Roch Thériault

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Roch Thériault (born May 16, 1947 in Quebec , † February 26, 2011 in Dorchester , New Brunswick ) was the leader of a small religious movement near St. Jogues in Quebec .

Roch "Moses" Thériault was born in Quebec in 1947 and had eight lovers and 26 children. Once he chopped off the arm of one of his wives with a meat cleaver. In 1993 he was sentenced to life imprisonment, including the murder of one of his wives and a child. During his detention, three of his wives remained loyal to him and fathered other children with him.

Thériault was originally a supporter of the " Seventh Day Adventist Church ", but was soon dismissed there because of his strange ideas (newcomers to draw Satan's mark on their backs). Thériault then decided to found his own commune .

The group was also known as the "Ant Hill Kids Commune". Roch Thériault justified the name with the fact that ant-like work is in the foreground. He was called the father of the commune and gave biblical names to all members .

Some parallels can be drawn between the Roch Thériault commune and the temple cult of Jim Jones :

  • Life in untouched nature
  • Hard work
  • sleep deprivation
  • hunger
  • Harsh punishments for triviality such as yawning during a long speech by the leader
  • A strong belief in the imminent end of the world
  • The belief to be cut off from the rest of the world
  • Both Jim Jones and Roch Thériault started their commune believing in a social obligation

Thériault's life was filmed in the 2002 television movie Savage Messiah . One of his former followers, Gabrielle Lavallée , wrote an autobiography about her life in the commune.

Thériault was murdered in prison in 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rebecca Bradley: Monday Messiah: Roch Thériault, Lord of the Ant Hill. In: skepticink.com. May 20, 2014, accessed September 1, 2017 .
  2. ^ A b Cult leader Roch Thériault's killer gets life. In: cbc.ca. March 5, 2012, accessed September 1, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Savage Messiah in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ↑ Gabrielle Lavallée: L'alliance de la brebis . JCL éditions, Saguenay 1993, ISBN 2-920176-85-4 (French).
  5. ^ Cult leader Thériault killed in prison. In: cbc.ca. February 27, 2011, accessed September 1, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Thériault, Roch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian cult founder and murderer
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Quebec
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 2011
Place of death Dorchester , New Brunswick