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Marshall Applewhite
A wide eyed man addressing a camera
Applewhite addressing the audience in a video
BornMay 17, 1931
Texas
DiedMarch 1997, age 66
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Cause of deathSuicide
NationalityAmerican
Other namesDo, Bo, Tiddley, Nincom, Guinea
Known forFounding the Heaven's Gate religious group
SpouseAnn Pearce

Marshall Herff Applewhite (May 17, 1931 – March 1997; also known as Bo and Do /doʊ/[1] among other names)[a] was an American religious leader who founded what became known as the Heaven's Gate religious group and organized their mass suicide in 1997.

A native of Texas, Applewhite attended several universities and served in the United States Army as a young man. After finishing school, he taught music at the University of Alabama. He later returned to Texas, where he led choruses and served as the chair of the music department at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He left the school in 1970, citing emotional turmoil. His father's death a year later brought on severe depression. In 1972, he developed a close friendship with Bonnie Nettles, a nurse. Together, they discussed mysticism at length and concluded that they were called as divine messengers. After unsuccessfully attempting to open a bookstore and teaching center, they began to travel around the U.S. in 1973 to spread their views. However, they only gained one convert. In 1975, Applewhite was arrested for failing to return a rental car and was jailed for six months. In jail he further developed his theology.

After Applewhite's release, he traveled to California and Oregon with Nettles, eventually gaining a group of committed followers. Applewhite and Nettles told their followers that they would be visited by extraterrestrials that would provide them with new bodies. Applewhite initially taught that he and his followers would physically ascend to a spaceship, where their bodies would be transformed, but later, he came to believe that their bodies were mere containers of their souls, which would be placed into new bodies. These ideas were expressed with language drawn from Christian eschatology, the New Age movement, and American popular culture.

The group received an influx of funds in the late 1970s, which it used to pay housing and other expenses. In 1985, Nettles died, leaving Applewhite distraught and challenging his views on physical ascension. In the early 1990s the group took more steps to publicize their theology. In 1996, they learned of the approach of Comet Hale–Bopp and rumors of an accompanying spaceship. They concluded that this spaceship was the vessel that would transport their souls aboard for a journey to another planet. Believing that their souls would ascend to the spaceship and be given new bodies, all the group members committed mass suicide in their mansion. It was the largest mass suicide to occur inside the U.S. and led to a media circus. In the aftermath, commentators and academics discussed how Applewhite persuaded people to follow his commands, including suicide. Some commentators attributed his followers' willingness to commit suicide to his skill as a manipulator, while others argued that their willingness was due to their faith in the narrative that he constructed.

Early life and education

Marshall Herff Applewhite was born on May 17, 1931, to Marshall Herff Applewhite, Sr. and Louise Applewhite; he had three siblings.[2] The son of a Presbyterian minister, Applewhite became very religious as a child.[3]

Applewhite attended Corpus Christi High School and Austin College;[4] at the latter school, he was active in several student organizations and was moderately religious.[5] He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1952 and subsequently enrolled at Union Presbyterian Seminary to study theology, hoping to become a minister.[6] He married Anne Pearce around that time, and they later had two children.[7] After beginning his seminary studies, he decided to leave the school to pursue a career in music, becoming the music director of a Presbyterian church in North Carolina.[8] He was a baritone singer and enjoyed spirituals and the music of Handel.[9] In 1954, he was drafted by the United States Army and served in Austria and New Mexico as a member of the Army Signal Corps.[5] He left the military in 1956 and enrolled at the University of Colorado, where he earned a master's degree in music[8] and focused on musical theater.[10]

Career

After finishing his education in Colorado, Applewhite moved to New York in an unsuccessful attempt to launch a professional singing career.[10] He then taught at the University of Alabama.[11] He lost his position there after pursuing a sexual relationship with a male student;[12] his church did not support same-sex relationships and he was subsequently frustrated by his sexual desires.[13] He separated from his wife after she learned of the affair in 1965, and they divorced three years later.[14]

