01x04 - The Exit

[bunniefuu]

[white noise]

[soft chatter]

The name of this song is

"When You Know Ti and Do,"

by the Class.

[piano plays]

[eerie music overtakes lyrics]

[insects chirping]

SAWYER: While I was
in the group,

we were in touch
with a bulletin board service.

Because of that,
we were becoming informed

about what the... UFO community
was talking about.

BENJAMIN: In late 1996,

the group began to orient itself
towards departure.

And, in particular,

they bought
into the conspiracy theory,

in 1997,
that the government

was hiding the existence

of a flying saucer

that was trailing
the Hale-Bopp comet.

The most important name
to think about here is Art Bell.

Art Bell was

a source
of conspiratorial thinking,

and you could tune in,

and you could listen
to everything from beliefs

about space aliens
and UFOs to Bigfoot.

ART: Chuck Shramek
in Houston, Texas.

- Chuck, welcome to the program.
CHUCK: Thanks, Art.

ART: A lot of people have felt

something's going on
with Hale-Bopp.

CHUCK: Well, I have too.

There's been
a real lack of pictures

from the Hubble Space Telescope
or anything, observatories.

So, that got me
all the more curious.

I can smell
when they're--

ART: Why would they do that?

CHUCK: Perhaps
they saw something

they felt might
disturb people.

ART: You have
just taken a photograph.

- [camera snap]
- When did you take it? Tonight?

CHUCK: I took it
at 6:00 this evening.

ART: Six o'clock, all right.

CHUCK: This thing
appears to be

several times larger
than the Earth.

And my heart starts
going fasters.

The next day,
Art Bell gets another call.

And this call is
from Courtney Brown,

who's part
of the Farsight Institute.

He and his students claim

there is
a very large object

following Hale-Bopp Comet.

ART: Professor,
what the hell is that?

COURTNEY: This object is
four times--

approximately four times
the size of the planet Earth,

and it's headed our way.

BENJAMIN: Now,
for members of Heaven's Gate,

this is important
for a couple of reasons.

One is, their idea
of the Next Level spaceships

they're gonna go onto are
really, really big.

The other is
they have been looking

for a sign for the end
for quite a while.

The term they use is a marker.

The Hale Bopp Comet had
something to do

with the decision to do it now.

Why now? Why not 1999?

Yes, the Hale-Bopp Comet

did have something
to do with it

because Ti and Do,
from the beginning,

were very tuned in
to the significance

of celestial events
and their synchronistic...

association
with events on Earth.

DO: Within the past 24 hours,

I have been clearly informed

by my older member

of how short the time is.

JANJA LALICH: They believe
there was a spaceship

behind the Hale-Bopp Comet

that was Ti coming to get them.

And so they went to town,
and they bought a...

very expensive telescope.

[soft chatter, laughter]

SAWYER: Do and the crew,
they had a telescope,

and they were
watching the heavens,

recording anything they saw

in the heavens
that was unusual.

JANJA: And they looked
up in the sky,

and they didn't see
any bloody spaceship.

So, what did they do?
They took the telescope

back to the store and said,
"This telescope doesn't work."

MAN: They didn't see

what they thought
they were going to see.

They said they were looking
for the companion.

That's what they told me.

I said, "Companion?"
And they said,

"The companion--
the companion of Hale-Bopp."

LARRY KING: Whitley,
what do you make

of the connection
with Hale-Bopp?

WHITLEY: Well, as you know,
there was a lot of controversy

about whether or not
there was an object

near the Hale-Bopp Comet.

Myself and another radio host,
Art Bell, eventually

discovered this to be
a fraud.

SAWYER: Whether there was
a companion object

with Hale-Bopp or not
was irrelevant.

They recognized that
Hale-Bopp was the spacecraft

that they had been talking about
coming in the 1970s.

So that just informed them
of the timing of their exit.

BENJAMIN: The reason
they chose March to exit was

that that's when the comet
was closest to Earth.

And that also coincided
with Easter.

DO: The Kingdom of Heaven
is in our midst.

In other words,
the door is open.

If you follow me,
you believe in me,

you do exactly as I say,

and you'll get there.

You will not know death.

JANJA: This is, like,


for the ship to come.

If you put yourself
in their shoes for a minute,

you can sort of see
their sense of relief.

Like, oh, my God, we're finally
gonna get out of here.

[music playing]

[distant chatter]

BENJAMIN: Members
of Heaven's Gate had

their Christmas party
in December,

before the suicides.

[soft chatter]

You see them baking cakes,


A member had left
and come back,

and you see them
greeting the member

and hugging the member.

[laughter]

This is like springtime
for you, huh?

[laughing]

Hey, ALXODY!

- You were invited!
- [laughter]

...slowly turned
to silence...

BENJAMIN: You see them
reading out of books.

Sort of telling a story.
It was "Jumanji," actually.

"'Jumanji,'
she read on the box.

A jungle adventure game..."

BENJAMIN: You see them
doing a talent show.

[applause]

[laughter]

Everything about this group,
if you didn't know

there was a suicide
three months later,

you wouldn't say,
well, this is a group that was

about to end their lives.

[laughter]

[applause]

SAWYER: For the group
to lay down their vehicles,

their suits of clothing
that they were wearing,

wasn't a big deal to them
because they believed

all this... already,

and they not only believed it,

but they-- they had
related with Do enough,

and they trusted him
a hundred percent.

No, I'm just here
for the entertainment.

[laughter]

♪ Let's start
at the very beginning ♪

♪ A very good place
to start ♪

♪ When you sing,
you begin with do re mi ♪

♪ When it's time,
you begin with Do and Ti ♪

♪ Ti and Do ♪

♪ Do re mi fa so la ti ♪

[Radiohead, "Everything
in Its Right Place"]

They all headed up
to Gold Beach, Oregon,

which is where Bonnie and Herff
had had their revelation.

REPORTER: In a detailed ledger
left behind by the cult,

the weeks leading up
to the mass suicide read

like one big vacation.

Trips to SeaWorld,

San Diego's wild animal park.

Mexico, and the Stratosphere
Hotel in Las Vegas,

where they gambled
and won $20.

BENJAMIN: Suicide was
not something that

they decided
on a moment's notice

they were going to do.

They began the buildup
actually in the end of 1996,

in terms of uploading content
to their website.

♪ Everything ♪

♪ In its right place ♪

♪ In its right place ♪

BENJAMIN: They feared
the government may try

to take down their website,

so they had sent
physical floppy disks

around the world
with copies of their materials,

so that, in the event
the government took down

their American host,
it could be hosted

in, I believe,
it was Brazil and Poland.

♪ In its right place ♪

♪ In its right place ♪

BENJAMIN: They also made efforts

to have their intellectual
property maintained

by several ex-members
with whom they had

a positive and favorable
relationship.

♪ Yesterday, I was... ♪

BENJAMIN: And they actually
thought that all the interest

in Hale-Bopp Comet was
an impetus for doing this.

♪ Sucking a lemon... ♪

♪ Everything ♪

For members
of Heaven's Gate and for Do,

this was their chance.

Are you filming this? No.

This is March 19, 1997.

I've been talking
to my students

that are sitting in front of me.

And, let me say
that our mission here

at this time is
about to come to a close

in the next few days.

They were trying to get
our attention,

'cause they thought
we might follow them,

and we might save
our souls, effectively.

BENJAMIN: They created
several VHS tapes,

which they sent
to some former members.

JASON BARTEL:
They planned it out really well.

They were just asking
that our information

be distributed
after we're gone.

DO: We're gonna begin
our interviews today

with SRRODY.

How long have you been in this
classroom circumstance?

Since Valentine's Day,


Yeah, I'll be happy just
to get the suit of clothes off

and put on a brand-new
fresh set with new vibrations

and-- and be
in a new atmosphere.

I just wish people
could understand

how... it was
instant recognition for me

when I met Ti and Do
in Waldport

only 21 years ago,

and-- and there was never
a doubt in my mind.

I just wish that people
out there could understand

how much we feel
and know this is real.

This is not a fantasy.

FRANK LYFORD: She has
completely adopted

the mindset as taught to her
by her older member.

JANJA: You can see them...

taking on
exactly the same...

emotional characteristics
as their leader.

When you watch
the night before,

they had a meeting with Do,

and whenever
he talked about Ti,

he choked up

and got teary

and would have to pause.

This chair represents...

my partner...

who I think
I mentioned earlier

was with me physically,
had taken a body with me.

And so the next day,

when they're saying
their goodbyes

and whenever
they would refer to Ti,

that they were
going off to see Ti,

they would do the same thing.

They would choke up
in exactly the same way.

I wish I had
the opportunity to meet Ti,

but I know that I soon will,

very shortly,
and I can't wait.

And we've all tried to prove
to our older members

that we're worthy
of the effort

and the sacrifice they made.
[sobbing]

We're very happy and proud

to have been members
of Ti and Do's Class

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

[laughter]

To me, that's one example of
what we might call brainwashing.

I can hardly wait.

And I'm ready to go.

JANJA: So, if you're
sitting there,

and you say,
"I'm gonna do this,"

and you say it
in front of everyone else,

well, you're
far less likely then

to say, "Oh, no,
I don't wanna do it."

You know, go running out
in the street, right?

I feel very honored

and very, very lucky

that I wasn't stuck
back in the world

where I chose to...

make the mistake
of going for a while.

KELLY COOKE: I think
when I first saw it,

I wanted to grab her

through the camera lens.
[laughing]

Tell her, "No,
you don't have to do this."

[chuckling]

This isn't
a troubling circumstance.

Don't take it as that.
It's just a gateway.

Just a doorway.

DO: Okay, thank you.

This was the last log
that was used

when they signed out
before the suicides.

And they wrote little comments
for their ETR--

estimated time of return.

And say things
like "Bye!" or "Never."

Question mark.
"Hasta la vista, baby."

We hope that we took advantage
of the time that we had

incarnate
in these human vehicles

and will be of better service
to The Next Level because of it.

If you want information
about us,

and lower forces
don't interfere,

you can find it
at our site on the internet.

www.heavensgate.com

And one last thing
we'd like to say is,


thank you.

[background laughter]

[solitary clapping]

[eerie pulsing music]

VOICE: Dispatcher 55.

DiANGELO: Hello?
VOICE: Hello?

DiANGELO: Yes,
I need to report...

an anonymous tip.

This is regarding...
[continues]

SAWYER: Rio joined the group,

I think,
from California in 1994.

And then he left the group

two weeks before
they laid down their lives.

I had a very uneasy feeling--

a strange feeling--
that I needed to do something

outside of the Class.

And I spoke to Do about it,

and he felt that

it was probably
part of the plan.

Some higher plan
that we didn't know about.

DAVID: Apparently,
he had talked to Do

and asked
if he could leave.

That he had a vision,
that he should

write about
his experiences

and write something
about the group.

So, he left within a week
before the suicides.

After leaving the group,
he got a packet from--

instructions from Do
and others saying,

if you could go to the house
and make a recording

of what you see,
you'll find us here.

SAWYER: Rio is
the one that Do sent

a bunch of information to,
with a letter that...

said that they were
laying down their lives.

And so he informed
the police of that.

That became what's known
as the Heaven's Gate suicides.

REPORTER: Police
in San Diego County say

they've discovered
what appears to be

a mass suicide

at a multi-million dollar
mansion in Rancho Santa Fe.

That's about 20 miles
north of San Diego.


rampant around here.

Unconfirmed rumors
that there may be

as many as 30 or 40 people
inside that house.

We do know
from neighbors though

that a religious group
did move in back in the fall,

and that they have been
very, very quiet.

I waved over the fence
to some people.

They never uttered a word.


the cult next door was

paying its bills in advance,
picking up the mail.

Eating a sort of last supper

of turkey pot pie.

They all ordered
the same drink,

and they all had
the same dinner and dessert.

And bidding a cryptic farewell
to friends at the car wash.

ALEX: And he said,
"Hey, Alex,

we just stopped by
to say goodbye."

