Heaven's Gate

From TinWiki.org

The Heaven's Gate Cult was a religious sect led by a man named Marshall Applewhite. They committed mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California in March of 1997, believing that their souls would go to an alien spacecraft hiding in the tail of the comet Hale-Bopp, the passing of which was a widely publicized spectacle at the time. An earlier version of the group was known as Human Individual Metamorphosis or HIM.

1 Practices
2 Suicide
3 Mind Control?
4 External Links

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Practices

The cult preached celibacy, which could be speculated to be a part of their doctrine which stems from Applewhite's alleged homosexuality (he was accused of having sex with a male student during his tenure at St. Thomas University). They adopted an adrogynous appearance by buzzing their hair, wearing unfitted black jumpsuits, and even identical shoes- Nikes. Some male members had themselves castrated. Members forfeited their possessions and what the group did have was owned communally. Their pursuit was to reach "the level above human", inhabited by extra-terrestrials in the literal heavens.

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Suicide

39 members, including the leader, Applewhite, participated in the mass suicide. They killed themselves in shifts of 15, 15, and 9 according to documentation found in the home where they committed the act. After ingesting phenobarbital and vodka, sleeping members were asphyxiated by the placement of plastic bags over their heads.

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Mind Control?

Marhsall Applewhite had ties to at least 2 possible CIA agents, and those two knew one another. This could be interpreted to mean that Applewhite was an asset, perhaps taking part in a mind control experiment.

The mansion in Rancho Santa Fe where the group committed suicide was owned by a man named Sam Koutchesfahani [1], who denied knowing how many people lived there, though this seems unlikely [2]. Koutchesfahani had also hired a private security firm to protect the residence 1.

Koutchesfahani is also known to have been involved in several bogus universities, a fraudulent student visa program for middle easterners, and acting as an informant to the San Diego FBI office.

In addition to renting a place from Koutchesfahani, Applewhite also knew John Gray, writer of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" in the early 70s at St. Thomas University, Houston. This is interesting because John Gray may also have ties to Koutchesfahani through a third person: Abdussattar Shaikh. Shaikh was harboring phony middle-eastern "students" (including 2 of the 9/11 hijackers), acting as president of a phony university, and informing for the FBI in San Diego at the same time as Sam K.

Shaikh's phony university awarded Gray his PhD. Gray also had suspicious financial dealings with Adnan Khashoggi, of Iran Contra fame.

What we have here is a web of relationships, several with multiple points of connection, linking some of the same people to Iran Contra, 9/11, and The Heaven's Gate Cult.

It also bears mentioning that California governor Pete Wilson protected several of the bogus universities in question from investigation.

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