Editing Heaven's Gate (religious group) (section)

== History ==
The son of a [[Presbyterian]] minister and a former soldier, [[Marshall Applewhite]] began his foray into [[Biblical prophecy]] in the early 1970s. In March 1972, he met [[Bonnie Nettles]], a 44-year-old married nurse with an interest in [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]] and Biblical prophecy.{{sfn|Goldwag|2009|p=77}} The circumstances of their meeting are unclear. According to Applewhite's writings, the two met in a hospital where she worked as a nurse while he was visiting a sick friend. Applewhite had recently been dismissed from his role as music director at the [[University of St. Thomas (Texas)|University of St. Thomas]] in [[Houston, Texas]], over an alleged relationship with one of his male students, and his wife had previously left him due to his multiple homosexual relationships. These personal and professional setbacks left him feeling depressed. [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James Lewis]] suggests that Applewhite was a patient in the facility.{{sfn|Lewis|2003|p=111}}  Applewhite claimed, however, that he was only visiting the hospital where Nettles worked as a nurse, not receiving treatment himself. Nettles wrote an astrology column for a Houston newspaper, drawing on insights from "Brother Francis," a 19th-century Franciscan friar she believed she was channeling. She was also involved with the Theosophical Society and participated in weekly séances with her local group in Houston. At the time she met Applewhite, her own marriage was falling apart.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baumgartner |first=Frederic J. |date=2023 |title=Heaven's Gate Cult Members Commit Mass Suicide |url= |journal=Salem Press Encyclopedia}} </ref>. Applewhite later recalled that he felt that he had known Nettles for a long time and concluded that they had met in a past life.{{sfn|Lalich|2004|pp=44, 48}} She told him their meeting had been foretold to her by [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrials]], persuading him that he had a divine assignment.{{sfn|Balch|Taylor|2002|p=210}}{{sfn|Lalich|2004|p=43}}

Applewhite and Nettles pondered the life of [[St.&nbsp;Francis of Assisi]] and read works by [[Helena Blavatsky]], [[R.&hairsp;D. Laing]], and [[Richard Bach]].{{sfn|Zeller|2010a|p=123}} They kept a [[King James Bible]] and studied passages from the [[New Testament]] focusing on [[Christology]], [[asceticism]], and [[Christian eschatology|eschatology]].{{sfn|Zeller|2010b|pp=42–43}} Applewhite also read [[science fiction]], including works by [[Robert A.&nbsp;Heinlein]] and [[Arthur C.&nbsp;Clarke]].{{sfn|Lifton|2000|p=306}} By June 19, Applewhite and Nettles's beliefs had solidified.{{sfn|Zeller|2010b|p=40}} They concluded that they had been chosen to fulfill biblical prophecies and been given higher-level minds than other people.{{sfn|Chryssides|2004|p=355}} They wrote a pamphlet that described [[Jesus]]' [[reincarnation]] as a Texan, a veiled reference to Applewhite.{{sfn|Balch|Taylor|2002|p=211}} Furthermore, they concluded that they were the [[two witnesses]] described in the [[Book of Revelation]],{{sfn|Zeller|2014a|p=108}} and occasionally visited churches and spiritual groups to speak of their identities,{{sfnm|Chryssides|2004|1p=356|Zeller|2010b|2p=40}} often referring to themselves as "The Two", or "The UFO Two".{{sfn|Zeller|2010a|p=123}}{{sfn|Urban|2000|p=276}} They believed they would be killed and then resurrected and, in view of others, transported onto a spaceship. This event, which they referred to as "the Demonstration", was to prove their claims.{{sfn|Balch|Taylor|2002|p=211}} These ideas were poorly received by other religious groups.<ref name="Bearak1997" />

