 American UFO doomsday cult based in San Diego, California founded in
the 1970’s
 Led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. Marshall believed that he
was directly related to Jesus, meaning he was the ‘Evolutionary Kingdom
Level above Heaven. Started following leader Marshall Applewhite having
a near-death experience
 They combined Christian doctrine particularly the ideas of salvation and
apocalypse with the concept of evolutionary advancement and elements of
science fiction.
 Heaven’s gate believed that the Earth was about to be recycled and
rejuvenated and that the only chance of survival was to leave it
immediately. They believed that their human bodies were only vessels
meant to help them on their journey ad referred to them as their vehicle.
 Humans would have to shed every attachment to the planet and give up
their human characteristics such as family, friends, individuality, jobs,
money and possessions.
 Applewhite and Nettles referred to the cult as extra-terrestrial walk-in and
defined a walk-in as an entity that occupies a body that has been vacated
by its original soul. They believed that the alien walk-ins would bean then
up and away from earth.
 The group led an ascetic lifestyle and avoided any indulgences; they are a
tightly knit group that shares everything communally. Applegate told them
if they live an ascetic lifestyle they will be able to reach the next level and
leave earth before it was destroyed.
 As the mental health of Applewhite deteriorated he led his followers on a
deadly path. He told his followers that the world was about to be ‘wiped
clean’ by the alien founders and told them they needed to leave earth. On
March, 26
th
1997 he prepared his clan for a mass suicide in the isolated
house which they shared together in a wealthy San Diego suburb. 37
members of the Heaven’s gate committed mass suicide taking a lethal
mixture of vodka and phenobarbital believing that their souls would be
transported to the spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.
 Each of the followers was dressed wearing black shirts and track-suit
bottoms branded with the black and white Nike logo and armbands
reading ‘Heaven’s Gate Away Team.
 Now 200-strong, the group live outside the upside down mountain Pic-de-
Bugarach in the South of France. They hope that the extra-terrestrial
saviours will whisk them away when the world ends on December 21
st
2012. However, this group does not seem to have a strong leader such as
Applegate and does not have a cohesive structure of rituals.