A French sports car journalist promised “out of this world” ecstasy and enlightenment to anyone (particularly women) who followed the teachings he claimed to have learned through his alien abduction.
Now Claude Vorilhon, who adopted the name ‘Raël’ when he began his UFO ministry in the 1970s, is again under scrutiny in a four-part documentary series premiering on Netflix.
In addition to accusations that Raël forced women to sign “a contract” that made them “sexually exclusive” to him, and wild accounts of naked “sensual meditation,” the documentary delves into the Raëlians’ dubious claims of having dominated human cloning.
When debates over the ethics of human cloning reached a fever pitch during George W. Bush’s presidency, Raël was even dragged before Congress to testify.
Claude Vorilhon (above), who adopted the name ‘Raël’ when he began his UFO ministry, is again under scrutiny in a new Netflix documentary series. In addition to accusations that Raël turned women into “sex slaves,” the documentary delves into Raël’s dubious claim to have mastered human cloning.
As Brigitte McCann, a Calgary-based journalist who worked undercover within the group and witnessed these events firsthand, put it: “Ultimately, they were sex slaves.”
In 1992, the movement purchased a 284-acre property in Quebec, Canada, which they named 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 top 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 television appearances.
In the early 1980s, the Raëlians purchased a camp in southern France, which they used for mass naked worship ceremonies to “welcome the Elohim”, the race of ancient biblical-themed aliens of whom Claude or ” Raël” claimed his wisdom.
Debates over the ethics of human cloning reached a fever pitch during George W. Bush’s presidency, and Raël (above) was even dragged before Congress to testify.
The group called their retreat in the French wilderness Eden.
“He had a catchphrase: ‘If you want to get your pants off your head, you first have to get your pants off your ass,'” according to a former fan named Jean-Paul.
‘Finding myself in a group blatantly naked. It wasn’t easy but we did it.”
During the 1990s, Raël and his followers became the subject of numerous talk shows and daytime news shows as the group’s following became more international.
In 1992, the movement purchased a 284-acre property in Quebec, Canada, which they named Le Jardin du Prophète (‘the Garden of the Prophet’). They built a museum there for UFO research in order, they claimed, to raise money for their ‘Embassy of Elohim.’
In the early 1980s, the Raëlians purchased a camp in southern France, which they used for mass naked worship ceremonies to “welcome the Elohim”, the race of ancient biblical-themed aliens of whom Claude or ” Raël” claimed his wisdom.
Netflix’s ‘Raël: The Alien Prophet’ is now streaming
Above, Raël (former sports car reporter Claude Vorilhon) – after the movement’s extension to Canada – poses with his then wife Sophie, whom he married with the permission of his mother, who was also a member of the group, when she I was only 16 years old
It was in Canada that the darkest allegations of sexual abuse by Raël and some of his top lieutenants first emerged.
As Brigitte McCann, a Calgary-based journalist who worked undercover within the group and witnessed these events firsthand, said: “Ultimately, they were sex slaves.”
Within the culture of the Raëlians, however, they were known as the “Order of Angels”.
McCann reported seeing ceremonies in which naked ‘angels’ attended to the prophet’s every whim.
Nadine Gary, a member of the order, who had been recruited by her mother at age 18, described how Raëlians explained the order to themselves: “They are in the service of the Elohim and to honor and serve Raël.”
‘Then 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 his own mother, herself a member of the fringe “alien worship” group.
But scandals and controversy surrounding the group peaked during George W. Bush’s presidency, after the Raëlians founded a human cloning research company in the Bahamas, Clonaid.
In March 2001, Raël and others were called before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee to testify about the ethics of their company, as lawmakers debated a ban on human cloning.
That same spring, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations inspected a Clonaid lab, located in a rented room at a high school in Nitro, West Virginia.
In the end, the FDA, Clonaid, and the former West Virginia state legislator who had helped Clonaid purchase its lab equipment, Mark Hunt, reached an agreement not to carry out their attempts to clone Hunt’s son in the United States. .
Undaunted, the Raëlians’ Clonaid group announced their first supposed success in human cloning in December 2002, at a Holiday Inn in Hollywood, Florida.
Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, who served as chief scientific officer of movement cloning company Clonaid, attended interviews with the creators of the new Netflix documentary.
President Bush called the very idea of human cloning “deeply troubling” and Democrats worried that the scandals surrounding Clonaid and Raël would harm research into therapeutic cloning in medicine, which they considered much needed.
Above, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, who served as scientific director of the Clonaid movement cloning company, announced the group’s first supposed cloning success at a December 2002 press conference, held at a Holiday Inn in Hollywood, Florida .
Whether the Raëlians’ claims about advances in human cloning were fact or simply science fiction, the group could not stray from the concept that had been central to Claude Vorilhon’s vision since the 1970s.
But whether the Raëlians’ claims about advances in cloning were fact or simply science fiction, the group could not stray from the concept that had been central to Claude Vorilhon’s vision since the 1970s.
In a 1975 book, ‘Raël’ described his encounter with aliens deep in the crater of a volcano in France. The beings, he said, had explained that all of humanity was created from the DNA of their most advanced alien race, the ‘Elohim’.
These beings encouraged him, he wrote, to dedicate himself to human cloning and, as Washington Post put it, ‘unlocks the secret of immortality’.
At the very least, Claude Vorilhon and his Raëlians have achieved a kind of immortality, which accompanies the notoriety of a “true crime” documentary series. Netflix’Raël: The alien prophet’ is now transmitting.