This Day in History: <br />Heaven’s Gate Cult <br />Members Found Dead March 26, 1997 Led by Marshall Applewhite, <br />39 members of the cult peacefully <br />committed suicide by drinking a <br />mixture of vodka and phenobarbital. Clothed in matching Nike sneakers <br />and dark uniforms, the 21 men and <br />18 women were were found in <br />several rooms throughout the mansion. The macabre scene was <br />discovered by police in a <br />mansion in a San Diego suburb. The Heaven's Gate members were convinced <br />their suicides would free them from their bodies, <br />allowing them to enter an alien spacecraft <br />hidden behind the rare Hale-Bopp comet. The cult advocated sexual abstinence <br />and several of the men had undergone <br />castration surgery, including Applewhite. None of the 39 bodies <br />showed any signs of <br />blood or trauma.
