Morbid - The Aum Shinrikyo Cult & the Tokyo Gas Attack

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

On the morning of March 20, 1995, millions of rush hours commuters boarded trains across Tokyo, just as they countless other mornings. Unbeknownst to those millions of riders, five of those trains were carrying large quantities of a nerve agent called Sarin, a colorless, odorless liquid that, when released into the air, can cause extreme respiratory problems and eventually death. As the trains traveled to their respective destinations through the underground system, the bags of Sarin became punctured and released the gas into the packed trains cars and within seconds, the first victims began dropping to floor, choking and vomiting.  The Tokyo gas attacks killed thirteen people and injured nearly 6,000 others, and they remain the worst case of domestic terrorism in Japan’s history. Yet beyond the obvious trauma of the incident, the attack has left a deep wound in the nation’s psyche. When the perpetrators of the attack, a doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo, were apprehended, the nation was shocked that a small religious cult had managed to cause such tremendous damage. Even now, thirty years later, the impact of Aum Shinrikyo and the sarin gas attacks are still felt around Japan. References BBC News. 2018. Aum Shinrikyo: The Japanese cult behind the Tokyo Sarin. July 6. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35975069. Kristof, Nicholas D. 1995. "In shrine of Japan cult, police find labratory." New York Times, March 27: 2. —. 1995. "Japanese police raid the offices of a sect linked to poison gas." New York Times, March 22: 1. Monterey Institute of International Studies. 2016. Chronology or Aum Shinrikyo's CBQ Activities. Timeline , Monterey Institute of International Studies. Murakami, Haruki. 2001. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum and Philip Gabriel. New York, NY: Vintage. Watanabe, Teresa. 1995. "Police seize toxic chemicals in raid on Japanese sect." Los Angeles Times, March 23: 1. —. 1995. "Raid on sect spurs civil-liberties worries." Los Angeles Times, March 23: 4. WuDunn, Sheryl. 1995. "Fear stalks Tokyo: safe no more." New York Times, March 21: 13. —. 1995. "Sect says government staged the gas attack." New York Times, March 22: 10. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I am Ash. I almost said I was Ash. What? I've never done that. I was just going to say, it's usually me that does that. Damn. And I'm Elena, by the way. And this is morbid.

This is morbid. I was like, you got to tell them who you are, girl. I'm not real right now. No. I'm just overwhelmed with the responsibilities. We have a very busy morbid schedule this week. Yeah. Just like with like the bonus episode is going to be coming out.

This episode is coming out. Then there's like more episodes that come out in the future like next week. And then like there's just more episodes. There's more episodes forever. And then Elena has other things going on. She's like signing things. Lots and lots of things. So many things guys.

I don't know how you sign not that much. I'll have to post my, I'm sure other people who sign things probably have these. But the little things that you can slip on your finger. Yeah. They're like these little silicone things that will make it so you don't get a get that like that sore spot because I get a sore spot on my finger if I'm signing for too long. I bet. And they work.

So I'm surprised you don't get like carpal tunnel. I probably do have a little carpal tunnel. Every once in a while I get a very sharp pain in my wrist. So I think. Hey, that's carpal tunnel. We're probably getting it right now. But you know, you should be careful because that can get a lot worse. I know.

I know. You've seen mean girls. It often require surgery. It often does. My carpal tunnel came back. I win. Yes, you do. The way I can literally close, hello.

You just threw a cold hamburger on the floor. Should we even contextualize that? No. I love it. It is exactly what I said. You just threw a cold hamburger on the floor. Guys, we're losing that. You don't have to think any further into that.

It's exactly what I said. It's what I did. But anyway, I can close my eyes and watch Mean Girls. FYI. Fuck, what did I throw now? What was that? Why are you throwing? I think it was Wendy's Secret Sauce.

Holy shit. Damn. Just throwing fast food things. It's crazy. What's next? Oh, or was that, no, it wasn't my phone. I don't know. Whatever.

I don't know. Okay, we're going to be on our little, on Elaine's little book tour. Yeah. That sounded so rude. Onalina's little book tour. Cute little book tour. We're going to be on Elena's massive book tour next week. So we are planning to re-release episodes and some of you are going to be like,

Are you kidding me? But here's the cool news. One, Aiden is working to remaster those episodes because we're going to re-release the Jack the Ripper episodes. Yes. But it's going to be all in one episode. Yeah. We're making it one, well, Aidan's making it one big mega episode.

so you can just listen to the whole thing all the way through. So that will come out next Monday. And then next Thursday, we're going to do the same thing with the Molly Bish episode that we covered. Yes. That was just a one-parter. But then we had a follow-up chat with Molly's sister Heather. So we're going to combine those two and Aidan is going to remaster them into one big episode. So then you can listen to the case and the interview.

And that was a great one. I really loved that interview with her sister. Yeah, Heather was awesome. And it's still an unsolved case. So it's like, I mean, I think we covered that way back in 2022. Yeah. So I think it would be good to get some fresh eyes on it. Hopefully, you know, just you never know what can move something along.

You never know. So that will be what's going on next week. And then we'll be back to you on how to dates work. Is it Monday the 14th? On Monday. That's the, that's a Friday. So we'll be back to you on the 17th with a fresh episode. Yeah.

And if you're listening to this on Thursday, tomorrow, you're going to get the Twilight. bonus episodes. And it's our final one. Of that series. Of that series. We're still doing bonus episodes. We'll start a different one. Yeah. We'll have to figure out what we want to do. But I think that's going to be really fun. It's the worst movie of all the franchises or like in the whole franchise. It's really bad. I just watched it and I was like, oh, so like nothing happens in this movie. Yeah, it's crazy. I'm going to save everything. Yeah. Today, do you want to get into it or do you have anything? I don't think I have anything.

