ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 28, 1997 TAG: 9703280083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Similarities abound between The Two's HIM philosophy and that of the Rancho Santa Fe cult.
The mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., may have its roots in another cult-like following that surfaced in California more than 20 years ago.
In 1975, hundreds of residents from California, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon left family and belongings behind to join a group headed by Marshall H. Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Trusdale Nettles.
ABC News reported that the leader of the Rancho Santa Fe cult may be Applewhite, who was once in a psychiatric hospital, and that the co-founder is Nettles, who died in 1985.
Applewhite may be among the dead: his date of birth has been listed as May 17, 1931, making him 66, and the list provided by the medical examiners office includes a 66-year-old male.
Applewhite taught music at the University of St. Thomas in Houston from 1966 to 1970. He met Nettles, an astrologer, in the psychiatric hospital, where she worked as a nurse, ABC reported.
Back in the 1970s, the mysterious couple referred to themselves as ``The Two.'' They also were once known as Ti and Do.
The Heaven's Gate Web site, which is reportedly linked to the Rancho Santa Fe cult, also refers to its founders as ``The Two,'' and says they began ``rounding up their crew in '75.''
ABC showed a video showing the ``alleged leader'' of the cult, a man with short white hair and wearing white, that apparently was made to recruit new members. It wasn't clear when the tape was created.
``This is a very exciting time for us. Who is us? I'm Do, for starters,'' the man says on the tape.
Just before the deaths, the cult mailed two videos, one of which also claimed to show the founder, who called himself Do, said Nick Matzorkis, who employs a former cult member who received the videos.
Years ago, ``The Two'' held various meetings at public locations throughout the Western United States, promising followers celestial bliss and a ride in a UFO.
They called their group Human Individual Metamorphosis, or HIM, and persuaded many listeners to shed their personal belongings, relationships and children to prepare for the trip.
The similarities between HIM and the Heaven's Gate cult appear rooted in an odd belief system incorporating UFOs and the Bible.
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