Location: Sinasa Village, Davao City, Philippines (1985) đ”đ
The Story: In a remote village, a religious cult leader named Mangayanon Butaog gathered his followers. He presented them with a potent promise: by consuming a special gruel, they would be transformed into gods, immune to the world's suffering. Trusting their leader, dozens of men, women, and children consumed the meal in a communal ritual, believing they were on the cusp of a divine awakening. đ”
The Twist: The gruel was not a path to divinity but a tool of death, deliberately laced with a lethal insecticide. That night, 64 people died in their sleep, victims of a horrific, mass poisoning. The horror escalated when Butaog, upon seeing his handiwork, murdered his own wife and two children before taking his own life. In total, 68 people perished. The scene was discovered days later, a silent testament to the devastating power of blind faith manipulated by a single, destructive will. It remains one of the Philippines' most tragic and bizarre mass deaths. đ