On March 28 at 1 pm, FACTNet was allowed an exclusive interview with an individual who went through the Heaven's Gate recruitment process in Denver, Colorado. This person provided us with information and Heaven's Gate recruiting materials in the hope of helping the world understand how people get involved with cults like Heaven's Gate and preventing others from stumbling onto this path.

The individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, described the recruiting process as follows: (paraphrased)

In about May of 1995, I first heard about the Heaven's Gate group on a promotional flyer that was distributed at the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. I had been interested in UFOs, so I decided to go to a meeting held by them at a public library.

About 35 people attended the two hour lecture and question-and-answer session. At this meeting we were told that we could move to a higher level of consciousness and we could be taken off the planet by UFOs. One of the speakers was a woman with a name like Ti or Peep. At and after this meeting I then began receiving various group recruiting materials.

About one month later I was called by members of the group to attend another meeting held in a motel room. I and another woman were the only people there with four of the group members.

This meeting lasted about an hour and a half. I was asked to join the organization, but to do that I was told I had to leave my job and my wife and depart with the group immediately. I was told that this willingness to leave all my attachments was no different than what Jesus required of his closest disciples.

The woman who was there with me was very excited about the group and seemed like she was going to go with them. I suspect she is one of the Colorado women who died in the mass suicide.

One thing that struck me about them was how secretive the group was. They had no Colorado location and said they just "keep moving." They were even very secretive about me getting a temporary phone contact number.

They asked questions about my job and life. I told them I had a medical condition that might affect my going with them, but they said it didn't matter because the group would help me heal the medical condition.

The more I thought about leaving my job and wife the more the alarms signals went off in me. I finally decided not to go with them.

(End of interview)

Some of the recruiting materials this individual received.