- Hi, friends. How are you today? I hope you're having a great day so far, (claps) as much as you can right now, but I hope you're staying safe as well. My name is Bailey Sarian
and today is Monday which means it's murder, mystery,
and makeup (claps) Monday. ♪ Sha na sha sha na sha ♪ ♪ Sha na sha sha sha na sha ♪ If you're new here, hi, how are you? That's great. So every Monday I sit down and I talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my (clicks) noggin and I do my makeup at the same time. If you're interested in true
crime and you like makeup, I would highly suggest you
hit that subscribe button. I'm here for you every Monday. And I upload on Saturdays as well. I'm looking at my teeth 'cause I'm like, "Damn, I should whiten them." Last week, we talked
about a demon possession and the exorcism of Anna Ecklund. Remember? It was last week. Why was I adding a D at the end of demon? I don't know. Sometimes I don't catch
it until I'm editing, and then what do I do? This week, I'm gonna do a story that's been highly requested. "Bailey, cover more cults," they say. And I was like, "Okay, okay, calm down." So today we're going to
talk about Heaven's Gate. Have you heard of it? Well, I vaguely remember when it happened because I kinda was
living not far from where it all took place, you know, but I didn't really know
like the full story. So I went down a rabbit hole per usual and now I'm gonna tell you
everything that I learned. If you're ever curious
to know what I'm using, I do list the items down
in the description box. But other than that, I will
shut my dirty little trap and I'll get right into it. I don't know what kind
of look I'm doing today so wish me luck. A little backstory. We're gonna start with
Marshall Applewhite. Now Marshall, he was
born in Texas in 1931. His father was said to be a minister and he combined aliens
into Christian theology. So it was a little different
than normal religion. Marshall, he served in
the United States Army. He then went on to finish
school at Austin College, and he also taught music at
the University of Alabama. So after teaching there for a little bit, he actually ended up
returning to Houston, Texas, and that is where he
also would teach music. And he served as the chair
of the music department at the University of St. Thomas. Now it's alleged that he was fired due to having a sexual relationship with one of his male students. Now Marshall's dad would
pass away in early 1970s and this sent Marshall into
like a really deep depression. He was really close to his father and he was devastated when
his father passed away and he just wasn't doing well. He was not doing well. It was said at some point
Marshall ended up staying at a psychiatric hospital
for a bit of time. While staying at the psychiatric hospital that's where he met a woman
named Bonnie, Bonnie Nettles. So who is Bonnie Nettles? Well, let me tell you a
little bit about her now. I don't know why I put that liner down if I'm just gonna do black. Sorry. Bonnie Nettles, she was
born in 1927, also in Texas, and she was born into a Baptist family. She would go on to become
a registered nurse. And then she also married
a successful businessman. His name was Joseph, and this was in 1949. The two of them would go on
to have four children together and their marriage seemed
all good, all dandy, until about 1972. It was said that the marriage
between Bonnie and her husband began to fall apart when Bonnie's belief that the 19th century
monk named Brother Francis often spoke to her, gave her instructions on
like what to do in life. So she was listening to
this monk in her head Bonnie would become very
interested in conducting seances with mediums in order
to connect with spirits, people who are dead. It started as like a little
hobby, you know, an interest and then it just kind of
like consumed her life. So her husband is like, "Dude, what the, "what the hell are you doing?" you know. In 1972, Bonnie went on to see
multiple different psychics who told her that she
was going to meet a man who was tall with light
hair and a fair complexion and that she needed to
go with this person. So Bonnie's like, "Oh yeah, okay. "So I gotta look out for a tall man, "light hair with a fair complexion. "Be on the lookout." Bonnie is working as a
nurse and guess what? She's working at the
same place that Marshall is staying at, the psychiatric hospital. So she sees Marshall and oh my God, he's tall, has light hair,
and a fair complexion. This is who the psychic
was telling me about. Bonnie then did an astrological
reading for Marshall. And while doing this, she found
out that both of their stars were aligned in some kind of way, which meant that they were
supposed to be together. She found an alignment between the stars. So the two of them ended up connecting and they felt like they
had met for a reason. So while Bonnie is working as a nurse and Marshall is a patient, they're just forming a relationship. He knew that she was married
but the stars were telling them that they were meant to be together, so. And they ended up leaving
the hospital together on New Year's day, 1973. Bonnie ended up leaving
