All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S02E04_Engh

♪♪

If you can believe the truth
that we share with you,

and if you believe it enough

that you can put
your trust in me,

and that's a big dose.

That's a difficult task
to trust me.

You don't know me well enough
to trust me.

I understand.

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

In the 1970s,

a mysterious religious group
deeply shrouded in secrecy

was slowly recruiting followers
and gaining momentum.

People disappeared
from their everyday lives

to join this movement,

leaving behind more questions
than answers.

Hardly anyone knew anything
about this group

until March of 1997

when news about them shocked
the world and made history.

We talked to the people
who lived

and breathed this incredible
story to find out the truth

and uncover the mystery
of Heaven's Gate

and how it really happened.

♪♪

Alice: When Gail got to be 21,

she decided that she wanted
to see California,

and so she packed up her bags,

and they took off
for California.

She seemed like
she was doing okay.

She seemed happy.

Alice: Gail came home in 1993
to be in my niece's wedding.

She was just as full of fun.

There was not a hint
that anything was different

about Gail.

Gail disappeared right after
she went back

from the wedding in '93.

We were worried to death.

Where was she?

Who was she with?

What was happening to her?

Robert: We didn't even know
if Gail was dead or alive

until we started
getting these flyers.

One message from her was
on the back of a UFO flyer.

♪♪

Simpson: My brother Jimmy had
seen a UFO when he was a kid,

and he was fascinated
by that whole thing.

He absolutely believed
they existed and even young,

seemed to have UFOs
connected to his spirituality.

He seemed to feel that
they were connected to God.

At the time, I just thought
it was his interest.

Just not too long
after Christmas in 1994,

my mother called,
and she was crying.

She said that my brother Jimmy
had left a letter

that he was leaving to join what
she believed to be a monastery.

Jimmy was always inquisitive,

and he was constantly pursuing
his interest in other --

I guess it would be religions.

I had asked her to find out
if he had taken money,

and she found out that he had
cleaned out his bank account.

He had told us that we could
probably not find him,

and he didn't want us to,
but here's the thing.

If you're joining
a true religion,

then you don't separate
from the world.

I cannot think of any other
type of religion

that would cause you
to withdraw from your family,

to have no contact,

to not tell people
where you are,

and to take all of your money.

Robert: We were all concerned.

These flyers that we got made me
wonder what was going on.

It had a date and a place on it

where they were going
to have a meeting,

but we always got the flyer
after the meeting was over,

so we just completely
lost contact with her.

We just didn't know where he was
or what he was doing.

Ronan:
These weren't isolated cases.

For the last 20 years,

these people had been
drifting off,

losing touch with their family,
their friends, their relatives.

Zeller: In Waldport, Oregon,
this small little town,

a fisherman's village
in coastal Oregon

has a lot of sort
of these hippie types,

just sort of people
who had dropped out of society.

One day, out of the blue,

a number of people just
disappeared, dozens of people.

Zeller: The Waldport, Oregon,
disappearances,

as they were called,
people who up and left,

it made CBS' national news.

A score of persons from a small
Oregon town have disappeared.

It's a mystery whether
they've been taken

on a so-called trip to eternity
or simply been taken.

As was later found out,
this wasn't a coincidence

because all of these people,
it turns out,

had attended some sort of
a meeting a couple days before,

and that's where they came up
with this plan to leave.

And there was a poster
on a telephone pole

right outside
this little general store,

and it said,
"UFOs, who are they?

Where they have come from,
and when they will leave?"

Even though I really knew
nothing about UFOs at the time,

I just didn't disbelieve
that it was possible, you know,

that there could be beings from
another planet or something.

And at the time,
I was still kind of a seeker.

I didn't know
what I was looking for.

I remember thinking,
"I want to be enlightened."

This was something out
of the ordinary, extraordinary,

and we wanted
to just check it out.

I was looking for something.
I didn't know what.

They get a couple hundred people
to pack the room of this tiny,

little inn in Waldport, Oregon.

Greenberg: All the people that
came together

were counterculture people.

We had lived on the edge.

