Heaven's Gate
External Links
Wikipedia - Heaven's Gate
Time.com - Heaven's Gate
Britannica Encyclopedia - Heaven's Gate
Answers.org - Heaven's Gate
Mayhem.net - Heaven's Gate
CrimeLibrary (CourtTV) - Heaven's Gate
Rickross.com - Heaven's Gate
ReligiousTolerance.org - Heaven's Gate
Religious Movements - Heaven's Gate
Stelling.nl - Heaven's Gate
EarthPulse - Heaven's Gate
Legacy of the Heaven's Gate cult
Heaven's Gate Source Code (HeavensGate.com put through an HTML Validator- the results are very interesting)
Was Applewhite working for the CIA?
Heaven's Gate UFO Cult Suspicious Discrepancies and a Link to Theosophy (Fascinating read; talks in detail about the bodies' discovery & cult's connection to Mark Twain literature)
Excerpt from
CNN's Heaven's Gate Archives
New York Times' Heaven's Gate Article
The Anti-Cult Movement & Heaven's Gate
Transcripts of Beyond Human tapes (Major Resource of Information)
Heaven's Gate & Astrology (Applewhite's Birth & 1st Suicides Chart)
Heaven's Gate: The Day After DVD (Highly recommended, I bought it myself) T-Shirts, and other merchandise
Statement by Marshall Applewhite's son
Honestly, if this guy approached me saying he was from outer space, I'd believe him too.
Ti and Do were the names they were known by to those who studied under them, the "UFO two", with a storied background that'd I'd rather save for the external links.
Ten years ago, with the belief that the Hale-Bopp comet had a UFO behind it waiting to take them away, 39 of the 40 members committed mass suicide, six of them were castrated (ol' Marshall Applewhite was dead-set against sex, if you count Applewhite there were seven castrati)
Two ex-members followed suit, committing suicide under a purple shroud in the same fashion their former colleagues had.
The song "The Way" by Fastball is often believed to be about the incident; however, it is actually about two elderly people who disappeared in the night. Still, it isn't hard to discern why people thought there to be a connection if you've heard the song.
Their belief system, was that anything that could be found as pleasurable on Earth, anything that could tie you to Earth, would prevent you from reaching Heaven. This included your Earth Identity, your appearance, anything that would single you out and make you an individual.
His society deprived itself of the most basic of Earth's pleasures, not to mention the "sex, drugs & rock 'n roll" that keeps us all living, all for the belief they had that what they were being told was true, and that they were really part of something special.
To them, they were.. it's interesting to picture yourself in the shoes of a naive follower, wide-eyed and fascinated by the teachings of this strange man..
To a degree, they had their own language- the kitchen was the "NutriLab", and instead of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner they had Experiment #1, Experiment #2, and Experiment #3.
They experimented alright; they tried several different diets, including vegetarianism, fruitarianism, and basically any diet they could think of-.
Applewhite believed, and had his followers believe, that we consist of three basic elements- mind, soul, and vehicle. Our soul being a direct link to our Father, our mind being an open door, that if not carefully controlled is influenced by "discarnates", say a man suddenly develops a gambling addiction, he was influenced by a "discarnate"; should another man become a successful professional baseball player, his abilities were given to him by a discarnate, so they're not always negative.
Applewhite believed that if you hadn't overcome the world, which is to say rid yourself of any temptation for Earthly pleasures, as well as your notions of independence and freethought, that you would be reincarnated over and over until you had been able to overcome; your habits or addictions being harder to overcome in each life, should you not overcome while it is still possible, it could become impossible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all.
Applewhite's followers excerted their philosophy well, wearing identical outfits, loose-fitting jeans and shirts, anything to call attention away from the wearer's gender; their hair was also cut short to mask gender, leading police to initially label the scene as 39 male victims, while in reality the females outnumbered the males.