her children behind with their father. One of them was like in his twenties and I think he just kind
of just went on his own. Bonnie was ready to start
her new life with Marshall. So Bonnie and Marshall, they were off to create something big. I mean that was their goal. They just knew together that
they could conquer anything. Bonnie and Marshall, they decided that they wanted new names so they went by the names Bo and Peep. Bonnie was Bo, Marshall was Peep. So they ended up taking a
six month-long road trip across the United States. Goals. I wanna do that. While they're traveling and stuff, they're really just kind
of going over their beliefs and what they think the
meaning of life is, you know? And they want to spread their message, which I'm not even quite sure
what their message fully was, but that's fine. They wanted to spread it. So in 1975, Bonnie and Marshall, they gave a presentation
about Heaven's Gate in Oregon and they were giving out
flyers that was a mix of like conspiracy
theory, science fiction, and it kinda seemed to
be a recruitment form. On this paper that they were handing out at the top it said UFO just
in big letters, you know, just to really grab 'em at the beginning. UFO. What? The flyer had two paragraphs
of information on Heaven's Gate saying, "Two individuals
say they were sent "from the level above human
and will return to that level "in a spaceship within
the next few months." So they would travel around
and give little presentations promoting Heaven's Gate, but
at this time it was called Human Individual Metamorphosis. But overall, it would
suggest that a UFO was coming to save the cult members
and take them away and they would elevate them to a new world and a better life. And they called this TELAH, which stood for The
Evolutionary Level Above Human. So they would have a group
of people attend their events and it was said that one in Oregon had about 200 people attend. Yeah, that's a lot of people. So they would hand out these flyers, try and get like some promotion. They would meet and give their spiel. So after having 200 people
show up to these presentations, only a small amount would
follow up afterwards and actually ended up joining the group. So Bonnie and Marshall were
able to convince people to leave their homes and belongings and travel with them around the country for over two decades. The members didn't have like
a real home at that time and they lived in extreme poverty while they traveled around. But they didn't really need anything. They just needed somewhere to sleep and maybe a little bit of food to eat, but they were making these sacrifices because they truly believed what Bonnie and Marshall were preaching, that aliens were coming back
to the planet to take them away and just live this amazing afterlife. Many of the followers gave
up their conventional lives and were seeking new spiritual answers to many of their old questions. Like, what am I doing here? What's the meaning of life? Where am I going? Those questions that
nobody has an answer to. Oh, I ask myself that all the time. Many found Heaven's Gate attractive because of the blend of
self-discipline, science fiction, unity, and it had some Christian
thinking in there as well. It kind of sounded
like, honestly, kind of, kind of like Scientology. But it kinda does. There's a side note. There's a Scientology center
down the street from us. Actually there's a couple, okay. And we went one time because
I wanted to go investigate. So we went, I brought Fernando with me, and we filled out the questionnaire thing and I was trying to like make
it seem like I was interested but really I just wanted
like the inside scoop. You see what happened was Fernando, he was taking it too seriously and I was like watching
him kinda fall for it. And I was like, "Okay, we got to go." You have to fill out
like all this paperwork that says like your name and all that so they can do a follow-up with you. Well, I'm smart. Hello. Hi. And I put down a fake
name and stuff, right. I put down a porn star's name. So I was like, "If they Google me." Was that mean? No. It's a cult. And that's my story about Scientology. Anywho, so let's get back to the story. So some would say it was like Christianity but in a modern, updated way and people just really related to it. I just feel like these
people were just kind of maybe questioning things
and where they're at in life and just kinda feeling lost. And that's probably how
they got suckered into it. Bonnie and Marshall
were said to be so nice, loving, and charismatic. Did I say charism... Charismatic. So people just like were attracted to it. So for example, Heaven's
Gate taught that Mary, you know, Mary from the Bible. Cool. So she actually was impregnated by being taken up into a spacecraft. That's where she got pregnant. Now it sounds silly to us but many thought it was more
believable than just plain she was a virgin and she got pregnant. So anytime a new member
would come into the group, this new member would have
to abandon their families. They would have to turn over
any and all of their money. And then they were asked
to cleanse their bodies of the impure influence