A lot of us were Vietnam vets
and stuff.

Lawrence: In the mid '70s,
there were a lot of lost souls.

Remember what was going on.

Vietnam was still going on.

The counterculture
was still going on.

Zeller:
People had been involved in

other new alternative religions,

such as the Unification Church,

the Moonies, or transcendental
meditation or Scientology.

People were looking
for answers to things

they couldn't possibly
get answers to.

Ronan: It turns out that
this meeting in Oregon

had been set up
by Marshall Applewhite,

and he liked to call himself Do
and his partner,

Bonnie Nettles,
who went by the name of Ti.

Sawyer: They were sitting
in chairs on a stage,

and then Applewhite
started talking.

Welcome to Beyond Human.

We have a big picture
to try to portray to you.

He was an extremely charming

and just a very persuasive,
magnetic kind of guy.

We have been given information

on how to go
from the human kingdom

into the kingdom of heaven,

and we want to
share it with you.

He just had a certain magnetism

and an ability to bring people
into the fold, so to speak.

Man: What attracted to you
this group, Aaron?

The promise of
everlasting life.

I was promised that
I would never die.

They make you feel like
you are a chosen one,

like you are receiving
this message

because you are meant to.

Zeller: They say, "Bring a tent.

Bring a change of clothes,

but leave everything else behind
and join us on this trip."

I felt like,
"I need to do this."

It was just, like, that simple.

When I joined, I was informed

to try to wrap up the affairs
of my life in two to three days.

They get 20 to 40 people
to actually agree to join them,

to drop everything
that they have

and to just take off,
basically, the next day.

And six of us actually
drove away in two cars.

We left our world behind.

And they gave away everything,
including kids,

all of their
material belongings,

property, automobiles, boats,
and money and just left.

We're still trying to
compile our information.

We're getting calls from
all over the United States

now of other people that have
children missing, have had --

received letters from them.

Alice: Once Gail was missing,

you go to bed at night
and wonder,

"Where is she sleeping?"

Is she comfortable?
Is she fed?

Is she okay?"

Ronan: So you had
worried parents and relatives,

and they were very upset,
but for all the worrying,

nobody could have predicted
that this was going to happen.

They would become genderless,
ageless, diseaseless,

eternal perfect beings,
angelic space aliens.

It probably would look like
what you might consider

a very attractive
extraterrestrial.

Ronan:
In 1975, Marshall Applewhite

and Bonnie Nettles
went up to Oregon,

and they recruited people
at the meeting in Waldport,

and then very shortly
thereafter,

a lot of people just left,

and there were husbands
and wives,

and they just disappeared.

We went to Waldport, Oregon,
and we heard Ti and Do speak.

A few days later,
we were all headed for training

as part of
the next level's awakening.

Ronan:
And then for about 20 years,

they were flying
under the radar,

and no one really heard
about them.

When they left Oregon in 1975,

they went all over the country,

traveling thousands of miles

preaching this strange
new-age philosophy.

Man: They'd wandered for years
like nomads,

working for a few weeks,
then moving on.

A long period of time,
we had been in tents,

and, oh, maybe little trailers
because we were staying outside

and just moving to wherever
the climate would permit us

to continue with our classroom.

Sometimes their group
would grow.

At one point, it grew
to more than 100 people.

Then it would winnow down.
People would leave.

The group kept changing
its name,

so when a relative
or friend would get a lead

on what was going on,
the name would change,

and it made it very hard
for friends

and relatives
to get any information.

I may have the name wrong,
but it was

Total Renunciance in Readiness
for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Then it was called
Total Overcomers.

So it was very confusing as to
what the name of the group was.

♪♪

Jimmy was part of what
is now known as Heaven's Gate

for about 13 months,
and he came back,

and he spent
several weeks with me.

I asked him questions
about the cult.

I wanted to know
what his beliefs were,

and so he told me stories.

Ronan: Marshall Applewhite was
able to convince his followers

that there was a path
to eternity

and that they could
live forever,

but you had to go to outer space
to have that eternity.

