Heaven’s Gate was an American cult based in San Diego, California, that gained public attention for its mass suicide event in 1997. It was founded and led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, who convinced their followers that they were emissaries from a level of existence above human and that the Earth was about to be “recycled” or wiped clean.
- Heaven’s Gate was founded by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles in the early 1970s. They met in a psychiatric hospital where Nettles was a nurse and Applewhite was a patient.
- The group’s ideology was a mix of Christian apocalypticism, New Age philosophy, and beliefs about extraterrestrials and UFOs.
- Applewhite and Nettles referred to themselves as “Do” and “Ti” respectively, presenting themselves as genderless extraterrestrial beings or “Next Level” beings.
- Members of the Heaven’s Gate cult were required to adopt strict ascetic lifestyles, which included renouncing sex, drugs, and other earthly desires.
- The group was known for its use of the Internet for recruitment. They were one of the first religious groups to create a website, which is still maintained by surviving members.
- Bonnie Nettles passed away in 1985 due to cancer. After her death, Applewhite modified the group’s belief system to suggest that they could transform or ascend to the “Next Level” through death.
- The cult gained worldwide attention in 1997 when Applewhite and 38 followers committed mass suicide in their San Diego mansion. They believed that the comet Hale-Bopp, which was then passing Earth, concealed a spaceship that would take their souls to another “level of existence above human.”
- The mass suicide was carefully planned and occurred in stages over a few days. Members ingested a lethal mix of phenobarbital and alcohol, and then put bags over their heads to ensure asphyxiation.
- All 39 members were dressed in identical black shirts, sweat pants, and brand new black-and-white Nike Decade sneakers, and each had a five-dollar bill and three quarters in their pockets, along with packed luggage at their bedsides.
- Their bodies were found covered in purple shrouds, which, along with the Nikes, became one of the lasting images associated with the Heaven’s Gate cult.
- At the time of the suicides, the group’s website was updated with the message “Hale-Bopp brings closure to Heaven’s Gate… Our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is finally coming to conclusion—’graduation’ from the Human Evolutionary Level.”
- The group funded their lifestyle by offering professional website development services under the business name “Higher Source.”
- The cult was highly mobile during its existence, with members often living a nomadic lifestyle in campgrounds, rural areas, and safe houses throughout the Southwest.
- The cult held a belief that the Earth was about to be wiped clean or “recycled,” and that they needed to leave the planet to survive this event.
- Despite the mass suicide event in 1997, the group’s website is still operational and maintained by two surviving members who continue to promote the group’s teachings.
