2 Of The Worst American Cult Suicides. Heaven's Gate And The People's Temple (Warning : Graphic Photos Included)

Heaven's Gate

A man named Marshall Applewhite and a woman Bonnie Nettles were so adamant about being two witnesses referenced in the Bible that they actually convinced a handful of followers the same thing. Their charismatic personalities combined with a gift for preaching made for some convincing performances. First they went to California to recruit. It wasent long before they made it to Oregon with stories of the apocalypse and salvation. They thought salvation would only come to those prepared, in the form of a spaceship. Inside the ship they would then be cocooned to prepare their bodies for heaven."Human Individual Metamorphosis," and "Total Overcomers Anonymous," were two names they went by before landing on "Heaven's Gate" in the 1990s.

Not only were members convinced they had to live as a group, they were also told to give up any family they have and everything they own. Applewhite also made it seem that perfection was the only route to salvation with emotion and sex as another burden on that route. So along with everything they own and their families these two things were also left at the door. They were also told to dress with baggy plain clothing and a uniform close cropped hair.

This mind controlling group of misfits never exceeded great amounts in terms of members. It stayed at around 50 or 60 and were almost invisible for most of its existence. In 1993 they re appeared with websites sprouting up preaching their message and brain wash and in turn grew a little bigger.

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The Halebopp comet was nearing our planet earth and a rumor began of a UFO right beside it. Of course, the leaders saw this as the end of times and began preparing for the salvation that has finally arrived. Of course nothing happened and nobody found their ticket to heaven.

Their belief was that the planet Earth was about to be refreshed or refurbished and in order to stay alive they have to leave it as soon as they can. The irony was the fact that they were against suicide or at least what they believed to be suicide since to them our bodies were just vessels to travel to the next life. They were known to always say "vehicle" when talking about the human body.

It is not known exactly when and for how long but eventually the group rented a 9200 sq ft mansion in a closed community in San Diego where they payed 7000 a month in cash. This is where Marshall Applewhite taped himself talking about mass suicide because he came to the realization that suicide was the only way to leave this earth. So he went from a spaceship coming before the end to a spiritual spaceship to come take your spirit.

On March 26, 1997, 38 Heaven's Gate members , including Applewhite, were found dead in their mansion from what looked like a scheduled group suicide.
The final report stated that they ate phenobarbital laced apple sauce and topped it with vodka. Then they tied plastic bags around there heads so as to induce asphyxiation. There were all found sitting up, each in their own bed with the same black shirts and sweat pants and brand new black and white Nike athletic shoes. They also all had a 5 dollar bill along with 3 quarters and a purple cloth over their heads and torsos. The last bit of uniform was an armband they all wore that said "Heavens Away Team". They all died in three groups over three days. Each day one of the groups would die, the ones that were next began cleaning up the mess that was left and straightened out the bodies perfectly. Then the next set would go and it would be clean by the next and so on. Applewhite died 3rd to last with the two before him being a mother with her child. This cult died in that mansion in that day. Whether or not their space ship arrived is yet to be discovered.

*The People's Temple *

Way before he formed a church, Jim Jones fell in love with communism and hated how the U.S. treated communist. It is for this reason why he decided to infiltrate a church and see the inner workings and how they operated. He was surprised when he was easily accepted in to the Sommerset Southside Methodist Church and became a student pastor. He quit this position about 6 months in to it because they would not let him integrate African Americans in to the church.

His first church began in 1954 in Indianapolis with the name Community Unity Church. He knew from past experiences that faith healing services attract people and generates a decent amount of income which he could use to employ his Communist beliefs. He and his members began faking healings on stage and reaping the benefits.

Jones bought his first church building in a racially mixed Indianapolis neighborhood in 1956. He named it "People's Temple Full Gospel Church" , the first time he referred to it as "The People's Temple". He started to hold large religious conventions with other pastors, all while still hiding the fact that he was using religion to spread Communist messages. These conventions would draw crowds as big as 11000 people, all there to witness fake healings and other small "miracles".