Um, oh, we did announce that the audiobook for The Butcher Legacy is going to be out the same day, pub day. And there's a new- You can pre-order it if you want. There's a new voice actor, Carrie Haidt. And he plays Detective John LaRue. The one the only. And let me tell you, he is John LaRue. Elena got the options for everybody, and they were all so, so good, like all the people that tried out for that part. But immediately, we were all drawn to Carrie. Yeah, he just immediately hit me. I was like, that's John. Yeah. And everybody agreed. So just if you're an audiobook listener, and even, honestly, I'm not always listening to audiobooks.

I do here and there. But this one, it's really great. Your voice actors are really good. Sophie and Joe, who play Wren and Jeremy, and they've played Ren and Jeremy since book one. Since the dawn of time. They're phenomenal. I love working with them. We tagged them in the post I did about the audiobook, all three of the actors.

So go check out their stuff because they do a ton of other stuff too. and they're so good. Yeah, they're really, really good. They deserve all the recognition. And that comes out, the audiobook comes out on the 11th, just like the book. Yeah. Cool. Yep, you can pre-order it now if you want.

You better. You don't have that much time left to pre-order. And remember, pre-ordering does get the author. It counts toward the bestseller list. It's true. So if you love Elena, maybe you'll be part of that. Okay, so now we can start, stop your stopwatch. So we're going to be talking about Amshin Ricio and the Tokyo Gas Attacks.

This is an interesting one. I need you guys to know that there are a lot of Japanese pronunciations in this, and I looked up every single one of them. It actually took me many hours. It did actually. I was like, please, please attest for me. That is not a hyperbolic statement at all. It was many hours. It was a long time. And I really hope I get them all right. But please know that if I don't, I really am putting effort in. She really did. I can't confirm. Thank you so much. So let's let's get into it. Let's get into it. On the morning of March 20th, 1995, before I was even a star in the sky. Wow. Millions of rush hour commuters boarded trains across Tokyo, just like they did, a million other mornings. Unbeknownst to those millions of riders, though, five of those trains were carrying large quantities of a nerve agent called sarin. You might know it. I heard of it.

A colorless, odorless liquid that when released into the air can cause extreme respiratory problems and eventually death. That's terrifying. Yeah, just chilling on the trains. Yeah. As the trains traveled to their respective destinations through the underground system, the bags of sarin became punctured and released the gas into those packed train cars. And within seconds, the first victims started dropping to the floor. Some choking, some vomiting.

It was wild. That's horrific. The Tokyo gas attacks did ultimately kill 13 people and injured nearly 6,000 others. Holy shit. And to this day, they remain the worst case of. domestic terrorism in Japan's history. Wow. Yeah. So a little before 8 a.m. on that morning, March 20th, 1995, Kyoka Izumi, who was a public relations agent with one of the nation's airlines, was among the countless people riding one of the trains that morning. Kiyoka got off at the

Tozai station and transferred to the Chioda line, just as she did every single morning on her way to work. As the train approached the Shin Okanosimu Station, Kiyoka took a breath, and within seconds, she realized that something was absolutely wrong. She later said, I inhaled, and then suddenly my breath froze. She didn't remember feeling any pain, and in the moment, she actually thought her inability to breathe was related to a cold that she'd had for the last few days, just like getting a little worse. Because of course you're not going to be like, I bet I'm being poisoned. No, of course not. That's not your first reaction to anything. But within seconds, that feeling got much worse. She said, it felt like if I inhaled anymore, all my guts would come

spilling right out of my mouth. Everything became a vacuum. I mean, I had never felt so bad. Oh, that makes me want to breathe in. I know. I just had to. So thoughts were swirling around in her head. She thought about her grandfather, who was 94 and had been ill. She thought about her own life, her own recent cold questioning if this could be that, and just wondered what the hell was happening. And then just as suddenly as it had come on, the strange paralysis seemed to pass and she could suddenly breathe again. Hmm. Now, that relief turned out to be short-lived. As the train passed the next station, she started coughing aggressively and uncontrollably. And at that moment, she realized she wasn't the only one experiencing this. It seemed like everyone in the train car that she was riding had a terrible cough that they had no control over. Now, as she was struggling to breathe on the Chioda line, 24-year-old station agent Maseru Yuasa was doing his rounds at the Kasunji. Gaseki Station, one of Tokyo's larger train stations, and it's right where those lines intersect.

Maseru had just finished a particularly long shift and was headed out of the station, actually, when he saw a co-worker wheeling a mop and bucket down the hall past him. The co-worker told him that they had received a call about needing to clean up one of the train cars, but Maseru was a nice guy. He said, I'm off the clock, but you know what? Let me help you. Yeah, I'm going to help you. Yeah. So they got down to the platform, and they found three other station station agents standing beside the train struggling with what seemed to be a large number of wet newspapers. So it's like a big old mess. He said they're stuffing it all by hand into plastic bags, but there's liquid coming from them and spilling out onto the platform. The agent with the

mop did most of the cleaning, but Massaro got down on the ground in an attempt to help clean up the remainder of the liquid that the other guy had missed. And as he attempted to clean up the mess by hand, he looked up and saw as one of the station agents walked slowly over to the trash can with some of those newspapers. Then, without any warning, that man holding them paused briefly and fell to the ground. Oh. Miserra recalled his face looked awful. He couldn't talk. We laid him on his side, loosened his tie. He looked in really bad shape. So Miserra ran to the phone to call for an ambulance and then rushed up to the street to wait so he could lead the emergency technicians down to the platform when they

got there. And as he rushed up the stairs, one of his co-worker stopped him to tell him there had been some sort of emergency at one of the other stations on the Hibia line. So it's like all these emergencies are starting to happen. Yeah, all over the place. Getting alerted. Miserra waited on the street for what seemed like forever, but the ambulance still didn't get there. By then, they were seriously worried about their co-worker, and they thought they should at least move him up to the street. But when Miseros started back down the stairs, several people warned him that he was. He said, shouldn't go down there because now multiple people had become even more sick. It wasn't just as co-worker.

