Heaven's Gate (religious group)

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Heaven's Gate was the name of a cult co-led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles until Nettles' death. The cult's end, coinciding with the appearance of comet Hale-Bopp, created a sensation in the United States in 1997. Applewhite convinced 39 followers to commit suicide so that their souls could take a ride on a spaceship that they thought was hiding behind the comet; members reportedly believed themselves to be aliens.

Origins and history

Heaven's Gate was a secretive New Age religion. Knowledge of their practices is limited. Upon joining the group, members often sold their worldly belongings 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 rendezvoused with other members for meetings or presentations they gave to recruit new members. For a time, group members lived in a darkened house where they would simulate the experience they expected to have during their long journey in outer space. A publication produced at this time that received some press attention was titled "How to build a U.F.O." and purported to describe an interplanetary spacecraft 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.

Group members gave up their material possessions and several male members of the cult underwent castration. In preparation for their suicide, members of the cult drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their body of impurities. In the wake of the cult's suicide, some attributed the cult's ability to attract new members to the growth of the Internet. (The cult earned money by providing their services as professional web page designers.) The thirty-nine bodies of the cult members were found in a rented mansion in the upscale San Diego community of Rancho Santa Fe, California on March 26, 1997. Their suicide, conducted in shifts, was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbitol-laced apple sauce and vodka. A video of the bodies in bunkbeds, covered neatly with purple blankets and wearing identical brand new Nike sneakers, was shown repeatedly during the media coverage following the suicides. They had also packed suitcases and money, presumably for the UFO trip.

On May 5, 1997, two remaining members of the group, Chuck Humphrey (known as "Rkkody") and Wayne Cooke ("Jstody") also attempted to "exit their human vehicles" (commit suicide) in a motel room in Encinitas, CA. Cooke's attempt was successful; Humphrey was comatose for two days but recovered, and started a website that continued to promote the Heaven's Gate beliefs, also selling memorabilia such as mousepads, T-shirts, and "Away Team" patches. In February 1998 Humphrey made another attempt to "exit", this time successful. While Humphrey referred to himself as "the sole survivor of Heaven's Gate", he and Cooke had previously held a press conference, along with two others known as "Juan of Venezuela" and "Crlody", to explain the beliefs of Heaven's Gate. Who the other two representatives were and where they went is not known.

Among the victims was Thomas Nichols, brother of the actress Nichelle Nichols, from the series Star Trek. Applewhite was a major fan of Star Trek, and episodes of the show's various incarnations were often shown to members of the cult.

Media Influence

The vast media coverage of the Heaven's Gate incident brought about a huge public awareness of the religious cult. This would eventually spill over into the entertainment industry, especially among television shows that were inspired by a cult (not always necessarily Heaven's Gate) to create stories that parodied, or otherwise explored, this particular subject.

Well known examples have included:

  • The 1982 TV movie Mysterious Two [1] was loosely based on the teachings of Heaven's Gate founders Applewhite and Nettles.
  • In an episode of Boy Meets World called "Cult Fiction", Shawn tries to combat loneliness by hanging out with a new group of people at a place called The Center lead by Mr. Mack. The group seems to fill a void of emptiness within Shawn that his friends try to talk him out of. Because this episode aired only a month after the Heaven's Gate incident, viewers are inclined to believe that Heaven's Gate may have inspired this episode to educate teens on the dangers of cults.
  • A 1997 episode of Saturday Night Live opened with 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.
  • A 1998 episode of The Simpsons, titled "The Joy of Sects" introduces a group called the Movementarians. Most of Springfield joins in along with Homer who brings his unwilling family along to live at the cult's headquarters. The Movementarians' most powerful weapon are the lawyers as they have huge property power over much of Springfield. Some Heaven's Gate influences include the U.F.O. which the followers believe would carry them to a utopian planet called Blisstonia.
  • In 1999, the Family Guy episode "Chitty Chitty Death Bang" lampooned the cult, including the castrated males, the mass suicide, the teachings, and the Marshall Applewhite character.
  • The cult S.C.R.A.T.C.H. from the Cowboy Bebop episode 'Brain Scratch' may have been based on Heaven's Gate.
  • The UK's Porcupine Tree, on their 2000 album Lightbulb Sun, included a song entitled "Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled". The second half of the song includes audio samples from a Heaven's Gate speech.
  • The Chicago based band Tub Ring on their 2004 album Zoo Hypothesis, includes the song Vehicle, inspired by the Heaven's Gate cult. The entire album, featuring the Hale-Bopp comet on its cover, is partially themed about the Cult's suicide incident.
  • An episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation that aired on October 13, 2005 featured a storyline where a cult commits suicide on the eve of a meteor shower. Heavens's Gate is also specifically mentioned early in the episode.

Bibliography

  • Lalich, Janja Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults The University of California press, 2004 ISBN: 0-520-23194-5. 329 pp.

Link title

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