Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder - Ep. 11 | Jim Jones | How the World's DEADLIEST Cult Leader Was Made

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

Jim Jones led his followers from hope to horror as the charismatic leader of the People’s Temple. What began as a vision of a utopian community ended in tragedy with the infamous Jonestown massacre. This episode I explore the twisted path that led to one of the largest mass suicides in history and the chilling legacy of Jim Jones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder, all things that I love to consume. And I know you do too, you sick little beautiful freak. And today, we are deep diving into one of the goats, if you will. This guy has definitely jump-started most people's obsession with true crime. I know he has for me. Not in a good way, just in kind of like a, how the fuck are people capable of this kind of way? And the person we're talking about today, nay, the cult that we're talking about today, is Jim Jones and the People's Temple. Now I know a lot of you have probably heard about it,

seen documentaries about it, yada, yada, yada, but I'm going deep. I'm going real deep. I'm going to tell you things you didn't know that you even wanted to know. Probably didn't want to know before. Did that make sense? Probably not. But without further ado, let's deep dive into Jones Down and the People's Temple cult and the man at the helm of this crashing ship sailing through a storm of gas lighting. So let's unbuckle your seatbelts. Go Mach 5 down the highway. Slam on the brakes and Let's bust through this windshield into this cult together. So let's start at the beginning. James Warren Jones, otherwise known as Jim Jones,

was born in Crete, Indiana on May 13th, 1931. And James' father, James Thurman Jones, was a disabled World War I veteran and his mother, Lenna Putman, was an extremely spiritual person who would heavily influence Jim Jones for his entire life. And Jones' childhood was extremely rough, to say the least. Because his father was disabled, he couldn't work regular job, meaning the family often relied on Jim Jones to do odd jobs to help keep the family

afloat. And Jones' father was specifically affected by chemical warfare in World War I during an invasion where they used mustard gas and his lungs were completely destroyed by it. Furthermore, his mother Linetta didn't work at all, so all the pressure of income quite literally was put upon Jim Jones. So his name is James, but I'm going to call him Jim this whole time. Okay, when I refer to Jim Jones, I'm just going to call him Jim. All right. Okay. So when Jim was born, him and his family moved to a shack outside of Lynn, Indiana. And they had to do that due to the financial pressure of the Great Depression. And Lynn was only about five miles west of Crete,

and the Jones family did also have family there. But while in Lynn, the family would go through even harder times. For instance, the home that they lived in didn't have plumbing or electricity. And like I said before, his father couldn't get a job, so he heavily relied on family members for financial support. It got so bad even that they would have to forage for food in the woods, dude, in the woods, that surrounded their house. Additionally, James' father's health would deteriorate rapidly.

And this would mean that he would have to spend most of the time in the hospital, leaving just James and his mother to survive on their own. And like I mentioned before, James would heavily be influenced by his mother. Typical mommy's boy, typical cult leader mommy's boy, typical serial killer cult leader's mommy boy. Cult leader's mommy's boy. It's hard to say. It's hard to say. And through multiple reports from people in Lynn that knew the Jones family, Linetta was a horrible mother by the definition.

and she apparently had zero maternal instincts and would often neglect James. And while Jim's dad was in the hospital, his mother was finally forced to get a job from Jim's aunts and uncles. Otherwise, they would stop financially supporting her. And that would mean that Jim was often left alone during his most important developmental years. But people in the community would invite Jim to come to their homes and keep a roof over his head if his mother wasn't home and give him food as well. It really does take a village to raise a cult leader. Um, and because Jim was being raised by the community of Lynn, essentially, he got to know everybody that lived there. And one person in particular, Myrtle Kennedy.

It was the wife of a pastor that was in town and she grew quite fond of Jim through his developmental years. She also sparked his interest in religion as well, giving him a Bible and encouraged him to learn the gospel. And this would cause him to attend church regularly and get baptized by several churches in Lynn. He would even go as far as to start preaching in private and what his mother caught him. She was absolutely mortified and prevented him from attending church afterwards. So this kid was already preaching in nothing, like 15. That is so distra. I can't even imagine walking in on that.

