Jonestown was the informal name for the
Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an
intentional community in northwestern
Guyana formed by the
Peoples Temple, an
American cult led by
Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby airstrip and in
Georgetown, Guyana's capital. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.
A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and in prior discussions. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at a nearby Port Kaituma airstrip. The victims included Congressman Leo Ryan, the first member of Congress assassinated in the line of duty in the history of the United States. Four other Temple members died in Georgetown at Jones's command.
To the extent the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass suicide, it is the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the events of September 11, 2001.
Origins
The Peoples Temple was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana during the mid-1950s. It purported to practice what it called "apostolic socialism". In doing so, the Temple preached to established members that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism.".
After Jones received considerable criticism in Indiana for his integrationist views, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California in 1965.
In the early 1970s, the Peoples Temple opened other branches in California, including in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the mid-1970s, the Temple moved its headquarters to San Francisco.
After the Temple's move to San Francisco, it became more politically active. After Peoples Temple participation proved instrumental in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, Moscone appointed Jones as the Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. Unlike other figures considered as cult leaders, Jones enjoyed public support and contact with some of the highest level politicians in the United States. For example, Jones met with Vice Presidential Candidate Walter Mondale and Rosalynn Carter several times. Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others, attended a large testimonial dinner in honor of Jones in September 1976.
Jonestown established
Selection and establishment of Guyanese land
In the fall of 1973, after critical newspaper articles by
Lester Kinsolving and the defection of eight Temple members (the "Gang of Eight"), Jones and Temple member
Timothy Stoen prepared an "immediate action" contingency plan for responding to a police or media crackdown. The plan listed various options, including fleeing to
Canada or to a "
Caribbean missionary post", such as
Barbados or
Trinidad. Former Temple member Tim Carter stated that the reasons for choosing Guyana were the Temple's view of
creeping fascism, the perception of the dominance of multinational
corporations on the government, and perceived
racism in the U.S. government. Carter said the Temple concluded that Guyana, a predominantly black,
English-speaking socialist country, would afford black members of the Temple a peaceful place to live. The site was isolated, with soil of poor fertility, even by Guyanese standards. The nearest body of water was seven miles (11 km) away by muddy roads. Jones saw Jonestown as both a "socialist paradise" and a "sanctuary" from media scrutiny.
In 1974, Guyanese government officials granted the Temple permission to import certain items "duty free." The relatively large number of immigrants to Guyana overwhelmed the Guyanese government's small but stringent immigration infrastructure in a country where most people wanted to leave. Jones reached an agreement to guarantee that Guyana would permit Temple members' mass migration. To do so, he stated that Temple members were "skilled and progressive", showed off an envelope he claimed had $500,000 and stated that he would invest most of the church's assets in Guyana.
Forbes Burnham]]
Jones purported to establish Jonestown as a benevolent communist community, stating: "I believe we’re the purest communists there are." Marceline Jones described Jonestown as "dedicated to live for socialism, total economic and racial and social equality. We are here living communally." In that regard, like the restrictive emigration policies of the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea and other communist republics, Jones did not permit members to leave Jonestown.
The Temple established offices in Georgetown and conducted numerous meetings with Burnham and other Guyanese officials. In 1976, Temple member Michael Prokes requested that Guyana's Prime Minister Forbes Burnham receive Jones as a foreign dignitary along with other "high ranking U.S. officials." Jones traveled to Guyana with California Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally to meet with Burnham and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Willis. One Temple member, Paula Adams, was involved in a romantic relationship with Guyana's Ambassador to the United States, Laurence "Bonny" Mann. Jones bragged about other Temple members he referred to as "public relations women" giving all for the cause in Georgetown. Viola Burnham, the Guyanese Prime Minister's wife, was also a strong advocate of the Temple. Burnham also said that, when Deputy Minister Ptolemy Reid traveled to Washington in September 1977 to sign the Panama Canal Treaties, Mondale asked him "How's Jim?", which indicated to Reid that Mondale had a personal interest in Jones' well being. Jones left the same night that an editor at New West magazine read Jones an article to be published by Marshall Kilduff detailing allegations by former Temple members. Jonestown's population was just under 1,000 at its peak in 1978.
Jonestown life after mass migration
Many members of the Peoples Temple believed that Guyana would be, as Jones promised, a paradise, or a
utopia. After the mass migration, Jonestown became overcrowded.
