YEs I heard about it ,it was breifly in the news I recall
that there was mention of cult
but thats all I can remember of the story sorry

I grew up in a small Western Australian Farming community and there was a cluster of suicides there back around 1984-1986 mostly teens and they all seemed normal to me, I knew them all...or thought I did.

I remember it very well. Parents down in Lethbridge were worried about their own children too, thinking it went further than Airdrie via the internet. I remember feeling incredibly saddened by the whole story.

I don't recall this story. I live in BC.

I tried a search and couldn't find anything about this story.

I do recall where I live, there were some students who committed suicide around the same time period prior to 1995. One hung himself in the school yard after school hours. He lived on our street, so my kids had told me. At the time I knew a lady who worked at the school and she mentioned the suicides were quickly covered up. They didn't want people (other parents) to know about it.

[edit on 2-2-2009 by violet]

Yes, this happened. I don't remember how many kids where involved.

There was also another cluster in Lethbridge.

There was more to this than was reported, but not what you think. I used to know some people who knew about what was happening, and I remember talking to them about it.......I'm going to have to see if I can remember .....

I seem to recall there was an adult involved with all of the kids in Lethbridge, and they were never identified as having anything to do with it.

I'll see if I can drag something out of my head about this..

Yes, this happened. I don't remember how many kids where involved.

There was also another cluster in Lethbridge.

There was more to this than was reported, but not what you think. I used to know some people who knew about what was happening, and I remember talking to them about it.......I'm going to have to see if I can remember .....

I seem to recall there was an adult involved with all of the kids in Lethbridge, and they were never identified as having anything to do with it.

I'll see if I can drag something out of my head about this..

It was the Lethbridge crowd that was accused of the cult, not so much the Airdrie grouping.

I have not found anything really specific about the Airdrie suicides but my research has revealed that there seems to have been a lot of mass suicides occurring between 1994 and 1999 all over the world.

I wonder what was going on during that time that so many people in so many places were affected.

For anyone who still cares, as the original thread was posted forever ago:

I went to high school in Airdrie when this happened and was in the same grade as the students that committed suicide. I only knew one of them because most of them went to the catholic school. There was a "cult" of sorts, however it was more of a pact, and it wasn't a big scary massive conspiracy that involved the entire community. There were something like 12 students involved and to the best of my memory the deal was that if one of them killed themselves then the rest of them had to follow suit one at a time one per month for 12 months. It lasted for 3 months and ended in March my friend was hospitalized and not allowed to follow through with the pact. It wasn't something majorly covered up and the catholic school is still referred to as "suicide high" some of the time. I've never heard anything about a connection to the song Iris, and coincidentally at the same time the pact was being carried out (or shortly thereafter), there were 2 unrelated suicides and a few years after the incident there was another unrelated Airdrie suicide but the latter three have nothing whatsoever to do with the pact. Hope this sheds a little light on the whole incident.