Heaven's Gate- Part 1 - Killer Queens: A True Crime Podcast

On March 26, 1997, Rio DiAngelo, previous name, Richard Ford, entered the 9,200 square foot mansion that his friends rented in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Upon entering, he found all 39 people inside dead and made a call to 911 wanting to make an anonymous tip of a religious group’s suicide. He used a nearby payphone and told the dispatchers that he wanted to report a mass suicide. They didn’t even believe him at first and didn’t act on it right away.

Black Tracksuits, Nike Tennis Shoes, and Barbiturates, Oh My!

Rio DiAngelo was a former member of the Heaven’s Gate cult and he had just walked in on the results of the cult’s mass suicide plan that was intended to take their spirits to the “Next Level Above Human.” All 39 people inside were wearing identical black tracksuits with a patch on the sleeve (that Rio had actually designed) and identical black and white Nike’s. All 39 were laying in bed face up, some with bags over their heads, and all with purple shrouds over their bodies.

All 39 had $5.75 on their person (one $5 bill and 3 quarters each) for their “interplanetary toll.”

The members of the cult all believed that this wasn’t a suicide, but instead, they were being taken up to the 33 alien spaceships that were following behind the Hale-Bopp comet that was passing Earth for the 1st time in 2000 years (and it would be another 2000 years before it returned). Inside one of these spaceships was God and each of the members would receive a new body upon their transcendence. Alone in the master bedroom, was the body of the leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult, Marshall Applewhite.

Marshall Herff Applewhite

Marshall Herff Applewhite, Jr. was born on May 17, 1931, in Spur, Texas. His father was a Presbyterian minister, and Applewhite grew up learning the Bible. He went to Austin College and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1952 and quickly enrolled in Union Presbyterian Seminary to study theology. With goals of following in his father’s minister footsteps, Applewhite did the family man thing marrying Anne Pearce and having 2 kids, Mark and Lane. Applewhite eventually decided that his passion wasn’t in seminary but in music. He left the seminary and moved to North Carolina to be the music director of a Presbyterian church. He was still into the religious aspect, but he preferred to praise through music than through sermons.

Applewhite was drafted into the army in 1954 and then left in 1956 after serving in Austria and New Mexico. Once he was out, he enrolled in the University of Colorado and earned a master’s degree in music. Then he tried to become a star, as most cult leader’s do, and moved to New York City to try becoming a professional singer. Surprisingly that didn’t work out, and he moved yet again to teach at the University of Alabama. But, Applewhite got into some trouble and was fired for having a sexual relationship with a male student. Applewhite and Anne separated in 1965 when she found out about the affair and their divorce was finalized in 1968.

After being fired from the University of Alabama, Applewhite moved back to Texas and began teaching at the University of St. Thomas. He separated from this job as well. He claimed he left because of a nervous breakdown, but he was actually fired for once again having an affair with a male student.

Marshall Meets Bonnie

In March of 1972, Applewhite met Bonnie Lu Nettles though how they met has had many versions. Nettles’ journal said they met when he visited a friend at the hospital where Nettles worked as a nurse. Nettles’ daughter, Terrie said that they met at the theater where Terrie worked. She said that Applewhite was working there, and Bonnie was there doing astrological charts for people and that after her mother did Applewhite’s chart she told Terrie that there was something different about his chart. She believed they were spiritually linked. A spiritual link that shunned sex.

Nettles was also raised in Texas in a religious Baptist family. In 1949, she married a man named Joseph Nettles, and they had 4 children. Their marriage was slightly rocky before Nettles met Applewhite. Terrie said that she and her mom would go into the backyard at night and look for UFOs. According to a New York Times article, Nettles had begun to believe that a 19th-century monk named “Brother Francis” was talking to her and telling her what to do. She also began holding seances at their house every Wednesday and seeing fortune tellers regularly. One of which allegedly told her that she would soon meet a mysterious man with light hair and a fair complexion.

Enter Marshall Applewhite.

They ran off together on New Year’s Day of 1973. Nettles abandoned her kids and husband, but did regularly write to Terrie, who was about 20 at the time.

