Journey into the terrifying world of 19th-century India to uncover the chilling reality of Thug Behram, one of history's most prolific serial killers. This episode of Devils of History explores the rise and fall of the Thugee cult—a secretive network of professional assassins who haunted the dusty trade routes, including the Grand Trunk Road, conducting ritualistic murders in the name of the Goddess Kali (Bhavani).

Learn how the crumbling Mughal Empire and the economic upheaval caused by the British East India Company created the perfect, lawless environment for the Thugs to thrive. We delve into their dark methods, their coded language (Ramasee), their chilling hereditary initiation rituals, and the belief system that justified their thousands of strangulations using a silk scarf (rumāl).

Finally, discover how British administrator William Henry Sleeman and his revolutionary use of approvers (informants like Feringhea) managed to systematically dismantle this centuries-old cult, leading to the capture and 1840 execution of the elusive Jamedar, Behram, and forever changing the face of law and order in the subcontinent.

This is a story of organized darkness, religious justification for mass violence, and the ultimate clash between ancient custom and colonial-era justice.