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Independent research on Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate News Week of 5/7/97
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May 8, 1997
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Can a comet make interest in astronomy soar?
- By Matt Mygatt, Associated Press Writer (selections)
- ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Astronomy's billboard in the sky -- Comet
Hale-Bopp -- is fading in the Northern Hemisphere, leaving behind a renewed
sense of cosmic wonderment on Earth.
``I think most people are in awe about the universe, about the solar
system, about our place in it. It really taught people that we are not
alone here on the planet Earth,'' said Yervant Terzian, chairman of Cornell
University's astronomy department at Ithaca, N.Y.
Reta Beebe, an astronomy professor at New Mexico State University at Las
Cruces, bemoaned the tendency of TV disaster dramas to create a scary image
for comets among third- and fourth-graders she has talked with.
``Unfortunately, the popularization of asteroids hitting the Earth has
created fear,'' Beebe said. ``It's kind of sad.''
Comets have been considered a sign of impending doom for centuries. And
Hale-Bopp was shadowed by rumors that it was being trailed by a UFO, fueled
by an amateur astronomer's announcement on late-night talk radio that he
detected a mysterious object behind the comet.
Astronomers later demonstrated that it was a star. But the members of the
Heaven's Gate >>cult<< who killed themselves in late March apparently
believed their suicides would lead to a rendezvous with a spaceship.
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May 7, 1997
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Former Heaven's Gate cult member fears more suicides
- By Dana Calvo, Associated Press Writer (selections)
- SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A former member of the Heaven's Gate cult said
Wednesday he is worried that at least six others might follow
``classmates'' in suicide.
``They're probably wondering what the next step is for them. I'm concerned
about them,'' Dick Joslyn said from his home in Tampa, Fla.
``I don't see this as a copycat,'' said Larry Trachte, a chaplain who
teaches a course on cults at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. ``It's
just an extension of the same process. They lost their whole faith
community.''
A former member who uses the name Sawyer said Wednesday that Humphrey tried
to kill himself when he could no longer work on the site because someone
had ``commandeered'' it.
``As long as he had a task to do, things were fine,'' Sawyer said by
telephone from his New York home. ``He was supposed to spread information
about the `next level' and maintain the Internet site.
Trachte said he wasn't surprised by Joslyn's fear of more suicides.
``They haven't been deprogrammed. They haven't reoriented themselves to the
world's reality,'' he said.
No surprises in autopsy of ex-Heaven's Gate member
- By Dana Calvo, Associated Press Writer (selections)
- SAN DIEGO (AP) -- One month after 39 Heaven's Gate cult members killed
themselves, two former followers reserved a suburban hotel room where they
eventually tried to follow their ``classmates'' to salvation.
Cooke, 55, of Las Vegas was found face-down on the hotel room floor hours
after consuming a mixture of the barbiturate phenobarbital and vodka and
placing a plastic bag over his head, the San Diego County Medical
Examiner's office said Wednesday after performing an autopsy.
Humphrey, 56, of Denver also had traces of alcohol and barbiturates in his
system when he was taken by ambulance to a hospital, authorities said. He
was in serious condition and breathing through a respirator Wednesday, said
Sue Pondrom, a spokeswoman for Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas.
Former Heaven's Gate cult member kills himself; another fails
- By Dana Calvo, Associated Press Writer (selections)
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ENCINITAS, Calif. (AP) -- Two former Heaven's Gate cult members sent
``exit statements,'' packed bags, arranged purple shrouds and wore dark
outfits and running shoes before trying to kill themselves. One survived.
Sheriff's deputies found the body of Wayne Cooke of Las Vegas and an
unconscious Chuck Humphrey of Denver after receiving a call from CBS
correspondent Lesley Stahl, who had spoken with Cooke's daughter, police
said.
Humphrey, 56, was taken to a hospital, where he was in critical condition
today.
The two men wore clothes similar to those worn in the mass suicide. Crist
said each had a $5 bill and three quarters in his pockets -- just like the
other cult members who reportedly carried the bills after one was
accused by police of vagrancy.
They had mailed suicide videos to various news organizations and friends.
``I would like everyone to understand that I simply cannot stay here any
longer and I am leaving because it is time for me to leave,'' Cooke said in
a letter sent with a video to CNN. ``I'd rather gamble on missing the bus
this time than staying on this planet and risk losing my soul.''
``I wish I had the strength to have stuck it out and gotten stronger and
continued to be a part of that crew,'' he had said.