Marshall and Bonnie Hit the Road

During 1973, Applewhite and Nettles opened a New Age bookstore in Houston, Texas which quickly failed. So, they did some “soul-searching” and traveled for about 6 weeks and decided to open a restaurant in Taos, New Mexico called Sunshine Company which also failed. So, they traveled around and supported themselves with money from odd jobs until their car broke down in Oregon. They were camping near a river when they convinced themselves that they were the “Two Witnesses” that were discussed in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 11 Verses 1-14.

In their belief system, Jesus was to be reincarnated as a Texan, kind of like Applewhite, and they believed that they had higher-level minds than everyone else. Because Applewhite was a fan of science fiction (and because of their feelings of superiority), they believed that they would be “recycled.” They were in these vehicles (bodies) as camouflage and were sent to Earth to lead humanity out of the corrupt world.

Do’s Intro: Purpose

Two thousand years ago, crew of members of the Kingdom of Heaven who are responsible for nurturing “gardens,” determined that a percentage of the human “plants” of the present civilization of this Garden (Earth) had developed enough that some of those bodies might be ready to be used as “containers” for soul deposits. Upon instruction, a member of the Kingdom of Heaven then left behind His body in that Next Level (similar to putting it in a closet, like a suit of clothes that doesn’t need to be worn for a while), came to Earth, and moved into (or incarnated into), an adult human body (or “vehicle”) that had been “prepped” for this particular task. The body that was chosen was called Jesus. The member of the Kingdom of Heaven who was instructed to incarnate into that body did so at His “Father’s” (or Older Member’s) instruction. He “moved into” (or took over) that body when it was 29 or 30 years old, at the time referred to as its baptism by John the Baptist (the incarnating even was depicted as “…the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove” – Luke 3:22). [That body (named Jesus) was tagged in its formative period to be the receptacle of the Next Level Representative, and even just that “tagging” gave that “vehicle” some unique awareness of its coming purpose.]

The sole task that was given to this member from the Kingdom of Heaven was to offer the way leading to membership into the Kingdom of Heaven to those who recognized Him for who He was and chose to follow Him. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” meant – ‘since I am here, and I am from that Kingdom, if you leave everything of this world and follow me, I can take you into my Father’s Kingdom.’ Only those individuals who had received a “deposit” containing a soul’s beginning had the capacity to believe or recognize the Kingdom of Heaven’s Representative. They could get His Father only through total reliance upon Him. He later sent His students out with the “Good news of the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and His followers could then help gather the “flock” so that the “Shepherd” might teach others what was required of them to enter His Father’s House – His Father’s Kingdom – the Kingdom of Heaven – in the literal and physical Heavens – certainly not among humans on Earth. Leaving behind this world included: family, sensuality, selfish desires, your human mind, and even your human body if it be required of you – all mammalian ways, thinking and behavior. Since He had been through this metamorphic transition Himself from human to Level Above Human – under the guidance of His Father – He was qualified to take others through that same discipline and transition. Remember, the One who incarnated in Jesus was sent for one purpose only, to say, ‘If you want to go to Heaven, I can take you through that gate – it requires everything of you.’

Our mission is exactly the same. I am in the same position to today’s society as was the One that was in Jesus then. My being here now is actually a continuation of that last task as was promised, to those who were students 2000 years ago. They are here again, continuing in their own overcoming, while offering the same transition to others. Our only purpose is to offer the discipline and “grafting” required of this transition into membership in My Father’s House. My Father, my Older Member, came with me this time for the first half of this task to assist in the task because of its present difficulty.

Looking to us, and desiring to be a part of my Father’s Kingdom, can offer to those with deposits that chance to connect with the Level Above Human, and begin that transition. Your separation from the world and reliance upon the Kingdom of Heaven through its Representatives can open to you the opportunity to become a new creature, one of the Next Evolutionary Level, rightfully belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why It Is Difficult to Believe or Accept Us

We don’t know if you believe in the real existence of negative or “lower” forces. If you do, then you may be able to understand or relate to some of what we are about to say. It seems that how your “programming” permits you to see or identify those forces, determines the limit of your acceptance or understanding. Many believe that there are “evil” acts or even “evil” individuals, but would draw the line before they would believe in evil spirits, evil discarnates, negative influences, malevolent space aliens, “Luciferians,” or Satan and his fallen angels.

