Heaven's Gate is classified by scholars as a UFO religion, one that combined Christian apocalyptic themes, the imminent end of the world, salvation, resurrection, with the belief that these would be accomplished by extraterrestrial means. It was founded in the 1970s by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, known to members as "Do" and "Ti," who taught that the human body was a mere "vehicle" and that members could evolve to a higher extraterrestrial "Next Level" by shedding attachments to the human world.
The group lived a highly disciplined, communal, and celibate life over two decades, supporting itself in its final years by designing websites. Its teaching came to a catastrophic conclusion in March 1997, when 39 members, including Applewhite, died by a coordinated group suicide at a house near San Diego, timed to the appearance of the comet Hale-Bopp, which they connected to the arrival of a spacecraft they believed would carry their consciousness onward. The deaths, and the group's calm video "exit statements," made Heaven's Gate one of the most examined cases in the study of new religious movements and of the rare conditions under which a group turns to collective suicide. A small number of former adherents have continued to maintain the group's website and message.