Rev. Jim Jones and the People's Temple

[baroque1]

Elizabeth, If you go to http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/ and use their search feature and type in Sharon Amos it will bring up many articles about her.

Here is a good link for stories related to her oldest daughter Lian, who sharon murdered. The stories from Lians father and brother are particularly heartbreaking. http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJones...ianeSplash.htm

[baroque1]

here it is: the video footage that was shot in Guyana the last two days before everyone died

News coverage
An hour-long compilation of NBC footage – primarily scenes from Jonestown that NBC cameraman Bob Brown filmed, but also including some early scenes from the military’s walk-through of Jonestown afterwards – appears here. There is a great deal of material not previously released, almost all of it of the living people of Jonestown. There are also some omissions, such as most of the footage from the airstrip (including the few seconds from the shootings themselves), plus the entirety of the interview between Don Harris and Jim Jones, as well as the film from Congressman Leo Ryan’s first few days in Georgetown. But the clarity of the film and the vibrancy of the colors puts a human dimension on the tragedy which is unique and irreplaceable.

[baroque1]

and some powerful photographs of the US Military tending to the 918 bodies decomposing in the tropics of Guyana

http://cryptome.org/eyeball/jonestown/jonestown.htm

[baroque1]

Its Nov 18th~~ In remembrance of the victims of Jonestown

[pkstracy]

Thirty five years ago today.

[pkstracy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peoplestemple/with/4802226106/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peoples...1090/lightbox/ Mr Muggs

[cindyt]

RIP all the innocent dead.

[TheDude]

Sorry to bump it up but I just watched a really interesting documentary/reinactment on Netflix instant if anyone is interested its called Jonestown: Paradise Lost.

Found it on youtube as well its from 2007.

[StewartGilliganGriffin]

Yeah that comes on cable from time to time. I watch it whenever I see it

[Jenivere2011]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peoplestemple/with/4802226106/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peoples...1090/lightbox/ Mr Muggs

I just read that Jim's wife shot Mr. Muggs, twice, then their two dogs. The poor animals at Jonestown were either poisoned or shot. That was some sick stuff.

[TheDude]

I just read that Jim's wife shot Mr. Muggs, twice, then their two dogs. The poor animals at Jonestown were either poisoned or shot. That was some sick stuff.

I remember seeing a picture taken from near the porch area and there was a dog which was hogtied. Terrible that even the animals couldn't get away from Jim Jones insanity.

[baroque1]

I just read that Jim's wife shot Mr. Muggs, twice, then their two dogs. The poor animals at Jonestown were either poisoned or shot. That was some sick stuff.

Where did you read that? Mr Muggs was, indeed shot but I have never read that his wife did it

[pkstracy]

This one just haunts me. Hearing the tapes and the one woman pleading with them not to do it, that they could just go away.

[Jenivere2011]

Where did you read that? Mr Muggs was, indeed shot but I have never read that his wife did it

I apologize, it wasn't his wife, it was Annie Moore. I just assumed, after reading part of the book, that she was his wife. I was mistaken. Here's the link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=2s3...estown&f=false

[TheDude]

Its creepy to hear the music playing and seems to get louder as everyone is dead.

[TheWrath of MadelineKahn]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...ware/13725725/

They found 38 containers of unclaimed ashes, which included 9 victims of the massacre at a former funeral home in Delaware.

"It's not yet known how the cremains ended up at the former Minus Funeral Home. All 913 victims of the mass killing, mostly followers as well as leaders of the Peoples Temple religious cult, were flown from Guyana to the Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, where they were identified and prepared for burial, according to articles published at the time in The News Journal.

At least 29 of the victims were cremated in New Jersey. Delaware at least initially barred the cremation or burial of the Jonestown dead in the state."

I wonder what possible grounds Delaware had for barring it? It wouldn't look good these days, their online reviews would be brutal.

[theotherlondon]

Still remember where I was when heard the news.
Of all the death.(Yes I'm old)

[cindyt]

Still remember where I was when heard the news.
Of all the death.(Yes I'm old)

I was sitting in front of the TV watching something or other when the news broke. Unbelievable. My mother was so shocked that, at first, she did not believe it actually happened.

[TheDude]

There is a horror movie called the Sacrament that eerily mirrors Jonestown.

