Where did this mass suicide happen?
To pursue graduation, Do rented a mansion in San Diego, California to perform the mass suicide.
What did they have to do to graduate?
To pursue graduation, Do rented a mansion in San Diego, California to perform the mass suicide. Each member was dressed in the same exact outfit, which was a black shirt, black pants, a patch that read “Heaven’s Gate Away Team”, and black Nike tennis shoes to represent conformity. Then they all walked into the castle of a house behind Do and consumed a barbiturate drug mixed with applesauce and drank a swig of vodka. After poisoning themselves, they each went and lied down in separate beds in the house.(Hewitt) They didn’t just lay any way they wanted. They all had to lay a certain way, which was flat on their backs. (Ramsland)
What happened after they were poisoned?
After the body is purified and the soul is ready to “graduate”, these people move on to the next level of their lives, which is death to us. To the Heaven’s Gate members, graduating is the start of their lives. They felt like they needed to get off of earth as quick as possible because the UFO was coming to get them soon, so the quickest way they could think of to do this was suicide. Because of this, the followers were so happy to finally be able to begin their next stage of life.This was what they had been waiting do to since they joined. But the members weren’t the only ones to commit suicide. Shortly after, Do eats the applesauce with Phenobarbital substances in it and chased it down with a drink of vodka. He lies down just like his members and dies of poisoning. (Hewitt) Therefore, making this the largest mass suicide recorded on U.S. soil.