There are some people in this world that are so hungry for power or belonging that they will go to extraordinary lengths to obtain it. Jim Jones was definitely one of those people. He was the creator of the Peoples Temple and the mastermind behind the deaths of close to one thousand of his church members. Jones reeled people in with the idea of friendship and acceptance, then kept them there with threats and armed guards. His church itself was dangerous enough to get yourself into, but once you made the move to Jonestown, there was no going back.
James Warren Jones was born to Lynette Putnam and James Thuman Jones on May 13, 1931 in the rural city of Crete, Indiana. It is noted by many sources that Lynette believed she had given birth to a messiah. His father was a victim of mustard gas living off disability and his mother was hardly around because she was working so much. As a child, Jim was constantly reading, absorbing all the knowledge he could. He was especially keen on the writings of Mahatma Gandhi and radicals like Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler. During this time, he also became unusually interested in religion and death, mainly because he was unable to make many friends. Some of his old classmates and acquaintances recall times when he would hold funeral services for dead animals he had found or killed. Since his mother was not particularly religious, Jim explored religion through going to his neighbor’s church services; some Quaker, Methodist, Apostolic, Nazarene, and Church of Christ (PBS). He was a bright kid and graduated high school with honors a year early in 1948. After school, his parents split up and Jim moved to Richmond, Indiana with his mother. While there, he attended Indiana University and studied medicine. He worked as an orderly at a hospital where he met his wife, Marceline Baldwin (Bio). Jim did not seem to be as passionate about the medical field as originally thought, and in 1952 he announced he was going to enter the ministry. He was finally pursuing what he had always loved as a child. Jim Jones began working as a student pastor at Sommerset Southside Methodist Church. He was very involved in trying to desegregate the community and when the church refused to allow other races into their services, he left and formed the Wings of Deliverance Church in 1955. The Wings of Deliverance later changed its name to the Peoples Temple.
“The People’s Temple started in Indianapolis, Indiana as a racially integrated church that focused on helping people in need. At a time when most churches were segregated, the Peoples Temple offered a very different, utopian view of what society could become” (History 1900s). Jim was an activist when it came to desegregation and he and his church worked hard to racially integrate all places. He and his wife, Marceline, even adopted children of different races and called themselves a “Rainbow Family” in a time when racism was prevalent. The Peoples Temple seemed like a genuine organization; they ran soup kitchens and organized homes for the sick, mentally ill, and orphans. It seemed to be a great community with an especially charismatic leader. Jim’s charm captivated everyone. He had always been an extremely eloquent speaker and he used it to his advantage. He could sway crowds in a single sermon, persuade them to believe in the things he did. While this may make Jones sound like a stand up guy to us so far, there was much more going on in this man below the surface. He was always extremely paranoid and he thought the government was out to get him and his church. He also had a crazed fear that there would be a nuclear attack, destroying him and his members. This being said, Jim Jones was constantly on the alert with his congregation and he was always looking for a place to go where they would be safe from nuclear threats. After a lot of research, Jones concluded that the city of Eureka in California would be completely safe from any nuclear attacks, no matter where they occurred. So in 1966, he packed up his things and encouraged his community to go with him to Ukiah, California, which is a town on the outskirts of Eureka. One hundred of his members followed him and made the almost two thousand mile move to Ukiah in Northern California. Once there, he tried to expand his witnessing efforts and opened a branch of his church in San Francisco (Bio.com). After his second temple opened its doors, he and his church claimed to have three thousand members. Three thousand people is a pretty exorbitant amount, so it is not surprising that they were not all from the same social class. The Peoples Temple would bring in multitudes from all walks of life – some were homeless drug addicts, others wealthy families. But something seemed to be missing in most of their lives, and Jim would hone in on what that was. He would be what was absent in people’s lives; a father, a friend, or even a god.
During this time, Jim started receiving word that he and his church were being investigated by different government organizations. Someone had told the authorities that Jones was physically and verbally abusive to his members. Already being severely paranoid, he began searching for a new place for the Peoples Temple to live; away from the capitalism in America. While on a trip to Brazil, he found the country of Guyana and decided it would be a good fit for the Peoples Temple. Jones leased three thousand acres of land in the far north of Guyana, where he sent a team down to clear the jungle and start building what was soon to be Jonestown.
