All language subtitles for Heavens.Gate.The.Cult.of.Cults.S01E03.720p.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV

RADIO HOST: And it's seven
minutes now past the hour.

Our number across the country
is 1-800-449-GLKN,

locally, 664-8255.

I'm David Masters,
this is Radioactive Talk,

on the Talk Radio.

Our guests
on this particular program

are Rick and Yvonne

and they've devoted
their lives,

along with a number of other
people on the planet,

to awaken the rest of us up,

uh, to some very important
truths as they see it.

One of the important truths

is the end of civilization
as we know it.

Is this correct?

Get right up on the mic.

We feel very strongly

that this is the end times

that was prophesized by
in the Bible.

DAVID: That is a known fact one
of the messages that you bring.

That-- and this is part
of our message, yes.

DAVID: Let me ask you this,

how do you know
you're not hypnotized?

Or deceased?
Or brainwashed?

Do I look hypnotized?

Do I look brainwashed?

- Yeah.
- All right.

[laughing]

But then again,
so do I.

MAN: No, I think you do--
you-- you have, uh,

a particular look
on your face

of a person who is
in a hypnotic trance.

Well, when you mention
being brainwashed,

I think we-- we thought
about that too.

Over-- you know,
over some time

and we feel that,
in a lot of ways,

we hope we are.

[music]

[rain pattering]

SAWYER: Ti and Do
gave us the tools

to brainwash ourselves.

Literally wash out
our humanness

from our brains.

And that's the same thing
that was meant by Baptism.

There was washing your
humanness out of you

and starting fresh,
like a new creature.

Like the butterfly,

the beginning
of the butterfly.

DO: The mind
that you had as a human,

is aborted and the soul
that was given to you

is filled with next level
information,

next level mind,

and a new creature
is born.

Brainwashing is one
of the controversial terms

in this field.

And-- and there
are some academics

who want us to think
that it doesn't exist.

But as someone who
brainwashed people,

I can guarantee you
that it does exist.

JANJA: One of the myths
about cults

is that they're all
religious.

And, in fact, there's many
kinds of cults.

I myself was
in a political cult.

The Democratic Workers Party.

We were a very strict
Marxist-Leninist organization.

I thought that
I was going to

help bringing back
social change.

After about the sixth year
I got very disillusioned.

I didn't stay out of any kind
of loyalty to the leader,

I didn't stay even

out of any loyalty
to the belief system

at that point.

I stayed because
I was scared,

and I couldn't figure out
how to leave.

So I was in for about
10 and a half years,

People do go through
a very deep

psychological change
that is brought about

by the indoctrination
methods in the group.

And the group really
believed

that they were training
for this trip to outer space.

They said: "We want
to be part of a crew.

A crew which
acts as a whole."

And they looked at Star Trek
and said: "That's it."

PICCARD: Captain's log,
stardate 41153.7.

Our destination
is planet Deneb IV,

beyond which lies the great
unexplored mass of the galaxy.

We watched several
approved TV programs.

Star Trek was one of them.

It was about expanding

our potential
into space travel.

Which was analogous
to what we were doing.

MAN: Initiate docking
procedures.

Maneuvering thrusters only.

...for as a benefit
of the overall collective.

We do are on a quest
to better ourselves.

Evolving toward
a state of perfection.

Who are you?

I am the Borg.

DATA: The Borg have
a collective consciousness,

there are no individuals.

SAWYER: Do said that's like
depicting the Next Level.

The members of the Borg.

I thought: "Ooh."

That's-- that's kind
of, like, uncomfortable,

A cog in wheel
is a very significant item,

when you are
in our Father's Kingdom

serving as a member
of a crew.

[robotic voice]
We are the Borg,
resistance is futile.

FRANK: In the group

we obviously didn't
go out and get haircuts

at the barber shop.

So we would
cut each other's hair.

I was a hair cutter
at one point,

I cut hair, you know?

WOMAN: Oh!

Well, next time you come
in you'll be cutting my hair.

[laughing]

Within the first
couple of years,

after Ti passed,

we were gathered
in the main room,

Do is taking questions,

and I raised my hand

To make an observation

because it was in the morning,
my...

my voice was a little bit...

huskier.

Hence, we're moving into
a world that is genderless,

we are doing everything
we can do

to not identify
with a gender.