But this is when Jim would begin to obsess over religion. And combined with the childhood neglect, this created extremely odd behavior. He would begin to frequent the casket marker in Lynn and pick up roadkill and host mock funerals for deceased animals, which is kind of cute, I guess. I don't know. It's kind of fucked up. I don't know. But then he would try to convince other children in the neighborhood to attend the funerals,

but most were extremely disturbed, which is fair, and refused, and Jim would be forced to have his own funerals alone. And you'd think that isn't so bad? I'd see that and be like, oh, you know, that's kind of sweet. But then multiple people in Lynn would report seeing Jim kill a cat with a knife and then host a funeral for it. So it doesn't, that's when it gets just throwing the first ingredient in the first ingredient in the in the serial killer cults do. And if the funerals and obsession with religious practices weren't enough,

he also claimed that he had supernatural abilities at a young age. One time he even claimed that he could fly and jumped off a roof to only break his fucking arm, which I think is kind of funny. It's kind of funny, to be honest. I also thought the same thing, oh, I didn't think I could fly. I just wanted to test it. Turns out, didn't. Turns out also.

I also broke my arm. I guess that means I'd make a good call later. I don't know. But even after his fall, he still thought he could fly. He just hadn't mustered up that power properly yet. That's the difference between Jim and I, you know? And he would also put neighborhood children into extremely dangerous situations. And if they were to survive and sustain no injuries,

he would tell them that he was guided by the angel of death. So despite Jim supposed deep-seated beliefs in God, he was not a very holy person based on his actions, obviously. And because of his actions, he never really made friends. What? That's crazy. Additionally, just to put a cherry on top of the cake, he would also greet everyone by calling him a son of a bitch or a bastard. That's not going to get you very far.

He was also known for petty theft, like stealing from stores, which would force his mother to pay for stolen objects with money she didn't have. And naturally, every time he would get in trouble, his mother would beat him with a belt, which I do not condone. But also, I know what he did, so. And Jim would even claim that, that he replaced the holy water at his Catholic church with his own fucking urine, which is so fucking gross, and would put cow poop in the minister's Bible.

I don't know if that's in the Bible of do it, but I think that's wrong. I think that's a bit sacrilegious. And when he would go to church retreats with families, etc., he would go on to explain to everyone including children, graphic details about sex and how people procreate it. So Jim's behavior as an adolescent, yes, he was an adolescent. during all of this was pretty fucking terrible, but it would only get worse as he got older and went into high school and would learn more about the world. And he would be heavily, heavily inspired by the one and only Adolf Hitler.

Oh God. Not to mention, Stalin, Marx, and Gandhi. Some okay ones mixed up in there, but Hitler was his god, basically. And he would become extremely enthralled by the Nazi party and Hitler's ability to maintain complete control, over extremely large population. You see where this is going? Yeah, that's where it went.

He would even go as to far as to hail Hitler and race his hand when German POWs were being transported through Lynn. So by the time Jim was entering high school, he basically cemented himself as a social outcast. And most people in the town disliked him. I'm just going to say all. I'm just going to say, because who the fuck would like that?

Okay. So he would start out as a child of neglect, and he would take advantage of the town's generosity and would develop it into some sort, of weird kind of sanctimonious charlatan. And in becoming a teenager, he would slowly lose support of the town, obviously, and this would just make him a very spiteful and deranged human being. He would even go on to say, as an adult, speaking about his childhood, saying,

I was ready to kill by the end of the third grade. I mean, I was so aggressive and hostile. I was ready to kill. Nobody gave me love, any understanding. In those days, a parent was supposed to go with a child to school functions. There was some kind of school performance, and everybody's parents parents was there, but mine. I'm standing there. Alone. Always was alone. And as I said before, Jim would exhibit extremely weird behavior as a child.

