“By the time you read this, we suspect that the human bodies we were wearing have been found and that a flurry of fragmented reports have begun to hit the wire services” 1
The revelation that followed a mysterious Fed-Ex package sent to Rio DiAngelo definitely left the world in shock. On March 26, 1997, Rio DiAngelo, an ex-member of the Heaven’s Gate cult, after receiving a package that contained a letter that read “by the time you read this, we will have exited our vehicles,”a few video tapes, and some floppy disks, led the police to discover thirty-nine deceased bodies in a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California.2 The twenty-one women and eighteen men were uniformly dressed in black, wearing Nike Decades, and covered with purple shrouds. The thirty-nine, with this opening of their Heaven’s Gate and what seemed to be their official graduation ceremony, introduced the world to the largest mass suicide to occur on American soil.3
Found among the dead, was one of the leaders and founders of Heaven’s Gate, Marshall Herff Applewhite. Even though Applewhite, son of a Presbyterian minister, seemed like a happy man with a wife and two children, he was constantly haunted by confusion over his sexual identity and homosexual desires.4 While suffering from depression and feelings of being alienated, he met Bonnie Lu Nettles, an unhappy nurse, who would end up becoming his partner in creating and leading Heaven’s Gate. They quickly entered into a platonic relationship that psychiatrists call the “insanity of two,” which develops when two delusional people live together and reinforce each other’s ideas.5 As a student of metaphysics with interests in occultism, astrology, and reincarnation, Nettles convinced Applewhite that God had brought them together because they were aliens who had been sent to Earth to warn people of the end as foretold in the Bible. They believed that they were the “two witnesses” described in chapter 11 of the book of Revelations, who were resurrected and taken “up to heaven in a cloud,” or what they believed to be an unidentified flying object (UFO).6 They believed that following their resurrection, the UFO would collect them and anyone else that accepted them, and take them up to the “Next Level,” or a heavenly utopia where they would live as extraterrestrial beings. The pair, leaving their families and taking up names like “The Two,” “Bo and Peep,” and eventually “Do and Ti,” traveled the world to proclaim their message and recruit people to join them and their mission.7
By 1975, Applewhite and Nettles had a following of almost 200 people, but as years passed, only a few of the original converts continued on with them. “The Two” were extremely persuasive and influential on those who were also as lost, confused, and seeking as they were. The members ranged from people who had fascinations with UFOs to people who truly felt like they did not belong to this world. Heaven’s Gate offered answers to people who were continually questioning their spirituality and meaning of life. A member who took on the name Tddody credits his reason for joining the movement to the hellish world outside the cult. He had had a negative experience in the world, as he was “beat up, lied to, cheated, threatened, robbed, and abused in almost every way thinkable.”8 But Heaven’s Gate offered him an escape from this. Another member, who went under the name Yrsody, mentions that she had sought out and rejected many other religious practices before joining Heaven’s Gate; she had experimented with many New Age religious practices before finally accepting Heaven’s Gate and its mission.9
Like Tddody and Yrsody, in order to become members, recruits would have to give up all human attachments, including names, families, and even their sexualities. Contact with the outside world was discouraged and the “students,” as they were called, were expected to follow strict schedules and routines to erase all humanness and begin their transformations into immortal, androgynous aliens.10 In the beginning, Ti (Nettles) and Do (Applewhite) taught the students that they would be going to the “Next Level” through a process similar to metamorphosis. Their human bodies would gradually turn into alien bodies, reaching completion at the “Next Level.” There was no indication that the members would have to give up their lives in order to reach this “Next Level,” but rather would require their physical bodies to gain access to the Kingdom of God.11 However, when Nettles died of cancer in 1985, Applewhite began teaching followers that since Ti had completed her mission, she had simply exited her “vehicle,” or body on Earth, and had ascended to the “Next Level,” where she would receive her new body.10 The students eventually passionately believed in this separation of body and soul. Their strong belief in this teaching is exemplified through their website, where the members stated that they exited the “bodies that [they] borrowed” after they spread “information about [the] Evolutionary Kingdom Level Above Human” and opened the doorway to this heaven.13 Applewhite and seven of his followers even went as far as surgically castrating themselves in order to fully extinguish all sexual, and therefore human and physical, desires.
