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Steven H's Reviews > Heaven's Gate: Cult Suicide in San Diego
Heaven's Gate: Cult Suicide in San Diego
by
by
TWO JOURNALISTS TELL THE STORY OF THIS “FLYING SAUCER” CULT
Authors Bill Hoffman and Cathy Burke wrote in the first chapter of this 1997 book, “[Nick Matzorkis was] president of a successful Beverly Hills software company called Interact Entertainment Group… the thirty-four-year-old businessman… had agreed to make this unusual journey at the behest of [Robert] Rio D’Angeleo, a gifted employee and former member of a computer-obsessed religious cult known as ‘Heaven’s Gate.’ … Rio, forty-one, had set up a business arrangement between Heaven’s Gate and Interact to produce some websites. Jut four months earlier, Matzorkis had watched in amusement as several of the cult members surprised him … with a chocolate birthday cake… one of the women… said nonchalantly, ‘several of the male members have undergone surgery to have their testicles removed!’ In other words, voluntary castration… Everybody appeared androgynous with extremely short hair and loose dark pants and shirts… And all of them, well-educated with a full command of the language, seemed to have an extraordinary interest in science fiction---particularly in ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The X-Files.’” (Pg. 1-4)
They continue, “Matzorkis would get periodic [contacts] from a cult member. Once he received an e-mail message asking if he would be interested in helping produce a movie about Heaven’s Gate and its belief… ‘I remember them expressing frustration that in over twenty years of the group’s existence they had been unable to draw attention to themselves,’ Matzorkis would recall later… That’s when Rio burst in [to the office], clutching two videocassettes and a letter. The handwritten note said, matter-of-factly: ‘By the time this is read, we will have shed out containers… We’ll be gone. We came from the Level Above Human in distant space and we have now exited the bodies that we were wearing for our earthly task.’ … the contents of the two videotapes showed some of the people he’d once called brothers and sisters in the Heaven’s Gate cult giving short farewell speeches… it was evident that there were two possibilities… Either this was one really bad exercise in science fiction… Or it meant… this group ... were about to kill themselves.” (Pg. 4-7)
They go on, “attempts to reach cult members by phone failed. Rio, worried that something might be wrong asked Matzorkis to accompany him on a check of the estate the cult had called home… Rio emerged---looking as grim and as lifeless as a ghost… Rio breathlessly mumbled a few words and the paid sped off to notify authorities.” (Pg. 9)
They recount, “Officials noted that … the notion that Heaven’s Gate followers had of beaming onto a spaceship that was tailing the Hale-Bopp comet was wrong. Yes, scientists had noticed a small, bright ‘blip’ behind Hale-Bopp. But further study revealed that the UFO was actually a dim star. It showed the further futility of the group’s final flight into oblivion…” (Pg. 57-58)
They ask, “Was Applewhite’s cult, with its science-fiction mumbo jumbo about ‘shedding containers’ and going to another world, just the offshoot of a sexually tortured man ‘s inability to cope? Was his lifelong lust for men---and his guilt over it---the ultimate reason for the castrations, and eventually the mass suicide? The conclusive answer from the experts was ‘maybe.’” (Pg. 72)
They explain, “Bo and Peep… kept the fire alive. They knew the time and place and method to reach the ‘higher level.’ Part of their method of keeping recruits close was the constant tantalization of the imminent arrival of the beloved spaceship that would save them from the world. The date of arrival was never quite clear---and was the reason why so many finally defected from those early wanderings. ‘We have never stated the time,’ Bo argued.” (Pg. 128)
Prospective new members were given “a short but stifling list of No’s---no sex, no drugs, no liquor, no tobacco, no kids. Children are ‘not eligible for the space flight because the decision to go must be made by each individual,’ Bo told his New York Times Magazine interviewer. They claimed to have known nothing about members who gave up their kids to join… Socializing within the group was discouraged and there were no games, songs, public confessions, or rituals of any kind.” (Pg. 134-135)
They record, “‘I think everyone in this class wanted something more than this human world had to offer,’ one of the cult members said in her good-bye videotape.” (Pg. 212)
This book will be ‘must reading’ for anyone wanting to know about this cultic group.
