Are there UFOs in heaven?!

“RED ALERT! As was promised – the keys to Heaven’s Gate are here again in Ti and Do (The UFO Two) as they were in Jesus and His Father 2000 yrs. Ago,” boldly exclaims the website of Heaven’s Gate, a Christian group specializing in ufology and millenarianism. Ufology is the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and millenarianism refers to the belief that there will be a Second Coming of Christ along with a millennium of peace and prosperity. The group believed that their souls would separate from their physical bodies, ultimately ascending into the universe until they took sanctuary inside a UFO. 

Ti and Do are the nicknames of the Heaven’s Gate group leaders, Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite. For over two decades, members of Heaven’s Gate lived a monastic life of isolation and simple habits, devoting themselves to the beliefs of the community. The arrival of one of the largest comets in the world, Hale-Bopp, was a major turning point in the course of Heaven’s Gate, and it is connected to the largest mass suicide in the United States. Thirty-nine people, hoping to “transcend to higher beings,” were found dead in San Diego. Curiously, upon finding the victims, it was discovered that they all were wearing the same clothing and Nike sneakers.  

Nettles and Applewhite gathered followers by advertising their group as one that could reinstate hope and community in those without a sense of belonging. Heaven’s Gate is just one example of a cult, or a group that shows extreme passion towards a certain ideology. Another infamous cult is the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones, which resulted in the Jonestown Massacre. The well-known phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” is a reference to blind followership originating from this massacre. Almost 1,000 members of the Peoples Temple movement died by drinking a beverage laced with cyanide. 

“You may have heard of the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid,” which is a reference to blind followership.”

A major uniting characteristic of cults is the charismatic personalities of their leaders who possess an intrinsic “belief in his or her destiny to lead and the follower’s faith in this.” There are two distinct forms of manipulation and control that cult leaders subject their followers to: physical control and psychological control. Physical control methods impact the body through dietary manipulation and distortion of normal physiological feelings. For example, the followers of Charles Manson were forced to take LSD as a method of control. Cult leaders foster a high energy environment with provocative chanting (e.g. “out Satan out”) and theatrical lighting, which results in an expected physical effect of exhilaration. Leaders interpret this cause and effect relationship as a result of the higher power’s influence. A former member of Heaven’s Gate, Rio DiAngelo, described the extreme physical rules of the cult in an interview with ABC News, explaining that members were coerced into taking on asexual appearances and more devout members were castrated. 

Psychological control, a form of mind control, is what often comes to mind when considering cult manipulation. Some examples of mind control include hypnosis and guided imagery. Hypnosis serves as a tool for cult leaders to instill certain beliefs in their followers, as their minds are more vulnerable and malleable during this time. Guided imagery is a more creative form of manipulation, using storytelling, music, and dance to ingrain cult beliefs into the mind. Both methods focus on taking advantage of the relaxed mind state. 

The Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones used a number of mind control tactics including self-incrimination and a Big Brother approach (spying on the members). Jones used a loudspeaker system to monitor his followers, and the followers were responsible for reporting on one another. Followers of the Peoples Temple were forced to admit their biggest fears to Jones, which he used to humiliate them as a method of exerting power after disobedience. Yulanda Williams, a former member of the Peoples Temple, explained that he would blackmail his opposition and encourage his followers to cut ties with their families. Isolation, both mentally and physically, was another major tactic of Jones and other similar cult leaders. 

“Followers of the Peoples Temple were forced to admit their biggest fears to Jones.”

Often, immersion into a cult can fundamentally change a person’s identity, and a phenomenon called “cult pseudo-personality” may occur in more involved members of a cult. There is a known case of a woman named Jenny, a member of a now-disbanded Christian community, who adopted a new persona named Magdalene in order to dedicate herself more fully to the community’s beliefs. Upon the cult’s demise, switching back to Jenny was an extremely difficult process that involved post-trauma symptoms and psychological turmoil, making it difficult for Jenny to go on with her life. 

The effects of cult indoctrination are dire and long lasting, and former cult members may find themselves without a support system once they are able to leave. As Williams explained, many members were forced to ruin their connections with family. It also becomes extremely difficult to find a means of employment post-escape. “I tried to get a job and people would not hire me because they thought I was part of some crazy thing,” DiAngelo explained. 

Thankfully, both DiAngelo and Williams were able to escape their dangerous circumstances and reconnect with their pre-cult life. Williams was able to take back her life and served the San Francisco police department for 32 years as a lieutenant and captain of the force. DiAngelo was able to reconnect with his mother and granddaughter, and he commits to bettering himself every day. These individuals showed incredible strength despite all that they faced in their past, allowing them to reintegrate into society. Their stories emphasize the dire impacts of cult manipulation on the mind and body and the cruel behavior of cult leaders towards their followers. Studying cult manipulation tactics is an important tool in spreading useful information on how cults function and how to prevent them from gaining power in the future.