What’s the reason for a human being saying goodbye to his family and all his possessions to live a life in a poor cult? Today, we look back exactly 25 years into the history of one of the most dangerous cults in the United States, which partly still exists today: Heaven's Gate.

American Dream

Conspiracy theories thrive best on American soil. It is no coincidence that Donald Trump could easily convince his voters of his “alternative facts” or that the Church of Scientology is most prominent in the US. For decades now American citizens have been entrusting themselves to supposed messiahs and prophets who take them out of their unhappy lives and lead them to a saviour.

The American dream turned out to be more and more of a nightmare and American citizens, with their innate idealism, looked for other institutions to follow, such as the church, fraternities, and cults. The latter can be understood as the most dangerous of fanatical belief, while all of them have the same goal: to eradicate the individual and incorporate him into their structure. They promise their members the path to paradise or a better life, and systematically ensure that one's own will becomes weaker and belief in the ideology stronger.

That such cults aren’t as harmless has been demonstrated by many tragic stories in American history. The Manson Family with the Tate-LaBianca murders, the followers of the Christian pastor David Koresh, who fought a battle with the FBI, resulting in a mass suicide of 76 members and of course, the sect of pastor Jim Jones’ “People's Temple”, which resulted in the death of more than 900 of its members.

They all managed to make their members dependent, will-less and vulnerable. But it was Marshall Applewhite and his wife Bonnie Nettles who took this perverse game of human destiny to another level and would go down in history as the first UFO cult.

San Diego and Los Angeles County Medical Examiner personnel place some of the 39 victims of a mass suicide onto a truck for transport to the morgue on March 27, 1997 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

The Founders

Marshall Herff Applewhite was the son of a Presbyterian preacher and later worked as a music teacher. He was fired in 1970 because of “health problems of an emotional nature” – meaning that he was rumoured to have had a sexual relationship with a student. For Applewhite however, homosexuality was a disease that he was both reluctant to admit to and in stark contrast to his strict beliefs. In 1971, he tried to be “cured” of his homosexuality in a hospital. There he met the nurse Bonnie Lu Nettles, with whom he would later establish the cult.

Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles

Nettles had a similar background to Applewhite. After working as a nurse, she married businessman Joseph Segal Nettles in December 1949, with whom she had four children. Although her life sounded supposedly normal, Nettles was plagued by many demons. For example, she tried to contact ghosts by holding regular séances and was convinced that a 19th century monk named “Brother Francis” appeared to her regularly and gave her orders. She later stated that she was told that she would soon meet a mysterious man who was tall, had light hair and a fair complexion. Then, when she met Applewhite in the hospital in 1971, the mentally ill woman thought that Brother Francis' prophecy had come true.

Nettles told Applewhite their meeting had been foretold to her by extraterrestrials and convinced him that he had a divine mission. By this time, Applewhite had begun to explore alternatives to traditional Christian teaching. They broke off contact with their families and decided to travel in February 1973 to teach others about their faith. They carried a King James Version of the Bible and studied several passages from the New Testament, focusing on teachings about Christology, asceticism and eschatology. Applewhite also read science fiction.

The “Two”

By June 1974, Applewhite and Nettles' beliefs had coalesced into a basic framework—they believed that they had been chosen to fulfil biblical prophecy and that God had given them a “higher mind” compared to other people. They wrote a pamphlet describing the reincarnation of Jesus as a Texan an obvious allusion to Applewhite. They also believed themselves to be the two witnesses described in the book of Revelation by the apostle Luke and occasionally visited churches to elaborate on their identities, often referring to themselves as “The Two” or “The UFO Two.” The two believed that they would be killed and then brought back to life and transported into a spaceship in front of others. This event, which they referred to as “the demonstration,” was meant to prove their claims.

“Recruiting to Death”

Despite their obviously manic outlook, both were progressive in their approach to new members. They ran commercials on television, travelled to recruit new members and dropped flyers with polemical texts with headlines like “Last chance to advance beyond human” or “UFO's–why they are here.” However, they were also the first cult to use the Internet to recruit new members in forums and their website. The cult called their followers “the crew”, while their two founders “Bo & Peep” mimed the captains for space travel to paradise.

People who also wanted to be saved had to sell all their possessions, leave their families and partners behind, and henceforth live with “the crew” on the street or in tents. Anything for their goal to reach the state of “spiritual superiority”. Only then would a UFO come and take them all to paradise. The plan seemed to work, and the crew kept growing. Until Nettles died of cancer in 1985 and the already unstable Applewhite fell into a much deeper hole. This was to be the moment that turned numerous fanatical fools into a suicide squad.

Applewhite explained to his crew that his wife had not died but had merely become too powerful for this world, and her mission was accomplished. He, however, would have to do a few more things with the rest of “the crew” before they too could follow Nettles into the spaceship. The cult became more radical, which manifested itself in the fact that a few members, including Applewhite, decided to let themselves be castrated, to be less distracted by earthly things. When the meteorite “Hail Bop” was mentioned on television, Applewhite saw it as the promised spaceship that would save him and his crew from Earth.

Just do it!

On March 19, 1997, three days before the comet was closest to Earth, Applewhite filmed himself. In the video, he spoke about mass suicide as the only way to leave Earth. He and his followers expected that their souls would subsequently be taken aboard the spacecraft and transferred to a “higher stage of evolution.”

On March 26, 1997, the bodies of Applewhite and 38 of his members, ranging in age from their mid-20s to over 70, were found in their mansion. They had committed suicide in three stages with sleeping pills and vodka: 15 members died on March 24, 15 more on March 25, and nine (including Applewhite) on March 26.

The 39 dead bodies lay neatly in bunk beds, covered with purple sheets, wearing uniform black clothing. They also wore new Nike Air Decade sneakers in black and bracelets that read “Heaven's Gate Away Team” (a reference to the “Away Team” from Star Trek). Everyone had a five-dollar bill and three quarters in their pocket. Until now, it is unclear why the members wore the same outfit and what they were trying to accomplish with the five dollars in their pockets. Nike reacted immediately, at least, and took the shoe out of its range. The sneaker has since been sold ten times its value online due to its frightening backstory. Up until now, the sect's homepage is still online.

Present Day

The fate of the “Heaven's Gate” cult has shown us the danger of conspiracies, misinterpreted confessions, and charismatic “leaders”. And even today, many Americans believe in the Deep State, Q-anon, and Donald Trump as the hero who will deliver us from the evil of the Zionist leadership lodge.

Even if we laugh about these stories, we should not underestimate the power of the people who tell them. Any conspiracy theorist can become a violent criminal, and any club can become a killing squad. Therefore, we as people should move together and lend an ear to those who no one else listens to, before they get to the wrong people afterwards. If you are interested in this topic, make sure to check out the Heaven’s Gate Homepage and the documentary from HBO, to learn more about the background of this cult and witness some class-A brainwashing.

See you space Cowboy!