Marshall Applewhite

ABOUT MARSHALL APPLEWHITE

Cult leader who led the Heaven's Gate cult to their deaths via mass suicide in 1997. Thirty-nine members of the group lost their lives, making it the largest mass suicide in United States history to that point.

He served in the Army Signal Corps before earning a Master's degree in Music from the University of Colorado.

He believed that extraterrestrials communicated with him via the television show Star Trek and would often quote the show to his followers.

He was married to Ann Pearce until 1968.

He and Charles Manson are two of the most notorious cult leaders in American history.