They noted in lurid, breathless detail the bizarre practices of the faithful--their purple face-dressings, their surgical castrations their neo-Maoist uniforms and haircuts--while making only passing reference to the sect's "gnostic" or "neo-gnostic" doctrine. and, of course, eager to shoehorn Heaven's Gate into the received template of crazed-cult stories, reporters made much of leader Marshall Apple-white's "messianic" charisma, his reported breakdowns, and his homosexual affairs: surely there must be a megalomaniac at the center of all this, bullying and exhorting his lost, c...

• Word Count: 1846
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate