The People's Temple

The People's Temple was a cult that appeared to start out as relatively well-meaning, but it eventually became one of the most infamous cults of the 60s and 70s, possibly of all time. It was founded by Jim Jones, who quickly gained infamy along with his cult and was born in a small town in Indiana in 1931. He quickly became interested in religion, namely the Christian faith, of which he was a part of. He became a pastor at 19, and began to introduce black worshippers into the church congregation. When he resisted racism, which was prominent in Indiana at the time, he gained many followers, mostly from Indianapolis' ethnic minorities.

A picture of Jim Jones.

Eventually, due to problems with government investigation, the organization moved to Ukiah, California, as Jones was paranoid of the threat of nuclear attack and a recent magazine article had listed Ukiah as one of only nine places in the U.S. that could survive a nuclear attack. He planned on moving to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in an attempt to avoid the nuclear threat, but eventually decided that Guyana would be a more ideal place for the People's Temple.


Children, like the ones pictured here with Jones himself, were also inhabitants of Jonestown.


He built a complex in the Guyanese jungle called Jonestown, and then he and 1,000 of his faithful followers moved there to build Jones' ideal paradise. However, a San Francisco politician named Leo Ryan grew concerned about the people that went with Jones, especially when he received messages saying that several followers were held against their will in Jonestown. He eventually managed to gain access to Jonestown, promising the followers that they were free to leave with him and they would be protected. Fifteen people said they wanted to leave and go home, but the airplane wouldn't have been able to carry them all back. Another plane was called to help, but before it ever arrived several Temple followers opened fire on the group. Five people died, including Ryan, and eleven were wounded.

Jones feared retribution for the murders, and it was at this point that he declared that it was time to depart to a better place than the Earth, which his followers were too good for. Some form of fruity drink, possibly Kool-Aid or FlaVor-Aid, was laced with cyanide and sedatives. Then the mixture was fed to babies, then children, and finally adults. Several members resisted and had their throats slit or were shot in the head. Only a few managed to escape into the jungle.

A picture of the aftermath of the mass suicide at Jonestown.

Overall, between 911 and 914 deaths were recorded at Jonestown, with Jones having a bullet wound in his right temple. It is believed that he inflicted the wound himself during the mass suicide. The bodies were sent back to the U.S., but most cemeteries refused to bury the remains. The Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland finally agreed to take the 409 remaining bodies, and a memorial service is held in honor of the victims every year. The rest of the bodies were cremated or buried in family graveyards. Most of the survivors killed themselves and their children a few months later anyways, and several ex-members were also shot dead afterwards. Jonestown was finally destroyed by fire in the 80s, and the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 destroyed the People's Temple headquarters in San Francisco.



A bigger picture of the aftermath of the mass suicide at Jonestown.