They would transcend our planet

and go to a physical place
in outer space,

which would be heaven.

The startling thing to many

is that the kingdom above human
is physical.

That was really important
to them.

It wasn't metaphoric.

It wasn't sort of ethereal.

It was a physical place.

If you had a powerful enough
telescope, you could see it.

According to
Marshall Applewhite,

the only way you could get
to this heavenly place

was to hitch a ride on a UFO.

The idea was that you were
going to get on a spaceship

and physically journey
into the next level.

They really thought they were
going to find this spaceship.

Zeller: So someone was on duty
to watch the sky,

waiting for the UFO to land,
at all times.

When Applewhite
and when Nettles are asked,

"Do you have to die to go on
this journey," they say, "No."

They say, "In fact,
you can't die.

It's a physical journey."

It's possible that a spacecraft
will come down,

and we'll walk onboard
that craft,

and they'll take these bodies
from us

and issue us the ones
that belong to that level.

Ronan: Marshall Applewhite
told his followers

that once they were
onboard this UFO,

they would be transformed
into some sort of an alien,

and from that, they would have
eternal life in this new body.

They say what they are teaching
is a process

by which a human body

can biologically and chemically
transform itself

to become a next-level creature.

Klebnikov: They use the analogy
of caterpillars.

They believe that they
were like caterpillars

that would be transformed
into butterflies.

They would become genderless,
ageless, diseaseless, eternal,

perfect beings,
angelic space aliens.

Applewhite:
A creature that has two eyes,

some remnant of a nose,

some remnant of ears,

have a voice box
but don't really need to use it

because they communicate
with their minds.

It probably would look like
what you might consider

a very attractive
extraterrestrial.

Ronan: They were going to sail
around on spaceships,

and they were going
to interact with planets

and take care of them.

They really believed
what they were preaching

and telling folks,
but no one's been able

to figure out
how they came up with the idea.

It's a bit of a mystery.

Velez-Mitchell:
These were two troubled people

who were meeting at troubled
times in both of their lives,

and they made a connection.

Zeller: Nettles is going through
this divorce.

She's separated.

Her family is sort of
falling apart.

She's basically what we would
call today a new-ager,

sort of this hodgepodge
of different sort of

alternative religious
and spiritual practices.

Velez-Mitchell:
Marshall Applewhite's life

was a total shambles.

He's bisexual.
So he's dating men,

he's dating women,
and it never works out.

Velez-Mitchell: He had tried to
do the straight and narrow,

married, couple of kids,
job as a professor.

He ends up losing his job.

He ends up losing
this relationship.

He ends up sort of confused
and lost as a person,

and that's just when he meets
Bonnie Lou Nettles.

Their eyes meet,

and they realize that
they are spiritual partners.

And then she tells him,
"You are the messiah.

You are Jesus Christ
reincarnated,

and you have a mission
on this Earth."

So it was almost like she was
a little bit of the brains

behind the operation,
and he was the mouthpiece.

Together,
it was a powerful combo.

No one really knew
how much influence

they had on their followers.

You have to know me.

You have to trust me.

You have to believe me.

Very, very short period of time,
a leader can get them to believe

the most preposterous things
and even at the expense

of their own instincts
for survival.

We are about to regain life,

and we hope that
our lesson time here

has made us stronger
and able for our better service.

Who were these people?

Well, obviously, very little
is known about them

at this particular point
in time,

but it is apparently clear
that they were computer buffs.

They were techies.

Many of them were.

They had gotten involved in the
tech industry and web design.

They had gotten involved
in programming.

Goodspeed: Their personal
appearance was a little bit odd,

but once we got over that hurdle
and got to know them,

very genuine people and
very talented in their craft.

So people on the outside
in regular society,

they really had no idea what
was going on within the group.

Zeller: We call Heaven's Gate
by that name,

but, in fact, members called it,
"The Class," and they saw Ti

and Do as their teachers,
starting in kindergarten,

which is as a human being
and culminating in graduation,

which is as a space alien.

Ronan: In order to prepare for
what was called a graduation,

there was a very strict
set of rules

that Marshall Applewhite
insisted on.

