In March 1997 the comet Hale-Bopp whizzed past Earth. To most of us mortals, it appeared as a dollop of unfocused starlight amid the pinpoint clarity of the night sky. But for 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult living in a wealthy suburb of San Diego, Hale-Bopp's arrival promised final release from the confines of the flesh. The comet's smeary tail concealed a spacecraft that had come to liberate [...]