[baroque1]

thanks for posting the article. Very interesting. Here is a link to an article about what happened to the bodies afterwards. It is written by Rebecca Moore whose two sisters were part of the inner circle of jonestown and she actually mentions this funeral home by name and used them to help with her sisters bodies, I believe.

"Carolyn was one of the first people to be identified, ten days after the deaths. The State Department gave out the phone numbers of Dover morticians at random. After several phone calls and a late night trip to Dover, 120 miles from our home in Washington, we contracted the services of the Minus Funeral Home. The owner and his wife were like many members of the Temple itself: concerned, friendly, and black. They listened to us explain our need for autopsies and agreed to help us find a pathologist somewhere in the state who would perform them. The Justice Department had already announced it was not going to authorize autopsies."

http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=16585

[TheDude]

Its kinda weird how the Justice Department was all over that shit when it comes to families wanting to know what happened to their loved ones.

Not authorizing autopsies. I wasn't aware that you had to have permission to have an autopsy done.

[baroque1]

Its kinda weird how the Justice Department was all over that shit when it comes to families wanting to know what happened to their loved ones.

Not authorizing autopsies. I wasn't aware that you had to have permission to have an autopsy done.

I wasnt aware of that either. Maybe the laws have changed since then. Personally, I could be wrong, but it seems the sheer magnitude of victims/bodies and the fact they had severe decomposition makes me think doing autopsies would have been logistically near impossible in this case. I hope they are able to identify the remains that were rediscovered

EDITED to say that they are having good success in getting the remains back to the families http://www.sfgate.com/default/articl...nd-5676269.php

[TheDude]

I'm currently watching The Sacrament definitely mirrors Jonestown, its on Netflix instant if you are interested.

Very much like if Jonestown happened today

[pkstracy]

Still haunts me to this day reading about it.

[TheDude]

Still haunts me to this day reading about it.

You got to be one cold fish to be able to stick a baby with a needle full of cyanide

Here's a video of the Return to Jonestown 25 years later

[neilmpenny]

It amazes me how so many people got hooked. The power of charisma?

[TheDude]

It amazes me how so many people got hooked. The power of charisma?

It pays to be a silver tongued devil

[Maxster]

It amazes me how so many people got hooked. The power of charisma?

Some people need something to believe in, to the point where they will willingly buy in to an obvious charlatan's transparently phoney pitch.

[glowegal]

Congresswoman Jackie Speier posted the transcript of her StoryCorps visit when she discussed her memories of Jonestown.

Op-ed in The Washington Post says that the phrase 'drank the Kool-Aid' is offensive and should be banned.

[findadeathaddict]

Congresswoman Jackie Speier posted the transcript of her StoryCorps visit when she discussed her memories of Jonestown.

Op-ed in The Washington Post says that the phrase 'drank the Kool-Aid' is offensive and should be banned.

I admit I say that all the time in regards to different things. I can see where people find it offensive. I say it, but I don't necessarily think about this tragedy when I do, although I know that is the reference.

[neilmpenny]

here it is: the video footage that was shot in Guyana the last two days before everyone died

News coverage
An hour-long compilation of NBC footage – primarily scenes from Jonestown that NBC cameraman Bob Brown filmed, but also including some early scenes from the military’s walk-through of Jonestown afterwards – appears here. There is a great deal of material not previously released, almost all of it of the living people of Jonestown. There are also some omissions, such as most of the footage from the airstrip (including the few seconds from the shootings themselves), plus the entirety of the interview between Don Harris and Jim Jones, as well as the film from Congressman Leo Ryan’s first few days in Georgetown. But the clarity of the film and the vibrancy of the colors puts a human dimension on the tragedy which is unique and irreplaceable.

I can see you have a real passion for this subject. I only ever knew the absolute basics. This footage is very illuminating indeed, especially for someone like me.

I never knew how remote the site really was. He knew somebody, who knew somebody, to scout out this location. This land wasn't purchased through the local real estate office. It was hand selected. I'd like to know who that guy was.

The second thing that astonished me was the size of the compound, how many substantial structures were built and how established the community was. They had been there quite a while with their daily patterns and routines all in place.

They even had a working farm. Obviously designed to be a self contained community. He must have plowed millions into the place (no pun intended).

The night footage reminds me of some little resorts down in south Asia in places like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Club Med has a policy whereby the staff in the hotel are also the nightly entertainment. Believe it or not, the feel was exactly the same as in the footage (about three quarters of the way through).

