HEAVEN’S GATE
HEAVEN’S GATE BELIEVED IN AN END TIME WHEN UFOS WOULD TAKE THE FAITHFUL OFF EARTH, BUT IT TOOK A CRITICAL EVENT FOR THE CULT TO TURN DEADLY
By 22 March 1997, the great comet Hale-Bopp had become a firm feature of the skies for the entire Northern Hemisphere. Its ice-blue and rusty yellow twin tails were a breathtaking sight on a clear evening, with casual stargazers and veteran astronomers alike captivated by this unusual visitor to our Solar System on its approach to Earth. Astrophotographers took long-exposure images in the brisk spring night while scientists made detailed observations in their cosy observatories, safe in the knowledge that Hale-Bopp was going to be as sure a night-sky sight as the Moon for many months more.
For everyone, it was a rare time to be alive – especially so for a group of uniformed observers in San Diego County, California, who were having a final, furtive gaze at the comet before they turned in. They recorded video messages in their rented Rancho Santa Fe mansion, expressing their joy and thanks to “Ti” and “Do”: “This is the happiest day of my life”, “I couldn’t be happier about what we are about to do”, and, “I do this of my own free will”. Then they each ate apple sauce laced with a fatal dose of the sedative phenobarbital, washed the lethal concoction down with vodka, lay on their bunks, pulled plastic bags over their heads and one by one, exited their vehicles and ascended to the UFO they believed hid in the long wake of the comet.
AWAY TEAM
San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department first gained access to the mansion four days later on Wednesday 26 March, following up an alarming call from a nearby payphone. “This is regarding a mass suicide,” said the caller, “I can give you the address.”
Despite the forewarning, Deputy Robert Brunk wasn’t prepared for the quietly disturbing scenes beyond the double doors: men and women with army-style buzzcuts lay in cots, on mattresses or on the floor underneath silky purple shrouds, lining long hallways or on bunks inside the mansion’s many rooms. They were all clad in the same black jogging bottoms and collarless shirts, wearing black Nike Decades sneakers with their distinctive white tick.
Parts of the property had taken on the unmistakable sickly sweet smell of putrefaction, so Deputy Brunk called in the cavalry. They discovered packed bags at the end of each bed, matching “Heaven’s Gate Away Team” badges on the uniforms and a $5 bill with three quarter coins tucked into their pockets.
