A Brief History
On May 13, 1985, the MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia was the scene of a chaotic and tragic ending for the cult led by John Africa. The headquarters was bombed by a helicopter killing 11 people and 60 other houses were burned down. Every so often an organization dies an unhappy death, so for those interested in bizarre or pathetic endings we list 10 of them for you.
Digging Deeper
10. League of Nations, 1946.
Founded in 1919 at the conclusion of World War I with the encouragement of US president Woodrow Wilson, the US never even joined the organization, which should have been a clue. A United Nations type of organization, the League was powerless to stop Italy’s aggression in Ethiopia (Abyssinia), Russian aggression in Finland, Japanese aggression in China, and German aggression all over. Proven to be a failure, its dissolution in 1946 was a foregone conclusion.
9. Black Panther Party, 1982.
Founded in 1966 by Huey Newton, the Panthers at first terrified white Americans as their gun brandishing and tough talk demanding civil rights reform left the door open to violence as an acceptable method to get their way. Within a couple of years fighting amongst members and with other African-American organizations resembled an out of control gang more than a legitimate civil rights organization and membership and donations declined after 1968 to the point where by 1980 only 27 members remained. Stung by the revelation that founder Huey Newton was embezzling money to buy himself drugs, the Party folded in 1982.
8. ACORN, 2010.
An association of voter registration organizations, ACORN was founded in 1970 and at one time had 1200 chapters in 100 cities. The organization also worked to prevent fraud in lending to poor and working class people and supported a decent minimum wage. Combined with the majority of the voters they helped register were poor and working people, ACORN earned the enmity of the Republican party and conservatives in the US. In 2009 conservative activists dressed up like a pimp and a prostitute and secretly videoed their interview with an ACORN clerk. The video was edited to make it appear the ACORN employee was trying to help them avoid paying taxes and otherwise break the law. Even though investigations proved that video was a false representation of what happened and nothing illegal or immoral was done by ACORN, the damage to public opinion led the Senate and House of Representatives to vote to defund ACORN, effectively killing the organization. Meanwhile, in 2008, the founder’s brother was found to have embezzled almost a million dollars, which also had hurt their image.
7. The XFL, 2001.
Lasting only one season (championship won by the Los Angeles Xtreme) the XFL was a madcap venture founded by professional wrestling promoter Vince McMahon. Teams were given wild names (such as Hitmen, Demons, Maniacs, Rage, etc) and sexy cheerleaders bore no resemblance to the wholesome NFL variety. Stadium announcers that blared trash talk. Modified rules such as scrambling for the ball instead of flipping a coin to see who kicks off and receives promised excitement. The hype resulted in surprisingly heavy viewership for first week, which quickly dropped by more than half the second week. Laughably poor quality football playing was a big part of the problem, and the association with fake wrestling led fans to wonder if the games were scripted and “fixed.” After only the one season, with few fans left and terrible attendance and television ratings, the league went out of business.
6. Confederate States of America, 1865.
Founded in 1861 by southern US states seceding from the US, the US Civil War that ensued killed about 260,000 of the Confederate people and wounded another 137,000 (many of which were undoubtedly crippled). When the Confederacy was defeated in 1865, decades of humiliation and hardship followed in the ravaged South. Bitter resentment continues to this day in parts of the South.
5. Vichy France Government, 1944.
When Hitler’s Nazi’s invaded and conquered France in 1940 a new government was set up with Marshall Philippe Petain in charge. The city of Vichy became the new capital instead of Paris, and the people working eagerly for the new government were reviled by the rest of the public and called collaborators. When France was liberated by the American and British armies, as many Vichy officials that could be found were rounded up and put on trial for treason. Many were executed or imprisoned.
4. Nazi Party, 1945.

The German cult like political party that ran Germany from 1933 to 1945 claimed they would be in power for a thousand years. They came up 988 years short. Causing the ruination of Germany and millions of deaths by the time they lost World War II in 1945, Adolf Hitler, their leader and something of an idol to worship had killed himself with his wife of 1 day. Other Nazi leaders were either tried and executed, committed suicide, or slunk away to South America or the Middle East where some were later hunted down by the Israeli Nazi hunters and executed. These were the folks that thought they were the “master race” that was going to rule the world.
3. MOVE, 1985.
MOVE was a cult or cult like ‘Black Liberation” organization led by a man calling himself John Africa. Coincidentally, all members used the last name Africa. Following their illiterate leader in a life of peace and harmony with nature (so they said) MOVE members got the attention of authorities by creating a filthy compound, not paying taxes, making terrorist threats, and committing a variety of crimes like parole violations and failing to appear for court. The peace loving MOVE members also had gun violations pending. Police attempted to raid the compound and a standoff ensued, causing impatient authorities to drop 2 bombs on top of the house and shooting tear gas into it. The resulting fire killed 11 members and burned down the entire city block. MOVE exists as a mere shadow of its former self.
2. Symbionese Liberation Army, 1974.
This collection of goofs was led by Donald DeFreeze, the only African-American in the organization that was allegedly an army in the Black Liberation Revolution movement. Famous for kidnapping Patty Hearst, robbing banks, and killing a couple of people, most of the members were gunned down in an enormous shootout with police in Los Angeles in 1974. By 1975, that last few surviving members were rounded up and jailed.
1. Knights Templar, 1307-1312.
A famous and powerful organization of well to do Christian Knights founded around the early 1100’s, the Catholic Church officially recognized them in 1129. Managing money for Christians and doing charitable deeds, the Knights were feared and respected, known for their red cross on a white background. Active in the Crusades, people eventually soured on them and in 1307 in France burned many of them at the stake for various charges such as heresy, idolatry, homosexuality and others. Confessions were taken through torture, and the Pope ordered all Knights Templar arrested everywhere. You may find it odd that the king of France and the Church owed tons of money to the order, and the vast assets that were seized made a tidy bounty. As public support and official support turned to enmity, the Catholic Church eliminated their official status altogether in 1312. The secret nature of the organization including secret rituals and initiations created rumors about them that persist to this day, some people believing the Knights Templar still exist in secret.
Question for students (and subscribers): What other organizations came to an unhappy end? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Carroll, Paul B. and Chunka Mui. Billion Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years. Portfolio, 2009.
Jones, Dan. The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors. Viking, 2017.
The featured image in this article, a seal of the Knights Templar from Thomas Andrew Archer, The Crusades; The Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1894), p. 176, is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or less.
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