Longest running cargo cult

The most enduring of the so-called 'Cargo Cults' that typically exist in Melanesia and New Guinea is that associated with John Frum, which began in 1940. 'Cargo Cults' is the term often given to this series of unorthodox religious movements, believers in which pray for the return of the manufactured items (e.g. electrical appliances, foodstuffs, weapons or other 'cargo') that once appeared, seemingly miraculously, during their land's occupation by early 20th century colonials, or by soldiers in World War II; such believers often re-create landing strips in the hope that cargo will once again appear from the sky. On the island of Tanna, Vanuatu, some cargo cultists believe specifically in a, perhaps mythical, American GI called John Frum who is thought to have brought their particular cargo. The nearby Yaohnanen tribe who for some unknown reason worship Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as a divine being, is also a long-running cargo cult.

'Frum' is a very rare surname in the USA and British Isles, therefore it is thought to be a corruption of 'John from America'.