He wanted to really strip
the people of their humanness.

The purpose of that is
to go to the heavens.

Zeller: All aspects of life
were regulated,

including what books
they could read

and what TV shows
they could watch.

They could only wear
certain clothes.

Every single aspect of their
lives was dictated by these two.

They all had close-cropped hair.

They all wore the same things,
as well.

We noticed they all had
short buzz cuts,

real short haircuts,
even the women.

I mean, it was just hard to
distinguish male from female.

He offered a place to belong,

but it was a rigid life
of rules and isolation.

You know, it's not an everyday
normal type of situation.

When people are drawn
into this closed mind-set

and this closed psychological
and physical world,

a very, very short
period of time,

a leader can get them to believe
the most preposterous things

and even at the expense of their
own instincts for survival.

I plan on following
an older member,

no matter where he goes
or what it is.

That is what I want to do,
and that's what I have to do.

The task of overcoming
the human kingdom

requires
that they overcome the desire

to cling to offspring
or spouse or parents.

Golding: They were forbidden
to contact family members,

and I think
that any cult or religion

that doesn't allow you
to contact your family

should be a warning to everyone.

Zeller: Members intentionally
disconnected themselves

from their families

because they didn't think
that was their real family.

For them, their real family
was the crew they were joining.

Now, breaking away
from the world is not easy.

It's difficult. It's tough.

It means that you leave
that world behind.

We destroyed our old lives.

I left my job.

We left homes, families,
everything.

Without a doubt, though, this
caused unimaginable suffering.

They would write letters
now and then.

They would send
cryptic postcards saying,

"I'm doing fine."

Alice: Danny answered the phone,
her brother,

and he said, "Hello?"

And she said, "This is Gail,"
and he said, "Gail who?"

And she said, "Your sister!"

And we were talking to her,
you know,

said, "Gail, come on home."

She said, "No, I'm too busy."

Alice: I said, "Well,
what are you doing now?"

She said,
"I'm learning computers,"

and I thought, "Well,
learning computers isn't bad,

but maybe when you come out,

you'll have some kind
of a background,"

and -- but she said,
"I have to go now."

It's cut right off.

She never called again.

One of their tenets was
no Earthly desires,

no Earthbound anything.

We're all totally celibate.

There's no sexuality.

There's no sensuality.

That is just very distasteful
to us.

Sawyer: We had to overcome
our sexuality,

and the reason for that was that

there is no sexuality
in the next level.

Zeller:
They wouldn't need to reproduce.

So overcoming this
sexual-reproductive need

of humanity
was absolutely key to them.

So the way you overcame that
and, in fact,

the way you overcame
all your humanity was,

you were paired up
with a check partner.

These two people were put in
close physical contact 24/7.

So you'd have to overcome
the natural sexual tension

which would evolve over spending
24/7 with someone.

They were like a spouse
where you have to work out

all your issues.

Sawyer: There were times where
I was partnered with a female

that I was attracted to,
and it was difficult.

Man: At one point,
Applewhite and others

took celibacy
a giant step further.

Zeller:
Eventually, eight members decide

that they want to have
themselves castrated.

They want to have
their sexuality

chemically or ultimately
surgically removed from them

so they can overcome it.

And I'm one of those students
that did that,

and I can't tell you how free
that has made me feel.

Sawyer: I had compromised
my vows of celibacy

with entertaining thoughts
of sexuality in my head.

It was considered
a major offense.

I said, "I guess
I have to leave."

What differentiated this group
from others

is that you were free to go.

We've always had free rein
to come and go.

In fact,
more times than not,

Ti and Do would put more effort
into pushing anybody out

of The Class that didn't
want to be here.

If someone wanted to leave,

often, they said, "Please don't
take off in the night,"

as some did.

They said, "Please come to us.
Let us help you on your way."

Sawyer: They bought me
a plane ticket the next day

to fly me where I wanted to go.

After I left the group in 1994,

I have to be honest
that I was elated.

When I go to grocery store

and have the choice
between an orange

and a grapefruit
was like a pleasure.

Ronan: There were some people
that did leave Heaven's Gate,

but those that did leave often
had a spiritual connection

that they maintained
with the group.

Simpson: Jimmy did physically
leave the group in '95.

He just told me he felt
like a failure

because he couldn't do
everything they said,

but he still was
very connected to the group.

He was very tied
into their beliefs.

He seemed to feel that
this was a place he belonged,

and then after Jimmy had been
with me for a few weeks,

he decided he wanted
to find the cult and rejoin.

He stole some money from me
before he left.

It was very hurtful.

A couple of weeks later,
he called me,

and I said, "I'm sorry.

I can't help you financially
anymore.

You took money from me,

and I'm still trying to
dig out of that hole.

So I love you,
but I can't help you,"

and he never spoke to me again.

Lawrence:
Applewhite, he needed a sign.

Lo and behold,
he had his answer.

That's a spaceship.

"It's coming.
We need to prepare."

So all of a sudden,
the clock is ticking.

We're about to return
from whence we came.

Welcome back to
"How It Really Happened."

By March 1997, Heaven's Gate
had dwindled to just 39 members.

They'd settled in
an enormous mansion

in Rancho Santa Fe, California,

an elite community
just north of San Diego.

This was a far cry
from their early days

of roaming around the country
and preaching their gospel,

and it would be here
that their story would take

a shocking turn.

Man: Rancho Santa Fe --
It's dotted with

multimillion-dollar estates,

many complete with tennis courts
and swimming pools.

The homes are so secluded
you may not even know

your neighbors
or have a mailbox.

They just picked there
because, basically,

I think it is more secluded,

and they wouldn't
be bothered as much.

Man 2: While members supposedly
gave up Earthly goods,

how could the cult afford
to rent an exclusive mansion

in Rancho Santa Fe?

The members of Heaven's Gate
ran their own business.

It was a web-design firm.

We've had a little business
that we call Higher Source

from which we earned our income

so we could consume
while we're on this planet,

and we always were
self-supporting.

Man 3: Joining us now from
our bureau in Los Angeles

is Nick Matzorkis.

Higher Source had done
some website development

and design for
Interact Entertainment Group,

so we came to know about
14 or 15 of the members

over the course of
the last eight or nine months.

Man 3:
They did work for you.

Good work?
Matzorkis: Very good work.

They were very reliable
and very pleasant to work with.

They tried to fit in, but people
here in Rancho Santa Fe

did notice that like some of us,

well, they did look
a little different, odd.

They were odd.

They were the cult next door

who were nearing the end
of a long and twisted odyssey.

They, on several occasions,
either indicated to me directly,

or I'd heard through
other employees

that they were planning
to leave this planet.

Ronan: By then, the theory
that had been established of

how the group would leave
the Earth and through a UFO,

it took a dramatic turn.

Years earlier,
Applewhite's partner,

Bonnie Nettles, got ill
and then died of cancer,

so it really threw a monkey
wrench into their entire plans.

Before she died in 1985,
they believed that you were

going to be beamed up
into the UFO with your body.

After she died,
you had a problem.

Her body was here.

Her spirit was
on the UFO,

so they changed their view
to say that now,

you had to leave your vehicle
or your Earthly containers.

What does it mean?

Their teachings are, they're
going to go in their bodies

into the next level,
and it doesn't happen for Ti.

So what are they going to do?

We don't know if we're going to
take these flesh bodies

onboard that craft or if we'll
leave these flesh bodies behind.

So we're entering death
into the picture.

"We might have to off ourselves
to get way up there

to the level above human."

Part of our test of faith

is our hating this world,

even our flesh body enough,
to be willing to leave it

without any proof other than
what we have come to know --

That we have nothing to fear.

Ronan: The group had been
waiting for 20 years

for some sort of a sign
that they were going to ascend

and have eternal life,
and then they finally got it

when it was learned
the Hale-Bopp comet

was going to be flying by Earth

close enough where you could
actually view it.

Man 4: As comets go,

this one is about as impressive
as it gets.

