39 dead cult members were packed and ready to go

The 39 cult members whose bodies were found in a mansion were well prepared for their journey to outer space, where they apparently believed they would fly on a UFO in the wake of the Hale-Bopp comet.

The 21 women and 18 men had their passports and IDs tucked in the top pockets of their matching black shirts.

They were equipped with $5 dollar bills and small change and had their suitcases close to hand. San Diego County police and doctors said yesterday that all indications were that the cult members died in a mass suicide, using a mixture of alcohol and phenobarbitol and plastic bags over their heads.

They killed themselves in three waves over a period days, with the last survivors removing the bags of the earlier dead and draping them with purple scarves.

According to "recipes" they held, they were directed to swallow their drugs with pudding or apple sauce. Each one had video-taped a statement saying they were "going to a better place".

As post mortem examinations got under way, documents retrieved from the World Wide Web appeared to confirm that the victims killed themselves in a ritual timed to coincide with the arrival of the Hale-Bopp comet, and possibly with Holy Week. They believed they were "angels" who would "shed their containers" to join a UFO.

One passage from the Internet read: "We are happily prepared to leave `this world' and go with Ti's crew."