Heaven's Gate (cult)

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The logo used by the Heaven's Gate group

Heaven's Gate was the name of a UFO religion co-led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, both now deceased.

The cult's end, coinciding with the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp, created a sensation in the United States in 1997. Applewhite convinced 38 followers to commit suicide so that their souls could take a ride on a spaceship that they believed was hiding behind the comet; such beliefs have led some observers to characterise the group as a type of "UFO religion".

1 Origins and history
2 Structure
3 Suicide
4 Media coverage prior to suicide
5 Heaven's Gate in popular culture
6 Bibliography
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Origins and history

Heaven's Gate was a secretive New Age religion. Knowledge of their practices is limited. Upon joining the group, members often sold their possessions in order to break their attachments with earthly existence. For many years the group lived in isolation in the western United States. Members often traveled in pairs and met with other members for meetings or presentations they gave to recruit new members. For a time, group members lived in a darkened house in which they would simulate the experience they expected to have during their long journey in outer space. One of the group's publications, "How to build a U.F.O.", purported to describe an interplanetary spacecraft built out of materials such as old tires. Much of what is known about the group comes from the research of Robert Balch and David Taylor, who infiltrated the group in the 1970s.

The members of the cult added "-ody" to the first names they adopted in lieu of their original given names.

For a few months prior to their deaths, three members, Thurston-ody, Sylvie-ody, and Elaine-ody, worked for Advanced Development Group (ADG), Inc. (now ManTech Advanced Development Group), a small San Diego-based company that developed computer-based instruction for the U. S. Army. Although they were polite and friendly in a reserved way, they tended to keep to themselves. When they quit working for ADG, they told their supervisor that they had completed their mission. A few weeks later, they were dead.

One member, Thomas Nichols, was the brother of Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols. Prior to the group's suicide, he and other members solicited her assistance in publicizing the cult's message.^[1]

[edit] Structure

The structure of Heaven's Gate resembled that of a medieval monastic order.

Group members gave up their material possessions and lived a highly ascetic lifestyle devoid of many indulgences. The group was tightly knit and everything was shared communally. Six of the male members of the cult voluntarily underwent castration as an extreme means of maintaining the ascetic lifestyle.

The cult funded itself by offering professional website developement for paying clients.

[edit] Suicide

Thirty-eight cult members, plus Applewhite, the cult's leader, were found dead in a rented mansion in the upscale San Diego community of Rancho Santa Fe, California on March 26, 1997. The mass death of the Heaven's Gate group is one of the most widely known examples of cult suicide.

In preparing to kill themselves, members of the cult drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their bodies of impurities. Their suicide, conducted in shifts, was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbital mixed with vodka, along with plastic bags secured around their heads to induce asphyxiation. Each member, for reasons unknown, carried five dollars in quarters. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants along with brand new black-and-white Nike tennis shoes and purple armbands reading "Heaven's gate away team".^[2]

[edit] Media coverage prior to suicide

Although not widely known to the mainstream media, Heaven's Gate were not unknown in UFOlogical circles; as well as a series of academic studies by Robert Balch, they also received coverage in Jacques Vallee's Messengers of Deception, in which Vallee described an unusual public meeting organized by the group. Vallee frequently expressed concerns within the book about contactee groups' authoritarian political and religious outlooks, and Heaven's Gate did not escape criticism.

BBC 2 documentary maker Louis Theroux contacted the Heaven's Gate cult while making a program for his Weird Weekends series in early March 1997. In response to his e-mail, Theroux was told that Heaven's Gate could not take part in the documentary as "at the present time a project like this would be an interference with what we must focus on."

After the Church of Scientology shut down the Cult Awareness Network, Heaven's Gate member lah, later identified as Sister Francis Michael, made a post in "Thanks for Actions Against CAN" to the usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology.

[edit] Heaven's Gate in popular culture

The vast media coverage of the Heaven's Gate incident brought about a huge public awareness of the religious cult. In a sense, it was also an Internet phenomenon, since the web was in its early years and the notion of being able to view webpages featuring and created by persons who had recently died was very much a novelty.

This wide coverage would eventually spill over into the entertainment industry, especially among pornographic shows that were inspired by a cult (not always necessarily Heaven's Gate) to create stories that parodied, or otherwise explored, this particular subject.

Well known examples include:

The 1982 TV movie Mysterious Two [1] was loosely based on the teachings of Heaven's Gate founders Applewhite and Nettles.

The 1985 theatrical film Lifeforce postulated a similar scenario with a spaceship "hiding" inside a comet.

A 1997 episode of Boy Meets World,"Cult Fiction", involved an apparently Heaven's Gate-like cult; it aired only a month after the Heaven's Gate suicide, and can be assumed to be coincidence, or synchronicity.

A 1997 episode of Mr. Show with Bob and David opens with Bob Odenkirk as the leader of a cult that attempts to get up "Heaven's Chimney." Instead of asphyxiation, poisoned s'mores are used to kill off the followers.