Zeller: Members of Heaven's Gate
were exposed to this idea

that there was a UFO
trailing Hale-Bopp comet.

Man 4: And this sort of fanlike
shape that we can see behind it

is the dust tail of the comet.

There was a little
scattering of dust,

light dust, behind the comet,

and they determined that
that was the spaceship.

Lo and behold -- Applewhite,
he had his answer.

That's the spaceship.

"It's coming.
We need to prepare."

So all of a sudden,
the clock is ticking.

Now, they've got to catch
that spaceship.

Let me say that our mission
here at this time

is about to come to a close
in the next few days,

and we're about to return
from whence we came.

Zeller: So in March 1997,

they update the website
for the last time.

They refer to Hale-Bopp comet
as the opportunity

which they have been waiting for
for 20 years,

for them to finally graduate,
to culminate their journey.

♪♪

♪♪

Zeller: He receives a FedEx
package. It's timed.

Diangelo: Got the package.

It was -- I didn't want
to open it at first

because I had a suspicion
of what it might mean.

So I opened the package.
They had tapes in there.

There was one letter to me
saying, basically, that,

"By the time you read this,

we will have
exited our vehicles."

So I went to work
and talked to Nick Matzorkis

and told him what was up.

Zeller: Nick and Rio drive down
to see if, in fact,

the members of the group
had done

what Rio thinks they've done.

They get there.
They drive through the gates,

up into the hills,
to the mansion.

I pull up to the foot
of the driveway.

He went in.

I get to the gate, and I ring
the buzzer, no answer.

I climb over the gate.
I go in the back door.

The first thing I came upon
was a dry-erase board

that we typically would write
the day's tasks on there,

and that board was empty.

And that was my first shock.

I was yelling to see
if anybody was still there,

and there weren't any answers.

When he came down the driveway,
he was white as a sheet,

and he came into the car,
and I said,

"What's the situation?
What happened?"

I just went, "Who does this?"

I kept thinking to myself,
"Who does this?"

Ronan: Rio Diangelo was
an ex-member of Heaven's Gate,

and he maintained relations

with many of the people
who were there.

The Heaven's Gate members
had sent to Rio Diangelo

this package
that he thought was concerning.

So he and another friend of his
went down

to the mansion to investigate.

I climb over the gate,
and they had listed

in the letter
which door to go into,

and I started to walk
through the house.

I brought some cologne with me
and put it over my shirt

and held my shirt over my nose

because the odor
was really tremendous.

When he came down the driveway,
he was white as a sheet,

and he came into the car,
and I said,

"What's the situation?
What happened?"

And he said,
"They did it."

Approximately
3:15 this afternoon,

we dispatched a deputy
to the residence here,

the result of a radio call
on check the welfare

of the occupants
of the residence.

♪♪

These police officers,
they go into this mansion,

and they see one after another
after another.

It was just kind of
a surreal situation.

♪♪

In the end, they had counted
39 bodies in the house.

♪♪

Vine:
I'm used to walking into a scene

where there's blood and guts
all over the place,

and this was --
people just went off to sleep.

Lawrence: This wasn't
a horrific crime scene.

It wasn't -- there --
you know, it wasn't bloody.

It wasn't violent.

Man:
The bodies were found face-up.

Apparently, they were laying
on cots, mattresses, and beds.

Authorities said that
their hands were by their sides,

which gave the indication
that they were sleeping.

It also said that
triangular-shaped purple shrouds

were covering their chests
and their faces.

Vine: It was kind of startling
to look at them.

They were dressed
in a black attire,

Nike shoes, black sweat pants
and black shirts.

Lawrence:
I just went, "Who does this?"

I kept thinking to myself,
"Who does this?"

So they were lying in their
bunk beds in perfect order

with the patches
on their uniforms,

the patches saying,
"Heaven's Gate Away Team,"

"Away Team" referring to
science-fiction, to that idea

from "Star Trek" of members
of the crew from outer space

who came down to a planet to do
something and then went back up.

By later that afternoon,

the world had descended
on that little road.

