ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997                TAG: 9704030058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: LONDON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABDUCTION INSURANCE DROPPED POLICY COVERED CYBERCULTISTS

Brokerage will no longer offer insurance against aliens and will not renew current policies.

A company that insured the Heaven's Gate cult against abduction, impregnation or attack by aliens said Wednesday it has stopped offering that policy in the wake of the 39 cult members' suicide.

``Innocent lives were wrecked,'' managing director Simon Burgess said. ``We don't wish to contribute to a repetition of the Heaven's Gate deaths.''

When the brokerage Goodfellow Rebecca Ingrams Pearson, known as GRIP, added alien insurance to its list of policies last summer, Heaven's Gate was one of 4,000 policyholders worldwide who bought it, Burgess said. Britain and the United States were the biggest markets.

While those policies will not be renewed, the company still offers other unusual policies, which account for about 10 percent of business.

``We insure virgins against immaculate conception; prostitutes against loss of earnings from headache and backache; conversion to a werewolf or vampire; death or serious injury through paranormal activity; and unfaithful husbands against Bobbitting,'' he said. This was a reference to John Bobbitt, whose wife severed his penis in 1993.

Burgess says he offers the unusual policies for the publicity they bring.

The Heaven's Gate cult learned of the company on the Internet, then bought a $1,000 policy Oct.10. It covered up to 50 members and would pay $1 million per person for abduction, impregnation or death caused by aliens.

But the cult members took their own lives last week in a California mansion, seeking redemption in a spaceship they believed was trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

Their policy beneficiary was the Society of Heaven's Gate. The cult paid the premium and the policy remains in force until Oct. 9, but collecting is another issue entirely.

``They would have to prove that they were abducted,'' Burgess said.

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