‘The liberal who supposes that sacred texts are actual human constructions of differing moral worth, whose religion makes little difference to his life, and who is not quite happy to accept that what his God requires of him is not binding on other members of his society: this is the strange and remarkable creature’ (Bruce 2000 p. 117).
And so it seemed of the ‘strange and remarkable creatures’ of the Heaven’s Gate cult. This essay will explore the question of why the American New Religious group, ‘Heaven’s Gate’, apparently committed mass suicide and will explore the cult from its conception in 1975 to the suicide occurrence in 1997. The article will examine the structure, beliefs and rituals the members participated in explaining that, fundamentally, the 'Heavensgate' deaths were acts of faith; a graduation to the realm from which Do and Ti, ‘the group’s’ leaders had descended.
The essay will depend on various sources of data in its investigation; however, will pay specific attention to principle information sources in order to effectively argue that many key sociological factors played a critical role into why Heaven’s Gate members apparently committed suicide. These include the writings of sociologists, Richard Balch, who extensively studied the cult throughout the 1970s and early 1980s (1977; 1979: 1982); Balch and Taylor (2003); Bellah (1975), and Wallis (1976); as well as World Wide Websites such as Heaven’s Gate Home Page (and associated links); Goerman (1998); Hadden (1997); and Robinson (1997). The essay also includes the online journal theories of Leary (1997); and Scwartz (1996), and writings of various other social scientists such as Ritzer & Goodman (2004).
However, before the essay explores the Heaven’s Cult as a New Religious Movement (NRM), one must define under what terms a NRM is, its structure, beliefs and rituals. In 1975, social scientist Robert Bellah (1975), described New Religious Movement’s (NRM), particularly in terms of secularisation, as a ‘civil religion’ – a quasi-religious loyalty that draws individuals into a basically secular society and whose qualities are found in collective acts such as membership in associations, good citizenship, and patriotism. These symbolic acts are most evident during the secular society’s rituals (Bellah 1975). Whilst one year later, Roy Wallis (1976), categorised NRM’s into three distinctions; world affirming, world accommodating, and world rejecting. Heaven’s Gate very much fit the description of Wallis’ world rejecting group (Wallis 1976). While Heaven’s Gate retained certain aspects of conventional religions (i.e. rigid ethical codes and the study of religious text), the cult was also critical of the ‘evil’ world predominantly occupied by ‘uneducated’ earthlings. Additionally, Heaven’s Gate was millenarian and exclusive, demanding its followers to transform through intensive communal activity. Moreover, members also shared their material possessions and were highly pro-active in recruiting others for the greater whole (Wallis 1976). Through the definitions of social scientists, Bellah (1975) and Wallis (1976), Heaven’s Gate is clearly positioned as a NRM.
The 'Heavensgate' cult was established in 1975 by founding leaders Marshall Herff Applewhite (aka 'Bo' and 'Do' from 1931-1997) and Bonnie Lu Nettles (aka 'Peep' and 'Ti' from 1927-1985). Applewhite, or 'Do' was born in 1931, the son of a Texan Presbyterian Minister. Nettles, or 'Ti' was born in 1927, her birthplace remains unknown. In 1952, Do earned his Arts degree at Austin College, then briefly studied at 'Union Theological Seminary', Virginia. Later, he dropped out to pursue a music career, eventually becoming the music director at the First Presbyterian Church, North Carolina. Do moved to Houston where he pursued a career in the performing arts and became St. Thomas University's music professor. Do and Ti met in Houston in 1972, after Applewhite's dismissal from St. Thomas University resulting from a scandal involving a male student, plunging Applewhite into a bitter depression. Balch (1995) claimed Applewhite had long '... vacillated between homosexual and heterosexual identities, never feeling comfortable with either' (Balch 1995 p. 147). By not endangering Applewhite's sexual identity, Nettles functioned as a 'platonic helper', the duo gradually cutting contact with society. Nettles, was a nurse who participated in channeling, and an active member of Houston's Theosophical Society. Nettles had been involved in the New Age movement well before the two met, however, little else is known of Nettles background other than of her interest in metaphysical studies, a concept she eagerly introduced to Do (Hadden 1997).
