Departures of note

Luc Jouret, a Belgian doctor and homeopath, founded the Order of the Solar Temple with Joseph Di Mambro in 1984. He was the group's public face and primary recruiter, while Di Mambro was its true leader. Jouret's life took a dark turn when he and Di Mambro orchestrated a mass murder-suicide they called a 'transit', leading to his own death in Switzerland in 1994.

Born in the Belgian Congo, Jouret earned his medical degree from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 1974. After a serious illness, he lost faith in modern medicine and turned to homeopathy and alternative healing. He served in the Belgian Army and participated in the Battle of Kolwezi. In 1981, he met Di Mambro while lecturing for his Golden Way Foundation, and soon became his close associate.

Jouret was an excellent public speaker who lectured on alternative medicine and New Age topics, drawing audiences in Europe and Canada. He predicted that Martinique would sink into the ocean and urged members to move to Quebec, which he claimed would be spared. His legal troubles, including an arrest for directing members to buy illegal silencers in Canada, increased his paranoia and deepened his commitment to the group's apocalyptic beliefs.

In October 1994, Jouret and Joël Egger shot and killed 23 members in Cheiry, Switzerland. Jouret then died by poisoning in Salvan, alongside 24 other members. A note found in Di Mambro's chalet blamed Jouret for the Cheiry deaths, calling his actions 'barbaric' and 'incompetent'. The Solar Temple disbanded after their deaths, though further suicides followed in 1995 and 1997.