Heaven's Gate | |
---|---|
Presentation | |
Hosted by | Glynn Washington |
Genre | True crime |
Written by | Dan Taberski |
Production | |
No. of episodes | 10 |
Publication | |
Original release | October 18, 2017 |
Heaven's Gate is a podcast hosted by Glynn Washington, written by Dan Taberski, and produced by Pineapple Street Media. The 10 episode Stitcher original podcast is a documentary focused on the Heaven's Gate cult.
The podcast is a documentary about the new religious movement Heaven's Gate, which is often described as a cult. [1] The podcast discusses how Bonnie Lu Nettles and Marshall Applewhite (known within the group as Ti and Do respectively) convinced their followers to leave their families to join them. [2] Glynn Washington discusses the members of the group, as well as their friends and family, and reflects on how someone might end up joining a group like Heaven's Gate. [3] Washington himself grew up in the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong, which taught beliefs known collectively as Armstrongism, described as a cult by Walter Ralston Martin in his book The Kingdom of the Cults (1965). Washington left the group at the age of 19. [4] The group is now known as Grace Communion International. [5] Washington was fascinated by the events that took place in large part because of the similarities to the group he grew up in, [6] which held similarly apocalyptic beliefs. [7]
The podcast debuted on October 18, 2017, [8] and contains 10 episodes. [9] The show was produced in the Sun Basket production studio [10] and produced by Pineapple Street Media [11] as a Stitcher original. [12] Benjamin Zeller, author and professor of religion at Lake Forest College, guided the project with his research on the group. [13] Dan Taberski acted as writer for the show. [14] The show uses archived audio in addition to new interviews. [15] The podcast includes testimonials from members of the group as well as friends and family of members. [16] The show was nominated for best documentary podcast in the 2018 Webby Awards. [17]