Marshall Herff Applewhite created a religious cult commonly known as Heaven's Gate. In 1997, he led his 38 followers to commit suicide in hopes of being transported onto a spaceship travelling with comet Hale-Bopp.
Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religion based in San Diego, California, founded and led by Marshall Applewhite (1931-1997) and Bonnie Nettles (1928-1985). On March 26, 1997, in a period when Comet Hale-Bopp was at its brightest, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group who had committed suicide in order to reach an alien aircraft which they believed was following the aforementioned comet. Read more