After leaving the University of Alabama, Applewhite moved to Houston, Texas, in 1965 to teach at the University of St. Thomas.[15] His students regarded him as an engaging speaker and a stylish dresser.[16] He served as chair of the music department; he also became a locally popular singer, serving as the choral director of an Episcopal church and performing with the Houston Grand Opera.[17] In Texas, he was briefly openly gay but also pursued a relationship with a young woman, who left him under pressure from her family, greatly upsetting him.[18] He resigned from the University of St. Thomas in 1970, citing depression and other emotional problems.[19] Balch and Taylor this departure to another affair with a student.[20] The president of the university later recalled that he was often mentally jumbled and disorganized near the end of his employment.[21]

In 1971, Applewhite briefly moved to New Mexico, where he operated a delicatessen. He was popular with customers but decided to return to Texas later that year.[22] His father died around that time; the loss took a significant emotional toll on him, causing severe depression.[23] His debts mounted, forcing him to borrow money from friends.[24]

Introduction to Nettles and first travels

In 1972, Applewhite met Bonnie Nettles, a nurse with an interest in Theosophy and biblical prophecy.[25][b] The two quickly became close friends;[26] he later recalled that he felt like he had known her for a long time and concluded that they had met in a past life.[27] She told him that extraterrestrials had visited her and predicted their meeting, persuading him that he had a divine assignment.[28] By that time, he had begun to investigate alternatives to traditional Christian doctrine, including astrology.[29] He also had had several visions, including one in which he was told that he was chosen for a role like that of Jesus.[12] Raine speculates that he had a schizophrenic episode around this time.[30]

Applewhite soon began to live with Nettles. Although they cohabited, their relationship was not a sexual one,[11] fulfilling his longtime wish to have a deep and loving, yet platonic, relationship.[31] She was married with two children, but after she became close with Applewhite, her husband divorced her, and she lost custody of her children.[32] Applewhite permanently broke off contact with his family, as well.[5] He saw Nettles as his soulmate, and some of his acquaintances later recalled that she had a strong influence on him.[33] Raine writes that Nettles "was responsible for reinforcing his emerging delusional beliefs",[34] but Lifton speculates that Nettles' influence helped him avoid further psychological deterioration.[35]

Applewhite and Nettles opened a bookstore known as the Christian Arts Center, which carried books from a variety of spiritual backgrounds.[36] They also launched a venture known as Know Place to teach classes on mysticism and Theosophy.[37] They closed these businesses a short time later.[38] In February 1973, they resolved to travel to teach others about their beliefs and drove throughout the Southwest and Western U.S;[39] Lifton describes their travels as a "restless, intense, often confused, peripatetic spiritual journey".[40] While traveling, they had little money and occasionally resorted to selling their blood or working odd jobs for much-needed funds. They subsisted solely on bread rolls at times, often camped out, and sometimes did not pay their lodging bills.[41] One of their friends from Houston corresponded with them and agreed to accept their teachings. They visited her in May 1974, and she became their first convert.[42]

While traveling, Applewhite and Nettles pondered the life of St. Francis of Assisi and read works by authors including Helena Blavatsky, R. D. Laing, and Richard Bach.[43] They kept a King James Version of the Bible with them and studied several passages from the New Testament, focusing on teachings about Christology, asceticism, and eschatology.[44] Applewhite also read science fiction, including works by Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke.[35] As they traveled throughout the country, their beliefs began to solidify, and they settled on a basic outline by June 1974.[45] They concluded that they had been chosen to fulfill biblical prophecies, and that they had been given higher-level minds than other people.[11] They wrote a pamphlet that described Jesus' reincarnation as a Texan, a thinly veiled reference to Applewhite.[32] Furthermore, they concluded that they were the two witnesses described in the Book of Revelation and occasionally visited churches or other spiritual groups to speak of their identities,[46] often referring to themselves as "The Two", or "The UFO Two".[47] They believed that they would be killed and then restored to life and, in view of others, transported onto a spaceship. This event, which they referred to as "the Demonstration", was to prove their claims.[32] To their dismay, these ideas received a poor reception.[24]