of things like fast food and impure sexual thoughts. On this cleanse they would
drink nothing but the mix of lemonade, cayenne
pepper, and maple syrup. They would have to do
that for three months in order to cleanse themself before being like an official member. If they didn't cleanse, then they couldn't be
welcome into the group. So Bonnie and Marshall, they
actually told their followers that they would be visited by aliens who would provide them with new bodies. So they believed that their
body, again, was gonna ascend to the spaceship. Once they were up there, that's when they would
get their new bodies. They, again, would live
this fantastic afterlife, but later, they would
kinda change the script, which I don't know if you could do that but I guess you can. There's like no rules
when it comes to religion. So I guess that applies to cults. Do cults qualify for a
tax exemption as well? That's a great question, actually. So he changes his script a little bit and he's saying now that their
bodies were just containers of their souls, which would be
later placed into new bodies. So your soul would leave you and your soul would enter a new bod. I mean that one kind of
sounds convincing, right? I mean, we all have souls. That's factual. Yeah, right? Oh, whatever. The group was able to pay for
housing and other expenses because they received an influx of funds from the members giving their life savings over to the group. And when they got new members, it just meant like more money. So when they got money from the members they would rent different
houses in Denver. And then they would go to Dallas
and rent different houses. The group was very secretive
about their lifestyle and covered all of their windows whenever they were renting a new home. They wouldn't be allowed to talk about it. The first rule about Heaven's Gate is you don't talk about Heaven's Gate. At this time, they had about
40 members so a good size. In Texas, they told their followers that a forthcoming visitation
from aliens was happening and instructed them to go
wait outside all night. They needed to wait outside so the spaceship would beam them up. And I know, I know. It's like why are these people doing this? I don't know. That's the interesting thing
about cults, my friend. So the cult members are
standing outside all damn night, and then eventually
once the night had ended and it was becoming morning time, that's when Bonnie and
Marshall informed the members that there were no aliens coming and it was just a test of faith
to see if they were loyal. So doing this was increasing
their students' devotion and also helping them
get rid of the people who were not devoted, right. But it made them realize
how much control and power they had over their members. Members. So every so often they
would do one of these tests. They were probably out of ideas and needed to keep the people entertained so they're like, "Yeah, just
go outside and stand there." It was said that the members
were becoming desperate for Marshall's approval. They would do anything, just
go above and beyond anything that they could do to
make Marshall like them. It was getting a little competitive. And honestly, Marshall liked that. In 1980, the group had about 80 followers. Many of them held working
jobs with computers or as car mechanics. Bonnie and Marshall
would allow the members to call their family once in 1982. And then in 1983, they actually allowed the
followers to visit their families on Mother's Day. Like actually leave and visit
their followers which... I mean and visit their
parents, family, sorry. So they left and they
visited their families on Mother's Day, which this
was like never allowed. They were never allowed to leave. Well, they could leave,
but could you really? It was one of those. Like, "You can leave, door's open." They weren't instructed
to tell their family that they were studying
computers at a monastery. These vacations, quote-unquote vacations, were intended to make
the families less angry by demonstrating that they
were staying in this group on their own terms, that
they wanted to be there. They're studying computers,
they're at a monastery. How dare you question me. It was more just to let
the family members know that they're alive, they're
good, they wanna be there, and they're happy, which I'm sure gave a lot of
family members peace of mind, but they had no idea what was to come. Nay nay. Over the years, several hundred people they joined the group then left. And in the early 1990s, the
members were only down to 26, which is still a lot but, you know, they were
at a high with like 80. They wanted that back. I also forgot to say
that Bonnie and Marshall they were equals in this
group as the leader. They both want it to be there. I mean, so it was said. They both wanted to be there. And Bonnie was technically the brain. She was like the smart one. She would make the posters. She put all the outline together of what they were preaching. And then Marshall was the speaker. So in 1983, Bonnie, she
had to have an eye removed due to cancer and the doctor
informed her at that time that the cancer was spreading and it was going through
