Jonestown: The Survivors Speak | Jonestown: Paradise Lost | Retold

[Music] an evangelical preacher led nearly a thousand followers from the united states deep into the jungles of south america how about you is the best thing ever happened to you they would build a new community free of oppression and violence it was to be their paradise on earth i wanted to leave as soon as i got there i was in an armed encampment but outsiders threatened to expose the dark side of their leader we are going into jonestown and if any of your family members want to come home then by god we're going to bring them home are you people gonna [Music] just leave us they're killing everyone and one day two worlds collided and paradise was lost know that you have never never been loved so much as i love you right now [Music] [Music] the people's temple was a wonderful mosaic of the whole spectrum of humanity it was a dream that died on november 18 1978. [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] the threat of mass suicide was quite real [Music] now this morning there are fresh reports jones ordered a mass suicide 914 people were murdered or drank kool-aid laced with poison a lot of the children were crying and he was telling them not to tell the children that they were dying not to tell them it was painful and that people had to die with dignity in november 1978 reporters around the world broke the news that jim jones and more than 900 of his followers died by the late 1960s and early 70s the streets of america erupted in violence and civil strife the war in vietnam civil rights marches and political assassinations played out on television out of this turmoil thousands of americans flocked to hear the sermons of a charismatic preacher named jim jones a fiery orator jones's early speeches were a mixture of socialist ideals and christian redemption if there was anything universal about the temple experience and what it was that drew people it was on some level we were all wanting to belong some turn to the temple because they need help others want to serve humanity whatever they need jim jones and his people's temple seem to have it the only way it's going to get better is through us and what we can do in the world and and that was everything from gradual social change to violent revolution to um cleaning up after nuclear fallout jim jones claimed special powers to heal the sick and dying staged healings were a popular attraction at temple meetings a guy like my dad found out what you wanted to hear and see and showed it to you whatever you were looking for or wherever you were running from or running toward dad had an uncanny ability to hook into that it's exhilarating and very attractive once you get hooked by that it's really hard to get unhooked as his popularity grew jim jones preached less about the bible and more about social activism he called himself a prophet a savior who would guide protect and watch over his followers i want you to enjoy the fearlessness that i have the courage that i have the compassion that i have the love that i have the all-encompassing mercy that i am i want you to be jim jones's devoted followers referred to him as father many signed over their paychecks possessions even their homes but at the height of his power a darker side of jim jones emerged former temple members accused jones of physical and sexual abuse mind control and force druggings in 1977 as media interest grew jim jones and hundreds of his supporters left san francisco california they set out for guyana determined to build a new community in the south american country in the middle of the jungle 150 miles from the capital of georgetown people's temple built what was to be a socialist paradise on earth they called it jonestown after their leader because of father's example here in guyana we're building equipment and doing things to feed hungry people and set up a little town an actual community or a country of our own where we can live the way we like to live with our own lifestyle not to be interfered people from the outside and to help starving masses of the world as the allegations in the united states intensified temple members continued to flock to the remote outpost labeling the attacks as a government conspiracy to topple people's temple jones and many of his followers denied the charges it's the most beautiful place i've ever been in all my life there's so many wonderful things about it this is a beautiful place here and it's it's fun over here it's really good there i do not want to go back in any way shape or form to uh to the states i can't help but say that none of this would have been possible had it not been for jim jones [Music] my father his entire existence lay in the hands of those who perceived him i think people need to understand that every hour of the day jim jones thought he was a fraud he knew he was a bad guy he knew he was a sick guy he just didn't want anybody else to know [Music] had joined people's temple in 1974 and had been living in jonestown for eight months the term white night was a term used for like an extreme emergency there would be a siren or an announcement to come to the pavilion immediately and it was a life-and-death situation it was something where the community was being threatened and we had to make an immediate decision about a course of action [Music] and it would usually be all of the night white knights were used by jim jones to create an atmosphere of fear and desperation amongst his followers the white knight sometimes included rehearsals for mass suicide which jones considered a test of faith and loyalty [Music] i am the greatest friend that you will ever have and i'm trying on every level to protect this community are you with me there were people with guns and rifles surrounding the assembly people that i knew for years uh with guns and they weren't pointed outward they were pointed inward and so it was a sense of an armed encampment [Music] so i must warn you again and again to be together with the community you've been at it for hours you're exhausted they're exhausted and afraid let them go to sleep all right go on go on back to bed after the death of his wife vern ghazni arrived in jonestown with his four-year-old son night i was very vulnerable i decided i was going to go to jonestown and they were going to make me be a good socialist whatever i was lacking within myself would be instilled in me by living in jonestown i wanted to leave as soon as i got there i was not free to leave nor was anywhere i had