In 1973, “The Two” departed Houston travelling for some months before ending their journey in a Southern Oregon campground. Applewhite claimed it was here that he received a revelation of their 'metaphysical quest'. In this revelation, Applewhite and Nettles were the two prophets of the Eleventh Chapter of the Book of Revelations. 'Bo' and 'Peep' taught that after bearing witness to the truth for 1 260 days, they would be assassinated, and after three and a half days (fulfilling Revelations 11:12), their bodies would 'ascend up to heaven in a cloud', otherwise known as a spacecraft. This event would be known as 'the demonstration' (Goerman 1998; Hadden 1997). Applewhite's 'belief system' blended elements of Theosophy and Christian scripture, as well as various other metaphysical teachings. These concepts combined with contemporary urban legends and 'moral panics' about UFOs, as the two interstellar shepherds who, according to Balch (1995), states that they became '...absorbed in a private world of vision, dreams, and paranormal experiences that included contacts with space beings who urged them to abandon their worldly pursuits' (Balch 1995 p. 142).
Heaven’s Gate's principal belief system effectively intertwined traditional Christian teaching as a metaphor from which concepts of both the metaphysical and UFO subcultures were superimposed. ‘The Two’, as they called themselves after the "Two Lampstands" prophesied in the Bible, always drew as much on science fiction as on Biblical prophecy’ (Robinson 1997 p. 5 of 57). According to “The Two”, some two thousand years ago extraterrestrials arrived from the 'Kingdom of Heaven' to assess their garden, Earth, deciding it had evolved into a useful environment in which to send 'the one' from the 'level above'. Seemingly, 'Earthlings' were ill-prepared to enter the 'Kingdom Level Above Human', and that 'the one' had since been killed by Lucifer who continued to dominate the Earth (Hadden 1997).
Do and Ti’s 'Heavenly Kingdom' was literal and spiritual. 'The Two' believed that they themselves were extraterrestrials offering humans an opportunity to move to a higher evolutionary level. A spacecraft provided the only mode of transportation to the 'Kingdom'. 'Earthlings', they claimed, paid for a 'boarding pass' to this level by leading a disciplined life. Also, it is at this point also that the Protestant based messages of 'sin' and 'salvation' are intermingled with Eastern religious traditions and elements whereby seekers attempt to break out of a cycle of 'death' and 're-incarnation' (Balch & Taylor 2003). 'Earthlings' needed to perform a bodily metamorphosis, likened to the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. 'The group' described this activity as the 'Human Individual Metamorphosis' (HIM) process, a practice that would literally transform human physiology. In order to confirm to the cult the process as occurring, 'wisdom' interpreted the bodily evidence i.e. a 'consciousness explosion' manifest itself as a headache while menstrual cramps signified the androgyny process. Moreover, cult members believed that the departing of their bodies through a ‘chrysalis’ process thus lead to ‘The Evolutionary Level Above Human’ (TELAH) (Hadden 1997). Durkheim himself once quoted ‘... “reality seems valueless by comparison with dreams of fevered imagination”’ (Durheim 1897 cited in Ritzer & Goodman 2004 p. 90).
Primarily, according to Balch (1982), “The Two” guaranteed eternal life through the ‘Level Above Human’ whereby ‘... their followers would become ... complete with androgynous bodies forever free of disease, decay, and death (Balch 1982 p. 27). The group also believed, that through this transformation, they to ‘... might be able to help with a harvest in some distant part of the universe, or even, like Jesus and the Two, "do the Christ trip" on another garden’ (ibid. p. 27). Realistically, member’s ‘... did not even believe themselves to be committing suicide; they merely saw themselves as abandoning the physical "vehicles" that they regarded as no longer necessary’ (Hadden 2005 p. 5 of 9).
