Jonestown Massacre Research Paper

Superior Essays
On November 18th, 1978, the members of Peoples Temple living in Jonestown, Guyana compound drank a poisoned punch full of cyanide to commit a mass suicide that leader Jim Jones called a “revolutionary suicide”. Jones ordered his followers to take the poison while armed guards stood by. The Jonestown Massacre was the most deadly single non-disaster in U.S history until September 11, 2001. The leader, Jim Jones, founded the People's Temple in 1956 as a “racially integrated” church to help people in need. Jonestown was the informal or nickname for the People’s Temple Agricultural Project.
909 members died and 2 survived the poison. 918 total died including the deaths at the airport. 200 children were among the dead. 87 other members “survived”.
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Once everyone was there, Jones spoke to his congregation. He seemed very panicked and agitated. He was upset that some of his members had left with Ryan. He made it seem like things had to happen in a hurry. He told them that there was going to be an attack on Ryan’s group and that Jonestown would no longer be safe. Jones believed that the U.S. government would react badly to the attack. "When they start parachuting out of the air, they'll shoot some of our innocent babies," Jones told the members. Jones told his people that the only way out of it was to commit a "revolutionary act" of suicide. One woman tried to warn against the idea, but after Jones reasoned that there was no hope in other options, the others went against her.
Large kettles were filled with grape flavored Flavor-Aid (not Kool-Aid), cyanide, and Valium and were placed in the pavilion. Babies and children were brought up to be given the poison first. Syringes were used to pour the juice and poison into their mouths. Mothers drank their poisoned juice after their children. Some of the members were dead before others got their juice. If anyone decided not to cooperate, there were guards with crossbows and guns to “encourage” them. It took about 5 minutes for each person to die from the

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