But I was...

humiliated.

I felt this smoldering anger

come up in me.

And then, after that,

I gradually developed
this severe

inability to speak like--

like I have still

'cause there's always
this push-pull,

always this suppression.

I wrote a note to Do,

telling him I'm feeling

I can't be
in the group anymore.

He came to talk to me
and said:

"You are throwing away

"your opportunity
to graduate.

"You haven't done anything

"to displease me.

There's no reason
for you to leave."

And I kept returning
to this, gut knowing,

and saying: "I'm sorry,
I have no choice."

A couple days after
I arrived in Calgary,

Erika called me on the phone.

And, of course,

there would've been
somebody else

on the extension.

Check partner.

I don't know if she would've
wanted to say anything

but she had her check partner
in the extension.

That was the last time
I spoke to her.

JANJA: This is a thing people
don't understand

about leaving cult,

you're-- you're leaving
your whole world.

And you don't know
what's out there

and you've been fed
a bunch of bull

about what's gonna
happen to you.

In Heaven's Gate
you weren't this person.

So you really had nothing
to go back to.

And so, to me,

that's a far deeper
type of indoctrination.

Steve Hassan is a world
renowned cult expert.

He himself was recruited
into a cult at 19 years of age.

Now, he's written
a book called

Combatting Cult Mind Control.

[applause]

Steve, what's going on here?

People can be systematically
broken down,

indoctrinated, through
controlling information,

controlling their behavior,
controlling their thoughts,

controlling their emotions,

and made into obedient,
dependent slaves,

or clones,
of the cult leader.

In my work counseling
people who have left cults,

you know, physically
leaving the cult

doesn't get it
out of your head.

Specially if you've been
in it for years.

People tend to blame
the members,

they did not appreciate

the robust amount
of social psychological

destructive mind
control techniques

that were systematically
applied.

They made people cut off
from their family and friends.

They made people
be in couples.

So they had no privacy.

They changed their names.

They changed their clothing.

They change their diet.

It's classic mind control,
in my opinion,

to create a new pseudo-identity

that was obedient.

NARRATOR: The experiment
of Solomon Asch

examines behavior
under the pressure

of social forces.

STEVEN: In my practice,

when I'm doing interventions
with people,

I show videos
of the Asch Conformity Study.

MAN: The experiment
you'll be taking part in today,

involves the perception
of lengths of lines.

You're to look
at the line on the left,

and determine which of
the three lines on the right

is equal to it in length.

STEVE: And everybody was in
on the experiment

except the person in seat six.

And they start giving
the correct answer

for two rounds

and then they all start
giving the wrong answer.

MAN: Two.

MAN 2: Two.

MAN 3: Two.

Two.

Uh, two.

NARRATOR: The subject
denies the evidence

of his own eyes and yields
to group influence.

And this experiment
has been done

over and over again
for decades

and the answer
universally is

two thirds of everyone
who does this experiment

starts giving
the wrong answer.

One.

They must be right,

they're four of them
and one of me.

Uh, one.

We all wanna think
that we're independent,

and we would never agree.

But the science,
the social science says,

we're programmed
to fit into groups,

we're gonna start adapting

to the people
in our environment

in order to fit in.

MAN: Hi.

WOMAN: We're good you're here.

JANJA: When you're in a cult,

specially for
any length of time,

you're in what I call
a self-sealing system.

This is a social system

that's closed in
on itself.

Your free will
is under the will

of the leader
and the group.

So, you're only doing
what you need to do

to stay in the good graces
of the group.

What ended up happening

was there's these
idle threats,

from my point of view,

of fear, that if you
missed the boat,

you may not get
another chance.

MAN: Come on.

JANJA: Peer pressure

is so important
in these groups, right?

So you can see,

you know, SRRODY doing it,

so that you know
that you should be at least

as dedicated as SRRODY.

So you are often
comparing yourself

to the people who looked
like they're more devoted,

so you can be
ridding yourself

of all these human
characteristics

that are in this...

body that you happen
to be living in.

DO: I'm afraid that here
I need to get a little personal,

sex is the strongest drug,

there's not a drug,
there's not a morphine

or anything that
is produced by

chemicals or plants
of this world,

as strong as that drug.

It's something we have to
go through the withdrawal of,

we have to overcome.

