Heaven's Gate

As we learned in class, Heaven’s Gate was a cult who is widely known for committing a mass suicide in the late 90’s. Heaven’s Gate defined themselves as a UFO religion and we based out of San Diego, California. This group believe that the Earth had a cycle and eventually it would be recycled. The believe the Hale-Bopp Comet in 1997 was a sign to that the earth was about to come to an end and they should evacuate it. Though the group said they were against suicide, they had their own definition of suicide. Heaven’s Gate defined suicide as “to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered”. So, Heaven’s Gate had to commit suicide as we define it in order to avoid suicide as they define it. The believe that our bodies were only vessels meant to help us through our journey.
Between March 24, 1997 and March 26, 1997, 39 members of Heaven’s Cult died. The media classified these deaths as a cult suicide. This event surrounded around the group Heaven’s Gate is astonishing to me. It is amazing to see how one individual’s bizarre world view could inspire millions to take their own life. Its amazing how propaganda and speech can sway that many people towards such an extreme view.