I would almost use religion and faith as a facade to cover up his true colors. However, his acts were so heinous that nothing he could have preached could have made the town of Lynn forget his actions. But also, while he was in high school and similar to a lot of other cult leaders, he actually did pretty well. He was known to be an above average student. However, that did come with some Corks. For example, he would never talk to anyone unless he started the conversation, and he would always wear his Sunday clothes and carry the Bible everywhere he went. So he just had this like superiority complex from a very young age, and it's like classic narcissist behavior. But on the other hand, he would adhere to his faith in high school, staying away from drinking and smoking and even

dancing, thinking that those that did that were less than him. And this would just make him even more of a social outcast. He would even go as so far as to try to convince the kids to read the Bible with him rather than going out to parties. Sounds pretty lit. Did you invite Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John? It's a Bible joke. It's a Bible joke. If you don't get it, that's all right. And he would struggle even further to make friends because in 1945, his parents would get divorced. And his mother and him would move to Richmond, Indiana. And he would graduate in the early fall in 1948. With honors, didn't do much with that, though. But while in high school, Jim would have to get a job to support his family. Since his mother now again didn't work, they lost financial support from other family members

when she got divorced. And he would choose to work at Reed Hospital as an orderly. And while he worked there, he would exhibit odd behavior like he always does with the patients and with co-workers as well. But also while he was working there, he would meet his unfortunate future wife, Marcelline Mae Baldwin, who at the time was a nurse in training. Jim would also never go out for any sports. He actually opted to help coach Little League games and young children's sports. But that job wouldn't last that long because he gathered the kids that he coached at one time and dropped a little puppy dog from a window and killed it. He was let go shortly after.

No shit. I don't know why he did that. He just did it. I don't know to teach a lesson or something. I don't know. But soon after graduation, Jones and Marcelline would move to Bloomington, Indiana. and James would attend the Indiana University of Bloomington and work towards a secondary education. But he would only attend IUB for about two years before moving to Indianapolis and attend Butler University and graduate in 1951.

That is one thing that's different about Jim Jones and a lot of other cult leaders that I have covered. Like they are smart, but more like street smart, whereas Jim Jones was actually like book smart as well. So he kind of had that upper hand and he actually followed through with things. Normally cult leaders, they kind of fail in life for a long time. and then they find this and they're good at it, but he was actually pretty good at shit as he went through life. So just built up that narcissistic mentality through the years. And while at college, Jim would become a huge supporter of communism,

which is very cult-like when you look at all the cults, right? And so much so that when he graduated, he reported that FBI agents regularly confronted and harassed his mother and family about his affiliation with communists, but that never happened. So Jim would become frustrated with the FBI and decided that if he couldn't openly practice Marxism, he would use the church as a way to live his life to the fullest. Screams cold, doesn't it? It's coming.

So while moving around, Jim and Marcelline would get married in 1949. And as you can't imagine, Jim was a fucking terrible husband. He was reportedly emotionally and psychologically abusive to Marcelline, and he had a huge issue with her own religious beliefs. Marcelline would grow up as a Methodist and held those beliefs. while married to Jim. And the biggest gripe that Jim would have with the Methodist Church

is that they believed in racial segregation. And Jim was, and Jim, his only good attribute, was a staunch anti-racist. And this would all stem from a time when he was in high school, he went to a baseball game and saw discrimination

against the African Americans there. Furthermore, his father was also a registered member of the KKK and refused to let Jim have any black friends or let any black people even enter the home. This is what caused him to sever contact with his father after his parents' divorce. So you're my thinking like, oh, well, at least he's not a racist, but in my mind, knowing that he's a narcissist and that he wants control over

everything, like maybe there was an aspect of him not being racist, but I think it was also just being able to control anyone, like, no matter what they look like, and just having like that virtue signaling, empathetic look about him. It wasn't necessarily about what he thought was right. it's what he thought benefited him in my mind. But who's to say? So in 1952, Jones would actually join the Methodist Church and get a job with them, but only to kind of infiltrate and spread socialism to anyone that would listen. But this would end early due to him stealing from the church's funds,

