Return to Jonestown | Survivors revisit site 40 years after the tragedy | Sunday Night

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[Music] mother mother mother mother mother down your life with your child but don't deserve Amazing Grace how sweet the sound it's taken a lot of courage for Leslie Wagner Wilson to return here like but 40 years after surviving the horror of Jonestown she is finally ready to face what happened in this South American jungle these other faces of the lost [Music] they set out to build a paradise on earth the aim of it was to build a utopian society the peace the beauty the sense of accomplishment and responsibility and comradery that's here we are making a place of refuge for all of you here would have been possible had it not been for Jim Jones but it ended with one of the greatest crimes of modern time Jonestown was hell on earth they changed it shackled us together they welded the shackles on burning our ankles it was a tragedy of epic proportion more than 900 did it was cold a mess suicide but tonight those who lived through the horror reveal an even darker truth their injection marks and the shoulder blades and I was like 900 people so no it wasn't all the suicide what happened in Jonestown was not a mass suicide it was mass murder [Music] Georgetown the capital of Guyana a former British colony on the northeastern coast of South America it's a place of intense religious beliefs and deep superstition it's a busy spot Georgetown though it's very busy 40 years later amazing I'm with Jonestown survivors Leslie Wagner Wilson and tombow yeah it's nice to find four fires that haven't been shipped for two months before you give them they're already ripened fig bananas you know I used to work on a banana car thank you what's your name - Shauna beautiful name just like today 40 years ago the welcome was warm and friendly Jonestown was going to be a utopia that people that wanted to go they could go they could live it could work and that it was gonna be a beautiful thing we're all gonna live together in one community the dream began with an ambitious young preacher in the u.s. state of Indiana and his church called the People's Temple at a time of racial tension in the US the Reverend Jim Jones championed equality Leslie was a teenager when her family joined the church what was he like in your eyes insuring Jones is very Chris mattock and I I grew to love him I was in awe loved him and I was at all of the power that I thought he had at that time Tom bugs family was also captivated by Jones's charisma he wasn't there just to preach a story he was there to fight for you too and take on your battles with his Elvis hair and his dark glasses did women find him attractive very much so I would say a lot of the women in the church found him very attractive and and powerful so there was those were two very appealing things that he had for them others like Tim Carter and his brother and sister wanted to help Jones build his socialist navona in terms of actually feeding people paying people's doctor's bills paying people's attorneys bills escorting seniors to the bank so they wouldn't get mugged I actually was a part of a part of that at the heart of the People's Temple with Jim Jones's own family his wife Martha Lane and nine children including their adopted African American son Jim Jones jr. brought me out of the orphanage first nigger adopted and then in state of Indiana gave me great education build self-esteem so yeah I loved him I was able by the mid-70s the People's Temple was growing in popularity and Jones launched a bold plan to build a settlement for his followers far from prying eyes in the remote jungle of Guiana creating this wonderful perfect world it would have been nice if it had been a perfect world that was the intent we're traveling 200 kilometers from the capital to the patch of jungle where Jones had his followers build a new society he called Jonestown it's hard to fathom just how remote this place is as Tom Leslie and I fly in all we see is the thick green canopy where once there was a thriving community of more than a thousand believers Jonestown has turned into an absolute village really you have a heaven across the sea waiting for you joins travels between America and his fledgling settlement in Guiana when fascist terror brings concentration camps you have a home these lovely people are all happy none of them want to return they're delighted with this lovely life yeah beautiful trees flowers his films capturing the wide-eyed wonder of his followers it's such a joy and great pleasure being here because of Father's love father father loves all of this among them team count'em you could sit here and talk all day long and no words could describe the peace the beauty the sense of accomplishment and responsibility and comradery that's here it's a it's overwhelming it really is I was excited about it I loved what I was doing so if you love the work that you're doing it's not work and it was actually the first time in my life when I really recognized and fell in love with the value of work rice black eyed peas Jones even shows off a box of kool-aid the cordial which would become a chilling symbol of the tragedy that would soon unfold kool-aid icing frost icing various kind of cookies [Music] as we land at the airstrip near Jonestown the memories come flooding back we went into Jonestown and we started you know you can start seeing the lights then you started hearing people saying Lesley came here in early 1978 full of hope her husband and three year old son Jakari had arrived earlier to help establish the jungle outpost seeing the children play was one of the most incredible things because you have all these children from different backgrounds right you have this rainbow of children and they're walking and they're hugging each other you know they've got their arm around each other like their brothers and sisters and that's how they looked at each other it was a beautiful place but soon enough descent begins to emerge we don't feel comfortable of always living over in the US the People's Temple is being investigated as a dangerous cult fearing arrest Jim Joy's flees America in 1978 to live full-time at Jonestown the change when Jones got there I would say became rather dramatic rather quickly you're no longer working eight hours a day 12 hours isn't uncommon and then going into a meeting that evening that would go into many hours into the night and having to get back up six o'clock in the morning it started all over again you know as more people came the less food we received and I believe our children were being they were nutritionally starved so it just began to be to become worse than of course Jim with his ranting and raving Jim began to get more paranoid and the camp became more paranoid it was living on the edge was you can trust anybody because every time there was something small you know someone will go tell Jim by now the utopian dream is slipping away and Jim Jones is preparing his followers for the ultimate expression of their devotion unmask suicide he holds a series of dress rehearsals called White Nights what a White Nights White Nights are when Jim would have us drink pretend to drink poison he would cause to the pavilion asked us to but she like was a revolutionary suicide when the hell wouldn't be ready for a white night how do you feel about you may die the night he was starting to cross over into the demented mentality because now he's starting to talk about how they're coming to get him and all this stuff that the government is trying to take him down the CIA was coming after all you're in this what was meant to be utopia Jim Jones arrives things start changing how many times did it cross your mind to get the hell out of there and how many times did you try I would say it really started within about eight months to a year of Jones arriving there there really wasn't anywhere to go Tom makes a break for it with his friend Brian they were captured and brought back to face the full fury of Jones and his vengeful devotees you and Brian you are dragged into the central pavilion there's a crowd around this is what happened you can hear the crowd bang for blood but the most shocking voice in the recording is Tom's own mother calling for his execution how does that leave you feeling 40 years old that was part of the way that families would be divided by now many of the cult members have become so blinded by their faith in Jones they've turned on their families back in the u.s. I like to make my so called dad and my sister and stabbed them to death with a pair of scissors and run piece by piece through garbage disposal [Music] Jones relishes the blood lust and urges them on I believe and that's kind of killing some of this shit that they ought to be dead Jones is using amphetamines to stay awake and he's ranting over the loudspeaker at all hours Jones warns of an almighty battle to save the People's Temple from interfering Outsiders charismatic preacher Jim Jones has built a commune in the remote rainforest of Guyana his followers call him father and obey his orders without question these lovely people are all happy none of them want to return they're delighted with this lovely life but the US government is investigating claims some are being held against their will in November 1978 Californian congressman Leo Ryan flies down to take a closer look he has a TV crew with him and today we are following the same route they took into Jonestown it's thick jungle extreme humidity and stinking hot as they drive in under the welcome sign at the gates of Jonestown the congressman and his entourage have no idea what lies ahead at first Jones and his cult members pretend all is normal you're happy here I'm very happy here it's the best place I've ever been [Applause] and a concert is held in the pavilion for the visitors congressman Ryan seems convinced I think that all of you know that I'm here to find out more about questions have been raised about your operation you know I can tell you right now the fun a few conversations I've had with some of the folks here already this evening that whatever the comments are there some people here who believe that this is the best thing you've ever had done their whole life but all is not as it seems and someone slips a note to the news crew asking for help to escape they confront Jones last night someone came and passed me this note and so we're talking but he wants to be sunnier if Jones sounds so sure about this why is one leg ascending doesn't it concern you though that this man for whatever reason what are you people in your group people when he games friend they lie they lie what can I give out lies are you people don't leave us I just played you please leave us bill we won't bother nobody anybody wants to get out of here can get out of here with tension rising Leslie Wagner Wilson her three-year-old son Jakari and a small group of other residents secretly escape into the jungle Leslie is terrified her husband Joe who was a temple security guard will find her your Jordan family I would anticipate a bullet I believe that my husband will kill me and he would hate you Cory back he would have just killed you then and there he would have pulled the trigger and that's hard to talk about or you know reconcile that within myself that he would actually do that but I have no doubt that Joe will kill me back in the pavilion more people are telling the congressman's staff they want to leave and what is your wish today it's chaos some are desperate to get out and others remain loyal to joins in the confusion Tim Carter sees someone lunge at congressman Ryan almost suddenly pulled out a knife and said all right MF you're going to die all three of us jumped on him [Music] Leo Ryan is unharmed but the chaos only seems to fuel Jones's mania you could see the fury in Jones's eyes fearing for their lives the congressman's team and about 30 others decide to leave do we get to their report we unload we're waiting for the second plane to show up because there's too many of us for this one crap Tom makes it on the first plane with more than a dozen other people the congressman and the TV crew decide to wait on the tarmac for the next plane a tractor pulling a trailer load of gunmen arrives they open fire the cameraman still soon as his shot I just see commotion up the window most of us are on the plane some of us aren't and they start shooting at everybody the lady sitting in front of me they shot her in the back of the head her brains fell at my feet that's when I knew close the door or die there's no choices to it so I jumped up I grab the cables and I got the door about half way and I couldn't get no further and my sister got behind me grabbed me and pulled on me in between the two of us and that's when we both got shot we got the door closed and then that's when these two stops shooting at the plane they go around start shooting everybody outside and a lot of them they did it like a point-blank shot just make sure they killed congressman Ryan and several others are killed after a few minutes we lure the the door back down we go back outside and if somebody screams are coming back they're coming back and so me my sister and three others we ran directly into the jungle as fast as we could [Music] as Tom and four others hide out in the jungle a few kilometers away Leslie and her group are also struggling through the dense rainforest she's scared hungry lost and tired and all the while carrying a frightened child her three-year-old son Jakari everybody lizard sauce and scare because we thought at any moment at any moment we'll be killed that was a reality of that that was a reality but we were willing to die at least trying at least try back at the settlement Jones learns of the slaughter on the Airstream it's all over all of them and turns it into a celebration what a legacy what a legacy yeah sitting on his makeshift throne under this ironic motto Jones finally gives the order to begin what he'd planned all along revolutionary suicide my Kilburn hurry the followers of Jim James hoped to build a utopia in the jungle of Guiana but by late November 1978 Jonestown is in chaos a US congressman investigating the cult has been shot dead and now Jones gathers his 900 followers together the time has come to make the ultimate sacrifice a deadly cocktail of grape flavored cordial laced with cyanide is mixed in vats first the children mothers hold their infants on their laps syringing the poisonous liquid into their tiny little mouths on the tapes we hear their crime very back you come and try and keep your children come little children and reassure them on crying from pain it's just a little bitter tasting that they're not crying out of any pain one by one more than 300 children are given the poison patient you can hear one woman on the tape Christine Miller pleading for the children's lives I thought I'm afraid that I don't think I don't think you are but uh I look at our babies and I think they live I agree you know it is but also they deserve what's more that is their piece and I'm gonna tell you Christine without me life has no meaning friend you'll ever have Christine Miller is not the only voice of dissent Tim Carter remembers hearing Jones's wife Marceline trying to stop the murders married Marcy screaming stop - stop - stop this is why he's screaming you got to stop this and a lot of crying and a lot of screaming but joins ignores his wife's please the last words I heard was mother mother mother in his very condescending voice mother mother mother please down your life with your child but don't do this there are still hundreds of adults alive so now the vats of poison are brought out some willingly some forced by armed guard they drink the poison laced liquid the world called kool-aid but it is in fact the cheaper knockoff flavor aid mixed with cyanide [Music] don't be the prey over the next few hours six hundred adults are poisoned Leslie Wagner Wilson's husband Joe mother sister brother three-year-old niece and 18-month old nephew are among the dead was it suicide or murder I believe there was some that did drink the potion I believe that but I believe there were murders because they were injection marks and the shoulder blades and out I means like 900 people so no it wasn't all the suicide I've never believed that I know there was reports that my sister fought and that would be my sister and she was one of I'm sure hundreds that fought team Coty's son is poisoned so is his wife but such is the hold that Joan still has over Tim he willingly carries out one last request for the man he calls father as hundreds died Tim Carter and two other joins staffers flee into the jungle with briefcases stuffed with a million dollars in cash it's Jones's bizarre fantasy that it goes to the Communist Russians at the Embassy in Georgetown meanwhile in Georgetown some of Jones's followers including his son Jim jr. are playing in a basketball tournament they get orders over a two-way radio to take their own lives did you ever think it would ever happen no no even when my father told me on the radio that they were gonna do that I argued with them saying that there has to be another way I think the phrase he used was we're going to visit miss mr. Frazier and that that was a code for revolutionary suicide but Jim Jones jr. defies his father and urges others to do the same we had to live and move forward so that was that was that was my focus the body count was gonna stop basketball saved your life didn't it yeah yeah clearly if I wasn't playing basketball I wouldn't be sitting there talking Leslie and her son Jakari survived too because they also defied John's escaping the madness by fleeing into the jungle you got out with your baby I got out with my son yes I did freedom at last we may we did it we did it we all did it Tom Berg his sister and three other teenagers also find a refuge in the jungle they're exhausted and delirious as they finally reach a river luckily one of the people who were coming up that in a canoe was one of the very same people who taught me most everything I know about the jungle and he's yelling my name and so I turn to my sister I said we can come on any words to describe that emotion of coming out of the jungle hearing your name knowing you were safe I was just a good it was a good feeling [Music] but the feeling of relief is short-lived as they learn 918 people are dead [Music] Jim Jones doesn't drink a cyanide-laced poison he dies from a gunshot wound to the head it's unclear whether he shot himself do you remember the sign that Jim James used to have behind his throne those who fell to study the past are doomed to repeat it is that the one you're referring to what do we learn from that don't ever think you're actually in control don't think that you are by some means given the right to control other people's lives nobody's entitled to that grace house Leslie lost most of her family in the godforsaken forest of Jonestown this is a final goodbye this is a final goodbye to say that I recognize you I know you I love you and you know you're always in lowered she's now finally able to lay to rest the ghosts of the past thank you so grateful for you sometimes 40 years now I feel this lightness I made this I feel this lightness I feel this I felt I felt the spirits I felt like okay I can let you know now I feel I love you I'll always love you but I can release you now [Music] you

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Channel: Sunday Night

Views: 364,191

Rating: 4.8815603 out of 5

Keywords: Sunday Night, Channel 7, Australia, Current Affairs, world news, headlines, story, stories, Melissa Doyle, Jonestown, Jonestown Massacre, Jim Jones, Kool-aid, Koolaid, cyanide, massacre, tragedy, cult, cults, Peoples Temple, People's Temple, history, anniversary, 40th anniversary, 40 years, true crime, 1970s, 70s, port kaituma airstrip shootings, historical events, the truth, true story, truth cults, us congressman, Jim Jones Jr, Leslie Wagner-Wilson, Thom Bogue, Tim Carter

Id: xNY2yGA1fNQ

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 29min 49sec (1789 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 28 2018

Reddit Comments

I don't want to see anybody making jokes about the Jonestown Massacre.

The punch-lines are all too long.

👍︎︎ 5 👤︎︎ u/BuccaneerRex 📅︎︎ Nov 01 2018 🗫︎ replies