So scared. This would be so dystopian and like end of the world feeling. I feel like it was the apocalypse. Yeah, it feels very apocalyptic. They told him it was something inside of the plastic bags wrapped in the newspapers that seemed to be the culprit making everyone sick. Now elsewhere across Tokyo, other emergency calls were starting to come in about people becoming extremely along the trains, which is likely why the emergency vehicles were taking so long

to respond because they're overwhelmed. On the Maranucci line, Mitsuo Arima was on his way to work for the first time in a week. He had been out with a terrible flu for the past week. And he comes out to this. Yeah. As soon as he sat down, he smelled what he described as an acid smell. Mitsuo looked around the train and noticed people covering their noses and mouths with handkerchief, so he wasn't the only one smelling this. Yeah. But only in retrospect did he realize what was happening. He said later, I was taking a hay fever remedy at the time. So I thought it might be a reaction to the drug.

It was different from my usual, though. So maybe this was a side effect. Now, Mitsuo reached his office a little after 8 a.m. And by then, he felt horrible. He said, I felt so lethargic. I just sat in a daze at my desk, staring out the window. By lunch, things had gotten even worse. He had no appetite.

He was sweating heavily and he had a tightening sensation in his hand. Oh, my God. And there was a television on in his office kitchen and several employees were gathered around it. Because by that time, news of the poisoning started to break on some of the news. And some of his coworkers actually joked that maybe he had sarin poisoning. I mean, it wouldn't be that crazy to think. But imagine hearing that as a joke but seeing that on the news and also feeling the weird shit he was feeling? Right.

you'd be like, am I poisoned right now? Like that would be such a gnarly thing to have to come to grips with. And you're also probably sitting there like, am I poisoned or am I feeling weird because I've had the flu and now I just kind of like. And now I'm kind of like exposed to this information. Yeah. So like I think this is happening, but maybe it's not. And we're all. We all second guess ourselves. It's wild that across cultures and across the globe. Humans do that one thing where they say, I don't know. Am I being annoying? Am I, am I being dramatic? Should I just not. go to the hospital when I feel this. I don't really want to bother anyone. You know, I do the same thing, but we got to stop. We got to overreact. And it's so funny because like I get mad at you when you do it, but then I do the same thing and you're like, go to the doctor. Yeah. Like that's the thing. It's like,

you got to overreact. Yeah, it's true. We got to start overreacting everybody. Well, so at first, he just kind of laughed it off. He was like, yeah, totally I have ceremony. For sure. But by 2 p.m., he finally excused himself from work and was like, yeah, I should probably go out. Like, it's bad. Something's up. When the doctor heard that he'd been on the subway before the sudden onset of symptoms, he looked at Mitsuo's pupils and immediately sent him to be hospitalized. Oh, God. At the hospital, he was confirmed to be suffering from exposure to sarin gas and admitted later for treatment. He said, oddly enough, like he recalled this later, oddly enough, I didn't feel

any sense of crisis. I'd been right at the epicenter, but instead of shuddering at the death toll, I felt like I was watching a program on TV as if it were somebody else's program. Whoa. It seems like it's like an out-of-body experience. Yeah, that's spooky. Now, he's, he's, He wasn't alone in his feelings of just absolute surreal confusion. Once people started hearing about the gas attacks and the subway system, all of them across Tokyo and many across Japan were as confused and also terrified. Standing outside one of the roped off stations as men in hazmat suits just came and went. My God. One bystander told a reporter, I can't believe this.

It's scary. I'm scared of Tokyo now. Yeah. Which is wild because for decades, Tokyo, and even still, has been considered one of the safest cities around the world. It still is, yeah. But it's partially because of that feeling of safety that the attacks on the subway were so destabilizing. One subway rider said, we all talk about how America is a risky society.

But in the New York subways, at least you can see who's firing the guns. In this case, nobody could see who did it. That's what's really terrifying. That's really scary. Yeah. Now, the lack of motive and at first anonymous identity of the attacker or attackers compounded the traumatic effect on the attack everywhere. A reporter from the New York Times said,

I wrote, everyone was worried about finding small packages like the one that emitted the gas, especially after they heard what happened to Kazumasa Takahashi, who was the deputy station master of Kasumi Gaseki, the one who went down. Takahashi was the man that Maseru,

Yuasa had helped clean the mess on the platform. Oh. And he then collapsed after gathering the packages and moving them into the trash, like I said. He hadn't been on the trains when the gas was released. So he had, I guess you could say, limited exposure. But he died that afternoon. Oh, no.

From the effects, yeah. Shit. Other riders had a similar experience of witnessing fellow passengers becoming sick in an instant and then just collapsing. It was enough to put everybody on high alert. And nobody knew whether they were in the presence of the gas or if they might get sick at any minute. Oh, shit.

Because you can get sick right away or it can take it. minute. See, that's no good. Those kind of things where it's like, yeah, it could hit you right away. Or like, maybe it's time released. It's like, no. And I think it depends on the, like, level of exposure. Yeah, that makes sense. So throughout that day and into the next day, nearly all of Japan was gathered around their televisions and radios as news of the attack slowly unfolded. What they learned was on that morning, March 20th, those bags filled with liquid sarin, had been placed on five subway cars, like I said, wrapped in newspapers to conceal the contents. Around 8 a.m., which was peak travel time for commuters, the bags were punctured by the individuals responsible for the attack, and they immediately got off the train.

Damn. Once punctured, the invisible odorless gas just leaked from the bags and was released into all of those train cars where everyone was affected. And they had no idea. They're just on their way to. They all of a sudden are like, and it's like, smoke fills the place or something, like odorless, colorless. Colorless. Like, have no idea it's even happening. You all just start falling.

Like, that is nightmare. Actually, I shouldn't say colorless. I don't know if Sarin has a color. I know it's odorless. Let me look. No, it is colorless. Colorless. I thought it was.

