Thanks for watching.......... 1. November 18, 1978, a total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown from drinking the poison, 276 of whom were children. 2. Total 918 people died in the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital city. 3. Why? 4. The Peoples Temple 5. Founded in 1956 by Jim Jones, that focused on helping people in need. Jones originally established the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis, Indiana, but then moved it to Redwood Valley, California in 1966. 6. Jones had a vision of a communist community, one in which everyone lived together in harmony and worked for the common good. 7. He was able to establish this in a small way while in California but he dreamed of establishing a compound outside of the United States. 8. Jones wanted it to be far away from any influence of the United States government. 9. Jonestown: The Settlement in Guyana 10. In 1973, Jones leased some land the Guyanese government and had workers begin clearing it of jungle in Guyana. 11. In early 1977, there were only about 50 people living in the compound and Jones was still in the U.S. 12. However, that all changed when Jones received word that an exposé was about to be printed about him. The exposé article included interviews with ex-members. 13. The night before the article was to be printed, Jim Jones and several hundred Peoples Temple members flew to Guyana and moved into the Jonestown compound. 14. Things Go Wrong in Jonestown 15. When members arrived at Jonestown, things were not as they expected. 16. Each cabin was filled with bunk beds and overcrowded. 17. The cabins were also segregated by gender, so married couples were forced to live apart. 18. Throughout the compound, members could hear Jones's voice broadcast through a loudspeaker. Unfortunately, Jones often would talk endlessly on the loudspeaker, even through the night. 19. Exhausted from a long day's work, members did their best to sleep through it. 20. No newspaper or television is not allowed, so the member of the Peoples Temple is totally abandoned from outer world. 21. Although some members did love living in Jonestown, others wanted out. 22. Methods included imprisonment in a 6 x 4 x 3-foot (1.8 x 1.2 x 0.9m) plywood box and forcing children to spend a night at the bottom of a well, sometimes upside-down. 23. This "torture hole", along with beatings, became the subject of rumor among local Guyanese. 24. For some members who attempted to escape, drugs such as Thorazine, sodium pentathol, chloral hydrate, Demerol, and Valium were administered in an "extended care unit." 25. Armed guards patrolled the area day and night to enforce Jonestown's rules. 26. Jones would sometimes give the Jonestown members four choices: attempt to flee to the Soviet Union; commit "revolutionary suicide"; stay in Jonestown and fight the purported attackers; or flee into the jungle. 27. Congressman Ryan Visits Jonestown 28. U.S. Representative Leo Ryan from San Mateo, California heard reports of bad things happening in Jonestown and thus decided to go to Jonestown. 29. He took along his adviser, an NBC film crew, and a group of concerned relatives of Peoples Temple members. 30. At first, everything looked fine to Ryan and his group. 31. However, that evening, during a big dinner and dance in the pavilion, someone secretly passed a note with the names of a few people who wanted to leave to one of the men from NBC. It then became clear that some people were being held against their will in Jonestown. 32. Two Peoples Temple members, Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, made the first move for defection that night. In the pavilion, Gosney passed a note to Don Harris (mistaking him for Ryan), reading, "Dear Congressman, Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby. Please help us get out of Jonestown. 33. The following day, November 18, 1978, Ryan announced that he was willing to take anyone who wished to leave back to the United States. 34. Worried about Jones's reaction, only a few people accepted Ryan's offer. for more info ...... Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

• published: 23 Mar 2014
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