Mass Suicide, a Decade Later

Remember the Heaven's Gate cult? They were the bunch who offed themselves in San Diego in order to catch a ride on a UFO hidden in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet. That mass suicide, which so captured the public imagination at the time, occurred ten years ago next week. In advance of the anniversary, LA Weekly has an extensive article based on new interviews with Rio, who left the cult just before the suicide because he had another mission to complete. That mission, being undertaken as we speak, is to witness to the world that the Heaven's Gate leader, who called himself DO,* was actually the second coming of Christ. It's a long article, but it's a fascinating look inside a cult from a true believer who managed to avoid his brethren's fate.

* And whose end-of-days ravings are immortalized in Porcupine Tree's "Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled," from Lightbulb Sun.