Episode
Heaven's Gate The Back Story (Part 1)
- Published
- Apr 6, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4881
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/unexplained-america-the-podcast-6730775/episodes/heaven-s-gate-the-back-story-part-1/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/unexplained-america-the-podcast-6730775/heaven-s-gate-the-back-story-part-1.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
In this episode of Unexplained America, your host Lisa will discuss the group Heaven's Gate, primarily, diving into the groups leaders Bonnie Lou Trousdale Nettles and Marshall "Herff" Applewhite Jr. Listener Discretion-Mental Illness/Unaliving --more in Part 2. On Wednesday, March 26, 1997, the San Diego County Sheriff's office received a 911 telling them that there was a mass unaliving at the location of 18241 Colina Norte in Rancho Sante Fe. The deputies really thought that this must be a crank phone call. When the deputies go to the house what they find there is anything but funny. They find 39 bodies at this location--they will received 1500 calls from around the country from concerned family and friends of these individuals. Hearts will be broken and the leader (Herff) will be on the cover of Time Magazine--but not for any good reason. In this Part 1, I discuss the background and history of Bonnie and Herff. I will outline their beginnings and how they met and how the group began. The time frame I cover in this episode is 1927-1986; in 1986 Bonnie's family will find out that she passed away on June 19, 1985. During Bonnie's life the group was NEVER called Heaven's Gate but went by H.I.M. Human Individual Metamorphosis or they went by Total Overcomers Anonymous. Listen to the whole episode for a deep look at the group. References for this Episode: "Heaven's Gate America's UFO Religion"- Benjamin E. Zeller--https://www.amazon.com/Heavens-Gate-Americas-UFO-Religion/dp/1479881066 "Marhsall Herff Applewhite Jr."-Times Information Services--Corpus Christi Caller--Sat. Mar. 29, 1997 "Cult Video Discovered"--LA Times--The Cincinatti Enquier--Mon. May 12, 1997 "Harlinger AP"--Austin American-Statesman-Sat. Oct. 18, 1975 &q…