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1995 Vercors massacre
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1995 Vercors massacre
On the morning of 16 December 1995, 16 members of the Order of the Solar Temple died in a mass murder-suicide in a clearing in the Vercors, near the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes in Isère, France. Two members of the group, Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and André Friedli, shot and killed 14 other members, including three children, before setting the bodies on fire and killing themselves. This was done in order to facilitate a spiritual voyage to the star Sirius, a "transit", as it had been in previous mass suicides.
This was the second mass murder-suicide associated with the group, following the 1994 mass murder-suicide, which had killed 53 members of the group, including both of its leaders, Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Following this initial spate of deaths, the OTS was believed to be defunct, but was actually secretly continued by Christiane Bonet, a devoted member of the group. Bonet claimed that she could communicate with Jouret and Di Mambro in the afterlife as a medium, and gathered together the remaining OTS members, who would regularly meet together. In accordance with the previous writings of the OTS, she soon began to orchestrate a second "transit".
On 15 December 1995, the members all received a call from Bonet, after which they abruptly left their jobs and families and drove to an isolated clearing in the Vercors called the Well of Hell. According to the standard hypothesis, the members were then drugged, before Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and André Friedli shot and killed them, including in Lardanchet's case his own children, before setting the bodies alight. They then shot themselves. Several of those killed were likely unaware of the plans and had not consented in dying, though others had, and left notes behind declaring their intentions and desires in death. The bodies were found a week later following a missing persons investigation.
The case became a media sensation. Following the case, composer Michel Tabachnik was tried for allegedly having known of the deaths before and influenced the followers into death via his writings. He was acquitted in two trials in 2001 and 2006. The precise sequence of events is controversial, and various theories sprung up alleging outside involvement, though none have ever been substantiated. Further conspiracy theories were also propagated. The case, and the Solar Temple as a whole, inflamed the fight against cults in France.
The Order of the Solar Temple was a religious group active in several French-speaking countries, led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Founded in 1984, it was a neo-Templar secret society with eclectic beliefs sourced from many different movements like Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, and the New Age. They conceptualized the transit, or mass ritual suicide, as a ritual involving magic fire, where they would undergo a spiritual voyage to the star Sirius.
In the first 1994 "transit", 53 members of the OTS died in Switzerland and Canada, including both Di Mambro and Jouret. Many members of the group did not commit mass suicide, but were murdered in this incident. It was publicly believed that the group had disbanded, however, this was not completely true, as remnants lived on. Prior to their deaths, the group had mailed a final letter containing their message to the world. In the final testament letter, it is expressed that the departed members of the OTS would welcome any member who was "worthy" of joining them in the afterlife. An excerpt from this testament included:
We, the Servants of the Rosy-Cross, in view of the urgency of the present situation, affirm that [...] we will be able to recall the last Servants capable of hearing this ultimate message [...]. Know that wherever we are, we will always reach out to those who are worthy of joining us.
This was viewed as a "call" by the remaining OTS members. According to journalist Arnaud Bédat, it functioned to comfort the remaining members, showing them that their dead friends had not abandoned them, which served to convince them of the validity of their faith in the OTS: they were just being waited for "on the other side".
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1995 Vercors massacre
On the morning of 16 December 1995, 16 members of the Order of the Solar Temple died in a mass murder-suicide in a clearing in the Vercors, near the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes in Isère, France. Two members of the group, Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and André Friedli, shot and killed 14 other members, including three children, before setting the bodies on fire and killing themselves. This was done in order to facilitate a spiritual voyage to the star Sirius, a "transit", as it had been in previous mass suicides.
This was the second mass murder-suicide associated with the group, following the 1994 mass murder-suicide, which had killed 53 members of the group, including both of its leaders, Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Following this initial spate of deaths, the OTS was believed to be defunct, but was actually secretly continued by Christiane Bonet, a devoted member of the group. Bonet claimed that she could communicate with Jouret and Di Mambro in the afterlife as a medium, and gathered together the remaining OTS members, who would regularly meet together. In accordance with the previous writings of the OTS, she soon began to orchestrate a second "transit".
On 15 December 1995, the members all received a call from Bonet, after which they abruptly left their jobs and families and drove to an isolated clearing in the Vercors called the Well of Hell. According to the standard hypothesis, the members were then drugged, before Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and André Friedli shot and killed them, including in Lardanchet's case his own children, before setting the bodies alight. They then shot themselves. Several of those killed were likely unaware of the plans and had not consented in dying, though others had, and left notes behind declaring their intentions and desires in death. The bodies were found a week later following a missing persons investigation.
The case became a media sensation. Following the case, composer Michel Tabachnik was tried for allegedly having known of the deaths before and influenced the followers into death via his writings. He was acquitted in two trials in 2001 and 2006. The precise sequence of events is controversial, and various theories sprung up alleging outside involvement, though none have ever been substantiated. Further conspiracy theories were also propagated. The case, and the Solar Temple as a whole, inflamed the fight against cults in France.
The Order of the Solar Temple was a religious group active in several French-speaking countries, led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Founded in 1984, it was a neo-Templar secret society with eclectic beliefs sourced from many different movements like Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, and the New Age. They conceptualized the transit, or mass ritual suicide, as a ritual involving magic fire, where they would undergo a spiritual voyage to the star Sirius.
In the first 1994 "transit", 53 members of the OTS died in Switzerland and Canada, including both Di Mambro and Jouret. Many members of the group did not commit mass suicide, but were murdered in this incident. It was publicly believed that the group had disbanded, however, this was not completely true, as remnants lived on. Prior to their deaths, the group had mailed a final letter containing their message to the world. In the final testament letter, it is expressed that the departed members of the OTS would welcome any member who was "worthy" of joining them in the afterlife. An excerpt from this testament included:
We, the Servants of the Rosy-Cross, in view of the urgency of the present situation, affirm that [...] we will be able to recall the last Servants capable of hearing this ultimate message [...]. Know that wherever we are, we will always reach out to those who are worthy of joining us.
This was viewed as a "call" by the remaining OTS members. According to journalist Arnaud Bédat, it functioned to comfort the remaining members, showing them that their dead friends had not abandoned them, which served to convince them of the validity of their faith in the OTS: they were just being waited for "on the other side".