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1. History of Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate was a little cult located in Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego, California. This cult never had much publicity and the government never investigated about it, but it turned to be the latest horror spectacle and largest mass-suicide in American history.
In the early 1970's, the cult was founded by the former music teacher Marshall Herff Applewhite and his partner Bonnie Lu Trusdale Nettles, who died in 1985.
Heaven' Gate had never bad publicity like other cults, even if they advertised their forthcoming suicide via television, Internet and videos. They never had a tax system, only lived from their own incomes. The size of the members skipped from over 200 people in 1975 to only 38 in March 1997.
The victims have believed that their bodies were merely irrelevant "containers\", which need to be left behind when they were whisked away by extraterrestrials. That's the reason, why the planned their suicide in the night of the 22. March 1997, because they thought an UFO is hidden behind the comet Hale-Bob and it will pick them up to bring them to their expected kingdom. They have chosen this day, because some events matched at the same time: It was in the Holy Week, it was full moon, the lunar eclipse moved from its normal position and the comet Hale-Bob was very close to earth.
Before their suicide, they sent video tapes, letters and computer discs to former cult members, which finally found them all dead in Rancho Santa Fe. Applewhite told in a television interview that the time of the cult is ending and all will move towards kingdom, because he suffers on cancer.
They died in three groups, wear black clothes and new Nike trainers. Those who had glasses had them neatly folded next to their body, and all, helpfully, had identification papers for the authorities to find. The members drank a mixture out of phenylbarbitals, applesauce and vodka, then died by the asphyxiating effect of a plastic bag over the head. When the authorities arrived, they found them all lying in their beds covered with purple blankets, the color of Christians penance.
2. The Philosophy of Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate philosophy was influenced by Christianity, Judaism, Islam and a mixture out of New-Age elements and end-is-nigh paranoia. But the special of Heaven's Gate were the Science Fiction Elements. Applewhite and Nettles wrote the manifesto and updated it regularly.
The thought, their bodies must be left behind in order to be able to reach the extraterrestrials, who bring them all to the kingdom (paradise). Death was only the entrance to a new level of existence. They wanted all to commit suicide. Death ment life to them all.
Sexuality was evil, because in order to reach the kingdom, they must first learn how to leave humanity behind. Six male members went to a hospital and had got castrated, to follow this guideline.
Their paradise was the interpreted to be "Kingdom Level Upon Human Being\" and believed that Applewhite and Nettles got sent to earth to save some humans before the apocalypse destroys the whole planet and mankind with it. Most of all Christians and Jews will get killed in this apocalypse, but especially the "evil\" Lutherans. Applewhite got the cult name Do and Nettles was called Ti...all cult members had those names.
3. The Members of Heaven's Gate
The cult members were from all ethnic and social groups. Students, workers, female, male, colored and white, rich and poor, all got accepted in Rancho Santa Fe.
The house was full of images about Star Trek, Star Wars and X-files. They admired these cult-movies and knew all parts by heart.
Some members stayed in Rancho Santa Fe for more than 20 years until they died. 38 followed Applewhite and his horror cult to their kingdom by choosing death. They were all happy to die, because it meant salvation to them. On video tapes they filmed their last party celebrating the departure. All of them agreed with the decision to die, even if some were not 100 % sure about it.
4. Heaven's Gate Use of New Media
This is a major aspect of Heaven's Gate. No other cult used the new media Internet as much as Heaven's Gate. They distributed their doctrine and manifesto over the Internet, hosted a few web pages and posted messages in newsgroups regularly. by using the Inter Relay Chat System, they contacted other on-line users to recruit them. The webpage's address on the Internet is https://www.heavensgatetoo.com, where they already told about the forthcoming apocalypse and their suicide. The used this media, because it is possible to reach a lot of people. On the Internet is mostly freedom of Speech. But the most important reason is that people are easier to convince over the cyberspace than it is in real life, because external influences are totally apart
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