Suicide In Jonestown

JONESTOWN What happens when you combine a ruthless leader’s hypnotic voice and disturbing ideas with average, vulnerable people? Almost 1,000 people lost in a trance, lies and deception, ending with a mass suicide killing over 900 people. More specifically; Jonestown.

Lead by a man named James Jones, Jonestown was the place where over 900 men, women, and children lost their lives after drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. James Jones was the pastor of a church in Southern California; a church by the name of Peoples Temple. In his early life, Jones was constantly left alone while his parents were working. Because of this, Jones would mostly always end up going to church with his neighbor, and by the age of ten, he became personally interested

There, they began to speak publicly, describing the events that occurred in Jonestown. As many people believed it was a safe and sane place to be, there were allegations of abuse towards the members who didn’t do as they were told, and that sometimes, they were even killed. Men with machine guns would stand guard, 24 hours a day, originally to protect the group from outsiders or armies with aims to take down the cult. Later on, that changed, and the men stood guard to make sure no one got in, or out. This being told to the public by those who escaped raised some suspicions in California Congressman Leo J. Ryan. The suspicions of Jonestown and what had occurred there lead Ryan to investigate Jonestown for himself. With a film crew in hand, Ryan led the investigation of Jonestown and during that time, Ryan and his crew were shown around the camp, the pavilion, and the main office where Jones lived. The day Ryan and his crew investigated Jonestown was the last day they were to spend

Jonestown was created to bring peace to those of People’s Temple, but instead, led them to commit suicide via cyanide-laced juice. James Jones conducted “loyalty drills” in the middle of the night, later telling the people they were not going to die. A total of 918 people lost their lives over the course of the five years that Jonestown was thriving, with very little survivors. James Jones will always be remembered as the cult leader of People’s Temple who led many to their deaths. No one saw this coming, and not many even began to think that this massacre would take place. It is disturbing to see what lies within the walls of our sanity; or in this case,