The English word ‘cult’ literally means worship or strong reverence for something. In the practical sense ‘cult’ is an organization that is led by one or more individuals forcing a large section of people to follow certain beliefs or lifestyles.
In most cases, cult leaders propagate the teachings and beliefs of the religion with their own interpretations and attract people. With the fictional interpretation of religion comes the attraction of the personality of the cult leader. Another notable feature of the cult is that followers are meant to be able to contribute to social, religious or spiritual development by joining the cult. In reality, however, cults are a tool of so-called spiritual leaders for plunder, exploitation, and sexual harassment.
Dear reader, let's get to know some of the strangest cults in the world. Today is the first episode of Heaven's Gate.
Heaven's Gate: An Incredible Example of Mass Suicide
Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles founded Heaven's Gate Cult in 1974. The cult was a strange combination of religious beliefs, conspiracy theories, and alien inhabitants. Applewhite and Nettles considered themselves God-sent messengers, and believed that the Bible mentioned their appearance. They attract people to it by modernizing religion, mainly by combining Christianity with science fiction.
When these two strange characters met, Bonnie Nettles was a nurse, and Marshall Appelwhite was a former professor of music at St. Thomas University. After being introduced in the hospital, both of them feel as if they have been identified from birth to rebirth. And they were sent to this world for a special purpose. They came up with a kind of doctrine by mixing religion, afterlife, science fiction, spiritualism etc.
According to them, the two of them were at a higher level than ordinary people. The purpose of their life is to show the way to the people of the world. They believed that after a certain period of time the earth would be destroyed and everything would start anew. After such a destruction, the aliens will take them all to another world by spaceship. There they will be given a better body and life will be easier, more beautiful than the human body. They called that stage TELAH (The Evolutionary Level Above Human). The human body was insignificant to them, because the aliens would give them a better body than they believed. They called the afterlife 'The Next Level'.
AppleWhite and Nettles launched their first campaign in Oregon to find like-minded people. Some religious groups opposed the doctrine. They overcame the initial obstacle and gathered twenty members.
‘The Next Level’ was instructed to observe strict restraint on earth for a peaceful life. Only if we can live free from worldly bondage will we meet bliss later.
So, according to Apple White and Nettles, the members started living in hiding, leaving behind their families and property. Everyone took a new name. Apple White and Nettles named themselves "Do" and "Ti". The members also wore some kind of clothes. Their lives were completely devoid of sex. Some male members, including Applewhite, were voluntarily searched to ensure ‘purity’ and ‘purity’.
Heaven's Gate has been gathering members throughout the seventies and eighties. Their job was to travel across the country, and to live like vagabonds. Their beliefs change and expand over time. Applewhite called himself the incarnation of Jesus Christ. In the language of Heaven's Gate, the alien spirit that resided in the body of Jesus Christ also resides in the body of Applewhite. And Nettles was the embodiment of God. They claimed that they were in regular contact with the aliens.
In 1985, Nettles died suddenly of cancer. There was a danger that the foundation of the party's faith would be shaken. How can a person who claims to be God die? Moreover, until the death of Nettles, everyone knew that their human body would go with them to 'The Next Level'. So the temporary death of Nettles creates quite an embarrassing situation. Apple White then took charge of everything. He preached a new doctrine. This time he said, they will die like other people. But the aliens will give them life with a new body. So even if their human body is destroyed, there is no harm. The members of this new education also accepted.
At this stage, along with many doctrines, they also believed that the world's major state, financial, social and religious organizations were conspiring with aliens who wanted to destroy people. This group was known to them as 'The Luciferians'.
Time was passing like this. In 1995, astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bop discovered a comet known as the "Hell-Bop Comet" after their name. In 1997, it passed close to Earth. The story of this comet spread in the 'Heaven's Gate' cult before him. Everyone believed that there was a long-awaited alien spaceship behind this comet, which was coming to take them.
As the day of the comet's crossing of the earth approached, the excitement in the cult increased. They decided that the moment Hell-Bop approached Earth at the end of March, they would commit suicide and the alien spaceship behind the comet would lift their spirits. They started to make a lot of preparations ahead of this activity. Applewhite made a video describing how their souls would reach the next level through the spaceship. Everyone decided to wear some kind of shoes, so they bought lots of sneakers from Nike's black and white decked model. Somehow everyone wore an armband that read 'Heaven's Gate Away Team'.
Then came that day in 1997.
Their step-by-step suicide began on March 22 or 26 in a rented house in California. The 39 members divided into several groups and ate apples mixed with phenobarbital mixed with vodka. Everyone also carried a plastic bag on their head to ensure suffocation. When one group fell into the lap of death, the others neatly laid them down and covered the corpses with purple. Thus, their 'suicide ritual' lasted for 3 days. Thus 39 people died.
Recorded messages from the rest of the members, including videos made by Applewhite before his death, were sent to a few more addresses, including the media. Based on that information, the police recovered the bodies of 39 people. They committed suicide by keeping the back door of the house open so that no one would have difficulty in entering.
For good reason, this incident caused a great stir all over America. Even after all this time, people's interest in this cult has not diminished. There are podcasts about Heaven's Gate to talk about this cult and mass suicide, to try to find answers. The documentary was made on Amazon Prime. Besides, the name of this cult has come back in the dialogues of many songs, TV series and films. Not only that, but there are people who still believe in it!
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