After Jones arrived, Jonestown life significantly changed. In mid-1978, after Jim Jones' health deteriorated and Marcy Jones began managing more of Jonestown's operations, the work week was reduced to eight hours a day for five days a week. Jones described this study as like that of the North Korean system of eight hours of daily work followed by eight hours of study. This also comported with the Temple's practice of gradually subjecting its followers to sophisticated mind control and behavior-modification techniques borrowed from post-revolutionary People's Republic of China and North Korea. Jones would often read news and commentary, including some from Radio Moscow and Radio Havana,
"Discussion" around the topics raised often took the form of Jones interrogating individual followers about the implications and subtexts of a given item, or delivering lengthy and often confused monologues on how his people should 'read' the events. In addition to Soviet documentaries, conspiracy theory movies such as Executive Action, written by Temple attorneys Mark Lane and Donald Freed, and The Parallax View (incorrectly attributed by Jones to Lane and Freed) were screened and minutely dissected by Jones as primers on the 'true nature' of the Temple's capitalist enemies.
Jones' recorded readings of the news were part of the constant broadcasts over Jonestown's tower speakers, such that all members could hear them throughout the day and night. Jones' news readings usually portrayed the United States as a "capitalist" and "imperialist" villain, while casting "socialist" leaders, such as former North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung ("great leader of the revolution, is in the vanguard of the Korean working class"), Robert Mugabe ("long known for his communist inspiration to the people of Zimbabwe… one of the revolutionary heroes") and Joseph Stalin (disturbed by people criticizing Stalin), in a positive light.
Jonestown's primary means of communication with the outside world was a shortwave radio. All voice communications with San Francisco and Georgetown were transmitted using this radio, from mundane supply orders to confidential Temple business.
Jonestown, being on poor soil, was not self-sufficient and had to import large quantities of commodities such as wheat. Despite theoretically having access to millions of dollars in Temple funds, Jones also lived in a tiny communal house (pictured below), though fewer people lived there than in other communal houses. Armed guards patrolled the area day and night to enforce Jonestown's rules. Some local Guyanese, including a police official, related stories about harsh beatings and a "torture hole", the well into which the children were placed when they were perceived to have misbehaved.
Children generally surrendered to communal care, addressed Jones as "Dad" and some at times were only allowed to see their real parents briefly at night. Jones was called "Father" or "Dad" by the adults as well. The community had a nursery at which 33 infants were born.
Up to $65,000 in monthly welfare payments from government organizations in the United States to Jonestown residents were signed over to the Temple. In 1978, officials from the United States Embassy in Guyana interviewed Social Security recipients on multiple occasions to make sure they were not being held against their will. None of the 75 people interviewed by the Embassy stated that they were being held against their will, were forced to sign over welfare checks or wanted to leave Jonestown.
The Temple's wealth was estimated in late 1978 to be approximately $26 million.
Events in Jonestown prior to Ryan visit
White Nights
Jones made frequent addresses to Temple members regarding Jonestown's safety, including statements that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were conspiring with "capitalist pigs" to destroy Jonestown and harm its members. After work, when purported emergencies arose, the Temple sometimes conducted what Jones referred to as "White Nights". During such events, Jones would sometimes give the Jonestown members four choices: (1) attempt to flee to the
Soviet Union; (2) commit "revolutionary suicide"; (3) stay in Jonestown and fight the purported attackers or (4) flee into the jungle.
On at least two occasions during White Nights, after a "revolutionary suicide" vote was reached, a simulated mass suicide was rehearsed. Peoples Temple defector Deborah Layton described the event in an affidavit:
"Everyone, including the children, was told to line up. As we passed through the line, we were given a small glass of red liquid to drink. We were told that the liquid contained poison and that we would die within 45 minutes. We all did as we were told. When the time came when we should have dropped dead, Rev. Jones explained that the poison was not real and that we had just been through a loyalty test. He warned us that the time was not far off when it would become necessary for us to die by our own hands."
Stoen custody dispute
In September 1977, former Temple members Timothy and Grace Stoen battled in a Georgetown court to produce an order for the Temple to show cause why a final order should not be issued returning their son, John, to his mother Grace. A few days later, a second order was issued for the arrest of John by authorities.
