At Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas, agents of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
launched a raid against the Branch Davidian compound as
part of an investigation into illegal possession of firearms
and explosives by the cult. 

Following the unsuccessful ATF raid, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation took over the situation. A standoff with the
Branch Davidians stretched into seven weeks.

David Koresh and at least 80 of his followers, including 22
children, died during the federal government’s second
disastrous assault. A fire erupted and the compound
was completely engulfed by the flames.

David Koresh (born Vernon Wayne Howell)
(August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993)

Early in the morning of August 9, 1969, members of Charles
Manson’s cult killed five people in movie director Roman
Polanski’s Beverly Hills, California, home, including his
pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate.

Charles Milles Manson
(Maddox; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017)

 
CARLATA BRADLEY

Diana Ross was the lead singer of the vocal group The Supremes,
who became Motown‘s most successful act during the 1960s and
one of the world’s best-selling girl groups of all time.

They remain the best-charting female group in history, with a total
of twelve number-one hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100..

Following her departure from the Supremes in 1970, Ross began
a successful solo music career. Diana is 80 years young today.

On November 18, 1978, Peoples Temple cult founder Jim
Jones (above) led hundreds of his followers in a mass
murder-suicide at their agricultural commune in a remote
part of the South American nation of Guyana. Many of
Jones’ followers willingly ingested a poison-laced punch
while others were forced to do so at gunpoint. The final
death toll at Jonestown that day was 909; a third of those
who perished were children.

ROSS SIMPSON