Arrest and proselytism

Two characters from Star Trek, a show that Applewhite often discussed

In August 1974, Applewhite was arrested in Harlingen, Texas, for failing to return a car that he had rented in Missouri.[41] He was extradited to St. Louis and jailed for six months.[48] At the time, he maintained that he had been divinely authorized to keep the car.[24] While in prison, he pondered theology and subsequently abandoned discussion of occult topics in favor of extraterrestrials and evolution.[49]

After Applewhite's release, he and Nettles resolved to contact extraterrestrials, and they sought like-minded followers. They published advertisements for meetings, where they recruited disciples, whom they called "crew".[49] At the events, they purported to represent beings from another planet, the Next Level, who sought participants for an experiment. They stated that those who agreed to take part in the experiment would be brought to a higher evolutionary level.[50] He and Nettles referred to themselves as "Guinea" and "Pig".[51] Applewhite described his role as a "lab instructor"[52] and served as the primary speaker, while Nettles occasionally interjected clarifying remarks or corrections.[53] The two seldom personally spoke with attendees, only taking phone numbers with which they could contact them.[54] They initially named their organization the Anonymous Sexaholics Celibate Church, but it soon became known as the Human Individual Metamorphosis.[55]

Applewhite believed in the ancient astronaut hypothesis, which claimed that extraterrestrials had visited humanity in the past and placed humans on earth and would return to collect a select few.[56] Parts of this teaching bear similarities to the Reformed Christian concept of election, likely owing to Applewhite's Presbyterian upbringing.[57] He often discussed extraterrestrials using phrases from Star Trek and stated that aliens communicated with him through the show.[58]

Applewhite and Nettles sent advertisements to groups in California and were invited to speak to New Age devotees there in April 1975.[59] At this meeting, they persuaded about half of the 50 attendees to follow them.[60] They also focused on college campuses, speaking at Cañada College in August.[61] At a meeting in Oregon in September 1975, they saw further recruitment success—about 30 people left their homes to follow the pair, prompting interest from media outlets.[62] The coverage was negative: commentators and some former members mocked the group and leveled accusations of brainwashing against Applewhite and Nettles. However, Balch and Taylor state that Applewhite and Nettles eschewed pressure tactics, seeking only devoted followers.[63]

Zeller notes that Applewhite and Nettles' teachings focused on salvation through individual growth and sees this as similar to currents in the era's New Age movement. Likewise, the importance of personal choice was also emphasized.[64] Applewhite and Nettles, however, denied connection with the New Age movement, viewing it as a human creation.[65] Lalich attributes their recruitment success to their eclectic mix of beliefs and the way that they deviated from typical New Age teachings: discussing literal spaceships while retaining familiar language.[66] Most of their disciples were young and interested in occultism or otherwise lived outside of mainstream society.[67] They came from a variety of religious backgrounds, including Eastern religions and Scientology.[68] Most were well versed in New Age teachings, allowing Applewhite and Nettles to convert them easily.[69] Applewhite taught that his followers would reach a higher level of being, changing like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly;[70] this example was used in almost all of their early literature.[71] Applewhite contended that this would be a biological change into a different species, casting his teachings as scientific truth in line with secular naturalism.[72] He emphasized to his early followers that he was not speaking metaphorically, often using the words "biology" and "chemistry" in his statements.[73] By the mid-1970s, he attempted to avoid the use of the term "religion", seeing it as inferior to science.[60] Although he dismissed religion as unscientific, he sometimes emphasized the need for faith in the aliens' abilities to transform them.[74]

Nomadic lifestyle

A depiction of a scene from the Book of Revelation, which Applewhite believed described interactions between humans and extraterrestrials

By 1975, Applewhite and Nettles had taken the names "Bo" and "Peep".[51] They had about 70 followers and saw themselves as shepherds tending a flock.[75] Applewhite believed that complete separation from Earthly desires was a prerequisite of ascension to the Next Level and emphasized passages in the New Testament in which Jesus spoke about forsaking worldly attachments.[76] Members were consequently instructed to forsake friends, family, media, drugs, alcohol, jewelry, facial hair, and sexuality.[51] Furthermore, they were required to adopt biblical names. Applewhite and Nettles soon told them to adopt two-syllable names that ended in "ody" and had three letters in the first syllable,[77] such as Rkkody, Jmmody, and Lvvody;[78] Applewhite stated that these names emphasized that his followers were spiritual children.[77] Applewhite, Nettles, and their followers lived what Lewis describes as a "quasi-nomadic lifestyle".[26] They usually stayed at remote campgrounds and did not speak about their beliefs.[79] Applewhite and Nettles ceased having public meetings in April 1975,[80] and spent little time teaching doctrine to their converts.[81] The leaders also had little contact with their dispersed followers, many of whom renounced their allegiance.[51]