The Two would gain their first follower in May 1974: Sharon Morgan, who abandoned her children to join them. A month later, Morgan left The Two and returned to her family. Nettles and Applewhite were arrested and charged with credit card fraud for using Morgan's cards, although she had consented to their use. The charges were dropped. A routine check revealed that Applewhite had stolen a rental car from [[St. Louis]] nine months earlier, which he still possessed. Applewhite spent six months in jail, primarily in Missouri, and was released in early 1975, rejoining Nettles.<ref name="Bearak1997">{{Cite news |last=Bearak |first=Barry |author-link=Barry Bearak |date=1997-04-28 |title=Eyes on Glory: Pied Pipers of Heaven's Gate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/28/us/eyes-on-glory-pied-pipers-of-heaven-s-gate.html |access-date=2012-06-11 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 |language=en-US |archive-date=February 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217180833/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/28/us/eyes-on-glory-pied-pipers-of-heaven-s-gate.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Eventually, Applewhite and Nettles resolved to contact extraterrestrials and seek like-minded followers. They published advertisements for meetings, where they recruited disciples, called "the crew".{{sfn|Chryssides|2004|p=356}} At the events, they purported to represent beings from another planet, the Next Level, who sought participants for an experiment. They said those who agreed to participate in the experiment would be brought to a higher evolutionary level.{{sfnm|Goerman|2011|1p=60|Chryssides|2004|2p=357}} In April 1975, during a meeting with a group of 80 people in [[Studio City, Los Angeles]], they shared their "simultaneous" revelation that they were the two witnesses in the Bible's story of the [[Eschatology|end time]].<ref name="laweekly2007">{{Cite news |last=Bearman |first=Joshuah |author-link=Joshuah Bearman |date=2007-03-21 |title=Heaven's Gate: The Sequel |url=http://www.laweekly.com/news/heavens-gate-the-sequel-2147951 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303102151/http://www.laweekly.com/news/heavens-gate-the-sequel-2147951 |archive-date=2015-03-03 |access-date=2020-11-14 |work=[[LA Weekly]] |language=en-US}}</ref> According to [[Benjamin Zeller]], while accounts of the meeting differ, all describe it as momentous and agree that Applewhite and Nettles presented themselves as charismatic leaders with an important spiritual message. About 25 individuals joined the group.{{Sfn|Zeller|2014a|p=34}}

In September 1975, Applewhite and Nettles preached at a motel hall in [[Waldport, Oregon]]. After selling all "[[Contemptus mundi|worldly]]" possessions and saying farewell to loved ones, around 20 people vanished from the public eye and joined the group.{{sfn|Goldwag|2009|p=77}} Later that year, on ''[[CBS Evening News]]'', [[Walter Cronkite]] reported on the disappearances in one of the first national reports on the developing religious group: "A score of persons from a small Oregon town have disappeared. It's a mystery whether they've been taken on a so-called trip to eternity – or simply been taken."<ref name="laweekly2007" /> In reality, Applewhite and Nettles had arranged for the group to go underground. From that point, "Do" and "Ti" (pronounced "doe" and "tee"), as the two now called themselves, led nearly one hundred members across the country, sleeping in tents and sleeping bags and begging in the streets. Evading detection by the authorities and media enabled the group to focus on Do and Ti's doctrine of helping members of the crew achieve a "higher evolutionary level" above human, which the leaders claimed to have already reached.<ref name="laweekly2007" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Hexham |first1=Irving |author-link=Irving Hexham |last2=Poewe |first2=Karla |author-link2=Karla Poewe |date=1997-05-07 |title=UFO Religion – Making Sense of the Heaven's Gate Suicides |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/~nurelweb/papers/irving/HGCC.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229081748/https://people.ucalgary.ca/~nurelweb/papers/irving/HGCC.html |archive-date=2010-12-29 |access-date=2007-10-06 |magazine=[[Christian Century]] |pages=439–440 |language=en-US |via=www.ucalgary.ca}}</ref>

Applewhite and Nettles used a variety of [[Pseudonym|aliases]] over the years, notably "[[Little Bo-Peep|Bo and Peep]]" and "[[Solfège|Do and Ti]]". The group also had several names prior to the adoption of the name Heaven's Gate. At the time [[Jacques Vallée]] studied the group, it was known as Human Individual Metamorphosis (HIM). The group re-invented and renamed itself several times.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cook |first=Ryan J. |title=Heaven's Gate |url=http://anthroufo.info/un-hgate.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129142019/http://anthroufo.info/un-hgate.html |archive-date=2009-01-29 |access-date=2025-09-19 |website=anthroufo.info |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=Steven|last=Mizrach|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/heavensgate.html|access-date=2008-10-10|title=The Facts about Heaven's Gate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517153748/http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/heavensgate.html|archive-date=2008-05-17}}</ref> Applewhite believed he was directly related to Jesus, meaning he was an "Evolutionary Kingdom Level Above Human". His writings, which combined aspects of [[Millennialism]], [[Gnosticism]], and science fiction, suggest he believed himself to be Jesus' successor and the "Present Representative" of Christ on Earth.<ref name="laweekly2007" /> Do and Ti taught early on that Do's bodily "vehicle" was inhabited by the same alien spirit that belonged to Jesus; Ti was presented as [[God the Father]], Do's "older member".<ref name="laweekly2007" />

The crew used various recruitment methods as they toured the United States in destitution, proclaiming the gospel of higher-level metamorphosis, the deceit of humans by "false-God spirits", envelopment with sunlight for meditative healing, and the divinity of the "UFO Two".<ref name="laweekly2007" /> In April 1976, the group stopped recruiting and became reclusive, and instituted a rigid set of behavioral guidelines, including [[celibacy|banning sexual activity]] and the use of drugs. Applewhite and Nettles solidified their temporal and religious authority over the group. Benjamin Zeller described the movement as having transformed "from a loosely organized social group to a centralized religious movement comparable to a roving monastery".{{Sfn|Zeller|2014a|pp=41–42}}