The fear of being held in contempt of the orders caused Jones to set up a false sniper attack upon himself and begin his first series of White Nights, called the "Six Day Siege", where Jones spoke to Temple members about attacks from outsiders and had them surround Jonestown with guns and machetes. The fiery rallies took an almost surreal tone as Angela Davis and Huey Newton communicated via radio-telephone to the Jonestown crowd, urging them to hold strong against the "conspiracy." Jones made radio broadcasts stating "we will die unless we are granted freedom from harassment and asylum." Guyana Deputy Minister Ptolemy Reid finally assured Jones' wife Marceline that the Guyana Defence Force would not invade Jonestown.
Exploring another potential exodus
After the Six Day Siege, Jones no longer believed the Guyanese could be trusted. Jones directed Temple members to write to over a dozen foreign governments inquiring about immigration policies relevant to another exodus by the Temple. Sharon Amos, Michael Prokes and other Temple members took active roles in the "Guyana-Korea Friendship Society", which sponsored two seminars on revolutionary concepts of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung.
On October 2, 1978, Feodor Timofeyev from the Soviet Union embassy in Guyana visited Jonestown for two days and gave a speech. Jones stated before the speech that "For many years, we have let our sympathies be quite publicly known, that the United States government was not our mother, but that the Soviet Union was our spiritual motherland," which was followed by extended cheers and applause from the Jonestown crowd. Tim Stoen engaged in letter writing campaigns to the Secretary of State and the government of Guyana, and traveled to Washington to attempt to begin an investigation. In January 1978, Stoen wrote a "white paper" to Congress detailing the problems and requesting that Representatives write Forbes Burnham; 91 Congressmen wrote such letters, including Congressman Leo Ryan.
Feeling pressure from the United States, on February 17, Jones submitted to an interview with San Francisco Examiner journalist Tim Reiterman. Reiterman wrote a story the next day in the San Francisco Examiner about Stoen's attempts to gain custody of his son that prompted the immediate threat of a lawsuit by the Temple. The repercussions were devastating for the Temple's reputation, and made most former supporters even more suspicious of the Temple's claims that it was being subjected to a "rightist vendetta." Milk wrote that Jones was known "as a man of the highest character". In June 1978, Peoples Temple defector Deborah Layton provided the group with a further affidavit detailing alleged crimes by the Peoples Temple and substandard living conditions in Jonestown.
Tim Stoen represented three members of the Concerned Relatives in lawsuits filed in May and June 1978 against Jim Jones and other Temple members seeking in excess of $56 million in damages. The Temple, represented by Charles R. Garry, filed a suit against Tim Stoen on July 10, 1978 seeking $150 million in damages.
Digging in
During the summer of 1978, Jones hired JFK assassination conspiracy theorists Mark Lane and Donald Freed to help make the case of a "grand conspiracy" by intelligence agencies against the Peoples Temple. Jones told Lane he wanted to "pull an Eldridge Cleaver", referring to a fugitive Black Panther who was able to return to the United States after repairing his reputation.
Declining health
Jones' health significantly declined in Jonestown, and a doctor who examined Jones in 1978 told him that he might have a lung infection. Jones was said to be abusing injectable Valium, Quaaludes, stimulants, and barbiturates. His once sharp voice later sounded slurred, words ran together and Jones would not finish sentences even when reading. Ryan was friends with the father of Bob Houston, whose mutilated body was found near train tracks on October 5, 1976, three days after a taped telephone conversation with Houston's ex-wife in which leaving the Temple was discussed. Over the following months Ryan's interest was further aroused by the complaints of the Concerned Relatives represented by Timothy Stoen and the allegations following the defection of Deborah Layton. The group included Congressman Ryan; Ryan's legal adviser, Jackie Speier (now a Congresswoman); Neville Annibourne, representing Guyana's Ministry of Information; Richard Dwyer, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to Guyana; Tim Reiterman, San Francisco Examiner reporter; Don Harris, NBC reporter; Greg Robinson, San Francisco Examiner photographer; Steve Sung, NBC audio technician; Bob Flick, NBC producer; Charles Krause, Washington Post reporter; Ron Javers, San Francisco Chronicle reporter; Bob Brown, NBC video operator; and Concerned Relatives representatives, including Tim and Grace Stoen, Steve and Anthony Katsaris, Beverly Oliver, Jim Cobb, Sherwin Harris, and Carolyn Houston Boyd.
The Peoples Temple's lawyers, Mark Lane and Charles Garry, initially refused to allow Ryan's party access to Jonestown.