Applewhite and Nettles feared that they would be assassinated,[26] and taught their followers that their deaths would be similar to those of the two witnesses of the Book of Revelation.[82][c] Balch and Taylor believe that Applewhite's prison experience and early rejection by audiences contributed to this fear.[83] Applewhite and Nettles later explained to their followers that their treatment by the press was a form of assassination and had fulfilled their prophecy.[84] Applewhite took a materialistic view of the Bible, seeing it as a record of extraterrestrial contact with humanity.[85] He drew heavily from the Book of Revelation, although he avoided traditional theological terminology and took a somewhat negative tone towards Christianity.[86] He only taught about a small number of verses and never tried to develop a system of theology.[87]

By early 1976, Applewhite and Nettles had settled on the names "Do" and "Ti";[51] Applewhite stated that these were meaningless names.[88] In June 1976, they gathered their remaining followers at Medicine Bow National Forest in Southeastern Wyoming, promising a UFO visit.[89] Nettles later announced that the visit had been cancelled. Applewhite and Nettles then split their followers into small groups, which they referred to as "Star Clusters".[51]

From 1976 to 1979, the group lived in campgrounds, usually in the Rocky Mountains or Texas.[24] Applewhite and Nettles began to place greater demands on their followers' heretofore loosely structured lives, which improved membership retention.[90] They typically communicated with their disciples in writing or through assistants.[91] Increasingly, they emphasized that they were the only source of truth—the idea that members could receive individual revelations was rejected in an attempt to prevent schisms.[92] Applewhite also sought to prevent close friendships among his followers, fearing that this could lead to insubordination.[93] Applewhite and Nettles insisted that their followers practice what they referred to as "flexibility": strict obedience to their often shifting requests.[94] The two leaders limited the group's contacts with those outside the movement, even some who may have been interested in joining, ostensibly to prevent infiltration from hostile parties. In practice, this made their followers completely dependent upon them.[95] Applewhite instructed his disciples to be like children or pets in their submission—their sole responsibility was to obey their leaders.[96] Members were encouraged to constantly seek Applewhite's advice and often ask themselves what their leaders would do when making a decision.[97] To his followers, he did not seem dictatorial:[98] many of them found him laid back and fatherly.[99] Davis states that Applewhite mastered the "fine art of religious entertainment", noting that many of his disciples seemed to enjoy their service.[98] Applewhite organized seemingly arbitrary rituals that were intended to instill a sense of discipline in his followers; he referred to these tasks as "games".[100] He also watched science-fiction television programs with the rest of the group.[101] Rather than issue direct commands, he attempted to express his preferences and nominally offer his disciples a choice.[77] He emphasized that students were free to disobey if they chose, in what Lalich dubs the "illusion of choice".[102]

Housing and control

In the late 1970s, the group received a large sum of money, possibly an inheritance received by a member or donations of followers' income.[89] This capital was used to rent houses, initially in Denver and later in the Dallas area.[103] Applewhite and Nettles had about 40 followers then and lived in two or three houses: the leaders usually had their own house.[24] The group was secretive about their lifestyle, covering their windows.[103] Applewhite and Nettles arranged their followers' lifestyles as a boot camp that would prepare them for the Next Level. Referring to their house as a "craft", they regimented the lives of their disciples to the minute.[97] Students who were not committed to this lifestyle were encouraged to leave; departing members were given financial assistance.[97] Lifton states that Applewhite wanted "quality over quantity" in his followers, although he occasionally spoke about gaining many converts.[104]

