'48 Hours' Investigates leader of family cult who now has dementia

"48 Hours" (CBS) was seen Saturday evening at 9/8 p.m. It aired at 7 p.m. (central time) in Albuquerque, NM on KRQE 13. The 2-hour segment on April 29, 2017 was called, “The Family." The first hour (9/8 p.m.) garnered 3.85 million TV viewers overall. It reached 0.6 million TV viewers in the all important 18 to 49 adult demographic. The second hour (10/9 p.m.) grabbed 4.39 overall & 0.7 with adults.

"48 Hours" is an investigative program that covers crime & murder in the United States. This episode was reported and narrated by Peter Van Sant.

“The Family.” Anne Hamilton-Byrne was a paranoid schizophrenic who believed herself to be the female incarnation of Jesus Christ. She built a cult from the ground up with the children of Australia. Anne drugged her kids with LSD right from the beginning. She told her followers that the world was going to end and they would become the new leaders. 28 children were adopted at birth. She made them all believe she was their true mother. The cult would spend years worshiping her. The kids also had so called, “aunties” who controlled them through beatings and torture.

Anne was at first a religious guru who created a life that never happened. She went as far as telling her followers that she mingled with the royal family of England. Anne also wanted the life of the Von Trapp's from the film, “The Sound of Music.” When she created “The family.” Her weapon of control was the LSD drug. Her cult grew to 500 members by 1980, but several kids who grew up in her “family” had grown tired. They spoke to the police who brought in the FBI. The cult farm was then raided.

You can watch episodes of “48 Hours” at CBS. Click photo. 

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