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Events on Wednesday 26 March 1997 1
1997Heaven's Gate mass suicide39 cult members die in coordinated suicide near San DiegoPolice discovered the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate religious group at a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California. The group believed a UFO trailing Comet Hale-Bopp would carry their souls to a higher existence after death. It remains the largest mass suicide on US soil.