Yeah. I had a feeling, but if it's degraded, it can appear brown. So, there you go. Just tell the whole truth, you know. Yeah. Nothing but the truth. Yeah, that's how I feel. So sarin attacks the nervous system and interferes with the neuromuscular junctions, which causes anybody who's been exposed to lose control of those muscles and control of their respiratory system. So you die by exfixiation. Yeah. Because your respiratory system's just like, yeah, it just stops. Yeah. Other non-fatal symptoms include runny nose, tightly constricted pupils, which is why when that one passenger or man was admitted to the hospital because his doctor looked at his pupils, he was like, fuck. Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Also includes tightness in the chest, vomiting, convulsions, all of the above. It is a volatile chemical, too, which means it can transform from liquid to vapor with relative ease. So to inhale it is just a given pretty much. Yeah. In addition to that, it can also soak into fabrics and other materials, which will then continue to release fumes for up to 30 minutes after exposure. Oh, shit. So you could have been hit by the immediate exposure, or if that's, if that got on like, seats or anything like that or whatever the bottom of the train cars were made of, it could have soaked that in and then it just continues to release. The newspapers even, it could have soaked in there.

This was crazy. Damn. So for residents of Tokyo, like I said, the lack of motive for the attack was almost as unsettling as the attack itself. Yeah. By the time everything was under control, 13 people were dead and 6,000 suffered a range of symptoms. 6,000. And those range of symptoms, it varied from obviously like serious, but like the lower severity to quite serious. Yeah.

Now, in fact, because attacks with chemical weapons had become so uncommon since World War I, there wasn't that much research into the long-term effects of exposure to sarin gas. And unfortunately, it would turn out that many of those affected by the gas in the subway would continue to suffer from exposure in the decades that followed. Wow. including some symptoms that were debilitating. In 2020, that recent, a 14th victim died after battling severe after effects for 30 years. Just going on the subway. Just going to work, going to school. That's fucked up.

Go to see your friends, whatever be it. Now, in the immediate aftermath of the attack, hospitals across Tokyo were obviously flooded with subway riders. Yeah. Everybody was terrified that they had been exposed. For staff and administrators, the situation was a lot. logistical nightmare. Given the potential severity, they had to make quick decisions about who wasn't, who wasn't at risk. And if they were wrong, that could have resulted in the loss of more lives. Yeah, absolutely. Now, beyond the challenge of triage, there was also the matter of simple

logistics. If a person was assumed to have been exposed, and that included thousands of people, each individual had to remove all of their clothing for fear of further off gassing, and then they had to remain in the hospital for observation. Wow. Which is like, think of how many beds that would take out. I was going to say that's like inconceivable. It is. Those who were obviously affected and suffering already severe symptoms were isolated away from other passengers and visitors and it created a serious problem for space with not only the patients affected by this, but the patients who were already either in the hospital or just coming to the hospital for other reasons. Damn. Now even further complicating matters was the fact that while some doctors in

the city had some limited experience with treating exposure to toxic chemicals, they were few and far between. And almost none of them had experienced treating victims of sarin gas poisoning. Yeah. How often do you do that? Yeah. So after a thorough, so that was a nightmare. And then after a thorough search of the entire subway system, investigators located a total of 11-filled sarin, 11 sarin-filled plastic bags on those five different subway cars. Eight of those 11 were successfully punctured, which released approximately 160 ounces of the gas. Wow. For a lot of people, the situation was made all the more frightening by the fact that the intended

effect could have even been that much larger if it wasn't for the failure to puncture those other bags. Absolutely. These details were horrifying. Horrifying. Yeah. But just a couple days after the attack, when the suspects were identified, the public would learn just how much worse things could have been.

On the morning of March 22nd, just two days after the attacks, more than 2,500 Tokyo police officers spread across the city, aided by members of Japan's self-defense force, which is just like their military, in a massive raid on the offices of Am Shon Ricchio, a small religious sect that had been operating in the city since about 1990. The official story relayed to the press was that the offices were being raided in connection to a kidnapping case, But a lot of the officers were seen wearing gas masks, protective body suits. And some even carried small birds in cages, which is a traditional means of testing an area for the presence of toxic gas. Yep. Like the canaries and the mines. Exactly. Yeah.

Now, and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's kidnapping. Yeah. But it's like two days after these gas attacks and everybody's like, hmm, why you got birds? Why you got that? And a small religious sect, like, what the fuck? Why you got birds, man. Now, Amshin Riccio was started in 1987 by their leader, Shoko Asahara. And it began as a religious movement that kind of bonded Hindu and Buddhist beliefs to a degree.

But within a few years, their belief system would come or would come to include several apocalyptic Christian prophecies as well. Oh. Just a little bit of that. Okay. Yeah, it's not just a religious sect. Yeah. Not long after founding the movement, Asahara. declared himself to be not only a reincarnation of Jesus Christ himself, but also the first enlightened

one since the Buddha. Well, shit. This guy's kind of a big deal. He's the biggest deal, what I'd say. The hugest. By the end of the 80s, the group had gained official status as a religious organization in Japan and had managed to attract several thousand devotees around the world, not just Japan. What the fuck?

And it was due in part to Asahara's publishing. in public speaking activities. He had a way of bringing the people in. Yeah. Now, Japanese culture overall is a lot more rooted in history and tradition than it is religion. So most people across Japan didn't see Amshin Riccio as a formal religion so much as like a spiritual movement kind of thing. And it incorporated aspects of popular Japanese cultural products like manga and anime. Oh, yeah. So it was like a little more palatable to the masses. Yeah, for sure. Especially to a younger generation. It was more marketable, too. What did I say? Well, no, you were right palatable, but I mean, it was more marketable too. Exactly. So to a younger generation, joining Alm became a way

of being a part of something bigger and totally different than any of the generations before them. So that led to a lot of young people from wealthy and elite families to join. All right. That makes sense. Which is scary, though. Yeah. You can see how it goes that way. Yeah, it started off as like, oh, cool. Yeah, and it's like, this fun new thing. Now, at first, the objectives and beliefs of Amshin Ricchio were pretty chill. It was all about, like, positive thinking, self-improvement, self-realization, all those, basically all every cold starts. And it was all presented in a framework of supposedly ancient traditions and beliefs, which made it, like we said, marketable, palatable.

