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*                                                            *
*                         CYBERSPACE                         *
*         A biweekly column on net culture appearing         *
*                in the Toronto Sunday Sun                   *
*                                                            *
* Copyright 1999 Karl Mamer                                  *
* Free for online distribution                               *
* All Rights Reserved                                        *
* Direct comments and questions to:                          *
*   <kamamer@yahoo.com>                                      *
*                                                            *
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It's been one year since a group of web-weaving Trekkies took 
their lives in an attempt to join a spaceship they thought 
was following comet Hale-Bopp. The mass suicide, its 
antecedents, and the reactions of Netizens to the deaths are 
fascinating and grim reminders of the dark side of a medium 
that allows anyone to broadcast opinion cloaked as fact to 
millions of people. 

UFO buffs and skeptics on the net took all of three days to 
begin pointing fingers at each other, laying ultimate blame 
for the deaths of 39 members of Heaven's Gate. 

UFO buffs pointed to the Heaven's Gate web site (see 
www.heavensgatetoo.com) as proof heartless skeptics drove the 
cultists to shed their containers. In September 1995, 
Heaven's Gate spammed the net with a rambling message 
claiming an "undercover Jesus" would surface "before 
departure". The message urged readers to purchase guns. Users 
of net.news suggested in rather strong terms that wasn't a 
wise idea. 

The cultists, buoyed by the success of an ad they had run in 
USA Today, were unprepared for a medium where people don't 
have to waste a stamp to tell you you're an idiot. A page on 
the Heaven's Gate web site noted the bad reaction generated 
by the Undercover Jesus post "was the signal ... to begin our 
preparations to return 'home.'" 

Skeptics blamed members of the UFO community for their 
uncritical acceptance of amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek's 
photos purporting to show "a Saturn-like object" following 
comet Hale-Bopp. On October 6, 1996 Shramek started promoting 
his thesis in various newsgroups. He also put photos on the 
web along with documents alleging NASA, the Vatican, and the 
Freemasons (naturally) were involved in a conspiracy. 

The UFO crowd lapped it up. For years there's been a story 
circulating that Earth would "soon" be invaded by man-eating 
space lizards. They'd sneak in our solar system aboard a ship 
resembling an asteroid. This Saturn-like object seemed a good 
fit. 

Heaven's Gate cultists were so far into their freakish blend 
of Star Trek/UFOology/New Age religion, they couldn't accept 
the evidence of their own eyes. Cult members visited a San 
Diego shop and shelled out over three grand for a telescope. 
Cult members brought the telescope back to the shop a week 
later, complaining they were unable to find the spaceship 
about to taxi them to the "Evolutionary Level Above Human." 
The store clerk  explained the mostly likely reason they 
couldn't see a spaceship was because there wasn't one there. 
Unconvinced, the cultists swallowed a 10% restocking fee and, 
a month and half later, a lethal dose of phenobarbital.

Professional astronomers also took a peak and had some other 
ideas about Shramek's Saturn-like object. Alan Hale (as in 
the Hale in Hale-Bopp) identified the object as a known star. 
The "rings" were the result of diffraction, an effect known 
for centuries. The converted, however, didn't believe Hale 
and plastered him with hate e-mail, calling him a "traitor to 
Earth."

On November 14, 1996 Shramek, having endured the "abuse" of 
the conspirators' truncheon men (i.e., space scientists on 
sci.astro), decided to take his case to the people. He did a 
guest spot on a syndicated AM radio show called "Dreamland." 
Deamland  is hosted by Art Bell and is actually broadcast 
from Bell's mobile home in the Nevada desert. Bell's fact 
checking is minimal. If you've got a tale about aliens or 
black helicopters,  Bell will crack open a mike and a six 
pack for you. 

It's one thing to post a wild theory to the net, where both 
sides can debate as long as patience allows. It's another 
thing to shoot it out over the public airwaves. Hale, 
rightly, hit the roof. Hey, man, this was his comet. Two days 
after Bell's broadcast, the comet's co-discoverer published a 
critique of Shramek's research at www.halebopp.com/slo1.htm. 
Aware of the panic comets have caused in times past, Hale 
worried what effect Shramek's junk science would have on 
fringe groups looking for signs of the apocalypse. Only four 
months later, on March 26, 1997, his fears were confirmed.