running the group and Applewhite speaking for her. Nettles claimed to have communicated with aliens about the Next Level and told Applewhite to tell their followers. In 1976, Applewhite recognized Nettles as higher up on the level of command than he was. Death Many events passed in creation of the Heaven's Gate group and the formation of its core members, with Nettles continuing to act as the interpreter of signs and the mystic of the group. In 1983, she had to have an eye removed due to cancer, and her doctor informed her that the disease was already spreading through the rest of her body. Nettles stated that the doctor was ignorant and believed, along with Applewhite, that she could not die, as they had to ascend together. The cancer continued to worsen, moving to her liver. Nettles died on June 19, 1985, at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas. While there as a patient, she used the pseudonym Shelly West. Applewhite convinced the rest of the group that Nettles' "broken-down vehicle was left behind". He had her body cremated and her ashes were then spread upon a lake somewhere in Texas. Applewhite explained to the group that Nettles had left because her work was done on this level but that he himself still had more that he had to do. Applewhite also said that Nettles would continue to help them from the Next Level. Scholars have viewed the death of Nettles as a key turning point in the history of Heaven's Gate, as it caused the theology to shift from a belief that they would physically ascend to heaven while alive aboard a UFO to viewing the body as merely a "vehicle" for the soul which would be discarded upon entering heaven, which would culminate in the group's mass suicide in 1997. Nicknames Applewhite and Nettles went by the collective of "The Two", as well as the singular names "Bo" and "Peep" respectively and later "Do" and "Ti", along with "Guinea" and "Pig" at some points in time. References 1927 births 1985 deaths American women nurses Deaths from cancer in Texas Deaths from liver cancer Founders of new religious movements Former Baptists Converts to new religious movements from Christianity Heaven's Gate (religious group) People from Dallas People from Houston 20th-century American women 20th-century American people Cult leaders Women mystics Female religious leaders New religious movement mystics