The generally accepted “norms” of today’s societies – world over – are designed, established, and maintained by the individuals who were at one time “students” of the Kingdom of Heaven – “angels” in the making – who “flunked out” of the classroom. Legends and scriptures refer to them as fallen angels. The current civilization’s records use the name Satan or Lucifer to describe a single fallen angel and also to “nickname” any “evil presence.” If you have experienced some of what our “classroom” requires of us, you would know that these “presences” are real and that the Kingdom of God even permits them to “attack” us in order for us to learn tricks and how to stay above them or conquer them. The space aliens, or Luciferians, use the discarnate spirits (the minds that are disembodied at the death of a body) as their primary servants – against potential members of the Kingdom of God. These “influences,” or discarnates, are constantly “programming” every human “plant” (vehicle or body), to accept a set of beliefs and norms for behavior during a lifetime. From our point of view, this “programming” finds that body, and the vast majority of all human bodies, barely usable by students of the Kingdom of Heaven.

As the example can serve to testify, the “lower forces” would – through their “norm” concept – what is “socially acceptable,” what is politically correct – have you not believe in spirits, spirit possession, negative space aliens, Satan, etc. They would have you believe that to even dabble in these ideas is of the “occult,” satanic, or at the least, giving credence to “fringe” topics. That’s where they would also categorize any mental search of Eastern religions, astrology, metaphysics, paranormal, UFOs, etc., etc. In other words, they (these space aliens) don’t want themselves “found out,” so they condemn any exploration. They want you to be a perfect servant to society (THEIR society — of THEIR world) — to the “acceptable establishment,” to humanity, and to false religious concepts. Part of that “stay blinded” formula goes like this: “Above all, be married, a good parent, a reasonable church goer, buy a house, pay your mortgage, pay your insurance, have a good line of credit, be socially committed, and graciously accept death with the hope that ‘through His shed blood,’ or some other equally worthless religious precept, you will go to Heaven after your death.”

Many segments of society, especially segments of the religious, think that they are not “of the world,” but rather that their “conversion” experience fdines them “outside of worldliness.” The next statement that we will make will be the “Big Tester,” the one that the “lower forces” would use to clearly have you discredit or disregard us. That statement is: Unless you are currently an active student or are attempting to become a student of the present Representative of the Kingdom of Heaven – you ARE STILL “of the world,” having done no significant separation from worldliness, and you are still serving the opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven. This statement sounds – to humans who have been so carefully programmed by the “lower forces” – arrogant, pompous, or egotistical at least – as if by taking this stand we had something to gain – as if we were seeking recognition as “Deity” or as self-appointed prophets.

That Luciferian programming has truly been effective, for we don’t even want to voice to you the statement in question. However, believe it or not, it is only for your sake – the sake of prospective recipients for the Kingdom of Heaven – that we must “tell the truth,” openly identify to you as Representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven, well aware of the “fallout” of the position.

The hard fact or bold statements in a nutshell, that are so difficult to accept or “digest” – come down to: If you want or ever expect to go to Heaven – here is your window. That window opportunity requires: 1) an incarnate (as human) Representative of the Kingdom of Heaven; 2) that all who hope to enter Heaven become active students of that Representative while the Representative is present; 3) those who endure the “transition classroom” until it ends (adequately bonding or “grafting” to that Representative) will go with that Representative – literally LEAVE the human kingdom and Earth as He is about to do. Staying behind, for any significant period, could jeopardize that “graft.” That window to Heaven will not open again until another civilization is planted and has reached significant maturity (according to the judgment of the Next Level).

We can’t blame you for “buying into” the “Luciferian” program. What else has been available during those periods when no Representative was present? Almost nothing – save warnings in the Scriptures, i.e., Luke 20:34-36, Luke 21:23, Mark 12:25, and Mark 13:17-19. Check these out.

