Marshall Applewhite
Encyclopedia
Marshall Herff Applewhite, Jr. (May 17, 1931 – March 26, 1997), known among his followers as "Do", was the leader of the Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (religious group)
Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religion based in San Diego, California, founded and led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles...

 religious group. A self-proclaimed prophet and messiah, he died in the group's mass suicide of 1997.

Early life

Marshall Herff Applewhite, Jr. was born in Spur, Texas
Spur, Texas
Spur is a city in Dickens County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 1,088.On October 9, 2009, Spur celebrated its centennial with the dedication of a Giant Spur sculpture. The Giant Spur was built by local welder John Grusendorf. The event, sponsored...

 to Louise Haecker Winfield and Marshall Herff Applewhite, Sr. He had two older sisters, Louise, born 1927, and Jane born 1929 as well as a brother, John Winfield born 1942. Applewhite's father was a Presbyterian minister who started new churches and moved from place to place in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 about every three years. Applewhite hoped to follow in his father's footsteps and become a preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...

 as well, but his sister and father encouraged him to develop his musical talents. Applewhite attended Corpus Christi High School, now known as Roy Miller High School
Roy Miller High School
Roy Miller High School is the oldest high school in Corpus Christi, Texas . It was created in 1894, and is part of the Corpus Christi Independent School District. Originally known as Corpus Christi High the school was renamed in 1950 in honor of Henry Pomeroy Miller, the former mayor Of Corpus...

. In high school, Applewhite proved more dedicated to music than religion, and joined the school choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

. In 1950, at age 19, Applewhite enrolled at Austin College
Austin College
Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated by covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church and located in Sherman, Texas, about 60 miles North of Dallas....

, where he pursued a degree in Music and Pre-Theology at his father's urging.

In college, Applewhite studied voice and education, fueled by his passion for choir singing. In 1954, upon his graduation, Applewhite was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Salzburg, Austria, and then White Sands, New Mexico
White Sands, New Mexico
White Sands is a census-designated place in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,323 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, where he became a Signal Corps
Signal Corps
The Signal Corps is a military branch, usually subordinate to a country's army, responsible for the military communications .Many countries have a Signal Corps, whose main function is usually communication .* Arma de Comunicaciones, signals branch of the Argentine Army* Arma delle...

 instructor. He was drafted a year after the conflict phase of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 ended, so he did not go to Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, nor did he see any action while in the service. According to his sister, he was honorably discharged at the rank of Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

 in 1956 after two years of service.

After he was discharged, Applewhite became a college music teacher. Later, in his thirties, he led a musical career. He played starring roles in stage musicals in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, was the choir director at St. Mark's Episcopal Church
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
-United States:Note: Many of these are on the National Register of Historic Places-Alabama:*St. Mark's Episcopal Church -Arkansas:*St. Mark's Episcopal Church , listed on the NRHP in Arkansas...

 in Houston, sang 15 roles with the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...

, and taught music at the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....

. Applewhite married Ann Frances Pearce in a Presbyterian church. He had a son named Mark, born in 1957, and a daughter named Lane Ann, but known as Mary, born in 1959. Applewhite was estranged from his family when his children were young. Applewhite was fired from his job as an adjunct music professor at the University of St. Thomas
University of St. Thomas
University of St. Thomas can refer to:*University of St. Thomas *University of St. Thomas *University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines*Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas , Rome, Italy...

 in 1970. The official reason given by the university was "health problems of an emotional nature".

Bonnie Nettles and Heaven's Gate

In 1972, Applewhite met a 44-year-old nurse named Bonnie Nettles
Bonnie Nettles
Bonnie Lu Nettles née Truesdale later known as Ti was co-leader of a group with Marshall Applewhite which would later become the Heaven's Gate group after Nettles's death...

 at a Houston psychiatric hospital, which he had voluntarily entered because of depression and hearing voices. Nettles convinced him that they were on earth as aliens and that Armageddon
Armageddon
Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...

 was coming. On August 28, 1974, the 43-year-old Applewhite was arrested in Harlingen, Texas
Harlingen, Texas
Harlingen is a city in Cameron County in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, United States, about from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than , and is the second largest city in Cameron County and the sixth largest in the Rio Grande Valley...

 for stealing credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

s.