confided in my roommate that i wanted to leave and that was taking a huge huge risk [Music] he had at one time attempted to escape and he was punished so severely that he was literally frightened out of his mind i'm gonna die you man [Music] i'm gonna die here [Music] um on november 14 1978 u.s congressman leo j ryan along with his aide jackie speer flew to guyana to investigate allegations of abuse within the temple the delegation included relatives who were determined to see that their loved ones were free to come and go as they pleased jim jones considered the group a direct threat bent on his and the movement's destruction fourteen relatives some former temple members who spoke out against jones accompanied ryan members of the u.s media covered the trip including don harris from nbc an american television network and tim writerman a reporter on assignment for the san francisco examiner jim jones initially presented people's temple as an extraordinary institution and he was someone who was viewed as a little eccentric uh because he went around with bodyguards and he wore dark glasses whether it was the sun was out or not i think he's got something to hide what do you think you spoke with him yeah on the radio once figures we're out to get him congressman ryan's trip was designed to find out whether allegations from ex-members were true that jim jones controlled the members through disciplinary beatings forcing them to turn over their property and in some cases custody of their children and whether he was threatening people with death if they would leave the organization folks folks uh we're about to land in georgetown it's been a long road for many of you your your loved ones are down there and i just want to let you know that we're going to do everything we can to make sure they're safe they're happy and they're being well looked after in other words we still don't have an official invite you know let me tell you something right now not as your congressman but as your friend we're going into jonestown and if any of your family members want to come home well by god we're going to bring them home congressman i just wanted to say to thank you this wouldn't have happened without you really oh sure she's going to be 22 in a week you always hope yours are going to turn out all right your ex yeah she was linda when i knew her now she's sharon jones made her do that you know what he knew this other girl called linda didn't like her so now no one can be called linda and don't you worry about a thing sherwin everything's gonna be just fine sherwin harris was attempting to visit his daughter leanne who was living in jonestown people's temple was something that started out apparently to be a good thing and just turned into a nightmare in 1978 my daughter was 21 years old my daughter leanne was brought into the people's temple by her mother who's one of the initial members i had what i considered a strange relationship with my daughter there was always a distance between us there was always something strange going on it was clearly you know dangerous situation at this point we knew that guns had been transmitted there we knew what their attitudes were we knew that they were talking that they were marxist and revolutionaries and people that acted brutally towards their own members so i don't think there was any illusions on any of our parts the promise of guyana was cloaked in religious terms it was the promised land land of milk and honey the land where we're going to build a society that's really just we work from sun up to sun down we ate rice three times a day it's it's hard to really convey the remoteness of that place there was no means of communication with the outside world it wasn't like oh let me run a mile to go to the phone there's no phone there's no telephones there's no televisions there's no nothing i think it's difficult to express to people who don't have this kind of experience that uh oh well why didn't you leave it's so horrible it's so terrible how could you put yourself in that position when actually we were working for a cause that we believed in it's like taking people to the limit and then moving that line and then moving that line and then moving that line and wanting so desperately to believe in the dream and not seeing that the dream has become a nightmare a handful of temple members were permitted to form a basketball team amongst them was jim jones's 19-year-old son stephen days before the arrival of the ryan delegation stephen and the basketball team left for georgetown to play a series of games against the guyanese national squad dad was worried about the basketball team leaving and going into georgetown he knew the congressman was coming i'm sure he feared that we might turn against him and fortunately mom saw that happening and mom had really made this her cause to get us out of there are you having your hands the opportunity to make or break jonestown but you have to show a lot of character a lot of character and grace i've seen tremendous growth in you stephen now what you want to do is when they score a goal you um give a little clap and you run right back to your boat all right now remember boys when the other team scores just give them a little clap just like that little clap believe me fellas i had a little clap in my day don't let him provoke you he's trying to find a reason to keep you from going be the better man [Music] keep your eye on them you don't trust them anybody is capable of putting a bullet into your head and if you see any of those relatives those liars you don't have anything to do with them you understand you did well goodbye my baby you take care of yourself i'll see you real soon i remember saying goodbye to her i remember a long moment of just us looking at each other i remember tears in her eyes and tears of my own i remember each of us saying that we'll see you soon me believing it i looking back i don't think she did believe that would happen i honestly think she thought she was getting us out of there before all hell broke loose [Music] [Music] when we got off the plane the first person i saw was my ex-wife and she was one of their leaders she was pretty much the true believer the fanatic if you will the type of person who could strap the dynamite on and walk in and take the whole room out that's the degree of [Music] commitment when we were in guyana my concern was to see my daughter to that end i contacted my ex-wife i found her no i'm not trying to tear anybody apart i'm not against anybody would you stop that please i am here i'm here to see leanne lynn sharon i'm not going to argue with you i've just flown thousands of miles to see my daughter and i'm going to see her and neither you nor the temple nor jim jones almighty himself is going to stop me all right do you hear me then hear me she's my daughter too and i am going to see her tomorrow if i have to go to jonestown myself i am going to see her good night [Music] i wasn't really concerned about getting into jonestown as much as seeing my daughter i wanted to spend the time that i had there with my daughter and also to discover fully what was going on i loved my daughter very much i was committed to my daughter you can't believe from the moment of her birth i got that her life depended on me it was just that simple and i was committed to her i was very young when she was born but it didn't matter i would move heaven and earth the people's temple owned a house in the capital of georgetown which functioned as a way station for temple members moving in and out of jonestown residents of the house included sherwin harris's ex-wife come on back and his daughter leanne's step-sister kristen and a younger step-brother martin come in jonestown this is georgetown go ahead go ahead go ahead they're here they're determined to get in [Music] [Music] i had confided in um my roommate that i wanted to leave and he confided in someone else [Music] what's going on and that was monica dunno i've got to get out of here i didn't trust anyone everybody was watching everyone i had never had a conversation with monica got a plan hell no i thought you did and we began to talk to each other and bolster each other about wanting to leave for many in jonestown the reality was at least as bad as the press reports from what i've seen what was reported was true and it wasn't good such as torture abuse deceit theft faked healings drugging of people punishing of children the drumming up of fear jim jones used fear as his chief method of controlling his people especially those with thoughts of returning to the united states it was just one account after another of how horrible the united states was becoming concentration camps were being constructed for people of color the borders were being patrolled by racist organizations like the ku klux klan you know and when that failed the message was well nuclear war is just around the corner and we were in one of the safest places to ride out nuclear holocaust jim jones determined to keep prying eyes away from his settlement rallied temple members to sign a petition demanding that congressman ryan and his delegation stay out of jonestown i want to see how many of you will sign right now right now and say no no i will not go back the conditions at jonestown were not conducive for someone to think clearly or sharply i was numb i was emotionally mentally and spiritually drained my own personal feeling was i didn't know what was going to happen to me no i will not see any of my relatives this is what you have to do because if your relatives come with congressman ryan if your relatives come with him then your relatives your relatives are no better than he is i was unclear about what the plan exactly was but my focus was of the congressman and getting his assistance running out of options congressman ryan confronted temple members at their headquarters in georgetown the only link to jim jones and jonestown itself i better do this alone uh if i'm not back in say five minutes send in the dogs the house was full of temple members including stephen jones and the rest of the basketball team [Music] hi i'm leo ryan the bad guy hi i remember the congressman showing up i remember having mixed feelings about it are you drawing good to see very outgoing charismatic genuine man and so it seemed to me and you don't get much of that in the temple what's your name what can i do for you mr ryan well i'd like to speak with jim jim's not here you can put me in touch with him and at the same time thinking who do you think you are walking up on our house you're gonna have to leave right let me go ryan you must have heard of me about me stephen jones once or twice oh what are you doing there basketball tournament um us against the guyanese nationals how's it going well sir they kicked our butts good the first two games we're looking for a little revenge well let me know if you can use an extra pair of hands i can't dunk but you know as politicians we pass things really well like basketballs and the buck congressman you can't just come in here as you please lighten up sharon the man's just trying to be friendly might have asked a couple of questions like do you like it there jones telling me how is it you follow us to talk to you well good luck steven uh with the game i mean you're gonna have to leave now mr ryan this is private property okay that's nice meeting you we'll be seeing you again bye-bye there was a point at which my father sent orders funneled through the radio room everything came through there and sharon amos that we were to return to jonestown the basketball team was ordered to come back i want you to come home why why you need it here is why now mclevin's coming back first thing in the morning i want you to be on the truck with him the whole damn bunch of you look you said it yourself we're good we are dad that's all there is to it we're having a good time we're playing basketball [Applause] stephen i think you better come back you don't know what's happening here steven we really need you we're staying mom we got a game against the national team tomorrow how's it gonna look if we just hightail it out of here besides you don't need to speak for him well it's up to you come on no it is not up to him i do not want him having anything to do with that congressman or with the relatives i want him back here now you don't give a damn what happens here i knew had known for a long time my father was nuts i'm one that believes he was he was sick from very early on by the time the congressman came he had only had a few more months at the rate he was going with his drug use he was just slowly killing himself on drugs who do you think's keeping this place i together i am keeping your goddamn place together i know i sent him closer to the edge by refusing to come back at that time there was no denying that he was losing control and to a man like my father it must have been like he was sinking in a in quicksand grabbing at nothing jim jones summoned people's temple lawyer charles gary to handle congressman ryan's visit to jonestown but jones suddenly reversed course and denied entry what do you mean we're not going to jonestown the only goddamn reason i came here is to take ryan to jonestown who the hell changed it sharon you jim did all right it was ryan's fault anyway coming in like he did it's a whole other crap it was jim's decision to cancel the visit you know i've had it with you people there's a plane going back to miami at 1 p.m i'm gonna be on it you hear me listen to me jim i'm a righteous man we are we are a righteous people and they come to destroy what we do we cannot allow them they want to steal our children jim so long so long so long jim cut it now what i'm going to say is very simple you've got two alternatives now the first as you can tell the congress the united states to go to hell you can tell the media to go to hell which is what you've been doing all along over my jetsons you can tell the concerned relatives to go to hell but if you do that i cannot live with it it's the end of the line i won't be with you now the second alternative is what i've been urging you to do all along you can let the media you can let the congressman if you let the concerned relatives in and you can let them see for themselves what a beautiful place we have there calm down then i i don't know what i'm gonna do let's come down finally we got word after negotiations between the congressmen and people's temples lawyers and jones that we would be allowed to head into jonestown the preparation for jonestown before ryan's visit was just like the mayor was visiting or the congressman was visiting you'd paint the house you'd spruce up the plants you'd weed everything would be in a number one condition to make a positive impression we had a lot of rehearsal about what to say to these people if they came in we were rehearsed over and over and over and over again how long have you would you like to stay forever you just can't imagine that all the hundreds of us here are so extremely happy and i love it here nobody to bother me i'm free and i love everything about it now you you tell me those big buildings out there what are you got interesting and how many people would you say on average lives in a house oh five i took a couple houses no no no no no i wouldn't say that i'd say four or five just just don't you go into that okay pass what do you find that's wrong with this place well i don't find anything wrong i had more opportunities here than um any other than i ever had in the states how do you feel about the usa well i feel it's alright for those who want to be that's very good we don't want to say we're pro-soviet or that we're against america you got that i got it monica when you refer to jonestown how do you refer to it as a very nice place there was always an atmosphere of us versus them john's mentioned that congressman ryan was coming concerned relatives were coming journalists who were were evil incarnate were coming and they were coming to destroy us uh people get along white and black together and uh well god i just say it's a community jonestown it's a community all right past the survival of the community rested upon a good a good report from these people coming and leaving without incident and giving wonderful reports on jonestown what are common complaints you hear in the community i don't hear any complaints only praises of our being able to live here in guyana uh my son's here with me and i appreciate being here i enjoy it here uh i've had i've had many more opportunities for for learning trades than i have um what are some of the complaints you hear against the community against the temple uh i don't hear any complaints the only thing i hear is so much people love it here everybody says this is the best thing that's ever happened to them in their whole lives how about you is the best thing ever happened to you the the very best i really appreciate being here i enjoy it that's right thank you thank you leanne's coming here no no that's that's fine i don't need to go to jonestown no if she's coming here then i'll just stay here okay lunch is lunch dinner i really don't care okay hold on hold gardens good no no i'll find it yes okay and linda sharon thank you bye when i got that information that my daughter was going to come down on saturday there was no reason in my mind to at that point to go to jonestown now if it turned out i was being lied to and she didn't show up on saturday i'm going to jonestown i'm going wherever i need to go i'm going to find my daughter congressman ryan chartered a plane to transport relatives and journalists to jonestown hey folks more than 150 miles deep into the jungle the constitution gives him the right to come down here and see us because we are american taxpayers i see the constitution does not give him the right to go wherever he is [Applause] [Music] he come tripping into our house like he owned it tell him sharon amos i heard a lot of dirty things about it well i said you tell him you tell him to go to hell you know what we don't have to tell him anything anyway we don't have to tell him anything and you know what i don't know how long he's going to say but i can assure you if he stays long enough for team he is gonna regret it know that you have never never been loved so much as i love you right now [Applause] monica myself and my roommate did have a meeting about ryan coming the plan was i was going to slip the congressman a note asking for his help to leave this is our chance monica keith what about your sunburn if i tell him he might report us i wrote the note vernon ghazni monica bagby help us get out of johnstown that was the note he's better off here anyway i didn't know whether to take my son was the right thing to do or not i i wasn't thinking clearly [Music] when we flew over the jungle it became pretty clear how remote and inaccessible jonestown really was the plane touched down at an isolated airstrip more than five miles from jonestown when we finally landed on a small dirt airstrip in port kaituma it became clear how difficult it would have been from anyone to leave jonestown when a truckload of people's temple members pulled up with a flatbed we expected that we'd be moving on quickly to jonestown and and started unpacking our gear comes from ryan i'm corporal emo rudder the guy needs the defense force oh thank you very much for coming to meet us uh i've been instructed to inform you that only uh mr gary is to board the truck for jonestown like we're a congressional delegation we're here to inquire into the health and welfare of the people of jonestown my instructions are clear well who are you getting instructions from please return to the plane congressman ryan and assistant here can come with us uh mr gary i was totally i don't ever mind what you've been told i'm telling you if you catch any grief i'll be right there congressman do you want to know the others uh i'm working on it [Applause] don't try and come on your own clearly at that point we were not welcome all we could do was wait finally within a few hours the truck returned to the airstrip anybody that wants to come to johnstown climb on and we were allowed to board it and we rode toward jonestown with several members of the temple let's go i think everyone recognized that there was a potential for danger we were entering a place where not only were we surrounded by miles of jungle but we also were in the control of jim jones and his members and as a practical matter it would be hard to get out without their permission then we pulled into jonestown my first impression was that this place had taken a tremendous amount of work to produce to make something from scratch in the middle of nowhere was an impressive feat attention attention attention reporters are arriving some of them will want to take pictures so anyone who doesn't want their picture taken will be excused there were hundreds of people around the pavilion and we were escorted there directly to the reverend jim jones the uh gentleman of the press have arrived is don harris nbc news nice to meet you reverend jones tim ryderman i've read many of your stories i guess you can only print what they tell you well we tried to get your side of the story haven't had much success that's why i'm here to see the mission for myself good a lot of people have found it to be beautiful paradise he was very cordial but it was still disturbing to see that he appeared weak what really concerned me was the way he spoke mind if i ask you a couple of questions why did you decide to let us in now a year after my first request we got to lose no barbed wire here we don't have three let alone 300 who want to leave we're not violent we don't do violence to anyone but ageism sexism racism all been eliminated elitism is almost eliminated we're marxist in the sense of sharing work and in the distribution of goods and services what about the threats of mass suicide river i only said that it will be better that we commit suicide than kill why hurt social progress he started speaking in a paranoid fashion about his enemies and began to quietly sort of rant about them i cursed the day i was born i don't know why these people hate me so in some ways i feel like uh like a dying man you don't need to put a bullet in my head thank you it was disturbing to to hear him sort of put a figurative gun in the hands of those of us who had come to jonestown to visit it was also disturbing to hear someone who had the lives of so many people in his hands speak that way the plan was i was going to slip on the congressman a note asking for his help in my state of mind didn't know who was who at that time yet i see someone who i think is the congressman who's walking around the perimeter of the assembly if i passed the note and it was unsuccessful i knew i would be killed there was no doubt about it i would be i would be killed [Music] you drop this what was that about i'm stuck i dropped something and i picked it up a very special guest he has uh represented many of us who lived in his district back in california and uh we'd like for you to say a few words to us it wasn't until later and that i found out that that individual was was not the congressman congressman ryan thank you marcel i'm not used to making public speeches yeah don't give me that here i guess i'm very glad to be here i've already met a former student of mine i've already met a former classmate of one of my daughters from mills high school in burlingame this is a congressional inquiry i think all of you know that i'm here to find out more about questions that have been raised about your operations here but i can tell you right now that from the conversations i've had with some of the folks here already tonight that no matter what the comments are that there are some people here believe that this is the best thing that's ever happened to them in their whole lives [Applause] after ryan spoke i was approached by congressman ryan your name vernon gosling did you give this man a note asking me to leave no sound yes sir let me tell you you've got seats on the first plane out of here tomorrow congressman ryan had no idea of what he had walked into at all i'm not sure we should wait till tomorrow congress moves you've got a lot of work to do here if you're in danger you have to know that we'll be fine when the protection of the u.s congress tomorrow and it was apparent after talking to him that he couldn't really conceive the level of danger that he was in on that saturday the last day i wondered just how many other people might want to leave the thing is ryan told me someone else aside from this vern guy approached him running out yeah exactly morning sleep all right oh that was the softest hardwood floor a man could ask for marcelon jones who was uh jim jones wife took some of us throughout the encampment this is my pride and joy i i don't mind saying this is the first home to all 33 children born here in jonestown marcelyn jones was clearly proud of everything that had been built in jonestown the school and the nursery the clinic that provided health care for children that seemed to be what inspired her and sustained her that's some pretty advanced reading those are some pretty advanced kids [Music] oh hi i'll take him from here vernon i i think you're needed back at the pavilion aren't you also have a large nursing staff of course we could always use more there are almost 300 children here in jonestown tim i'm coming out something's going on okay um would you like to uh see the dispensary all right excuse me within hours it became clear that more than just two people who slipped a note to a reporter wanted to come out there were some entire families who stepped forward and informed the congressmen that they wanted to leave with us i'm all right i'm just gonna just say goodbye to some and the tension just radiated out from jones and those groups of potential defectors the whole place was paralyzed stay put i'm gonna i'll have a word with you later all right please don't go anywhere right now i want to talk to you and ask you some questions why are you doing this uh are you lovers no no because you you can have a relationship here we're not lovers don't you talk to any of the reporters all right they're liars they're all liars you don't have to say anything even the ones who lie they always come back they always do always have a place here all right i signed a document that i was leaving my son there of my own free will i didn't know if i was doing the right thing um i signed it how many you got congressman i think we're gonna need another plane as time went on probably about a dozen people had stepped forward and they were insistent on leaving my name is monica bagby i wish to leave jonestown of my own free will and return to the united states is that it um my name is vernon ghazni and i wish to leave jonestown with my own free will and return to the united states i was of a divided mine on one hand i thought my son is black and he's going to be subject to the racism of the uh united states government and i thought that this was the better place for him to be i didn't know i was confused what now now we pack up trucks leaving soon i don't think i ought to go alone no neither that lady said she'd go with me you ought to get someone too when the door swung open there was a number of security guards within the cottage i was petrified i was in extreme fear and terror [Music] what you doing vern he's cracking up what are you doing go ahead pack your things [Music] [Music] so thank you as the potential defectors began gathering up their belongings nbc conducted an interview with jim jones in the pavilion okay reverend ready to go well you never accomplished what you said out i'm a perfectionist i mean we wanted to fade out at the whole arena of public attention but obviously we haven't because of lies i never never understood how people could lie with such total freedom and conviction as the interview went on jones grew more and more tense that's a lie it's a lie who who conspired to kill dr martin luther king malcolm x john kennedy every agency in the whole government is giving us a hard time somebody just doesn't like socialism i think it was sinking in if it hadn't already that this visit was not going to play well outside jonestown i've heard that security guards with guns had gone around to the houses and warned people nobody came to see people with guns i i've strictly prohibited guns you don't have to shoot me because the media smear doesn't i i've given my life for people serving people are you people gonna just just leave us i just beg you please just leave us i'm gonna go say goodbye to them i met with my son briefly and see you soon okay well he wasn't of an age where i could tell him what was happening i just i hugged him i said goodbye to him and that was the last time that i saw him i [Music] i don't know what else to say about that [Music] moment [Music] come back anytime have a place here come back anytime visit your son okay come back anytime always be welcome here reverend can i just ask you could i get your reaction on what's going on here today did you try to stop anyone from leaving no i feel sorry we're being destroyed from within all we want is to be left in peace he looked somewhat broken and crestfallen but angry and what he was saying really was that the defections and some of his members were going to be the undoing and the unmasking of jim jones and people's temple and what was going on inside of jonestown get out now i can still make deadline where's ryan are you staying back to help with the rest of the defectors i mean there's more yeah only he's not saying so thanks everybody ready jim why are you so upset there are only 15 people leaving out of nearly a thousand i mean if 400 people were leaving then i'd be worried things were spiraling out of control there was a crack that it opened and the crack was continuing to open jones was losing control and the whole community in my opinion was going to crack open completely it's only 15 people when i get back i'm going to report to congress that if the 60 people cited by the concerned relatives none of them wanted to leave they said they were completely happy wait wait hey room for one more there's no way he's a defector what why are you leaving i tell you there all right jim this is a wonderful thing you've got going on well it's not me i guess um this changes things doesn't it some things but not everything that convinced the congressman not stay behind and process any more defectors that he needed to leave with us on the truck ah hey you're bleeding congressman it isn't mine what happened a minor disagreement we were in serious danger okay let's roll because the congressman was in some ways our protector to see him with blood spattered on his shirt from his assailant and all disheveled showed just how precarious our situation was i think we wanted to move as quickly as possible down that dirt road and get on a plane with the defectors when that truck is pulling away i have no faith whatsoever that we're ever going to get out of there saturday november 18th i headed out to temple headquarters in lamaha gardens to see my daughter hello uh when i first saw leanne it was like nothing was between us come inside we're just about to sit down we hugged and you know and kissed and it was just uh it was just wonderful to see her i wish you could see the the wonderful work the great work that we do you see there's nothing to be concerned about and i know she felt the same way to see me how long are you thinking of staying a couple of weeks maybe even a month we could tour around you could show me things why don't you two sit down to dinner everything's in the kitchen i won't be a minute it is so good to see you at the end it's been hard and i i i just want to get to know you again and you me would that be would that be all right you must be hungry come on please take care of everyone there everyone jim everybody from georgetown [Applause] everybody relatives too just take revenge [Applause] i don't have to tell the others [Applause] things were going bad we've been ordered to get revenge revenge meant go out and kill people concerned relatives first may be members of the congressman's party but those who had turned against us would have been considered the worst enemies it just took one spark it's time it's done one thread of an insanity to unravel the whole works [Music] what night white night everybody immediately white knight everybody report to the pavilion immediately [Music] it was heavy as i'm pulling and i'm pulling i'm reeling it in and finally i yank it up it's a tire tire just like in the movies and there i am buster keaton looking at it yeah there's a call for you we had just gotten the message and leanne came down and van was having dinner with her father and leanne was told by sharon leanne the orders just come through we have to die okay she very calmly took the news and i was just struck by that well this is really real and and how surreal that was should i go back to dinner you better have him leave your father this is a 21 year old girl who's just been told end the dinner with your father because we're gonna have to kill ourselves so many words and i was just i was overwhelmed with um the fear at that point just dread and fear of what must be going down in jonestown [Music] a large shipment of the liquid-poisoned potassium cyanide had been delivered earlier to jonestown the cyanide was now mixed with sedatives and tranquilizers and added to a fruit-flavored drink i think that for dad to have just gone and found a room somewhere and shot himself one i don't think he was capable of shooting himself two i don't think he could bear to go alone his view of existence was so bleak that he thought it was best for everyone to check out a handful of people with their lives have made our life impossible and we are sitting on a powder keg here and i don't think that this is what we want to do with our baby it has been said by the greatest of prophets from time immemorial no man may take my life from me but i lay my life down [Music] we have been betrayed we have been so horribly betrayed now here's what's going to happen in the matter of a few minutes is that is that one of the people on the plane is gonna it's gonna shoot the pilot and down comes the plane into the jungle and we have better not have any of our children left when it is over because they will parachute in here on us when we got to the airstrip i still had this feeling of impending doom that something was going to happen as people were boarding a tractor load of men returned to the airstrip it was clear to me that there was no real reason for them to be coming back there might well be trouble it was decided that monica and myself were going to go onto the small plane so that plane was boarded first sorry about this folks i'm sorry but let's get safe get on the plane we wanted to make sure that nobody was getting on either of these two planes with weapons because we didn't really know whether the defectors in fact were defectors hey congressman i didn't search him all right excuse me excuse me uh what's this moment please uh what's your name larry lady sorry mary lee is everybody okay he shouldn't have been allowed to come with someone said he might have a gun uh ryan's checking him all right he's not gonna let us leave here jones i mean well we'll be in the air in five minutes thank you that's like good when do i pick you up tomorrow tomorrow yeah whenever you like i like seven in the morning okay good leanne this is [ __ ] man i needed to get away from it i needed to find out for more information maybe gather ourselves and with the hope that we would learn something other than this the madness we were hearing from sharon my ex-wife came out from downstairs where the radio room was and kissed me goodbye on the cheek i just wanna thank you and when she kissed me goodbye that was the that was really goodbye you know i was feeling rather buoyant overall you know we had plans for the next day i felt we're making certain inroads i think they got i felt they got the message see you tomorrow 7 a.m okay pegasus hotel please so i felt very upbeat and they felt that we're making progress okay let's start getting back on the planet everybody spread out [Music] they're killing everyone me yes foreign the gunfire died down then there were several deliberate shots over the space of maybe a half minute and then there was silence anyone who has any dissenting opinion please speak yes christine well i feel like that as long as there's laugh there's hope someday everybody dies someday that hoe runs out i just like to choose my own kind of a death for a change i'm i'm tired of being tormented to hell that's what i'm tired of i ain't ready to die i don't think that you are but uh i look about at the babies and i think they deserve to live you know yeah i agree i agree but don't they also deserve much more don't they deserve peas we all came here for peace and and have we had it no just hold on sister we made it a beautiful day and let's make it a beautiful day that's what i say i tried i tried to stop this thing from happening but now i see i see it as the will the will of sovereign being that this happened to us that we lay down our lives as a protest against what is being done you know the criminality of people the cruelty of people now i i just no i know there is no point there's no point to this [Music] it's all over the congressman has been murdered sharon amos who's one of the small percentage of the temple membership that i viewed as a zealot and um certainly by the end days she was every bit as sick as my father was i know that woman loved her children dearly i see money and this is in no way an explanation or an excuse from a defense of what she did but for her she thought she was saving them if we give them our children and our children will suffer forever is [Music] what a legacy they get us some medication it's simple there's no convulsions it's just simple just please get some you know so much of it feels like fate every possible ingredient that could be thrown into this disastrous recipe was thrown in there you know you've got my father who's already unraveling are you gonna separate yourself from who shot the congressman i don't know and you've got a demoralized malnourished exhausted populace and the people of jonestown were just they were also crazy on some level because of the what they've been put through by my father it's just simple just please get some just get it and then who were the first to die the children were the first to die all they're doing is taking a drink a guy in a defense force will be here i'm telling you get moving get moving get moving i'm sure many people believed that they were lost that they were going to come in with force and their children were going to be taken from them and they were going to they were going to die or or suffer greatly all they're doing is taking a drink mother mother please mother mother please can some people assure these kids of the relaxation of stepping over to the next plane they set an example for the others they take it to fall asleep that's what that and even those that still wanted to get out of it where were they going to go at that point how are they going to get out of it it's about more than you know jim jones saying line up and take the poison it's time to go oh my god oh my god no no no no no no [Music] [Music] told me to go he wants me to tell the world what happened here okay the truth of it [Music] is a million times preferable to ten more days of this life if you knew what was ahead of you if you knew what was that of you you'd be glad to be stepping over them if we can't live in peace then let's die in peace [Applause] we've said 1 000 people say we don't like the way the world is [Music] take our life from us we lay it down we got tired suicide became an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world [Music] after a while i stood and started to work my way back to the airstrip wanted to see what had happened to everyone else i saw several bodies on the ground it appeared from the wounds of some of them that temple members had gone around and finished them off with shots to the head don harris of nbc [Music] congressman ryan greg robinson the photographer with me [Music] bob brown of nbc patricia parks one of the defectors all of them were dead the ambush at the airstrip five people were murdered including congressman leo ryan eleven others were wounded but survived including ryan's aid jackie spear and defector monica bagby jones sent gunmen to the airstrip to kill the congressman and others so that he could then turn to his followers and say no country no place wants us any longer because some of our people have now killed the congressman there's no hope [Music] till the last possible minute you claim to to hope that people are alive and a young woman came out and walked up to me and said sharon's killed herself and killed her children she believed that her children were going to be taken to horrible circumstances and that death was better for them as i opened the door the first thing i saw was the babies and and you know they were dead clearly dead clearly gone it was just it's horrible and leanne wanted so much to to to please her mother the love of a daughter for a mother there's probably nothing like it and what i learned later was that they actually killed each other by slitting each other's throats i came to several hours later and i knew it was several hours later because it was dark i could hear people walking through the bushes what it was in fact was people looking for survivors only a handful of temple members inside jonestown survived some escaped into the jungle 76 year old hyacinth thrash had hidden under her bed [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] so [Music] so lost everything that day i lost brothers and sisters and dear friends people i'd known my entire life and the dearest person on the planet to me which was my mother she resisted and physically restrained um until the last child died and then she walked up and took the poison herself my father well i can tell you i've never grieved his death i remember feeling disgust that he didn't go the way everybody else went not only did he have to be shot in the head but he had to have somebody else do it and i still believe it was because he couldn't bear to go out the way he was seeing other people go out [Music] for the entire incident i blame jim jones it's as if he was determined to make sure nobody won if he wasn't going to win nobody was going to win the people that died in jonestown were my family and they were my family when my family wasn't my family and they're all just just really few wonderful good people who wanted to make a positive change in the world one of the myths of jonestown was that it was a mass suicide whereas in fact it was a mass murder a lie what can i do [Music] i just thank you please it happened because jim jones didn't want word to get out to the outside world what was going on inside his community he didn't want the defectors to tell their stories and they didn't want the reporters to tell their stories and he didn't want the congressman to tell his story the first time i thought about the consequences of jonestown and what had happened when i was in a military hospital in puerto rico and a military psychiatrist came to speak to me and tell me that my son was dead the loss of my son has been the most difficult thing in my life to deal with my sense of remorse my sense of guilt by going back to that moment a million times and making a different decision to find some level of peace and some level of forgiveness has been the most challenging thing for me [Music] i love my daughter very much i've lost her i'm suffering truly suffering with the grief of that all these you know for years and i came to see that i was really holding on to the grief as if i as if i let it go i'd be letting go of her i said that's not right and i came to see that i could hold my daughter as a loving memory forever and let the grief go [Music] there were a lot of reasons i think that people ended up taking the poison i don't know who took it who was injected i think more than anything it was out of loyalty to everybody else there in my case if i had been there i know i had a strong will to live but i think that it was so important to me or how i was perceived by the people of my community was so important to me that it might have taken me to my death [Music] ask yourself what would someone have to tell you or what would someone have to do to you to get you to do something that you couldn't possibly believe you you're capable of and examine that learn from it don't judge it don't stand separate from it be willing to stand in the shoes of the people you're judging and i hope that you know 900 plus people that they died and the way they died might offer us something so that their lives won't be in vain [Music] man [Music] hmm [Music] um [Music] hmm [Music]

Channel: Retold

Views: 998,916

Rating: 4.6623945 out of 5

Keywords: Retold, Documentary, Docudrama, Docuseries, Reenactment, Docudrama full episodes, Feature documentary, Jonestown: paradise lost, Jonestown paradise lost documentary, Jonestown massacre guyana, Jonestown documentary, Mass suicide, Jonestown, Guyana, Jones, Jim jones, jim jones recordings, jim jones documentary, cult documentary

Id: YW8MbTA2WpM

Length: 99min 16sec (5956 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 30 2021