Applewhite and Nettles sometimes made sudden, drastic changes to the group.[87] On one occasion in Texas, they told their followers of a forthcoming visitation from extraterrestrials and instructed them to wait outside all night, at which point they informed them that this had been merely a test.[105] Lalich sees this as a way that they increased their students' devotion, ensuring that their commitment became irrespective of what they saw.[106] Members became desperate for Applewhite's approval, which he used to control them.[107]

In 1980, Applewhite and Nettles had about 80 followers,[108] many of whom held jobs, often working with computers or as car mechanics.[109] In 1982, Applewhite and Nettles allowed their disciples to call their families.[110] They further relaxed their control in 1983, permitting their followers to visit relatives on Mother's Day.[103] They were only allowed short stays and were instructed to tell their families that they were studying computers at a monastery. These vacations were intended to placate families by demonstrating that the disciples remained with the group of their own accord.[110]

Nettles' death

In 1983, Nettles had an eye surgically removed as a result of cancer diagnosed several years earlier. She lived for two years after the surgery, dying in 1985. Applewhite told their followers that she had traveled to the Next Level, abandoning her body to make the journey.[109] He stated that she had too much energy to remain on Earth. His attempt to explain her death in the terms of the group's doctrine was successful, preventing the departure of all but one member. Applewhite, however, became very depressed.[110] He stated that she still communicated with him, but he suffered from a crisis of faith. His students supported him during this time, greatly encouraging him.[111] He then organized a ceremony in which he symbolically married his followers; Lalich views this as an attempt to ensure unity.[112] Applewhite told his followers that he had been left behind because he still had more to learn and taught that Nettles occupied a higher spiritual role than he did.[113] He began identifying her as "the Father" and often referred to her with male pronouns.[114]

Applewhite began to emphasize a strict hierarchy, teaching that his students needed his guidance, as he needed the guidance of the Next Level. Zeller notes that this ensured that there would be no possibility of the group's continuing if Applewhite were to die.[115] A relationship with Applewhite was said to be the only way to salvation;[116] he encouraged his followers to see him as Christ.[117] Zeller states that the group's previous focus on individual choice was replaced with an emphasis on Applewhite's role as a mediator.[115] Applewhite maintained some aspects of their scientific teachings, but, in the 1980s, the group became more like a religion in its focus on faith and submission to authority.[118]

After Nettles' death, Applewhite also altered his view of ascension: previously, he had taught that the group would physically ascend from the Earth and that death caused reincarnation, but her death forced him to allow that the ascension could be spiritual.[119] He then concluded that her spirit had traveled to a spaceship and received a new body and that he and his followers would do the same.[120] In his view, the Biblical heaven was actually a planet on which highly evolved beings dwelt, and physical bodies were required to ascend there.[121] Applewhite believed that once they reached the Next Level, they would facilitate evolution on other planets.[122] He emphasized that Jesus, whom he believed was an extraterrestrial, came to Earth, was killed, and bodily rose from the dead before being transported onto a spaceship.[123] Zeller writes that his beliefs were based on the Christian Bible but were interpreted through the lens of belief in alien contact with humanity.[124] According to Applewhite's doctrine, Jesus was a gateway to heaven but had found humanity unready to ascend when he first came to the Earth.[125] Applewhite taught that there was an opportunity for humans to reach the Next Level every two millennia, and the early 1990s would be the first opportunity to reach the Kingdom of Heaven since the time of Jesus.[126]

Applewhite taught that he was a walk-in, a concept that gained popularity in the New Age movement during the late 1970s. Walk-ins were said to be higher beings who took control of adult bodies to teach humanity. This concept informed Applewhite's view of resurrection: he believed that his group's souls were to be transported to a spaceship, where they would enter other bodies.[127] This dualism may have been the product of the Christology that Applewhite was taught as a young man;[128] Lewis writes that the group's teachings had "Christian elements [that] were basically grafted on to a New Age matrix."[129] Applewhite abandoned the metaphor of a butterfly in favor of describing the body as a mere container,[130] a vehicle that souls could enter and exit.[131] Woodward compares his dualism to that of ancient Christian Gnosticism, although Peters notes that his theology departs from Gnosticism in his emphasis on the physical world.[132]