the rest of her body and that she either needed
to get treatment for it or she was gonna die because
it was getting everywhere. But Bonnie truly believed
that her doctor was ignorant and that she could not die. Which is very interesting
actually, I just thought of this, 'cause she was a nurse. So you think she would, I
don't know, believe her doctor. Oh, interesting. I just now thought of that. Hmm. Anywho, so the cancer ended
up continuing to worsen and Bonnie ended up passing away in 1985. Now this was not good for Marshall. Marshall was devastated. He lost his wife, his partner. I'm sorry, they weren't married. But he lost his partner. He told the group that
her broken-down vehicle was left behind and that she had ascended
into the spaceship. Because of Bonnie's passing,
it turned the cult's beliefs into that the human bodies
were just vessels or vehicles and that they were carrying
them on their journey and could be abandoned at any time. So now the view had changed that you can leave your
vehicle at any time versus having to wait for
the aliens to beam you up. So it keeps evolving. In May 1993, the group rebranded and took the name Total
Overcomers Anonymous. They spent $30,000 to publish
a full-page advertisement that warned the people of
a catastrophic judgment to befall the Earth. This, hold on. Now because of this publication it brought some new members to the group and that was like the overall goal. They wanted more. In the '90s, the internet was new. The world wide web. You can connect with people
anywhere on the planet. In the beginning of the internet, there were only so many
websites you could go to and it's like brands
and companies and stuff. We weren't really using it
to its fullest potential yet. But Heaven's Gate was
actually on top of it. They were like, "Hey, we're
gonna build a web page "and reach more people." So again, in the '90s, they
had 39 active cult members and these members made
web pages for businesses and had a web design firm
called Higher Source, along with a few others. But these members used
the money they had made from online business to rent
a mansion in a gated community just outside of San Diego. Marshall was realizing for the
first time of the possibility of suicide as a way to
reach the next level. So that's the goal. They wanted to reach the next level because it was gonna be amazing. It was gonna be everything and more. So that's what they wanted. So this is when he started to realize, "Hey, we can just abandon our
vehicles, commit suicide." And he introduces this
to the group as well 'cause he hadn't mentioned suicide before. So Marshall explained to the group that everything human
had to be left behind, including the human body,
before one could ascend. So we went from having
to be beamed up by aliens to now you have to kill
yourself before you can ascend. And once again, this time the group was renamed Heaven's Gate. The group increasingly focused on the suppression of sexual desire. Several of the members opted
for surgical castration. There was an ex-group member who said that Marshall didn't
say they had to do it, but the group members wanted to do it just to prove to Marshall, once
again, that they were loyal. So they did it. Surgical castration. That's some dedication right there. Now Marshall viewed sexuality as one of the most powerful
forces that bound humans to their bodies and hindered
their efforts to evolve to the next level. So in addition to required
members to adopt similar clothing and haircuts to reinforce that they were a non-sexual family, they weren't allowed to
participate in any sexual acts. They weren't even allowed
to think sexual thoughts. Like it was heavily frowned upon. October 1996, the group
had been renting a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe,
California, close to San Diego. It was a big old house. I don't know how they afforded it 'cause I thought like they
were barely making it, but they were renting some big mansions. The pieces are not adding up. That year they recorded two video messages in which they offered
their viewers a last chance to evacuate earth and they
uploaded it onto their website. They had their own dedicated website in hopes to bring in more members. They upload this saying like, "This is your chance to evacuate Earth. "It's gonna happen." Around the same time the group had learned about the approach of a
comet named Hale-Bopp. Is that how you say it? I feel like that's not right. - [Narrator] Uh, the Comet Hale-Bopp is- - Hale-Bopp. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. So they make this video, and around this same time
the group had learned about the approach of a comet, Hale-Bopp. This comet was most
observed of the 20th century and one of the biggest, or I'm sorry, the brightest seen for many, many decades. People were going crazy over this comet because it was just
like once in a lifetime. It was just incredible. So there's a lot of talk going on about it and because it was so
bright, unlike any other, and like people were getting
really hyped about it, hyped, excited about it, it led to the group concluding
