"It Could Have Been Me"—Inside the Heaven's Gate Cult

In 1997 the American media landscape was dominated by a news story: the mass suicide of 39 people belonging to what became known as the "Heaven's Gate" cult. This podcast by Glynn Washington reawakens the sordid tale anew from a contemporary vantage point, and with a compassionate rather than simply sensational focus. 

Surviving former cult members are interviewed to learn how their lives led them to be a part of the group who believed that aliens had been contacted and were coming to Earth. Just in the first episode, Washington helps the listener identify with participants searching for meaning in their lives, and understand how the cult's theology piggybacked on that of mainstream religions. 

Washington eventually reveals that he himself grew up in an unorthodox, apocalyptic cultish group, and describes the feeling of superiority he had as a child that so many cult members describe—the notion that you've been chosen and that there's more to life than the everyday reality. This personal lens helps re-tell a horrific story in a way that, in the words of a family member, helps you "see them not as cultists" but as people.