The Fanatical Leadership Board

Leaders ranked by the ACE Score, which combines authority, cult devotion and the cost of leaving, or by any single score. A high rank describes the grip on followers, not a moral verdict, and inclusion does not classify anyone as a cult.

We profiled 100 historical cases with the same scoring guide, so you can compare them directly. Every case concerns a leader who has died or a movement whose founding period has ended. Each profile was researched against published sources and then checked a second time.