A French sports-car journalist promised ‘out of this world’ ecstasy and enlightenment to anyone (particularly women) who followed the teachings that he claimed to have learned via his alien abduction.
Now Claude Vorilhon — who adopted the name ‘Raël’ as his UFO ministry began in the 1970s — is under scrutiny again in a four-part docuseries premiering on Netflix.
In addition to accusations that Raël coerced women into signing ‘a contract’ making them ‘sexually exclusive’ to him, and wild accounts of nude ‘sensual meditation,’ the doc delves into the Raëlians dubious claim to have mastered human cloning.
As debates over ethics of human cloning reached to a fever pitch during the George W. Bush presidency, Raël was even dragged before Congress to testify.
Claude Vorilhon (above) — who adopted the name ‘Raël’ as his UFO ministry began — is under scrutiny again in a new docuseries on Netflix. In addition to accusations that Raël made women ‘sex slaves,’ the doc delves into Raël’s dubious claim to have mastered human cloning
As Brigitte McCann, a Calgary-based journalist who went undercover inside the group and witnessed these events firsthand put it: ‘Ultimately, they were sex slaves’
In 1992, the movement bought 284 acre property in Quebec, Canada, which they called Le Jardin du Prophète (‘the Garden of the Prophet’). It was in Canada that the darkest allegations of sexual abuse by Raël and some of his chief lieutenants first emerged
But the journey of this oft-described ‘UFO cult’ to those tense public hearings on Capitol Hill spanned decades of controversy and sensational TV appearances.
In the early 1980s, the Raëlians bought a campsite in the South of France, which they used for mass nude worship ceremonies to ‘welcome the Elohim’ — the Biblically themed race of ancient aliens whom Claude or ‘Raël’ claimed his wisdom from.
Debates over ethics of human cloning reached to a fever pitch during the George W. Bush presidency – with Raël (above) even dragged before Congress to testify
The group called their French wilderness retreat Eden.
‘He had a key phrase, ‘If you want to remove the pants from your head, you must first remove the pants from your ass,”‘ according to an ex-follower named Jean-Paul.
‘To find myself in a group unashamedly naked. It wasn’t easy but we did it.’
During the 1990s, Raël and his followers became the subject of numerous daytime TV talk shows and news programs as the group’s following grew more international.
In 1992, the movement bought a 284-acre property in Quebec, Canada, which they called Le Jardin du Prophète (‘the Garden of the Prophet’). They built a museum to UFO research there in order to, they claimed, raise money for their ‘Elohim Embassy.’
In the early 1980s, the Raëlians bought a campsite in the South of France, which they used for mass nude worship ceremonies to ‘welcome the Elohim’ — the Biblically themed race of ancient aliens whom Claude or ‘Raël’ claimed his wisdom from
Netflix’s ‘Raël: The Alien Prophet’ is now streaming
Above, Raël (former sports-car reporter Claude Vorilhon) – after the movement’s spread to Canada – poses with his then-wife Sophie, whom he married with the permission of her mother, who was also a member of the group, while she was only 16 years old
It was in Canada that the darkest allegations of sexual abuse by Raël and some of his chief lieutenants first emerged.
As Brigitte McCann, a Calgary-based journalist who went undercover inside the group and witnessed these events firsthand put it: ‘Ultimately, they were sex slaves.’
READ MORE: The clone cult’s sinister King
The Raëlian movement takes its inspiration from the bizarre teachings of a single charismatic leader. The 55-year-old tells his followers that extraterrestrials created the human race 25,000 years ago using DNA technology.
Within the culture of Raëlians, however, they were known as the ‘Order of Angels.’
McCann reported that she saw ceremonies where naked ‘Angels’ tended to the prophet’s every whim.
Nadine Gary, a member of the order, who had been recruited by her mother at 18, described how Raëlians explained the order to themselves: ‘They are at the service of the Elohim and to honor and to serve Raël.’
‘So I thought, “You must be part of this order” and when I became an angel, it was moving. I felt immense love.’
During this period, Raël married a 16-year-old girl, Sophie, with the permission of her own mother, herself a member of the fringe ‘alien worshipping’ group.
But the scandals and controversy surrounding the group reached it highest point during the George W. Bush presidency, after the Raëlians incorporated a human cloning research company in the Bahamas, Clonaid.
In March of 2001, Raël and others were called before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee to testify on the ethics of their enterprise, as lawmakers debated a ban on human cloning.
That same spring, the US Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations inspected a Clonaid lab, located in a rented room from a high school in Nitro, West Virginia.
Ultimately, the FDA, Clonaid and the former West Virginia state legislator who had helped Clonaid purchase its lab equipment, Mark Hunt, reached an agreement to not conduct their attempts to clone Hunt’s son in the United States.
Undaunted, the Raëlians’ Clonaid group announced their first alleged human cloning success on December 2002 – at a Holiday Inn in Hollywood, Florida.
Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, who served as the scientific director of the movement’s cloning company Clonaid, sat for interviews with the makers of the new Netflix doc.
President Bush called the very idea of human cloning ‘deeply troubling’ and Democrats worried that the scandals surrounding Clonaid and Raël would blowback on therapeutic cloning research in medicine, which they felt was badly needed.
Above, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, who served as the scientific director of the movement’s cloning company Clonaid, announced the group’s first, alleged cloning success at a December 2002 press conference – held at a Holiday Inn in Hollywood, Florida
Whether the Raëlians’ claims of a human cloning breakthroughs were real or just science fiction, the group could not back away from the concept which had been central to Claude Vorilhon’s vision since the 1970s
But, whether the Raëlians’ claims of a cloning breakthroughs were real or just science fiction, the group could not back away from the concept which had been central to Claude Vorilhon’s vision since the 1970s.
In a 1975 book, ‘Raël’ described his meeting with aliens deep within the crater of a volcano in France. The beings, he said, had explained that all of humanity was created from the DNA of their more advanced alien race, the ‘Elohim.’
These beings encouraged him, he wrote, to pursue human cloning and, as the Washington Post put it, ‘unlock the secret to immortality.’
At a minimum, Claude Vorilhon and his Raëlians have achieved a kind of immortality, the kind that comes with the notoriety of a ‘true crime’ docu-series. Netflix’s ‘Raël: The Alien Prophet’ is now streaming.
