Source: Marie Claire

HBO is back with yet another docuseries to cure our cult cravings and help us add to our arsenal of true crime knowledge.

If you’re in the mood for a chilling lesson in odd human behaviour, look no further than Heaven’s Gate: Cult Of Cults.

Heaven’s Gate explores the inner workings of one of the strangest and notorious cults in existence and how it led to the with the largest mass-suicide on U.S. soil, changing the face of modern New Age religion forever. 

Additionally, it will also offer a thorough examination of the notorious cult through the eyes of its former members and loved ones.

Fascinated? Keep reading for everything you need to know about the series from the plot to where you can stream it in Australia.

Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles

What Is The True Story Behind Heaven’s Gate: Cult Of Cults?

If you’re a true crime aficionado, then you’ll be very familiar with Heaven’s Gate. The docuseries dives into the famous cult’s controversial beliefs, featuring never-before-seen footage and first-person accounts from inside the group. 

Created in mid-1970s Texas, the Heaven’s Gate group moved across the United States in order to gain new followers, or what they’d call “truth-seekers”, and targeting those who weren’t a part of any organised religion.

A four-part series, it also deep dives into the behaviour of group leaders Marshall Applewhite (later known as ‘Ti’) and Bonnie Nettles (later known as ‘Do’). The pair believed that they were destined for a ‘higher evolutionary level’ above their mortal existence on Earth, leading them to believe that one day they’d be transported to an alien spaceship to take them to their higher existence.

From there, Heaven’s Gate members began believing that the spacecraft taking them to the ‘higher plane of existence’ would also be travelling on the tail of the Comet Halle-Bopp as it travelled past Earth in early 1997. Ultimately, a group of 38 cult members, along with Applewhite, decided to take their own lives while dressed in the infamous ‘Away Team’ uniform, including Nike Decades–which were immediately discontinued.

Source: Marie Claire