Difference between revisions of "Jonestown" - New World Encyclopedia

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[[Image:Jonestown Houses.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Houses in Jonestown]]
 
[[Image:Jonestown Houses.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Houses in Jonestown]]
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'''Jonestown''' was a [[Marxist]] settlement in northwestern [[Guyana]] founded by [[Jim Jones]] of the [[Peoples Temple]], mostly comprised of emigres from the Unites States. It gained lasting international notoriety in 1978, when nearly its whole population died in a [[mass suicide]] orchestrated by its founder.
  
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'''Jonestown''' was the communal settlement in northwestern [[Guyana]] founded by the [[Peoples Temple]] of [[California]], the following of [[Jim Jones]]. The group is widely regarded as having been a [[cult]]. Jonestown gained lasting international notoriety in 1978, when nearly its whole population died in a [[mass suicide|mass]] [[cult suicide]] orchestrated by Jones.  "Jonestown" thus became a term for that incident, as well the name of settlement where it took place.  The site is now an abandoned ruin.
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Named after Jones, the settlement was founded in 1974, on his initiative about seven miles (11 km) southwest of the small town of [[Port Kaituma]]. It had a population of almost a thousand at its height, with most residents having lived there less than one year. There, Jones established what he described as a "socialist paradise," but reports soon reached the United States of harsh conditions, abuse, armed guards, and people being forced to remain in Jonestown against their will.
  
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Jonestown, named after Jones, was founded in 1974 on his initiative, and stood amidst jungle, about seven miles (11 km) southwesterly of the small town of [[Port Kaituma]]. Once it had been fully established and the bulk of Jones' followers had moved there, it had a population of approximately a thousand. Altogether, the settlement was only occupied for a few years, and most residents lived there under a year.
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In November 1978, United States [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] [[Leo Ryan]] and a group of [[reporter]]s and relatives of Jones' followers visited Jonestown to investigate the alleged abuses. On November 18, while attempting to fly out, Ryan and four others were killed at an airstrip by members of the Peoples Temple. That evening, Jones led his followers in their mass murder-and-suicide. Over 900 men, women, and children perished, Jones among them.
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After a period of abandonment, the Guyanese government allowed [[Hmong people|Hmong]] [[refugee]]s from [[Laos]] to re-occupy the settlement for a brief period in the early 1980s, but after that it was deserted. It was mostly destroyed by a fire in the mid-1980s, and afterward left to decay and be reclaimed by the jungle.
  
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In November of 1978, United States [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] [[Leo Ryan]] visited Jonestown to investigate alleged abuses there. On November 18, while attempting to fly out, Ryan and four others were gunned down at an airstrip by members of the Peoples Temple. That evening, Jones led his followers in their mass murder-and-suicide.  <!-- exact # purposely not given in lead b/c it depends upon whom one chooses to include —> Over nine hundred men, women and children perished, Jones among them.
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== Origins ==
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[[Image:Jim Jones brochure of Peoples Temple.jpg|thumb|200px|Rev. Jim Jones with children of members of the [[Peoples Temple]]]]
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The settlement was abandoned promptly thereafter by the collapsing remnant of the Peoples Temple.  Afterward, it was at first tended by the Guyanese government, which allowed its re-occupation by [[Hmong people|Hmong]] refugees from [[Laos]], for a few years in the early 1980s, but it has since been altogether deserted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/FAQ/q8.htm|title=What happened to Jonestown|accessdate=2007-03-08}}</ref>  It was looted but otherwise avoided by the local Guyanese, mostly destroyed by a fire in the mid-1980s, and its remains were left to decay and be reclaimed by the jungle.
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The [[Peoples Temple]] was formed in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]], during the mid-1950s and later became affiliated with the [[Disciples of Christ]] under Jones' leadership. Beginning in 1965, Jones and about 80 followers moved to [[Redwood Valley, California|Redwood Valley]] in [[Mendocino County, California]], where he taught a blend of [[Christianity]], [[hippie]] philosophy, and Marxist [[liberation theology]].
  
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== Origins ==
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In 1972, Jones moved his congregation to [[San Francisco]] and opened another church in [[Los Angeles, California]]. In San Francisco, Jones vocally supported prominent liberal-left political candidates. He was appointed to city commissions and was a frequent guest at political events. He also supported charity efforts and recruited new members from the ranks of the poor into his interracial and intercultural congregation.
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{{main|Peoples Temple}}
 
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The Peoples Temple was formed in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]], during the mid-1950s.<ref name="cnn_jones">[http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/18/jonestown.anniv.01/ CNN - Jonestown massacre + 20: Questions linger.] ''CNN.com.'' Accessed on 9 April, 2007.</ref>  In the 1960s, Jones' congregation had dwindled to fewer than a
 
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hundred members and was on the verge of collapse when Jones managed to secure an affiliation with the [[Disciples of Christ]].<ref name="lib_vir"/> This new association bolstered the Temple's reputation, increased its membership, and spread Jones' influence.  Beginning in 1965, Jones and about 80 followers moved to [[Redwood Valley, California|Redwood Valley]] in [[Mendocino County, California]],<ref name="lib_vir">[http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/Jonestwn.html The Religious Movements Homepage Project: Peoples Temple]</ref> where they believed they would be safe from [[nuclear fallout]] if there were a [[nuclear attack]] on the [[United States]].<ref> {{cite web|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu |title=American as Cherry Pie |accessdate=2007-05-21 |last=Moore |first=Rebecca |date=2000 |work=Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases |publisher=Syracuse University Press }}</ref>
 
  
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In 1972, Jones moved his congregation to [[San Francisco, California]], and opened another church in [[Los Angeles, California]].  While in San Francisco, Jones changed his political image from anti-[[Communism|communist]] to [[socialism|socialist]], <!-- ref name="lib_vir" mentions people wrote letters to Jones expressing their willingness to die for socialism; anyone else have more info? —> vocally supported prominent political candidates, was appointed to city commissions and made grants to local newspapers with the stated goal of supporting the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]]. Partly inspired by the eccentric preacher [[Father Divine]], he began charity efforts with the goal of recruiting the poor.<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/jonestown/sfeature/race.html |title=Race and the People's Temple |accessdate=2007-05-21 |publisher=PBS }}</ref>
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Soon, scandals regarding [[tax evasion]], drug use, and abuse of his members convinced Jones that the capitalist "establishment" was inevitably turning against him, and he began planning a relocation of the Temple outside the U.S. In 1974, he leased over 3,800 acres (15.4 km²) of jungle land from the Guyanese government.<ref>PBS, [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/jonestown/timeline/timeline2.html Timeline: The Life and Death of Jim Jones.] Retrieved October 16, 2008.</ref> Jones encouraged all of his followers to move to Jonestown, also called the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project," in 1977. Jonestown's population increased from 50 members in 1977 to more than 900 at its peak in 1978.
  
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After several scandals and investigation for [[tax evasion]]<ref name="bbc_on">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2540000/2540209.stm On This Day: 18 November, 1978: Mass suicide leaves 900 dead.] BBC webpage. Accessed on 9 April, 2007.</ref> in San Francisco, Jones began planning a relocation of the Temple. According to the ''American Journal of Economics & Sociology'' , Jones considered locations in California and [[Brazil]] before settling on [[Guyana]]. In 1974, he leased over 3,800 acres (15.4 km²) of jungle land from the Guyanese government.<ref name="pbs">[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/jonestown/timeline/timeline2.html Timeline: The Life and Death of Jim Jones.] ''PBS website.'' Accessed on 9 April, 2007.</ref> Members of the People's Temple began the construction of Jonestown under the supervision of senior Temple members. Jones then went back to California before he encouraged all of his followers to move to Jonestown, which he called the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project," in 1977.<ref name="pbs"/> Jonestown's population increased from 50 members in 1977 to more than 900 at its peak in 1978.
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==Jonestown, 1977-78==
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{{Location map many | Guyana
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|label=Jonestown
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|label_size=50
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    | pos=bottom | bg=yellow
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      | lat=7.66  | long=-60.187
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      | marksize=8
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| label2=Georgetown
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| label2_size=70
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      | lat2=6.807  | long2=-58.159
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      | mark2size=7
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| label3=Kaituma
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| label3_size=70
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      | pos3=right
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      | lat3=7.84 | long3=-60.01
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      | mark3size=7 
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| width=250 | float=right
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|background=#FFFFDD
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  |caption=Peoples Temple Agricultural Project ("Jonestown"), Guyana
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}}
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Many of the Peoples Temple members believed that [[Guyana]] would be, as Jones promised, a "socialist paradise." However, the life they found there was anything but ideal. Work was performed six days a week, from seven in the morning to six in the evening, with humid temperatures that often reached over 100 degrees [[Fahrenheit]] (38 degrees [[Celsius]]).
  
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==Jonestown established==
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According to some, meals for the members often consisted of nothing more than rice and beans. As with other communist agricultural projects, children were raised communally and both children and adults also taught to address Jones as "Father" or "Dad." Up to $65,000 in monthly U.S. welfare payments to Jonestown residents was allegedly appropriated by Jones.<ref>''New York Times:'' Nov 29, 1978.</ref> Local Guyanese related stories about harsh beatings and a well into which Jones had misbehaving children thrown in the middle of the night.
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Many of the Peoples Temple members believed that Guyana would be, as Jones promised, a paradise. Work was performed six days a week, from seven in the morning to six in the evening, with temperatures that often reached over 100 degrees [[Fahrenheit]] (38 degrees [[Celsius]]), in [[Geography of Guyana#Climate|Guyana's equatorial climate]].
 
  
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According to some, meals for the members consisted of nothing more than rice and beans while Jones dined on eggs, meat, fruit, salads, and soft drinks from a private refrigerator, separate from the others.<ref>{{cite book
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Jones kept in communication with left-wing leaders and governments, and during a 1977 custody battle with the parents of an underage Jonestown resident, [[University of California]] radicals [[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 Guyanese Defense Forces would not invade Jonestown.
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  | last = Layton
 
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  | first = Deborah
 
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  | authorlink = Deborah Layton
 
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  | coauthors =
 
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  | title = Seductive Poison
 
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  | publisher = Doubleday
 
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  |date= 1998
 
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  | location = New York
 
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  | pages = 194-5
 
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  | id = 0-385-48983-8}}</ref>  Medical problems such as severe [[diarrhea]] and high fevers struck half the community in February 1978.  According to the ''[[New York Times]]'',<ref>New York Times, Dec 29, 1978</ref> copious amounts of drugs such as [[Thorazine]], [[sodium pentathol]], [[chloral hydrate]], [[Demerol]] and [[Valium]] were administered to Jonestown residents, with detailed records being kept of each person’s drug regimen; Jonestown residents claimed the drugs were administered to control their behavior.
 