Another fact is that what someone is into during the time a Representative is not present really doesn’t matter that much, except that they are found unprepared when One comes – the only time when the Kingdom of Heaven can be offered to you.

The dilemma is we are here and most humans are thoroughly “hooked” to humanity. However, the same “grace” that was available at the end of the Representative’s mission 2000 years ago is available now with our presence. If you quickly choose to take these steps toward separating from the world, and look to us for help, you will see our Father’s Kingdom. It is clear to all of us, that to the Anti-Christ — those propagators of sustained faithfulness to mammalian humanism — we are, and will be seen as, their Anti-Christ. This is certainly to be expected, and it will not delay our return to our Father’s Kingdom. It might even accelerate that return.

We will, between now and our departure, do everything we can for those who want to go with us. But we cannot allow them to interfere with or delay our return to Him.

The Present Representative

Then, they were arrested for stealing (not returning) a rental car and using stolen credit cards. Nettles was released quickly, but Applewhite spent 6 months in jail where he wrote a document he called Statement I as their first recruiting opportunity.

First Statement

What religions have sought to understand since the beginning of their origin is what is above the human level of existence. Most have taught that if an individual lives a “good life” adoring some savior that he will inherit some “heaven” after his death. Only if it were that simple. That viewpoint is as inaccurate as the caterpillar believing that if he dies a good caterpillar, he will mysteriously awaken in a rose blossom and live there forever with the King butterfly. He must become a butterfly while a healthy caterpillar – overcoming his decay option. If he rises above all caterpillar ways, converts all his energies to the pursuit of becoming literally another creature who circulates in another world, he becomes a butterfly. Likewise, a human who seeks only to become a member of his next evolutionary kingdom may become a member of that kingdom if he completely overcomes all the aspects and influences of the human level providing he has found favor with a member of that next level who will direct him through his metamorphosis. As the caterpillar, the human can complete this changeover only before his death as a human. A member of the next kingdom finds favor with one who is willing to endure all the necessary growing pains or wearing himself totally from his human condition. Members of that next kingdom are no more confined to human limitations than butterflies to caterpillar limitations. Nor do they in like comparison concern themselves with human-type indulgences or concerns. However, if the human is thought of as a larva of that next kingdom then there are, at time, those who are approaching the completion of their individual metamorphosis and are beginning to have some of the attributes and characteristics of that next kingdom. When the metamorphosis is complete their “perennial” and cyclic nature is ended for their “new” body has overcome decay, disease and death. It has converted over chemically, biologically, and in vibration to the “new” creature.

Approximately 2,000 years ago an individual of that next kingdom forfeited his body of that kingdom and entered a human female’s womb, thereby incarnating as the one history refers to as Jesus of Nazareth. He awakened to this fact gradually through the same metamorphic process and came to know that he had incarnated for the express purpose of telling and showing, even to the point of proof, that the next kingdom can be entered by overcoming the human aspects and literally converting into a “man” or creature of that next kingdom – the kingdom of his Father – one who is already a member of that kingdom. By His resurrection He proved that death can be literally overcome and that a permanent body for the next kingdom is acquired from the human kingdom. He did not leave His body in the grade. He converted it into His body of that next kingdom. This is the only way the next kingdom is entered permanently. Each human has that full potential. Jesus’ “Christing” or christening was completed at His transfiguration (metamorphic completion) and He remained in the “larva” environment, with other accomplished. He showed them His new body and demonstrated a few of its ne attributed, I.e., appearing and disappearing (changing HIs vibrations) before their eyes while letting some of His friends touch His “new” body. This could be compared to a butterfly remaining in the caterpillar world for a few days to show them what they had to look forward to it they chose to seek true conscious communication with a butterfly and were willing to overcome all of their caterpillar ways. Then Jesus left them in a cloud of light (what humans refer to as UFOs) and moves and returns in the same manner.

