Heavens Gate cult castrations

[erikboy (imported)]

I stumbled on Heavens Gate cult on the internet. Probably you have heard about them already. It is a defunct cult, as they commited a mass suicide in 1997. (ages between 26 and 72)

But I found it interesting, that out of those 18 males that commited suicide, 8 of them were castrated. Voluntarily castrated. And the reason behind it was the same why Skoptsy castrated themselves. To get rid of sexual urges and distractions, to be able to devote more fully to spirituality and have have a clean mind, free of earthly dirty desires.

So, there is a collection of goodbye videos from the most of the members. And one of the members confessed, that neutering his "vehicle" was practically the best thing he ever did.

His (Trsody) statement starts here: https://youtu.be/qaImyktMkU4?t=5966

And naturally I tried to figure out who else might have been castrated. Trsody face physically reflects his castration actually. Also his emotional statement reflects his state of mind.

It is pure speculation of course, but to me these two seemed to be castrated as well:

Srrody: https://youtu.be/qaImyktMkU4?t=65

Vrnody: https://youtu.be/qaImyktMkU4?t=6340

[Losethem (imported)]

On HBO+ there is a multi-part documentary talking about how these castration were done, and the first one was done in a "cutter" fashion in their compound near San Diego. They taped a sign over the door of the room that said, "Mexico" so that any of the males entering the room could say, with a straight face if asked, they were castrated in Mexico. Later after that was a disaster and they nearly got caught (a woman in the group performed the castration), and one of them ended up in the hospital, the remaining males who were castrated did go to the actual country of Mexico to be castrated.

It was an interesting show where they interviewed a former member of the cult about what went on with that.

[erikboy (imported)]

Internet revealed more information. Srrody was actually castrated.

[jamiepan (imported)]

They also left one, maybe two, people behind; maybe they just 'chickened out', maybe they were supposed to not commit suicide, but their old website is still maintained, and a member was at one point maintaining updates and answers to questions as recently as a decade ago or so.

Not sure if it's okay to post links, but I remember seeing the site mentioned somewhere on Reddit in the last year or two, and clicking on the link to that original, funky-90's-designed Heavens Gate website.

[Cseriess (imported)]

The site is still up. The section on " go forth and multiply" is interesting reading. I didn't find any direct mention of castration, other than the usual bible quote.

[Atreyu69 (imported)]

True story. When I was in middle school a friend and I went to a lecture on UFOs delivered at the Stanford University International house. Well guess what, it was none other than Marshall Applewhite recruiting for his wacky cult. My friend and I left early. If Applewhite ever got around to talking about castration that night I'll never know. I thought it was all pretty creepy.

[jamiepan (imported)]

True story. When I was in middle school a friend and I went to a lecture on UFOs delivered at the Stanford University International house. Well guess what, it was none other than Marshall Applewhite recruiting for his wacky cult. My friend and I left early. If Applewhite ever got around to talking about castration that night I'll never know. I thought it was all pretty creepy.

THAT is one creepy yet cool brush with greatness, dude! I'd be dropping that story in conversations way too often. My closest brush with 'greatness' was being about 10 years old, at a sleepover with a friend; his dad was a wealthy(ish) bigshot in the entertainment business in our small city... my friend and I went upstairs around 2am because we could hear a party going on, but the only person I recognized was Eddie Van Halen (they were playing the stadium that weekend). I probably creeped HIM out, standing there staring and asking if he was REALLY him...

Yours is way more fun-creepy, though!