It would take Jim Jones a lot of persuasion to convince all three thousand of his members to move down to South America with him. Lucky for him, he was a master in the art of public speaking and his followers were fiercely devoted to him. He told them he was building a utopia, where everyone could live together as equals. In the end, around one thousand of his church members followed him to the hot, Guyana jungle. The first few months living in Jonestown were cheerful ones. To quote a defector, “[Jonestown’s] inhabitants were warm people who worked hard to build a utopian community.” Yet soon enough, life in the commune took a dark turn. Living conditions were poor and there was not enough space for everyone to sleep comfortably. Small cabins were crowded with rows upon rows of bunk beds, and families were not allowed to be in the same living quarters. People were required to work twelve hours a day, sometimes in over 100 degree heat, with only a half hour break for a meager lunch. Most of their rice was infested with maggots and nobody ever had enough to eat. They would have two hours to walk back from the fields, shower, and eat, until Jones’ voice came over the PA system, spouting out his opinions on anything and everything (Rolling Stone). Afterwards, there’d be Russian class and “Catharsis,” which was Jones’ name for when people would tell him their problems in life and with Jonestown. At these meetings, if you complained about anything, you were almost always harshly dealt with. There were multiple beatings and the entire camp would have to mock the victim(s), or they too would be disciplined. Jones was ruthless and discipline was one of his favorite things; some people would be beaten so much they’d spend days in the infirmary. He’s also get creative with his punishments; one twelve year old girl was kept for weeks in a plywood box three feet wide, four feet high, and six feet long (Rolling Stone). Once Catharsis had finished, everyone was finally allowed to go to sleep. Unfortunately, most people only got around three hours of sleep per night.
Groups of defectors, called the “Concerned Relatives,” began leaking what actually went on at the Peoples Temple. Recounts of beatings, public humiliations, suicide drills, and people being held against their will reached the public and there was an uproar. Families wanted their relatives back; their mothers, brothers, their children were all still stuck in Guyana with Jim Jones. Jim Jones, the insane, intimidating maniac who was holding their family and friends captive. All of this caught the eyes of some important government workers, such as congressman Leo Ryan. Ryan was friends with the father of a Peoples Temple member, and he had paid attention to the stories of the Concerned Relatives and other defectors. So Ryan requested permission to go and visit Guyana, and he departed on November 13, 1978. Accompanying Ryan were two congressional staffers, nine journalists, and eighteen Concerned Relatives (The Forgotten… Victims). Once Ryan and his crew arrived in Guyana, Jim Jones made all sorts of excuses to keep them out. Yet finally, on November 18, they were finally allowed into Jonestown. Whatever they were expecting to see, they did not. The grounds were clean, everybody had enough to eat, and all of its inhabitants seemed happy and healthy. Even the commune’s band, “The Jonestown Express,” played for them, which everyone seemed to enjoy (Jonestown… Cult). Ryan and his team must have been pretty suspicious, hearing all these bad things about Jonestown and not actually seeing them. Then finally after dinner, someone slipped them a note saying they wanted help out of Jonestown. The next day, NBC-TV correspondent Don Harris confronted Jones about the note. After hearing what it said, he became furious, insisting that they were lying and that his guests should leave (Jonestown… Cult). But first Ryan asked the people if anyone wanted to leave with them. Finally some of them spoke up, sixteen in all. Larry Layton, the brother of a past Peoples Temple defector, was one of them. He seemed odd about the whole affair, hugging Jones goodbye, but never saying anything to his wife about his departure. Gathering up their equipment, Congressman Ryan, the correspondents and journalists, the Concerned Relatives, and the sixteen Peoples Temple members headed for Port Kaituma, where two airplanes would be waiting for them. They arrived safely, but once the party tried boarding, Jonestown gunmen burst out of the jungle in a tractor trailer and started shooting everyone they could. “NBC cameraman Bob Brown was killed by a short-range shotgun blast. He may have survived had he tried to escape, but he kept filming until he was shot. Congressman Ryan, Don Harris, defector Patricia Parks, and photographer Greg Robinson were also shot to death in front of the [Twin Otter] plane. Eleven others were wounded,” (Jonestown… Cult). Originally, the other plane pilot did not take off when they saw the deadly assault on the rest of the Ryan crew. All of a sudden, Larry Layton drew out a gun and started firing. Fortunately, he only wounded two defectors before the gun was taken away from him (Jonestown… Cult). Seeing this, the pilot took off with his passengers, leaving the rest of them still down on the ground. There they camped for a few days until another plane came to take them back to the States. Some of the defectors suspected that Jones’ suicide drills he so often practiced was finally happening.
