Editing Heaven's Gate (religious group) (section)

=== Aftermath ===

The Heaven's Gate deaths were widely publicized in the [[news media|media]] as an example of [[mass suicide]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1997-03-28 |title=First autopsies completed in cult suicide |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/28/mass.suicide/index.html |access-date=2007-10-06 |work=[[CNN]] |language=en-US |archive-date=September 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909111402/http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/28/mass.suicide/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> When the news broke of its relation to Comet Hale–Bopp, the co-discoverer of the comet, [[Alan Hale (Astronomer)|Alan Hale]], was drawn into the story. Hale's phone "never stopped ringing the entire day". He chose not to respond until the next day at a press conference after researching the details of the incident.<ref name="Knoxville">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuAg1WA5fW0 |title=An Interview with Astronomer Alan Hale – CTV call-in (Knoxville Freethought Forum 4/23/13) |language=en-US |publisher=finitist |access-date=2016-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811062931/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuAg1WA5fW0&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=August 11, 2019 |url-status=bot: unknown |via=[[YouTube]] }}</ref> Speaking at the Second World Skeptics Congress in [[Heidelberg]], Germany on July 24, 1998:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Second World Skeptics Congress (Schedule) |url=http://amber.zine.cz/AZOld/occam/congress.htm |access-date=2016-09-18 |website=amber.zine.cz |language=en |archive-date=August 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829015927/http://amber.zine.cz/AZOld/occam/congress.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Dr. Hale discussed the scientific significance and popular lore of comets and gave a personal account of his discovery. He then lambasted the combination of scientific illiteracy, willful delusions, a radio talk show's deception about an imaginary spacecraft following the comet, and a cult's bizarre yearnings for ascending to another level of existence that led to the Heaven's Gate mass suicides.<ref name = SI>{{Cite journal|last1=Frazier|first1=Kendrick|author-link=Kendrick Frazier|title=Science and Reason, Foibles and Fallacies, and Doomsdays|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=1998|volume=22|issue=6|page=6|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/science_and_reason_foibles_and_fallacies_and_doomsdays|access-date=18 September 2016|archive-date=August 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829015629/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/science_and_reason_foibles_and_fallacies_and_doomsdays|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Hale said that well before Heaven's Gate, he had told a colleague:
{{Blockquote|text="We are probably going to have some suicides as a result of this comet." The sad part is that I was really not surprised. Comets are lovely objects, but they don't have apocalyptic significance. We must use our minds, our reason.<ref name = SI />}}

News of the mass suicide motivated the copycat suicide of a 58-year-old man living near [[Marysville, California]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cornwell |first=Tim |date=1997-05-07 |title=Heaven's Gate member found dead |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/heavens-gate-member-found-dead-1260149.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/heavens-gate-member-found-dead-1260149.html |archive-date=2022-05-09 |access-date=2014-06-23 |work=[[The Independent]] |language=en-GB |quote=In an earlier suicide bid, on 1 April, a 58-year-old recluse was found dead in his home in a remote mountain canyon in northern California after dying by suicide. He had left a note indicating he believed that he would also join the dead Heaven's Gate cult members.}}</ref> The man left a note dated March 27, which said, "I'm going on the spaceship with Hale–Bopp to be with those who have gone before me," and imitated some of the details of the Heaven's Gate suicides as they had then been reported. The man was found dead by a friend on March 31 and had no known connection with Heaven's Gate.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stanziano |first=Don |date=1997-04-02 |title=Cult Inspires First Copycat Suicide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39944002/north_county_times/ |access-date=2019-12-02 |work=[[North County Times]] |pages=A-4 |language=en-US |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

At least three former members of Heaven's Gate died by suicide in the months following the mass suicide. On May 6, 1997, Wayne Cooke and Chuck Humphrey (known as "Rkkody" within the group) attempted suicide in a hotel in a manner similar to that used by the group. Cooke died, but Humphrey survived and was saved by authorities.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=1998-02-20 |title='Do Not Revive' |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-not-revive/ |access-date=2024-05-13 |work=[[CBS News]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Another former member, James Pirkey Jr., died by suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound on May 11. In February 1998, Humphrey killed himself in Arizona. His body was found carrying a five-dollar bill and four quarters in his pocket; next to him was a note that read: "[d]o not revive."<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Purdum |first=Todd S. |author-link=Todd S. Purdum |date=1997-05-07 |title=Ex-Cultist Dies In Suicide Pact; 2d Is 'Critical' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/07/us/ex-cultist-dies-in-suicide-pact-2d-is-critical.html |access-date=2007-10-21 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 |language=en-US |quote=A former member of the Heaven's Gate cult was found dead today in a copycat suicide in a motel room near the scene of the group's mass suicide in San Diego County, and another former member was found unconscious in the same room, the authorities said.}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070318/news_lz1n18timelin.html|title=Heaven's Gate: A timeline|date=18 March 2007|work=[[U-T San Diego|The San Diego Union-Tribune]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003124716/http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070318/news_lz1n18timelin.html|archive-date=2008-10-03|access-date=2007-10-21}}</ref>