There are two individuals here now who have also come from that next kingdom, incarnate as humans, awakened, and will soon demonstrate the same proof of overcoming death. They are “sent” from that kingdom by the “Father” to bear the same truth that was Jesus’. This is like a repeat performance, except this time by two (a man and a woman) to restate the truth Jesus bore, restore its accurate meaning, and again show that any individual who seeks that kingdom will find it through the same process. This “re-statement” or demonstration will happen within months. The two who are the “actors” in theis “theater” are in the meantime doing all they can to relate this truth as accurately as possible so that when their bodies recover from their “dead” state (resurrection) and they leave (UFO’s) those left behind will have clearly understood the formula.

Those who can believe this process and do it will be “lifted up” individually and “saved” from death – literally. If you seek those two while they are here they will gladly fill you in on the details and assist those who wish to follow in this “path.”

If this speaks to you – respond – according to your capabilities or needs. For your sake – give this opportunity your best.

Because of their reference to the caterpillar and the changes it undergoes, their original group was named “Human Individual Metamorphosis.” They mailed this notice and changed their names (not legally) to Guinea (Nettles) and Pig (Applewhite) in order to convey the message that they were part of an experiment by the “Next Level.” Guinea and Pig get their first followers and once again change their names to Bo and Peep. They make their first public appearance at a meeting at Canada College and their membership jumps to about 200 converts.

In September of 1975, Bo and Peep and “the Crew” made an appearance in a small town in Oregon called Waldport. They gave a lecture about how UFOs were coming and the crowd of about 150 people came thinking it was a joke. However, 20 people packed up all their shit and abandoned their lives to follow the UFO cult to Colorado where there was supposed to be an even bigger meeting (about 400 people) of people who thought aliens were coming for them. That meeting never happened and most of the Oregon converts went home and none of them were among the final 39 dead.

There was bad press involved with the Oregon meeting so Bo and Peep dip out to other states that they decided had “good energy.” Another part of Applewhite’s delusions was that he could communicate telepathically. He was able to convince multiple people that if they mentally said the Lord’s Prayer, he would hear them and he’d reach out.

By 1976, the cult was a hot mess and Applewhite and Nettles (or Bo and Peep) reappeared in April at Manhattan College in Kansas to announce they were no longer accepting new members. The “Harvest” was over. Members were selling their blood to blood banks and wealthy members were signing over their trust funds to keep the group funded.

In July, the Crew moves to Wyoming for the summer and many of their members leave because Bo and Peep enforce a bunch of strict rules banning hugging, jeans, jewelry, drugs and sex among many other things. Applewhite had been promiscuous in his previous life and also kind of wanted to pretend he wasn’t attracted to other men. He tried to physically separate himself from all the men in the group already, so the sex restrictions made it even easier to keep the distance as well as control his members.

These are the 17 Steps:

Can you follow instructions without adding your own interpretation?
Can you deliver instructions as you receive them or do they change according to your computer?
Do you participate in inconsiderate conversation, polluting the ears of others while you and your partner work things out?
Are you physically clumsy – breaking things because you handle them too harshly or carelessly?
Do you halfway complete a task because of your poor standard of what is thorough?
Do you put tasks off – procrastinate?
Are your patterns of cleanliness, sensitivity, gentleness, etc. consistent or are they good only when spotlighted?
Do you use more of something than is adequate (for example, excessively high cooking flame, more toothpaste than necessary, etc.)?
Do you go from one extreme to another: as from overeating to undereating, etc.?
Are you sensitive when approaching another individual about something you want to discuss? Do you permit that individual the choice to continue what he is doing, or do you force him to drop it in order to give attention to you? Do you stop and check, or do you assume that what is on your mind is more important than what is on theirs? (Know the difference between your relationship with your teachers and your fellow classmates in this regard.)
Do you needlessly ask a question when the answer is obvious or a moment of silent observation would quickly reveal the answer?
Are you pushy, aggressive, interfering, or demanding in any way?
Has familiarity caused you to become so relaxed with your partners or others that your actions or words don’t hold enough restraint?
Are you gentle, simple, cautious, and thoughtfully restrained in your steps and all other physical actions or words?
Have you outgrown defensiveness and its flipside, martyrdom?
Can you understand and review in your mind all the ways in which members of the Next Level are sensitive? If you can, you have no excuse for not working on improving in these areas?
When your teachers have asked someone to do a task and it relates to you, do you treat that task and its deliverers with as much respect as you would if it came directly from your teachers?

