Marshall Applewhite

The co-founder of the Heaven’s Gate cult, which integrated Christian millenarianism with science fiction. He believed that the Earth was about to be "recycled" and that the only way to survive was to shed one’s "human container" and ascend to the "Next Level" aboard a spacecraft. In 1997, he led 38 followers in a coordinated mass suicide timed to the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet. He famously recorded "exit videos" in which he calmly explained that they were leaving their bodies to join a fleet in the comet’s wake. His movement is considered a hallmark example of the "cyber-cult" era, utilizing the early internet to recruit and spread its message.