  
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[[Image:Jim Jones' Cabin.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Jim Jones' Cabin]]
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Medical problems such as severe [[diarrhea]] and high fevers struck half the community in February 1978. According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', copious amounts of drugs such as [[Thorazine]], [[sodium pentathol]], [[chloral hydrate]], [[Demerol]], and [[Valium]] were administered to Jonestown residents, with detailed records being kept of each person’s drug regimen.<ref>''New York Times,'' Dec 29, 1978.</ref>
  
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Various forms of punishment were used against members considered to be serious disciplinary problems. Methods included imprisonment in a 6x4x3-foot (1.8 x 1.2 x 0.9 m) [[plywood]] box and forcing children to spend a night at the bottom of a well, sometimes upside-down.<ref name="cnn_jones"/> Members who attempted to run away were drugged to the point of incapacitation. Armed guards patrolled the compound day and night to enforce obedience to Jones.
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[[Image:Jt-cottages-ji.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cottages (left) and the infirmary (right) at Jonestown]]
  
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Children, surrendered to communal care, addressed Jones as "Dad" and were only allowed to see their real parents briefly at night. Jones was called "Father" or "Dad" by the adults as well.<ref>[http://www.guyana.org/features/jonestown.html  An Analysis of Jonestown.] Accessed 9 April, 2007.</ref> Up to $65,000 in monthly welfare payments to Jonestown residents were appropriated by Jones, whose own wealth was estimated to be at least $26 million.<ref>New York Times Nov 29, 1978</ref>
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Various forms of punishment were used against members considered to be serious disciplinary problems, and some members who attempted to run away were allegedly drugged to the point of incapacitation. Increasingly alienated from the U.S. and looking to nations like [[Cambodia]], [[North Korea]], and the [[Soviet Union]] as models, Jones reportedly had armed guards patrolling the compound day and night both to protect the compound from the [[CIA]] and to prevent unauthorized travel by Jonestown's own residents.
  
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Local Guyanese, including a police official, related stories about harsh beatings and a "torture hole," a well into which Jones had "misbehaving" children thrown in the middle of the night.
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Jones' recorded readings of the news were part of the constant broadcasts over Jonestown's tower speakers. 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]]  and [[Joseph Stalin]] in a positive light.
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The mass suicides that would make Jonestown notorious were rehearsed during "white nights." In an affidavit, Peoples Temple defector Deborah Layton explains how these were
 
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rehearsed.<ref>{{cite web
 
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|last = Layton
 
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|first = Deborah
 
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|year = 1978
 
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|url = http://www.deborahlayton.com/affidavit.html
 
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|title = Seductive Poison: Affidavit of Deborah Layton Blakey
 
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|publisher = Deborah Layton
 
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|accessdate = 2006-08-12
 
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}}</ref>
 
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<blockquote>"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."
 
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</blockquote>
 
  
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==Investigations==
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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."
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On Tuesday November 14, 1978, [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] [[Leo Ryan]], a [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] from San Francisco, flew to Guyana along with a team of 18 people consisting of government officials, media representatives and members of the group "Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members." The group included Ryan; his legal advisor, [[Jackie Speier]]; Neville Annibourne, representing Guyana's Ministry of Information; Richard Dwyer, Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy to Guyana at [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]] (who some believe to have been a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officer<ref> {{cite web|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/Jonestown_com/CIA.htm |title=WAS THERE A C.I.A. CONSPIRACY |accessdate=2007-04-24 |last=Kahalas |first=Laurie }}</ref>); reporters Tim Reiterman (San Francisco Herald-Examiner) and Don Harris (NBC); Greg Robinson; Steve Sung; Bob Flick; Charles Krause; Ron Javers; Bob Brown; and Concerned Relatives representatives Anthony Katsaris, Jim Cobb and Carolyn Houston Boyd.
 
  
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Ryan and the others intended to investigate allegations that included: daily [[human rights]] violations; charges of false imprisonment and the forced confiscation of money and passports; mass suicide rehearsals; and the murder of seven attempted defectors.<ref>Hunter, Kathy: "Seven Mysterious Deaths," Ukiah Press-Democrat, 1978</ref>
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Convinced that the U.S. and the capitalist world might attempt to destroy his socialist experiment, Jones preached an increasingly apocalyptic vision and began rehearsing for a mass [[suicide]] in case of a CIA attack. According to former Jonestown member [[Deborah Layton]]:
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<blockquote>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.<ref>Deborah Layton, [http://www.deborahlayton.com/affidavit.html/Seductive Poison: Affidavit of Deborah Layton Blakey, 1978.] Retrieved October 16, 2008.</ref></blockquote>
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Reports of these and other abuses began reaching the U.S. through relatives and Peoples Temple members who succeeded in leaving Jonestown. Charges included [[human rights]] violations, false imprisonment, the confiscation of money and passports, mass suicide rehearsals, and the murder of seven attempted defectors. Relatives became increasingly concerned that members were being held against their will or had been brainwashed or drugged into submission by an increasingly unstable Jones.
  
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From the time Ryan and the others arrived at midnight in [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]], the capital city of Guyana, before Wednesday November 15, there were signs that things would not run smoothly. Previously booked hotel rooms were occupied, and the group had to find other lodgings. In the days that followed, Jones' lawyers in Georgetown, [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]] and Charles Garry, refused to allow Ryan's party access to Jonestown.  
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==The Ryan investigation==
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[[Image:Leo Ryan 1977 cropped.jpg|thumb|150px|Congressman Leo J. Ryan]]
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On Tuesday November 14, 1978, [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] [[Leo Ryan]], a [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] from San Francisco, flew to Guyana along with a team of 18 people consisting of government officials, media representatives, and members of the anti-Jones group "Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members." The group also included Richard Dwyer, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to Guyana at [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]], believed by some to have been a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officer.<ref>Laurie Kahalas, [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/Jonestown_com/CIA.htm Was there a C.I.A. Conspiracy to Destroy Jonestown?] Retrieved October 16, 2008.</ref>
  
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During his stay at Georgetown, Ryan visited the Temple headquarters in the suburb of Lamaha Gardens. At a rear patio, Ryan spoke with Temple members Laura Johnston Kohl and others, who showed him around the house's first floor. Ryan asked to speak to Jones by radio, but Sharon Amos, the highest-ranking Temple member present, told Ryan that he could not because his present visit was unscheduled.
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After the delegation's arrival in Guyana, Jones' lawyers in Georgetown, [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]] and Charles Garry, refused to allow Ryan's party access to Jonestown. Ryan had previously visited the Temple office in the suburb of Lamaha Gardens, but his request to speak to Jones by radio was denied. On Friday, November 17, Ryan informed Lane and Garry that he would leave for Jonestown at 2:30 p.m., regardless of Jones' schedule or willingness. Accompanied by Lane and Garry, Ryan flew to Port Kaituma airstrip, six miles (10 km) from Jonestown. Only Ryan and three others were initially accepted into Jonestown, but the rest of Ryan's group was allowed in after sunset.  
  
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==Ryan’s Jonestown visit==
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At first the visit was cordial. Jones organized a reception and concert for the Ryan delegation, and its members were given guided tours around the community. Some of the residents were reportedly angry with the visitors, seeing Ryan as a hostile investigator in cahoots with the CIA and resenting the presence of reporters and relatives who were perceived as hostile to the community. Jones reportedly commented that he felt like a dying man and ranted about government conspiracies and martyrdom. At some point in the evening, two Peoples Temple members, Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, passed a note to addressed to Ryan, reading "Please help us get out of Jonestown."
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By late morning on Friday, November 17, Ryan informed Lane and Garry that he would leave for Jonestown at 2:30 p.m., 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.  Only Ryan and three others were initially accepted into Jonestown, but the rest of Ryan's group was allowed in after sunset.  
 
  
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It was later reported (and verified by audiotapes recovered by investigators) that Jones had run rehearsals in how to receive Ryan's delegation in order to convince them that everyone was happy and in good spirits.
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That night the primary Ryan delegation (Ryan, his legal adviser [[Jackie Speier]], U.S. embassy official Dwyer, and Guyanese official Neville Annibourne) stayed in Jonestown. Members of the press corps and the "Concerned Relatives" went to Port Kaituma and stayed at a small café. Meanwhile, back in Jonestown, feelings of an adversarial confrontation were rising, and in the early morning of November 18, more than a dozen Temple members walked out of the colony in the opposite direction from Port Kaituma.
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On the night of Ryan's arrival, there was a reception and concert held for the Ryan delegation. Temple members were carefully selected by Jones to accompany individual visitors around the compound. Some were angry and saw the Congressman's visit as trouble brought in from outside, while many went on with their usual routines.{{Specify|date=April 2007}} Two Peoples Temple members (Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby) made the first move for defection that night&mdash;Gosney passed a note to Don Harris (mistaking him for Ryan), reading "Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby. Please help us get out of Jonestown."<ref>''The History Channel'', ''Jonestown: Paradise Lost''.  This documentary details the last few days before the Jonestown tragedy, with special concentration on insider perspectives.</ref>
 
  
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That night the Ryan delegation (Ryan, Speier, Dwyer, and Annibourne) stayed in Jonestown. The entire press corps and the 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.
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When the reporters and the Concerned Relatives group arrived back at Jonestown, Jones' wife Marceline gave a tour of the settlement for the reporters. However, a dispute arose when the reporters insisted on entering the home of an elderly black woman, and other residents accused the press of being racist for trying to invade her privacy.
  
