Roch Thériault

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

Born in Quebec in 1947 Roch "Moses" Thériault had 8 mistress and 26 children. Once he hacked with a meat cleaver from the arm of one of his wives. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993, including the murder of one of his wives and a child. During his detention, three of his wives remained loyal to him and witnessed more children with him.

Originally Thériault of the followers of the " Seventh Day Adventist Church ," where, however, ( to draw newcomers this time Satan on the back) it soon due to his strange ideas was dismissed. Thériault then decided to start his own community.

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

Between the Commune of Roch Thériault and the temple cult of Jim Jones, some parallels can be drawn:

• Life in untouched nature
• Hard work
• Sleep deprivation
• Hunger
• Hard punishment for trivialities such as yawning during a long speech of the leader
• To be cut off from the rest of the world Faith
• Both Jim Jones and Roch Thériault started their community with the belief in a social obligation

Thériaults life was made ​​into a film in the TV movie Savage Messiah 2002.

One of his former followers, Gabrielle Lavallée, wrote an autobiography about her life in the community.