Of all the claims of violent behavior Lucas and Toole have made to police, none is more outrageous then their story of a strange religious cult that they were asked to join. Supposedly, while on one of their murderous sprees, Henry and Ottis were approached by a stranger who offered the men the job of delivering stolen cars to various destinations. Lucas wasn’t impressed and declined the offer, as he was afraid that it would increase their chances of being caught by police. The stranger then made another offer. He asked if they would be interested in "contract" killing on behalf of his "organization."

He told them that they would be paid $10,000 for each "execution." Lucas and Toole were interested. They figured that since they’d been killing for fun, they might as well get paid for it. The stranger said that they would be hired on one condition.

"You have to join our religion, and once you join, there is only one way out," he told them.

"What kind of religion," Lucas asked.

"It’s called, "The Hand of Death," the stranger replied. "We worship the devil."

The previous account is Lucas’s version of how the two came to be associated with the cult. Ottis Toole would later disagree with some of the details, but apart from the variations in the two men’s stories, they both swore that they did join.

Several weeks after the mysterious meeting, Lucas and Toole allegedly travelled to Florida to meet the leaders of the cult. In an abandoned warehouse on Miami’s waterfront, the same "stranger" met them and introduced himself as Don Meteric. When Meteric began to talk about the crimes the two had committed in the past, Lucas became suspicious and asked Meteric how he knew so much about them. Meteric laughed and said, "Ottis here has been doin’ work for me for years." Lucas told police years later that, at the time, he’d felt betrayed by Ottis and couldn’t believe that he had been manipulated by him into joining the cult.

That night, at an isolated spot in the Florida everglades, Henry Lee Lucas was inducted into the "Hand of Death." Later, he and Ottis were taken deeper into the everglades by airboat to an island where Lucas would undergo "training." Meteric told him: "From now on, you will do everything you are told, without question. You will be told to kill someone while you are here and you will obey. Once you have proven yourself, you will be one of us."

Both men were then taken to a tent and Lucas was told to wait for his "assignment."

An hour later, Meteric came for him. "Your man is in the next tent," Meteric told him. "Get him out of sight and cut his throat. Make sure you cut him clean because we’ll be needin’ him later." Lucas told police that Toole giggled with delight at the prospect of "using" the body after the deed was done.

Armed with a knife, Henry went to the next tent, Ottis went with him. Ottis produced a bottle of Jack Daniels, telling Henry, "It’ll spice up the taste." At the time, Lucas had no idea what his companion meant. Toole went into the tent first and struck up a conversation with the male occupant. From the ease of their talk, Lucas guessed that the two had met previously. Toole then lured the man to a nearby beach with the promise of a drink. Lucas waited in the shadows while Ottis handed the man the bottle. As the man tipped his head back to take a swig, Lucas stepped behind him. Grabbing the man’s hair with one hand, Lucas reached forward with his knife hand and in one quick swipe, slit the man’s throat. Lucas and Toole then took turns drinking from the bottle as their hapless victim lay bleeding to death at their feet.

After the man had died, Meteric was informed and inspected the corpse. He congratulated Lucas on a "quick, clean kill." Later that night, Henry attended his first "black mass," during which the man he had killed earlier was cooked and eaten by the other members of the cult.

In the weeks that followed, Lucas said he was schooled in the finer points of kidnapping, arson, all methods of murder and child abduction. He was also instructed on the correct way to prepare a human sacrifice and, in accordance with the cult’s satanistic code took part in various rituals involving dead bodies, including necrophilia.

Seven weeks later, his training completed, Lucas was ready to "go to work." He and Toole set off on a trip to the southern states to kidnap children who would either be used in sacrificial ceremonies within the cult or transported into Mexico where they were to be sold on the "grey market" to wealthy families. After a "trial run," to check the route and familiarize themselves with the methods of the border patrol, they set off on their first kidnapping job. They had been supplied with drugs to subdue the children while they were being transported.

Lucas told interviewers that he was surprised how easy it was to kidnap babies. When they reached San Antonio, Texas, Lucas and Toole drove through shopping center car parks until they found a baby that had been left asleep in a car. Several minutes later, they had the baby in the car, drugged and ready to be transported across the border. They also kidnapped older children and teenagers who were subsequently drugged and used in pornographic movies that were made and distributed by the cult.

Police would later search vast areas of the Florida everglades by boat and helicopter for evidence of the cult’s existence but none would be found. Lucas explained this away by telling police that the cult was a nationwide conspiracy involving, not only senior police, but also politicians. "They were probably tipped off that you were lookin’ for ‘em," he explained.