Jim Jones was a cult leader and had over 900 followers. He said he had a vision of Armaggedon and these people followed him to Guyana, South America where the People's Temple was then built.
Authorities were sent over to investigate the place and found it was similar to a concentration camp. A few people wanted to leave...
The authorities were waiting at the helicopter and were soon shot by people from the People's Temple.
The website above says: "Fearing retribution, the project members discuss their options. They reach a consensus to commit group suicide. 914 died: 638 adults and 276 children. Some sources say 911 died. Most appear to have committed suicide by drinking a grape drink laced with cyanide and a number of sedatives..."
In other words they drank poisoned Kool-Aid.
Imagine the children whose lunatic parents took them there. They must have looked up to Jim Jones like...I DONT KNOW! ITS HORRIBLE!
I only heard of it because it was mentioned briefly in a Stephen King book.
What do you fellas think?
Posts: 161 | Registered: Jul 2005
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It was a horrible thing. I remember, as a child, seeing the newscasts that showed footage from the scene. Bodies laying all over the place, children's bodies laying on the ground, their parent's arms laying across them. Horrific.
If I recall correctly, one of the investigators that was slain that day was a US Congressman.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I remember it quite well. It was the first of these big religious cult things that really caught the attention. Up until that point we had some weird things with kids going off to wear saffron robes and hand out things at airports. Nothing fatal, but kind of a drop-out subculture thing going on.
Then we hear about this group. Relocating to Guyana was weird enough, but then they are all following this strange charismatic leader. And the stories about how some people didn't want to drink the KoolAid and were forced, etc.
It was horrible.
Nothing really approached this level of horrific mass insanity until the Branch Davidians or those weird folks that offed themselves when that commet came around.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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And there's a movie about it as well, with Powers Booth giving a really powerful performance as Jim Jones.
Those images that I spoke of still pop up in nightmares I have every now and then. It's amazing how things stick with you.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I remember this well. I was in my early teens and the whole thing really scared me a bit. I couldn't understand how people could let this man talk them into killing themselves in the name of God.
The thing I found out much, much later is that Jim Jones had originally been affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and had broken away from their doctrines (a great deal...that goes without saying). The image I have in my head from the news is lines of dead people lying on the ground.
The whole thing made me realize that I had to be careful to never lose myself to another person.
Posts: 392 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I remember it vividly as well. I was young, and didn't know that Guyana was far away or where it was, but the images of all those dead bodies was disturbing to my little mind.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I wasn't born yet, either, but I've heard and read lots about it; had by the time I was 13 or so. (I also have an aunt who was a Mooney before she escaped.)
There have been many cases like this, unfortunately. This was a big one, and got lots of coverage, and was very horrific, but there have been others, too.
I think people want to belong so badly that sometimes they'll follow false prophets.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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It was actually my younger brother who first filled me in on the events there. (for the record, I was 5, he was 1, so neither of us would have been aware of it as it happened) He plays a lot of Everquest, and for a long time he was rotating signature lines on the message boards there that all referred in one way or another to Jim Jones. And because this was his big addiction, I heard a lot about the game and the conversations happening and so on. So after several months of hearing his tales of taunting opponents with Koolaid and making references to Jones, I finally asked him what the {bleep} he was talking about, if it was an EQ thing or what... And yeah I was pretty grossed out when I read.
Bad Taste Pixie, I have to share that one with Steve... LOL
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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The joke is messed up (like that's going to keep me from telling it).
Apparently when the investigators were shot, one of the people shooting was one of the people who wanted to leave.
Imagine the children, though, with the lunatic parents. They had no choice,really, of whether or not to be a part of this cult.
I can just picture what their parents are like... You stayed up late? Well, now God's going to send you to hell.Posts: 161 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Don't ever give your free agency up to someone else, ever.
There was an anniversary or something not that long ago, last year maybe, and they had some interviews with two people who had been there and were out of town at the time it happened. One was the young girl who escaped to California and told authorities about the conditions there, prompting the investigation. Her mom was the reason she had been there, and her mother died of cancer shortly before the suicides. The girl was mentally free of the whole thing, it seemed. The other one was a lady who still loved Jonestown and what it stood for, but realized Reverend Jones descended into insanity and paranoia, and took the whole place with him. That's why she didn't commit suicide too. But she still mourned the loss of her community, of course, but also still seemed to think there was something wonderful about it. She was defending it still, it seemed. I thought that was very sad.
To me it seems like a common human theme. It's essentially the same thing that happens in abusive families, just on a larger scale. Command, being in charge, is hard and has common pitfalls. And this picture of paranoia, total control, abusive domineering relationships, isolation of the victims, etc. is one that plays out on large and small scales over and over throughout humanity. It's apparently very hard not to become a tyrant when you exercise so much control over people. Think about the Stanford prison experiment, or about the Nuremburg trials.
But as for sick jokes, I remember hearing later of college fraternities holding Jim Jones Guyana hunch punch parties.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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For years afterward, whenever I would go on a church retreat or convention of my own church, my boss would always yell "Don't Drink The Kool-Aid!" on my way out the door.
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