Kool-aid kills
Exclusive, secretive, and authoritarian. These are three words that can be used to describe a cult. And in the 1970s, you could link all three words to Peoples Temple. Originally created as religious denomination, it soon started growing darker and darker, parallel to it’s creator, Jim Jones. Together, both creator and followers spiralled into madness until their mass suicide in 1978. And the one question their story makes you ask is: what causes people to willingly follow a mad men leading them to their known death? To understand question, you’ll have to endure this three page essay over the Jonestown suicides, how the project began, and the declining mental state of Jim Jones.
First, let me get an obvious question out of the way; what the heck is Jonestown? A loaded question in my opinion and one with multiple answers. First off, it can refer to the agricultural project started by Peoples Temple. Second, it refers to the actual events of November 18, 1978, where a total of 918 people died (909 of which that died by a mass suicide). And lastly, it can be used to describe any new religious movement that has the potential to be violent.
The agricultural project was established in 1974 by Peoples Temple in the west part of Guyana in the Orinoro River basin. Originally known as Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, it is unknown …show more content…
Using cyanide laced kool-aid, the adults were told to gather paper cups and drink, and to pour the poison down their children's mouths. To prevent people from escaping, armed guards were stationed about the perimeters. Despite this though, several were able to escape and survive. And those that refused to drink were set upon by guards with cyanide-filled syringes and killed. But Jones himself did not die from drinking the poison. Instead, he and his nurse died of gunshot wounds to the
Exclusive, secretive, and authoritarian. These are three words that can be used to describe a cult. And in the 1970s, you could link all three words to Peoples Temple. Originally created as religious denomination, it soon started growing darker and darker, parallel to it’s creator, Jim Jones. Together, both creator and followers spiralled into madness until their mass suicide in 1978. And the one question their story makes you ask is: what causes people to willingly follow a mad men leading them to their known death? To understand question, you’ll have to endure this three page essay over the Jonestown suicides, how the project began, and the declining mental state of Jim Jones.
First, let me get an obvious question out of the way; what the heck is Jonestown? A loaded question in my opinion and one with multiple answers. First off, it can refer to the agricultural project started by Peoples Temple. Second, it refers to the actual events of November 18, 1978, where a total of 918 people died (909 of which that died by a mass suicide). And lastly, it can be used to describe any new religious movement that has the potential to be violent.
The agricultural project was established in 1974 by Peoples Temple in the west part of Guyana in the Orinoro River basin. Originally known as Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, it is unknown …show more content…
Using cyanide laced kool-aid, the adults were told to gather paper cups and drink, and to pour the poison down their children's mouths. To prevent people from escaping, armed guards were stationed about the perimeters. Despite this though, several were able to escape and survive. And those that refused to drink were set upon by guards with cyanide-filled syringes and killed. But Jones himself did not die from drinking the poison. Instead, he and his nurse died of gunshot wounds to the