The UFO Two: Bonnie Nettles, Marshall Applewhite, and the Road to Heaven’s Gate
pplpod · pplpod
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Show Notes
In this episode of pplpod, we examine the strange and tragic odyssey of Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite, the pair known as "Ti" and "Do" who founded the UFO religion Heaven’s Gate. We trace their journey back to their fateful meeting in 1972, where Applewhite, a music professor and son of a Presbyterian minister, met Nettles, a nurse with a deep interest in theosophy and the occult. Together, they concluded they were the "Two Witnesses" described in the Book of Revelation and left their families to travel the country recruiting a "crew" for the "Next Level".
We explore the evolution of their theology, from their early days camping in tents to the pivotal death of Nettles from cancer in 1985. Discover how her death shifted the group's belief system, leading them to view the human body as a mere "vehicle" or "container" for the soul. Finally, we cover the group's isolation in a Rancho Santa Fe mansion and the 1997 mass suicide of 39 members who believed they were exiting their earthly vehicles to board a spacecraft trailing Comet Hale–Bopp.