But within a few years, the beliefs and desires of Shoko Asahara himself started taking things first. and further away from positivity and self-work. By the 1990, or by 1990, the new religious movement was starting to look more like a cult with every passing day. Members were being encouraged to relinquish all their assets, all their holdings, and all their savings to, um, in general, along with their autonomy and individuality. And Asahara told them, this was the price for true self-determination and self-actualization. It always is. Just give me everything you have, even your name and your very essence. Yeah.

And you'll realize who you are. That's it. I love that in every one of these cults, that seems to be the one rule. Yeah. Give me all your shit. Yeah. Give me everything in your life. Separate from big reward.

All your loved one. And it's like it's so crazy how it just, it's always that. It's always the way. How like nobody ends up rewarded. Yeah. It's just always about giving all your earthly possessions, including and your name. Yeah. To just one guy. Just a dude. Just a guy. Yeah. But he earns your trust so you think that he's Jesus Christ himself. Which is like... They always do. Which is like... They always do. It's so sad. Now, alms practices and rituals for a long time were heavily guarded secrets that were rarely described outside of the group. But since the attacks, a lot of former members have spoken out and told their stories of what happened behind the scenes. And it's fucked up. According to several former Om members, they were... They paid large... sums for, quote, rituals involving Asahara's hair and bathwater, despite the group urging

followers to reject materialism. Huh. They took it to a place of saltburn. They sure did. They sure did. They sure did. One former member told a BBC journalist that he paid more than $8,100 in 1988 for a blood initiation where he drank what was said to be the leader's blood.

I also just need you to look at Aidan's face. Aiden's monitoring this recording like, What the fuck? What did I sign up for? Yeah. Yeah. Just a blood initiation. In a later of it.

Damn. The rituals, which were always somewhat strange, came to include the use of psychedelic drugs and also violent abuse, like the incorporation of shock therapy. Oh. Yeah. Just a normal thing. Just a little.

Just a little. Little zap. Yeah. A little acid. Yeah. Little trip. That's a normal thing. fine. Yeah. So as the beliefs and the objectives and the entire vibe of the group was slowly

shifting and orienting around Asahara himself, he was becoming increasingly paranoid because you have to know that at least one part of him realized this was wrong. Yeah. So he's like, how long am I going to get away with this? Yeah. He was delusional. He was grandiose. And because of that, so were the stories that he was telling his followers. By the 90s, those stories had taken on a very dark tone as they always do. And where does it always go? To the end of the world. Always. Within a pretty short amount of time, he became convinced that the world was going to collapse into World War III. And he said Japan would go to war against the United States, and that would bring out the apocalypse. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. That's always the ending. Yeah. So because his thoughts and his

overall vibe were getting so dark and violent, in time, the orders that he gave his followers were just as dark and just as violent. Now, the secret to his success, and pretty much every coal leaders, was a strategy of division and domination. While some members were treated extremely well and given a certain amount of power within the group, others were singled out for abuse and just otherwise manipulated. Awesome. Yeah.

So he had, like, his closest fellow soldiers kind of thing, and they would deal out his doings. Yep. Now, in the spring of 1990, Asahara finally mobilized those closest, most devoted followers. When that April, he instructed Shigeo Sujimoto and several others to produce a large quantity of botulinum toxin. What? Yeah, just that. Okay. A powerful neurotoxin.

Once they'd done so, the followers loaded the poison into industrial sprayers, mounted onto three trucks, and sprayed areas around two U.S. naval bases, the Narita Airport, the offices of several religious or political rivals and the imperial palace. Oh. Just that. Just that old thing. Yeah. You know the one.

Oh, yeah. I've heard of it, you know, in passing. According to Asahara, this was to bring about the apocalyptic war between the U.S. and Japan. But it's more likely that the real motivation for the attack was retaliation for defeat of 25 all members who ran for political positions and failed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Seems like it. Either way, the effects of the attacks would have been devastating. But fortunately, since none of the followers had any experiences with chemicals or chemical compounding, they were unable to produce the neurotoxin. And what they sprayed had no effect. So nobody really even would have known that this happened. I was going to say, yeah. So their first attempt to deploy a chemical weapon had been unsuccessful.

But they remained committed to using highly toxic chemicals to bring about the end of the world. In the fall of 1992, Asahara and 40 of his closest followers traveled to Zaire on what they described as a mission to provide support and medical assistance to those affected by the Ebola outbreak. Oh, they just decided to be like super kind. So nice. But in all reality, it's believed that the true purpose for the trip was to obtain samples of Ebola, which they would then bring back to Tokyo and unleash onto the public. Like, Ebola is the scariest thing. Yeah, it absolutely is. And thinking about anyone harnessing Ebola to utilize as a weapon on other people.

Is the scariest shit I've ever heard of. Like, I can't. You got it. Period. Ah. Period. Because you just hemorrhage. Yeah.

Uh. Mm-hmm. I hate it. I hate it. In the end, luckily, I'm sure you probably didn't hear much about this because they were unable to obtain any samples and they did return empty-handed. But that was the goal, allegedly. Having now failed twice at obtaining dangerous chemicals and deadly viruses, Asahara's inner circle was undeterred, though, and the desire to carry out their leader's plans. So in June 1992, several members of Alm attempted to spray what they thought was botulinum toxin onto the guests outside, the wedding of Prince Narahuta.

Oh, that's good, right? Yeah. Just the prince. Just a very low key. Just starting off slow. Just your average wedding. Yeah, just that. Yeah.

