Reverend Jim Jones ordered the deaths of 900 men, women and children in 1978.
On November 18th 1978, more than 900 members of the bizarre and strangely charismatic Reverend Jim Jones' Peoples Temple perished in a mass suicide in a ragged settlement named Jonestown in South America.
This was the final destination for all of Jim Jones fanatical followers. They died all in sobbing waves as they wretched their guts out. Men, women and their children died deep in the humid and unforgiving jungle. They were either shot, injected or otherwise poisoned to death based on the orders of a dying megalomaniac - who was facing extradition back to America were his cult began.
It's lomg been suspected that Reverend Jim Jones was dying of cancer and was a sexual predator. This would be the real reason he wanted to die. By killing his followers he was also silencing any victims and witnesses to his crimes.
Jonestown had an extraordinary amount of audio records made of the daily life of the camp and it's followers. Jones had a radio station where he read news, quizes, railed against runaways from the settlement, accused members of the group of attempted assassinations against him, went on profanity laced screed against the USA and in the end praised communist leaders in Russia.
Jones also taped the many group meetings where he would publicly accuse some of his followers of plotting against him, perform faith healing and persuade his flock that suicide was good and also bad. Jones would also use the group meetings to rehearse the camp for questions from reporters and the upcoming visit by a congressional inquiry spurred by former followers and the concerned families of current followers.
Four days before the massacre Illinois Congressman Leo Ryan, concerned about constituents who had joined the group, had arrived on a fact-finding mission to Jonestown, Guyana. After meeting with Jones and his followers the congressman did begin to believe that some of the members of the People's Temple were being held against their will. After departing Jonestown with some members of the group Ryan's small party was then ambushed by members of cult on Jones' orders. Ryan and four others were shot to death as they were attempting to board a chartered plane and return the United States.
The aftermath of the massacre as seen by first responders.
As the Jonestown resident began to die a reel-to-reel tape recorder caught the entire horrible mass suicide on tape. The following 1.5 hour audio file was made directly from the tapes that were recovered in the aftermath of the mass suicide at Jonestown.
Reverend Jim Jones narrates the suicides of 900 cultists and their children.
The Jonestown Death Tapes Q042 November 18 1978 (20mb)
References:
San Diego State University, Jonestown
San Diego State University, The Death Tapes
Rolling Stone, What Happened After Jonestown?
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