Here is a collection of articles, letters and links regarding the Comet Hale-Bopp related suicide of the Heaven's Gate members.

POST-Suicide Heaven's Gate Web Site

Containing 2 new sections: Earth Exit Statements by Students & Exit Press Release: "Away Team" Returns to Level Above Human

PRE-Suicide Heaven's Gate Web Site Hosted Here

Articles, Links and References

• 4/29/97 - Letters to Time Magazine on Art Bell...
  ... Then Scroll down to "DON'T IGNORE THE EVIDENCE"
• 4/7/97 - Time Magazine: THE MAN WHO SPREAD THE MYTH
• Eye in the Sky MIDI by Alan Parsons Project
• MSNBC: Tragedy strikes a chord on the Net
• The Village Voice: E-Ternity: The Second Coming of Heaven's Gate By Thomas Goetz
• 60 Greatest Conspiracies: HTML Kills!
• 60 Greatest Conspiracies: Apocalypse Soon? Comet Hale-Bopp
• Listen to Whitley Strieber's Recent Television Appearances
• HigherSource.ORG (Warning: This is a Parody Page)
• CNN claims that Art Bell interviewed the Heaven's Gate members in November?? Talk about errant journalism: The Internet as a god and propaganda tool for cults
• AP Story Reproduced Here, See Below
• Comparison of faked Courtney Brown Photos
• More Related Links on our Regular Links Page
• Our Hale-Bopp Companion Page That Started It All
• The Evansville Courier: Suicides in San Diego
• A couple USENET postings from Heaven's Gate members: Post-1, Post-2
• Art, Whitley and Chuck's Site Links on Heaven's Gate Links Page
• Complete Heaven's Gate Web Site Mirrored Here on The Art Bell Site
• Drudge: Radio Talk Show Linked to Suicides
• Discuss "Suicides Linked to Hale-Bopp" on our BBS
• Higher Source Home Page MIRROR

Associated Press Story

Suicide cult may have been inspired by rumor

By MATT CRENSON
AP Science Editor

NEW YORK (AP) The Heaven's Gate cult's belief that a UFO is trailing the Hale-Bopp comet may have been inspired by rumors spread over the Internet and late-night talk radio.

In November, amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek of Houston called Art Bell's "Coast to Coast" radio show with astounding news — a photograph he had taken on the night of Nov. 14 showed a mysterious "Saturnlike object" behind Hale-Bopp. He speculated that it was up to four times the size of Earth.

Astronomers subsequently demonstrated that what Shramek had seen was a star distorted by his telescope's optics.

"I don't think it was deception on his part, I think it was a mistake," said Russell Sipe, who maintains an Internet Web site dedicated to the comet. "But you don't go on late-night radio and say that you found something three to four times the size of Earth following a comet."

Yet the rumors continued for weeks, fostered by an acrimonious Internet debate and continued publicity on Bell's program, which is carried on more than 300 stations. The radio program is known as an outlet for conspiracy theories, supernatural claims and similar notions.

When he called the show, Shramek said that a photograph of the comet he had taken four days earlier clearly showed a bright object with a halo around it — like Saturn. When he checked with an astronomical mapping computer program, it showed that no star existed there.

The next night, Courtney Brown, director of the Farsight Institute in Atlanta, was a guest on Bell's show. He claimed that three professional psychics associated with his institute had detected the comet-trailing object and found it to be a metallic object full of aliens.

Using the same computer program as Shramek, Sipe and others identified the object in question as SAO 141894, a fairly dim star that lay behind the comet on the night he took his photograph. They said Shramek didn't see a star because he had incorrectly programmed his computer; then, to make matters worse, his telescope distorted the image.

Shramek did not return calls to his Houston home.

"Whether he meant it or whether he did it as a joke, we don't know," said David Levy, a Vail, Ariz.-based astronomer-author. "I don't know how related this is to that horrible thing that took place."

The 39 men and women found dead in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., committed suicide about the time the comet was closest to Earth.

Comets have been considered a sign of impending doom for centuries. Chinese astronomers in the 4th century B.C. produced documents classifying comets and associating each category with a particular kind of catastrophe. Comets also were thought to have heralded the deaths of Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun and Charlemagne, as well as the victory of William the Conquerer over his Anglo-Saxon foes in 1066.

But until the San Diego tragedy, Levy said, only one person's death throughout history could be attributed to a comet. In 1402, Italian prince John Visconti was told by his astrologers that a comet's appearance would bring him ill fortune. When the comet actually did appear, Visconti collapsed from fear and died.

"The comet doesn't do the killing. It's the beliefs that do,"Levy said.

END of AP Story

Heaven's Gate Suicide Note

Excerpt from the Heaven's Gate Web Site

Whether Hale-Bopp has a "companion" or not is irrelevant from our perspective. However, its arrival is joyously very significant to us at "Heaven's Gate." The joy is that our Older Member in the Evolutionary Level Above Human (the "Kingdom of Heaven") has made it clear to us that Hale-Bopp's approach is the "marker" we've been waiting for -- the time for the arrival of the spacecraft from the Level Above Human to take us home to "Their World" -- in the literal Heavens. Our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is finally coming to conclusion -- "graduation" from the Human Evolutionary Level. We are happily prepared to leave "this world" and go with Ti's crew.

If you study the material on this website you will hopefully understand our joy and what our purpose here on Earth has been. You may even find your "boarding pass" to leave with us during this brief "window."

We are so very thankful that we have been recipients of this opportunity to prepare for membership in Their Kingdom, and to experience Their boundless Caring and Nurturing.