Some sociologists agree that the popular movement of alternative religious experience and individualism found in collective spiritual experiences during that period helped contribute to the growth of Heaven's Gate. [[Sheilaism]], as it became known, was a way for people to merge their diverse religious backgrounds and coalesce around a shared, generalized faith, which followers of new religious sects like Applewhite's crew found to be an appetizing alternative to traditional dogmas in [[Judaism]], [[Catholicism]] and [[evangelical Christianity]]. Many of Applewhite and Nettles' crew hailed from these diverse backgrounds; most of them are described by researchers as having been "longtime truth-seekers" or spiritual hippies who had long since believed in attempting to "find themselves" through spiritual means, combining faiths in a sort of cultural environment well into the mid-1980s.{{sfn|Zeller|2014a|pp=59–65}} Not all of Applewhite's crew were hippies recruited from alternative religious backgrounds{{snd}}one such recruit early on was John Craig, a respected [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] and ranch owner who came close to winning a 1970 [[Colorado House of Representatives]] race. He joined the group in 1975.{{sfn|Zeller|2014a|pp=65–66}}<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brooke|first=James|date=1997-03-31|title=For Cowboy in Cult, Long Ride Into Sunset|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/31/us/for-cowboy-in-cult-long-ride-into-sunset.html|access-date=2021-04-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As its numbers grew in its pre-Internet days, the clan of "UFO followers" seemed to have in common a need for communal belonging to an alternative path to higher existence outside the constraints of institutionalized faith.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Identifying itself by the business name "Higher Source", the group used its website to proselytize and recruit followers beginning in the early 1990s. Rumors started spreading among the group in the following years that the upcoming [[Comet Hale–Bopp]] housed the secret to their ultimate salvation and ascent into the kingdom of heaven.<ref name="Feinberg2014" />

=== Contemporary media coverage ===
[[File:HeavensGateRecruitmentMeetingFlyer (cropped).jpg|thumb|Title of a flyer for a Heaven's Gate recruitment meeting, Berkeley, California, May, 1994]]

Heaven's Gate received coverage in [[Jacques Vallée]]'s book ''Messengers of Deception'' (1979), in which Vallée described an unusual public meeting organized by the group. He expressed concerns about contactee groups' authoritarian political and religious outlooks, and Heaven's Gate did not escape criticism.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Vallee |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Vallée |title=Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults |date=1979 |publisher=[[Ronin Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-915904-38-9|language=en}}</ref> Known to the media (though largely ignored), Heaven's Gate was better known in [[UFO]] circles, and through a series of academic studies by sociologist [[Robert Balch]].

In January 1994, ''[[LA Weekly]]'' ran an article on the group, then known as "The Total Overcomers".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gardetta |first=Dave |date=1994-01-21 |title=They Walk Among Us |url=http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/they-walk-among-us/15922 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070328230411/http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/they-walk-among-us/15922/ |archive-date=2007-03-28 |access-date=2007-08-23 |work=[[LA Weekly]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Richard Ford, who would play a key role in the 1997 group suicide, discovered Heaven's Gate through this article and eventually joined them, renaming himself Rio DiAngelo.<ref name="laweekly2007" /> ''[[Coast to Coast AM]]'' host [[Art Bell]] discussed the theory of the "companion object" in the shadow of Hale–Bopp on several programs as early as November 1996. Speculation has been raised as to whether Bell's programs contributed to Heaven's Gate's group suicide. ''[[Knowledge Fight]]'' host Dan Friesen blames more on [[Courtney Brown (researcher)|Courtney Brown]] rather than Bell.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/art_bell_heavenrsquos_gate_and_journalistic_integrity/|title=Art Bell, Heaven's Gate, and Journalistic Integrity|last1=Genoni|first1=Thomas Jr.|website=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|date=July 1997|access-date=3 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author1=Dan Friesen|author2=Jordan Holmes|title=Project Camelot's War on Heaven|url=https://knowledgefight.libsyn.com/knowledge-fight-project-camelots-war-in-heaven|date=January 30, 2018|website=Knowledge Fight|access-date=January 12, 2021}}</ref>

[[Louis Theroux]] contacted Heaven's Gate for his [[BBC2]] documentary series, ''[[Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends]]'', in early March 1997, weeks before their mass suicide. In response to his e-mail, Theroux was told that Heaven's Gate could not participate in the documentary: "at the present time a project like this would be an interference with what we must focus on."<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.veoh.com/videos/v266439DxcWKyTx|title=Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends: UFO|author=Louis Theroux|publisher=Veoh|archive-date=May 20, 2007|access-date=April 23, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520012406/http://www.veoh.com/videos/v266439DxcWKyTx|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Mass suicide ===

