Heaven's Gate (cult)

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The logo used by the Heaven's Gate group
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.

The cult's end coincided with the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. Applewhite convinced 39 followers to commit suicide so that their souls could take a ride on a spaceship that they believed was hiding behind the comet carrying Jesus; such beliefs have led some observers to characterize the group as a type of "UFO religion."

Contents

[edit] Origins and history

Heaven's Gate was founded by Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Truesdale Nettles sometime before 1975. By the mid-1970s, the two were known within the cult as Bo and Peep (respectively), or Do and Ti, or as simply The Two. The Two claimed to have arrived via UFO from another dimension (a "level above human") and would return via a secretive "Process", which was taught to cult members. The group never numbered more than a few hundred adherents, and lost many members upon Truesdale Nettle's death in 1985.[1]

They were a secretive New Age religion. The group held meetings in a hotel on the Oregon coast prior to its move to California.[2] 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, which defines "children of the Next Level". This is mentioned in Applewhite's final video, "Do's Final Exit", that was filmed on March 19, 1997, just days prior to the suicides.

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.[3]

[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 development 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 carried five dollar bills and a few quarters in thier wallets. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, along with brand new black-and-white Nike tennis shoes and armband patches reading "Heaven's gate away team".[4]

[edit] Media coverage prior to suicide

Although not widely known to the mainstream media, Heaven's Gate were known 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.

In January 1994, the LA Weekly ran an article on the group, then known as The Total Overcomers. The article was entitled They Walk Among Us, and was written by Dave Gardetta. The article was the reason Rio DiAngelo discovered the group and eventually joined them. Rio was the subject of LA Weekly's 2007 cover story on the group.

BBC 2 documentary maker Louis Theroux contacted the Heaven's Gate cult while making a program for his Weird Weekends series in early March of 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 bought the name and rights to 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, in December 1996.

[edit] Heaven's Gate in popular culture

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The vast media coverage of the Heaven's Gate incident brought about a huge public awareness of the cult, and of cults in general. In a sense, it was also an early 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 including:

  • A 1997 episode of Saturday Night Live included 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."[citation needed]
  • 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.[citation needed]
  • 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.[citation needed]
  • 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.
  • The song "My Adidas" from the NYC band Versus refers to Heaven's Gate. It appeared on the 2000 album Hurrah, featuring 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".[citation needed]
  • John Shirley's short story "What Joy! What Fulfillment!", found in his story collection "Really Really Really Really Weird Stories" (Nightshade Books), is about a cult based on Heaven's Gate and a cultist who follows the cult leader's directions, to go to the spiritual spaceship waiting at the Hale Bopp comet, only to find that his spirit is transported to a hideous demon that feeds on the spirits of the gullible.[citation needed]

[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
  • DiAngelo, Rio. "Beyond Human Mind-The Soul Evolution of Heaven's Gate." RIODIANGELO PRESS. 2007. 128p

[edit] References

  1. ^ Grant, John (2006). Discarded Science. Surrey, UK: Artists and Photographers Press, Ltd., 236-237. ISBN 1-904332-49-8. 
  2. ^ Oregon Coast Beach Connection News: Freaky Oregon Coast Facts: Unusual to Paranormal"Pat Boone’s Leisure Suit - Singer Pat Boone used to have an interest in a hotel in Waldport? The relationship to the hotel is unclear, but in the early 70's it was called the Pat Boone Motel, located in the Bayshore district. The marquee even featured a picture of Boone wearing a pink leisure suit. In the late 70's it became the Bayshore Inn, and the Heaven's Gate cult held a gathering there (the UFO cult that became infamous in the 90's for committing mass suicide in California)." Retrieved Feb. 9, 2007
  3. ^ http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/28/mass.suicide.pm/
  4. ^ Katherine Ramsland. Death Mansion. All about Heaven's Gate cult. CourtTV Crime Library. Retrieved on 2006-09-20.

DiAngelo, Rio. Beyond Human Mind-The Soul Evolution of Heaven's Gate. RIODIANGELO PRESS. 2007. 128p

[edit] External links

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