Um, and he took off
his-- his pendant

and handed it to me.

REPORTER: We have just learned
from a briefing

by sheriff's deputies
that apparently



All of them apparently male.

I knew they were thinking
they were men, all men,

because they all had
short hair.

And I knew
the females had short hair.


the coroner's officials have

stopped in the street;
they are talking

to members of the media.

Several dozen of them
now gathered

outside the van's door,

trying to get word,
any detail at all,

on this story.

Peaceful.

That's the only way
I can describe it, peaceful.

We don't know what the cause
of death is at this point.

REPORTER: What did the inside
of the house look like?

We have-- We have no idea.

FRANK: I heard a news report

on the radio of

"monastic group of men

had been found dead."

Chills went
up and down my spine.

I thought,

"They've finally done it."

I knew it was them.

REPORTER: Now,
police are saying that

these bodies were found
in different rooms of the house.

They were found lying prone,

with their hands
at their sides,

and they are saying that
there were no signs of trauma.

TOM BROKAW: 21 women, 18 men,

all dressed
in similar outfits.

Apparently they all thought

they were headed to Heaven
in a spaceship.

CALVIN VINE: This room here was
the actual computer room,

and there were
two bodies in there.

Back in the far
right-hand corner,

there were four bodies
back in there.

And they were dressed
in black slacks.

Black Nike shoes.

And most of them wore
a wedding band

on their left hand.

Most of them had $5.75
in their pockets.

The $5.75

has to do with
the old Mark Twain story.

Mark Twain said
that $5.75

was the cost to ride
the tail of a comet to Heaven.

MAN: The bodies have been dead
for varying periods of time.

Some of them look
like 24-36 hours.

Others look like three days,
three-plus days.

It appears there were...
in three groups.

First group went ahead
with this plan,

and the second group
sort of assisted them,

cleaned up after them,
and covered them

with this red cloth
after they had died.

And the third team helped
the second team.

And then they were
finally down to two people

who were not shrouded
with these sheets.

We believe
they were the last ones.

They did have plastic bags
over their heads.

CALVIN: Cause of death was

asphyxia by plastic bag,

and contributing factor was
the alcohol

and the phenobarbital.

Of interest was
that Marshall Applewhite

was not
the last one to die.

He was in the second group.

Upstairs was
the huge master bedroom,

and he was there alone
in the king-sized bed.

TOM BROKAW: For the families
of the victims,

news of these suicides,
in many cases,

that was the first
they had heard

of their relatives in years.

It was part
of a Heaven's Gate credo.

No contact with outside
family members.

When you heard
about what happened

north of San Diego,
did you know immediately?

No, I didn't, umm, a friend
of mine called me at work

and started telling me,
"You're not gonna believe

what I'm seeing on TV."

And she mentioned
the term "Father Do,"

and she mentioned
the UFO and...

- with the Hale-Bopp Comet.
- Then you knew.

And then I went,
"Oh, man," so I started

making some phone calls,
and I found out

they'd shown my mom's picture
and Herff's picture.

- Sad.
- It is, it really is.

TERRIE: My mom was
such a special lady,

and she had such a genuine heart

and so much compassion
for people.

And she would've never
taken the group

to the conclusion
that it came to.

Do was so caught up
in his own head

and his own
narcissistic beliefs.

I know that the former members
don't feel that way.

And I try really hard
to honor what they believe.

Uh, and-- but my own belief

is that they might
all still be with us,

had Do gotten
the mental assistance he needed.

The moment I was dreading
most of my life...

had finally happened.

DO: SLVODY was
also out of the classroom

for a while, and she knew that
this was where her life was.

Then she came back to life
when she had an opportunity

to return to the classroom.

ROBERT: Leaves an awful big hole
in your life.

ALICE: And it's been
a big enough hole

for three years, but now
that hole is never gonna heal,

because she's...
she's gone.

ROBERT: I mean, the kid's
supposed to bury the old folks,

not the other way around.

ALICE: Every day,
you think about her, you know?

What would she be like at 48?

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.

