PEOPLES TEMPLE (JONESTOWN)
FOUNDED: 1956
STATUS: Ended in 1978 after its members’ mass suicide in Guyana.
EXCLUSIVITY FACTOR: Until the mid to late 70s, all were welcome; after that, only the hardcore believers in the “Father” Jim Jones remained.
SECRECY FACTOR: High. After the group defected to Guyana, their compound and activities within it were off-limits to all outsiders.
THREAT FACTOR: Extremely high. Many people broke up their families and ended their lives for the congregation.
QUIRK FACTOR: It gave us the phrase, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
“I represent divine principle, total equality, a society where people own all things in common, where there’s no rich or poor, where there are no races. Wherever there are people struggling for justice and righteousness, there I am.” Sounds pretty good, right? Those are the words of Reverend Jim Jones. In 1956, he founded his own church, The Peoples Temple, in his home state of Indiana—but he was never content to be a small town preacher. The Peoples Temple espoused a grandiose message of peace, love, and understanding, through the lens of socialism. In the eyes of Reverend Jim Jones, all were equal, and he wanted his church to be a force in creating an egalitarian society. Northern California was ground zero for progressive politics, so in 1965, Jones left the Midwest and set up shop there.
The Peoples Temple was a hit in California, where it had about three thousand registered members by its high point in the mid-1970s. People of all races and ages were attracted by the charismatic preacher’s message of justice and equality, and his efforts to promote civil rights and end the Vietnam War. They were also impressed by his “healing powers.” At religious meetings, in his flashy suits and signature aviator glasses, Jones would cure cancers, restore mobility to the disabled, and read minds. Later, these feats were revealed to be hoaxes—the “sick” were parishioners in disguise, and the “cancerous tumors” they expelled were nothing but chicken livers. Jones’s co-conspirators in these schemes felt that the deception was worth it if it helped further the church’s noble cause.
But despite its idealistic veneer, conditions behind the scenes of the Peoples Temple were less than picture-perfect. Jones had sexual relationships with many members, and he oversaw the beatings of others. Disillusioned ex-parishioners spoke to the press about these abuses, and when media scrutiny intensified, Jones panicked. In 1977, he and hundreds of his followers fled for the small South American country of Guyana, where they established a commune called Jonestown.
Anticipating the need for a haven from the US government and the media, Jones had dispatched fifty followers to clear the jungle and construct the buildings of Jonestown when he purchased the property in 1974. Now, with the arrival of Jones and his followers, population of the remote settlement swelled to nearly a thousand people by late 1978, and living conditions there were not good. Jones continued manipulating and abusing his congregants in Guyana. They had no one to turn to for help—communication with the outside world was restricted, and armed guards surrounded the compound, preventing anyone from escaping.
Meanwhile, back in the States, concerned relatives of Peoples Temple members were pleading with authorities to investigate Jonestown. In November 1978, California Representative Leo Ryan flew to Guyana with a TV crew and various reporters. When Ryan’s team was finally permitted into the compound, Jones appeared to be a madman. Fifteen residents clandestinely pleaded with Ryan to take them back to the US. Ryan agreed, and they left together for a nearby airstrip, but before their plane could take off, gunmen sent by Jones opened fire on the group. They killed Ryan, an NBC correspondent, a cameraman, a newspaper photographer, and one of the departing family members.
Jones knew that the murder of the congressman and the others would have severe repercussions—and he had a diabolical plan to avoid that. He instructed his followers to drink cyanide-laced grape Flavor Aid (a beverage similar to Kool-Aid) in an act of “revolutionary suicide.” Over nine hundred people died that day in the largest mass murder-suicide in history.
MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
First and foremost, Reverend Jim Jones demanded absolute loyalty from his followers. They were to call him “Father,” and prioritize their relationship with him above all others. Families involved in the Peoples Temple were split apart—husbands and wives were forbidden from having sex, and children were isolated from their parents and encouraged to “inform” on them. Transgressions, such as doubting Jones’s divinity (he claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Vladimir Lenin, and others), resulted in being beaten and humiliated in front of the congregation. Punishments became even more severe once the Peoples Temple moved to Jonestown.