In October 1996,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1997-03-27 |title=Group: 39 Found Dead in Apparent Suicide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32138115/the_los_angeles_times/ |access-date=2019-06-01 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=33 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> the group rented a large house which they called "The Monastery", a {{convert|9200|sqft|sp=us|adj=on}} mansion located near 18341 Colina Norte (later renamed to  Paseo Victoria<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-26-mn-52769-story.html|title=Street Where Cultists Died to Be Renamed|agency=Associated Press|work=Los Angeles Times|date=26 April 1997|access-date=19 April 2025}}</ref>) in [[Rancho Santa Fe, California]]. They paid the $7,000 per month rent in cash ({{Inflation|US|7000|1996|fmt=eq|r=-3}}).<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 7, 1997 |title=The marker we've been... waiting for |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986136-4,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080121074654/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986136-4,00.html |archive-date=2008-01-21 |access-date=2025-09-19 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> The same month, the group purchased alien abduction insurance that would cover up to fifty members and would pay out $1{{nbsp}}million per person (the policy covered abduction, impregnation, or death by aliens).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lederer |first=Edith |date=2 April 1997 |title=Alien Abduction Insurance Cancelled! |url=http://www.artgomperz.com/newse/abd.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112032728/http://www.artgomperz.com/newse/abd.html |archive-date=2020-11-12 |access-date=2025-09-19 |website=Associated Press}}</ref> In June 1995, they had purchased land near [[Manzano, New Mexico]], and began creating a compound out of rubber tires and concrete, but had left abruptly in April 1996.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mendoza |first=Martha |author-link=Martha Mendoza |date=1997-03-30 |title=Heaven's Gate left mounds of old tires and a few friends in New Mexico |url=https://apnews.com/article/4e4bdbde4264179baf3a51e49e71edc5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502003253/https://apnews.com/article/4e4bdbde4264179baf3a51e49e71edc5 |archive-date=2021-05-02 |access-date=2021-05-02 |work=[[Associated Press]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

On March 13, 1997, media reported on a mass sighting of [[Phoenix Lights|unidentified lights over Phoenix]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxXYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA174 | title=Alien Abduction in the Cinema: A History from the 1950s to Today | isbn=978-1-4766-8827-5| last1=Meehan | first1=Paul | year=2023 | publisher=McFarland | archive-date=March 26, 2025 | access-date=February 9, 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250326131507/https://books.google.com/books?id=wxXYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA174 | url-status=live }}</ref>  During March 19{{ndash}}20, Marshall Applewhite taped himself in a video titled ''Do's Final Exit'', speaking of mass suicide and "the only way to evacuate this Earth". After asserting that [[Comet Hale–Bopp]] was the sign that the group had been looking for, as well as the speculation that an [[unidentified flying object]] (UFO) was trailing the comet, Applewhite and his 38 followers prepared for ritual suicide, coinciding with the closest approach of the comet, ostensibly so their souls could reach the Next Level before the closure of "Heaven's Gate". Members believed that after their deaths a UFO would take their souls to another "level of existence above human", which was described as being both physical and spiritual. Their preparations included most members videotaping a farewell message.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1997-03-27 |title=Mass suicide involved sedatives, vodka, and careful planning |url=https://www.cnn.com/US/9703/27/suicide/index.html |access-date=2010-05-04 |work=[[CNN]] |language=en-US |archive-date=May 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526002020/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9703/27/suicide/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ayres |first=B. Drummond Jr. |date=1997-03-29 |title=Families Learning of 39 Cultists Who Died Willingly |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/29/us/families-learning-of-39-cultists-who-died-willingly.html |access-date=2008-11-09 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 |language=en-US |quote=According to material the group posted on its Internet site, the timing of the suicides were probably related to the arrival of the Hale–Bopp comet, which members seemed to regard as a cosmic emissary beckoning them to another world. |archive-date=July 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110730130610/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/29/us/families-learning-of-39-cultists-who-died-willingly.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The 39 adherents — 21 women and 18 men between the ages of 26 and 72 — are believed to have died in three groups over three successive days, with the remaining participants cleaning up after the prior group's deaths.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Ramsland |first=Katherine |author-link=Katherine Ramsland |title=Death Mansion |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/heavens_gate/5.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061211012614/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/heavens_gate/5.html |archive-date=2006-12-11 |access-date=September 20, 2006 |work=All about Heaven's Gate cult |publisher=[[CourtTV]] Crime Library |quote=On Saturday{{nbsp}}[...] The first team of 15{{nbsp}}[...] Sunday, the next team of fifteen followed. Finally, there were seven on Monday, and then only two.}}</ref>