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In the early morning of November 18, more than a dozen Temple members sensed danger enough to walk out of the colony toward Matthew's Ridge, in the opposite direction of the airstrip at Port Kaituma. These defectors included the five members of the Evans family and Leslie Wilson and her two sons, who were the family of Jonestown's head of security, Joe Wilson.{{Specify|date=April 2007}} Later, when the reporters and Concerned Relatives had arrived, Marceline Jones, wife of Jim Jones, gave a tour of the settlement for the visiting reporters. There was a dispute outside a small dormitory building, where elderly black female temple members were living. The windows and doors were all shut, and Jones loyalists accused the press of being racist for trying to invade the privacy of the elderly women. The journalists replied that they wanted to know about the living conditions.
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[[Image:Jim-jones.jpg|thumb|Jim Jones]]
  
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Jim Jones woke late on the morning of November 18, and the NBC crew handed him Vernon Gosney's note. Jones was angry and said that those who wanted to leave the community would "lie" and destroy Jonestown. Jones and many other members of the Peoples Temple saw themselves as a family that had the right and the duty to stay together. Then 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.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} Cordell lost 14 family members (ages 2-76) that evening during the poisonings.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} The Bogues  lost their daughter Marilee (age 18), and Gosney lost his son Mark (age 5).{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
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Jim Jones, who was reportedly severely addicted to drugs, woke late on the morning of November 18, and the NBC crew confronted him with Vernon Gosney's note. Jones angrily declared that those who wanted to leave the community would lie and would attempt to "destroy Jonestown." Then two more families stepped forward and asked to be escorted out of Jonestown by the Ryan delegation. Jones reportedly remained calm and gave them permission to leave, along with some money and their passports, telling them they would be welcome to come back at any time. That afternoon Jones was informed that two other families had defected on foot.
  
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Jones gave them permission to leave, with some money and their passports. Jones also told them they would be welcome to come back at any time. That afternoon, there was a very long negotiation under a pavilion, during which Jones was upset by news that the Evans and Wilson families had defected on foot.
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While negotiations proceeded, emotional scenes developed, as some family members wished to leave and others, determined to stay, accused them of betrayal. Al Simon, an [[Amerindian]] member of the Peoples Temple, walked toward Ryan with two of his small children in his arms and asked to go back with them to the U.S., but his wife Bonnie denounced her husband over Jonestown's loudspeaker system. Meanwhile, enough people had expressed a desire to leave on Ryan's chartered plane that there would not be room for them in one trip.
  
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While negotiations proceeded under the pavilion, some new emotional scenes developed between family members. Al Simon, an [[Amerindian]] member of the Peoples Temple, walked toward Ryan with two of his small children in his arms and asked to go back with them to the U.S., but his wife Bonnie was summoned on the loudspeakers by Jones' staff, and she loudly denounced her husband.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}—> <!--Another famous scene took place on camera between Maria Katsaris (a Jones' staff member) and her brother Anthony. <!-- Which film was this footage released? —> He pleaded with her to return to the US and consult with their family, but she bitterly rejected his suggestion. Maria pulled off her gold necklace, threw it at her brother and cursed him as the visitors and defectors were about to leave.
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Ryan attempted to placate Jones by informing Jones' attorney that he would issue a basically positive report, noting that none of the people targeted by the Concerned Parents group wanted to leave Jonestown. Jones, however, reportedly had grown despondent, declaring that "all is lost."
  
 
==Violence breaks out==
 
==Violence breaks out==
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Because more people were leaving than had been expected, and because of the limited seating available on the small [[Cessna]] aircraft Ryan had chartered back to Georgetown, Ryan planned on sending a group there and staying behind with the rest until another flight could be scheduled.
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[[Image:Jones-Gary-Dwyer-ji.jpg|thumb|Jones with US Embassy official Richard Dwyer and attorney Charles Gary]]
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Ryan planned on sending a group back to the capital of Georgetown and staying behind with the rest until another flight could be scheduled. Then Temple member Don Sly attacked Ryan with a knife, allegedly on Jones' orders. Although the congressman was not seriously hurt in the attack, he and Dwyer realized that both the visiting party and the defectors were in danger. Shortly before departure, Jones loyalist Larry Layton asked to join the group that was leaving, but other defectors voiced their suspicions about his motives, which Ryan and Speier disregarded.
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Temple member Don Sly (nicknamed "Ujara"), acting directly under Jones' orders, attacked Ryan with a knife while Jones sat by, watching and unaffected. Two men pulled Sly off Ryan and in the struggle Sly was injured, his blood splattering Ryan. This was one of a series of orders Jones gave that day which had one or more of his loyalists taking drastic action without any other loyalists knowing of Jones' instructions, resulting in much confusion between Temple members.
 
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Although the congressman was not seriously hurt in the attack, he and Dwyer realized the visiting party and the defectors were in danger.  
 
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Shortly before departure, Jones loyalist Larry Layton demanded to join the group. Several other defectors voiced their suspicions about his motives, which Ryan and Speier disregarded.
 
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Ryan's party and 16 ex-Temple members left Jonestown and reached the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip at 4:30 p.m., where they planned to use two planes (a six-passenger Cessna and a slightly larger [[Twin Otter]]) to fly to Georgetown. Before the Cessna took off, Layton produced a gun he had hidden under his poncho and started shooting at the passengers. He wounded Monica Bagby and Vernon Gosney, and he tried to kill Dale Parks, who disarmed Layton.
 
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At about this time, a tractor appeared at the airstrip, driven by members of Jones' armed guards. The tractor got within about 30 feet of the plane, and the Jones loyalists opened fire while circling the plane on foot. At this time, Congressman Leo Ryan was shot dead along with four journalists. A few seconds of the shooting were captured on camera by [[NBC]] cameraman Bob Brown, whose camera kept rolling even as he was shot dead. Congressman Ryan, news team members Brown, Robinson, and Harris, and 44-year-old Jonestown defector Patricia Parks were killed in the few minutes of shooting.  Jackie Speier was injured by five bullets.  Steve Sung and Anthony Katsaris also were badly wounded.  The Cessna was able to take off and fly to Georgetown, leaving behind the gunfire-damaged Otter (whose pilot and copilot also flew out in the Cessna).
 
  
−
Journalist Tim Reiterman, who had stayed at the airstrip, photographed the aftermath of the violence. 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, at the airstrip.
+
Ryan's party and 16 ex-Temple members left Jonestown and reached the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip at 4:30 p.m., where they planned to use two planes (a six-passenger Cessna and a slightly larger [[Twin Otter]]) to fly to Georgetown. Before the Cessna took off, Layton produced a gun he had hidden under his poncho and started shooting at the passengers. He wounded Monica Bagby and Vernon Gosney, and was finally disarmed after wounding Dale Parks.
  
−
It took several hours before the 10 wounded and others in their party gathered themselves together and spent the night in a café, with the more seriously wounded in a small tent on the airfield. A Guyananese government plane came to evacuate the wounded the following morning.
+
About this time, a tractor appeared at the airstrip, driven by members of Jones' armed guards. Jones loyalists opened fire while circling the plane on foot. Ryan was shot dead along with four journalists. A few seconds of the shooting were captured on camera by [[NBC]] cameraman Bob Brown, whose camera kept rolling even as he was shot dead. Ryan, three news team members, and 44 year old Jonestown defector Patricia Parks were killed in the few minutes of shooting. Jackie Speier was injured by five bullets. Steve Sung and Anthony Katsaris also were badly wounded. The Cessna was able to take off and fly to Georgetown, leaving behind the damaged Otter, whose pilot and co-pilot also flew out in the Cessna. The Jonestown gunmen, meanwhile, returned to the settlement.
  
−
Five teenage members of the Parks and Bogue families, with one boyfriend, were told by defector Gerald Parks after the shooting to hide in the adjacent jungle until help arrived and their safety was assured. They went into the jungle but got lost for three days and nearly died, until they were found by Guyanese soldiers.
+
Journalist Tim Reiterman, who had stayed at the airstrip, photographed the aftermath of the violence. Dwyer assumed leadership at the scene, and at his recommendation, Layton was arrested by Guyanese state police. The ten wounded and others in their party gathered themselves together and spent the night in a café, with the more seriously wounded cared for in a small tent on the airfield. A Guyanese government plane came to evacuate the wounded the following morning.
  
−
== Mass murder-and-suicide ==
+
Six teenage defectors attempted to hide in the adjacent jungle until help arrived and their safety was assured, but became lost for three days and nearly died, until they were found by Guyanese soldiers.
  
−
There is a great deal unknown about what happened in Jonestown on the evening of November 18, 1978. The media has generally reported the event as a mass suicide, but in recent years, variations of the term "murder-suicide" have popped up. Those who believe the event was a mass suicide concede that the 287 children had no ability to consent to such an act and so were murdered. Many others point to evidence that most, if not all, of the 909 people who died in Jonestown were murdered.
+
== Mass murder-suicide ==
 +
A great deal remains either unknown or controversial concerning what happened in Jonestown on the evening of November 18, 1978. What is known for certain is that 909 people died in Jonestown that night, including 287 children. Most of the dead apparently died from ingesting grape-flavored Flavor Aid, poisoned with [[Valium]], chloral hydrate, [[Penegram]], and presumably (probably) [[cyanide]].
  
−
Jim Jones called a meeting under the pavilion in the early evening. Before the meeting, aides prepared a metal vat with grape [[Flavor Aid]], poisoned with [[diazepam|Valium]], [[chloral hydrate]], and presumably (though not certainly) [[potassium cyanide|cyanide]]. When the assembled gathered, Jones told the gathering "one of the people on that plane is gonna, 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.."  He went on to remark "they'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors. We cannot have this." He explained their actions thusly, "All it is, is taking a drink to take... to go to sleep. That's what death is, sleep."<ref name=tape>http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/DeathTape/death.html</ref>  Before the murder-suicide got under way, Jones argued with at least one Temple member who actively resisted his decision for the whole congregation to die. A [http://www.archive.org/details/ptc1978-11-18.flac16 43-minute audio tape], which was edited at some point by persons unknown, was left behind, documenting the affair<ref name=tape />. Christine Miller is heard objecting to mass death and called for an airlift to Russia. After several exchanges, she backed down, apparently after being shouted down by the crowd.
+
About 45 minutes after the Port Kaituma shootings, the airstrip shooters, numbering about nine, arrived back in Jonestown. Their identities are not all certainly known, but most sources agree that Joe Wilson (Jones’ head of security), Thomas Kice Sr., and Albert Touchette were among them.
  