Authors Bill Hoffman and Cathy Burke wrote in the first chapter of this 1997 book, “[Nick Matzorkis was] president of a successful Beverly Hills software company called Interact Entertainment Group… the thirty-four-year-old businessman… had agreed to make this unusual journey at the behest of [Robert] Rio D’Angeleo, a gifted employee and former member of a computer-obsessed religious cult known as ‘Heaven’s Gate.’ … Rio, forty-one, had set up a business arrangement between Heaven’s Gate and Interact to produce some websites. Jut four months earlier, Matzorkis had watched in amusement as several of the cult members surprised him … with a chocolate birthday cake… one of the women… said nonchalantly, ‘several of the male members have undergone surgery to have their testicles removed!’ In other words, voluntary castration… Everybody appeared androgynous with extremely short hair and loose dark pants and shirts… And all of them, well-educated with a full command of the language, seemed to have an extraordinary interest in science fiction---particularly in ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The X-Files.’” (Pg. 1-4)
They continue, “Matzorkis would get periodic [contacts] from a cult member. Once he received an e-mail message asking if he would be interested in helping produce a movie about Heaven’s Gate and its belief… ‘I remember them expressing frustration that in over twenty years of the group’s existence they had been unable to draw attention to themselves,’ Matzorkis would recall later… That’s when Rio burst in [to the office], clutching two videocassettes and a letter. The handwritten note said, matter-of-factly: ‘By the time this is read, we will have shed out containers… We’ll be gone. We came from the Level Above Human in distant space and we have now exited the bodies that we were wearing for our earthly task.’ … the contents of the two videotapes showed some of the people he’d once called brothers and sisters in the Heaven’s Gate cult giving short farewell speeches… it was evident that there were two possibilities… Either this was one really bad exercise in science fiction… Or it meant… this group ... were about to kill themselves.” (Pg. 4-7)
They go on, “attempts to reach cult members by phone failed. Rio, worried that something might be wrong asked Matzorkis to accompany him on a check of the estate the cult had called home… Rio emerged---looking as grim and as lifeless as a ghost… Rio breathlessly mumbled a few words and the paid sped off to notify authorities.” (Pg. 9)
They recount, “Officials noted that … the notion that Heaven’s Gate followers had of beaming onto a spaceship that was tailing the Hale-Bopp comet was wrong. Yes, scientists had noticed a small, bright ‘blip’ behind Hale-Bopp. But further study revealed that the UFO was actually a dim star. It showed the further futility of the group’s final flight into oblivion…” (Pg. 57-58)
They ask, “Was Applewhite’s cult, with its science-fiction mumbo jumbo about ‘shedding containers’ and going to another world, just the offshoot of a sexually tortured man ‘s inability to cope? Was his lifelong lust for men---and his guilt over it---the ultimate reason for the castrations, and eventually the mass suicide? The conclusive answer from the experts was ‘maybe.’” (Pg. 72)
They explain, “Bo and Peep… kept the fire alive. They knew the time and place and method to reach the ‘higher level.’ Part of their method of keeping recruits close was the constant tantalization of the imminent arrival of the beloved spaceship that would save them from the world. The date of arrival was never quite clear---and was the reason why so many finally defected from those early wanderings. ‘We have never stated the time,’ Bo argued.” (Pg. 128)
Prospective new members were given “a short but stifling list of No’s---no sex, no drugs, no liquor, no tobacco, no kids. Children are ‘not eligible for the space flight because the decision to go must be made by each individual,’ Bo told his New York Times Magazine interviewer. They claimed to have known nothing about members who gave up their kids to join… Socializing within the group was discouraged and there were no games, songs, public confessions, or rituals of any kind.” (Pg. 134-135)
They record, “‘I think everyone in this class wanted something more than this human world had to offer,’ one of the cult members said in her good-bye videotape.” (Pg. 212)
This book will be ‘must reading’ for anyone wanting to know about this cultic group.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
May 11, 2024
– Shelved