Ryan delegation visits Jonestown
By late morning on Friday, November 17, Lane and Garry informed Jones that Ryan would likely leave for Jonestown at 2:30 pm, regardless of Jones' schedule or willingness. Ryan's party did so at roughly that time, accompanied by Lane and Garry, and came to Port Kaituma airstrip, 6 miles (10 km) from Jonestown, some hours later. Because of aircraft seating limitations, only four of the Concerned Relatives were allowed to accompany the Ryan delegation on its flight into Jonestown. Only Ryan and three others were initially accepted into Jonestown, but the rest of Ryan's group was allowed in after sunset. It was later reported (and verified by audiotapes recovered by investigators) that Jones had run rehearsals on how to convince Ryan's delegation that everyone was happy and in good spirits.
That night, the Ryan delegation attended a reception in the pavilion. While the party received a friendly reception, Jones said he felt like a dying man and ranted about government conspiracies and martyrdom as he decried attacks by the press and his enemies.
That night Ryan, Speier, Dwyer, and Annibourne stayed in Jonestown. Other members of the Ryan delegation, including the press corps and members of Concerned Relatives, were told that they had to find other accommodations, and so they went to Port Kaituma and stayed at a small café. Those defectors included members of the Evans family and the Wilson family (the family of Jonestown's head of security, Joe Wilson). When reporters and Concerned Relatives arrived in Jonestown later that day, Jim Jones' wife Marceline gave them a tour of the settlement.
That afternoon, two families stepped forward and asked to be escorted out of Jonestown by the Ryan delegation. They were the Parks and the Bogue families, along with Christopher O'Neal and Harold Cordell, who were partners of women in the two families. When Jones' adopted son Johnny attempted to talk Jerry Parks out of leaving, Parks told him "No way, it's nothing but a communist prison camp."
Jones gave the two families, along with Gosney and Bagby, permission to leave. Under the Pavilion, Don Harris of NBC handed Jones the note written by Vernon Gosney while other reporters huddled around Jones. Jones told those reporters that, like others who left the community, the defectors would "lie" and destroy Jonestown. Al Simon, an American Indian member of the Peoples Temple, attempted to take two of his children to Ryan to process the requisite paperwork for transfer back to the United States.
| injuries = 11
Shortly before the dump truck departed for the airstrip, Temple loyalist Larry Layton, the brother of Deborah Layton, demanded to join the group. While Congressman Ryan was unhurt after others wrestled Sly to the ground, Dwyer strongly suggested that Ryan leave Jonestown while Dwyer filed a criminal complaint against Sly. Ryan did so, promising to return later to address the dispute.
The truck departing to the airstrip had stopped after the passengers heard of the attack on Ryan.
The entourage had originally scheduled a 19-seat Twin Otter to fly them back to Georgetown. Because of the defectors departing Jonestown, the group grew in number and now an additional aircraft was required. Accordingly, the U. S. Embassy arranged for a second plane, a six-passenger Cessna.
When the entourage reached the Port Kaituma airstrip between 4:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m., the planes were supposed to be there, but they had not appeared yet. The group had to wait, until the aircraft landed at approximately 5:10 p.m. After the Cessna had taxied to the far end of the airstrip, Layton produced a gun and started shooting at the passengers. He wounded Monica Bagby and Vernon Gosney, and tried to kill Dale Parks, who disarmed him. A tractor with a trailer attached driven by members of the Temple's Red Brigade security squad approached the Otter.
A few seconds of the shooting were captured on ENG videotape by NBC cameraman Bob Brown. Congressman Ryan, cameraman Bob Brown, photographer Greg Robinson, NBC reporter Don Harris and Temple defector Patricia Parks were killed in the few minutes of shooting.
Deaths in Jonestown
Before leaving Jonestown for the airstrip, Congressman Ryan had told Temple attorney Charles Garry that he would issue a report that would describe Jonestown "in basically good terms." Similarly, Washington Post reporter Charles Krause stated that, on the way back to the airstrip, he was unconvinced that Jonestown was as bad as defectors had claimed because there were no signs of malnutrition or physical abuse, while many members appeared to enjoy Jonestown and only a small number of the over 900 residents elected to leave.
Despite Garry's report, Jones told him "I have failed."
