Lethal messianism: collective cult suicides

The death of Kenyan pastor Paul McKenzie's followers from starvation is just one instance in which cult leaders have led their followers to commit suicide as the culmination of their precepts in order to have a better afterlife. In some cases, the suicides were directly assisted by the leaders, who set buildings on fire after locking up their followers or shot them to help them abandon their bodily "vessels."

Church of the People's Temple

Jim Jones was the cause of the largest mass suicide in history. Jones considered himself a figure on par with Jesus Christ and advocated the acceptance of blacks in Protestant communities, which he himself carried out in his cult. Under a strong authoritarianism, and with communist influences, in 1965 he moved with his then 140 followers to California where he founded an autarkic agrarian society in Ukiah County. In 1972 he moved to San Francisco, where he set up his headquarters in Los Angeles. At that time he became known for his "faith healings."

His anti-racist discourse caught the attention of many people and more than half of his 3,000 followers were black. He adopted six children of different races whom he called "my rainbow family." These actions allowed accusations of mistreatment, beatings and exploitation to be ignored and the mayor of San Francisco even recognized him as a prominent member of the community.

When his community was down to 100 people, he changed the name of the group to "Disciples of Christ" and managed to revive its popularity, reaching 900 followers. He moved to Guyana, where he bought land and promised his followers that they would be in paradise. The reality was full of labor exploitation, cruel punishments and brutal beatings, as well as humiliation of those who dared to question his authority. Congressman Leo Ryan, who traveled to see what was going on, was murdered by cult members while returning to the U.S. with some of the group's traitors. That same night, he gathered all his followers, including children, and made them take poison that would end their lives. Jones' body was found with gunshot wounds. More than 900 people died that night.

Order of the Solar Temple

On October 5, 1994, several corpses were found simultaneously in two Swiss regions as well as in Canada. In Cheiry (Fribourg), 23 bodies were found wrapped in ceremonial clothing and surrounded by flames. In Salvan, another 25 people were found dead. Shortly thereafter, five more charred bodies were discovered near Montreal. Investigations discovered that the one thing they all had in common was their membership in the Order of the Solar Temple, an apocalyptic cult that sought to reach another dimension. The investigation indicated that several of the deceased in Cheiry had ingested poison, while 10 of the deceased had gunshot wounds. Twenty of the 23 Salvan victims were found shot in the head.

Its founders were Joseph di Mambro, a Swiss watchmaker and jeweler fascinated by the unknown, and Luc Jouret, a Congo-born physician who came to be considered a prophet among his followers. The faithful belonged to the upper class, so the cult's income was remarkable and its leaders could afford to buy mansions. His teachings mixed Protestant Christianity rituals with New Age beliefs and Masonic rituals. In order to gain access, applicants had to pass an initiation protocol with a complicated series of ceremonies, each with its own particular attire, and an initiation fee, which included jewelry, garments and administrative expenses. Couples in the movement could only have children with Di Mambro's express authorization.

Their reputation was tarnished with the massacre of the Davidians in Waco and they began to be investigated in the U.S. They were accused of being behind a series of political assassinations. Faced with the discontent of the veterans and internal disagreements, Di Mambro and Jouret announced that the end of the world was coming and that they had to prepare for the "transit to Sirius," the brightest star in the constellation of the Canis Major. To this end, they organized a series of collective suicides in which an estimated 74 people took part, in addition to having some members who left the cult killed.

Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God

Convinced that the year 2000 would be the end of the world, one woman, Credonia Mwerinde (a 40-year-old former prostitute), and other members of her family founded the cult in Uganda, which grew to more than 1,000 members. The authorities, who kept an eye on them and other groups, even breaking them up, considered them to be harmless.

The leaders were joined by Joseph Wibweteere, known as "the Prophet." He wrote Okuwahaho Kubusinge Obu (The End of this Generation), the basic text of the movement. He announced that the world would end on December 31, 1999, although he finally delayed his prediction to 2000. They followed very strict guidelines. Women wore white tunics and men wore green or black shirts as appropriate. They rejected all medical care since they believed that health is a divine gift that is attained through prayer.

In 1999, the leaders ordered their followers to sell all their assets and give them to the church, because the end of the world was imminent. The announcement that the apocalypse would be delayed for a year provoked protests and riots among the faithful. To calm them down, the leaders summoned them to a week of prayer. On the last day, they were supposed to be greeted by the Virgin Mary. For a week, hundreds of people remained in the temple praying and chanting, when finally the building caught fire as a result of several explosions. The parishioners were stuck inside and the leaders who blocked off the exits have never been found.

Interestingly enough, the bodies that were found were of people who had spoken out and had been killed by cult members before or during the week of prayer.

Heaven's Gate

In 1997, in San Diego (California), 18 men and 21 women were found dead in their beds. They were found perfectly dressed in black. They all wore the same tennis shoes and their heads were covered with purple cloth. They were the followers of the cult known as Heaven's Gate, who believed that a spacecraft was hidden behind the tail of the Hale Bopp comet.

The members were convinced that, if they managed to free themselves from their containers (their bodies), they could become part of the crew of the vehicle and save themselves from the impending catastrophe that awaited Earth. To achieve this, they proceeded to ingest sedatives, in addition to helping each other suffocate to death with plastic bags.

Davidians

Although it is unclear how this group was dissolved, the founder, David Koresh, sought a collective suicide as the culmination of his teachings. He himself and 100 others were killed during the law enforcement raid on a ranch where members had barricaded themselves. The official version of the investigation stated that Koresh himself started the fire that caused the massacre. In addition to the death of 76 followers, four police officers also lost their lives.