Just looking at a female,

would inflame the--
the--, you know,

the hormones in my body.

And he would just constantly
tried to find techniques

that would eliminate
that desire.

We had a procedure

that if you had
a nocturnal emission,

they had wash clothes set aside
in the bath chambers

so you can clean up
before you went back to bed.

And I didn't want to use them,

because I didn't want
to expose

that I had a nocturnal emission.

I did feel guilty about it.

And then they made it
into a sign out.

So that they would know
who had a nocturnal emission.

Having to admit to it
and the same around it,

the defeated feeling,

like, you know, almost had
to go back to square one,

uh, was enough for me

and, I think I can speak
for everybody,

to keep them in check.

And this is,
uh, Dick Joslyn.

He had been recruited
in Los Angeles in 1975.

He's obviously
a very attractive guy,

and he became
one of Do's helpers

after Ti died.

One of the core
members of the group.

Do, of course,
was gay,

and Dick Joslyn was gay,

and one day Do called him aside

and said,

"I hate
to tell you this,

"but my vehicle is becoming
attracted to your vehicle

"and so I got to relieve
you of your responsibility

of being
one of my helpers."

And Dick was absolutely
devastated.

Marshall Applewhite
didn't like his homosexuality.

So he created a myth around
that piece he didn't like.

He came to a conclusion
about his body

that it was abhorrent.

SAWYER: Do held a meeting

and he said that
he had a nocturnal emission

and he was investigating
having himself castrated.

Will any of you
have reservations

of having the same
procedure done?

And I didn't have
any reservations.

I was committed
to being celibate

for the rest of my life.

If-- if your eye offend you,
block it out.

It's the same idea,

if something
is so offensive to you

that your control
is threatened by it

then why shouldn't you
dispose of it

if you have that
option to do it.

Not that I have ever
talked to anyone

into taking that action.

JANJA: And I think Do
was greatly influenced

by some of the stronger
members at that point

who fed him some of the more
extreme ideas.

And that's not unusual
in a group.

It kind of
took control of him.

I think, in a sense,

he was also a victim.

I was told that,
for example,

the castrations, uh,
was not his idea.

And was, actually SRRODY's idea,

who was one of the more
gung ho members.

DO: SRRODY is the clown
of the class, or--

All right,
I shouldn't say that.

I'm teasing him,
as I always do.

SRRODY was always
a go getter.

You know,
his Irish vehicle.

And he was very quick.

He would run to go do things,

there was a task

and people would
criticize him for running.

DO: Never shy of energy,

you always have to
tone him down.

We keep saying,
"Down, SRRODY."

Had this thought,

SRRODY was gonna beat me
to the punch

of having this castration
experience.

In my mind, it was like--
giving proof to the Next Level

that I was all the way in.

This is terribly human.

It was, like, competitive.

Do said,

"We've set up
a sterile room

"and we're gonna proceed
doing the castrations

that you all have convinced me
that you wanted."

He made a sign,
and the sing said "Mexico".

And he put that above the door.

So that if we ever were
questioned by authorities,

we could honestly say
that we went to Mexico to do it.

LVVODY and JNNODY were there.

And LVVODY was gonna
perform the procedure

'cause she is the nurse

and she had worked for
orchidectomist

and individual
that removed testicles.

Do said,
"Who's gonna go first?"

And so he flipped the coin,

and SRRODY won the toss,

so he got to choose
who would go first,

and he wanted to go first.

LVVODY cut
the testicle sack open,

and I almost fainted.

So I was done,
but then,

SRRODY's testicle sack
started to get bigger.

And, uh...

You know...

getting a little iffy.

And SRRODY started to moan.

And Do said that...

he did a terrible thing.

[sniffles]

He-- he went too far, he said.

He said, "I went too far

"to allow this to happen

and you need to take me
to the police."

And LVVODY
and JNNODY and I said,

"No way.

We'll take care of it."

We didn't want to go to a
hospital

'cause we were afraid that

something would be
seen as, uh,

illegal.

And we didn't want that
to get back to Do.

And so we ended up
calling a priest.

Seeing if they had any
experience with anybody that

chose to be castrated.

And the priest didn't know
what we were talking about.

He wasn't any worse,

but he wasn't
any better either.

It was just,
what can we do to, you know,

uh, to fix this.

We decided to bring him
to a hospital.