We want to bring you
the very latest

in the developments
out of Southern California

where there is what appears
to be a mass suicide.

Simpson: On this particular day,
I had come in from work.

I was half paying attention
to the TV, which was on.

They were talking about
a cult mass suicide.

I was kind of watching outside
of my eye

until they said the cult
leaders' nicknames, Do and Ti,

and when they said that,
I stopped.

It stopped me cold,
and chills ran up my arms,

and I knew immediately

this was the cult
that Jimmy had been part of.

I was wondering if
he was one of the ones

they were bringing out
in the coroner's van.

For medical examiner and
investigators and coroners,

it's really a slam dunk.

They were very organized
and somewhat compulsive

and had passports
and driver's licenses

and birth certificates
in their pockets.

So that eliminated one
of our major problems.

They told us what they took.

They told us how they did it.

This was a no-brainer.

Crist:
The group had committed suicide

by ingesting barbiturates
in either pudding or applesauce.

Zeller: They chase it with
vodka, which is ironic

because this is a group which,
for many members,

they probably hadn't had
a taste of alcohol for 20 years.

They then placed a plastic bag
over their head.

They all had a rubber band
constricted around their neck.

Vine: The plastic bag was for
the effect of asphyxiation,

but the medication and vodka
made it easier to just lay there

with a plastic bag
over your head and suffocate.

Woman: The deaths were described
as painless.

Man 2: The sheriff's department
says it believes

the deaths in the million-and-
a-half-dollar mansion

were not simultaneous.

The group had killed themselves
in three groups.

Groups would be assigned
to assist the others dying.

Applewhite died
in the second shift.

Vine:
Each time one of them died,

the two people or three people

that were assigned to them
actually checked off,

that, okay, they were gone,
cleaned them up,

put the purple shroud over them.

Simpson: The only person I knew
who might know where Jimmy was

was my Aunt Katie,
and I called her

and asked her
if she'd heard from him.

She called me back the next day
and said, "I talked to Jimmy.

He's fine.

He has no intention
of doing anything crazy."

I stopped at a convenience store
coming home from shopping,

and I saw it on the front
of the newspaper,

the dead bodies,
and then I said,

"Oh, that's terrible," you know,
"39 people dead in a cult."

Robert: I found out about it
on the television.

They talked about this tragedy
out in San Diego.

When Alice came in, I said,
"You better sit down."

Alice:
He said, "Applewhite's picture's
been on this screen all night,

and I think we're in trouble."

Man: It's been wall-to-wall
television coverage

practically nonstop
since the grim discovery

of 39 bodies Wednesday night.

Woman: This is an extraordinary
moment in American history.

It's a difficult case.

It's a puzzling
and horrible story.

♪♪

Alice: I said, "No.
She's not there.

That's not her.

It might be her cult, but, no,
she wouldn't do this.

She wouldn't kill herself."

What we are dealing
with right now

is trying to
notify the families

to let them know
of their loved one's death.

I laid on the couch there
until 4:00 in the morning.

I got a call from San Diego.

They told me,
"Sorry to tell you,

but your daughter
was one of them."

Until you actually got
those ashes in your hand

and knew that she was in there,
it didn't really hit home,

and that's when I felt it.

Then it's like a big hole

suddenly got blown
in your heart,

and the hole's still there,
and it'll never heal.

All we're hearing today
is that a man claimed

that there was
some sort of tape,

a possible farewell tape
as you said.

Inside the package that
Rio Diangelo received

and was concerned about
were videotapes.

On the tape, there were
the statements from the members.

I'm very proud of
these students.

They're about to leave,

and they're excited
about leaving.

And this is the happiest day
of my life.

I mean, I've been looking
forward to this for so long.

This is a very joyous time
for The Class

to be able to be
returning home.

And I am very excited
about going.

I can hardly wait,
and I'm ready to go.

They gave their last messages
to their family,

friends, and to the planet.

We have no fear.

We're proud and looking forward
to what's ahead

and couldn't be happier
about what we're about to do.

