Marshall Applewhite The leader and cofounder of Heaven's Gate, Marshall Applewhite, speaking in a video recording. (more) Marshall Applewhite American religious leader Also known as: Marshall Herff Applewhite Written by Frannie Comstock Frannie Comstock is a writer based in Chicago. Frannie Comstock Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Mar. 24, 2026 •History Marshall Applewhite (born May 17, 1931, Spur, Texas, U.S.—found dead March 26, 1997, Rancho Santa Fe, California) was an American cofounder and leader of Heaven’s Gate, a new religious movement that ended with the group’s mass suicide. Applewhite founded the group with Bonnie Nettles in the 1970s, and their theology combined Christian eschatology with belief in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and extraterrestrial beings. In the 1990s they were one of the first new religious movements...

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