Successful promotion of “The Two’s’ prophecies initially occurred in Los Angeles, where a lecture given to metaphysical students produced two dozen converts. Followed by their newly acquired disciples, Bo and Peep returned to Oregon. There the UFO cult began to strengthen. In poorly organised meetings along their journey, they soon claimed a further one hundred and fifty followers (Hadden 1997).
Regarding the group’s recruiting activities during the 1970s, Robert Balch (1982) writes,
‘Claiming that [a] biblical cloud referred to a UFO, Bo and Peep promised eternal life in the "literal heavens" to anyone willing to devote "100 percent of his total energy" to overcoming his attachments to the human level’ (Balch 1982 p. 24).
In 1975, Heaven's Gate first received national attention when approximately thirty people mysteriously disappeared after a public lecture about flying saucers in Oregon, and ‘... for a brief time the UFO cult was America's most publicized new religious movement’ (Balch 1982 p. 24). The group experienced an expanding membership as it moved to Denver, when abruptly, Do and Ti divided their followers into small groups with extremely ambiguous instructions regarding the continuation of their work. The leaders announced their “withdrawing into the wilderness" in preparation for "the demonstration" – a ritual performed in readiness for their post-assassination resurrection and heavenly ascension. Throughout ‘The Two’s” six month absence, these divided groups wandered, rootlessly searching for signs as they awaited the return of their leaders. In addition, the leader’s religious teachings of were not extensive or well explained, hence many groups became bewildered and divided. While some groups continued to recruit new followers, mostly groups lost membership rather than gained. During Do and Ti’s absence, over half of the approximately two hundred strong membership drifted away (Goerman 1998; Hadden 1997). Finally, “The Two” returned in Gulfport, Mississippi. In the subsequent months following their return, approximately ninety to one hundred members reassembled to resume their teachings within a cult that demonstrated a stronger organisation and demanding leadership (Hadden 1997).
During the leaders self-imposed exile, “The Two” learnt that among the (approximately) four billion Earthly souls, only the small number of returning loyal recruits were eligible to move to the next evolutionary level - this type of ideology smacks deeply of the the same Adventist beliefs held by the Branch Davidians – a religious group who were also strongly active in this area during the same period (Ritzer & Goodman 2004). Do and Ti eventually led these loyal few to a remote site in Wyoming whereby their intensive indoctrination began. From this commune, the leaders told that the Heavens had canceled the prophesied ‘demonstration’ because the followers were not ‘prepared’. Furthermore, the group’s belief in the propethised 'demonstration' was abandoned and the group ventured 'into the wilderness', preparing themselves into a highly disciplined regimentation. How 'Heaven’s Gate's beliefs evolved from this point is sketchy at best, however, it is clearly evident that 'the group' developed into a highly cohesive unit whereby their behavior effectively characterised internal and autonomous self-disciplined (Hadden 1997; Balch 1982). Followers who wished to be aboard the heavenly space ship needed total devotion to disciplined indoctrinative training.
During this time, “The Twos’ teachings revolved entirely on learning path’s to ridding oneself of the their Earthly ways and of one's earthly bodies (there was evidence of symbolic and ritualistic castration at the Californian suicide location), which came to be known as the ‘container’ Do and Ti taught that Jesus was chosen as a ‘container’ at the age of thirty odd years of age, the ritual ‘...referred to as its baptism by John the Baptist (the incarnating event was depicted as "... the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove" - Luke 3:22; ‘Do's Introduction: Purpose – Belief ‘What Our Purpose Is - The Simple "Bottom Line"’ pg. 1 of 5). In another webpage link (‘Our Position Against Suicide’), Heaven’s Gate members believed that their physical bodies were also ‘containers’ for soul deposits, in which to learn their worldly lessons. Do himself declares on the group’s website;
‘... in these physical vehicles (bodies) that we can learn the lessons needed to complete our own individual transition ... We take good care of our vehicles so they can function well for us in this task, and we try to protect them from any harm’ ( pg. 1 of 2).