And there are Major and Lesser Offenses:

Major Offenses
1. Deceit
  - Doing an act “on the sly.”
  - Lying to my teachers or any classmates.
  - Keeping an offense to myself, not exposing it the same day.
2. Sensuality – Permitting arousal in thought or in action (not nipping it in the bud).
3. Breaking any instruction or procedure knowingly.
Lesser Offenses
1. Taking any action without using my check partner.
2. Trusting my own judgment – or using my own mind.
3. Twisting procedures for my own benefit.
4. Responding defensively to my classmates or teachers.
5. Criticizing or finding fault with my classmates or teachers.
6. Allowing blatant or lingering negativity, accepting the position of “I can’t.”
7. Permitting physical or verbal abuse (outbursts, harsh words, sarcasm, swearing, anger, hurtful teasing, loss of temper) toward classmates.
8. Allowing jealousy towards any classmates or comparing myself to others.
9. Staying in my own head, having private thoughts, not staying open with my partner – separateness.
10. Putting myself first, wanting my own way, rebelliousness – selfishness.
11. Entertaining inappropriate fears and worries, e.g.: Am I going to be asked to leave the class? Will our rest or consuming be adequate to meet my needs?
12. Inappropriately offering suggestions, second-guessing, or jumping ahead of my teachers.
13. Exaggerating vehicular symptoms.
14. Allowing anxiety, stress, tension, hyperness to affect my performance.
15. Picking or choosing certain tasks.
16. Having likes or dislikes.
17. Permitting laziness or slothfulness
18. Procrastinating, having misplaced priorities, or poor timing.
19. Permitting lack of control over emotions to the point that it interferes with my work or rest or is a distraction to others.
20. Participating in extremes in sensitivity – either blatantly insensitive or overly sensitive – to the point of hurt feelings, either hurt my feelings or the feelings of others.
21. Desiring attention or approval – wanting to be seen as good.
22. Using inadequate restraint (responding or acting too quickly, voice volume, noise level with feel, doors, or other objects).
23. Engaging in familiarity, casualness, gossip, lack of restraint with others.
24. Being too aggressive or pushy.
25. Exercising poor control of thoughts running through my head, being easily distracted.
26. Lacking in effort and commitment.
27. Permitting impatience or intolerance.
28. Being vain about my appearance, vibrating femininity or masculinity in any way.
29. Having inappropriate curiosity.
30. Identifying with influences – using the “I” or “me” pronoun in application to an offense instead of recognizing that it was an influence using me.
31. Over Examination – finding negative where there isn’t one

They also had a rigid vitamin routine starting every day at 7:22. What books and TV they could and could not enjoy. Even the direction of the razor when shaving and the circumference of their pancakes were controlled. They were training for what was supposed to be a very disciplined life aboard the spacecraft. Some members had jobs outside of the house plus they went out to eat and things and when they were out in public they were all to follow strict instructions and they were not allowed to interact with outsiders.

At some point, Applewhite began to doubt the allegiance of his followers so he, casually, brought up castration. It wasn’t a demand, but in the end Applewhite and 6 of his followers flew down to Mexico City and were surgically castrated. After they reappeared for a while, they disappeared back into seclusion until 1992. During their seclusion they once again change their names. This time they become “Do” (Applewhite) and “Ti” (Nettles) like the notes of a music scale (Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do) and their numbers decreased to less than 70.

In the early 1980’s the group’s name was changed to “Heaven’s Gate” (because Do and Ti felt they were the keys to get into Heaven’s Gate) and Nettles’ letters to her daughter Terrie began showing signs that she wasn’t all in anymore. Terrie said that her letters began to indicate that she might not be as invested as she once was and that Applewhite may have taken things in a direction she wasn’t completely willing to follow.

For part two, click here!