After Nettles' death, Applewhite became increasingly paranoid, fearing a conspiracy against his group.[133] One member who joined in the mid-1980s recalled that Applewhite avoided new converts, fearing that they were infiltrators.[134] He feared a government raid on their home and spoke highly of the Jewish defenders of Masada in ancient Israel who showed total resistance to the Roman Empire.[135] Increasingly, he began to discuss the Apocalypse,[136] comparing the Earth to an overgrown garden that was to be recycled or rebooted and humanity to a failed experiment.[137] In accordance with the garden metaphor, he stated that the Earth would be "spaded under".[138] Woodward notes that Applewhite's teaching about the Earth's recycling is similar to the cyclical perspective of time found in Buddhism.[139] Applewhite also utilized New Age concepts,[129] but he differed from that movement by predicting that apocalyptic, rather than utopian, changes would soon occur on Earth.[69] He contended that most humans had been brainwashed by Lucifer, but that his followers could break free of this control.[140] He specifically cited sexual urges as the work of Lucifer.[141] In addition, he taught that there were evil extraterrestrials, whom he referred to as "Luciferians", that sought to thwart his mission.[103] He argued that many prominent moral teachers and advocates of political correctness were actually Luciferians.[142] This theme emerged in 1988, possibly in response to the lurid alien abduction stories that were proliferating at the time.[111]

Obscurity and evangelism

In the late 1980s, the group kept a low profile; few people knew it still existed.[111] In 1988, they mailed a document that detailed their beliefs to a variety of New Age organizations.[143] The mailing contained information about their history and advised people to read several books, which primarily focused on Christian history and UFOs.[144] With the exception the 1988 document, Applewhite's group remained inconspicuous until 1992,[145] when they recorded a 12-part video series which was broadcast via satellite.[146] This series echoed many of the teachings of the 1988 update, although it mentioned a "universal mind" of which its hearers could partake.[147]

Over the course of the group's existence, several hundred people joined and left.[148] In the early 1990s, their membership dwindled, numbering as few as 26.[149] These defections gave Applewhite a sense of urgency.[143] In May 1993, the group took the name "Total Overcomers Anonymous". They then spent $30,000 to publish a full-page advertisement in USA Today that warned of catastrophic judgment to befall the Earth.[150] After it was published, about 20 former members rejoined the group.[109] This, along with a series of public lectures held in 1994, caused membership to double from its nadir at the beginning of the decade.[149] By this time, Applewhite did not regiment his disciples' lives as strictly as he had[134] and spent less time with them.[151]

In the early 1990s, Applewhite posted some of his teachings on the Internet, but he was stung by the resulting criticism. Davis speculates that this rejection may have encouraged him to attempt to leave Earth.[152] That year, Applewhite first spoke of the possibility of suicide as a way to reach the Next Level.[153] He explained that everything "human" had to be forsaken, including the human body, before one could ascend.[154] The organization was then renamed "Heaven's Gate".[155]

From June to October 1995, the group lived in a rural part of New Mexico.[156] They purchased 40 acres (0.16 km2) and built a compound—which they referred to as the "Earth ship"—using tires and lumber;[157] Applewhite hoped to establish a monastery.[149] This proved to be a difficult endeavor, particularly for the aging Applewhite:[155] he was in poor health and, at one point, feared that he had cancer.[158] Lifton notes that Applewhite's active leadership of the group probably led to severe fatigue in his last years.[159] The winter was very cold, and they abandoned the plan.[149] Afterwards, they lived in several houses in the San Diego area.[80]

The group increasingly focused on the suppression of sexual desire; Applewhite and seven others opted for surgical castration.[109] They initially had difficulty finding a willing surgeon,[160] but eventually found one in Mexico.[161] Applewhite considered the suppression of sexuality as a key aspect of personal growth.[162] In his view, sexuality was one of the most powerful forces that bound humans to their bodies and thus hindered their efforts to evolve to the Next Level; he taught that Next Level beings had no reproductive organs but that Luciferian beings had genders.[163] He also cited a verse in the New Testament that said there would not be marriage in heaven.[164][d] In addition, he required members to adopt similar clothing and haircuts, possibly to reinforce that they were a non-sexual family.[165]