−
About 45 minutes after the Port Kaituma shootings (which is how long it took to travel the rough 6-mile road back to Jonestown) the airstrip shooters arrived back in Jonestown, and one eyewitness (Tim Carter, a Vietnam war veteran <ref>Reiterman, p178</ref>) recalled them having the "[[thousand-yard stare]]" of weary soldiers. The shooters numbered about nine, and their identities are not all certainly known, but most sources agree that Joe Wilson (Jones’ head of security), Thomas Kice Sr., and Albert Touchette were among them.
+
[[Image:08-jonestown-aerial-ji.jpg|thumb|300px|Aerial photo of Jonestown]]
  
−
Jones exhorted his followers "you don't know what you've done," and that Guyanese soldiers or mercenaries would soon "parachute in here on us" and torture and slaughter all of them.
+
In the early evening, Jones called a meeting under the Jonestown pavilion. A tape recording found at the scene recorded about 43 minutes of Jonestown's end. When the community gathered, Jones told the assembly: "They'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors. We cannot have this." He then put into effect the mass [[suicide]] plan the group had previous rehearsed, saying: "All it is, is taking a drink to take… to go to sleep. That's what death is, sleep."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Several community members also made statements that hostile forces would convert captured children to [[fascism]] and supported the decision to commit "revolutionary suicide." Jones argued with one Temple member who actively resisted the decision for the whole congregation to die: Christine Miller is heard objecting to mass death and calling for an airlift to Russia. After several exchanges, in which Ryan explained that "the Congressman is dead," she backed down, apparently after being shouted down by the crowd.
  
−
The children were poisoned first. Aides took the children from their parents and brought them to stand in line. Some parents apparently went with their children. Poison was squirted into children's mouths with plastic syringes. Eyewitness Stanley Clayton, who was assisting already-poisoned children, reports that many children resisted and were physically forced to swallow by guards and nurses. With regards to the frequent assertion that the adults committed consensual suicide, it could be argued that it was the shock of the deaths of the community's 287 children that caused the adults to go to their own deaths with (allegedly) little or no resistance.  
+
The children were [[poison]]ed first, sometimes accompanied by their parents. The poisoned drink was squirted into children's mouths with plastic syringes. Survivor Stanley Clayton, who was assisting already-poisoned children, reports that some children resisted and were physically forced to swallow by guards and nurses. According to Clayton, the poison caused death within about five minutes. After consuming the drink, people were escorted away and told to lie down along walkways and areas out of view of the people who were still being dosed.
  
−
According to Clayton, the poison was extremely effective, causing death within about five minutes. After consuming the poison, according to Clayton, people were then escorted away and told to lie down along walkways and areas out of view of the people who were still being dosed, perhaps because anyone who believed this was just another rehearsal would be dissuaded at seeing people convulsing and dying.  
+
In response to reactions of seeing the poison take effect, Jones commanded: "Stop this hysterics. This is not the way for people who are socialists or Communists to die. No way for us to die. We must die with some dignity."
  
−
The audio tape records numerous "screams" and "anguished cries" (Jones' words), from women and children. Clayton reported being in close contact with many such dying victim children.<!— in a 2006 documentary interview, and perhaps a book or two —> Oddly, of the approximately 150 photos taken a few days later, none of the bodies show this distinct rigid contorted configuration.<ref>[http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/Jonestown.html The Black Hole of Guyana, John Judge, 1985]</ref>
+
Four people who were intended to be poisoned managed to survive. They were:
 +
* 79-year-old Grover Davis, who was hearing impaired, missed the announcement on the loudspeaker to assemble, laid down in a ditch and pretended to be dead
 +
* 76-year-old Hyacinth Thrash, who hid under her bed when nurses were going through her dormitory with cups of poison
 +
* 36-year-old Odell Rhodes, a Jonestown teacher and craftsman who volunteered to fetch a stethoscope and hid under a building
 +
* 25-year-old Stanley Clayton, a kitchen worker and cousin of Huey Newton, tricked security guards and ran into the jungle<ref>Reiterman, 561-580.</ref>
  
−
===Survivors/eyewitnesses===
+
Three more survivors were brothers Tim and Mike Carter (30 and 20), and and Mike Prokes (31) who were given luggage containing $500,000 U.S. currency and documents, which they were told to deliver to Guyana’s [[USSR|Soviet]] Embassy, in Georgetown. They soon ditched most of the money and were apprehended heading for the Temple boat at Kaituma. One document read: "The following is a letter of instructions regarding all of our assets (balances totaling in excess of $7.3 million) that we want to leave to the [[Communist Party]] of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]."<ref>Ibid., 580.</ref>
−
Four people, who were intended to be poisoned, managed to survive<ref>Reiterman, pp561-580</ref>. They were:
 
−
* 79-year-old Grover Davis, who was hearing impaired, missed the announcement on the loudspeaker to assemble, laid down in a ditch and pretended to be dead;
 
−
* 76-year-old Hyacinth Thrash, who hid under her bed when nurses were going through her dormitory with cups of poison;
 
−
* 36-year-old Odell Rhodes, a Jonestown teacher and craftsman who volunteered to fetch a stethoscope and hid under a building; and
 
−
* 25-year-old Stanley Clayton, a kitchenworker and cousin of Huey Newton, tricked security guards and ran into the jungle.
 
  
−
Three more survivors claim they were given an assignment by Maria Katsaris, a top lieutenant of Jones, and thereby escaped death. Brothers Tim and Mike Carter (30 and 20), and Mike Prokes (31) were given luggage containing $500,000 US currency and a document, which they were told to deliver to Guyana’s [[USSR|Soviet]] Embassy, in Georgetown. They soon ditched most of the money and were apprehended heading for the Temple boat (Cudjo) at Kaituma<ref>Reiterman, p580</ref>. It is unknown how they were supposed to reach Georgetown, 250 miles away&mdash;the boat had been sent away by Temple leadership earlier that day.<ref>Reiterman, p580</ref>
+
Before the killing began, Jones' two lawyers, [[Charles R. Garry|Charles Garry]] and [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]], talked their way past Jonestown's armed guards and made it to the jungle, eventually arriving in Port Kaituma. While in the jungle near the settlement, they heard cheering, then gunshots. This observation concurs with the testimony of Clayton, who heard the same sounds as he was sneaking back into Jonestown to retrieve his passport.
  
−
At the start of the meeting, Jones' two lawyers, [[Charles R. Garry|Charles Garry]] and [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]], were told that the people were angry at them. The lawyers were escorted to "the East House," which was used to accommodate visitors, far from the pavilion. According to the lawyers, they talked their way past armed guards and made it to the jungle, before eventually arriving in Port Kaituma. Lane describes it in his book ''Strongest Poison''. While in the jungle near the settlement, they heard cheering, then gunshots. This observation concurs with the testimony of Clayton, who heard the same sounds as he was sneaking back into Jonestown to retrieve his passport.
+
According to Guyanese police, Jones and his immediate staff, after having successfully carried out the "revolutionary suicide," came together and killed themselves and each other with handguns, after giving a final cheer. However, only two people were reported to have gunshot wounds: Jim Jones and Annie Moore&mdash;one wound each.
  
−
The standard explanation, concocted on scene by the Guyanese chief of police, is that Jones and his immediate staff, after having successfully carried out the "revolutionary suicide," came together and killed themselves and each other with handguns, after giving a final cheer. However, the only two people reported to have gunshot wounds were Jim Jones and Annie Moore&mdash;one wound each.
+
==Aftermath==
 +
The first headlines reporting the event claimed that 407 Temple members had been killed and that the remainder had fled into the jungle. This death count was revised several times over the next week until the final total of 909 was reached.
  
−
===Medical examinations===
+
The sheer scale of the killings, as well as Jones' socialist leanings, led some to suggest [[Jonestown Conspiracy Theory|CIA involvement]]. In 1980, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigated the Jonestown mass suicide and announced that there was no evidence of CIA involvement at Jonestown. Most government documents relating to Jonestown, however, remain classified.<ref>Michael Taylor and Don Lattin, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1998/11/13/MN107219.DTL&hw=Most+Peoples+Temple+Documents+Still+Sealed&sn=002&sc=468 Most Peoples Temple Documents Still Sealed.] Retrieved October 16, 2008. </ref>
−
The first government official to examine the scene at Jonestown was Guyanese Chief [[Medical Examiner]] Dr. Leslie Mootoo. Working for 32 hours straight, Mootoo and his assistants examined 137 bodies. He concluded that all but two or three bodies were victims of murder: 80% to 90% had needle injection marks on their upper arms or shoulders, and most of the remainder were shot with crossbow bolts.<ref>"Coroner Says 700 Who Died in Cult were Slain," from the ''[[Miami Herald]]'', 17 December 1978</ref> <!-- need an online reference, and fact check —>
 
  
−
Countless needles and syringes were found on tables and on the ground around the area, many with bent or broken needles, suggesting struggles among unwilling adults.
+
Guyanese Chief [[Medical Examiner]] Dr. Leslie Mootoo and his assistants examined 137 bodies soon after the tragedy. He concluded that all but two or three of these bodies were victims of murder.<ref>Miami Herald, "Coroner Says 700 Who Died in Cult were Slain," ''[[Miami Herald]],'' December 17, 1978.</ref> However, no determination was made as to whether those injections initiated the introduction of poison or whether they were so-called "relief" injections to quicken death and reduce suffering from convulsions from those who had previously taken poison orally. Mootoo and American pathologist Dr. Lynn Crook determined that cyanide was present in some of the bodies, while analysis of the contents of the vat revealed tranquilizers and two poisons: potassium cyanide and potassium chloride. He also reported that many needles and syringes were found on tables and on the ground around the area, many with bent or broken needles, suggesting struggles among unwilling adults. Plastic cups, Flavor-Aid packets and syringes, some with needles and some without, littered the area where the bodies were found.
  