In this sense, one to assume that that was precisely what the followers were also during in their moment of suicide, protecting their vehicles from an assault from a world without their patriarchal ‘representative’ (later the body also became known as the ‘vehicle’) (Hadden 1997).
Balch (1977) describes the first recruits as ‘spiritual seekers’, individuals caught up in the "cultic milieu" of the 1970s, a phenomena consisting of a ‘... loosely integrated network of seekers who drift from one philosophy to another in search of metaphysical truth’ (Balch 1977 p. 850). Hence, the ‘...beliefs of the cult may not have seemed as strange ... to mainstream society, ... joining the group may have seemed like a logical next step in an individual's quest for meaning’ (Goerman 1998 p. 11 of 17).
It is difficult not to define Do as a patriarchal leader. Balch (1982) recalls that Do was ‘... a tall, graying, slightly overweight figure with remarkable stage presence and steel-blue eyes which he could use effectively to captivate an audience. By all accounts, Do was extremely persuasive’ (Balch 1982 p. 23). However, Do’s ‘presence’ appeared far deeper than that of the dominant ‘patriarch’, as Balch (1982) further recounts:
‘A few ex-members claimed their minds went blank in his presence, and one man insisted that he saw a vivid image of a UFO the moment Bo touched him on the shoulder. The experience was so real that even long after defecting, the man continued to believe he had actually put his hand on the spaceship's landing gear’ (Balch 1982 p. 23-24).
Moreover, withdrawn from the broader community and becoming increasingly isolated, the followers’ lifestyles became extremely regimented in preparation for the next kingdom. The rigid teachings were designed to ‘de-emphasise the individual’; the cult also adopted a new vocabulary containing a lingo of space-age metaphors. Furthermore, behavioural rules also altered during the cult's existance; abstinence from alcohol and drugs, celibacy, societal isolation, and reduced 'human-level' relationships and attachments within ‘the group’ were key behavioural strategies. Furthermore, the cutting of one's hair, changing one's name, male castration (the symbolic shedding of one’s ‘earthly’ container) and the disposal of one's material possessions and/or worldly connections were all acts of symbolic interactionism. Simply put, the cult’s lifestyle,
‘... ensured alienation from society, ... [whereby] cult members weren't encouraged to develop selves that could withstand .... potent seductions ...; without the restraints of responsibility, family, and a grounding in the community, cyber or real, the cult members didn't have the real-world anchor they may well have needed, rather ‘... they were free to drift further and further out in cyberspace and into the cosmos, ultimately unable to connect with the living ...’ (Robinson 1997 p. 5 of 57).
Furthermore, the cult experienced an intensive nomadic and unstable existence in a short period over the next fifteen years. From Wyoming, the group moved to Salt Lake City; it appears Heaven’s Gate were in financial straits as some members became employed to meet the group’s financial needs. However, this situation was brief as an ‘apparent’ inheritance allowed them to move and take up rental homes firstly in Denver and later in Dallas-Fort Worth. Additionally, Heaven’s Gate followers spent considerable time on their mountainous forty-acre compound in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The cult’s purpose was to create a expansive but Spartan compound known as ‘The Earthship’. Fundamentally, the compound reflected the group's beliefs regarding the interior layout of a UFO. This compound remained as a major component of ‘the groups’ structure, despite the followers’ move again in 1996, taking up final residence at the mansion of a financially-troubled businessman in Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego, California. This a rejection of materialism and other things worldly coupled with the nomadic existence played a major elementary role within the Heaven’s Gate’s lifestyle (Hadden 1997).
On March 26 1997, the decomposing bodies of twenty-one females and eighteen males, aged between twenty-six and seventy-two, were discovered at this location. Some days before, members had swallowed pudding or applesauce containing vodka and barbiturates, and had suffocated from plastic bag affixation. In a show of collectivism, all members were identically attired in Nike runners and unisex black shirts and pants; many also had purple shrouds draped across their lifeless faces (Robinson 1997).
