20 Years

APRIL 7, 1997

FROM NEWSWEEK’S COVER STORY ON THE MASS SUICIDE OF THE HEAVEN’S GATE CULT

“Each of them left the earth with a $5 bill in their pockets, plus quarters—for what? Celestial pinball? Each wore a new pair of Nike running shoes—a play on the Nike slogan, 'Just do it'? Casual friends, who had found the cultists to be not grim but rather chipper and self-deprecating, wondered if the dead were slyly ridiculing the media storm that was sure to follow. But only the demented mock their own demise.”