Death cult van to be sold on eBay

The last surviving member of the cult Heaven's Gate is commemorating the sixth anniversary of the group's mass suicide by selling its old van on eBay.

Rio DiAngelo, who had left the group, returned on 26 March, 1996 to find the bodies of more than 39 cult members.

The cultists had taken tranquilisers and put plastic bags over their heads in the belief that they were shedding their 'earthly containers' to hitch a ride on a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

DiAngelo will ask a minimum of $39,000 for the 1992 Ford van, which cult members once used for road trips to SeaWorld and Las Vegas.

Although he has announced he is selling the van, it has yet to appear on the eBay site.

Even though he claims to be loyal to the ideals and beliefs of the group, DiAngelo says he is not sentimental about the past.