Boy, were the 70’s a strange time. We had free love, hippies, drugs… none of which I was around for. But with that new mentality, the new views on freedom came some pretty unique, and even bizarre views on a variety of things. One person with extremely different views was a man called Marshall Applewhite, and his partner, Bonnie Nettles. The pair believed they were chosen prophets from an alien race who were destined to lead a select chosen few to ascend to evolve to the next rung of evolution. Pretty wacky stuff, right? Well, that was just the start.

Nettles and Applewhite took their ideas to a panel, printed fliers and brochures, and eventually amassed a small following of 35 plus people in the end. Their preaching and ideals became known as Heaven’s Gate, and among their beliefs was that Mary (as in the virgin Mary) was impregnated by aliens, and that Applewhite himself was possessed by the very same spirit that inhabited Jesus. Oh, and he would save his followers from Lucifer. Like I said, wacky stuff.

In the end, around 20 years after the formation of the cult, Nettles died of cancer. This even threw everything Applewhite had been preaching and teaching under the bus, and in a sort of panic believed a sign from the heavens was bestowed upon him. It was time for he and his followers to ascend, to finally leave their earthly vessels and join Nettles in the higher plane of evolution. It’s a tragic story, but also one filled with absurdities. To find out more, and what happened in the end, you’ll just have to listen to the episode.

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