Born: May 17, 1931
Died: March 26, 1997
Some people are waaaaaaaaay out there.
Marshall Applewhite was certain that a space ship was trailing the Hale-Bopp Comet, so he convinced his 38 followers to commit suicide so that their souls could board that ship. In a videotape later made public, the kooky Heaven’s Gate cult leader said that he believed mass suicide “was the only way to evacuate this Earth.”
So off they went, tummies filled with Phenobarbital, cyanide and arsenic that had been mixed with applesauce and pudding, and then washed down with vodka, and clutching to the belief that a UFO would take their souls to another “level of existence above human.”
The members also placed plastic bags over their heads just in case the drugs didn’t do the trick. The massive death scene took place over three days.
Police found the bodies, each wearing black Nike sneakers, rotting in the heat of the Rancho Santa Fe, California, sun. It took balls to play follow the leader, even if six males had been castrated as well. Taste a bit of irony: One of the victims was the younger brother of Star Trekactress Nichelle Nichols. What to do with such a mess? President Clinton ordered them all cremated.
Morbid Curiosity, By Alan W. Petrucelli