After Nettles told him that he possessed special astrological attributes, Applewhite declared himself the individual in whose mind was held that of Christ, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. By 1975 they had begun Total Overcomers Anonymous together, which eventually became Heaven's Gate.

In 1975, Applewhite and Nettles convinced 20 people from Waldport, Oregon
Waldport, Oregon
Waldport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,050 at the 2000 census. The city is located on the Alsea River and Alsea Bay, south of Newport and north of Yachats.-Geography:...

 to join their group. Applewhite told them there would be an alien appearance by means of a UFO, but when the encounter never happened they left the group. However, more people joined and soon the group had 93 members. Initially, meetings were held in various locations in the Waldport area, and soon spread to multiple meetups at churches, halls, lecture theatres, and new age awareness centers elsewhere; their last public meeting in Oregon being held at Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...

 in Lincoln Hall
Lincoln Hall
-England:*Lincoln Hall, one of the University of Nottingham Halls of Residence in Nottingham, England.*Lincoln Hall, a student residence at Lincoln College, Oxford in Oxford, England.*Lincoln Hall, a student residence at Wymondham College in Norfolk, England....

. Flyers had been posted some time before the actual meeting, but interest was poor and not more than a dozen or so people attended. Over a 9-month period in 1975 Applewhite, Nettles, and small groups of their followers traveled to nearly all 50 states and parts of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The group became more structured, and moved periodically over the years to various locales in California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Finally, Heaven's Gate moved to the mansion at Rancho Santa Fe, California
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Rancho Santa Fe known locally as ″The Ranch″, is one of the most exclusive and affluent communities in Southern California. It is also a census-designated place in San Diego County, California and an unincorporated bedroom community of San Diego County...

, the site of the group's mass suicide.

Nettles and Applewhite were nicknamed 'Ti and Do' or 'Bo and Peep' or the 'UFO two'. Nettles died in 1985 of cancer and Applewhite led Heaven's Gate alone from her death to his suicide in 1997. At some point, Applewhite had himself surgically castrated.

Their activities inspired the 1982 TV movie Mysterious Two, with John Forsythe
John Forsythe
John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...

 as "He", the Applewhite role.

Heaven's Gate mass suicide

On March 19, 1997, Marshall Applewhite taped himself speaking of mass suicide and believed "it was the only way to evacuate this Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

". The Heaven's Gate cult opposed suicide but believed they must leave Earth as quickly as possible. After claiming that a space craft was trailing the comet Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale–Bopp was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the 20th century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades...

, Applewhite convinced 39 followers to commit suicide so that their souls could board the supposed craft. Applewhite believed that after their deaths, a UFO would take their souls to another "level of existence above human", which Applewhite described as being both physical and spiritual. This and other UFO-related beliefs held by the group have led some observers to characterize the group as a type of UFO religion
UFO religion
UFO religion is an informal term used to describe a religion that equates UFO occupants with gods or other semi-divine beings. Typically, the UFO occupants are held to be extraterrestials and that humanity either currently is, or eventually will become, part of a preexisting extraterrestrial...

.

Applewhite committed suicide with 39 other members in Rancho Santa Fe, California by mixing phenobarbitol with applesauce or pudding, then washing it down with vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

. They also placed plastic bags over their heads after ingesting the mix to ensure asphyxiation in case the drugs did not kill them. The cult members, aged between 26 and 72, are believed to have died in three groups, 15 the first day on March 24, 15 the next and nine on the third.

Member Rio DiAngelo, aka Richard Ford, did not commit suicide. He left the Rancho Santa Fe mansion weeks before the suicides to ensure future dissemination of Heaven's Gate videos and literature. He videotaped the mansion in Rancho Santa Fe. However, the tape was not shown to police until 2002, five years after the event.

Heaven's Gate initiation tape

The following transcript is from an initiation tape for Heaven’s Gate. While an edited and more precise version of these words appear on the Heaven’s Gate website, these statements are untouched and help provide the unscripted intensity that Applewhite’s image became known for. Applewhite appears before a purple curtain backdrop and remains fixated on the camera as he speaks about his beliefs.