On a positive note, racism was not tolerated in the church, and such a diverse group was extraordinary in a time when racial tensions ran high. Jones himself had a “rainbow family,” with one part-Native American child, three Korean children, a black child, and two white children. To promote his goal of a multi-racial society, Jones arranged marriages between many congregants, favoring bi-racial partnerships and the adoption or birth of biracial children. Ultimately, this was just another way that Jones controlled the sexual behavior of his followers.
Though the majority of church members were black, only white women were inducted into the “Inner Staff ”—a select group who acted as Jones’s spies, couriers, and assistants in the phony faith healings. Jones had sex with many of these women, and then put them down in front of the others, creating rivalry between them and greater loyalty toward him. Jones also accused everyone of being homosexual—everyone but himself, of course. Followers were encouraged to remain celibate unless “Father” sought out their sexual attention.
Becoming a Peoples Temple member could be a pricey proposition. Members (back when they were working in normal society) were required to give twenty-five percent of their salaries to the church. Some donated all of their property and savings, effectively trapping them in the organization with no place to go. Elderly parishioners left their estates to the church. Much of these funds went toward building Jonestown.
INSIDE JONESTOWN
The Peoples Temple resembled a cult more than a religious organization. This was never clearer than when Reverend Jim Jones convinced over nine hundred people to follow him to Guyana, leaving family, friends, and jobs behind. Once there, Jones’s manipulation and abuse, fueled by his addiction to amphetamines and barbiturates, became worse than ever.
He imposed torturous punishments such as shocking wrongdoers with electric cattle prods, or putting them in coffin-like boxes several feet below ground for extended periods of time. All correspondence going in and out of the camp was censored, and phone calls were strictly monitored, with members coached on what to say. Frantic loved ones had no way of knowing how terrible conditions really were in the camp and feared their friends and family members were brainwashed.
Those desiring to leave Jonestown and go back home had many obstacles in the way. Any word of an escape plan could be reported to “Father” by another Temple member trying to win his favor. And anyone who did manage to get past the armed guards that surrounded the compound had to make their way through the jungle, since Jonestown was located many miles from civilization. But miraculously, few people succeeded in escaping Jonestown and were able to provide information on what happened there.
Rather than the utopian paradise that residents hoped for, Jonestown turned out to be more like a concentration camp. Residents spent long hours doing hard labor on very little sleep. Sometimes they would get no sleep at all, when Jones summoned them out of bed to the main pavilion to listen to him rant about conspiracies threatening to destroy their community. Sometimes during “White Nights,” as these occasions were known, members were subjected to suicide drills, during which they were expected to drink vats of liquid that Jones claimed was poisoned as a test of loyalty. After being so broken down physically and psychologically, it was easier for Jones to convince his congregate to follow him to oblivion.
But before that final catastrophe, they had to contend with Congressman Ryan’s visit to Jonestown. It began pleasantly enough, with a musical reception in the pavilion and a tour of the settlement, but the tone changed when someone handed a reporter a note that said, “Help us get out of Jonestown.” This enraged Jones. The note writer was permitted to leave with her family and a few other members. It’s possible that more people would have liked to go, but were too afraid of their volatile leader to risk speaking up.
After the murder of the congressman and the others at the airstrip, Jones knew his warped socialist dream was done for. He served his followers vats of grape Flavor Aid laced with cyanide, ordering them to give the toxic cocktail to babies and children first. When the horrific ritual was finished, over nine hundred people lay dead. Jones himself died of a gunshot wound to the head (most likely self-inflicted).
Jonestown is remembered as the site of the largest murder-suicide in history. A tyrannical leader pushed his followers to a place where they had no other way out. Once their messiah, Jim Jones became their killer. 