Mass Suicide Part I - Heaven's Gate

Today I begin a series of posts on a sub-topic of death that may seem unknown to some readers. Mass suicides are tragic events that leave the media dumbfounded in its coverage and even now, years after many of these events have taken place, are given very little attention.

Heaven's Gate

Ten years ago, over two days (March 22-23, 1997) 39 members of this infamous cult committed suicide at a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California where the members lived and learned the teachings of the "Next Level" above human existence.

To pay for their living and learning expenses the members ran a successful web development enterprise based out of the mansion.

The decision to end their lives and free their soul from their human form (or what they called their "vehicles") came after a comet (Hale-Bopp) got too close to Jupiter, which altered the comet’s orbit so that it would return every 2,000 years. Within the comet's tail of dust and space matter, conspiracy theorists saw the presence of a UFO. Marshall Herff Applewhite (known to followers as DO), leader of the cult and the self-proclaimed second-coming of Jesus Christ, saw this as the indicator for them to leave their existence on Earth behind. A "Red Alert" message flashed across the top of the group's website, indicating their time had come.

On the first day, the first 15 members ate applesauce or pudding mixed with Phenobarbital and drank vodka - a deadly mix that first knocks a person unconscious, they then slip into a coma and, eventually, their circular-system collapses - which killed them slowly, but painlessly. The second day, 15 more performed the same passage, then seven and then the final two.

Followers made "Exit videos" just days before the mass suicide and below is one of those videos. The second video is Applewhite's (or DO) "Exit video" explaining why the time to leave is now. Click here for more videos.





Click here for San Diego County Sheriff's Department tape of the scene where several bodies, dressed with Nike shoes and draped with purple cloth, lay in their mansion beds. Below is footage from a 1997 news report leaked on LiveLeak.



Sole Survivor Comes Forward Again

Just before the events in 1997, one member had an strong feeling, a feeling that he was not supposed to join his fellow followers in the "Next Life". Rio DiAngelo went to DO and shared with him the feelings he was having, similar in strength to the one that lead him to Heaven's Gate. DO felt this was a sign, a sign that he must stay behind and inform the media with the message and an understanding.

In 1994, it was this article in LA Weekly on the cult, known back then as "The Overcomers" lead by Applewhite and his wife Bonnie Lu Nettles, who died of cancer in 1985 (it was believed she was on the spaceship on her quest to retrieve the others) that lead Rio to the cult. So, earlier this week he went back to the same publication that lead him in the right direction before, to drop off a package of new information and contact in order for the paper to reach him.

Yesterday, Joshuah Bearman wrote an article in LA Weekly after speaking to Rio once more. Rio would not speak unless a prepared declaration was published which read,

“I am alive not because I rejected anything about Heaven’s Gate.

“I am alive because I have discovered something so extraordinarily important to the world that it needs to pass on to you in its most true and accurate form from ME.”

Rio still believes in the following of the cult and is not trying to force anyone to believe him. He is simply doing his job as the messenger. He wrote a book called "Beyond Human Mind – the Soul Evolution of Heaven’s Gate". Click here to read the statement of Rio DiAngelo as it was included in the information package delivered to LA Weekly.

Below is a video documentary directed by Sergio Meyers as found on YouTube. The documentary uses video taken by Rio of the dead members lying in their beds after "exiting", taken before the police arrived at the scene. As well, it uses video of the class's various field trips for us to get a better understanding of it all. Enjoy!