[[File:Heaven's Gate member lays in a bedroom in Rancho Santa Fe.png|thumb|The body of a member lying on a bed inside of the house the suicides occurred]]
The suicides began on March 22–23 in three waves.{{sfn|Zeller|2014a|p=171}}{{sfn|Coleman|2004|p=80}}{{efn|Some news reports give different dates, with some stating that all three groups committed suicide on March 22, that the groups committed suicide on March 22–24, or on March 24–26.<ref name=":5" /><ref name="NW-19970406">{{Cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Evan |date=April 6, 1997 |title=The Next Level |url=https://www.newsweek.com/next-level-171594 |access-date=June 3, 2019 |website=[[Newsweek]] |quote=March 23: The first group of 15 swallow applesauce{{nbsp}}[...] March 24: Fifteen more die{{nbsp}}[...] March 25: The remaining cultists kill themselves}}</ref><ref name="Timeline-20161014">{{Cite web |last1=Reimann |first1=Matt |date=October 14, 2016 |title=Suicide, Nikes, and comet space ships: the story of the Heaven's Gate cult |url=https://timeline.com/the-heavens-gate-mass-suicide-7f440ab4b333?gi=9d87ef1ddca3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715105033/https://timeline.com/the-heavens-gate-mass-suicide-7f440ab4b333?gi=9d87ef1ddca3 |archive-date=July 15, 2020 |access-date=June 3, 2019 |website=Timeline |quote=15 people on March 24, another 15 on March 25, and the final nine on March 26}}</ref><ref name="EG-20190327">{{Cite web |author1=dweisman |date=March 27, 2019 |title=22 years ago, Heaven's Gate couldn't wait |url=https://escondidograpevine.com/2019/03/27/20-years-ago-heavens-gate-couldnt-wait/ |access-date=June 3, 2019 |website=Escondido Grapevine |quote=March 24{{nbsp}}[...] Fifteen members died that night. Fifteen more died the next day, followed by nine on March 26.}}</ref> Autopsies determined that the deaths began on 22 or 23 of March.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1525/nr.2006.10.2.75| issn = 1092-6690| volume = 10| issue = 2| pages = 75–102| last = Zeller| first = Benjamin Ethan |author-link=Benjamin E. Zeller | title = Scaling Heaven's Gate: Individualism and Salvation in a New Religious Movement| journal = Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions| date = 2006 |jstor = 10.1525/nr.2006.10.2.75}}</ref>}} Members took lethal doses of the sedative drug [[phenobarbital]] mixed into [[apple sauce]] or pudding. They also consumed [[vodka]], which can cause fatal overdose when combined with barbiturates. Afterwards, they secured plastic bags around their heads to induce [[asphyxia]]tion. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweatpants, brand-new black-and-white [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] Decades athletic shoes, and armband patches reading "Heaven's Gate Away Team" (one of many instances of the group's use of ''[[Star Trek]]'' terms). Each member carried a five-dollar bill and three quarters in their pockets.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Meredith |first1=Nikki |title=The Manson Women and Me: Monsters, Morality, and Murder |year=2018 |publisher=Citadel Press |isbn=978-0-8065-3860-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYgqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT280 |access-date=11 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Zeller|2014a|p=171}} According to former members, this was standard for members leaving the home for jobs and "a humorous way to tell us they all had left the planet permanently"; the five-dollar bill was for covering the cost of [[vagrancy]] laws and the quarters were for calling home from pay phones.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-09-17|title=Heaven's Gate Cult Still Alive and Checking Emails|url=https://www.monsterchildren.com/breaking-news-heavens-gate-cult-still-alive-and-checking-emails/|access-date=2021-04-11|website=Monster Children|language=en-AU|archive-date=2021-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411162624/https://www.monsterchildren.com/breaking-news-heavens-gate-cult-still-alive-and-checking-emails/|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Zeller|2014a|p=171}} Another former member stated that it was a reference to a [[Mark Twain]] story, which said $5.75 was "the cost to ride the tail of a comet to heaven."<ref>{{Cite AV media |people=Tweel, Clay (director) |date=2020-12-03 |title=Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults, Episode 4 |type=Docuseries |language=English |url= |access-date= |format= |time=21:14 |location=  |quote= }}</ref> No such passage from the writings of Twain is known to exist.<ref name="Schrager">{{Cite journal|last=Schrager|first=Cynthia D.|date=1997|title=American Eye: Mark Twain and Heaven's Gate|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25126154|journal=The North American Review|volume=282|issue=5|pages=4–9|jstor=25126154 |issn=0029-2397}}</ref>