SRRODY stayed there overnight
for observation.

I was wired,
I mean, it was like,

people say that
when they're

in a big crime scene or
something is like surreal.

That's what
I was experiencing.

I was... surreal about this.

And JNNODY and I
went to the pier

and we threw the testicles
in there.

[splashing]

I don't know if that
was necessary or not,

but we didn't want
any evidence.

And Do at that point said,

that, um,

he didn't want to
continue with the castrations

and I know
I was disappointed.

But then,
they found some doctors

that would do the procedure.

And Do was also castrated.

Eventually, they were,

depending on which
source you look to,

between seven and nine men
within the group

who had been castrated.

But most of the men
were not interested

in having the surgery done.

KELLY: My father had issue

with how they castrated
themselves

to overcome
their sexuality.

That was something really
couldn't identify with doing.

And he-- he just left.

And then my mom came back.

They had a way
of relating to each other

since they've both
been in the cult.

And that became
very isolating to them.

So I knew there was
a possibility

for them to rejoin the cult.

They didn't say when,

it was just a matter of time.

I living in this
constant state of limbo.

This was a group where people
were free to come and go.

There were many people who left
of their own free will,

including some who
were told to leave

because they weren't
following the rules.

DO: This little
classroom dwindled to 50

and then dwindled down
to couple dozen.

BENJAMIN: Starting in 1991,

the group engaged
in a media onslaught,

trying to reach out
to new members.

Part because the group
had really shrunk,

but it's also because
for many members

and leaders of the group,

they thought they were
approaching the end.

Not just the end
of the group

but the potential
for the end of the world.

Now the end of the age,

I'm afraid I feel
is right upon us.

It's gonna come...

and I-- I don't want
to sound like a prophet,

but my gut says,
and everything else that I know,

points to that
it's going to come

before the turn
of the century.

BENJAMIN: This was a time

that was rife with
end-of-the-world fears.

And there were a lot of new
religious movements

in the 1990s

that looked to the year 2000

and a few years
before and after that,

as a moment at which
the world was going to end.

This is the countdown
to the coming of Christ, folks.

We don't know the day
and the hour in Matthew 24:36,

but Jesus said,
you'll know when it's near.

CHUCK: And as far
as our departure,

we don't really know
whether we're gonna depart

with that end
or whether our departure

will be before
or somewhere in between

or anything like that.

And that for 16 years

we haven't shared this truth.

And now, all of a sudden,
we're getting instruction

to give it out

more clearly.

And this is what
you're witnessing tonight.

BENJAMIN: They began
a satellite television series

called "Beyond Human."

They paid for 14 hours of time.

Where were we?

Remind me
of our question again.

Um, how do I identify
which god?

BENJAMIN: They took out
an ad in USA Today,

a national newspaper.

SAWYER: It was, uh, third
on the page, I believe,

and it cost $30,000.

They put a PO box there,

and we got people who would
correspond with us.

And we started responding
to the correspondence.

They created several VHS tapes

which they mailed around
to anyone who wanted copy.

From this they were
able to reconnect

with several
ex members,

some new members joined,

and then, of course,
they went back on the road.

♪ ♪

Here we go.

Sometimes use an analogy
of Star Trek,

most everybody
hopefully have seen

some kind
of Star Trek show.

DENISE: You know, we've been
in seclusion for 18 years

and our description
of this material

is probably lacking,

and if you can help us know
where your areas are

that we've left unclear
then we can help fill 'em in.

♪ I had to praise you ♪

♪ ♪

♪ I had to praise you
like I should ♪

HOST: Members are not often
intellectually deprived,

sociologically deprived,

but often times
very intelligent people.

What would make an intelligent
person then,

essentially, give up
their life to somebody else.

Well, as a former cult member,

and a licensed mental
health counselor

who's been working
for 20 years,

I can tell you that
I've counseled, literally,

thousands of people who are
very bright, educated.

And, essentially,

they're ignorant
about cult tactics,

the cults use deception,
manipulation,

hypnosis, behavior modification
to get people in.

And they're also
situationally vulnerable.

I've had a hundred
or more cases

where people described

a vulnerable moment
in their life

when they were approached.

Death of a loved one,
illness,

uh, moving to a new city,
state or country,

losing a job...

Where the person goes,

"God, tell me what I'm supposed
to be doing with my life."

