THE 39 members of a religious cult who committed mass suicide in a luxury villa in California believed their souls were being collected by a UFO hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet.
In videotapes sent to a former member, the members of the Heaven's Gate religious group also expressed their joy that their souls were being released from their "container" bodies and could return to heaven.
President Clinton said yesterday that he found the suicides "heartbreaking, sickening, shocking". He said it was important to "try and make sure that there aren't other people who think in that same way in our country".
San Diego police said yesterday that there was no sign of trauma or struggle on the bodies when they were discovered on Wednesday in a mansion in the exclusive Rancho Sante Fe area. The 21 women and 18 men appeared to have taken phenobarbitol and alcohol, and have placed plastic bags over their heads to speed their deaths according to the county medical examiner, Dr Brian Blackbourne.
Contrary to earlier reports, the victims were not all young but mostly middle-aged, with several in their 60s. They all had identification documents allowing next of kin to be informed.
The bodies were found lying face upwards on beds, cots and mat"tresses, all clothed in black slacks and tennis shoes. They were partially covered in triangular purple shrouds.
Police said that because of the decomposition of some of the corpses, it was clear that the deaths had taken place over a period, possibly a week. The bodies appeared to be in three groups indicating they had died at different times.
According to Mr Milton Silverman, attorney for the owner of the villa who rented it to the group last October, the cult members were celibate and believed they were angels who came from another planet. They also said they were followers of a "Father Jean" and a "Brother Logan".
The first indication that the suicides had taken place came from a former member of the group who was sent a set of tapes and a letter. The tapes contained brief statements from each member saying that they were "going to a better place", police said.
Mr Nick Matzorkis, who employed the former member, said yesterday that he had driven him to the nine-bedroom villa to check what had happened there. The employee discovered the bodies and the police were alerted.
The group's income came from designing Internet websites and customers praised their work as very professional. But in addition to their "Higher Source" site setting out, their qualifications, they, had another site called "Heaven's Gate", which described their religious aims. It included references to Jesus and UFOs.
It said that the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet was "the marker we have been waiting for. It is the time for the arrival of the spacecraft at the level above the human to take us back to their world ... Our 22 years of classroom here on planet earth is finally coming to conclusion and graduation from the human, evolutionary level. We are happily prepared to leave this world."