On March 26, 1997, the last of 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult committed ritual suicide.
In 1972, Marshall Applewhite met a nurse named Bonnie Nettles at a psychiatric hospital. Applewhite, the son of a Presbyterian minister, had been fired from his job as a music professor for having an affair with a male student. He and Bonnie bonded over their common beliefs in Biblical prophecies. They convinced themselves that they were reincarnations of the “two witnesses” mentioned in the Book of Revelations. They referred to themselves as “The Two” or “The UFO Two”. Applewhite began to push the idea that he was the successor of Jesus. They added science fiction and belief in UFOs to their philosophy. In 1975, they recruited about 20 people who got rid of all their possessions to form a cult. They traveled the country living in tents and begging. Nettles died in 1985 and the cult began to lose steam, but the Internet facilitated new recruiting. In 1995, the discovery of the Comet Hale-Bopp gave Applewhite the idea that a spacecraft was hidden in the wake of the comet. They would be “beamed aboard” to reach a higher plane of existence. In 1996, the cult settled on an estate near San Diego. They called it “The Monastery”. In March, 1997, the time for “The Demonstration” had arrived. Applewhite convinced 38 disciples to join him in ritual suicide which would result in them boarding the spacecraft. They ingested a drug mixed in apple sauce and drank vodka. They were all dressed alike, in black shirts, black sweat pants, and Nike Decade sneakers (they had gotten a good deal on the shoes). Each had a $5 bill and three quarters in their pockets. (The idea came from a reference in “Huckleberry Finn” about needing $5.75 to ride the tail of a comet to reach Heaven.) From March 22-26, they died in three groups. 21 women and 18 men, including the brother of Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols (Uhura).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group)
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/heavens-gate-cult-members-found-dead
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/heavens-gate-20-years-later-10-things-you-didnt-know-114563/
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