Once again, though, they failed to properly extract the toxin during the processing phase, and what they sprayed was entirely inactive. I mean, good. So I'm not quite sure if he knew that happened until much later. Can you imagine? Looking back on your wedding. later and being like, oh, that was just creeping on the perimeter? Yeah.

What? Imagine. Damn. Now, by late 1993, Amm had started to get a reputation with Japanese law enforcement, if you can even imagine. Yeah. And also in certain political circles because of Asahara's increasingly aggressive political rhetoric and his bizarre conspiracy theories and accusations.

There were also rumors of Amm members having been involved in the commission of various crimes across Japan, including kidnapping and murder. Oh, damn. A lot of members who joined the group seeking spiritual enlightenment had become deeply uncomfortable with Asahara's new fixation and just the paranoid delusions, and they decided to leave. Now, some of those former members went on to found the Canary Association, which is a group that provides legal services and support to former members and victims of Alm. Whoa.

Now, this became a real problem. Yeah. But because the rumors of Alm's nefarious activities hadn't escalated to prove that. fact, there was really nothing law enforcement agencies could do at the time to stop them. They could only keep them on their radar and hope that they made a mistake somewhere along the way. That's so scary. It really is. Because, I mean, obviously, you need tangible proof. You can't just be like, well, that's the thing. They're spraying chemicals. I don't know. They're just not doing anything. And you don't want them to do something, but the only way you can do something is if they do something.

So it's like, ugh. It's a pickle. Yeah. Now, in the meantime, Shoko Asahara continued his attempts to bring about the end of world, but also developed a new fixation with the Canary Association, who he viewed probably rightfully, as a threat to his hold over the members of all. In May 1994, he decided it was finally time to deal with them and put an end to them once and for all. On May 9, he directed one of his closest followers, Yoshinobu Aliyama, and several other young followers to kill a man named Taro Takimoto, who was one of the founders of the Canary Association. That morning, the group traveled to the Kofu District Courthouse where Takimoto was conducting business. After finding his car in the parking lot, they sprayed sarin gas into the ventilation system.

My God. And not only that, but they coated the interior of the windshield with it, then closed the car and left the scene. Holy shit. So when Takimoto got into his car and started the engine, the ventilation kicked on, obviously, and released a huge cloud of sarin gas to his face. Holy shit. After many, many failed attempts at releasing a chemical weapon onto the public, they finally succeeded when it came to Sarin. Just a very short time after being exposed to the gas, Taro Taki Moto died from his symptoms.

Oh, man. Now in time, Al Yama and the others directly involved in Taki Moto's death, they were charged and convicted for the murder. Yeah. They got 12 years in prison. Twelve years? Yeah. Do you say? Uh-huh.

They also refused to cooperate with the authorities or implicate Asahara or Om in any way in the murder, so investigators couldn't make any additional arrests. Huh. Yeah. I see. Yeah. Right. Wow. Makes total sense.

Yeah. Just kill a man. Damn. 12 years in prison. 12 years. Wild. So now that they found a chemical weapon, though, that ostensibly worked for their purposes, Asahara and his followers kept targeting and attacking their rivals with remarkable frequency.

In June 1994, seven members released Sarin in Matsumoto, a neighborhood outside of Tokyo, using a heat pot to vaporize the liquid. My God. The suspected motive was to kill three judges who were about to hear a fraud case that had been brought against Alm. Jesus. But the damage was a lot more severe. Seven people were killed and 140 were injured. My God, the damage these fuckers do.

Yeah. And they're just flying under the radar in a way. In a way. Like, obviously, they're on the police's radar, but... But not for this kind of thing. Right. Now, in September, Shoko Igawa, a journalist who had written several articles, critical of Am and Asahara, was attacked when members of the cult sprayed Fawzgeen gas through her mail slot.

Mail slots now? Yeah. My goodness. She was asleep at the time in her own fucking home and unable to detect the gas, obviously. By the time she woke up, she developed a severe cough. She could not speak. could not breathe, and her throat was incredibly irritated. By then it was too late to stop any of the effects, and she died later that day. Holy shit. Just a journalist who was critical of them. And just

in her house. Yeah. That fall, the attacks continued on everybody from political rivals, spiritual groups to Amm's critics, former members. Nobody was safe. That's terrifying. A group of 20 dissident members were killed after members of Ams sprayed them with VX, which is one of the most powerful nerve agents known to man. What the fuck? Yeah. A few weeks later, more members of the Canary Association were targeted. But this time, the VX failed to produce the desired effect, and there were actually no

fatalities. Wow. But they intended to. Yeah. Between late 1994 and February of 1995, nearly a dozen attacks similar to those mentioned above were attributed to members of Amm Shonrikio. Damn. While those attacks perpetrated by members of Alm on behalf of Shoko Asahara were obviously fucking terrifying and terrible.

At least some of them seemed to have been practice runs for this larger attack that they would eventually perpetrate in Tokyo on the subway. Because even all this is horrifying. It's awful, but it was all like a lead-up. Exactly. And it's awful to call it practice, but it really was. It was them perfecting the technique. Yeah. In early March of 1995, a member of.

of all made a large and illegal purchase of gas masks and military equipment online from a U.S.-based military surplus company. And it's believed that this is the equipment that was used in the attack on the subway. Wow. So on that morning of March 20th, which we've now referenced many times, 1995, Ikuo Hayashi boarded the Chioda line, carrying two bags of liquid sarin wrapped in newspapers. Once he was aboard the train, he carefully slid the bags under a seat and waited to hear the announcement for his station. Once he heard that they were approaching his stop, he waited until the very last minute, and then using the sharpened tip of his umbrella, he punctured the two bags beneath his seat and just casually exited the train. Jesus. From the platform, he climbed up the stairs to the

street where another all member, Tomo Mitsu Mimi, was waiting in a getaway car. Elsewhere in Tokyo, nearly identical scenarios were playing out. Wow. On the Hibia line, Masato-Yokosato-Yok. Yauusho Hayashi punctured their respective bags of sarin before exiting the trains, making their way to the street, were their drivers, Kiyotaka, Tonosaki, and Shigeo Sujimoto were waiting. And on the Maranucci line, Kanichi Hirohsi and Taru Toyoda did the same before making their way to the street and escaping with help from their drivers, Koichi Kepmora and Katsuya Takahashi. Unlike the others, though, Herose was unsuccessful in puncturing his bags and ultimately resorted to kicking one of the bags onto the platform to try to get it to burst. As a result, he was exposed to the gas and required hospitalizations to treat his symptoms. He was exposed to the gas himself. Yeah, he was an idiot.