However, early reports regarding the suicides were rudimentary, fragmented, highly misleading, and at times mistaken. For instance, in 1994 two believers confided to sociologist, Robert Balch, that there were only twenty four members, however, the Californian suicide location revealed thirty nine followers. Additionally, some reports claimed that the majority of members were predominantly 18-24 years old males. However, later evidence revealed the 'average' age of 'the group' members was 46.7 years, more than twice the reported age, and an equal division of men and women. Other reports also claimed branches of 'the group' in other locations might also be planning, or may have already have committed suicide (Balch & Taylor 2003).
Furthermore, evidence indicates that during the early to mid 1990’s, ‘the group’ enjoyed a measure of wealth and success both within the cult and within the ‘outside’ world (Robinson 1997). However, it is believed that Do was diagnosed with incurable cancer, and with the death of Ti of ‘natural causes’ some years early ‘the group’ became distraught, believing their leader was leaving them behind in favour of his ‘heavenly domain’. These types of collective thoughts and emotions can be explained explicitly in terms of Durkheim’s concept of anomic suicide, thus defining other reasons as to why members apparently suicide. In quoting Durkheim (1897), Goodman and Ritzer (2004) claim that anomic suicide occurs when ‘... regulative powers ... are disrupted ... leav[ing] individuals dissatisfied because there is little control over their passions ..’ (Goodman & Ritzer 2004 p. 89). In the cults case, a ‘negative’ disruption rendered ‘the group’ ‘... temporarily incapable of exercising its authority over individuals’ (Goodman & Ritzer 2004 p. 90). Additionally, such a distruption caused ‘... currents of anomie – moods of rootlessness and normlessness - ... lead(ing) to an increase in ... anomic suicide’ (Goodman & Ritzer 2004 p. 90). Feeling and thoughts of ‘negative’ abandonment caused by the imminent ‘departure’ of Do from ‘the group’s’ earthly realm, must be considered as a major factor as to why Heaven’s Gate members apparently committed suicide.
Many other theories also exist as to why Heaven’s Gate members apparently committed suicide. Three such arguments which contain theoretical substance are those of Robinson (1997); Leary (1997); and Scwartz (1996). Firstly, Robinson (1997) postulates the pop culture and computer technology exasperated the member’s supposed suicide. Members were fanatics of ‘The X-Files' and the 'Star Trek' television series, both of which prominently featured alien beings. Popular cultural science fiction, especially images of extra-terrestrial life in television and movies, profoundly influenced 'the group's' worldview (Balch 1982). Fundamentally, ‘Heaven's Gate followers looked to the heavens for meaning but found answers in pop culture gods and goddesses ... on television screens and computer monitors’ (Robinson 1997 p. 7 of 57). Inspired by the relationship between emerging space travel and communication technologies, the cult's study of computers dates back some years. The cult's Southern Californian based computer business, Higher Source, specialising in state of the art, cutting-edge Web site construction. Media accounts claim that the success of 'the group's Web efforts provided the necessary funding needed to support their expansive Rancho Santa Fe mansion. The sect also left behind apocalyptic messages at the estate and within home pages on the World Wide Web (Robinson 1997). Still, while some believe the ‘Net’ wasn’t the cause for the Heaven's Gate deaths, it is conceivable to imagine that Do’s teachings impacted with other elements, i.e. cyberculture, to create favourable mass suicide conditions.
In terms of the ‘Millennium Fever’ theory, Senior Fellow at the Millennium Institute, Hillel Schwartz (1996), analysed historical evidence and developed a theoretical framework which also defined Heaven's Gate ‘end of the century’ beliefs, defending that ‘the change to the year 2000 is deeply meaningful in human terms, soul data or neo-biology writ large’ (Shwartz 1996). Furthermore, Schwartz (1996) contextualised Heaven's Gate as a millennial case-study, indicating that the ‘Earth Exit Statements’ (further discussed below), convey that members may have acted accordingly - during the ‘true cusp of the third millennium’ - under the determination of Schwartz's seven millennium ‘tendencies’ i.e. searching for signs, getting confused, counting dates etc. (refer appendix a p. 13 – Schwartz’ 1996 ‘Tendencies at Centuries' Ends’ theory). Evidence shows that ‘the group’ suffered the types of ‘symptons’ this theory describes (Robinson 1997).