REPORTER: In an odd footnote,
one of the dead has been

identified as the brother
of actress Nichelle Nichols,

the actress who played
Lieutenant Uhura,

in the "Star Trek"
television series,

much of it set on a spaceship.

NICHELLE NICHOLS: I respect
my brother's wishes.

And I respect him
as a human being.

I respect him
as an intelligent human being.

We all feel very emotional
about, um...

the gift that we've been given.

And...

I'm the happiest person
in the world.

I think Sawyer is the one

that actually
first used this term.

Do always wanted to go out
with a splash.

[distant clamor]

And right from the beginning,
the whole thing is

they're gonna have
this Demonstration

where they're gonna
be assassinated

in front of thousands
of people,

and this is gonna be
worldwide news,

and it's gonna be on TV
all around the world

when the spacecraft comes down
and picks them up.

As the old saying goes,
you know,

the worst death of all is
death by obscurity.

So, by k*lling themselves,

they ensured
their immortality in a sense.

BENJAMIN: The public response
to Heaven's Gate

was dismissal of these people
as idiots,

as brainwashed,
as fools, as a joke.

You know who else
tried to teach

a bunch of Dumbos to fly?

The leader of the Heaven's Gate
religious cult.

[laughter]

Who told his followers
that they could all

fly away from Earth
on a spaceship

by committing mass suicide.

Whoo!
Yay, religion!

Okay, no, no, don't...

[cheering]

Ted! Ted!
Whoo!

We made it!
We made it, whoo!

[cheers]

Tell me, are there any regrets?

Yeah, the castration thing.

I was way off
on that one, Ted.

It turns out it had nothing
to do with anything.

And in fact,
when we got here,

everyone just looked at me like,
"Applewhite, you nutball."

Yeah, but he's our nutball.

- He's our nutball.
- Yeah!

SAWYER: I was scared
of going public,

but I felt like I--
I needed to...

I knew that
they weren't getting

the most accurate reporting
on them.

LARRY KING: Joining us now
from Seattle is

Andrew, a member
of Heaven's Gate

for 18 years,
from 1975 to 1993--

that's an assumed name,
by the way.

In New York is Sawyer,
also an assumed name,

and he was a member
of Heaven's Gate.

What do you make
of this, Sawyer?

Well, see, the group
was looking to leave the planet,

and they were gonna do it
in any way

that they possibly could.

Okay, so they were thinking,
brainstorming constantly

on how that might occur,
so that they could then--

- their souls could then...
- I see.

...move into The Next Level.

If you had stayed
a few more years,

would you have k*lled yourself
with them?

I doubt it.
I... I mean...

- Sawyer, if...
- It was a shock to me.

You left in '94,
that's not too long ago.

Would you have k*lled yourself
with them, Sawyer?

Well, surprisingly
as it may seem,

I... had-- at the time,
I thought I would, yes.

FRANK: The people
who covered it, in general,

weren't of a mind
to dig deeper with it.

[music]

MAN: This is a failed episode
from "Star Trek"

that Gene Roddenberry would put
his thumbs down to.


talking about in this case

is really mental illness
disguised as religion.


something we've gotta let people

practice under
the First Amendment.

These people were adults,
they did this freely,

and from all we can gather,
they're now happy.


only a fraction of people

would really fall
for something so bizarre.

There-- There-- There is
an underlying desperation.

MATT LAUER: When you hear
the word "cult" used

to describe this group, Will,
how do you feel about it?

Just 15 seconds,
if you will.

If you look up
the definition of cult,

the Republican Party
is a cult.

- [Matt laughing]
- I mean, you know,

there are so many...

you know, you attach
a label to all this,

and you read the labels,

and you don't get behind
and look

at what's really going on deep.

We've been compared
to Jonestown,

we've been compared to...

MAN: Well, now you're gonna be
compared to Jonestown.

And what do you mean, "we"?
You're not part of this anymore.

In a sense, I am.

I left, but when
you see those people,

you reexperience that.

It will always be with you.
This will always be with me.

I don't disclaim it.

STEVE: I got a call
from a producer

who had just interviewed
d*ck Joslyn,

and said, "We think
he's gonna k*ll himself.

Can you help him?"