After a member died, a living member would arrange the body by removing the plastic bag from the person's head, followed by posing the body so that it lay neatly in its own bed, with faces and torsos covered by a square purple cloth, for privacy. In a 2020 interview with Harry Robinson, two members who were not in Rancho Santa Fe when the suicides happened said that the identical clothing was a uniform representing unity for the mass suicide, while the Nike Decades were chosen because the group "got a good deal on the shoes".{{sfn|Zeller|2014a|p=171}} Applewhite was also a fan of Nikes "and therefore everyone was expected to wear and like Nikes" within the group. Heaven's Gate had a saying, "Just Do it", echoing Nike's slogan, but pronouncing "Do" as "Doe", to reflect Applewhite's nickname.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-12-10|title=How Heaven's Gate's Choice Of Nikes For Mass Suicide Became A Cultural Touchstone|url=https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/how-did-nike-get-tied-into-heavens-gate-mass-suicide|access-date=2020-12-10|website=Oxygen Official Site|language=en-US}}</ref>

Among the dead was Thomas Nichols, brother of the actress [[Nichelle Nichols]], best known for her role as [[Uhura]] in the original television series of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]''.<ref name="CNN-19970328">{{Cite news |date=1997-03-28 |title=Some members of suicide cult castrated |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/28/mass.suicide.pm/ |website=[[CNN]] |language=en-US |archive-date=February 22, 1999 |access-date=August 25, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990222131949/http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/28/mass.suicide.pm/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Applewhite was the third to last member to die; two people remained after him, and were the only ones found with bags over their heads and not having purple cloths covering their top halves. Before the last of the suicides, similar sets of packages were sent to numerous Heaven's Gate affiliated (or formerly affiliated) individuals,<ref name=":5" /> and at least one media outlet, the BBC department responsible for ''Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends'', for which Heaven's Gate had earlier declined participation.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Among those on the list of recipients was Rio DiAngelo. The package DiAngelo received on the evening of March 25<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last1=Meyer |first1=Norma |last2=Medina |first2=Hildy |date=1997-03-28 |title=Package to office alerts ex-member to the fate of cult |url=https://www.newslibrary.com/sites/sdub/ |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324012503/https://www.newslibrary.com/sites/sdub/ |archive-date=2020-03-24 |work=[[San Diego Union-Tribune]] |page=A-1 |language=en-US |agency=[[Copley News Service]]}}</ref> contained — like other packages that were sent out<ref name=":5" /> — two VHS videotapes: one with ''Do's Final Exit'', and the other with the "farewell messages" of group followers.<ref name=":3" /> It also contained a letter stating that, among other things, "we have exited our vehicles just as we entered them."<ref name=":2">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzWpfq103q4 |title=Heaven's Gate suicides remembered |date=2011-03-25 |language=en-US |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=2019-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616165246/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzWpfq103q4 |archive-date=June 16, 2019 |url-status=bot: unknown |via=[[YouTube]] }}</ref> DiAngelo informed his boss of the contents of the packages, and received a ride from him from Los Angeles to the Heaven's Gate home so he could verify the letter. DiAngelo found a back door intentionally left unlocked,<ref name=":2" /> and used a video camera to record what he saw. After leaving the house, DiAngelo's boss, who had waited outside, encouraged him to make calls alerting the authorities.<ref name=":3" />

The [[San Diego County Sheriff's Department]] received an anonymous tip through 911 at 3:15{{nbsp}}p.m. on March 26,<ref name=":0" /> suggesting they "check on the welfare of the residents".<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Calvo |first=Dana |date=1997-03-27 |title=At Least 39 Found Dead in Luxury Estate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32137981/the_signal/ |access-date=2019-06-01 |website=[[The Santa Clarita Valley Signal|The Signal]] |page=1 |language=en-US |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607003201/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32137981/the_signal/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Days after the suicides, the caller was revealed to be DiAngelo.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" />

{{Blockquote|text=Caller: Yes, I need to report an anonymous tip, who do I talk to?

Sheriff's Department: Okay, this is regarding what?

Caller: This is regarding a mass suicide, and I can give you the address{{nbsp}}[...]|sign=|source=San Diego County 911 call, March 26, 1997, 3:15 p.m. PST<ref name=":2"/>}}

The lone deputy who first responded to the call entered the home through a side door,<ref name=":1" /> saw ten bodies, and was nearly overcome by a "pungent odor,"<ref name=":0" /> as the bodies had already begun decomposing in the hot Southern California spring.<ref name=":0" /> After a cursory search by two more deputies found no one alive, they retreated until a search warrant could be procured.<ref name=":1" /> All 39 bodies were ultimately [[cremation|cremated]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

