Ex-Members of Heaven’s Gate to Show Tape

A group of former Heaven’s Gate members has planned a public showing of a 70-minute tape featuring the cult’s late leader, Marshall Applewhite.

“We’ve been feeling like we’re not doing a good enough job of making our information available to people,” said Chuck Humphrey, a spokesman for the group calling itself the Away Team.

Humphrey gained notoriety when he and another man downed phenobarbital and applesauce in May with hopes of joining 39 Heaven’s Gate members who committed suicide near San Diego in March.

Wayne Cooke died, but Humphrey was found in a hotel near San Diego unconscious with a plastic bag pulled off his face. He was revived.

“I still don’t want to be here,” he told the Contra Costa Times. “I have no plans to go out and do this. However, I also have no plans to stay on this planet until the vehicle dies of old age.”

By committing mass suicide, the cultists hoped to leave their bodies--referred to as “vehicles” or “containers”--and catch a ride on a spaceship they believed was following the Hale-Bopp comet.

Heaven’s Gate was co-founded in the 1970s by Applewhite, the focus of a videotape widely aired after the mass suicide.

Humphrey said showing only segments of the tape diluted the cult’s message. He planned to show the tape in full Sunday at the Berkeley Conference Center.

He said the Away Team considered holding the meeting in San Diego but believed that residents there were “too sensitive” to the cult. He said the team picked Berkeley as a “trial balloon” and may spread the message to other cities.