And then, knock, knock,

"Can we study
the Bible with you?"

♪ ♪

JASON: I first met up
with the class

in July of 1994
in Madison, Wisconsin,

after I dropped out
of college.

I didn't really have
a whole lot at that point.

A really close friend of mine

brought home a flyer
for the meeting.

Immediately we both were
fascinated by it

and said
"We have to do this."

He was talking about
how there are

beings here right now from
another level of existence

doing their last
circuit around,

gathering up individuals.

As I was at the meeting,
it was just

a deep sense of recognition.

I-- I knew who they were

and I knew what
they were saying.

DEB: For my brother,

I think he was,
in colloquial terms,

ripe for the picking.

He'd had an attempted suicide
once before the cult,

and someone had left
the copy of the USA Today

in the breakroom
at work and he picked it up.

The cult had placed
a full page ad

making comments like the Earth
is about to be recycled,

this is your last opportunity...

And he was drawn to that.

He was looking
for a place to belong.

People that he felt
he could align with.

WOMAN: Hey, Gail, are you ready?

- For what?
- The big day?

To entertain you?
[laughing]

She had just broken off with a
boyfriend of four, five years.

And the store
wasn't going well.

I think that was a trigger,

because a couple
of months later

we got one of these
recruitment flyers

for this group.

Talking about UFOs
and all that.

Then we knew
we were in trouble.

ALICE: When she called home,

I said, "Hi, Gail,
what are you doing?"

And she said,
"Did you get my flyer?"

And we said yes,
and she said,

well, that's what I'm doing,
what do you think of it?

Oh, when you're coming home?

Oh, no, Gail,
you've got to come.

So, what kind of group
are you with?

Oh, really?

Yeah?

Do you have an address
or a phone number

where I can get a hold
of you if you need be?

Well, keep in contact, baby,

because I love you so much
and I miss you awfully.

And, uh, we figured,
all right, all right,

someday she'll realize
this is not for her

and she'll walk out.

BENJAMIN: While they were
able to attract,

uh, some new members,

the attempts of the members
of Heaven's Gate and Do

to reach out, really met
widely with rejection.

RADIO HOST: There must be some
thing, some experience

some knowledge, some truth

some something
that has given you to know

what you say you know.

And I'm only asking you
what is it.

What makes you different?

Besides the fact that you
recognize truth or--

[laughing]

Any questions?

[laughing]

[indistinct chattering]

WOMAN: You are plugged
into a tree, literally!

You see?

WOMAN: I said, "Look, there's
JWNODY plugged into a tree!"

MAN: Here we have
JWNODY with this,

and we understand that you have
something you'd like to share?

Well, yes, this is
for our clients.

And you may ask
who are our clients.

We have a little business
that we call Higher Source,

from which we earn our income
so we can consume

while we are on this planet.

We always were self-supporting,

which a lot of entities
that are in our position

might not be.

ROBERT BALCH: At the time,
there weren't that many people

who were heavily
into computers,

as far as going out
and making money.

One of the early members,
RKKODY, Chuck Humphrey,

we actually had
a computer shop.

Um, it was probably one of
the very first computer shops

way back in the 70s.

He introduced people
to computers,

a lot were self-taught.

JASON: There was a core group

who were, uh,
computer people

and so they had the kind
of nine to five jobby jobs

and they would-- they would
leave the warehouse every day.

FRANK: About half the group
worked outside the class,

to bring in funds after
the trust fund ran out.

SAWYER: We had pretty
good tasks at that point,

working, you know,
professional jobs in computers.

SRRODY was a great
Assembly programmer,

and C programmer,
you know, I couldn't...

really get with it, like to
that degree of technicalities.

ROBERT: They did have some
really great people

and they tried to put their
message out on the Internet.

BENJAMIN:
They did look the Internet

as a way to reach out

and connect with people.

[modem hissing]

They began uploading
content to the website

Bu they were greeted with,
affectively, cyber bullying.

I think the best example of this
are Do's Usenet postings.

Usenet is an online
bulletin board system

where you can post
really almost anything.

And it's organized
by topic.

Do posted to, uh, topics

associated with
artificial intelligence,

with science fiction,
with Christianity,

And he posted a,
really, a manifesto,

that he was Jesus
that he had come back,

that the world was ending,

the way to leave the Earth
was to join with him.