"…or, in old language of a couple thousand years ago, Disciples, those who are trying to prepare themselves for entry into the evolutionary level above human synonymous with the kingdom of god, the kingdom of heaven. We’re going to talk to you about the most urgent thing that is on our mind, and what we suspect is the most urgent thing that is on the minds of those who will connect with us. We’ll title this tape ‘Planet Earth About to Be Recycled: Your Only Chance to Evacuate Is To Leave With Us’. ‘Planet Earth About To Be Recycled: Our Only Chance To Survive Or Evacuate Is To Leave With Us’.

Now, that’s (a) pretty major statement, pretty bold in terms of religion, in terms of anybody’s intelligent thinking, to most people who would consider themselves intelligent beings they would say “Well, that’s absurd. What’s all this doomsday stuff? What’s all this prophetic stuff?”

You know, intelligent human beings should realize everything has their cycle, they have their season. They have their beginning. They have their end. They have cycles. We’re not saying planet Earth is coming to an end; we’re saying planet Earth is about to be refurbished, spaded under, and have another chance to serve as a garden for another human civilization.

Now, the reason this is such an interesting time is not only we’re on the threshold of the end of this civilization because it’s about to be recycled, but because of where that finds us, where that finds you, where that finds those who would judge us, how we would speak of them and how they would speak of us.

Now you say you keep saying to us, “Who do you think you are?” Well, I in all honestly must acknowledge my father. My father is not a human father. My father is a member of the evolutionary level above human, the kingdom of god, the kingdom of heaven. My father gave me - long before this civilization - gave me birth into that kingdom level above human, that kingdom of heaven, that kingdom of god.

Now you can say “I can’t believe that.” Well, it’s up to you whether you believe that or not. That’s not important to me, even though I wish you could believe it for your sake. For those who do believe it stand a possibility of a future beyond this recycling time. Now you say, well, according to religious literature I thought there was someone else who was going to come and be our savior here at these End Days. That, that was going to be Christ’s return. Well, the name Christ might be a little confusing, or the name Jesus, because the name Jesus, of course, was the name given to the body that the mind that was indeed from the kingdom of heaven came and that mind was here 2000 years ago and that mind came for the express purpose of teaching humans how they could be saved, how they would not be plowed under at the end of the age. Well, we’re at the end of the age.

So, the one, or the mind that was in Jesus. What? That mind is in me? You’ll have to decide that for yourself.

I must admit that I am here again. That I’m here saying exactly the same thing that I said then, trying to say it in today’s language. Trying to hope for your sakes you can see what we have to offer you, for our father offers you life. We’re not talking about human life, if the planet is about to be recycled, and we see the planet as a stepping stone. Planet earth – a stepping stone. That just as within a civilization, a civilization evolves upward, that each segment of civilization becomes civilized, becomes less barbaric in some ways. It’s supposed to, not that is necessarily does. Sometimes it seems to appear to be more civilized when in fact it becomes more barbaric, more quick to condemn the rest of the world, more quick to be – quick to kill the rest of the world that does not think as it thinks.

Well, I know what I just said. I said, I am the return of the son of my father. I’ll tell you something that’s even more remarkable. My father came with me this time. Came in the early 70’s, took on a human form, an adult human form, helped me get into an adult human form in the early 70’s, and we together helped those who came with us who that were also here 2,000 years ago get in the bodies that they were wearing so that they could rid themselves of human behavior, human activity, human thinking, so that they could be ready to move into the kingdom of heaven, or the evolutionary level above human.
These that are sitting before me have been students of Ti and Do, Ti my father, have been students of Ti and Do, are still students of Ti and Do, even though Ti returned to the heavens in 1985. And Ti is my heavenly father, gave me birth into that kingdom before civilization began.

Now I’m not here to sell you on that, or who I am, or who these are. I’m here to offer you as these are an opportunity to know the truth so that if you can connect with it at any level then you might survive the re-spading, or recycling, that is about to occur.

We made a tape just shortly ago. And in that tape we said that there are three types of individuals that will survive the…" (end of part 1).

See also

  • Cult suicide
    Cult suicide
    A cult suicide is a term used to describe the mass suicide by the members of groups that have been considered cults. In some cases, all or nearly all members have committed suicide at the same time and place. Groups that have committed such mass suicides and that have been called cults include...

  • Doomsday cult
    Doomsday cult
    Doomsday cult is an expression used to describe groups who believe in Apocalypticism and Millenarianism, and can refer both to groups that prophesy catastrophe and destruction, and to those that attempt to bring it about...

  • List of people who have claimed to be Jesus

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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