Applewhite knew that the time to shed their human containers was near when he heard about the “comet of the century,” the Hale-Bopp Comet. This brilliant comet was large and drew massive attention, but what attracted Heaven’s Gate to this comet was the mysterious “companion” following it. The media was bombarded with rumors that the tail following this comet was actually an alien spacecraft, and Heaven’s Gate certainly took the story to be true. The entire spectacle and nature of Hale-Bopp interested Applewhite, and the UFO following it only reassured his beliefs that it was time to make their exit. Applewhite convinced the members that their co-founder Ti was coming back for them in the spacecraft trailing Hale-Bopp; their shepherd was finally here to lead her flock to the Kingdom of Heaven. As the members were completely devoted to their leader and were currently in a bond with him that was inexplicable, they believed him, and started getting ready for their exits.14 Preparing for their deaths, a week before their exits, they recorded Exit Videos depicting why they were going to such lengths and what Heaven’s Gate meant to them. They were ecstatic in these videos as they were finally going to their promised utopia. Through these videos they stressed the fact that they made these decisions out of their own free will and even begged people to understand their actions. Through various internet articles and messages, they emphasized the fact that they were not committing suicide, as their bodies were never truly theirs in the first place. Applewhite also frequently posted messages and videos that urged people to quickly join his mission and prepare for the end. They packaged these videos along with a note and sent them out to former members of the cult so that they could be distributed and seen.15
On March 23, 1997, a day after the Hale-Bopp comet had its closest approach to Earth, Heaven’s Gate was officially opened, and the first wave of suicides took place. About fifteen people ingested applesauce or pudding laced with phenobarbital and downed it with Vodka. They covered their heads with plastic bags and eventually suffocated to death. The remaining members cleaned up the scene and neatly arranged and covered the bodies with purple shrouds. On March 24, 1997, fifteen more killed themselves in a similar fashion and were covered with purple shrouds. The remaining members went on to take their lives on March 25, 1997, with the final two in charge of disposing the plastic bags and covering the dead members with shrouds before also taking their own lives.
On Tuesday, March 25, 1997, the packaged videos and notes finally made their way to Rio DiAngelo, a former member of the cult that went under the name “Neody.” He immediately knew what had transpired, and the next day led his boss Nick Matzorkis and the police to the mansion in Rancho Santa Fe where the bodies lay completely still and without a trace of compulsion. Members like Thomas Nichols, brother of “Star Trek” actress Nichelle Nichols, and Yvonne McCurdy-Hill, who left behind her husband and two twin girls to pursue the “Next Level,” were found with their belongings, clothes, lip balm, money, and other essentials, neatly packed beside them and ready for their trip.16
As expected, the media and American people were struck with complete surprise and shock and thrown into a chaotic frenzy after this event. Suicide itself is a topic of great regret and sadness, so to encounter a group of willing and able people who would take their own lives was flabbergasting. Through greater analysis and exploration we can also see the influences that outside forces played on their final decision. Applewhite and Nettles, through their social skills and persuasive techniques, gave their flock answers about their confusing lives and eventually made them so sure of this extraterrestrial afterlife that they were fully cognizant of and willing to make this physical sacrifice. Even DiAngelo, after leaving the cult, asserts that followers did not want to live in a world without Applewhite and that what they had done could not be classified as suicide as their souls still reside in the “Next Level.”17 Applewhite, Nettles, and Heaven’s Gate gave these confused followers purpose and meaning. This event gives us insight about much more than simply another mass suicide that occurred in the world. This specific event shows us that there are many subtle, or even prominent, messages around the world, which can be articulated through media that can lead people to very self-destructive thoughts and actions. We are left with this realization: the thirty-nine have officially departed from the world, forever closing Heaven’s Gate after them.
- Heaven’s Gate, “Heaven’s Gate “Away Team” Returns to Level Above Human in Distant Space,” heavensgate, March 22, 1997, http://www.heavensgate.com/misc/pressrel.htm. ↵
- Mark Miller, “Secrets of the cult,” Newsweek, April 1997, 28. ↵
- Benjamin Zeller, Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion (New York: NYU Press, 2014), 1. ↵
- Evan Thomas, “‘The next level’: how Herff Applewhite, a sexually confused, would-be apostle, led a flock of lost New Age dreamers to their deaths,” Newsweek, April 1997, 28. ↵
- Martin Gardner, “Heaven’s Gate: The UFO cult of Bo and Peep,” Skeptical Inquirer 21, no. 4 (July 1997): 15. ↵
- Robert Balch, The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds (New York: State University of New York Press, 1995), 142. ↵
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, November 2003, s.v. “Heaven’s Gate,” by Dennis D. Stewart and Cheryl B. Stewart. ↵
- Benjamin Zeller, Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion (New York: NYU Press, 2014), 50-54. ↵
- Benjamin Zeller, Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion (New York: NYU Press, 2014), 50-54. ↵
- Encyclopedia of Religion, December 2004, s.v. “Heaven’s Gate,” by Robert W. Balch. ↵
- Benjamin Zeller, Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion (New York: NYU Press, 2014), 18. ↵
- Encyclopedia of Religion, December 2004, s.v. “Heaven’s Gate,” by Robert W. Balch. ↵
- Heaven’s Gate, “Heaven’s Gate “Away Team” Returns to Level Above Human in Distant Space,” heavensgate, March 22, 1997, http://www.heavensgate.com/misc/pressrel.htm. ↵
- Richard Ocejo, “Review: Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults by Janja Lalich,” Contemporary Sociology 34, no. 4 (July 2005): 384-385. ↵
- Benjamin Zeller, Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion (New York: NYU Press, 2014), 208-217. ↵
- Jerry Adler, “Far From Home,” Newsweek, April 1997, 36. ↵
- Mark Miller, “Secrets of the cult,” Newsweek, April 1997, 28. ↵
This Post Has 80 Comments
I have heard many brief stories of this incident but I never knew what actually happened. This article and story left me in shock, and it gave me absolute chills done my spine seeing the picture provided. The influence of others is so strong and it’s quite terrifying thinking just how much a persons influence can cause such destruction and sadness. This ‘cult’ is by far one of the most chilling to read about and it’s crazy how many people were actually talked into ending their lives for believing a man and a women of such lie. This article was very interesting and odd to read, very well written.
