As reporters and health officials walked onto the grounds of the mass suicide in Guayana, they were in shock over what they were seeing; hundreds of bodies face down on the ground, dead. One person who was at the site said that the amount of dead bodies was appalling, “it was depicted as not American, not religious, not sane, and ultimately not human.”1 Over 550 bodies of the 900 were unclaimed for almost six months until US Officials decided to cremate them. Once they brought the bodies back to the United States from Guayana, many Americans didn’t think it was right to have these bodies spread out on American soil because of the act they made. US Officials then decided to scatter the ashes of the dead bodies away from the United States border lines.
It all started with Jim Jones. Jones was a religious/political cult leader who had established the People’s Temple as a sect in Indianapolis in the 1950s. His cult focused on themes of communism, and the fight against racism, attracting many African Americans. He moved his cult to San Francisco in 1971, but it would not remain there for long. Soon after the group moved there, Jones was accused of financial fraud, physical abuse of his cult’s members, and mistreatment of children. After Jones was accused, in 1973, he became paranoid that someone would try to destroy his cult, so he moved his entire group to Guayana, South America, to build a socialist utopia known as Jonestown.
Once the cult moved to Guayana, people started to question even more the accusations being made against Jim Jones. Members who had left or escaped the cult were worried for the people still in the cult, so they convinced U.S. Congressmen Leo Ryan of California to fly to Guyana. “In November 1978, Ryan along with a group of journalists and relatives of cult members went to investigate the charges.”2 Jones did not like the idea of people coming to investigate, so he ordered his followers to have Ryan and his investigators assassinated. He ordered the attack on the group as they were returning to the airstrip to leave. A journalist named Charles Krause reported that that morning Ryan was attacked by a man with a knife, although he was not hurt by the incident. “Later that same day, Ryan and his party were attacked by assassins at the Port Kaituma Airstrip. Ryan and four others were killed and ten were injured.”3 While these killings were going on, Jones feared that he would lose his cult members and they would turn against him. He then proceeded to lead his people through a mass suicide, which was something the members had repeatedly practiced since the early 1970s.
These practices were called “White Nights” and consisted of members drinking a liquid that they believed was poisonous as a loyalty test to Jones.4 During these “White Nights,” people were woken up by a loud speaker, and they would assemble for the ritual of passing around a drink of kool-aid, which they were told was poison. Unfortunately, this time was not a test. Hundreds of adults and children lined up to drink this colorful, fruit-flavored punch, which contained cyanide and tranquilizers. Most of them thought they were just proving their loyalty as before, but as more people began to die, they realized that this time it was real. “Over 260 children, for example, had the poison given to them, while only about 40 adults escaped.”5 For those who died willingly though, collective suicide held a religious significance in the context of the worldview that had been established in Jonestown.
Collective suicide was a ritual that signified a purity of commitment to the community. On the night that they all drank this poison, Jim Jones announced “that the members of the community were united as black, proud socialists.”6 Collective suicide also promised release from a world dominated by what Jones perceived as American racism, capitalism, and fascism. He did not want to be captured and taken back to America, so instead he urged his followers to drink the poison, and “step out of the world.”7 Jones had told his followers that they were not committing suicide, but rather they were performing an act of freeing themselves from the harsh world that they lived in. There are later reports that when officials went to Jonestown, Jim Jones was found with gunshot wounds, raising the speculation that either he had committed suicide or someone else had killed him.
The Jonestown Massacre was the largest mass suicide in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the September 11 attack in 2001. The mass suicide resulted in over 900 deaths of innocent lives. Once the bodies were found, the Guyanese government asked the United States to take the bodies back. US Officials decided to start sending a few people over to identify bodies so they could decide what to do with them. Over 500 bodies were unclaimed and that is when the United States decided to have the US Air Force come in to take the bodies back to the United States.”8 To this day, families of loved ones are still trying to find a memorial place for the lost lives.
- Encyclopedia of Religion, 2005, s.v. “Jonestown and Peoples Temple,” by David Chidester. ↵
- Dictionary of American History, 2003, s.v. “Jonestown Massacre,” by Carolyn Bronstein. ↵
- Dictionary of American History, 2003, s.v. “Jonestown Massacre,” by Carolyn Bronstein. ↵
- Dictionary of American History, 2003, s.v. “Jonestown Massacre,” by Carolyn Bronstein. ↵
- Encyclopdeia of Religion, 2005, s.v. “Jonestown and Peoples Temple,” by David Chidester. ↵
- Encyclopdeia of Religion, 2005, s.v. “Jonestown and Peoples Temple,” by David Chidester. ↵
- Encyclopdeia of Religion, 2005, s.v. “Jonestown and Peoples Temple,” by David Chidester. ↵
- Encyclopdeia of Religion, 2005, s.v. “Jonestown and Peoples Temple,” by David Chidester. ↵
150 comments
Alexandria Martinez
This article was very well written as well as informative, I had always heard the phrase “drinking the kool-aid” however I did not know where it actually came from. And after reading this article I now realized that it was because of the Jonestown Massacre. These types of topics interest me because it is interesting and strange to see how some people react to certain situations, and how some people will just follow blindly instead of thinking things through logically.