Within the group
it made sense

to talk about
disincarnated space aliens,

it made sense to talk
about the Next Level.

These vehicles we occupy
or human vehicles,

that we also recognize
that the mind

that we are attempting
to graft into,

and receive
our nourishment from

comes from
the Kingdom Level of Heaven.

BENJAMIN: Outside the group
it looks like nonsense.

And it was treated as nonsense.

People posted
incendiary rude responses,

saying that you are
an idiot to believe this,

you must be crazy,
are you occultist...

The members of the group
began to feel

as if their attempts
to reach out had failed

and the sign had come for them
to give up on our planet.

It's a very short time

before our departure.

Our thoughts
will be of you,

we hope that your thoughts
will be...

[voice breaking]
of our Father's Kingdom.

Thank you.

They had become,
in their words, a class.

And what happens
with a class?

They graduate.

And that was
the term they used.

They called it a graduation.

They talked about it
in a variety of ways,

but they never
talked about it as suicide.

There was always the exit,

suicide would be
to stay here on this planet.

This world is rotten

And I would rather die
in service to my interpretation

of what God is
than stay here.

And they didn't always
talk about the exit

as something that
they would do to themselves.

There was a series of events
that demonstrated,

at least to the members
of Heaven's Gate,

that there was a war
between the US Government

and people who believed
and acted differently.

People who loved their God
so, in their own way,

that they end up being--

like what happened
to Randy Weaver.

Ruby Ridge.

What happened at Waco.

[gunshots firing]

REPORTER: The stand-off's
been going on

for about 45 minutes now.

OFFICER: You hear what
we're talking about?

REPORTER: Yes, sir.

OFFICER: I gotta
take the shot.

- Get the hell off of here.
- I'll get off the property,

that's what I'm doing, sir.

[sirens blaring]

REPORTER: The credo
of the Branch Davidians cult

was preparing for
the end of the world

and it has been said
that David Koresh

and his followers
have been seeking

some kind of confrontation.

I'm sure every cult
in the United States,

like, glued to the TV,
during that whole event.

And they're all thinking

"Could this happen to us?"

BENJAMING: So, members of
Heaven's Gate

feared the government was
going to come and kill them.

However, in a twist,

they actually thought
this would be a good thing.

FRANK: Do openly talked
with us, as a group,

saying, "Perhaps we could

"buy firearms,
learn to use them,

"and be seen as a threat

that would trigger
our demise."

And it's like, ah,
that doesn't sound very nice,

you know, and half
of us would be dead,

and the other half will
end up maimed and crippled,

and still stuck here
on planet Earth.

And sounds painful

and so they didn't
really like that idea.

I mean, I don't care
for any of...

the fame or glory
of the human role

it's absolutely
worthless to me.

I can't wait
to get out of here.

I apologize
for being so emotional,

But that happens
to be the truth,

I want to leave here.

Now, I'm in a vehicle that
is already falling apart on me.

I feel that he got to a point

where he didn't know
any other way out.

That he had created this--

this enormous belief system

this, um, this structure,

and this people that were

totally, totally
committed to him.

Personally.

He was their god.

We had a meeting in
the top floor of the warehouse,

where we always
had our meetings.

SAWYER: Do had said

he wants to hear
from each individual

if they have any reservations
about suicide as an exit.

We would be taking
a strong barbituric,

and that would, basically,
put our vehicles to sleep.

Of the gentlest way
he could think about doing it.

There was some tear shed
by some individuals,

definitely, who I think
had some real difficulties,

with contemplating it.

And I said,
wow, that's huge.

I mean, Do even said,

he's only been here
two weeks,

you know, and I'm talking about

something incredibly
drastic here.

At the same time,
I said, well,

if that's something I have
to consider down the line,

then that's something
I have to consider, you know?

I wasn't saying we are
gonna go do this tomorrow.

I said I had no reservations.

I always felt right
from the beginning now

I was gonna lose my vehicle.

Even though that's what--

not the way we would do
the teaching in the beginning.

BENJAMIN:
This is a powerful moment.

This was in mid 1990s,

some of them have been
members since 1974.

20 years in a group.

20 years in a group,
living, breathing and vibing

the teachings,
the doctrines,

the practices of the group

and being asked
in that moment,

"What do you think?
Do you wanna exit with us?"