In all of my interventions,

the goal isn't to get
the person out

or to force the person
to agree with me.

The goal is to empower them
to think for themselves.

WOMAN: Is that today's paper?

d*ck: No, that's an older...

STEVE: Well, as I've discovered
in my work,

the vast number of people
who get involved with groups

walk out of them.

But just because
you physically leave,

doesn't mean the group

- gets out of your head.
- Right.

I mean, I've been out
of the group seven years,

and I'm very aware that
I haven't ever processed

anything of it,
other than just my own

in-the-middle-of-the-night
struggles.

And I'm also aware
that I-- I'm just like,

I feel dysfunctional.

- Mm-hmm.
- And that's why
I'm here, Steve,

that's because
there are all these issues

that make me feel like
something is...

is keeping me from readjusting,

and being a happy person,
and functional in the world.

And I know that
I've got stuff to give.

- Mm-hmm.
- And that process

of the will emerging.

- Mm-hmm.
- And-- and in spite of how...

solidly it's been put down,
it still raises up.

It's like a little plant
breaking through concrete,

that the power of the...
of the individual mind

is saying, I'm sorry,
I just can't buy this anymore.

And why did I do that,
and why didn't my Classmates,

who were such
richly gifted people?

STEVE: You're a very
strong person

and you saw through it.

Thank God.

And we're gonna sign off on...

- Bye, see you next time.
- ...May 28th, 1997.

See you next time.

My frustration with the media
is pretty universal,

that they tend to want
sensationalized elements

without getting
into the nitty-gritty

of how this can happen
to intelligent, educated people

from good homes.

So, it's again, this fundamental
attribution error

of, like, "what's--
what's wrong with these people,"

instead of saying
they were just programmed

and influenced
in a systematic way.

d*ck Joslyn says
that he is aware

of at least a half-dozen members

who plan to do the same thing
in the future.

Wow, he said that
just today?

Yeah, just-- we just got this
on the wire this morning.

Yes, well, that doesn't
surprise me, either,

and I wouldn't be surprised
if there were more.

When I think of my brother,

I think of him
with sad brown eyes.

And although this is
in black and white,

this is very typical of him.

I was watching TV one night,

and I saw pictures
of the 39 people.

They were showing tennis shoes
with purple shrouds over them.

And so, I got a hold
of my aunt.

You know, I said, did you see
the mass suicide today?

And she's like, "Oh yeah,
those people are crazy."

And I said,
that's the cult Jimmy was in.

Five weeks
after the mass suicide,

I got a call from my aunt,
and she was crying.

He had sent her
a letter saying,

"By the time you get this,
I should be dead."

And she sent
my cousin's husband over.

And when he knocked on the door,
he heard the g*n go off.

[g*nsh*t echoing]

He left his farewell,
and then he left pictures

that he had cut out
of a magazine

of all of his
former cult members,

of all of his former
Class members.

And he had tagged them
underneath

with their ODY names.

And he drew an image

of the 39 of them
being lifted up.

LESLIE STAHL: Wayne Cooke,
a Heaven's Gate dropout

who still believed,

appeared on "60 Minutes"
in March

to explain why his wife
and 38 other Classmates

committed suicide.

KELLY COOKE: The only reason
I was on "60 Minutes,"

is I accompanied my father
to these things.

LESLIE: Your mother
was one of the 39

who committed suicide
with that group.

Now, they think that
she's up in a spacecraft.

Do you believe that?

[sighs]
This'll be very difficult

for people to understand,
but this is something

she worked all of her life
to accomplish.

This-- she graduated.

LESLIE: You wish
you had gone with them?

I wish I had the strength
to have remained,

to have gained
the kind of control

through Do's help,
Ti's help,

to have stuck it out

and continued to be a part
of that group.

Yes.

KELLY: I was just
pleading with him

to live this life
with-- with me

in this world, you know?

Not-- Not to abandon it.

[sighs]

He was living in Vegas then,
with Chuck.

I just could tell
it was gonna happen.

DAVID TAYLOR:
After the suicides,

we interviewed Chuck Humphrey,

and he gave me
this t-shirt.