Final exit

Comet Hale–Bopp over California in April 1997

In October 1996, the group rented a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California.[166] That year, they recorded two video messages in which they offered their viewers a "last chance to evacuate Earth".[167] Around the same time, they learned of the approach of the Comet Hale–Bopp.[109] Applewhite believed that Nettles was aboard a spaceship trailing the comet, and that she planned to rendezvous with them.[168] He told his followers that the vessel would transport them to an empyrean destination, and that there was a government conspiracy to suppress word of the craft.[169] In addition, he stated that his deceased followers would be taken by the vessel as well, a belief that resembled the Christian pretribulation rapture doctrine.[170] It is not known how he learned of the comet or why he believed that it was accompanied by extraterrestrials.[103] In late 1996, rumors of images that showed a mysterious object following the comet spread on the internet. Whitley Strieber, Courtney Brown, and Art Bell helped popularize these reports, claiming that the object was emitting radio signals.[171]

In late March 1997, the group isolated themselves and recorded farewell statements.[172] Many members praised Applewhite in their final messages;[173] Davis describes their remarks as "regurgitations of Do's gospel".[174] Applewhite recorded a video shortly before his death, in which he termed the suicides the "Final exit" of the group and remarked, "We do in all honesty hate this world".[175] Lewis speculates that Applewhite settled on suicide because he had taught that the group would ascend during his lifetime, and thus appointing a successor was unfeasible.[120]

Wessinger posits that the suicides began on March 22.[176] It is the largest group suicide that has occurred inside the U.S.[177] Most members took barbiturates and alcohol and then placed bags over their heads. They wore Nike shoes and black uniforms with patches that read "Heaven's Gate Away Team".[178] A bag that contained a few dollars and a form of identification was placed beside most bodies.[179] The deaths occurred over three days; Applewhite was one of the last four to die. Three assistants helped him commit suicide, then killed themselves.[180] An anonymous tip led the sheriff's department to search the mansion;[181] the group's bodies were discovered on March 26.[182] Applewhite's body was found seated on the bed of the mansion's master bedroom.[161] Medical examiners determined that his fears of cancer were unfounded, but that he suffered from coronary atherosclerosis.[159]

The deaths provoked a media circus,[183] and Applewhite's face was featured on the covers of Time and Newsweek on April 7.[184] His final message was widely broadcast; Urban describes his appearance in the video as "wild-eyed [and] rather alarming".[185] Applewhite was later satirized in an episode of the American animated sitcom Family Guy, which depicted him luring teenagers into a cult and poisoning them.[186]

Analysis

Davis attributes Applewhite's success in convincing his followers to commit suicide to two factors: he isolated them socially and cultivated an attitude of complete religious obedience in them.[187] Most of the dead had been members for about 20 years,[181] although there were a few recent converts.[148] Applewhite's students had made a long-term commitment to him, and Balch and Taylor infer that this is why his interpretations of events appeared coherent to them.[188] Lalich speculates that they were willing to follow Appplewhite in suicide because they had become totally dependent upon him, and hence were poorly suited for life in his absence.[189] Although many popular commentators, including Margaret Singer,[190] speculate that Applewhite brainwashed his followers, this idea is rejected by most academics.[191]

Lewis argues the Applewhite effectively controlled his followers by packaging his teachings in familiar terms.[192] Hecht echoes this sentiment, arguing that Applewhite's followers committed suicide because they believed the narrative that he had constructed, rather than because he psychologically controlled them.[190] Hall posits that they were motivated to commit suicide because they saw it as a way to demonstrate that they had conquered the fear of death and truly believed Applewhite.[193]

Urban writes that Applewhite's life displays "the intense ambivalence and alienation shared by many individuals lost in late twentieth-century capitalist society".[194] He notes that Applewhite's condemnations of contemporary culture bear similarities to those of Jean Baudrillard at times, particularly their shared nihilist views.[195] Urban posits that Applewhite found no way other than suicide to escape the society that surrounded him and states that death offered him a way to escape its "endless circle of seduction and consumption".[196]