−
Only seven bodies of 913 were autopsied, including Jim Jones, Annie Moore, and Dr. Lawrence Schact. No autopsies would have been performed at all, were it not for the [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Articles/last.htm tireless insistence] of the Moore family. (Rebecca Moore (sister of Annie and Carolyn Moore, members of leadership in Peoples Temple), who was not a Peoples Temple member, hosts a [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/ large website about Peoples Temple].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/|title=Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple|accessdate=2007-03-08}}</ref>)
+
However, only seven bodies of 913 were autopsied, including Jim Jones, Annie Moore, and Dr. Lawrence Schact. Annie Moore left a note which in part stated: "We died because you would not let us live in peace." Marceline Jones left a note indicating that she wished to "leave all bank accounts in my name to the Communist Party of the USSR. I especially request that none of these are allowed to get into the hands of my adopted daughter, Suzanne Jones Cartmell."
  
−
<!-- need to add summary results of the autopsies —>
+
A number of inconsistencies in the testimony and evidence of the Jonestown tragedy have raised various suspicions and conspiracy theories:
  
−
===Suicide notes===
+
* At 4:44 a.m. local time (just about 8 hours after the deaths) the CIA's National Operations and Intelligence Watch Officers Network broadcast news of "mass suicides" at Jonestown, according to an official report from January 1979.<ref>"Guyana Operations," After-Action Report, November 18-27, 1978, prepared by the Special Study Group, Operations Directorate, USMC Directorate, Joint Chiefs of Staff (distributed January 31, 1979). Appendix B, "Chronology of Events."</ref> But Guyanese soldiers were the first to arrive on scene, and they did not arrive until more than 12 hours after that transmission.  
−
Annie Moore left a final note. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/PrimarySources/annie.htm Moore's brief note] 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. Some wonder if that one line is all she wrote that day.
 
  
−
Another suicide note was found, 25 years later, buried among reams of unrelated paperwork. The document, entitled [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/PrimarySources/tropp.htm "Last Words"], unsigned, was most likely written by Richard Tropp. It, too, is anything but explanatory.
+
* A cloud of secrecy descended on the further investigation of the events. President [[Bill Clinton]] signed a bill into law in the 1990s, mandating the expiration of secrecy in documents after 25 years. The majority of Jonestown documents remain classified, despite [[Freedom of Information]] requests from numerous people over the past three decades.<ref>CENSUR, [http://www.cesnur.org/testi/guyana_doc.htm Request to Declassify Jonestown Documents.] Retrieved October 16, 2008.</ref>
  
−
===Inconsistencies===
+
Larry Layton was found not guilty of murder by a Guyanese court, employing the defense that he was "brainwashed." He was later extradited to the U.S. and put in prison on lesser charges. He is the only person ever to have been held responsible for the events at Jonestown. He was [[parole]]d 24 years later, in 2002.
−
<!-- EXPAND THIS —>
 
−
 
 
−
* Hyacinth Thrash, one of four on-the-scene survivors, said in her autobiography that she was given a meal on Sunday morning, November 19, however the Guyanese army was allegedly first on the scene and reportedly did not arrive in Jonestown until Sunday evening.
 
−
 
 
−
* At 4:44 a.m. local time (just about 8 hours after the deaths) the CIA's National Operations and Intelligence Watch Officers Network broadcast news of "mass suicides" at Jonestown, according to an official report from January 1979.<ref>"Guyana Operations," After-Action Report, 18-27 November, 1978, prepared by the Special Study Group, Operations Directorate, USMC Directorate, Joint Chiefs of Staff (distributed 31 January, 1979).  Appendix B, "Chronology of Events."</ref> But Guyanese soldiers were the first to arrive on scene, and they did not arrive until more than 12 hours after that transmission.
 
−
 
 
−
*  It is unknown whether Jones shot himself or was shot by someone else. Jones' son Stephan believes Jim Jones chose to be shot rather than poisoned, as a means of escaping the slow painful death endured by his followers.
 
−
 
 
−
*  Evidence suggests that Annie Moore may not have shot herself. Her body was found inside Jones' cabin, blocking the door . The angle of the bullet was wrong to be self-inflicted. Also, aside from the bullet wound in the face, Ann Moore had large amounts of cyanide in her stomach.
 
−
 
 
−
* President [[Bill Clinton]] signed a bill into law in the 1990s, mandating the expiration of secrecy in documents after 25 years. It has been nearly 30 years since the mysterious mass deaths in Jonestown. The majority of Jonestown documents remain classified, despite [[Freedom of Information]] requests from numerous people over the past three decades<ref>[http://www.rickross.com/reference/jonestown/jonestown6.html Most Peoples Temple Documents Still Sealed]</ref><ref>[http://www.cesnur.org/testi/guyana_doc.htm CESNUR Request to Declassify Jonestown Documents, CESNUR]</ref><ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Articles/print_mcgehee_2.htm Attempting to Document the Peoples Temple Story: The Existence and Disappearance of Government Records, McGehee III]</ref>.
 
−
 
 
−
===Psychology of Mass Suicide===
 
−
 
 
−
Jones was said to have both paranoia and delusions of persecution and grandeur. Jones developed paranoia due to getting little or no attention in his childhood from his parents. This created feelings about being distanced from others which created his [[paranoia]]. Later on in his life, when he became the leader of the People’s Temple, Jones had delusions of grandiosity, encouraging his congregation to refer to him in more “[[Christ]] like and God like terms.”
 
−
 
−
The mixture of these delusions with Jones’ paranoia created the violent sect leader in him. [[Marc Galanter]] goes on to say:
 
−
“The belief that one is unique and supreme creates a need for leaders to retain total control over their followers, which in turn facilitates paranoia. This paranoia then reinforces delusions of persecution, motivating leaders such as Jones to construct a “siege mentality” to protect the group from its dangerous outside enemies.”
 
−
 
 
−
Another factor that affected Jones’ behavior in the Guyana incident was his heavy dependence on alcohol and drugs. Jones was said to abuse “stimulants such as [[amphetamines]]; depressants such as [[barbiturates]], [[Quaaludes]], and [[Valium]]; opiates such as [[codeine]] and [[morphine]]; and alcohol.” It is even thought that Jones moved the congregation to Guyana because it was easier to obtain drugs in South America. With those characteristics, Jones proved to be the perfect candidate for leading a destructive cult. Nevertheless, the recipe for mass suicide would not have been complete without a complying, obedient congregation.
 
−
 
 
−
Several socio-economic factors of that period affected people and led them to join the People’s temple. People were looking for new spiritual fellowship due to the decline of organized religion.<ref name="cnn_jones">[http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/18/jonestown.anniv.01/ CNN - Jonestown massacre + 20: Questions linger.] ''CNN.com.'' Accessed on 9 April, 2007.</ref> Also, joiners were looking for a community in which they would be well respected and free from everyday adult responsibility. In other words, they were looking for self-worthiness and security.
 
−
 
 
−
To keep the loyalty of his congregation, Jones used many [[brainwashing]] techniques. By promising them to take them from this cruel world to a “promised heaven on earth,”<ref name="cnn_jones">[http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/18/jonestown.anniv.01/ CNN - Jonestown massacre + 20: Questions linger.] ''CNN.com.'' Accessed on 9 April, 2007.</ref> by creating the delusion that there is somebody out to get them, and by giving them the sense of security under his protection, Jones guaranteed perpetual and strong loyalty. Nevertheless, people inflicted on themselves part of this loyalty by giving up their possessions and leaving behind their families, thus having nothing to return to if they left the cult.
 
−
 
 
−
==Aftermath==
 
−
After escaping Jonestown, Clayton and Rhodes (who were not aware of each other’s movements) both looked for the home of one Guyanese family they knew, which was near Jonestown on the way to Port Kaituma.  Clayton found the house in the dark, but Rhodes could not, and he continued on to Port Kaituma. Clayton told the Guyanese family what had just happened, but he was not taken seriously. Clayton then suggested that the people of Jonestown no longer needed their tools and equipment. The father of the Guyanese family then went to Jonestown as Clayton slept. He returned in the morning with a disturbed look on his face, according to Clayton.{{Facts|date=November 2007}}
 
−
 
 
−
The Carter brothers and Michael Prokes were put into [[protective custody]] in Port Kaituma but were released in Georgetown. Rhodes, Clayton, and the two lawyers were also brought to Georgetown.
 
−
 
 
−
Micheal Prokes committed suicide in March 1979, four months after the Jonestown incident.  In the days leading up to his death, Prokes sent notes to several people, together with a thirty-page statement he had written about Peoples Temple. One note went to columnist Herb Caen of the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', who reprinted the note.
 
−
 
 
−
{{quote|“The ‘total dedication’ you once observed of me was not to Jim Jones – it was to an organization of people who had nothing left to lose. No matter what view one takes of the Temple, perhaps the most relevant truth is that it was filled with outcasts and the poor who were looking for something they could not find in our society.
 
−
 
 
−
And sadly enough, there are millions more out there with all kinds of different, but desperate needs whose lives will end tragically, as happens every day. No matter how you cut it, you just can’t separate Jonestown from America, because the Peoples Temple was not born in a vacuum, and despite the attempt to isolate it, neither did it end in one.”<ref>"Prokes Statement," ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple'', [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/PrimarySources/Prokes_statement.htm]. Accessed 22 September 2007</ref>}}
 
−
 
 
−
Prokes then arranged for a press conference, held in a motel room in [[Modesto, California]], at which he read a statement to the eight reporters who attended. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/PrimarySources/Prokes_statement.htm].  He then excused himself, went to the bathroom and fatally shot himself in the head.
 
−
 
 
−
Larry Layton, who had opened fire aboard the Cessna, was found not guilty in Guyanese court.  He was later extradited to the U.S. and put in prison; he is the only person ever to have been held responsible for the events at Jonestown. He was [[parole]]d 24 years later, in 2002.
 
−
 
 
−
The first headlines claimed that 407 Temple members had been killed and that the remainder had fled into the jungle.  This death count was revised several times over the next week until the final total of 909 was reached.
 