And honestly, he got what he deserved. Now, given what they knew about Am and Asahara, investigators of the terrain attack immediately suspected that the cult were the first. In the past, they might have failed repeatedly to connect the other gas attacks and just many, many acts of violence from the cult members directly back to Asahara, but this time things were going to change. When police raided the Alm offices around Tokyo, they discovered among other things, $7.9 million in cash, 22 pounds of gold, several weapons, and a ton of gas masks and military gear. Holy shit.

As well as a, quote, huge cachet of toxic chemicals similar to those used in the lethal assault on Tokyo subways. Wow. The number of toxic agents found during the raid over 200 barrels. Holy shit. Suggested that they had even larger plans for the following weeks and months. Clearly. During this raid or during the multiple raids, they also found 50 members of Alm who had been confined

in one of their chapels in a temple at the foot of Mount Fuji. What? All of these people were dehydrated and close to starvation. And presumably it was some kind of punishment for some transgression against Asahara. Holy shit. Just locked in a temple at the foot of Mount Fuji. That's the scariest shit I've ever heard. Picturing that, we'll fuck you up.

I'm picturing that and that's scaring the shit out of me. Yeah. Just like think about Mount Fuji. It's like one of the most beautiful scenes. in the world. At the foot of Mount Fuji, like, what a, I don't even know how to describe that. That's just like putting someone in the deepest, darkest, farthest out place you can think of. Like, that's so, the isolation technique there is next level. That's also the Okigahara. Yeah. Forest. Yep. That's like the forest of, the suicide forest.

The ocean of trees they call it. Yeah. It's so dense that no sound can escape it. Yeah. How fucked is that? I have no words. Like, that's a horror movie. That's honestly one of the scariest things I've ever heard.

It's a horror movie. That's so diabolical. Yeah. Wow. What did I say? 50 members? Yeah, around 50 members. Just locked in a temple.

And no one ever would have found them. No, had this not happened? Yeah. No way. Oh, man. Like I said, they were all de-hive. hydrated all close to starvation. Four al-members were arrested in connection with the confinement, and six of those in confinement, uh, in that confinement were removed to, and moved to a local

hospital for treatment. Wow. But imagine just living the rest of your life as one of those 50 people. Yeah, who was just locked in a temple at the base of Mount Fuji. All because you joined this, what you thought was like a religious movement. Yeah. Or like a spiritual movement. Like you fucked up. Yeah. Who knows what the transgressions were? It was probably, I, I, can't even imagine. Yeah, I can't either. Probably like not saying hello to him or something. Now, when the news about the raids on the Ame headquarters broke, the cult rushed to release a statement, of course, insisting that they had never made any chemical weapons and they had nothing to do with the attack on the subway.

They said PR, PR, PR. It's like weird of you to have so many strange chemicals then. Yeah, and they said, don't, why are you asking them about it? What? A spokesperson for AOM, Yoshinobu Aoyama, when as far as to suggest that it very well could have been the police who planned the attack and then just wanted to frame the group for it. The way they just said, maybe it's the other guy. Wasn't me. Wasn't me. But maybe it's the people who protect and serve. It's also like, yeah, I'm sure the police on a random day in March just wanted to create work for themselves. Exactly. Like, really? Like, what sense does that make big? But okay. Just wanted to expose themselves to Sarah and gas as well.

Yeah, for sure. Of course. But like you guys are just also keeping a shit ton of chemicals. For no reason. Yeah. Across many, many buildings that you own. Yeah. Yeah, not planning to use it. No, just like harboring. No, we just like to have it. It's like fun to do experiments, okay? Yeah. Science, look it up.

Shut up. The members of all might have denied any involvement with the gas attacks and just tried to promote themselves as the victim of bad press. But in the weeks that followed the subway attack, the full extent of their operation was uncovered and exposed daily in the press. By the end of that week, investigators had discovered additional cachets of toxic chemicals and located a full-scale chemical laboratory in one of their shrines also located near Mount Fuji. Oh, wow.

A chemical fucking laboratory. They had like, if you're watching True Blood with us, they had like a hot shot. They had a hot shot. All members attempted to describe the lab as their quote-unquote, I'm not kidding you, science and technology agency. Like, this is just where we do science and technology. No, you haven't. Get that of my laboratory, D-D? You're not as good as us.

You suck. Okay, you're not as science as us. I can't. Get science. Just get into it, yeah. It's science. Cool. Deal with it.

Detectives explained, though, that it was clearly where the group had been manufacturing Sarin in preparation for murder. Yeah, they're like, guys. They're like, we caught you red-handed motherfuckers. There's a bit. There's a beaker here that says sarin in process. Seren to kill everyone. Yeah, like, it's, come on.

Like, get out of here. Now, in the weeks immediately following the attacks on the sub- way, more than 150 members of Alm were arrested for various offenses. Someone on the run, though, to avoid arrest, but a lot of those members would eventually be arrested and prosecuted. Despite the arrest, though, of several members of the cult, many of them public figures, by the way. The group continued operating like they just weren't under investigation. Yeah, they said, don't worry about it. We're still going to science a technology near Mount Fuji. Okay, it's what we do. For at least six weeks after the raids, there were ongoing attacks, including one on the

Oklahoma subway in mid-May that resulted in the injury of roughly 20 passengers. Finally, though, on May 16th, thousands of police officers and soldiers spread out across Tokyo again in one of the city's largest raids, all in search of the founder, Shoko Asahara. It took some time, but eventually, this doesn't even feel real. Eventually, they found him hold up in a rural compound, which they were only able to access after forcing open a number of complex locks on the doors that led to this place and making their way through a maze of dark hallways. How is this real?