After that meeting,
five people eventually left.

Including Sawyer.

I left in September of '94.

Not long after that.

But not for that reason.

I was invested
in just being in the program,

being, uh,
with my teachers.

The people that
I recognize

that I believed
were from outer space

and from Next Level

and that created the planet.

I was given so much.

I was overseer of a crew.

Yeah, tomorrow is gonna be,
uh, a zillion people...

It's a little bit of
an exaggeration for the camera.

I was looked up to
by some of the students.

They kind of told me that.

So when I-- when I fell,

I think a number of people
were pretty shocked.

We refer to our lifestyle
as a monastic lifestyle.

On a sense,
like a monastery.

I was holding meetings where
I was the primary speaker,

Telling people
that we had to give up

all sexuality
and everything

to become a member
of the next level.

And yet I was the hypocrite.

I remember turning on
MTV one time

and, boy,
did that inflame me.

You know, just seeing
women dancing around, you know,

half-clad, you know.

I was off the wagon!

I was...

occasionally masturbating,

I would have a thought

and the thought
was so powerful I couldn't--

I couldn't hold back.

I didn't know how--
I didn't even--

have the desire
to ask for help.

It was that intense.

But I was like, you know,
like two people,

I was like a schizophrenic
person in-- in a sense.

Well, see,
I-- I didn't recognize...

that I was breaking
those procedures,

it was leading up to something.

So I was in the house
where we were living,

and I was walking up
the staircase,

and Do was walking down,

and he said,

"You've been distant."

And, um...

Sorry, it's just--

That, uh, he was--

Well, I told him
what I was doing.

And, uh...

Do, he said,

"So, you already you have

"the potential to become
a really good member

"of the Next Level

and I don't want
to throw you away."

Because I wasn't
influencing anyone else

to get involved
with sensuality.

He was willing
to help me with it

while I stay
in the classroom.

But, then,
it didn't change me.

I kept on giving in
to masturbation.

And I told Do, "I feel
like I need to leave the group."

And so he got me a plane
ticket and gave me $600.

You know, it's-- it's--

It's really, uh...

I'm really kind
of a pitiful person, really.

But, then again, you know,
I'm not the judge of myself.

And, uh, maybe I was doing
the best I could.

[fire crackling]

Whenever I come home
at night,

I look up at the heavens.

People say to me frequently,

"Oh, you were duped."

You know, "Why don't
you go on with your life,

instead of, you know,
continuing to think about this."

But, uh...

I still believe in all
the teachings of Ti and Do.

And, uh,

that if I continue to grow

then I will...

potentially pass through the
Heaven's Gate.

The birth canal.

It's gotta be a UFO,
everything is.

Well, this comet is amazing
because it's very bright

even to the naked eye.

You really don't need
a telescope.

Oh, yes, I can, yeah.

REPORTER: The Hale-Bopp comet

is making its closest pass
to Earth

coming to withing 122 million
miles of our planet.

MAN: It's the brightest comet

that's passed through
the Solar System since 1577.

REPORTER: Comets, so different
from anything else in the sky,

that through history
they've inspired and terrified.

People used to go out
and kill themselves,

uh, getting scared
that the comet will...

you know, blow up
or something.

REPORTER: Now, as we get
closer to the year 2000

and the end
of the millennium,

more and more fringe groups

are spreading
Doomsday predictions

of the end
of the human species.

RADIO HOST: Chuck Shramek
in Houston, Texas,

- Chuck, welcome to the program.
- CHUCK: Thanks, Art.

ART: A lot of people
have felt

something is going on
with Hale-Bopp.

CHUCK: Well, I have too.

Wow.

HOST: And now maybe
you got it on film?

CHUCK: Well, I photographed
tonight, just showed up.

This is a big thing.

It appears to be several times
larger than the Earth.

Maybe about 150,000 miles
away from Hale-Bopp.

RADIO HOST: What could it be?

[chuckles]
CHUCK: I have no idea.

♪ ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ I saw the sign ♪

♪ And it opened up
my eyes ♪

♪ I saw the sign ♪

♪ Life is demanding
without understanding ♪

♪ I saw the sign ♪

♪ And it opened up my eyes ♪

♪ I saw the sign ♪

♪ No one's gonna drag you up ♪

♪ To get into the light
where you belong ♪♪