A 44-minute cassette tape (the "death tape"), recorded at least part of a meeting Jones called under the pavilion in the early evening. Before the meeting, aides prepared a metal vat with Flavor Aid, poisoned with Valium, chloral hydrate, cyanide, and Phenergan.
When the assembly gathered, referring to the Ryan delegation's air travel back to Georgetown, Jones told the gathering "one of the people on that plane is gonna shoot the pilot, I know that. I didn't plan it but I know it's going to happen. They're gonna shoot that pilot and down comes the plane into the jungle and we had better not have any of our children left when it's over, because they'll parachute in here on us."
Temple member Christine Miller argued that the Temple should alternatively attempt an airlift to Russia.
After Jones announced that "the congressman is dead" no dissent occurs on the death tape. A syringe with its needle removed was used to squirt poison into the infant's mouth and then Paul squirted another syringe into her own mouth. Clayton said that Jones approached people to encourage them to drink the poison and that, after adults saw the poison begin to take effect, "they showed a reluctance to die." After consuming the poison, according to Rhodes, people were then escorted away down a wooden walkway leading outside the Pavilion.
Jones was found dead lying next to his chair between two other bodies, his head cushioned by a pillow. His death was caused by a gunshot wound to his left temple that Guyanese coroner Cyrill Mootoo stated was consistent with a self-inflicted gun wound.
The events at Jonestown constituted the greatest single losses of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the incidents of September 11, 2001.
Survivors/eyewitnesses
Three high ranking Temple member survivors claim they were given an assignment and thereby escaped death. Brothers Tim and Mike Carter, 30 years old and 20 years old respectively, and Mike Prokes, 31, were given luggage containing $550,000 US currency, $130,000 in Guyanese currency and an envelope, which they were told to deliver to Guyana’s Soviet Embassy, in Georgetown.}}
The letters included listed accounts with balances totaling in excess of $7.3 million to be transferred to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Carters and Prokes soon ditched most of the money and were apprehended heading for the Temple boat (Cudjo) at Kaituma. While in the jungle near the settlement, they heard gunshots. Grover Davis, 79, who was hearing impaired, missed the announcement to assemble on the loudspeaker, laid down in a ditch and pretended to be dead. Hyacinth Thrash, 76, slept through the suicide drills and awoke to find her sister and friends dead.
Medical examinations
The only medical doctor to initially examine the scene at Jonestown was Guyanese Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Leslie Mootoo. Mootoo visually examined over 200 bodies and later told a Guyanese coroner's jury that he saw needle marks on at least 70. Mootoo concluded that the gunshot wound to Annie Moore could not have been self-inflicted, though Moore had also ingested a lethal dose of cyanide.
Notes from non-surviving residents
Found near Marceline Jones' body was a typewritten note, dated November 18, 1978, signed by Marceline Jones and witnessed by Annie Moore and Maria Katsaris, stating:
I, Marceline Jones, leave all bank accounts in my name to the Communist Party of the USSR. The bank accounts are located in the Bank of Nova Scotia, Nassau, Bahamas.
Please be sure that these assets do get to the USSR. I especially request that none of these are allowed to get into the hands of my adopted daughter, Suzanne Jones Cartmell.
For anyone who finds this letter, please honor this request as it is most important to myself and my husband James W. Jones.
Annie Moore left a note, which in part stated: "I am at a point right now so embittered against the world that I don't know why I am writing this. Someone who finds it will believe I am crazy or believe in the barbed wire that does NOT exist in Jonestown." The last line ("We died because you would not let us live in peace.") is written in different color ink. No other specific reference is made to the events of the day. Moore also wrote, "JONESTOWN—the most peaceful, loving community that ever existed." The note contained references to the events of the last day:
We did not want it this way. All was going well as Ryan completed [his] first day here. Then a man tried to attack him, unsuccessfully at some time, several set out into jungle wanting to overtake Ryan, aide, and others who left with him. They did, and several killed. When we heard this, we had no choice. We would be taken. We have to go as one, we want to live as Peoples Temple, or end it. We have chosen. It is finished.
Found near Maria Katsaris' body was a handwritten note signed by Katsaris, dated November 18, 1978, witnessed by Jim McElvane and Marilee Bogue, stating, "I Maria Katsaris leave all of the money in the Banco Union de Venezuela in Caracas to the Communist Party Soviet Union."
