The Hale-Bopp suicides

Today is the 12th anniversary of the 1997 discovery by authorities in a suburb of San Diego, California, of thirty-nine dead bodies representing the collective suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult.

The 39 were dressed in identical outfits: black shirts, sweat pants, Nike shoes. Each decedent had a five dollar bill and three quarters in his pocket -- presumably that was the fare they'd be charged as the entered their new lifeon the UFO behind the Hale-Bopp comet.

The comet was crucial to the group's belief system. Indeed, if I were Alan Hale, or Thomas Bopp, either of the two astronomers who independently discovered the comet in July 1995, I'd be rather ticked off at having had my achievement associated with such goings-on.

By the way (just following the chain of associations from one link to the next): Alan Hale? Any relation to the actor who played The Skipper on Gilligan's Island? Probably not.

Actually, there were two actors named Alan Hale, father and son. The older Alan Hale was a frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn in swash-bucklers in the 1930s and 40s. His son became immortal by way of the Minnow and a three hour tour. The astronomer, who was actually born in Japan in 1958 though he grew up in New Mexico, had nothing to do with the acting family.

Spare a moment of thought today to the 39 deluded decedents who thought they'd pass through Heaven's Gate. They were tempted by one of the constant temptations of the human condition -- the desire to understand a complicated world simply -- and to demonstrate one's faith in one's simplicity dramatically. They were tempted and they fell.

And, to recycle a joke from that time: one of the bodies was found beneath the sink. Yes, right behind the "Comet."