& # 8217 ; s Gate Suicides Essay, Research Paper

The Heaven & # 8217 ; s Gate Suicides

Red ALERT! Hale-Bopp brings closing to: Heaven & # 8217 ; s Gate. This is the recognizing one receives upon sing the Heaven & # 8217 ; s Gate web page. It is a persistent message that was left behind when 21 adult females and 18 work forces took their ain lives on March 23, 24, and 25, 1997. This mass self-destruction was under the supervising of Marshall Herff Applewhite, the cult & # 8217 ; s magnetic leader. Heaven & # 8217 ; s Gate was non Applewhite & # 8217 ; s first cult. It was the latest of three organisations that he and his spouse, Bonnie Lu Trusdale Nettles had founded. The first of which was & # 8220 ; Human Individual Metamorphosis & # 8221 ; which was founded in 1975. This group disbanded with the decease of Nettles from malignant neoplastic disease in 1985. He formed a new group called & # 8220 ; Entire Overcomers Anonymous & # 8221 ; in 1993. He relocated this group to the ill-famed San Diego sign of the zodiac where he lived on to go one of the 39 self-destructions in March of 1997.

The Heaven & # 8217 ; s Gate cult was founded under unusual beliefs. Applewhite preached that Jesus was an extraterrestrial and that the nucleus of oneself was an foreigner in topographic point of the traditional belief of the psyche. All the cult members believed themselves to be foreigners as good. The members were prohibited from sexual activity and were denied sexual individuality by agencies of unisex vesture and unisex intervention. Eight work forces of the cult, including Applewhite, went so far as to undergo voluntary emasculations. It is theorized that Applewhite instituted this complete prohibition of gender because of his turning away of his ain gender. Applewhite was a homosexual and even tried to free himself of his & # 8220 ; burden & # 8221 ; by perpetrating himself in the 70 & # 8217 ; s when it was thought by some that homosexualism could be cured. It is besides hypothesized that the deficiency of gender was due to the belief that foreigners have no sexual variety meats seeing as they modeled the

mselves as extraterrestrial monastics and nuns. These psychotic beliefs are what lead them to their ill-timed deceases.

The concatenation of events that resulted in the deceases of 39 mislead work forces and adult females was set in consequence by what could hold been mechanical mistake. An recreational uranologist reported snaping a immense & # 8220 ; Saturn-like object & # 8221 ; draging the tail of the comet Hale-Bopp. Applewhite received intelligence of this immature adult males find. He came to the decision that this object was a UFO that was meant to take the cult members to the & # 8221 ; following degree & # 8221 ; . The self-destructions occurred when this comet & # 8217 ; s class was closest to the Earth. The members were found in bunk beds have oning black Nike & # 8217 ; s and black unisex costumes. They had plastic bags and violet shrouds over their caputs. In their blood, medical testers found a practical cocktail of drugs. All of the members had ingested Phenobarbital that was, assorted with apple sauce or pudding and most of them chased this with vodka. Some of the members besides took Vicodin and legion others suffocated under plastic bags.

In late March of 1997, 39 work forces and adult females put themselves to decease under the convoluted leading of Marshall Herff Applewhite. Who is to fault for this tragic concatenation of events? Was it the amateur with the telescope? Was the Internet to fault? In my personal sentiment, no 1 but Applewhite and his followings were blameworthy. Who knows, possibly the cult did catch a drive with that UFO. Possibly they did do their manner to the following degree, but every bit far as I know they have been reduced to a mere spot of trifle here on Earth.

Bibliography

1. Dornan, Rusty. & # 8220 ; Suicide investigation focuses on the cult & # 8217 ; s hoard of pills. & # 8221 ; Cnn.com 29 March 1997.

2. Heaven & # 8217 ; s Gate- When and how it may be entered. 20 March 1997

3. LaMotte, Greg. & # 8220 ; Trials confirm cult members ingested drugs, alcohol. & # 8221 ; Cnn.com 5 April 1997.