In remote northwestern Guyana, a mass murder-suicide is orchestrated by Jim Jones, the leader of the People’s Temple, involving hundreds of his followers.
Those few cult members who refused to consume the cyanide-laced fruit-flavored beverage faced either forced ingestion at gunpoint or were shot while attempting to escape. The final count of the deceased reached 913, which included 276 children.
A charismatic church leader, Jim Jones founded the People’s Temple, a Christian sect, in Indianapolis during the 1950s. He vigorously preached against racism, attracting a primarily African American congregation. In 1965, the group relocated to northern California, initially settling in Ukiah and later moving to San Francisco after 1971. The press accused his church in the 1970s of financial fraud, physical abuse of members, and child mistreatment.
Faced with increasing scrutiny, Jones took several hundred of his followers to South America in 1977, establishing a utopian agricultural commune named Jonestown in the Guyanese jungle.
The following year, a group of ex-members persuaded U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan, a California Democrat, to visit Jonestown and examine the commune. On November 17, 1978, Ryan arrived in Jonestown alongside journalists and other observers. Initially, the visit proceeded favorably, but the next day, as Ryan’s group prepared to depart, several members of the People’s Church approached them, requesting passage out of Guyana.
Disturbance ensued for Jones upon witnessing the defection of his members, leading one of his lieutenants to attack Ryan with a knife. Although Ryan escaped unscathed, Jones then commanded an ambush on Ryan and his companions at the airstrip, resulting in their murder as they attempted to leave.
While trying to board their charter planes, the congressman and four others were brutally slain.
Back in Jonestown, Jones orchestrated a mass suicide in a clearing of the town. With a loudspeaker encouraging the “beauty of dying,” hundreds drank a lethal mixture of cyanide and Kool-Aid. Those who sought escape were pursued and shot by Jones’ lieutenants. Ultimately, Jones ended his life with a gunshot to the head, likely self-inflicted. The next day, Guyanese troops, alerted by an escaped cult member, arrived at Jonestown. Only about a dozen followers survived, having hidden in the jungle. Most of the 913 deceased lay side by side in the clearing where Jones had delivered his final sermon.
