On November 18, 1978, Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones leads hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide in their farming community in a remote part of the South American nation of Guyana. Many of Jones’ followers willfully ingest a poisoned punch while others have been forced to do so at gunpoint. The final toll at Jonestown that day was 909; a third of those who perished were children.
Jim Jones was a charismatic clergyman who founded the People’s 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 child abuse. Responding to mounting criticism, the increasingly paranoid Jones, invited his congregation to settle with him in Guyana, where he vowed to build a socialist utopia. Three years earlier, a small group of his supporters had traveled to the small nation to settle what would become Jonestown on an expanse of jungle.
READ MORE: What Really Happened in Jonestown?
Jonestown didn’t turn out to be the paradise their leader had promised. Temple members worked long days in the fields and were subjected to severe punishment if they questioned Jones’ authority. Their passports were confiscated, their letters home censored, and members were encouraged to inform themselves and forced to attend long meetings late at night. Jones, then in mental health and drug addiction, was convinced the US government and others were ready to destroy him. He demanded that Temple members participate in mock suicide in the middle of the night.
In 1978, a group of former Temple members and concerned relatives of the current members convinced US Congressman Leo Ryan, a Democrat from California, to come to Jonestown and investigate the colony. On November 17, 1978, Ryan arrived in Jonestown with a group of reporters and other observers. At first, the visit went well, but the next day, as Ryan’s delegation was about to leave, several residents of Jonestown approached the group and asked them to leave Guyana. Jones became upset by the defection of his supporters, and one of Jones’ lieutenants attacked Ryan with a knife. The congressman escaped the incident unharmed, but Jones then ordered Ryan and his companions to ambush and kill them on the airstrip as they attempted to leave. The congressman and four others were murdered as they boarded their charter planes.
READ MORE: Timeline of the Jonestown Massacre
Back in Jonestown, Jones ordered everyone to gather in the main lodge and do what he called a “revolutionary act”. The youngest members of the People’s Temple were the first to die, as parents and nurses used syringes to deposit a powerful mixture of cyanide, sedatives, and powdered fruit juice down the children’s throats. The adults then lined up to drink the poisoned concoction as armed guards surrounded the lodge.
When Guyanese authorities arrived at the Jonestown compound the next day, they found him covered with hundreds of bodies. Many people had perished with their arms close to each other. A few locals managed to escape into the jungle as the suicides took place, while at least several dozen more People’s Temple members, including several of Jones’ sons, survived because they were in another part of Guyana at the time.
READ MORE: How Jim Jones Spread His Death Message