Last month, Humphrey told reporters he left the group after growing
impatient with the leaders' unmet promises.
The latest suicides were discovered after Cooke's daughter, Kelly, received
a package stating her father and a friend were in the San Diego area
planning to commit suicide.
Ms. Cooke called Stahl, who then contacted sheriff's deputies.
Deputies found both men at a hotel about four miles from the Rancho Santa
Fe mansion. Cooke was found face-down with a plastic bag on his head.
Humphrey had a plastic bag near him.
Ex-Heaven's Gate cult members wanted to spread beliefs
- By Dana Calvo, Associated Press Writer (selections)
- SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Two former Heaven's Gate members who tried to commit
suicide like 39 other ``classmates'' were frustrated in their attempts to
spread the group's beliefs, friends and a relative say.
``What my father had been intending as his purpose was to get out
information,'' said Cooke's daughter, Kelly. ``More and more dissent was
arising within class members. My father was getting further and further
away. He did not want to fight.''
``I could sense (suicide) was a possibility,'' she said.
Humphrey was frustrated by the lack of attention given to the group's
beliefs, said former cult member and Humphrey friend Dick Joslyn.
``He was a little discouraged by the inability to get the word out,'' he
said in an interview from his Tampa, Fla. home. ``He made it clear to me
that when his work was done, he would go too.''
Heaven's Gate members believed that they had to shed their ``containers,''
or bodies, in order to catch a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet for a
ride to the ``Level Above Human.''
In the months before the mass suicide, members spread the group's theology
using their World Wide Web site.
A former member who uses the name Sawyer said Humphrey decided to attempt
suicide because he could no longer work on the cult's site. He said
someone had ``commandeered'' the site.
Humphrey, 55, of Denver also had traces of alcohol and barbiturates in his
system, authorities said. He was breathing through a respirator Wednesday
and could not talk, said Sue Pondrom, spokeswoman for Scripps Memorial
Hospital in Encinitas.
Glance at events leading to Heaven's Gate suicide attempt
- By The Associated Press (selections)
- March 26: San Diego Sheriff's Department deputies discovered the bodies of
39 Heaven's Gate cult members.
April 18: Former cult members Dick Joslyn and Charles Humphrey and
Nancie Brown hold a news conference in San Diego to explain the cult's beliefs.
April 28: Humphrey reserved a double room at the Holiday Inn Express four miles from the original mass suicide site.
May 5: Humphrey and Cooke arrived at the hotel by taxi about 2 p.m.
They paid $59 in cash for the room and left $60 in an envelope at the desk
to cover pickup charges for four Federal Express packages. The packets
contained goodbye notes and videos sent to news organizations and friends.
May 6: Deputies learned in the morning that Cooke's daughter, Kelly, had
received information her father and a friend were planning to commit suicide.
At 12:25 p.m., deputies discovered Cooke and Humphrey on the floor of the hotel room. Plastic bags and purple cloths were found near their black-clad bodies with Nikes.
Ex-cult member commits suicide
- Another former Heaven's Gate follower found unconscious in hotel room (selections)
- ENCINITAS (AP) -- A former Heaven's Gate member was found dead and another
unconscious Tuesday inside a hotel room where authorities said they
attempted to imitate the cult's mass suicide.
The body of Wayne Cooke, 54, of Las Vegas and an unconscious Chuck
Humphrey, 56, of Denver were found by deputies at 12:25 p.m. after the San
Diego County Sheriff's Department received a phone call from CBS reporter
Lesley Stahl, who had spoken with Cooke's daughter, said Sgt. Don Crist.
``They did have a note similar to the one that was found at Heaven's Gate,
suggesting they were going to meet with their leader on the other side of
the comet and suggesting suicide,'' Crist said.
Humphrey was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in critical
condition.
Cooke was married to Suzanne Sylvia Cooke, who committed suicide with the
other members in March. In an interview on CBS' ``60 Minutes'' after the
suicide, he said he wished he could join the group.
At a San Diego news conference last month, Humphrey said he left after
growing impatient.
``I left the group because it had been 15 years, because many of the things
we were told were going to happen didn't,'' he said. ``I got tired of
waiting.''
Cooke's daughter, Kelly, received a Fed-Ex package stating her father and a
friend were in the San Diego area planning to commit suicide using the same
concoction used in the earlier suicides.
Deputies were able to track the package to the Holiday Inn Express in
Encinitas, about four miles from the mansion.
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