HEAVEN "GATORS"

One of our former members in the UFOCCI was originally with the "Bo and Peep" group who later became the Heaven's Gate group. Fortunately he left that group long before they all committed suicide. A friend this past week said she knew of someone who had been in that group and wondered if our former member would know them. This is his reply:

"The deal with the Bo and Peep group (later known as "Heavens Gate") was that I only knew the real birth names after all the news after the suicides. Real names were always a secret. So not recognizing the name(s) you mentioned doesn't mean I didn't know the person you were referring to.

Only rare exceptions, like one guy named Dick Jocelyn (possibly incorrect spelling), did I actually learn their real "human" birth name. Sorry I can't be of more help.

And sometimes I will see pictures of people I interacted with then and not remember them, and sometimes I would see photos of people I imagined I knew, then later didn't. Not sure I'm making myself clear.

My attitude about the group is fairly brutal right now so I'm probably not a comfort to grieving or bewildered parents. I consider the whole group to have been sick. Not much room in my noggin for any degree of lightness and airy-fairy ponderings about young people who made their New-Agey choices to go on to the great beyond. The whole thing was sick. Everything.

Another thing I learned, or think that I have learned, is that human beings can come up with cheerful sounding explanations for every manner of weird human group conformity, or questionable behavior imaginable. Like those 'cheerful' statements made by H-Gater followers on videotape prior to the suicides about what a beautiful thing it was that they were about to 'exit.' I think people tell themselves all kinds of things that just drip with sweetness about any kind of stupid thing they do. Sad, but appears to be true.


But I have feelings of sadness and love toward parents, I just can't fake or cover up, that I feel the whole thing was a complete waste of time. A lesson in human madness and conformity. And also, too, what happens when ignorant people who honestly want to know about things UFO-and-extraterrestrial don't have access to information, and get duped by lost, crazy, confused or charlatanesque people. Bless their hearts. They needed real guidance, information, assistance... not confusion from Mr. Applewhite. Something more like the sorting out process of Coast to Coast AM on the radio in the middle of the night (or on Streamlink via computer at a more reasonable hour).

We needed this information in the 1970s, we needed the internet then. People need information, answers to their questions. What I know now would have been enough to discourage me from making the mistake of leaving everything behind and joining that group... if I had known all this stuff... back then, in 1975, when I first got entangled with them. I was dumb - as in ignorant. And I knew little about human conformity. Live and learn. Life is a continual learning process."