On this day in history, a gruesome discovery was made.
The San Diego Police Department received an anonymous tip on March 26, 1997, instructing them to check on the residents of “The Monastery,” a large mansion in Rancho Santa Fe. The caller claimed a mass suicide had occurred at the location. A lone deputy was dispatched to the residence and came across ten corpses rotting in the California heat.
The Monastery was known to be the “temple” of a religious group called “Heaven’s Gate,” composed of 39 members and led by Marshall Applewhite. All members were found deceased in matching clothes, positions, and states of decomposition. While the precise cause of death was not immediately known, all signs pointed to non-violent suicide.
Tests would later conclude that the Heaven’s Gate members had donned patches reading “Heaven’s Gate Away Team,” ingested a lethal mixture of sedatives and vodka, and covered their heads with plastic bags. The members collectively believed that the interstellar course of the Comet Hale-Bopp coincided with the arrival of an alien spaceship. By committing suicide, Heaven’s Gate members would ascend to another metaphysical plane, making it through “Heaven’s Gate.”
The suicide drew massive media attention for its bizarre nature and remains the largest mass suicide to occur on U.S. soil.