Eric Victoria
I have never really understood cults to this day. I get that sometimes there is a certain religious factor involved but still sometimes doesn’t seem like an ideal way of life. What really intrigues me about this article is that apparently, they would pretend to drink poison more than once! That is absolutely absurd, why even take the chance of being poisoned to prove your loyalty to a leader who seemed like he didn’t even know what he was doing. Yeah ha-ha it`s okay because it`s really not poison until the day came where it really was. I just feel that if the members of the cult would have known that it was poison before they drank it, majority would have done otherwise.
Mia Villalpando
The Jonestown Massacre is a topic in which I have previously done research on. This event is extraordinarily gruesome given the fact that so many innocent lives were lost, these people were anywhere from newborns to teens to middle aged men and women to senior citizens. My heart breaks for the people directly and indirectly involved. Now we all know the everlasting debate people all around the world continue to have about whether or not “ignorance is bliss” and this tragic event is a proof of evidence for the side “Ignorance is NOT bliss”. These people did not educate themselves on what they were getting into with The People’s Temple, nor did they take a step back to examine their lives and the choices they had been blindly making, they put too much trust into one man who they truly knew nothing about, and by the time some of them realized this it was unfortunately too late. So in conclusion thank you for this article I found it very enjoyable and I appreciate the statistic about 9/11, I had not previously known of that.
Edward Cerna
Hello Lianna, this was an amazing article to read and learn about. I Like the way the article was organized and the information it held. I had heard of the Jonestown massacre before but had no idea that over 900 people had died that day. This is a rather dark and sad story because some of them thought that they were just doing a practice to show loyalty to him but in fact it was actual poison.
Mariah Cavanaugh
Cults have always fascinated me. Leaders such as Marilyn Manson, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite and of course Jim Jones all had this remarkable ability to draw people to them. One of the obvious tactics they use to gain trust is fear. In your article you state that David was able to attract many African Americans to his cult by using their fear of racism and discrimination against them. He promised them freedom from their fears. Although I have read about the Jonestown Massacre many times I did not know about his practice of “white nights”. It seems as if he knew that at some point the need for mass suicide would arise and he wanted to be ready. This was a truly wonderful article to read.
Samman Tyata
I kind of loved the way how this article is managed. Starting from Jones cult being focused on themes of communism, fight against racism and more to the upsetting death of over 900 people, I got the chance to know about something new. I would have loved the article even more if it had more details about how Jones exactly died. I was very upset reading this because many peoples had to lose their lives just for supporting him. Also, members who had once left the cult were worried for the people still in the cult, which proves that humanity exists.
Maria Callejas
Great usage of descriptive language in your introduction, it really helps paint such horrific scene vividly. Also, your insight about Jim Jones, his beginnings, and distinct end, does add more depth to the piece. Although graphic, the image selection does make the reader grasp the magnitude of the atrocious event. How was a single man able to persuade so many people to take their own lives? This is just staggering. In a way, this article shows the power of persuasion, and how individuals follow their leaders. Imagine if Jim Jones had used his persuasion ability for the good, I am sure no Governmental Agency would have wanted him to stop.
Kelley Salinas
My prior knowledge of this mass suicide helped me to understand more of the main idea. The details implemented in this article, for example, the origin of the cult, the reason for moving to Guyana, and paranoia of unloyalty, made me understand more about the context in which the leader, Jim Jones, fulfilled his wishes. I’ve noticed a slight disruption in the numbers related to this article, a number of unclaimed bodies were 550 in the beginning of the article and was brought down to 500 toward the end of the article. I absolutely loved this article and enjoyed learning more about the most tragic event in American history.
Cameron Ramirez
I think most people have heard the term “drinking the Kool-Aid, ” but I don’t think many know where it originated from. This article was very informative and eye opening to those who are not aware of what happened in Guayana 1978. You did an excellent job at conveying the situation in Jonestown. I did not know that the Jonestown Massacre was the largest mass suicide in modern history and that it was also the biggest single loss of American lives in a non-natural disaster.
Miranda Yzaguirre
While the story was well written and informative about the massacre itself, I do wish it had included what sparked Jones to start this cult. I had only heard about this event before I read this article, which filled in all of the blanks for me. It is not hard to believe that people of color were desperate enough to join a cult to escape the terrors of the state they were currently living in. Heartbreakingly enough, Jones used this to his advantage for personal gain.