ocr: Many believed that the astronomers were conspiring to cover the true identity of Hale-Bopp and the comet rapidly became a target for apocalyptic prophecies and theories. On November 14th 1996, images taken by the amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek, misidentified the comet as a gigantic mother-ship heading. for earth. Radio signals were allegedly received from the comet that were indecipherable, but intelligent. One group that took on this belief were the Heaven's Gate Cult, based in California. Encouraged by the their founder Marshall Applewhite, the cult believed that the comet was a UFO ona jo ...
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