They had their little slice of Utopia here on Earth for a little while at least.

Bizarre way of ending it all though. They could have gone on there forever. What pushed him over the edge? Pressure from the Feds?

[Maxster]

Congresswoman Jackie Speier posted the transcript of her StoryCorps visit when she discussed her memories of Jonestown.

Op-ed in The Washington Post says that the phrase 'drank the Kool-Aid' is offensive and should be banned.

It was Flavor Aid, not Kool Aid.

[StewartGilliganGriffin]

What pushed him over the edge was a combination of 2 things imo. 1) Drug addiction... it was killing him and he knew it. The drugs ramped up his paranoia and just not thinking realistically in general. 2) The Government investigating him threw his paranoia into overdrive. Imagined and real paranoia. He was about to be shut down for several things; beatings, abuse(physical and possibly even sexual), holding people against their will, money laundering etc etc etc. He was going down and he wanted to take everyone with him.

[pkstracy]

Didn't get on here the 18th but now it's been thirty six years.

[findadeathaddict]

Didn't get on here the 18th but now it's been thirty six years.

Wow. That is hard to believe. Time really flies.

[Slick SKillet Mayhand]

It was Flavor Aid, not Kool Aid.

Both were present at the compound.

[baroque1]

I can see you have a real passion for this subject. I only ever knew the absolute basics. This footage is very illuminating indeed, especially for someone like me.

I never knew how remote the site really was. He knew somebody, who knew somebody, to scout out this location. This land wasn't purchased through the local real estate office. It was hand selected. I'd like to know who that guy was.

The second thing that astonished me was the size of the compound, how many substantial structures were built and how established the community was. They had been there quite a while with their daily patterns and routines all in place.

They even had a working farm. Obviously designed to be a self contained community. He must have plowed millions into the place (no pun intended).

The night footage reminds me of some little resorts down in south Asia in places like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Club Med has a policy whereby the staff in the hotel are also the nightly entertainment. Believe it or not, the feel was exactly the same as in the footage (about three quarters of the way through).

They had their little slice of Utopia here on Earth for a little while at least.

Bizarre way of ending it all though. They could have gone on there forever. What pushed him over the edge? Pressure from the Feds?

GOOD Question Neil! I will try to figure out the answer when I have more time. For now, I found this tidbit of info on the consideration of location of Jonestown: http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13068

[TheDude]

It was Flavor Aid, not Kool Aid.

If he couldn't even give me Kool Aid then I wouldn't even have moved into the encampment.

[Maxster]

Both were present at the compound.

I stand corrected.

Thoughts, Rosebud666?

[ichabodius]

I can see you have a real passion for this subject. I only ever knew the absolute basics. This footage is very illuminating indeed, especially for someone like me.

I never knew how remote the site really was. He knew somebody, who knew somebody, to scout out this location. This land wasn't purchased through the local real estate office. It was hand selected. I'd like to know who that guy was.

The second thing that astonished me was the size of the compound, how many substantial structures were built and how established the community was. They had been there quite a while with their daily patterns and routines all in place.

They even had a working farm. Obviously designed to be a self contained community. He must have plowed millions into the place (no pun intended).

The night footage reminds me of some little resorts down in south Asia in places like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Club Med has a policy whereby the staff in the hotel are also the nightly entertainment. Believe it or not, the feel was exactly the same as in the footage (about three quarters of the way through).

They had their little slice of Utopia here on Earth for a little while at least.

Bizarre way of ending it all though. They could have gone on there forever. What pushed him over the edge? Pressure from the Feds?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=7003,3107813

http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34259

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisb...Item%20136.pdf

[neilmpenny]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=7003,3107813

http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34259

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisb...Item%20136.pdf

Thanks Itch. Great links as always.

[Linnie]

Has anyone ever been stricken by the fact that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated just 9 days after the Jonestown suicide/massacre, bookended at the start by the murders of Representative Leo Ryan (a former mayor of SF) and company by Jones's hitmen? At one time, all of these politicians were associated and had contacts with Jim Jones and his church, to Moscone and Milk's political gain. Moscone allegedly partied with women at the People's Temple, and Milk thought Jones's idealistic "philosophy" and preaching (and who knows what else) were the shizz.

It's like the worst case of "Six Degrees" EVER.