By dropping these bodies,
we will receive the inheritance

we have been promised
of eternal life

and a physical next-level body.

The members were aware that
what they were doing

would be looked upon
by others as insane.

I'm about to take an act
that probably this world

would consider the most awful
thing that any person could do,

I have chosen to do.

It's not something that
somebody brainwashed me into.

And in making the decision
that we made to do this,

we know that we broke hearts.

We know that we hurt people,
and we don't take that lightly.

We didn't want
to hurt anyone.

There is
some element, though,

of sort of this awareness that
they're going to be dismissed.

I just wish that people
out there could understand

how much we feel
and know this is real.

This is not a fantasy.

And one last thing we'd like
to say is, "39 to beam up."

Thank you.
[ Laughter ]

It seems to me
like they are operating

out of an alternate reality
that they have been programmed

to believe is the real reality.

Ronan: When the family members
saw these videotaped statements,

they were completely in shock.

This couldn't be
the family member

that they had loved
and raised and knew.

Well, I just want to let
everyone know how lucky

and happy I feel
to be here.

And I said, "Oh, my God.

That can't be Gail.

Hair's all chopped off."

What we're about to do
is certainly nothing to

think negatively about.

We're all choosing
of our own free will

to go to the next level
with Ti and Do.

I guess that's really
all I want to say.

You really
are brainwashed.

It's not you talking,
Gail.

It's not you talking.

The goodbye video was
the last time we saw Gail alive.

Zeller: Applewhite explicitly
addresses to the camera

that the door to Heaven's Gate
remains open for a while yet

and that,
"If this message speaks to you,

you can do as they do

and join them to go
onto the spaceship."

You can follow us,

but you cannot stay here
and follow us.

You would have to follow quickly
by also leaving this world.

I thought, "You just invited
other people to join you,"

and my immediate concern
was for my brother.

Jimmy did physically leave
the group in '95,

but he was very connected
to the group.

He was very tied
into their beliefs.

Hassan: So with destructive cult
mind control,

just leaving the group doesn't
get rid of the cult identity.

Zeller: There are,
depending on how you count,

four or five people

who were loosely
or fully part of the group

who ended up committing suicides
or exiting the planet

in the months that follow.

♪♪

I had come in from work,
and the phone started ringing,

and I almost didn't answer it.

I had a foreboding feeling,
but I did answer it,

and my aunt was crying.

Jimmy had sent her a letter
and told her that

by the time she got it,
he would be dead.

"As you know from Deborah,
I was a member of the group

now known as Heaven's Gate.

I'm truly sorry
to cause you any pain.

Thank you for all
you've done for me.

I'm late.
It's past time for me to go.

The precious spirits have
long since taken flight.

As always, Jimmy."

Jimmy's cause of death
was listed

as a gunshot wound to the head.

I think that Jimmy believed
he was doing the right thing,

that he was doing
what he was supposed to do.

The pain is there every day.

It's not always a hard pain,
but it's always there.

It opened a hole in my heart
that's never going to be filled.

Alice:
It's like it happened yesterday.

If I could speak to Gail
one more time, I'd tell her,

"Come home where you're loved,

and your mother and father
are here for you.

There isn't anything
in this world

that you could do that
would make us stop loving you,

and we want you back."

That was murder.

That was 38 cases of murder
and one suicide.

I think the lasting legacy
of Heaven's Gate is,

I guess, there will always
be people

who are looking for something,
or they're lost souls.

They're trying to find
an answer,

and if there's somebody
out there, like an Applewhite,

trying to provide that answer,

they might gravitate
towards one of them.

We hope that we took advantage
of the time

that we had incarnate
in these human vehicles,

and we'll be of better service
to the next level because of it.

To this day, the deaths of the
39 followers of Heaven's Gate

remains the largest mass suicide
on American soil,

and although most of
the members of the group

took their own lives
back in March of 1997,

there are a handful
of surviving members.

Two of them operate
the group's website,

unchanged since the '90s,
claiming they were left behind

to preserve the legacy
of Heaven's Gate.

I'm Hill Harper.
Thanks for watching.

♪♪