Back at Jonestown, the end was near. Jim Jones had called a meeting, telling his congregation that it was time for them to die. He said such things as, “I’d like to choose my own kind of death for a change,” and “We must die with dignity. Hurry, hurry, hurry. We must hurry… Death is a million times preferable to ten more days of this life,” (Jonestown… Cult). He had been training his members for this moment for a long time. He frequently held suicide drills called “White Nights,” telling his followers to drink poison. It was never actually toxic, and whoever would drink it had passed his “Loyalty Test.”
This was not just a loyalty test, everyone knew that this time it was for real. Staff members had set up large pots filled with grape Flavor-Aid, which was spiked with potassium cyanide and a sedative, Valium. The elderly were instructed to go first, then the children. Babies would have the concoction squirted into their mouths with a syringe, and the older children were to drink it out of a cup. After them came the adolescents and the adults. The Valium was supposed to kick in before the cyanide so it would be a somewhat painless death, but it was not quick enough. People collapsed in convulsions, foaming at the mouth and crying. Nurses tried to convince children’s parents that they were only crying because of the bitter taste, not the poison wreaking havoc inside of their bodies. Some people tried to refuse the drink, spitting it out of their mouths If this occurred, they would be held down while they were injected with it. The members of the Peoples Temple were trapped between death and death: if they stayed they would be poisoned, it they tried to escape, they would be shot down. Most people opted for the poison. After a person had died, they would be placed upside down on the ground, in rows. A large majority of the animals were also killed, along with the commune’s mascot, Mr. Muggs the chimpanzee who was shot to death. But it was not just his followers who were being killed. Once it was all said and done, Jones and one of his aides were shot in the head. This event, now known as the “Jonestown Massacre,” is the biggest mass suicide in American history, totaling almost one thousand deaths.
Only a handful of Jonestown residents made it out with their lives during the massacre; Odell Rhodes, Stanley Clayton, Grover Davis, and Hyacinth Thrush. Davis and Thrush had somehow slept through the whole thing in their bunks, only to awaken a few hours later to all of their loved ones dead. Stanley Clayton feared what Jones was planning and escaped into the jungle surrounding the compound. Odell Rhodes managed to disappear by pretending he was running errands for Jones, then ran and hid under a building until the ordeal was over (Jonestown… Cult). Larry Layton could not be tried in the United States since the circumstance occurred on Guyanese soil, not American. But he was still tried and convicted of conspiracy and aiding the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan and the attempted murder of Richard Dwyer. Once word got out about the events encompassing Jonestown, it was the hot topic in the media. For months, it was heavily covered as new facts surfaced. Time and Newsweek magazines dubbed it the “cult of death.” Over four hundred Jonestown victims were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California, and in 2011 a memorial plaque was erected for them, controversially including Jones and Ryan.
The incident surrounding Jonestown affected everyone – some directly, others indirectly. Hundreds lost their lives. Thousands lost their family members. Millions were horrified at hearing the news. Investigations were soon to follow; there were bodies to be buried and families to be notified. But the aftermath of this tragedy ran much deeper than the immediate actions that followed. Those who survived Jonestown and those who lost their loved ones now had a huge burden to carry. They would be haunted by every news segment, every magazine article. This event truly went down in history, and still has influence on even our lives today. Phrases such as “drinking the Kool-Aid” started to become embedded in many people’s everyday language. It also helped fuel the fire for those who wanted to see faith and religion as negative things. People are always looking to criticize religious figures and Jim Jones was an outlet for them to express their opinions. Critics now sometimes take this extremist movement as a likely consequence of spirituality, that religious people are just as brainwashed as what they believe as the Peoples Temple members were with Jim Jones. The circumstances surrounding Jonestown were special, and nothing else in our time can even compare to it. Being involved with Jim Jones was a risky game, and too many people lost their lives because of his teachings. His church itself was dangerous enough to get yourself into, but once you made the move to Jonestown, there was no going back.