−
 
 
−
The sheer scale of the event, as well as Jones' socialist leanings, led some to suggest [[Jonestown Conspiracy Theory|CIA involvement]].  In 1980 the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigated the Jonestown mass suicide and announced that there was no evidence of CIA involvement at Jonestown. Most government documents relating to Jonestown remain classified.<ref>{{cite web|first=James|last=Richardson|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Articles/richardson.htm|title=Jonestown 25 Years Later: Why All The Secrecy?|accessdate=2007-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Michael|last=Taylor|first2=Don|last2=Lattin|date=1998|publisher=San Francisco Examiner|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1998/11/13/MN107219.DTL&hw=Most+Peoples+Temple+Documents+Still+Sealed&sn=002&sc=468|title=Most Peoples Temple Documents Still Sealed|accessdate=2007-03-08}}</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
According to various press reports,<ref>Los Angeles Times, Dec 18, 1978; New York Times, December 14, 1978</ref> surviving Temple members in the U.S. announced their fears of being targeted by a "hit squad" of Jonestown survivors; similarly, in 1979, the [[Associated Press]] reported the claim of a U.S. Congressional aide that there were ".. 120 white, brainwashed assassins out from Jonestown awaiting the trigger word to pick up their hit."<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/jonestown/connections_5.html |title=Jonestown Massacre: A 'Reason' to Die |accessdate=2007-05-22 |last=Steel |first=Fiona |publisher=CrimeLibrary.com }}</ref>
 
  
 
==Legacy==
 
==Legacy==
−
The area formerly known as Jonestown was at first tended by the Guyanese government, which allowed its re-occupation by [[Hmong people|Hmong]] refugees from [[Laos]], for a few years in the early 1980s, but it has since been altogether deserted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/FAQ/q8.htm|title=What happened to Jonestown|accessdate=2007-03-08}}</ref> It was mostly destroyed by a fire in the mid-1980s, after which the ruins were left to decay. The buildings and grounds were not taken over by local Guyanese people because of the [[social stigma]] associated with the murders and suicides. A shot featured in the ESPN piece about Jim Jones's grandson shows the vat presumably used for the infamous flavor-ade still somewhat intact yet overgrown with vegetation.
+
The area formerly known as Jonestown was at first tended by the Guyanese government, which allowed its re-occupation by [[Hmong people|Hmong]] refugees from [[Laos]], for a few years in the early 1980s, but it has since been altogether deserted.<ref>SDSU, [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/FAQ/q8.htm What happened to Jonestown.] Retrieved October 16, 2008.</ref> It was mostly destroyed by a fire in the mid-1980s, after which the ruins were left to decay. The buildings and grounds were not taken over by local Guyanese people because of the [[social stigma]] associated with the murders and suicides.
  
−
== See also ==
+
The Jonestown tragedy created a wave of fear about "[[cult]]s." As a result, several new religious movements with no history of violence reported increased persecution, anti-cult movements received thousands of inquiries from concerned relatives, and a new wave of illegal "[[deprogramming]]" attempts were directed at NRM members in an effort to "save" them from the dangers of alleged [[brainwashing]] and possible mass suicide.
−
* [[Heaven's Gate (religious group)]], another group that ended in a mass suicide, in the mid 1990s
 
−
* ''[[Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple]]'', a 2006 documentary film
 
−
* ''[[Seductive Poison]]'', a book by Deborah Layton, a survivor of the Peoples Temple
 
−
* [[Waco Siege]], an incident which resulted in the deaths of nearly all members of the religious group involved.
 
−
* ''[[Jonestown: Paradise Lost]]'', a 2007 History Channel Documentary
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
−
{{reflist}}
+
<references/>
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
−
* {{cite book |author=Galanter, M., |title=Cults: Faith, healing, and coercion |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= New York |year=1999 |isbn= |oclc= |doi=}}
+
* Kerns, Phil, and Doug Wead. ''People's Temple, People's Tomb''. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1979. ISBN 0882703633.
−
* {{cite book |author=Sorell, W. E., |title=Cults and cult suicide. International Journal of Group Tensions| publisher=|location=| year=1978 |isbn= |oclc= |doi=}}
+
* Kilduff, Marshall, and Ron Javers. ''The Suicide Cult: The Inside Story of the Peoples Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana''. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1978. ISBN 0553129201.
−
* {{cite book |author=Renardo Barden, |title=Cults (Troubled Society series) |publisher=Rourke Pub Group |location= |year= |isbn=0-86593-070-8 |oclc= |doi=}}
+
* Krause, Charles A., Laurence M. Stern, Richard Harwood, and Frank Johnston. ''Guyana Massacre The Eyewitness Account''. New York, NY: Berkley, 1978. ISBN 0425042340.
−
* {{cite book |author=Sean Dolan |title=Everything you need to know about cults |publisher=Rosen Pub. Group |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=0-8239-3230-3 |oclc= |doi=}}
+
* Moore, Rebecca. ''A Sympathetic History of Jonestown: The Moore Family Involvement in Peoples Temple''. Lewiston, New York, NY: E. Mellen Press, 1985. ISBN 0889468605.
−
* {{cite book |author=[[Jack Sargeant]], |title=Death Cults: Murder, Mayhem and Mind Control (True Crime Series) |publisher=Virgin Publishing |location= |year=2002 |isbn=0-7535-0644-0 |oclc= |doi=}}
+
* Naipaul, Shiva. ''Journey to Nowhere A New World Tragedy''. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1981. ISBN 0140061894.
−
* {{cite book |author=Rebecca Moore |title=A sympathetic history of Jonestown: the Moore family involvement in Peoples Temple |publisher=E. Mellen Press |location=Lewiston |year=1985 |isbn=0-88946-860-5 |oclc= |doi=}}
+
* Reiterman, Tim, and John Jacobs. ''Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People''. New York, NY: Dutton, 1982. ISBN 0525241361.
−
* {{cite book |author=Charles A. Krause; with exclusive material by Laurence M. Stern, Richard Harwood and the staff of The Washington Post; with 16 pages of on-the-scene photos. and commentary by Frank Johnston |title=Guyana massacre: the eyewitness account |publisher=Berkley Pub. Corp |location=[New York] |year=1978 |isbn=0-425-04234-0 |oclc= |doi=}}
+
* United States. ''The Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown, Guyana, Tragedy: Report of a Staff Investigative Group to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives''. Washington, DC: U.S. Govt. Print. Off, 1979. OCLC 6331602.
−
* {{cite book |author=Shiva Naipaul |title=Journey to nowhere: a New World tragedy |publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth [Eng.] |year=1982 |isbn=0-14-006189-4 |oclc= |doi=}} (published in the UK as ''Black and White'') Shiva Naipaul
 
−
* {{cite book |author=Phil Kerns, |title=People's Temple, People's Tomb |publisher=Logos Associates |location= |year=1978 |isbn=0-88270-363-3 |oclc= |doi=}}
 
−
* ''Raven: The Untold Story of the Reverend Jim Jones and His People'' by Tim Reiterman with John Jacobs
 
−
* {{cite book |author=by Marshall Kilduff and Ron Javers |title=The suicide cult: the inside story of the Peoples Temple sect and the massacre in Guyana |publisher=Bantam Books |location=New York |year=1978 |isbn=0-553-12920-1 |oclc= |doi=}}
 
−
* ''Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple'' a film by Stanley Nelson
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
−
{{wikisource|Congressman Tom Lantos' Remarks on the 25th Anniversary of the Tragedy at Jonestown and the Death of Congressman Leo Ryan}}
+
All links retrieved August 3, 2022.
−
 
+
* [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/ Alternative considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple] ''jonestown.sdsu.edu''
−
* [http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/facts.html?FACTNet/ ''The Facts about the Children at Jonestown''], A list of thirteen little known facts, and five unanswered questions - including one that implies that some of the 287 children who were murdered at Guyana were taken from unwilling parents in California custody battles, and given to the People's Temple
+
* [http://www.archive.org/details/ptc1978-11-18.flac16 The Jonestown Death Tape (FBI No. Q 042) (November 18, 1978)] ''www.archive.org''
−
* [http://jonestownapologistsalert.blogspot.com/ ''Jonestown Apologists Alert''], the four part series of 1972 expose articles written by San Francisco Examiner reporter [[Lester Kinsolving]], and which were suppressed by pressure brought to bear on the paper by Jim Jones and other members of the People's Temple
+
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2540000/2540209.stm 1978: Mass suicide leaves 900 dead] ''news.bbc.co.uk''
−
* [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/ ''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
 
−
** [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/tapes2.htm "FBI Audiotape Project"], summaries and transcripts of many of the over 900 audio tapes discovered in Jonestown, mostly recorded in the year before the mass slaying, and including the "Death Tape" seemingly made just before and during the mass slaying 
 
−
** [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/WhoDied/whodied_list.htm "Who Died?"], a list of who died at Jonestown
 
−
* [http://www.archive.org/details/ptc1978-11-18.flac16 "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   
 
−
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912249,00.html "Nightmare in Jonestown], ''Time'' magazine cover story, Monday, December 4, 1978
 
−
* [http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1509317 ''Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown''], a 1981 audio documentary produced by [[NPR]] (90 minutes)
 
−
* [http://www.jonestownlegacy.com/ '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.
 
−
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19990428190751/http%3A//www.icehouse.net/zodiac/ ''The Jonestown, Guyana Tragedy: Primary Source Materials from the U.S. Department of State''], 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.)
 
−
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial4/jonestown/ "The Jonestown Massacre"] in ''Crime Library''
 
−
* [http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/18/jonestown.anniv.01/ "Jonestown massacre + 20: Questions linger"], CNN.com, November 18, 1998
 
−
* [http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/11/17/jonestown.timeline.ap/index.html "Timeline: Road to tragedy in Jonestown"] CNN.com, November 17, 2003
 
−
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2540000/2540209.stm "1978: Mass suicide leaves 900 dead"] BBC, ''On This Day'': 18 November
 
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* [http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/p/peoplestemple/jonestown_doc_1.htm "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
 
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* [http://www.ideajournal.com/articles.php?id=7 "Masters and Slaves: The Tragedy of Jonestown"] an article about authoritarian dominance, taking Jonestown as an example
 
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{{Geolinks-US-cityscale|8.0044|-59.8883}}
 
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{{Peoples Temple}}
 
  
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[[Category:1978]]
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[[Category:History]]
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[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
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[[Category:Philosophy and religion]]
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[[Category:Ghost towns in South America]]
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[[Category:Politics]]
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[[Category:History of Guyana]]
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[[Category:South America]]
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[[Category:Peoples Temple]]
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[[Category:Cities]]
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[[Category:New religious movements]]
 
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[[Category:Intentional communities]]
 
  
 
{{credit|174320950}}
 
{{credit|174320950}}

Revision as of 00:03, 30 January 2024

Houses in Jonestown

Jonestown was a Marxist settlement in northwestern Guyana founded by Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, mostly comprised of emigres from the Unites States. It gained lasting international notoriety in 1978, when nearly its whole population died in a mass suicide orchestrated by its founder.

