Marshall Applewhite

Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997) was an American religious leader who co-founded and led Heaven’s Gate, a movement combining Christian and extraterrestrial beliefs. He and 38 followers died in a mass suicide in California in 1997.

Bonnie Nettles: Bonnie Nettles (1927–1985) was an American nurse who co-founded Heaven’s Gate with Marshall Applewhite. Nettles became Applewhite’s spiritual partner and co-leader after they met in 1972.
University of Colorado Boulder: The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Applewhite studied music there before pursuing a career as a teacher and musician.
Heaven’s Gate doctrine: Heaven’s Gate doctrine taught that humans could transcend their earthly nature and enter an advanced extraterrestrial level. Applewhite presented this doctrine as the route to salvation and the basis for the group’s rules.
1997 Heaven’s Gate mass suicide: The 1997 Heaven’s Gate mass suicide was the deaths of 39 members in a rented house near San Diego, California. Applewhite and 38 followers died in the group’s final collective act.
Heaven’s Gate: Heaven’s Gate was a new religious movement whose members believed salvation required leaving Earth for an extraterrestrial existence. It was the movement Applewhite led and the setting for his teachings.
Texas Presbyterian College: Texas Presbyterian College was a Presbyterian institution in Milford, Texas, that later became Trinity University. Applewhite taught music at the college before leaving academic life.
The Next Level: The Next Level was Heaven’s Gate’s name for a superior extraterrestrial realm its members sought to reach. Applewhite taught that the Next Level, not conventional heaven, was the group’s destination.
Rancho Santa Fe: Rancho Santa Fe is a community in San Diego County, California. The rented mansion there was the site of the 1997 deaths.
Heaven’s Gate members: Heaven’s Gate members were followers of the religious movement led by Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. Their commitment to Applewhite’s teachings culminated in the group’s deaths in 1997.
New religious movement: A new religious movement is a religious group that emerged relatively recently within a particular historical and cultural setting. Heaven’s Gate arose as one such movement amid 1970s spiritual experimentation.

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