Inside QAnon splinter cult that think JFK Jr is ‘coming back’, love ‘drinking bleach’ & could ’cause another Jonestown’
A CONSPIRACY cult who believe JFK Jr is “coming back” and who allegedly drink bleach could be edging towards a bloody end, experts have warned.
From the outside, Negative48 may look like yet another bizarre QAnon sect – but the group of hardcore believers is proving to be a different – and more troubling – beast.
In November, the splinter group made headlines when hundreds of believers gathered at the site of JFK’s assassination spot in Dallas, Texas, for the “arrival” of his son, who died in 1999.
They believe JFK Jr’s “return” will somehow trigger the return of Donald Trump to the White House and make him the “King of Kings”.
However, the group has taken a sinister turn in recent weeks and shared chilling messages about “the importance of physical death” and the need to “prepare” for a mass “termination event” on Telegram.
According to one expert, believers have been talking about “drinking the Kool-aid” – a direct reference to the gruesome Jonestown massacre of 1978.
More than 900 members of the People’s Temple movement in Jonestown, Guyana, died when its sex-crazed, drug-fuelled leader Jim Jones proposed they ingest a powered drink lethally laced with cyanide and other drugs after he killed a US congressman.
There are now fears Negative48, which is believed to be led by former construction business owner turned conspiracy theorist Michael Protzman, is quickly heading down the same track.
And one insider has claimed the cult is now quaffing a cocktail featuring industrial bleach.
It is unclear why they are drinking the chemical mixture, reports the , but its alleged the beverage is mixed up and distributed to members of the group.
Author and QAnon expert Mike Rothschild told The Sun Online that Protzman, “exhibits a degree of control over these people that you never found in QAnon”.
He said: “With Negative 48, it’s absolutely clear that this guy is controlling their behaviour from when to go inside and when to go outside and when to stand in a line, when they can sit in a circle, when they can look up and when they can look down.
“He’s talking about the need – and this is what really is setting people off – he was talking about the need for ‘physical death’ to reach the next stage of their plan.”
Self-proclaimed QAnon “researcher” @XpsingXtremism – who has asked for his real name not to be revealed – told us that Negative48 followers were being “primed for violence”.
“Whether that’s self-inflicted or homicidal, but the thing that must be noted is this could all just stop if the ringleaders were gone after.”
We’ve seen that play out with ISIS, we’ve seen that play out with certain hate groups, and I think we’re seeing the same thing play out with QAnon
Rick Ross
He said the group – which shot to prominence following the November rally in Dallas – has begun “telling people that death is the transmigration of the soul, basically that after you die, you’re going to be reincarnated”.
He chillingly added: “There are people who are convinced this is going down to Jonestown, and it could, but… I don’t think this is going to end un-violently, whether it ends in mass death or not.”
He said the group started off by sharing Gematria decodes – a practice of attributing numbers to a name, word or phrase using an outdated and debunked numbering system to derive some sort of secret meaning – but had “upped the ante over time”, spouting out ludicrous conspiracy theories about Trump, the 2020 Presidential election, and “the end of times”.
On top of this, worrying Telegram posts show messages discussing the need to “prepare, prepare, prepare” for the “termination event” while one Negative48 preacher spoke about the “importance of physical death” during a Zoom call in November.
Protzman – who suggests he is not the leader of Negative48 – has denied these allegations.
And it’s not just Negative48 that’s caught the attention of experts.
Rick Ross, a cult hunter who has helped more than 500 people leave extremist groups, said cliques like QAnon were using ISIS-like recruitment tactics to encourage followers to carry out “lone wolf” attacks.
“I think what we’re seeing with QAnon is something similar to a lone wolf phenomenon,” he told us.
“We’ve seen people who have been radicalised online that have not been part of a group but that have been online and then they’ve gone out and become very violent.
“We’ve seen that play out with ISIS, we’ve seen that play out with certain hate groups, and I think we’re seeing the same thing play out with QAnon.”
He claims QAnon had a “disproportionate” number of mentally unstable adherents who used the conspiracy as an “ignition point”.
He said the crack-pot theory was able to “reach through the internet and to these people, radicalise them, and incite them. And then they act on their own”.
Though he remains optimistic that some followers will “fade away”, others, he said, will “double down” on the cult’s crazy beliefs.
“And that’s where it gets very dangerous,” he said, explaining how the group’s demise could spur its leader to advocate violence and self-harm.
WHAT ARE QANON AND NEGATIVE48?
QANON is the bizarre conspiracy theory that was tied to the fortunes of former President Donald Trump.
The outlandish theory gained popularity among large swathes of the Republican President’s supporters.
Its adherents claim that the former president communicated about “covert battles” between himself and the Deep State.
According to , the theory centres around an anonymous source, Q, who is trying to tell the world a secret – or multiple secrets.
These centre around unfounded allegations that Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller are waging a secret battle against an alleged paedophile ring.
Supporters of the entirely baseless theory believe that this ring is filled with celebrities and political elites, who have been covertly running the United States government for decades.
The theory gained more press coverage after a supporter held a vast letter Q at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania in August 2018 and again following the storming of Capitol Hill on January 6.
Meanwhile, Negative48 espouses a crack-pot theory that Trump descends from the bloodline of Jesus Christ.
Followers of crazed splinter cult rallied around Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, – the site of JFK’s assassination in 1963 – this year believing an outlandish idea that JFK Jr – who died in a plane crash in 1999 – would “reappear” to become President and appoint Trump as the “King of Kings”.
Unlike QAnon, Negative48 has a highly visible leader alleged to be Michael Protzman, who frequently appears at rallies and on Zoom calls.
“Because you can have a leader determine ‘we are under attack, we’re threatened and the answer for us is to become violent or to end our own lives’ and this has played out on a number of cults.”
It comes as the group had allegedly planned to visit the scene of the gruesome Branch Dividian massacre in Waco, Texas, according to Mike.
In 1993, 76 cult members, including 25 children and two pregnant women, alongside several law enforcement officers were killed when cops raided the cult’s headquarters in Waco following a 51-day standoff.
“We’ve seen these people are capable of violent acts, they’re capable of delusion, they’re capable of being harnessed and pointed in a very harmful direction,” Mike said.
“Q followers feel they have their marching orders, they have everything they need, they have the tools to de-code the comms that are coming out on a daily basis. That’s not going to change.
“I think whatever they’re going to do, we will know it is coming.”