that the comet Hale-Bopp had a spaceship following it. And Marshall's wife Bonnie
was in that spaceship and she was coming back for them. So romantic. It was like a love story, like a "Romeo and Juliet" with spaceships. They believed that this
spaceship was the vessel that would take their spirits on board for a journey to another planet. Marshall truly believed
that a government conspiracy was attempting to suppress the
word of the alien spaceship. Marshall kept trying to get
out there in the newspaper kind of getting the word out there that there are spaceships coming. Come join with us. We have to get out of here. The world's ending. In late March 1997, the
group isolated themselves and recorded farewell statements. Many of them praised
Marshall in their messages and said this is what they wanted to do and that they were looking
forward to the afterlife. Marshall also recorded
his own video as well. The plan was that the group was
just going to commit suicide because it would allow them
to ascend to the spaceship as the comet goes by. They had to do it because it
was coming along with the comet and they were gonna miss their ride. So it was like a now or never. If they didn't do it, they
wouldn't get on their spaceship and they were just gonna
be stuck here on Earth for lord only knows how long. It's, uh, they couldn't
even think about that. Before the group followed
through with their suicides, they went out for a last supper together. It was said that they
went to Marie Callender's, the restaurant, the chain restaurant. I know. I was like, "Really?" They all ordered the exact same thing. They all had ice teas, salads,
followed by turkey pot pie, then cheesecake with
blueberries on top for dessert. On March 22nd, the suicides began. Members took barbiturates and alcohol then placed bags over their heads. They all wore Nike shoes
and black tracksuits. It's said that the shoes and
the outfits were purchased in bulk because of their cost and not necessarily their style. I'm bringing that up because
there always has been a big rumor like why did they pick Nike? Why did they pick the
tracksuit and stuff like? It came down to just that
it was cheaper to buy those, so they did. The deaths occurred over three days. Marshall was one of the last four to die. Three assistants helped him die by suicide then they killed themselves. Once the members died, a purple shroud was placed over their body covering their faces. Many of the members laid
neatly in their bunk beds all face up and they all
looked exactly the same. An anonymous tip had come
in saying that people, or the police needed to
go and check out this home because some shit went down. So the sheriff's department they go out to search the mansion. And on March 26, they
discovered the 39 people lying in their bunk beds, identical black and white
shoes, matching tracksuits. They all had an arm band that read, "Heaven's Gate Away Team." Oh, that's kinda funny. It was the largest group
suicide involving U.S. citizens since the 1978 mass suicide in Jonestown, which is horrifying story. That's a horrifying story. Let me tell you, I get
lost in the Jonestown story so many times. Like that one is just fucking nuts. So this finding turned into a media circus and was widely broadcast. You couldn't avoid it on the news. It was everywhere. Marshall even got a
cover on "Time" magazine. Next to the bodies they left little bags, like little pouches, which had their ID and whatever money they had left that way the bodies could be identified. So all of the family members
were contacted, sadly, and they had to get the
news that their kid, or their brother, or their
sister, or their partner, whoever it was, was in
this and killed themselves. A lot of people just wanted to know like why wouldn't these people just leave? Why I wouldn't they know better than to believe this spaceship stuff? And a cult member who left
said that Marshall isolated the group socially and
cultivated an attitude of complete religious obedience in them. Many of the students had made
a long-term commitment to him and many had been around
for about 20 years. Marshall was said to be
extremely charismatic and a master manipulator. He built trust and fear into his followers to the point where they had
no reason to question him. What he was saying was true to them, which can be extremely hard to understand. And it is hard to understand. They were loyal and by committing suicide, it was demonstrating
that they had conquered the fear of death and showed
their faith in Marshall and the overall religion, cult. So that is the story about Heaven's Gate. We can all say, "Oh, they
were all brainwashed." I hate that answer because it's
more complicated than that. It is. It's not just you're brainwashed. It's weird. If you've ever been in a controlling or an abusive relationship, it's like that where you just don't leave. I don't know. Unless you've been in it,
it's so hard to explain, but I don't know. I get why the people were stuck in a way. I don't know. I have such mixed feelings about cults because it's like I know
there's probably a few who don't necessarily wanna be there but they're kinda stuck there. But then there's people
