Heaven's Gate

1970-1997
"At some point in the early 1970s, Marshall Herff Applewhite became convinced that he was an alien who was transported to Earth in a spaceship and reincarnated into the body of a forty-year-old man named Marshall Herff Applewhite. From that point on he believed that it was his mission to teach everybody what he came into contact with the creed of transcendence. With the help of his partner in crime [sic], Bonnie Lu Trusdale Nettles, he gathered a number of followers and convinced them to give up everything they owned -- including their children -- to ready themselves for their trip to the 'Evolutionary Level Abouve Human.' Applewhite's preparation included months of extreme psychological mind control experiments, starvation, and celibacy (some went as far as to castrate themselves). Finally, with the news of comet Hale-Bopp in 1997, the group packed their bags, put on some 'teleportation outfits,' and committed mass suicide by downing a fatal mixture of Phenobarbital and vodka." [Paul Young, L.A. Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin, 2002): 185.

(created 17 December 2002)
SOURCE: Paul Young, L.A. Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin, 2002