Marshall Applewhite, leader of the unhinged cult of Heaven’s Gate

As the founder of California’s Heaven’s Gate cult, Marshall Applewhite and 38 of his followers committed suicide in March 1997 to board a spaceship that saves Earth.

Marshall Applewhite

Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty ImagesOne of the last videos left by the leader of Heaven’s Gate, Marshall Applewhite, before his suicide.

On March 21, 1997, 39 Heaven’s Gate cult members sat together for a final meal. As they dined, Comet Hale-Bopp blazed in the sky, which cult leader Marshall Applewhite said would offer them all an escape from the planet.

Advertising

The meal, at a restaurant in the Marie Callender’s chain, caught the attention of waiters as each member of the group ordered the same thing: a turkey pie with iced tea, followed by a blueberry cheesecake.

A few days later, as the comet reached its closest point to Earth, Applewhite told his followers to kill themselves – and they did. But who was Marshall Applewhite and how did he orchestrate the second largest mass suicide in US history?

Marshall Appelwhite’s Road to Cult Leader

As a child, Marshall Applewhite led an ordinary life. Born in Spur, Texas on May 17, 1931, Applewhite attended Austin College, married, and served in the military for two years.

From an early age, Applewhite had a knack for public speaking. He also had a rich baritone and an ear for opera. After a failed stint as an actor in New York, Applewhite took a teaching job at the University of Alabama, but lost his job there after having sex with a student.

Later, he became head of the music department at a college in Houston.

“He was usually president of everything”, said Louise, Applewhite’s sister. “He has always been a born and very charismatic leader. He could make people believe anything.

In the late 1960s, Applewhite’s life began to unravel. After divorcing his wife, Applewhite suddenly quit his job, citing emotional distress. And then Applewhite met Bonnie Lu Nettles, a nurse with a spiritual mission.

Nettles convinced Applewhite that they were prophets mentioned in the Book of Revelations. They concluded that earthly laws did not apply to them and they embarked on a mission across the land to break the law. In 1974, authorities arrested the couple for credit card fraud. Later, Applewhite drove off with a rental car and never returned it.

Leader of the Sky Gate

Getty ImagesHeaven’s Gate frontman Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles in August 1974.

The crimes landed Applewhite in jail for six months, but while he was incarcerated, his ideas only evolved. Humans were trapped at the earth level, Applewhite decided, and his mission was to help others rise to the “next level.”

Applewhite believed the “next level” was a physical place in space – a kind of heaven in the heavens.

Once released from prison, Applewhite and Nettles began recruiting supporters. A UFO would appear in the sky, the prophets said, to take them all to the next level.

Become the leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult

By 1975, Marshall Applewhite had attracted 20 followers. He ordered these followers to scour the country, under the radar, and recruit new members.

The movement slowly grew, eventually reaching a size of 200 members. Applewhite and Nettles cut down the followers until only the most loyal remained.

Human nature was corrupt, preached Applewhite. As they traveled from state to state, Applewhite and his recruits followed strict rules. Sex was forbidden, as was alcohol and tobacco. The members cut their hair and put on baggy clothes to look asexual.

Applewhite too castrated himself. He encouraged his male followers to consider castration, and many went through the procedure.

Applewhite Video

HBO MaxIn the 1980s and 1990s, Applewhite spread her message and recruited new subscribers via video.

“A member of the next kingdom finds favor with one who is willing to endure all the growing pains necessary to wean himself totally from his human condition,” preached Heaven’s Gate leader Applewhite.

Then, in 1985, Nettles died of cancer. Having lost her prophetic partner, Applewhite refused to give up. He declared that the end of the Earth was near. Followers made videos warning of the “last call” to leave the planet.

“We were looking for what was happening, why were we here, what is the purpose of life”, Explain Robert Rubin, a former cult member.

In 1993, the band even ran an advertisement in USA Today. He promised, “‘UFO Cult’ resurfaces with the final offer.”

Comet Hale Bopp

Wikimedia CommonsComet Hale-Bopp as it appeared in the sky over Death Valley, California in the spring of 1997.

Two years later, Marshall Applewhite eagerly read about Comet Hale-Bopp. He decided this was the celestial UFO his cult needed to take it to the next level. Hale-Bopp was the “last chance to evacuate Earth before it was recycled,” he told his followers. He then began to prepare them all to “ascend.”

But it wouldn’t be the sect’s first attempt to leave the planet. In the late 1980s, cult members bought a houseboat in Galveston, Texas, and waited for aliens to take them away. But then the internet boom gave Applewhite a new recruiting tool. The members created a website and convinced people from across the country to leave their lives behind and join the cult.

Then, in 1997, the cult made its final preparations to leave Earth. Under Applewhite’s guidance, they planned to commit suicide in order to ascend to heaven.

Mass suicide under comet Hale-Bopp

The mass suicide of Heaven’s Gate did not happen all at once. The members took shifts, cleaning up after the previous group before committing suicide.

Heaven's Gate Body

Mike Nelson/AFP via Getty ImagesCoroners remove the bodies of the mass suicide from Heaven’s Gate.

Before dying by eating poisoned applesauce with a lethal dose of sedatives, each member of the cult left a video statement. In dizzying tones, they explained how they would ascend to a spacecraft hidden in the shadow of comet Hale-Bopp.

“It’s just the best day of my life,” one follower said. “Thirty-nine for Beam Up,” said another.

For his last message, Marshall Applewhite looked at the camera and warned: “Your only chance to evacuate is to leave with us. Planet Earth is about to be recycled.

A few days later, on March 26, 1997, the authorities discovered the bodies of 39 cult members inside a rental home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, all wrapped in purple with bags placed over their heads. They were all wearing identical Nike Decades sneakers.

Two members gave up their place on the spaceship to stay and run the band’s website. “The information must be available to humanity, in preparation for their return,” the anonymous administrators later explained. “We don’t know when that will be but those who are interested will find the information.”

The organization is believed to persist today, with the original theories of Heaven’s Gate cult leader Marshall Applewhite still at the core of the group.


After this look at Heaven’s Gate leader Marshall Applewhite, check out some more disturbing cult leaders like him. Then, learn about life inside famous cults like these.

Marshall Applewhite, leader of the unhinged cult of Heaven’s Gate