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each week we decide who's to blame for historical tragedy and each week you tell us if we got it right

My name is Rebecca Delgado Smith and this is the aftermath. Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into this episode of The Aftermath. Today's guest expert is Dr. Benjamin Zeller,

associate professor of religion at Lake Forest College and author of Heaven's Gate, America's UFO Religion.

He's also featured in the recent HBO documentary series,

Heavens Gate, the Cult of Cults.

Let's hear what he has to say.

Hi, Dr. Zeller, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure.

So can you start off by giving us some background on the two leaders of Heavens Gate,

Marshall Hurf, Apple White and Bonnie Lou Nettles.

Yes, so Bonnie Lou Nettles and Marshall Herf Applewhite, correct?

Herf is the person we usually think of.

He's the one that lasted at the end

1997 with the exits, but the often forgotten co-founder is Bonnie Lou Nettles.

So they met in the 70s and a bit on each of their backgrounds.

Marshall Herf Apple White was the son of a very popular Presbyterian preacher in Texas.

So he's raised in a very devout religious family.

He goes on to seminary actually, so he studies to be a minister like his father.

But his love is music.

So he drops out of seminary and he ends up, he's briefly in the army, but then he goes and gets a master's degree in music from the University of Colorado.

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