1959 brought the unification of a Christian Church named Disciples of Christ and Peoples Temple and were called The Christian Church Full Gospel.
Before the 1960s Jones kept the fact that his preaching and vision was really just communism under wraps. By late 1960 he started weaving it cleverly in to his speeches as "apostolic Socialism". He believed (and made others believe as well) that he was a reborn "Christ of the revolution" and that the U.S. was the Antichrist as well as capitalism. He would preach of a nuclear Holocaust with the surviving leader creating A new messed up socialist Eden.

This congregation moved again to Redwood Valley and set up a church there. It was around this time that Jonas started to dwindle down the Christianity ( until now it was still woven in to his sermons ) and rejecting Bible teachings, saying that it was only a tool for female domination and the enslavement of African Americans. He began handing out pamphlets at his temple mentioning contradictions and lies in the Bible but also commenting on that same book revealing great truths. Very contradictory.

Moving to Redwood Valley didn't expand the temple with new members as Jonas had hoped. Because of the expansion he felt the temple needed he decided that an urban area would be a logical conclusion ( almost half of his temple were African American at this time ). In 1970 they began holding services in Los Angeles and San Fransisco and moved permenantly to both cities in 71 and 72. The valley location was considered the main household and the other two were a place to go during long road trips.

The change in scenery worked. San Francisco and Los Angeles helped the temple go from a few hundred members to a massive 3000 followers. It was at this time that the members started being exposed to very sophisticated mind and behavior modification techniques that were created in post revolutionary North Korea and China.

Although the secrecy he wanted while recruiting meant a smaller number in membership numbers, this also helped him create and maintain a stronger hero worship mentality within his followers.
Politicians began placing focus on the group since they were hearing about how they would draw 2000 or more people to either attend their sermons or volunteer in San Francisco alone, with only a 6 hour notice.

On the surface they were great, helping the addicted, homeless, or the poor. They ended up meeting the right people in California and ended up with about 9 residential homes for elderly people, they ran foster homes and a 40 acre farm for the mentally disabled.

Jones also grew huge in the San Francisco political scene. He was appointed as Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. He had the support of numerous really big and influential political figures, including San Francisco mayor George Moscone, Art Agnos, and Harvey Milk.

In San Francisco they started stressing their communal way of life and strict discipline to the public. It was odd to everyone but accepted. They seemed like the perfect congregation.

The police finally began their focus on the Temple when Jones talked highly of the radical bay area group Symbionese Liberation Army, then its leaders began attending San Francisco temple meetings. They were scrutinized intensely by the media even with all the support from politicians. In turn, Jones and hundreds of members fled up to Guyana since the media started investigating themselves. The cult aspect was becoming clear, and the public was not happy.

In 74 the temple moved permenantly to Guyana. This is where the name Jonestown was created. Jones and 900 members moved there with the promise of a paradise given by Jones to the followers. It was anything but.

11-17-78
A San Francisco congressman named Leo Ryan visited the peoples temple investigating abuse claims recieved anonymously. While there he was pulled aside by some of the members and begged him to take them with him when he left. He took these claims of hostage like treatment they told him and took all of them with him to the air strip the next morning. When arriving to the airstrip, Temple security guards ambushed them and opened fire with assault rifles, killing Ryan, three journalists and one of the members escaping.

Once the vicious murders of the congressman and 3 reporters took place, Jones knew it was all over. He ordered his congregation to drink cyanide laced Kool Aid the next day. It was the biggest number of people deliberately killed at one time in US history until the attack on 911. The body count was a mind blowing 918 people, with 276 of those being children. They were discovered the next day when the U.S. government came to investigate the politicians murder. The cult died on that deadly afternoon, gone with Jones and his disciples. The website stayed updated for a little after the suicides but was eventually taken down. The temple was closed.
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(research and pics from dailymail.co.uk and religioustolerance.com)