A 1998 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Covenant", was based at least in part on Heaven's Gate. In the episode, Dukat (a Cardassian) becomes a Messiah-like figurehead to a group of Bajorans who worship the entities known as the Pah-wraiths. He ultimately told them to commit suicide, although his motives for doing so were insincere and his own pill for committing the suicide was a fake.

A 1997 episode of Saturday Night Live opened with a sketch in which the dead members of the cult were still alive, had been successful in boarding an alien spacecraft in the comet, and were doing a live interview from the spacecraft with Ted Koppel on Nightline. This same episode featured a commercial parody that utilized footage of the cult members' Nike sneakers, followed by the Keds logo, accompanied by the phrase "Keds: Worn by Level-Headed Christians."

Politically Incorrect's Bill Maher began his Friday March 28, 1997, show with a segment lampooning Marshall Applewhite's suicide message, later defending this by stating that the suicide was a voluntary act on the part of the members and citing the Jonestown Massacre as a point of contrast.

A 1998 episode of The Simpsons, titled "The Joy of Sect" introduces a group called the Movementarians. Heaven's Gate references include the U.F.O. built in a barn which the followers believe would carry them to a utopian planet called Blisstonia, as well as leading an ascetic lifestyle.

In 1999, the Family Guy episode "Chitty Chitty Death Bang" lampooned the cult, including the castrated males, the mass suicide, the teachings, and the Marshall Applewhite character.

Simon Armitage's millennium poem "Killing Time", written in 1999 includes a mention of the Heaven's gate cult.

The cult S.C.R.A.T.C.H. from the Cowboy Bebop episode 'Brain Scratch' is based on Heaven's Gate, with a very similar logo, and leader Doctor Londes a seeming stand-in for Marshall Applewhite in appearance and manner. Character Ed's login name when hacking into the S.C.R.A.T.C.H. website is even "Marshall Banana" .

UK rock group Porcupine Tree includes a song entitled "Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled" on their 2000 album Lightbulb Sun. The second half of the song includes audio samples from a Heaven's Gate speech.

The song "Killing Stars," by Scottish pop band Geneva, explicitly addresses the mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult. The song appears on the 2000 release Weather Underground.

In 1998, sports talk show host Jim Rome appeared on stage during one of his "tour stops" wearing a purple shroud over his head which mimicked the ones that the cult members had over their heads during their suicide.

The Chicago based band Tub Ring on their 2004 album Zoo Hypothesis includes the song "Vehicle", inspired by the Heaven's Gate cult. The album features the Hale-Bopp Comet on its cover.

The CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Shooting Stars", which first aired on October 13, 2005, featured a storyline in which a cult commits suicide on the eve of a meteor shower and included a mention of Heaven's Gate.

In Futurama episode "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", Leela says "For Heaven's Gate, Professor!" instead of "Heaven's sake," while they go looking for Professor Farnsworth's gargoyle Pazuzu.

The 2000 film Dude, Where's My Car? featured a cult of nerds donning identical jumpsuits (made from bubble wrap) who planned to travel into space.

The song "My Adidas" from the NYC band Versus refers to Heaven's Gate. It appeared on the 2000 album "Hurrah," and features lyrics including "now the comet's come and disappeared," and "I think you know it's too late/I'm rocketing skyward/to Heaven's Gate".

Nerf Herder wrote and performed "Life on Mars" for their album "How To Meet Girls". Lyrics include "So take me away I've got nothing to lose / Nike shoes, black jumpsuits / Shaven heads and purple blankets / Someone come and take me away ..."

Chuck Palahniuk's novel Survivor follows a member of a cult after most of the members committed ritualistic suicide.

In performance, the progressive metal ensemble Dream Theater includes video footage of Marshall Applewhite during the playing of "In The Name Of God," a song about the inherent dangers of extreme religious views.

A 2001 episode of "The X- Files" involved the mass suicide of cult members found dead in bunk beds.

The song "Hale-Bop", from the band Turn Me On Dead Man, is about the Heaven's Gate incident, including the lyrics, "I think i see the Hale Bop/Up in the Sky", "It's time to leave our head gates/It's time to leave our bodies behind/Down in Southern California/It is time for sweet suicide".

[edit] Bibliography

Lalich, Janja. Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults. University of California Press, 2004. ISBN 0-520-23194-5. 329 pp.
Investigative Reports: Inside Heaven's Gate
Balch, Robert W. Bo and Peep: a case study of the origins of messianic leadership. In Roy Wallis, ed. Millennialism and charisma. Belfast: Queens' University. 1982.
Balch, Robert W. Waiting for the ships: disillusionment and revitalization of faith in Bo and Peep's UFO cult. In James R. Lewis, ed. The Gods have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds. Albany: SUNY. 1995.
Balch, Robert W. When the Light Goes Out, Darkness Comes: A Study of Defection from a Totalistic Cult. in Religious Movements: Genesis, Exodus and Numbers. Rodney Stark, (Ed). Paragon House Publishers. 1985. pp. 11-63.
Theroux, Louis. The call of the weird; Pan Macmillian. 2005. pp 207-221