That's real life, brothers. How is this real? They had to cut through several locks and then do a fucking corn maze. I can't get through a corn maze on a good day. No. Yes, that's all I thought about. No, you're so right. Aiden just held up a note that said true detective.

That is exactly what I pictured. Yes, it's such a good call. Yeah. And again, like, something you would picture in a crazy TV show or a movie. Yeah. But it was for real. Wow. But they found him.

Yeah. So he was arrested, obviously. Got him. Got him. He was removed to Tokyo's Metropolitan Police headquarters where he was charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in connection with the subway attack. Oh, time. I'm also like, do you guys charge for, like, domestic terrorism?

Yeah. Now, at the time of his arrest, Tokyo investigators and politicians found themselves having to walk a very fine line, though, between enforcing the law and adhering to the protections afforded to a as a religious organization. Oh, come on. At the same time, they worried that even if they were able to appease the group's more moderate members and supporters, there would be other more radical members who might retaliate with even more violence.

Because you have to realize this group, like I said, it wasn't just in Japan, or like, not even just in Tokyo, it was across Japan and across the world they had members. That's the thing, and they don't, they're unpredictable. Now, in fact, on the day of Asahara's arrest, a package bomb exploded at Tokyo City Hall, and many suspected it had been planted there by a member of Alm in retaliation. The members who were found to be responsible for their roles in the gas attacks were luckily prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, though, ultimately, and given the harshest penalties. Of those who drove the getaway vehicles after the gas was released in the subway cars, all but Tomo Mitsouiomi were. given life sentences.

As Amm's minister of internal affairs, though, Nimi was determined to play a much larger role in the attack, and he was sentenced to death. Wow. Similarly, those who were deemed responsible for releasing the gas were also sentenced to death, with the exception of Iquo Hayashi, who cooperated and was sentenced to life at prison. Wow. After his arrest, Shoko Asahara was identified as the person who obviously gave the order to release the gas on the subway.

and he was found to have played a role in the earlier attacks on various targets throughout the city. At his trial, he was ultimately charged with 27 counts of murder among various other charges. That's a lot of counts. That's a lot of murder. That's a lot of murder. But I feel like there should be more. Yeah, there probably is. But he was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death.

After having exhausted all of his appeals, he was executed by hanging, along with six other cult members on July 6th. 6th, 2018 at the Tokyo House of Detention. And the remaining four members who were sentenced to death were executed three weeks later, July 26, 2018. Now, in the years following the attack on the Tokyo subway, Amshin Riccio continued to operate in locations around the world, obviously with a much less devoted following than they once had. But for a time, the group even was presided by over Asahara's own sons. Wow. Yeah. before they ultimately regrouped as a new organization called Aleph.

And they claim they abandoned the stricter religious texts and beliefs. They're just kind of doing a new thing. Okay. Over the last 30 years, though, there have been several incidents of violence and acts of terrorism that are believed to be associated with the group and the members. But Alm's official position is that they're a peaceful spiritual organization now and have no connection to terrorists and cannot be held responsible for what others do without their permission or sanction.

Okay. So, holy shit. That is that. That is... I'm like, how do I not learn about that in school? That's the thing. You didn't learn about that in school, did you? I don't remember learning about that ever.

We learned about world history. Yeah. Like, why don't you learn about that? Isn't that wild? And also, like, do you remember hearing about that ever? I mean, it was the 90s? What was it, 95? I would have been 10.

Yes, I guess maybe you would have been... I don't remember hearing about it. Maybe you would have been kept away from that. I probably was kept away from that. They were like, hey, turn off the new Zolian is in the room. Yeah. But, yeah. Like, that's... It's weird to think that that was happening when I was just 10.

Yeah. Just being a 10-year-old. It is. It is really weird to think that, actually. And that's all happening. Yeah. I don't like that. Just like the amount of weird, crazy, like, feels like a spy movie.

It does. That's the thing. You know what I mean? And the way they kept, like, fucking. up first and they kept trying and practicing until they got it. That's scary. How dedicated they They remained so dedicated. Yeah. And it's so sad the amount of people that were injured and lost their lives. I mean, the fact that somebody died as recently as, what did I say, 20-20. Yeah. That's even. That's so sad. After years and years of battling like serious complications

from the poisoning, it's awful. Yeah. Sarin is fucking scary. Yeah, it is. You got a fun back? I hate it. Let me find one. That is a fun fact. We need one. It's too shooketh. It's a shookething story. It really is. Lobsters pee out of their faces.

Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. They have little like nozzles. Ew. Like right under their eyes and they just piss out of them. How dare you say that to me? And they just, they just piss out of them.

They do. That's like it knocked up where she's like, and then you have to cut off your head and you dig. And then there's the baby. Because you were like, they just piss out of them. And they just piss out of them. That's where they piss. Yeah. We also, I just, I was like, no, for real.

Males also squirt pee at rival males to show dominance. Yeah. They piss on each other for dominance. Yeah. They talk to each other by peeing on each other's faces as well. Females also spray urine into male's faces to calm them down and show that they're ready to fuck. To piss. at another lobster to be like, calm down.

Like, I piss at another lobster to be like, calm the fuck down. And let's fuck. Like chill the beans for a minute. Wow. That's, yep. And that's your fucked fact for the day. I love lobster. Lobsters are crazy.

Ew. Enjoy your lobster next. We hope you keep listening. We hope you. Keep it weird. But that's what we're. that you start pissing up your eyes to tell you, ma'am, that you're ready to go.

Or just say calm down. Come on. Ew. That's funny.