HBO Max has gone Full Cult with its recent docuseries Heaven’s Gate, which follows the titular infamous religious cult (the “cult of cults”) through its portentous 24-year history. Founded in California in 1974 by Marshall Applewhite (“Do,” also “Bo”) and Bonnie Nettles (“Ti,” also “Beep”), the movement attracted hundreds of followers at its height, until its “graduation” in March 1997, when Applewhite and 38 other members consumed applesauce laced with sedatives, put bags over their heads, and died in one of the largest mass suicides in American history. The members believed they were traveling to an extraterrestrial spacecraft.For the docuseries, HBO conducted several interviews with former Heaven’s Gate members as well as sociologists and psychologists. The series raises the same question begged by most cult histories: why the heck did people actually join? The Heaven’s Gate question, however, seems to be especially head scratching; perhaps what makes Heaven’s Gate the “cult of cults” was how so many could overlook its seemingly-obvious absurdity. What we’re left wit… Click below to read the full story from Men’s Health
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What to Know About Heaven’s Gate Cult Leader Marshall Applewhite