Moreover, another theory proposes the apparent suicides may have been due to ‘heavenly signs’ as opposed to ‘timeliness of event’. O'Leary (1997) attributes the cult’s paradoxical excitement to millennial fever, claiming that Heaven's Gate was the ‘... most significant thus far of the bizarre incidents that may take place as we approach the year 2000’ (O’Leary 1997). However, O'Leary (1997) also points out that the Heaven's Gate ‘suicide’ was coincidentally timed with the ‘... nearest approach to Earth of the comet Hale-Bopp -- a celestial event that, like many comets throughout history, has been greeted in apocalyptic circles as a harbinger of cosmic change’ (O'Leary 1997; for further examples refer to the Millerite’s 1844). In mid-November 1996, Houston astronomer Chuck Shramek telephoned Coast to Coast - a popular radio broadcast which debated interesting matters within the UFO community. Shramek claimed to have taken a photograph of a mysterious object traveling behind Hale-Bopp. This report was coupled the following evening as the radio broadcast featured guest speaker, Director of the Atlanta-based Farsight Institute, Courtney Brown, claimed three ‘Institute’ psychics also perceived a companion vehicle occupied by extra-terrestrials. Despite there being conflictual reports claiming whether Shramek's call was a mistake or a hoax, the simple act has been extensively accused of being that which ruptured Heaven's Gate's ‘holding pattern’, thus triggering the ‘suicide’ event (Robinson 1997).
In addition, the popular viewpoint, that members were lured into 'the group' by dubious mind control methods appears highly questionable and it is difficult to conclude, especially in noting their regimented practices, that followers were psychological controlled and mentally unstable. The evidence clearly does not fit the classic 'myths' of mindless drones committing God a only knows what atrocities; rather, indications show that members willingly joined 'the group' and accepted its teachings without undue pressure. Balch (1995) further characterised this practice as being a 'totalistic' and 'encapsulated environment', while conversely noting that non-believers were encouraged to leave (Balch 1995). However, this may appear to fit such an analysis if one accesses the Cult’s ‘edited website to explain the deaths of its members. The ‘Earthly Exit Statements’ play a pivotal role in supporting the cult’s beliefs by proclaiming;
‘[Our] exit will probably make many feel that we were wrong in thinking the Next Level was a physical place. In reality, we will just have made our transition to a more advanced Next Level vehicle (more physical and real than this body) much easier. You see, it is very much like the caterpillar making the transition towards becoming a butterfly -- discarding the old shell so the new one inside can emerge’ (Chkody 1997 cited in Robinson 1997 p. 17 of 57).
In conclusion, Heaven’s Gate believed they were merely students and their death would allow participation in the higher level of human evolution. The coming of Comet Hale-Bopp signaled an end to their student status, and that positioned behind the comet a heavenly vehicle waited to ascend believers to the next level. It is understood that Do believed he would soon die of cancer, primed 'the group' into taking the concerted 'suicidal' action in case their guiding leader leave without them. In a literal sense, students did not believe this to be an act of committing suicide; they simply envisioned themselves as abandoning a material 'realm' that was no longer regarded as necessary. Fundamentally, the 'Heavensgate' deaths were acts of faith; a graduation to the realm from which Do and Ti had descended. However, if one were to also consider the theories and ideas of Durkheim (1897); Balch (1977; 1979: 1982); Robinson (1997); Leary (1997); and Scwartz (1996) and others, it reasonable to claim that many factors played an integral role into why Heaven’s Gate members committed suicide.
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