World's X-files: Comet Special: Story 1: Heaven's gate

Comet special

Story 1: Heaven’s gate

On March 26th of 1997, in a luxurious mansion at Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego in California in the United States, police found 39 bodies. Their age varied from teens to elderly

All 39 bodies were laid on their backs on top of a bunk bed with blankets over their heads and they were all wearing a brand new pairs of Nike shoes.

Police soon confirmed that these bodies were of 21 women and 18 men who voluntarily committed suicide in hopes of entering the kingdom of heaven. These men and women belonged to a religious cult called Heaven’s gate led by a man named Marshall Applewhite (bottom picture).

Heaven’s Gate

Heaven’s gate was an American UFO based religious cult found and led by Marshall Applewhite (1931-1997) and Bonnie Nettles (1928-1985). The group began in the early 1970s when Marshall Applewhite was recovering from a heart attack during which he claimed to have had a near-death experience. He came to believe that he and his nurse, Bonnie Nettles, were "the Two," that is, the two witnesses spoken of in the Book of Revelation 11:3 in the Bible. Marshall himself believed he was directly related to Jesus, meaning he was an "Evolutionary Kingdom Level Above Human."

Revelation 11:3
And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Heaven's Gate members believed that the planet Earth was about to be recycled (wiped clean, renewed, refurbished and rejuvenated), and that the only chance to survive was to leave it immediately. They were against suicide but they defined "suicide" in their own context to mean "to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered”. They believed “to be eligible for membership in the Next Level, humans would have to shed every attachment to the planet.”

What happened in 1997?

In June 1995 the American magazine Sky & Telescope published an article which discussed the likelihood of seeing unusual astronomical events such as meteor showers, supernovae and bright comets.1 A spectacular comet, it said, comes along typically every ten years or so. Astronomers had long been aware that, as we approached the end of the century (and indeed, the end of the millennium) we were long overdue for a really bright naked eye comet. only a month after the Sky & Telescope article had gone into print, two amateur astronomers in America, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, were independently observing the globular cluster M70 through their telescopes when they spotted a fuzzy object in the same field of view. The discovery having been confirmed as a new comet, it was subsequently designated C/1995 O1. What was most notable about it was that, for its computed distance - 663 million miles (1067 million km) - it was remarkably bright. Most comets at this distance (well beyond the orbit of Jupiter) would be very faint. Hale-Bopp was a thousand times brighter than Comet Halley would be at the same distance.

Comet Hale-Bopp in June 9th, 1996

Heaven’s gate members believed that Comet Hale-Bopp was a giant spaceship that is hovering around the earth to take them to paradise. The controversy revolves around the likes of Dr. Courtney Brown’s appearance on Art Bell’s radio show in 1996, on which the possibility of a UFO or other huge object following comet Hale Bopp was discussed.

Courtney claims that his "remote viewing" students saw a huge craft following the comet. (Remote Viewing is a controversial psychic / meditation technique for vaguely seeing and sensing any time or place in the Universe) The Hale-Bopp controversy started with the anomalous photo, shown above, taken by amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek. The Saturn-like object to the right of the comet is still unexplained, but whether it is an alien UFO or not remains to be seen.

The mass suicide

On March 19-20, 1997, Marshall Applewhite taped himself speaking of mass suicide and asserted "it was the only way to evacuate this Earth". Applewhite believed that after their deaths, a UFO would take their souls to another "level of existence above human", which Applewhite described as being both physical and spiritual. This and other UFO-related beliefs held by the group have led some observers to characterize the group as a type of UFO religion. In October 1996, the group purchased alien abduction insurance to cover up to 50 members at a cost of $10,000.

The cult rented a 9,200-sq.-ft. mansion, located at 18241 Colina Norte (later changed to Paseo Victoria), in a gated community of upscale homes in the San Diego area. The suicide was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbital mixed with applesauce or pudding, washed down with vodka. Additionally, plastic bags were secured around their heads after ingesting the mix to induce asphyxiation. Authorities found the dead lying neatly in their own bunk beds, faces and torsos covered by a square, purple cloth.

Each member carried a five dollar bill and three quarters in their pockets. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike Windrunner athletic shoes, and armband patches reading "Heaven's Gate Away Team" (one of many instances of the group's use of the Star Trek fictional universe's nomenclature).

The thirty-eight Heaven's Gate members, plus group leader Applewhite, were found dead in the home on March 26, 1997. In the heat of the California spring, many of the bodies had begun to decompose by the time they were discovered. The bodies were later cremated.

As for now, Heaven's Gate is inactive and the pass of Comet Hale-Bopp, mass suicide and continuing history of mankind have brought the closure of Heaven's Gate.