Named after Jones, the settlement was founded in 1974, on his initiative about seven miles (11 km) southwest of the small town of Port Kaituma. It had a population of almost a thousand at its height, with most residents having lived there less than one year. There, Jones established what he described as a "socialist paradise," but reports soon reached the United States of harsh conditions, abuse, armed guards, and people being forced to remain in Jonestown against their will.

In November 1978, United States Congressman Leo Ryan and a group of reporters and relatives of Jones' followers visited Jonestown to investigate the alleged abuses. On November 18, while attempting to fly out, Ryan and four others were killed at an airstrip by members of the Peoples Temple. That evening, Jones led his followers in their mass murder-and-suicide. Over 900 men, women, and children perished, Jones among them.

After a period of abandonment, the Guyanese government allowed Hmong refugees from Laos to re-occupy the settlement for a brief period in the early 1980s, but after that it was deserted. It was mostly destroyed by a fire in the mid-1980s, and afterward left to decay and be reclaimed by the jungle.

Origins

File:Jim Jones brochure of Peoples Temple.jpg
Rev. Jim Jones with children of members of the Peoples Temple

The Peoples Temple was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, during the mid-1950s and later became affiliated with the Disciples of Christ under Jones' leadership. Beginning in 1965, Jones and about 80 followers moved to Redwood Valley in Mendocino County, California, where he taught a blend of Christianity, hippie philosophy, and Marxist liberation theology.

In 1972, Jones moved his congregation to San Francisco and opened another church in Los Angeles, California. In San Francisco, Jones vocally supported prominent liberal-left political candidates. He was appointed to city commissions and was a frequent guest at political events. He also supported charity efforts and recruited new members from the ranks of the poor into his interracial and intercultural congregation.

Soon, scandals regarding tax evasion, drug use, and abuse of his members convinced Jones that the capitalist "establishment" was inevitably turning against him, and he began planning a relocation of the Temple outside the U.S. In 1974, he leased over 3,800 acres (15.4 km²) of jungle land from the Guyanese government.[1] Jones encouraged all of his followers to move to Jonestown, also called the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project," in 1977. Jonestown's population increased from 50 members in 1977 to more than 900 at its peak in 1978.

Jonestown, 1977-78

Jonestown (Guyana)
Jonestown
Jonestown
Georgetown
Georgetown
Kaituma
Kaituma
Peoples Temple Agricultural Project ("Jonestown"), Guyana

Many of the Peoples Temple members believed that Guyana would be, as Jones promised, a "socialist paradise." However, the life they found there was anything but ideal. Work was performed six days a week, from seven in the morning to six in the evening, with humid temperatures that often reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

According to some, meals for the members often consisted of nothing more than rice and beans. As with other communist agricultural projects, children were raised communally and both children and adults also taught to address Jones as "Father" or "Dad." Up to $65,000 in monthly U.S. welfare payments to Jonestown residents was allegedly appropriated by Jones.[2] Local Guyanese related stories about harsh beatings and a well into which Jones had misbehaving children thrown in the middle of the night.

Jones kept in communication with left-wing leaders and governments, and during a 1977 custody battle with the parents of an underage Jonestown resident, University of California radicals 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 Guyanese Defense Forces would not invade Jonestown.

Medical problems such as severe diarrhea and high fevers struck half the community in February 1978. According to the New York Times, copious amounts of drugs such as Thorazine, sodium pentathol, chloral hydrate, Demerol, and Valium were administered to Jonestown residents, with detailed records being kept of each person’s drug regimen.[3]

File:Jt-cottages-ji.jpg
Cottages (left) and the infirmary (right) at Jonestown

Various forms of punishment were used against members considered to be serious disciplinary problems, and some members who attempted to run away were allegedly drugged to the point of incapacitation. Increasingly alienated from the U.S. and looking to nations like Cambodia, North Korea, and the Soviet Union as models, Jones reportedly had armed guards patrolling the compound day and night both to protect the compound from the CIA and to prevent unauthorized travel by Jonestown's own residents.

Jones' recorded readings of the news were part of the constant broadcasts over Jonestown's tower speakers. 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 and Joseph Stalin in a positive light.

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."

Convinced that the U.S. and the capitalist world might attempt to destroy his socialist experiment, Jones preached an increasingly apocalyptic vision and began rehearsing for a mass suicide in case of a CIA attack. According to former Jonestown member Deborah Layton:

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.[4]

Reports of these and other abuses began reaching the U.S. through relatives and Peoples Temple members who succeeded in leaving Jonestown. Charges included human rights violations, false imprisonment, the confiscation of money and passports, mass suicide rehearsals, and the murder of seven attempted defectors. Relatives became increasingly concerned that members were being held against their will or had been brainwashed or drugged into submission by an increasingly unstable Jones.

The Ryan investigation

Congressman Leo J. Ryan

On Tuesday November 14, 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan, a Democrat from San Francisco, flew to Guyana along with a team of 18 people consisting of government officials, media representatives, and members of the anti-Jones group "Concerned Relatives of Peoples Temple Members." The group also included Richard Dwyer, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to Guyana at Georgetown, believed by some to have been a CIA officer.[5]

After the delegation's arrival in Guyana, Jones' lawyers in Georgetown, Mark Lane and Charles Garry, refused to allow Ryan's party access to Jonestown. Ryan had previously visited the Temple office in the suburb of Lamaha Gardens, but his request to speak to Jones by radio was denied. On Friday, November 17, Ryan informed Lane and Garry that he would leave for Jonestown at 2:30 p.m., regardless of Jones' schedule or willingness. Accompanied by Lane and Garry, Ryan flew to Port Kaituma airstrip, six miles (10 km) from Jonestown. Only Ryan and three others were initially accepted into Jonestown, but the rest of Ryan's group was allowed in after sunset.

At first the visit was cordial. Jones organized a reception and concert for the Ryan delegation, and its members were given guided tours around the community. Some of the residents were reportedly angry with the visitors, seeing Ryan as a hostile investigator in cahoots with the CIA and resenting the presence of reporters and relatives who were perceived as hostile to the community. Jones reportedly commented that he felt like a dying man and ranted about government conspiracies and martyrdom. At some point in the evening, two Peoples Temple members, Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, passed a note to addressed to Ryan, reading "Please help us get out of Jonestown."

That night the primary Ryan delegation (Ryan, his legal adviser Jackie Speier, U.S. embassy official Dwyer, and Guyanese official Neville Annibourne) stayed in Jonestown. Members of the press corps and the "Concerned Relatives" went to Port Kaituma and stayed at a small café. Meanwhile, back in Jonestown, feelings of an adversarial confrontation were rising, and in the early morning of November 18, more than a dozen Temple members walked out of the colony in the opposite direction from Port Kaituma.

When the reporters and the Concerned Relatives group arrived back at Jonestown, Jones' wife Marceline gave a tour of the settlement for the reporters. However, a dispute arose when the reporters insisted on entering the home of an elderly black woman, and other residents accused the press of being racist for trying to invade her privacy.

File:Jim-jones.jpg
Jim Jones

Jim Jones, who was reportedly severely addicted to drugs, woke late on the morning of November 18, and the NBC crew confronted him with Vernon Gosney's note. Jones angrily declared that those who wanted to leave the community would lie and would attempt to "destroy Jonestown." Then two more families stepped forward and asked to be escorted out of Jonestown by the Ryan delegation. Jones reportedly remained calm and gave them permission to leave, along with some money and their passports, telling them they would be welcome to come back at any time. That afternoon Jones was informed that two other families had defected on foot.

While negotiations proceeded, emotional scenes developed, as some family members wished to leave and others, determined to stay, accused them of betrayal. Al Simon, an Amerindian member of the Peoples Temple, walked toward Ryan with two of his small children in his arms and asked to go back with them to the U.S., but his wife Bonnie denounced her husband over Jonestown's loudspeaker system. Meanwhile, enough people had expressed a desire to leave on Ryan's chartered plane that there would not be room for them in one trip.

Ryan attempted to placate Jones by informing Jones' attorney that he would issue a basically positive report, noting that none of the people targeted by the Concerned Parents group wanted to leave Jonestown. Jones, however, reportedly had grown despondent, declaring that "all is lost."

Violence breaks out

File:Jones-Gary-Dwyer-ji.jpg
Jones with US Embassy official Richard Dwyer and attorney Charles Gary

Ryan planned on sending a group back to the capital of Georgetown and staying behind with the rest until another flight could be scheduled. Then Temple member Don Sly attacked Ryan with a knife, allegedly on Jones' orders. Although the congressman was not seriously hurt in the attack, he and Dwyer realized that both the visiting party and the defectors were in danger. Shortly before departure, Jones loyalist Larry Layton asked to join the group that was leaving, but other defectors voiced their suspicions about his motives, which Ryan and Speier disregarded.

Ryan's party and 16 ex-Temple members left Jonestown and reached the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip at 4:30 p.m., where they planned to use two planes (a six-passenger Cessna and a slightly larger Twin Otter) to fly to Georgetown. Before the Cessna took off, Layton produced a gun he had hidden under his poncho and started shooting at the passengers. He wounded Monica Bagby and Vernon Gosney, and was finally disarmed after wounding Dale Parks.

About this time, a tractor appeared at the airstrip, driven by members of Jones' armed guards. Jones loyalists opened fire while circling the plane on foot. Ryan was shot dead along with four journalists. A few seconds of the shooting were captured on camera by NBC cameraman Bob Brown, whose camera kept rolling even as he was shot dead. Ryan, three news team members, and 44 year old Jonestown defector Patricia Parks were killed in the few minutes of shooting. Jackie Speier was injured by five bullets. Steve Sung and Anthony Katsaris also were badly wounded. The Cessna was able to take off and fly to Georgetown, leaving behind the damaged Otter, whose pilot and co-pilot also flew out in the Cessna. The Jonestown gunmen, meanwhile, returned to the settlement.

