Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 15, 2014

Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997) was an American religious leader who founded the Heaven's Gate religious group and organized their mass suicide in 1997. It was the largest mass suicide in the United States. Applewhite and his friend Bonnie Nettles discussed mysticism at length and concluded that they were divine messengers. They traveled around the U.S., gaining a group of committed followers, who were told that extraterrestrials would provide them with new bodies. Applewhite initially stated that they would physically ascend to a spaceship, where their bodies would be transformed, but later believed that their souls would be placed into new bodies. In 1985, Nettles died, leaving Applewhite distraught and challenging his views on physical ascension. In 1996, they learned of the approach of Comet Hale–Bopp and rumors of an accompanying spaceship. Believing that their souls would ascend to the spaceship and be given new bodies, all the group members killed themselves in their mansion. Some commentators attributed his followers' willingness to commit suicide to his skill as a manipulator, while others argued that their willingness was due to their faith in the narrative that he constructed.

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