I loved your ending sentence it was so intense, a total ‘close the book’ type of feeling! I knew very little about Heaven’s Gate but it wasn’t until after reading your article did I begin to really understand what this organization/cult was. It was a place for people to explain why their lives weren’t what they wanted them to be. It allowed people to blame something else other than themselves (if they deserved it) or ignore the path of trying to find the solution no matter how hard it might become. I also had no idea that some celebrities followed the cult’s suicide, especially a mom/wife. This is always hard to read about because of the fact when you walk into that room all you are surrounded by isn’t this miracle but dead bodies that are everywhere.
I had never heard of “Heavens Gate” before but I feel this article gave me enough information to be able to say I understand what it is. I think that it is sick that people think that ending their life will get them to the afterlife. I suppose to some it makes sense, but I do not think that a person should ever get to a point where they think that the afterlife is better than their own, and people shouldn’t exploit that vulnerability.
When I lived in San Diego I drove by the Heaven’s Gate mansion in Rancho Santa Fe and thought to myself “this lot sold for under $700,000??”. It is a huge lot and that is very cheap compared to the average 2 bedroom home in San Diego almost being as much as that house. I am sure that they did not have many interested buyers but the impact the Heaven’s Gate has had on not only society but pop culture as well has made it one of the most famous cults of all time. It is still used to this day and was even referenced in the Deadpool movie.
This article was definitely an odd one. The things these people were claiming were outright insane. Their persuasive speaking skills must have been pretty strong if they were able to convince people to go as far to eliminate their worldly desires by castrating themselves and prating self-multilation. The image of the logo looked more like cover art for music more than it did for a practice. The fears the people had were real and they placed their trust in a belief that ultimately led to their minds which I find to be the most tragic part of the entire thing.
I’ve only ever heard of heavens gate through forums of conspiracy theories revolving around the topics of aliens and things like mind control but I never thought that something like this could actually be real. To be able to brainwash an entire group of people into believing the cause of a random cult and even going so far as to kill themselves for it is something that seems completely fictional and it makes my skin crawl knowing all of this was real.
I learned about Heaven’s Gate in my AP Psych class in high school, It was really sad to learn about, but interesting at the same time because I find that being able to brainwash an entire group of people and to lead them into a cult is so mind boggling. I like to believe that I would not go to such extremes and to mindlessly follow everything they preach. It just crazy and very sad that so many people died and that those respective families have lost their loved ones to something like this, without even knowing it as well.
The story of Heavens Gate and a few others still annoy me to this day. How can people be this brainwashed to thinking killing themselves will get them to their afterlife. Logically and morally it makes no sense. I wonder what the thought process was in these peoples heads. It must of took a while to convince people to join the cult let alone kill themselves for it. I think this is another perfect example that mental health is a huge issue still and we need to pay more attention to it.
I do believe that we aren’t alone in the world. I mean how can we be, it doesn’t have to be in the shape of a human, or in the shaped of usual aliens we have movies and shows on. So to read that basically these people believed that UFOs were basically Gods way of bringing them to Heaven sounds like a good idea and a really excellent way of getting there. But I don’t think any of my beliefs would let me believe that if I did something on a specific day would get me into heaven. I only think this because if God really wanted us in heaven, we would be there with him instead of killing ourselves.
So I considered my own beliefs. I believe in a man who came back from the dead. He then ascended to heaven, although without aid of a UFO. He claimed to be the Son of God. He invites us to leave everything families, if necessary to follow him and to join a community of believers. He invites us to take up our crosses, tells us not to be surprised when people make fun of us, calls us to die so that we might live. And then he tells us he is coming back for us so we can join him in paradise