Swiss Info online - Chris Everard - Hermann Delorme - Killer Cults TV - Jo di Mambro - Jacques Saint-Pierre -
Twenty years ago, two Swiss villages were the scene of the mass deaths of 48 members of the esoteric Order of the Solar Temple cult. (RTS/swissinfo.ch)
Solar Temple gained worldwide notoriety between September 1994 and March 1997 when the burnt bodies of 74 of its members were found in Switzerland, Canada and then France. On October 5, 1994, 23 bodies were discovered in a burnt-out farm in canton Fribourg. Another 25 bodies were found in canton Valais.
Several had been shot in the head or asphyxiated, and many had been drugged, in what were apparently ritual murders, although some were thought to have been willing participants in the supposed mass suicides.
The two founders of the sect, Luc Jouret and Jo Di Mambro, were among the dead. They had allegedly extorted followers of their money and convinced them that they must die by burning in order to attain bliss in the afterworld.
The sect was founded in 1983 by the Belgian Luc Jouret and Frenchman Joseph De Mambro as a secret order in Geneva combining several groups. It was only named the Order of the Solar Temple in 1990.
The first victims of the sect died on September 30, 1994. A 35-year-old Swiss man, his wife and three-month-old child were murdered in Morin Heights in Québec. Between 1994 and 1997 a total 74 cult members died, 30 Swiss, 30 French and ten Canadians. Swiss Info online article 5 October 2014, ‘The 1994 Solar Temple cult deaths in Switzerland’
On the night of September 14th 1982 Princess Grace of Monaco, formally the American actress Grace Kelly, died. Some authors alleged that this was an act of medical euthanasia or medical suicide. Fifteen years after the life-support systems of Princess Grace were terminated, a man calling himself George le Roux came forward. He alleged that Princess Grace was initiated into a secret society called the Order of the Solar Temple on June 15th 1982 ... In 1997 a television documentary alleged that Princess Grace of Monaco was the high priestess of the Sovereign Order of the Solar Temple. Chris Everard, Lady Die
October 1994, Quebec Canada: a baby aged three months was ritually sacrificed by the Solar Temple in Morin Heights. The baby was stabbed with a wooden stake. It is believed that di Mambro ordered the murder because he identified the baby as the Anti-Christ described in the Bible. ibid.
March 23 1997: 74 dead after Solar Temple mass suicide in Quebec Canada. ibid.
I always had the impression that Jo di Mambro was a consummate conman. He used people. He knew how to manipulate them. He had that ability. Hermann Delorme, former member
Jo di Mambro was a manipulator who was fascinated by the occult. In the 1960s he joined and was greatly inspired by the Rosicrucian order. Killer Cults: The Men Who Would Be Gods
A ritual robber: that was Jo di Mambro. He presented himself as a Master from Beyond. From another planet. At least that’s the image he wanted to project. The reality was something else entirely. ibid.
Jo di Mambro had no charisma. And for a cult leader this was a serious failing. He relied on the talents of his second-in-command, Dr Luc Jouret, who called himself an international lecturer. ibid.
Jo di Mambro was also a ladies’ man. He took advantage of his position to break up couples with the pretence of forming new cosmic alliances. ibid.
You have to follow the horizontal line. Then the vertical. So they meet at the right time, and at their intersection, a rose flowers on the cross. Jo di Mambro
Jo di Mambro lived the life of luxury: to give you an example, in his home there were precious objects made of gold. He always travelled first class on Swiss Air. He travelled a great deal. Jacques Saint-Pierre, investigating officer Surete du Quebec