[findadeathaddict]

Has anyone ever been stricken by the fact that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated just 9 days after the Jonestown suicide/massacre, bookended at the start by the murders of Representative Leo Ryan (a former mayor of SF) and company by Jones's hitmen? At one time, all of these politicians were associated and had contacts with Jim Jones and his church, to Moscone and Milk's political gain. Moscone allegedly partied with women at the People's Temple, and Milk thought Jones's idealistic "philosophy" and preaching (and who knows what else) were the shizz.

It's like the worst case of "Six Degrees" EVER.

I never made these connections before. Thanks for pointing that out.

[neilmpenny]

Has anyone ever been stricken by the fact that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated just 9 days after the Jonestown suicide/massacre, bookended at the start by the murders of Representative Leo Ryan (a former mayor of SF) and company by Jones's hitmen? At one time, all of these politicians were associated and had contacts with Jim Jones and his church, to Moscone and Milk's political gain. Moscone allegedly partied with women at the People's Temple, and Milk thought Jones's idealistic "philosophy" and preaching (and who knows what else) were the shizz.

It's like the worst case of "Six Degrees" EVER.

I mused earlier about how much that compound and farm must have cost him to build. I wondered about how much money was available to the bloke in general. Behind that I was thinking that he must have some very powerful friends, and then the above post turns up!

Sounds like someone was taking out the trash and putting a lid on the whole sordid mess.

[atomicbettie]

Did anyone see the episode of Deadly Devotion that had the 2 survivors from Jonestown? It was horrible. Not the show, the story. I've read a lot of stuff about it, but damn, just to hear these people's personal stories and how they lost loved ones was so sad. The one guy on there lost his wife when she gave birth to their son, then went to Guyana with his son and ended up losing him there on "that day". He started out so happy with the church and ended up losing everything. To hear how much it changed as Jim went on more and more of a power trip was amazing.

[TheWrath of MadelineKahn]

Hadn't hear this one before.

In 1984 Tyrone Mitchell opened fire on the 49th St Elementary School in Los Angeles, he killed an adult passerby and a 10 year old girl, and wounded 12 others before taking his own life.

"Mitchell and his family were members of the Reverend Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, and they followed Jones â?? without Mitchell â?? in 1977 to Jonestown in Guyana. Mitchell lost both of his parents, four sisters and a brother in the mass murder-suicide that took place at Jonestown on November 18, 1978. According to Mitchell's fiancée, 29-year-old Marylou Hill, who would also join the Peoples Temple, he suffered a nervous breakdown as a result."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrone_Mitchell

[Torious]

I've scanned through the whole thread and didn't spot it, so apologies if I missed anything!
i just have a question... Do we actually hear the end of the tape? Has it been cut out or did they turn off the recording before JJ was shot? I just wondered why we hear no gunfire.

the thread is fascinating by the way! I seem to be obsessing over Jonestown recently. FAD is always the way to go! Just a shame a lot of the old links die out

ALSO! Does anyone know where I can find the CNN doc? "Inside the Jonestown Massacre". I can't seem to find it anywhere

[atomicbettie]

For anyone interested in this there is a podcast that's pretty interesting, about the Mills family that was murdered after escaping Jonestown. It's on a podcast called Thinking Sideways. It goes over Jonestown a bit. Probably no new information if you follow this whole thing closely, since they only have an hour or so to talk about things, but it was still something interesting to listen to.

I usually listen while I'm going to sleep but I do remember them talking about some of the people who were supporters but survived and now live in the US and how dangerous they are. They said Stephen Jones is considered a very dangerous person. I didn't really get that from the interviews with him on the show I watched on Netflix. I'm going to have to look up some more info on this.

Don't know about the CNN documentary, sorry.

[Torious]

Sorry if this has been posted earlier, however it's a good site even if you've seen it before!
http://stevenwarran.blogspot.co.uk/2...ollection.html

Its a collection of lesser seen photographs before and after the events.

also, while I'm here, does anyone know if the Georgetown headquarters are still there? The most recent info I can find was 2008 and it was still there, albeit looking a bit derelict.

[Pachamama]

The deaths at Jonestown are commonly referred to as suicides, but I think in many cases, it was actually murder. Ive read quite a bit on the subject, and it sounds like many did not wish to die, but were forced by gun-toting guards to drink the Flavor-Aid. I would count that more as murder, than suicide.