And true to his own beliefs,

it says, "Heaven's Gate--
what if they're right?"

Hi, my name is RKKODY,

and by the time
that you see this tape,

um, I'll be gone.

KELLY: I had been up
all night.

Doorbell rang,
and it was a FedEx package.

I open it up,
and it was a video.

I'm happy.
[chuckles]

And I... want very much
to follow my Classmates

and... my teachers,
Ti and Do.

MAN: It took about three hours

for San Diego County
sheriff detectives

to zero in
on this Encinitas hotel,

and this particular hotel room,
room 222.

This is where two people
tried to commit suicide.

I got a call,
someone was alive still.

I don't think
I've ever experienced

such a confusing emotion
to have.

You know,
maybe my father's alive.

But is that good?
I don't know, you know?

I mean, it went
back and forth a couple times,

like being on a rollercoaster
for several hours,

no sleep, just insane.

MAN: This is where two people
tried to commit suicide.

One of them,
former Heaven's Gate member,


died here,

and his body was removed
late this afternoon.

His partner,


was found on the floor,
barely alive.

Chuck reflexively
pulled the plastic bag,

and the drugs didn't k*ll him.

JASON: This'll sound morbid,
but I felt bad.

I was like,
I knew he wanted to go.

And then, he wakes up
chained to a hospital bed,

you know, and he's like,
"This doesn't look

anything like a spacecraft."

Our objective
was to leave the vehicles

and catch up with the Class,

and catch up
with our Older Member.

I-- I tried my best to do it
at this time, at failed.

Mr. Humphrey, would you ever
attempt suicide again?

- I don't know.
- You don't know?

I can't answer that question.

JASON: Chuck emailed me,
and he's like,

"I'm going out to this spot.

I'll see you upstairs,"
essentially.

I knew exactly
where he was going.

It was a spot
we'd camped at.

He knew I was the only person

who-- who wouldn't freak out
and try to stop him.

I mean, he was always adamant

that he was 100% supportive
of what they did,

and obviously, he tried
to follow in their footsteps,

not once, but twice.

In their minds, Ti and Do
were the Second Coming,

just different form.

So, how do you tell them

that the Second Coming is wrong?
[chuckles]

ROBERT: Shortly after
the suicides happen,

there was this woman,
Lee Ann Wolfe, she called me up,

and she identified herself
as an ex-member

and told me
that she was just living

up on Flathead Lake here...

and kinda put me in touch
with a lot of other people.

And we have the reunion in 1998.

TERRIE: In 1998,
out in Montana,

there was
a Heaven's Gate reunion.

Rob flew me out there,

and a bunch of other people,
ex-Heaven's Gaters.

ROBERT: People getting along.

Lorraine remaining


It is a very difficult trip.

It's a very difficult
thing to do.

But it had such wonderful,
beautiful endings,

that it is all
very much worthwhile.

I believe that TiDo
know my mind.

And her daughter Sharon was
the very first follower.

SHARON NELSON: At the beginning,
they were sort of humble.

You know, two people
out there in the wilderness

trying to figure out
what they're supposed to do.

And you must understand
that Marshall Herff Applewhite

has a complex, and it's called
the messiah complex.

Regardless of how
they left here,

it doesn't matter.

To me, they're on a higher
level of understanding.

Absolutely convinced
that all of her Classmates

were out in The Next Level.

d*ck Joslyn at this point
is convinced

that he had been brainwashed,
but here they are,

hanging out
on very good terms.

It was very cathartic

for most people,
I think, who went there.

But then, Terrie Nettles
had brought copies

of these letters
that her mom had written her.

So, Terrie read excerpts
from these letters

to these people in the group,

and they were, all of them,
absolutely dumbfounded

when they heard

that while
they're being told,

"you gotta give up your family,

"and you're never gonna
see them again,

and you can't have
any human attachments,"

and all of that,
and meanwhile,

Ti has been writing home
and signing letters

like "Love, Mom,
love always,"

and giving advice
about how her daughter

should conform to the ways
of the world.

The date on here
was August 13th, 1982.

