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Sep 26, 2017 · On the 18th of November 1978 more than 900 American citizens committed mass suicide in a small commune carved out of the South American jungle.
Mar 1, 2020 · The following four photos were taken by an unknown member of the US military team tasked with removing bodies from Jonestown. Photo courtesy of Clarence Cooper.
- Julian Morgans
- The Peoples Temple Appeals to The Disenfranchised
- A Move to California For Jim Jones' Followers
- Establishing Jonestown in Guyana
- The Beginning of The End For The Peoples Temple
- Mass Murder and Suicide in Jonestown
- Peoples Temple Survivors
For people like Laura Johnston Kohl, Jim Jones' Peoples Temple was ripe with potential. As the 1960s was a great awakening for those who were politically inclined, there was an unprecedented urge for people to come together, especially when certain figureheads — like JFK or MLK — for the dreams of societal change were murdered. "Right when I was be...
The Peoples Temple began in Indiana but relocated to California's Redwood Valley in 1965 before settling in San Francisco in 1972. What drew people to Jones' congregation was his ability to combine evangelical Christianity, a call for radical social change, and appeal to people's desires for a better life. Kohl had always been an atheist so it wasn...
As a member of the Planning Commission, Kohl and a few others accompanied Jones to Guayana in the winter of 1975. When Kohl first arrived, however, Jonestown barely resembled a livable space. "Some roads had already been cleared...it was very, very primitive," she recalled. "There were a few buildings that were constructed, and about 20 or 30 were ...
Life in Jonestown was to be simple and full of hard work. "One of the things that happened was when somebody came in from the United States, their stuff would come through and we'd go, 'well you don't need any high heels, so we're gonna sell these. You don't really need a watch cause we have bells that we use," Kohl said. For Mike Carter, who moved...
Eventually, the commune's grip on its members tightened. Jones' mental and physical health deteriorated and it showed in how he ran his community. He established the "Red Brigade," which was a collection of armed guards meant to defend the perimeter of the settlement with guns and machetes. He had become concerned about infiltration from outsiders,...
"I believed in the promise of Jonestown, a type of utopia where people were equal and we worked together to build a self-sustaining community," said Carter. "They were people, mostly good and most with a desire to make the world a better place. There were a lot of children in Jonestown, including my child and my nephews." Carter and Kohl are consid...
Sep 6, 2018 · The now-called Jonestown Massacre saw the largest deliberate loss of American life until 9/11. Today , 40 years on, the event holds a unique place in US history as well as in the psychology ...
- Julie Fenwick
May 12, 2020 · New declassified FBI photos from the Jonestown Massacre have laid bare the horrific scenes which greeted first responders who arrived at the scene of a bloodbath. On November 18, 1978, US cult leader Jim Jones ordered his followers to kill themselves by drinking flavoured drink mixed with cyanide.
- Anthony Blair
Nov 16, 2018 · Air Force crewmen at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware unload a casket containing the body of the first Jonestown cult mass suicide victim to arrive in the United States. Jack Kanthal—AP...
Apr 20, 2022 · The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in with an exhibition of 25 objects featuring prominent people involved in the scandal.
