On November 18, 1978, Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones
leads hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide at their agricultural
commune in a remote part of the South American nation of Guyana. Many of Jones’
followers willingly ingested a poison-laced punch while others were forced to
do so at gunpoint. The final death toll at Jonestown that day was 909; a third
of those who perished were children.
Jim Jones was a charismatic churchman who established the
Peoples Temple, a Christian sect, in Indianapolis in the 1950s. He preached
against racism, and his integrated congregation attracted many African
Americans. In 1965, he moved the group to Northern California, settling in
Ukiah and after 1971 in San Francisco. In the 1970s, his church was accused by
the media of financial fraud, physical abuse of its members and mistreatment of
children. In response to the mounting criticism, the increasingly paranoid
Jones invited his congregation to move with him to Guyana, where he promised
they would build a socialist utopia. Three years earlier, a small group of his
followers had traveled to the tiny nation to set up what would become Jonestown
on a tract of jungle. Jonestown did not turn out to be the paradise their
leader had promised. Temple members worked long days in the fields and were
subjected to harsh punishments if they questioned Jones' authority. Their passports
were confiscated, their letters home censored and members were encouraged to
inform on one another and forced to attend lengthy, late-night meetings. Jones,
by then in declining mental health and addicted to drugs, was convinced the
U.S. government and others were out to destroy him. He required Temple members
to participate in mock suicide drills in the middle of the night.
In 1978, a group of former Temple members and concerned
relatives of current members convinced U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan, a Democrat of
California, to travel to Jonestown and investigate the settlement. On November
17, 1978, Ryan arrived in Jonestown with a group of journalists and other
observers. At first the visit went well, but the next day, as Ryan's delegation
was about to leave, several Jonestown residents approached the group and asked
them for passage out of Guyana. Jones became distressed at the defection of his
followers, and one of Jones' lieutenants attacked Ryan with a knife. The
congressman escaped from the incident unharmed, but Jones then ordered Ryan and
his companions ambushed and killed at the airstrip as they attempted to leave.
The congressman and four others were murdered as they boarded their charter
planes. Back in Jonestown, Jones commanded everyone to gather in the main
pavilion and commit what he termed a "revolutionary act." The
youngest members of the Peoples Temple were the first to die, as parents and
nurses used syringes to drop a potent mix of cyanide, and sedatives into powdered
fruit juice. Adults then lined up to drink the poison-laced concoction while
armed guards surrounded the pavilion. When Guyanese officials arrived at the
Jonestown compound the next day, they found hundreds of bodies. Many had perished
with their arms around each other. A few residents managed to escape into the
jungle as the suicides took place, while at least several dozen more Peoples
Temple members, including several of Jones' sons, survived because they were in
another part of Guyana at the time.
Michael Thomas Barry is a
columnist for CrimeMagazine.com and is the author of Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that
Shocked Early California
1849-1949. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
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