who truly want to be there. And it's like how do
you tell the difference between somebody who
doesn't wanna be there and is like, "I want out," and the people who wanna be there? And if they want to be there, should we just back off and let them be? I mean if they were living happy lives and they're not hurting
anybody else, I don't know. I always go back and forth. When it comes to the Jonestown cult, which we can do another video on, like that one, those
people were sucked into it but then they were trapped. A lot of people, oh my
God, so many people died. 900 and something people. It was just insane. But a lot of them didn't wanna die. Whereas with Heaven's Gate, it's like I'm not saying
that it's not wrong what they were doing
and cults aren't wrong, but how do you tell the
difference between the people who just wanna do it and are all for it versus the people who don't. And should we allow others to step in? You can actually go, well, actually you
probably can't right now, but we have a Museum of
Death out here in Los Angeles and they have a whole setup. They somehow got the
track suits and the shoes. It was a donation, I think, from somebody. And they have a whole setup. They even have a TV going with Marshall with his last message. Oh, it's eerie. You just like, eh, it's creepy. This is just a personal opinion but in the very beginning I had mentioned that Marshall had a relationship
with a student of his, a male student of his. It was said that Marshall
and Bonnie never participated in sexual relations and
that was part of being clean so they could go into their planet. But I'm thinking like, I think
Marshall just maybe he felt like he couldn't be himself
so he just was like, "If I can't have sex, none
of you guys can have sex." You know what I'm saying? Like maybe he wanted to be with man because he never really got
to be who he wanted to be. I don't know. I'm just thinking out of my ass right now. I could be 100% wrong,
which I probably am. But I would like to hear your
guys' theories down below. Cults. I mean I think at the end of the day people just want a sense of community. And if you're feeling lost in the world and you're feeling confused and you're not sure what you're
doing or your purpose is, it would be really easy
to get sucked right in. And it's sad because a lot of
the people who are involved in cults, you know, their family
members will try everything that they can to get them out of it, but then they don't want out and it's like you can't
force somebody to get out if they don't want out. And oh, I couldn't imagine
having a family member in a cult because you can't save them. They have to want to be saved, you know? Oh, I forgot to mention one
more thing really quickly. 'cause I'm curious and
I just wanted to know like did this harm Nike's sales? 'Cause obviously this isn't a good look. This was worldwide. It wasn't a good look for Nike. There was just a lot of rumors swirling, like maybe Nike's involved, oh, oh. So Nike ended up pulling
that style of shoe that they had used. And obviously they
tried to back it up away from the situation. And yeah, not that we
should feel sorry for Nike but there was a pair that
were found in storage and it was said to belong to the cult and they sold her around $7,000. I mean, if you've got seven
grand to spend on a cult shoe, then let them have it. Like jeez. Thank you guys so much for
hanging out with me today. Appreciate you guys so much. I hope you have a wonderful
rest of your week. Stay safe, stay healthy,
make good choices, please. I'll be seeing you guys later. Bye. Ouch. Bye. Honestly, I don't think Marie
Callender's was a bad choice. I would do that. (dramatic instrumental music)
Man some of the comments she made in this I just about died. She handled this so well, i love when she does off topic and tells little stories and quickly comes back haha
I’m currently watching Inside the Criminal Mind on Netflix. It has an episode about cult leaders, and Jim Jones is one of the cult leaders discussed in the episode. I thought I should mention it here because Bailey briefly talked about Jonestown in this video. :)
I think this is my favorite eye look she’s ever done. I’m not a huge fan of super colorful eyes, but this is just mesmerizing.
She briefly mentioned Jonestown, and I hope she covers it soon because it would be great to hear her insight and commentary. Thanks for sharing, I always look forward to Mondays because of Bailey!
yaaaaaassss! i love stories about cult, this one specifically has always been so interesting to me... can’t wait to get off work and watch this right away!
All comments are welcomed and appreciated, as usual! :)
To be honest, I’m not doing my usual deep dive today because the makeup look, combined with the matching nail polish, kinda blew my mind.
(Plus, depression is currently kicking my arse as I type this, so I feel like mass suicide is a topic I should avoid discussing, maybe.)
My favourite one-liner of the video: “It was like a Romeo and Juliet ... with spaceships.”
My post-video mellow out film recommendation: The Wrong Missy.