Heaven's Gate

Heaven's Gate was the name of a religious group led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles.

The group's end coincided with the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. Applewhite convinced thirty-eight 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." They believed that the planet Earth was about to be recycled (wiped clean, refurbished and rejuvenated), and that the only chance to survive was to leave it immediately. The group was formally against suicide, but they defined "suicide" to mean "to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered." They were convinced that their "human" bodies were only "vehicles" meant to help them on their journey.

The group believed in several paths for a person to leave the Earth and survive before the "recycling", one of which was hating this world strongly enough: "It is also possible that part of our test of faith is our hating this world, even our flesh body, to the extent to be willing to leave it without any proof of the Next Level's existence".

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 group 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 group members. The group never numbered more than a few hundred adherents, and lost many members upon Truesdale Nettles' death in 1985. They were described as a secretive New Age religion. The group held meetings in a hotel on the Oregon coast prior to its move to California. 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 group 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.

The group also designed Websites, for themselves and for paying clients: one site was for the San Diego Polo Club.

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 group's message.

The Evan Dando song "Rancho Santa Fe" was reportedly inspired by the group.

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 life devoid of many indulgences. The group was tightly knit and everything was shared communally. Six of the male members of the group voluntarily underwent castration as an extreme means of maintaining the ascetic lifestyle.

The group funded itself by offering professional website development for paying clients.

Suicide
Thirty-eight group members, plus Applewhite, the group'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 said to be one of the most widely-known examples of what became publicized as "cult suicide".

In preparing to kill themselves, members of the group drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their bodies of impurities. The suicide was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbital mixed with vodka, along with plastic bags secured around their heads to induce asphyxiation. They were found lying neatly in their own bunk beds, with their faces and torsos covered by a square, purple cloth. Each member carried five dollar bills and a few quarters in their wallets. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike tennis shoes, and armband patches reading "Heaven's Gate Away Team". The suicides were conducted in shifts, and the remaining members of the group cleaned up after each prior group's death.

Media coverage prior to suicide
Although not widely known to the mainstream media, Heaven's Gate was 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 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.

Louis Theroux contacted the Heaven's Gate group while making a program for his BBC Two documentary series, Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends, 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."