She says, "Be good,
strive for goodness,

"and by all means,
conform to society

so that you will have
peace of mind."

I'm sorry,
that was not their MO.

They didn't believe
in causing violence

or anything like that.

But by all means,
conform to society?

That was not
what they were doing.

That was code.

I look back on that,
that was code,

but I didn't know it
at the time.

But I just feel like
she wanted out of the group.

ROBERT: When Terrie read
those passages,

I was really shocked.

And all the members,
absolutely across the board,

they were just like--
not just flabbergasted,

but a couple of 'em were just,
like, pissed off.

JANJA: During that whole time,
Ti was writing letters

to her daughter back in Texas
and telling her to, like,

do the right thing,
go to college.

[laughing]
You know, and so you think,

okay, if this lady really
believed what she's saying,

to me, that is the most
duplicitous example

of sort of the con.

TERRIE: People were angry,

and I just kinda wanted
to slither out of there.

They weren't angry at me,
and I knew that.

Looks to me like Ti
really wanted to go home,

but at the same time,
she's probably thinking,

"Here I am in this group,
I have this comfortable life,

"or I go home,
and I'm constantly barraged by,

"'Why did you run away?
Why did you abandon your kids?'

"Hm, I think it's gonna be
easier for me to stay here

"and die in this group
than it is to go home

and deal with all of that."

She got in so deep
and into it,

that she wasn't
able to turn around.

FRANK: When I left the Class,
left the group,

and tried to navigate my life

as a citizen at large,

didn't really know who I was.

I'm finally at a point
where I could say

I want to be free.

I want to travel
the country,

I want to roam free.

So, I got a van.

I'm gonna be on the road,

and I'll be learning
to have fun...

like I haven't
allowed myself to.

She was the love of my life.

I'm sure I will.

SAWYER: I worked with Frank
a number of times.

His name in the group
was ANDODY, A-N-D-O-D-Y.

And Erika's name in the group
was CHKODY, C-H-K-O-D-Y.

And she got that name
by taking the name "Check,"

like "check partner."

They're both beautiful souls.

I... I feel like
Sawyer is...

is stuck.

SAWYER: I don't feel guilt.
I feel like

I flunked a test,
I flunked my test,

and that I could have
graduated with them.

I had the capacity
to do that.

I believe that 100%.

Do left the door open,

and so there's nobody
that can close it.

Only he can close it,

when he decides
that it's time.

And then we won't be talking
about this anymore.

[Aimee Mann, "Save Me"]

JANJA: I think
there are two lessons

of the Heaven's Gate story.

One is to not be
judgmental.

You know,
everybody wants to think,

"Oh, those are
those crazy people.

That's-- I would never do that."

Mm, not so fast.

But I suppose
the most important lesson

is to be careful.

We tend to look
for these easy answers,

and I think it's important
to remember

that nobody has all the answers.

And once you turn that over
to someone,

you put yourself
at great risk.

♪ Save me ♪

♪ Come on and ♪

♪ Save Me ♪

DEB: It's an ongoing puzzle
in my life,

where I'm always
going to wonder,

was there something
that I could have done?

KELLY: I knew they loved me.

I just didn't trust
that they knew how to love me.

♪ They could never love anyone ♪

I don't know if you ever
get over it, really.

JASON: Some people
are probably still upset

by losing the people
that they lost.

And the only thing
I can say is that

they really, truly are
in a better place.

It's true.

♪ You know what it's like ♪

DO: They say that we're a hoax,

say that we're just
two misguided,

insane creatures,

and that these poor
misguided individuals

and others like them are--
are endeavoring

to do this thing.

They're stronger now.

They have rid themselves more

of the garbage
they have collected.

If we even turned out
to not be what we were,

they are ten times
what they have ever been,

and they know it.

[song continues]

♪ Come on and ♪

♪ Save me ♪

♪ Why don't you ♪

♪ Save me ♪

♪ Come on and ♪

♪ Save me ♪

♪ From the ranks
of the freaks ♪

♪ Who suspect
they could never love anyone ♪

♪ Except the freaks ♪

♪ Who could never
love anyone ♪♪