1997 Forever and Ever
January 16, 2022 6:32 AM   Subscribe

Left Alive And Unchanged is the story behind the still extant website of the Heaven's Gate cult, whose infamous 1997 mass suicide in a mansion near San Diego, CA is still being talked about today.
posted by tommasz (22 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Huh, so it is: https://heavensgate.com/.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 7:03 AM on January 16, 2022


If you're looking for a movie this weekend, consider Mysterious Two, a slow, creepy movie based on the "Heaven's Gate" group, made before their famous mass suicide. John Forsythe is a standout as "He" (Applewhite). Everything he says sounds obviously fake, yet the Two manage to string along a large group of followers through empty promises, ultimately leading them into danger.
posted by SPrintF at 7:26 AM on January 16, 2022


1996 Forever and Ever, also with a cult following (previously on MetaFilter)
posted by tonycpsu at 7:30 AM on January 16, 2022


The crazy keeps going.
posted by freakazoid at 7:44 AM on January 16, 2022


Soundtrack for reading the article.
posted by sevenless at 7:52 AM on January 16, 2022


Every once in a while I wonder whether they were on to something.

Also - bit of trivia for those who aren't "into Heaven's Gate" - it's commonly reported they thought of they killed themselves they'd "ascend to a spaceship hidden inside Hale-Bopp" which made it sound like maybe a ghost/spirit thing. And of course it is in some sense, but...

It was more like "exiting the holodeck" - it's not that their "souls would teleport" but that the false reality (ours) would disappear and they would be back on ship.

As P Funk sang with the ancient alien twist:
Swing down sweet chariot stop and let me ride...
posted by symbioid at 9:11 AM on January 16, 2022 [5 favorites]


I guess the former members who keep the site going in honor of their murdering leader must find a way to sleep at night but I hope they struggle.
posted by emjaybee at 9:11 AM on January 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


Quoting the full list of SEO keywords seems like a lot, so I'm just going to pick one for each letter of the alphabet:

Away Team, Beyond Human, Contactees, Disinformation, Eunuch, Fulfilling Prophecy, Genderless, Harvest Time, Implant, Jesus, Jesus' Return, Krishna Consciousness, Level Above Human, Mothership, Non Perishable, Out of Body Experience, Prophecy Fulfillment, Recycling the Planet, Spacecraft, Theosophy, UFO, Virginity, Walk-ins, Yoda
posted by box at 9:45 AM on January 16, 2022 [6 favorites]


I recall that whole time period as having its own its own particular creepiness, and following the goings-on with this cult (or tracking down their Usenet posts) was a definite hallmark for me. Y2K was in the wind and I felt like everything had a weird, unsettled edge to it.
posted by jquinby at 10:46 AM on January 16, 2022


it really was a nice comet, though
posted by pjenks at 11:35 AM on January 16, 2022 [8 favorites]


It was more like "exiting the holodeck" - it's not that their "souls would teleport" but that the false reality (ours) would disappear and they would be back on ship.

As P Funk sang with the ancient alien twist:
Swing down sweet chariot stop and let me ride...


So literally they thought that if they freed their minds then their asses would follow? That they'd restore their mothership connection?
posted by kersplunk at 11:58 AM on January 16, 2022 [10 favorites]


Away Team, Beyond Human, Contactees, Disinformation, Eunuch, Fulfilling Prophecy, Genderless, Harvest Time, Implant,...


"By the way, who gives me the antidote?"

-Snake Plisskin.
posted by clavdivs at 12:05 PM on January 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


Comet Fever: 1910, Grinnell Stories, Dan Kaiser, May 1, 2019:
…Historically, however, the appearance of comets has stirred anxieties and hopes. For example, when Halley's Comet [Wikipedia] approached planet Earth in 1910, rumors of dire consequences gained traction around the globe. And when cyanogen was discovered in the comet's tail, there was widespread speculation about whether, when Earth passed through the comet's tail, cyanogen might not snuff out all life on the planet. Most scientists scoffed at such fear-mongering, but the public at large responded more dramatically. It got me to wondering: How did the 1910 visit of Halley's Comet play out in Grinnell and across central Iowa? Today's post examines that question….
Any remaining MeFites may discuss their Halley’s Comet concerns in 2061.
posted by cenoxo at 12:30 PM on January 16, 2022 [4 favorites]


HBO recently did a documentary series on Heaven’s Gate. I liked it.
posted by liet at 2:50 PM on January 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


I enjoyed the podcast that Glynn Washington did that I think was the basis for the HBO series. He shares his own upbringing in a cult of sorts in his Snap Judgement and Spooked podcasts too.

I really, really, really want Washington to get with Victor Lavalle and Jordan Peele and make something amazing.
posted by drowsy at 4:12 PM on January 16, 2022 [5 favorites]


To think that Heaven's Gate's website survives, yet so many other pieces of the early web do not. I guess Gene Ray couldn't build enough followers to maintain timecube.com in his absense.
posted by JHarris at 5:07 PM on January 16, 2022




I remember my Brother printed out the entire website shortly after this news story broke since he wanted this to not be forgotten/censored and he was sure the Powers That Be would do exactly that.

Funny, it's still around.

Let's... let's just check on...

https://www.spacejam.com/


Is nothing sacred?

https://www.spacejam.com/1996/

Oh, well: Ok.
posted by alex_skazat at 5:57 PM on January 16, 2022 [2 favorites]


liet's post prompted me to look up the HBO documentary: Heaven's Gate: Cult of Cults, and it is absolutely terrific. Compassionate and thorough and fascinating. I haven't seen as good a documentary since Capturing the Friedmans.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 11:17 PM on January 16, 2022 [2 favorites]


I watched Heaven's Gate: Cult of Cults (2020) on HBO Max yesterday and cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s a serious, tragic story of submissive ‘true believers’ that still echoes in the hearts and minds of former HG members (TIL the 39 ritual suicides of March 1997 were not the last ones) and their surviving relatives.

There’s a good summary of the group in Wikipedia’s article Heaven's Gate (religious group) – American UFO religion (1974–1997).
posted by cenoxo at 9:39 AM on January 17, 2022


Salon review of Heaven's Gate: Cult of Cults.
posted by cenoxo at 11:56 AM on January 17, 2022


Saturday Night Live sketch with interviews from the spaceship.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:45 AM on January 18, 2022


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