-
- The death beds went for $115
each.
-
- Personal belongings associated with the biggest mass
suicide in
US history have fetched thousands of dollars at auction.
-
- The items belonged to
the 39 members of the Heaven's
Gate cult who killed themselves two
years ago, hoping to join a spaceship
trailing the Hale Bopp
comet.
-
- Their relatives will benefit from the $33,000 made by
the
auction in San Diego.
-
- The bizarre sale included the 19 bunkbeds where the
cultists
were found wrapped in purple shrouds with plastic bags over
their heads.
-
- One dealer, who bought seven of the beds for around $115
each,
hoped to sell them on an Internet auction site for around 20 times
that
amount.
-
- The worst mass suicide in US history.
-
- Another buyer, who
said he was a Hollywood producer,
bought three of the cult's vehicles,
which he said were for a movie about
the mass suicide.
-
- The cultists, who
believed they would be picked up by
a UFO as Hale Bopp passed over
them, killed themselves in a San Diego house
in March 1997 after
consuming a mixture of apple sauce, vodka and barbiturates.
-
- Conversation piece.
-
- Saturday's auction attracted
around 300 people, many
of them bargain hunters rather than collectors.
The lots included such
mundane household items as TVs, alarm clocks,
chairs and clothes.
-
-
- Every day
items were up for sale.
-
- A pastry chef with her eye on a
commercial size blender
was trying to ignore rumours that it had been
used to mix the deadly apple
sauce.
-
- A salesman, who bought one of
the bunkbeds, said he planned
to put it in a guest room. "I think
it will make a good conversation
piece when people stay over," he
added.
-
- Other items, including religious writings, artwork and
arm
patches with the Heaven's Gate logo, were sold earlier this year to
surviving cult members.
-
- The collection included a videotape left behind by the
group explaining they were committing suicide to hitch a ride on the comet
and reach a higher level of existence.
-
-
- Comment
-
- By John Velez
<jvif@spacelab.net 11-21-99
-
- How low can we go?
-
- Well, some of our American
brothers and sisters have
reached an all time low. The possessions of
the deceased "Heaven's
Gate" cult members was -auctioned off-
in California today. It was
done in the face of vehement protest from
the surviving family members
who tried in vain to legally prevent the
ghoulish sale from happening.
-
- Several of the 'buyers' were interviewed by the media.
"I'm gonna put some of those bunk beds up for auction on the
Internet"
drooled one, "These things are going to be worth a
lot of money one
day" cooed another.
-
- Not once during the entire
thing was mention made of
the tragic and senseless loss of human life
that had facilitated this economic
boon for those who attended. It made
me ashamed to belong to the same species
as those greedy, money
grubbing opportunists.
-
- Shame on them. Shame on all of us for allowing it and
not bowing to the wishes of the bereaved families for dignity and privacy.
Today, we all reached a new low.
-
- I hope that "one day"
Art Bell, Courtney Brown,
and others are called upon to answer for
their contribution to the circus
atmosphere surrounding a spectacular
(but purely "astronomical")
event.
-
- Let's -all- hang our heads in
collective shame.
-
- John Velez, Webmaster A.I.C.
-
- ______________
AIC - Abduction Information
Center - www.spacelab.net/~jvif/default.
htm
jvif@spacelab.net
"Nothing is at last
sacred but the integrity of your own mind."
______________
|
