Within the pages of this massive book, you’ll find accounts of:

American Witch Trials * Shakers, Spiritualism, and the Burned-Over District * Wilderness Prophet * Publick Universal Friend * Worshippers of the Apocalypse* Free Love and Utopian Societies * The Millerites and the “Great Disappointment” * Myths of Raptures and Antichrists* Doomsday and Corn Flakes * The “Pocasset Horror” * The Mark of the Beast * Blinded by (Christian) Science * Speaking in Tongues, Faith Healing, and Handling Snakes* Not-so Simple Life with the Amish * Signs and Wonders of the Pentecostals * God’s Messenger – Father Divine * Sister Aimee * The Kirtland Cult, Church of the Lamb of God, and the Prophet of Evil* Dark History of the Mormons * Polygamist Cults, Child Brides, and the Fundamental Apocalypse * Cyrus Teed and the Hollow Earth * David Berg and The Children of God* The Blackburn Cult of California * The Madness of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple * The “Orange People” of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh * The Ant Hill Kids * David Koresh and the Branch Davidians * UFO Cults, Raël and Mankind United * The Heaven’s Gate Suicides * America’s Most Dangerous Cult * And Much More!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY!