Chances are, you've
heard the saying, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid." Super tang! It refers to Jim
Jones, a cult leader who gave his followers
cyanide-laced punch, resulting in the mass murder suicide
of more than 900 people. But why would so many
follow him to their deaths? Well, today, we're
going to take a look at what life was like in
the Peoples Temple cult before the Jonestown Massacre
killed over 900 people. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. And let us know in the
comments below what other infamous
historical stories you would like to hear about. OK, let's all remember to watch,
but not drink the Kool-Aid. [MUSIC PLAYING] Whoever coined the expression,
"Women and children first," was definitely not
thinking about Jonestown. But nonetheless, Jones
and his loyalists served cyanide-laced Flavor
Aid to Jonestown's youth before anyone else. Some adults even
orally administered cyanide-filled
syringes to children. According to a
survivor, many adults lost their will to live
after this incident. Tracy Parks, a survivor who was
just 12 years old at the time, claimed there was child
labor at Jonestown. After Jones's gunmen shot Parks'
mother, she and her sister hid in the jungles of Guyana,
while the rest of Jones' followers drank the poison. Jonestown ultimately
claimed the lives of 909 people, 1/3 of
whom were children. In 2008, CNN learned Jones had
started ordering and receiving shipments of
cyanide in 1976, two years before that fateful day. These shipments
are strong evidence that he had been planning
that day for years. In fact, it's
especially macabre given that the majority of
Jonestown residents had yet to move to
Guyana in 1976-- that is, he was still
bringing in new followers knowing what he was planning. To legally buy cyanide, Jones
secured a jeweler's license, as jewelers could use
cyanide to clean gold. Then he started experimenting. Six months before, Jonestown's
doctor wrote the following to Jones, "Cyanide is one of
the most rapidly acting poisons. I would like to give about
two grams to a large pig to see how effective
our batch is." [MUSIC PLAYING] The infamous day ultimately
took place on November 18, 1978, but Jones held rehearsals first. Known as "White
Nights," Jones would shout through the
loudspeakers that surrounded the Jonestown complex. "White Night! White Night! Get to the pavilion! Run! Your lives are in danger!" Jones heightened his
followers' sense of danger by telling them how outsiders
were coming to take them out. Even worse, Jones had armed
people waiting in the jungle. To the followers, these
rehearsals seemed far too real. However, it turned out the guns
were firing rubber bullets, and it was all a ruse to
terrify the people who lived at Jonestown. Next, Jones brought out
supposedly poisoned Flavor Aid for his followers to drink. No one perished
during White Nights, as the drinks were
safe to consume. After the drill, Jones
returned to the loudspeakers, saying, "Now I know
I can trust you. Go home, my darlings. Sleep tight." Though the Peoples Temple
preached abstinence from drugs, Jim Jones himself reportedly
disregarded this tenant and freely abused them. Teri Buford O'Shea, a survivor
of the Jonestown compound, believed those illegal narcotics
may have even contributed to Jones' mental demise. O'Shea later discovered
that Jones was using to manipulate his followers. According to her,
Jones' followers didn't know he was an addict. She claimed that substances
were anathema at the temple, and residents weren't
supposed to use them. She said after the
fact, she learned that Jones had been drugging
some people to keep them from trying to leave, to keep
them from trying to descent, and to control them
in different ways-- all unbeknownst to the masses. [MUSIC PLAYING] It was after the arrival of
US representative Leo Ryan in Guyana that reportedly
instigated the terrible day of Jonestown residents. Inquiring into the health and
welfare of American citizens who are here. Ryan, then the state
representative of California, had received complaints
about the settlement. Family members of
Jonestown residents and some of the cults defectors
had notified authorities of the happenings at Jonestown. One of those defectors
was Deborah Layton, the sister of one of Jones'
most trusted cronies. Layton snuck away from
the compound in Guyana and went to the embassy to
tell officials what she knew. After listening to many concerns
and stories, Ryan and 23 others boarded a plane to the small
South American country. Among them was
Jackie Speier, who was then Ryan's legislative
counsel and later became a state
representative of California. Speier said that after
waiting two days for Jones to let them into
the compound, they interviewed Jonestown
residents and witnessed seemingly normal behavior. However, a resident passed a
note to Don Harris, a reporter for NBC News who had accompanied
the Congressman, saying that the residents
wanted to leave. According to Speier, more and
more people wanted to leave, and it became clear
that one plane wasn't going to be enough. The Congressman decided he was
going to stay behind and take the next airlift out. It was so emotionally raw. Sadly, the reports of
Jones stockpiling weapons turned out to be accurate. After US representative
Leo Ryan and his group attempted to remove people
from the Jonestown compound, Jim Jones sent gunmen on a
tractor trailer to stop them. They opened fire on Ryan, a few
journalists, and cult members, with 10 others shot
and assumed dead. Earlier that day, 11 people
left Jonestown in the morning. They had no idea of
the horror to come. According to escapee
Leslie Wilson, it was a slave camp
run by a madman. Though they had
come to Jonestown expecting an
egalitarian paradise, the reality was
dramatically different. Wilson called their 30-mile
trek to another town "a walk of freedom." Jones wasn't just
violent with outsiders, survivor Laura Johnston
Kohl said that Jones once pointed a pistol at her while
she fell asleep in a meeting. Teri Buford O'Shea remembers
Jones holding a gun at her. O'Shea recalled that
Jones also beat people for a range of infractions,
which varied in severity. The worst beating
she witnessed was when somebody was accused of
being abusive towards children. Jones took hold of a
rubber hose and proceeded, in front of others, to
beat this man's privates. Hey, Weird History, we've got a
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to sign up. [MUSIC PLAYING] To paint himself as a
Jesus-like character, Jones frequently healed
people at his services and even claimed he
could cure cancer. He also alleged he was
a psychic who could see events that had yet to unfold. Laura Johnston Kohl said
that while she believed in Jones and his
healings at the time, she later learned the truth. It turned out Jones
had staged his antics, and cult members had helped
set up Jones' psychic moments. Though these allegations
remain unproven, Jones and his followers may
be responsible for more deaths than the ones in Guyana. In fact, some believe
the Peoples Temple were behind as many as eight
prior to the relocation to South America. In one such instance,
a follower named Truth Hart had purportedly
perished from congestive heart failure, but later
investigators have suggested that her cause may
not have been so clear cut. Some temple members have
claimed that Jones facilitated her demise after she
started to disagree with him and expressed her desire
to leave the cult. Supposedly, Jones ordered
a Peoples Temple nurse to give Hart something that
could induce a heart attack. Jones then predicted
Hart's heart attack as a show of his
clairvoyant powers. [MUSIC PLAYING] In 2003, Dr. Philip G.
Zimbardo, a psychology professor at Stanford
University, theorized that Jones might have learned
some of his control techniques from George Orwell's
novel, 1984. In fact, in his 25
years of research and extensive interviews
with Jonestown survivors, Zimbardo found several
remarkable similarities between Jones' methods and those
portrayed in the famous novel. For example, Orwell's
idea of Big Brother may have existed in Jonestown,
as Jim Jones made cult members spy on each other
and used loudspeakers throughout the compound
to continually broadcast his voice. Jones also forced his followers
to give him information that he could later
use against them, which is similar to what
happened to the main character in 1984. Also, many who
read 1984 remember Newspeak, the
propaganda language used in the novel's fictional
dystopia of Oceania. Well, Jones adopted
an analogous measure by making his followers
thank him for food and work. According to
Zimbardo's research, Jones even commissioned
a song that his followers were required to sing at
Jonestown about the advent of the year 1984. [MUSIC PLAYING] Jeff Guinn, an investigative
journalist and author of the book, The
Road to Jonestown-- Jim Jones and the Peoples
Temple, said in an interview, "If Jim Jones had
been hit by a car and killed somewhere toward
the end of the 1950s, he'd be remembered today
as one of the great leaders in the early Civil
Rights Movement." Jones' charisma, along
with his convincing blend of Christian and
Marxist beliefs, attracted many people
to the Peoples Temple. The vast majority
of his followers were African-American,
as Jones claimed to be advancing racial equality. In addition, the
church had connection with the Nation of Islam
and the Black Panthers. And Jones worked
to end segregation in places such as restaurants
and movie theaters. Jones also adopted
and raised children from diverse backgrounds. Jones initially pitched
the vision of Jonestown as a paradise free
from the inequality present in the United States. However, this was not
the reality at Jonestown, and just like a psychic powers,
his belief in civil rights may have never been
anything more than a ruse. [MUSIC PLAYING] The choice to settle the
Peoples Temple in Guyana was intentional. Jones needed an
English-speaking country with a large Black population
and a socialist government. Aside from Guyana, Jones'
only other option was Grenada. However, another
party ultimately outbid the Peoples Temple for
the plot of land in Grenada, so Guyana it was. And Guyana benefited from
the deal with Jim Jones. The land the Peoples
Temple used was previously an area that prompted a
conflict with Venezuela. The Jonestown
settlement gave Guyana an advantage when it came to
potential future conflicts with Venezuela. If Venezuela decided to
come after the land again, they would have to deal with
nearly 1,000 American citizens. After Jonestown, the remains
were transported back to the United States. But some were unable to
be claimed by relatives. Many people at Jonestown
had changed their names. And though some had records
of their real identities, not all did. Some took on the
last name "Jones" to show their
loyalty to Jim Jones, while others assumed
traditional African names. This was a popular practice
among African-Americans at the time, independent
of Jonestown, and the primary reason why
many of the Jonestown victims went unidentified. Others changed their
names to support the ideologies of Che
Guevara and Lenin, the former leader
of the Soviet Union. Allegedly, Jim Jones
outlawed the name "Linda" after a woman with the same
name defected and left the cult. However, it's unclear
who, if anyone, changed her name
because of this decree. So what do you think? Why do you think so many
people followed Jim Jones? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