=== Aftermath ===

The Heaven's Gate deaths were widely publicized in the [[news media|media]] as an example of [[mass suicide]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1997-03-28 |title=First autopsies completed in cult suicide |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/28/mass.suicide/index.html |access-date=2007-10-06 |work=[[CNN]] |language=en-US |archive-date=September 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909111402/http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/28/mass.suicide/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> When the news broke of its relation to Comet Hale–Bopp, the co-discoverer of the comet, [[Alan Hale (Astronomer)|Alan Hale]], was drawn into the story. Hale's phone "never stopped ringing the entire day". He chose not to respond until the next day at a press conference after researching the details of the incident.<ref name="Knoxville">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuAg1WA5fW0 |title=An Interview with Astronomer Alan Hale – CTV call-in (Knoxville Freethought Forum 4/23/13) |language=en-US |publisher=finitist |access-date=2016-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811062931/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuAg1WA5fW0&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=August 11, 2019 |url-status=bot: unknown |via=[[YouTube]] }}</ref> Speaking at the Second World Skeptics Congress in [[Heidelberg]], Germany on July 24, 1998:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Second World Skeptics Congress (Schedule) |url=http://amber.zine.cz/AZOld/occam/congress.htm |access-date=2016-09-18 |website=amber.zine.cz |language=en |archive-date=August 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829015927/http://amber.zine.cz/AZOld/occam/congress.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Dr. Hale discussed the scientific significance and popular lore of comets and gave a personal account of his discovery. He then lambasted the combination of scientific illiteracy, willful delusions, a radio talk show's deception about an imaginary spacecraft following the comet, and a cult's bizarre yearnings for ascending to another level of existence that led to the Heaven's Gate mass suicides.<ref name = SI>{{Cite journal|last1=Frazier|first1=Kendrick|author-link=Kendrick Frazier|title=Science and Reason, Foibles and Fallacies, and Doomsdays|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=1998|volume=22|issue=6|page=6|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/science_and_reason_foibles_and_fallacies_and_doomsdays|access-date=18 September 2016|archive-date=August 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829015629/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/science_and_reason_foibles_and_fallacies_and_doomsdays|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Hale said that well before Heaven's Gate, he had told a colleague:
{{Blockquote|text="We are probably going to have some suicides as a result of this comet." The sad part is that I was really not surprised. Comets are lovely objects, but they don't have apocalyptic significance. We must use our minds, our reason.<ref name = SI />}}

News of the mass suicide motivated the copycat suicide of a 58-year-old man living near [[Marysville, California]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cornwell |first=Tim |date=1997-05-07 |title=Heaven's Gate member found dead |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/heavens-gate-member-found-dead-1260149.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/heavens-gate-member-found-dead-1260149.html |archive-date=2022-05-09 |access-date=2014-06-23 |work=[[The Independent]] |language=en-GB |quote=In an earlier suicide bid, on 1 April, a 58-year-old recluse was found dead in his home in a remote mountain canyon in northern California after dying by suicide. He had left a note indicating he believed that he would also join the dead Heaven's Gate cult members.}}</ref> The man left a note dated March 27, which said, "I'm going on the spaceship with Hale–Bopp to be with those who have gone before me," and imitated some of the details of the Heaven's Gate suicides as they had then been reported. The man was found dead by a friend on March 31 and had no known connection with Heaven's Gate.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stanziano |first=Don |date=1997-04-02 |title=Cult Inspires First Copycat Suicide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39944002/north_county_times/ |access-date=2019-12-02 |work=[[North County Times]] |pages=A-4 |language=en-US |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

At least three former members of Heaven's Gate died by suicide in the months following the mass suicide. On May 6, 1997, Wayne Cooke and Chuck Humphrey (known as "Rkkody" within the group) attempted suicide in a hotel in a manner similar to that used by the group. Cooke died, but Humphrey survived and was saved by authorities.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=1998-02-20 |title='Do Not Revive' |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-not-revive/ |access-date=2024-05-13 |work=[[CBS News]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Another former member, James Pirkey Jr., died by suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound on May 11. In February 1998, Humphrey killed himself in Arizona. His body was found carrying a five-dollar bill and four quarters in his pocket; next to him was a note that read: "[d]o not revive."<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Purdum |first=Todd S. |author-link=Todd S. Purdum |date=1997-05-07 |title=Ex-Cultist Dies In Suicide Pact; 2d Is 'Critical' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/07/us/ex-cultist-dies-in-suicide-pact-2d-is-critical.html |access-date=2007-10-21 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 |language=en-US |quote=A former member of the Heaven's Gate cult was found dead today in a copycat suicide in a motel room near the scene of the group's mass suicide in San Diego County, and another former member was found unconscious in the same room, the authorities said.}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070318/news_lz1n18timelin.html|title=Heaven's Gate: A timeline|date=18 March 2007|work=[[U-T San Diego|The San Diego Union-Tribune]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003124716/http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070318/news_lz1n18timelin.html|archive-date=2008-10-03|access-date=2007-10-21}}</ref>

