Dark Secrets Of The Heavens Gate Cult

What was the Heaven's Gate Cult?

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If you've haven't heard of a the Heaven's Gate Cult, then you're in for the shock of your life. It was founded in 1974 and essentially turned the teachings of the bible on its head to create a religious movement that focused on things a little bit more extra terrestrial.

What did they believe in?

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Essentially, the Heaven's Gate Cult had a belief system that was rooted in Evangelicalism, but also coupled together the hippie nature of the New Age movement. The beginning of the cult taught everyone that upon their death they would be transformed into aliens and be taken away.

What happened to the cult?

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After over twenty years of teachings and believing in the extraterrestrial Christianity, the Heaven's Gate Cult came to a terrible fate. In March 1997, they all rented a large house coined "The Monastery" where they all committed suicide as part of a pact.

Thirty-nine people lost their lives

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It wasn't just a few people that turned up to the Monastery, but the amount of people that turned up to end their lives was 39. In order to fulfill their obligations, the members of the cult took phenobarbital with applesauce and washed the concoction down with vodka.

Everything about the Master Cleanse

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If you haven't heard of the master cleanse, it's essentially a juice fast that doesn't allow you to eat any solid foods. Instead, you'll be drinking tea and lemonade made with maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Many people have deemed it unsafe. By why is it important?

Members of the cult were forced to take part in the Master Cleanse

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Well, believe it or not, the leaders of the cult actually believed in practicing the Master Cleanse, and forced this diet upon its own members. This is all part of a cult, leaders indoctrinate their member's so they are broken down with no other choices.

They weren't always all about death

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While the Heaven's Gate Cult naturally ended the way it did, this wasn't always the way that the cult leaders intended. Originally, though, they were told that they would be beamed up into Space eventually, taking with them their bodies as well. Scary stuff!

Identity wasn't a belief in the cult

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After the end of the cult, it was revealed that all members of the cult were made to be exactly the same. And that even included how much food everyone had. It would all get weighed out, include the mixture of pancakes, how long it was cooked for and how much syrup was poured on!

What was the Next Level?

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Essentially, The Next Level was where the members of the cult believed they would end up after death. They hoped they'd be beamed up into space, where they would then be taken to what they believed was "The Next Level", essentially a more ominous Heaven.

The Next Level led to castration

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The Next Level was a strange place. They believed that it was without gender, and in order to get a little closer to where they might end up, they believed in castration. They even encouraged members of the cult to get castrated themselves and, while it wasn't obligatory, some did.

According to Ti and Do, aliens were a lot closer than they thought

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Ti and Do, real names Bonnie Lu Nettles and Marshall Herff Applewhite, were both the ringleaders of the Heaven's Gate Cult. But it even went a little bit further than that, the couple thought that they were actually aliens themselves, brought down to prepare humankind for the end.

The cult was inspired by some freaky sci-fi

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Naturally, it's no surprise that Applewhite and Nettles were big fans of science fiction, considering the fact that the whole religion was about UFOs and aliens. They were inspired closely by Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which led them to believe that Mary had been impregnated with Jesus on a spaceship.

Even Star Trek inspired them

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Their whole fascination with science fiction didn't stop there and the leaders of the cult took it a little bit further. As they wanted to erase the identity of all the members of the cult, they obviously required everyone to wear a "uniform" which was inspired by Star Trek costumes.

They didn't make great headlines

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After the implementation of the cult, it didn't take long for the papers to start reporting on them, They even managed to attract 150 people in Waldport, Oregon to talk about how a UFO was destined to come down to Earth and communicate with humankind.

Some believe it wasn't even really a cult

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It's been consistently argued about whether the Heaven's Gate Cult was truly a cult at all. Many people believe it to have been a religious movement rather than a cult, but the activities they encouraged the members to participate in really proved otherwise.

The suicides took three days to complete

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The suicides didn't actually take place all on the same day. While the 39 of them were found dead on March 26th, 1997, it was the coroner's reports that proved it took some time. Some members died on the Saturday. Even the founder, Applewhite, wasn't the last to die.

Two surviving members went on to manage the website

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Two of the surviving members of the cult actually went on to manage the website post-suicide pact. It was a form of income for the cult, and the website (Higher Source) was still online until recently. Apparently, these went by the names of Mark and Sarah King.

They believe your body would transform upon death

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One of the main early beliefs of the Heaven's Gate Cult was that the body would ultimately be transformed biologically upon their death. Essentially, they would transform into something other, something extraterrestrial. Believe it or not, they were wrong.

The cult had to change their ideology

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The cult had to change their ideology after one of their founders, Nettles, died of cancer during the cult's reign. Unsurprisingly, her body didn't transform upon her death, so the remaining founder Applewhite told the followers that it was in fact their soul that was transformed.

They lost a lot of following

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It was the death of Nettles that started to see people off, and year by year, more people were leaving the religion behind and pursuing different prospects, until it was just the 39 of them left in 1997. Had the cult gone on for a little longer, who knows how small they would have gotten.

The most expensive Nikes ever

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There are some sadistic people out there, and those people were keen to get their hands on the Nikes the group wore when they died. As every single person wore the same clothes, that meant they were all forced to wear the same sneakers. There was a pair up for auction on eBay for $6,660.

It began as part of the New Age movement

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The Heaven's Gate Cult was actually born out of the New Age Movement that appeared in the 70s and gained popularity in the 80s. Essentially, the movement held beliefs that preached the coming of a New Age in spirituality. This ranged from crystals to UFOs to meditation.

The Last Supper

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In the spirit of Christianity, the cult actually enjoyed a final meal together before their suicide pact, at a chain restaurant they frequently visited. According to a waiter at the time, the cult all ordered the same thing; iced teas, dinner salads, turkey potpie and cheesecake.

Why was the Hale-Bopp comet so important?

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When the Hale-Bopp comet was spotted flying past Earth, the cult took that image and ran with it. The group believed that God was in fact an alien themself and traveled in the wake of the Hale-Bopp comet. They also believed that he eventually planned to recycle the Earth.

The cult believed the Bible in their own way

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What caused the most controversy when it came to the Heaven's Gate Cult is that they did believe in the Bible, but in their own kind of way. They believe that God was an alien and believed in their own kind of D-Day when aliens would make contact with mankind.

They weren't always called "Heaven's Gate"

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It was revealed that the Heaven's Gate Cult never actually called themselves Heaven's Gate, that's a name that was coined for them. The actual group name of the Heaven's Gate was "The Class" where the founders Applewhite and Nettles were the Teachers and the followers were the Students.

Celibacy was key to being a member of the cult

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Part of the ideology of the Heaven's Gate Cult was all about celibacy, and they believed they needed to abstain to reach the Next Level. As such, members of "The Class" were encouraged to practice celibacy and also wear special clothing. Applewhite actually engaged in sexual activity and repented.

When Ti met Do

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Bonnie Lu Nettles met Marshall Herff Applewhite back in 1972. They were both going through some internal difficulties about spirituality and religion and that's what brought them together. Plus, Nettles was doing through a divorce and Applewhite felt torn with God.

It wasn't all a new concept

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The Heaven's Gate Cult may well have thought that what they were doing was a brand new thing when they mixed UFOlogy with Christianity but in reality in had been done before in 1968 with the best-selling novel Chariots of the Gods. I'm afraid you were a bit late!

Do cults like these still exist?

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Well, in reality, yes they do. There's a number of cults out there in the world and believe it or not, the Heaven's Gate Cult themselves actually still exist too. Some more that exist are The Family International, Remnant Fellowship and the Church of Bible Understanding. Yikes!