On March 22, the same day as the Heaven's Gate suicide, five members of the [[Order of the Solar Temple]] group also [[1997 Saint-Casimir mass suicide|died in a mass suicide]].{{sfn|Coleman|2004|p=84}} The Solar Temple happened to be a group with similar beliefs, in both cases believing that suicide would allow their souls to be transported into space.<ref name="Gross1997">{{Cite news |last=Gross |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Gross |date=1997-03-28 |title=In the Hunt for Answers, Only Questions Arise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/28/us/in-the-hunt-for-answers-only-questions-arise.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240429052353/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/28/us/in-the-hunt-for-answers-only-questions-arise.html |archive-date=2024-04-29 |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=21 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Clayton1997">{{Cite news |last1=Clayton |first1=Mark |last2=Marks |first2=Alexandra |date=1997-03-31 |title=Why People Join 'Spiritually Abusive' Cults |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/0331/033197.us.us.2.html |access-date=2024-10-02 |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |language=en-US |issn=0882-7729 |archive-date=November 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241112055112/https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/0331/033197.us.us.2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This led to initial suspicions of a connection,<ref name="ChicagoTribune1997">{{Cite news |date=1997-03-27 |title=39 Men Die In Apparent Mass Suicide |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/03/27/39-men-die-in-apparent-mass-suicide/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Niebuhr1997">{{Cite news |last=Niebuhr |first=Gustav |date=1997-03-27 |title=Deaths at Season's Change Echo Earlier Suicides |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/deaths-at-season-s-change-echo-earlier-suicides.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240429052143/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/deaths-at-season-s-change-echo-earlier-suicides.html |archive-date=2024-04-29 |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> though police investigating the Heaven's Gate deaths refused to acknowledge these speculations.<ref name="Purdum1997">{{Cite news |last=Purdum |first=Todd S. |author-link=Todd S. Purdum |date=1997-03-27 |title=39 Men Found at San Diego Estate in Apparent Suicide |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/39-men-found-at-san-diego-estate-in-apparent-suicide.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240429052046/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/39-men-found-at-san-diego-estate-in-apparent-suicide.html |archive-date=2024-04-29 |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Solar Temple suicides had been timed for the [[March equinox|vernal equinox]] on March 20, not the comet, but owing to several failed attempts it happened only on the 22nd.{{sfn|Coleman|2004|pp=84, 87}} There was no apparent connection between the two groups.<ref name="Clayton1997" />

Although most people considered the event a mass suicide, sociologist and former cult member [[Janja Lalich]] referred to the event as "murder".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1997-03-30 |title=UPI Focus: Former cult member: deaths were murder |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/03/30/UPI-Focus-Former-cult-member-deaths-were-murder/7412859698000/ |access-date=2021-10-04 |website=[[United Press International|UPI]] |language=en-US |archive-date=October 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004052215/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/03/30/UPI-Focus-Former-cult-member-deaths-were-murder/7412859698000/ |url-status=live }}</ref> UCLA psychiatrist [[Louis J. West]] described the dead members as "victims of a hoax{{nbsp}}[...] There was villainy here."<ref>{{Cite news |author=Monmaney |first=Terence |date=1997-04-04 |title=Free Will, or Thought Control? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-04-mn-45358-story.html |access-date=2024-04-22 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

Two former members, Marc and Sarah King of [[Phoenix, Arizona]], operating as the TELAH Foundation, are believed to maintain the group's website.<ref name="Feinberg2014">{{Cite web |author=Feinberg |first=Ashley |date=2014-09-17 |title=The Online Legacy of a Suicide Cult and the Webmasters Who Stayed Behind |url=https://gizmodo.com/the-online-legacy-of-a-suicide-cult-and-the-webmasters-1617403237 |work=[[Gizmodo]] |language=en-US |access-date=2016-09-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goodwin |first=Megan |date=2017 |title=Staying after Class: Memory and Materiality beyond Heaven's Gate Report on the New Religious Movements Group Methods Meeting, 21 November 2014 |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |language=en |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=80–93 |doi=10.1525/nr.2017.20.4.80 |issn=1092-6690 |jstor=26417722}}</ref>

The house at which the mass suicide took place carried a stigma throughout the neighborhood. Local residents opted to rename the street on which it was located to "Paseo Victoria". The property itself ended up being purchased by a local developer in 1999 for $668,000 during a foreclosure sale, well below half its assessed value of $1.4 million. It was subsequently purchased by neighbors who razed the building, built a new house in its place, and changed the address to 18239.<ref> {{Cite news |title=Who Owned Heaven's Gate Mansion? Where Was it Located? Can You Visit it? What Happened to it? |url=https://thecinemaholic.com/who-owned-heavens-gate-mansion-where-was-it-located-can-you-visit-it-what-happened-to-it |last=Vanapalli |first=Viswa |date=2023-07-27 |access-date=2025-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |agency=Reuters |date=1999-09-11 |title=Mansion Where Cultists Died Is Sold at Bargain Price |url=https://latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-11-mn-8889-story.html |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US |access-date=2025-03-09 |archive-date=October 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008183254/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-11-mn-8889-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>