On March 22, the same day as the Heaven's Gate suicide, five members of the [[Order of the Solar Temple]] group also [[1997 Saint-Casimir mass suicide|died in a mass suicide]].{{sfn|Coleman|2004|p=84}} The Solar Temple happened to be a group with similar beliefs, in both cases believing that suicide would allow their souls to be transported into space.<ref name="Gross1997">{{Cite news |last=Gross |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Gross |date=1997-03-28 |title=In the Hunt for Answers, Only Questions Arise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/28/us/in-the-hunt-for-answers-only-questions-arise.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240429052353/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/28/us/in-the-hunt-for-answers-only-questions-arise.html |archive-date=2024-04-29 |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=21 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Clayton1997">{{Cite news |last1=Clayton |first1=Mark |last2=Marks |first2=Alexandra |date=1997-03-31 |title=Why People Join 'Spiritually Abusive' Cults |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/0331/033197.us.us.2.html |access-date=2024-10-02 |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |language=en-US |issn=0882-7729 |archive-date=November 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241112055112/https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/0331/033197.us.us.2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This led to initial suspicions of a connection,<ref name="ChicagoTribune1997">{{Cite news |date=1997-03-27 |title=39 Men Die In Apparent Mass Suicide |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/03/27/39-men-die-in-apparent-mass-suicide/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Niebuhr1997">{{Cite news |last=Niebuhr |first=Gustav |date=1997-03-27 |title=Deaths at Season's Change Echo Earlier Suicides |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/deaths-at-season-s-change-echo-earlier-suicides.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240429052143/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/deaths-at-season-s-change-echo-earlier-suicides.html |archive-date=2024-04-29 |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> though police investigating the Heaven's Gate deaths refused to acknowledge these speculations.<ref name="Purdum1997">{{Cite news |last=Purdum |first=Todd S. |author-link=Todd S. Purdum |date=1997-03-27 |title=39 Men Found at San Diego Estate in Apparent Suicide |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/39-men-found-at-san-diego-estate-in-apparent-suicide.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240429052046/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/27/us/39-men-found-at-san-diego-estate-in-apparent-suicide.html |archive-date=2024-04-29 |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Solar Temple suicides had been timed for the [[March equinox|vernal equinox]] on March 20, not the comet, but owing to several failed attempts it happened only on the 22nd.{{sfn|Coleman|2004|pp=84, 87}} There was no apparent connection between the two groups.<ref name="Clayton1997" />

Although most people considered the event a mass suicide, sociologist and former cult member [[Janja Lalich]] referred to the event as "murder".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1997-03-30 |title=UPI Focus: Former cult member: deaths were murder |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/03/30/UPI-Focus-Former-cult-member-deaths-were-murder/7412859698000/ |access-date=2021-10-04 |website=[[United Press International|UPI]] |language=en-US |archive-date=October 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004052215/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/03/30/UPI-Focus-Former-cult-member-deaths-were-murder/7412859698000/ |url-status=live }}</ref> UCLA psychiatrist [[Louis J. West]] described the dead members as "victims of a hoax{{nbsp}}[...] There was villainy here."<ref>{{Cite news |author=Monmaney |first=Terence |date=1997-04-04 |title=Free Will, or Thought Control? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-04-mn-45358-story.html |access-date=2024-04-22 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

Two former members, Marc and Sarah King of [[Phoenix, Arizona]], operating as the TELAH Foundation, are believed to maintain the group's website.<ref name="Feinberg2014">{{Cite web |author=Feinberg |first=Ashley |date=2014-09-17 |title=The Online Legacy of a Suicide Cult and the Webmasters Who Stayed Behind |url=https://gizmodo.com/the-online-legacy-of-a-suicide-cult-and-the-webmasters-1617403237 |work=[[Gizmodo]] |language=en-US |access-date=2016-09-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goodwin |first=Megan |date=2017 |title=Staying after Class: Memory and Materiality beyond Heaven's Gate Report on the New Religious Movements Group Methods Meeting, 21 November 2014 |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |language=en |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=80–93 |doi=10.1525/nr.2017.20.4.80 |issn=1092-6690 |jstor=26417722}}</ref>

The house at which the mass suicide took place carried a stigma throughout the neighborhood. Local residents opted to rename the street on which it was located to "Paseo Victoria". The property itself ended up being purchased by a local developer in 1999 for $668,000 during a foreclosure sale, well below half its assessed value of $1.4 million. It was subsequently purchased by neighbors who razed the building, built a new house in its place, and changed the address to 18239.<ref> {{Cite news |title=Who Owned Heaven's Gate Mansion? Where Was it Located? Can You Visit it? What Happened to it? |url=https://thecinemaholic.com/who-owned-heavens-gate-mansion-where-was-it-located-can-you-visit-it-what-happened-to-it |last=Vanapalli |first=Viswa |date=2023-07-27 |access-date=2025-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |agency=Reuters |date=1999-09-11 |title=Mansion Where Cultists Died Is Sold at Bargain Price |url=https://latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-11-mn-8889-story.html |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US |access-date=2025-03-09 |archive-date=October 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008183254/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-11-mn-8889-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>