After the suicides, several media outlets focused on Applewhite's sexuality;[197] the New York Post dubbed him "the Gay Guru".[198] Troy Perry argued that Applewhite's repression, and society's rejection, of same-sex relationships ultimately led to his suicide. This idea has failed to gain support among academics.[197] Zeller argues that Applewhite's sexuality was not the primary driving force behind his asceticism, which he believes resulted from a variety of factors, though he grants sexuality a role.[199]

Lalich states that Applewhite "fit the traditional view of a charismatic leader",[200] and Evan Thomas deems him a "master manipulator".[201] Lifton compares Applewhite to Shoko Asahara, the founder of Aum Shinrikyo, describing him as "equally controlling, his paranoia and megalomania gentler yet ever present".[35] Partridge states that Applewhite and Nettles were similar to John Reeve and Lodowicke Muggleton, who founded Muggletonianism, a millennialist movement in medieval England.[31]

Notes

  1. ^ Other names used by Applewhite include "Guinea", "Tiddly", and "Nincom". (Urban 2000, p. 276) Occasionally, he was simply referred to by male pronouns. (Peters 2003, p. 249)
  2. ^ The circumstances of Applewhite's introduction to Nettles are unclear: their meeting has been variously attributed to his seeking of treatment at a hospital, (Lewis 2003, p. 111) visitation of a friend receiving treatment, (Zeller 2006, p. 77) or teaching of Nettles' son. (Bearak 1997) Applewhite recorded few details about their meeting. (Daniels 1999, p. 206)
  3. ^ Revelation 11:7–12: "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." (KJV)
  4. ^ Matthew 22:30: "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." (KJV)

References

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Bibliography

Books

  • Balch, Robert (1995). "Waiting for the Ships: Disillusionment and the Revitalization of Faith in Bo and Peep's UFO Cult". In James R. Lewis (ed.). The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2330-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Balch, Robert; Taylor, David (2002). "Making Sense of the Heaven's Gate Suicides". In David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (ed.). Cults, Religion, and Violence. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66898-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Balch, Robert; Taylor, David (2003). "Heaven's Gate: Implications for the Study of Commitment to New Religions". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Chryssides, George D. (2005). "'Come On Up and I Will Show Thee': Heaven's Gate as a Postmodern Group". In James R. Lewis and Jesper Aagaard Petersen (ed.). Controversial New Religions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515682-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Daniels, Ted (1999). "Comet Halle-Bopp, Planet Nibiru, the Mass Landing, and Heaven's Gate". A Doomsday Reader: Prophets, Predictors, and Hucksters of Salvation. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-1909-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Goerman, Patricia (2011). "Heaven's Gate: The Dawning of a New Religious Movement". In George D. Chryssides (ed.). Heaven's Gate: Postmodernity and Popular Culture in a Suicide Group. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-6374-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Grünschloß, Andreas (2003). "When We Enter Into my Father's Spacecraft". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Hall, John R. (2000). "Finding Heaven's Gate". Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements, and Violence in North America, Europe, and Japan. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-19276-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Lalich, Janja (2004). Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24018-6.
  • Lewis, James R. (2003). "Legitimating Suicide: Heaven's Gate and New Age Ideology". In Christopher Partridge (ed.). UFO Religions. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-26324-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • McCutcheon, Russell T. (2003). The Discipline of Religion: Structure, Meaning, Rhetoric. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-27490-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Lifton, Robert Jay (2000). Destroying the World to Save it: Aum Shinrikyō, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8050-6511-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Partridge, Christopher (2006). "The Eschatology of Heaven's Gate". Expecting the End: Millennialism in Social And Historical Context. Baylor University Press. ISBN 978-1-932792-38-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Peters, Ted (2003). "UFOs, Heaven's Gate, and the Theology of Suicide". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Wessinger, Catherine Lowman (2000). How the Millennium Comes Violently: from Jonestown to Heaven's Gate. Seven Bridges Press. ISBN 978-1-889119-24-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Zeller, Benjamin E. (2010). Prophets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9720-4.
  • Zeller, Benjamin (2011). "The Euphemization of Violence: The Case of Heaven's Gate". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Violence and New Religious Movements. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973563-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

Journals

Magazines

Newspapers

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