Journalist Tim Reiterman, who had stayed at the airstrip, photographed the aftermath of the violence. Dwyer assumed leadership at the scene, and at his recommendation, Layton was arrested by Guyanese state police. The ten wounded and others in their party gathered themselves together and spent the night in a café, with the more seriously wounded cared for in a small tent on the airfield. A Guyanese government plane came to evacuate the wounded the following morning.

Six teenage defectors attempted to hide in the adjacent jungle until help arrived and their safety was assured, but became lost for three days and nearly died, until they were found by Guyanese soldiers.

Mass murder-suicide

A great deal remains either unknown or controversial concerning what happened in Jonestown on the evening of November 18, 1978. What is known for certain is that 909 people died in Jonestown that night, including 287 children. Most of the dead apparently died from ingesting grape-flavored Flavor Aid, poisoned with Valium, chloral hydrate, Penegram, and presumably (probably) cyanide.

About 45 minutes after the Port Kaituma shootings, the airstrip shooters, numbering about nine, arrived back in Jonestown. Their identities are not all certainly known, but most sources agree that Joe Wilson (Jones’ head of security), Thomas Kice Sr., and Albert Touchette were among them.

File:08-jonestown-aerial-ji.jpg
Aerial photo of Jonestown

In the early evening, Jones called a meeting under the Jonestown pavilion. A tape recording found at the scene recorded about 43 minutes of Jonestown's end. When the community gathered, Jones told the assembly: "They'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors. We cannot have this." He then put into effect the mass suicide plan the group had previous rehearsed, saying: "All it is, is taking a drink to take… to go to sleep. That's what death is, sleep."[6] Several community members also made statements that hostile forces would convert captured children to fascism and supported the decision to commit "revolutionary suicide." Jones argued with one Temple member who actively resisted the decision for the whole congregation to die: Christine Miller is heard objecting to mass death and calling for an airlift to Russia. After several exchanges, in which Ryan explained that "the Congressman is dead," she backed down, apparently after being shouted down by the crowd.

The children were poisoned first, sometimes accompanied by their parents. The poisoned drink was squirted into children's mouths with plastic syringes. Survivor Stanley Clayton, who was assisting already-poisoned children, reports that some children resisted and were physically forced to swallow by guards and nurses. According to Clayton, the poison caused death within about five minutes. After consuming the drink, people were escorted away and told to lie down along walkways and areas out of view of the people who were still being dosed.

In response to reactions of seeing the poison take effect, Jones commanded: "Stop this hysterics. This is not the way for people who are socialists or Communists to die. No way for us to die. We must die with some dignity."

Four people who were intended to be poisoned managed to survive. They were:

  • 79-year-old Grover Davis, who was hearing impaired, missed the announcement on the loudspeaker to assemble, laid down in a ditch and pretended to be dead
  • 76-year-old Hyacinth Thrash, who hid under her bed when nurses were going through her dormitory with cups of poison
  • 36-year-old Odell Rhodes, a Jonestown teacher and craftsman who volunteered to fetch a stethoscope and hid under a building
  • 25-year-old Stanley Clayton, a kitchen worker and cousin of Huey Newton, tricked security guards and ran into the jungle[7]

Three more survivors were brothers Tim and Mike Carter (30 and 20), and and Mike Prokes (31) who were given luggage containing $500,000 U.S. currency and documents, which they were told to deliver to Guyana’s Soviet Embassy, in Georgetown. They soon ditched most of the money and were apprehended heading for the Temple boat at Kaituma. One document read: "The following is a letter of instructions regarding all of our assets (balances totaling in excess of $7.3 million) that we want to leave to the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."[8]

Before the killing began, Jones' two lawyers, Charles Garry and Mark Lane, talked their way past Jonestown's armed guards and made it to the jungle, eventually arriving in Port Kaituma. While in the jungle near the settlement, they heard cheering, then gunshots. This observation concurs with the testimony of Clayton, who heard the same sounds as he was sneaking back into Jonestown to retrieve his passport.

According to Guyanese police, Jones and his immediate staff, after having successfully carried out the "revolutionary suicide," came together and killed themselves and each other with handguns, after giving a final cheer. However, only two people were reported to have gunshot wounds: Jim Jones and Annie Moore—one wound each.

Aftermath

The first headlines reporting the event claimed that 407 Temple members had been killed and that the remainder had fled into the jungle. This death count was revised several times over the next week until the final total of 909 was reached.

The sheer scale of the killings, as well as Jones' socialist leanings, led some to suggest CIA involvement. In 1980, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigated the Jonestown mass suicide and announced that there was no evidence of CIA involvement at Jonestown. Most government documents relating to Jonestown, however, remain classified.[9]

Guyanese Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Leslie Mootoo and his assistants examined 137 bodies soon after the tragedy. He concluded that all but two or three of these bodies were victims of murder.[10] However, no determination was made as to whether those injections initiated the introduction of poison or whether they were so-called "relief" injections to quicken death and reduce suffering from convulsions from those who had previously taken poison orally. Mootoo and American pathologist Dr. Lynn Crook determined that cyanide was present in some of the bodies, while analysis of the contents of the vat revealed tranquilizers and two poisons: potassium cyanide and potassium chloride. He also reported that many needles and syringes were found on tables and on the ground around the area, many with bent or broken needles, suggesting struggles among unwilling adults. Plastic cups, Flavor-Aid packets and syringes, some with needles and some without, littered the area where the bodies were found.

However, only seven bodies of 913 were autopsied, including Jim Jones, Annie Moore, and Dr. Lawrence Schact. Annie Moore left a note which in part stated: "We died because you would not let us live in peace." Marceline Jones left a note indicating that she wished to "leave all bank accounts in my name to the Communist Party of the USSR. I especially request that none of these are allowed to get into the hands of my adopted daughter, Suzanne Jones Cartmell."

A number of inconsistencies in the testimony and evidence of the Jonestown tragedy have raised various suspicions and conspiracy theories:

  • At 4:44 a.m. local time (just about 8 hours after the deaths) the CIA's National Operations and Intelligence Watch Officers Network broadcast news of "mass suicides" at Jonestown, according to an official report from January 1979.[11] But Guyanese soldiers were the first to arrive on scene, and they did not arrive until more than 12 hours after that transmission.
  • A cloud of secrecy descended on the further investigation of the events. President Bill Clinton signed a bill into law in the 1990s, mandating the expiration of secrecy in documents after 25 years. The majority of Jonestown documents remain classified, despite Freedom of Information requests from numerous people over the past three decades.[12]

Larry Layton was found not guilty of murder by a Guyanese court, employing the defense that he was "brainwashed." He was later extradited to the U.S. and put in prison on lesser charges. He is the only person ever to have been held responsible for the events at Jonestown. He was paroled 24 years later, in 2002.

Legacy

The area formerly known as Jonestown was at first tended by the Guyanese government, which allowed its re-occupation by Hmong refugees from Laos, for a few years in the early 1980s, but it has since been altogether deserted.[13] It was mostly destroyed by a fire in the mid-1980s, after which the ruins were left to decay. The buildings and grounds were not taken over by local Guyanese people because of the social stigma associated with the murders and suicides.

The Jonestown tragedy created a wave of fear about "cults." As a result, several new religious movements with no history of violence reported increased persecution, anti-cult movements received thousands of inquiries from concerned relatives, and a new wave of illegal "deprogramming" attempts were directed at NRM members in an effort to "save" them from the dangers of alleged brainwashing and possible mass suicide.

Notes

  1. ↑ PBS, Timeline: The Life and Death of Jim Jones. Retrieved October 16, 2008.
  2. ↑ New York Times: Nov 29, 1978.
  3. ↑ New York Times, Dec 29, 1978.
  4. ↑ Deborah Layton, Poison: Affidavit of Deborah Layton Blakey, 1978. Retrieved October 16, 2008.
  5. ↑ Laurie Kahalas, Was there a C.I.A. Conspiracy to Destroy Jonestown? Retrieved October 16, 2008.
  6. ↑ Ibid.
  7. ↑ Reiterman, 561-580.
  8. ↑ Ibid., 580.
  9. ↑ Michael Taylor and Don Lattin, Most Peoples Temple Documents Still Sealed. Retrieved October 16, 2008.
  10. ↑ Miami Herald, "Coroner Says 700 Who Died in Cult were Slain," Miami Herald, December 17, 1978.
  11. ↑ "Guyana Operations," After-Action Report, November 18-27, 1978, prepared by the Special Study Group, Operations Directorate, USMC Directorate, Joint Chiefs of Staff (distributed January 31, 1979). Appendix B, "Chronology of Events."
  12. ↑ CENSUR, Request to Declassify Jonestown Documents. Retrieved October 16, 2008.
  13. ↑ SDSU, What happened to Jonestown. Retrieved October 16, 2008.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Kerns, Phil, and Doug Wead. People's Temple, People's Tomb. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1979. ISBN 0882703633.
  • Kilduff, Marshall, and Ron Javers. The Suicide Cult: The Inside Story of the Peoples Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1978. ISBN 0553129201.
  • Krause, Charles A., Laurence M. Stern, Richard Harwood, and Frank Johnston. Guyana Massacre The Eyewitness Account. New York, NY: Berkley, 1978. ISBN 0425042340.
  • Moore, Rebecca. A Sympathetic History of Jonestown: The Moore Family Involvement in Peoples Temple. Lewiston, New York, NY: E. Mellen Press, 1985. ISBN 0889468605.
  • Naipaul, Shiva. Journey to Nowhere A New World Tragedy. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1981. ISBN 0140061894.
  • Reiterman, Tim, and John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People. New York, NY: Dutton, 1982. ISBN 0525241361.
  • United States. The Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown, Guyana, Tragedy: Report of a Staff Investigative Group to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives. Washington, DC: U.S. Govt. Print. Off, 1979. OCLC 6331602.

External links

All links retrieved August 3, 2022.

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