MARSHALL APPLEWHITE
MARSHALL APPLEWHITE
17 May 1931 - 26 March 1997
HEAVEN’S GATE
Marshall Applewhite was the cult leader of the American group Heaven’s Gate, an organization based in San Diego, California. Applewhite created the cult in 1974 with Bonnie Nettles.
Applegate was a child of a minister which inspired his fascination with Bible prophecy. He was fired from University after having an affair with one of his male students and then married Nettles, who he met whilst in a psychiatric hospital. They advertised their beliefs to those who were interested in prophecies and aliens. All members had to give up their earthly possessions, their friends and family, jobs and all their money. Everything in the cult had to be shared and male members could undergo castration.
In 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 of his followers in a rented mansion in San Diego. The group participated in a mass suicide on his order, after he told them that an alien aircraft was following a comet which would pick them up on the way and restore them to life. Applewhite was the third to last member who died.
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