Found near Carolyn Layton's body was a handwritten note signed by Carolyn Layton, witnessed by Maria Katsaris and Annie Moore, dated November 18, 1978, stating, "This is my last will and testament. I hereby leave all assets in any bank account to which I am a signatory to the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R."
Deaths in Georgetown
In the early evening of November 18, at the Temple's headquarters in Georgetown, Temple member Sharon Amos received a radio communication from Jonestown instructing the members at the headquarters to take revenge on the Temple's enemies and then commit revolutionary suicide.
Later, after police arrived at the Temple headquarters, Sharon Amos escorted her children, Liane (21), Christa (11) and Martin (10), into a bathroom. Wielding a kitchen knife, Sharon first killed Christa and then Martin. Dwyer assumed leadership at the scene and, at his recommendation, Layton was arrested by Guyanese state police. Dwyer was grazed by one bullet in his buttock during the airstrip shootings. Thereafter those members were lost for three days in the jungle and nearly died. Guyanese soldiers eventually found them.
After escaping Jonestown, Odell Rhodes arrived in Port Kaituma on the night of November 18, 1978.
Larry Layton, who had fired a gun at several people aboard the Cessna, was originally found not guilty of attempted murder in a Guyanese court, employing the defense that he was "brainwashed". Layton could not be tried in the United States for the attempted murders of Vern Gosney, Monica Bagby, the Cessna pilot and Dale Parks on Guyanese soil and was, instead, tried under a federal statute against assassinating members of Congress and internationally protected people (Ryan and Dwyer).
The event was one of the stories most heavily covered by the media and photographs pertaining to it adorned newspaper and magazine covers for months after its occurrence, including being labeled "cult of death" by Time and Newsweek magazines. In February 1979, 98% of Americans polled said that they had heard of the tragedy. George Gallup stated that "few events, in fact, in the entire history of the Gallup Poll have been known to such a high percentage of the U.S. public." Political opposition seized the opportunity to embarrass Guyanese Prime Minister Burnham by establishing an inquest which concluded that Burnham was responsible for the deaths at Jonestown. led some to suggest CIA involvement, though the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigated the Jonestown mass suicide and announced that there was no evidence of CIA involvement at Jonestown.
Former site
Now deserted, the compound at Jonestown was first tended by the Guyanese government following the deaths. The buildings and grounds were looted by local Guyanese people, but were not taken over because of their association with the mass killing. The buildings were mostly destroyed by a fire in the mid-1980s, after which the ruins were left to decay and be reclaimed by the jungle.
During a visit in 1998 to film a segment for the ABC news show 20/20, Jim Jones, Jr. discovered the rusting remains of an oil drum near the former entrance to the Pavilion. Jones recognized the drum, originally adapted for use during meal times, as the drum used for drink mixtures used during the "white night" exercises, and which he believed was used to hold the poison and Flavor Aid liquid used on November 18, 1978. The former pilot then led the host of the show to where the Pavilion once was and they found daisies growing where the bodies had once lain. While they were out in the jungle earlier in the show they had found a desk drawer while searching around.
See also
, a 2006 documentary film
, a 2007 Discovery Channel Documentary
Jonestown conspiracy theory
United States members of Congress wounded or killed in the line of duty
Notes
Further reading
Based on interviews with Odell Rhodes.
(published in the UK as
Black and White)
External links
Alternative considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, an extensive resource on the topics, sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University
"Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple", website for the film broadcast on PBS includes video interviews with survivors from 2006
"The Jonestown Death Tape (FBI No. Q 042) (November 18 1978)", an unofficial web-publishing (digital) of the "Death Tape" seemingly made just before and during the mass slaying
,
Time magazine cover story, Monday, December 4, 1978
Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown, a 1981 audio documentary produced by NPR (90 minutes)
'Jonestown Legacy' website run by David Wise, once a Pastor of the Los Angeles Branch of the Peoples Temple, but latterly an opponent of Jim Jones.
, the contents of US Government archives on the subject obtained through the
Freedom of Information Act. (web-archived copy of the original website, no longer extant; unfortunately the scanned pages are missing)
"The Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown, Guyana Tragedy", excerpt from: ''Report of a Staff Investigative Group to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, May 15, 1979
Category:Mass murder
Category:Mass murder in 1978
Category:1978 in Guyana
Category:Peoples Temple
Category:New religious movements
Category:Intentional communities
Category:Former populated places in Guyana
Category:Murder in Guyana