although he claimed it was because he integrated an African-American population into his congregation. And in 1953, Jones would visit the latter rain church, and he would have a woman tell him that he was a great prophet, to which he was extremely excited to hear. Who knows if that actually happened? I feel like it didn't. Like, as if he didn't have a big enough ego, you got just some weird chick who probably took some sort of payment

that was like, yeah, you're probably going to be somebody someday or whatever. And he took that and really just fucking rode with it, rode with it all the way to Jones Town, killed a bunch of people, but we'll get to that. And he was very successful, but the churches he was involved in did not like the latter rain movements. So he decided to take his preaching somewhere else. He began to associate himself closely to the independent assemblies of God, or the IAOG, a group of churches that embrace the latter rain movements.

And if you don't know what the latter rain movement is, it's basically a movement that emphasizes the importance of spiritual gifts like prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues. People like Billy Graham are more associated with this. And it was and still is a very controversial way of teaching. And with this ministry, he would be ordained by Joseph Mattson Bowes, a leader in the latter-ray movement and in the I-A-O-G. I've said it so many times. I can't say it. I can't say it right. I-A-O-G, I-A-O-G, I-A-G.

I-A-G. I'm saying I-A-G now. And was alongside a more important member, William Branham. And Bram was kind of a big deal in the IA-G church. He drew in massive crowds, and he would have so many people attend his sermons. He was extremely personable, and the people that showed up to a sermon, he would know them. He would know their addresses and names, who their family members were, why they came for prayer, before promptly pronouncing them healed if they needed healing.

And Jim Jones would see this as a golden ticket and would begin to do the exact same thing that Branham had done. But just better. Not better, but you know what I mean? Like more effective? I don't know. And people would start to think that Jim Jones had a supernatural gift, where he could heal and help people for real. And this would prompt the Jones Church to explode with popularity, renaming it what it is famously known for as the People's Temple. And Jones was gaining more and more traction in the community, with more people joining the church every single sermon. Because Jim Jones was a prominent equalist. He would push for black equality and the removal of segregation, to which he did many things to show the integration

of both white and black, which at the time a lot of people were for, because, I mean, we see it now as such an obvious horrific thing, racism. But back then, it was like, you know, 50-50 toss-up, basically. So you see this guy who can perform miracles and that was preaching good that people are all equal and, you know, recipe for disaster. Throw that in the fucking stew. So he would catch restaurants that wouldn't serve African-Americans, and he would see that African-American people weren't treated as well in health care as well.

So he would slowly start to target the white supremacists, who would also try to jeopardize his activities. But despite how much they tried, Jim would just keep pushing on. Jones was starting to lose his shit at this point, as if he already hadn't, but he was starting to become unstable at this point, believing in visions of a nuclear apocalypse that was going to become upon him. Again, same shit, every single cult. There's always a nuclear explosion, like an earthquake that's going to happen. It's just always doom, doom, doom, right?

And he's the savior. And this would cause him to believe that South America would be the safe. bet away from the nuclear threat. And moving there and moving his entire congregation there would be the safest bet as well. However, he kept battling with getting more money so he could move everybody to South America and the church would become extremely divided at this point and he would start to lose members very, very fast. So Jones would reluctantly focus back on the church and downsize his congregation, eventually settling in California. And this is where Jones would infuse his own worldview back into the church, Apostolic Socialist,

Sounds pretty cool. It's not. To which the entire view of basic Christianity completely fell apart. Instead, he would completely disregard the Bible calling it racist and a tool of oppression towards women, even mocking God as Sky God, and then he would start to refer to himself as God, and that there was no God beside him. Basically, again, just like all the other cults, he is a prophet, he is a god, he is that who should be worshipped. He was even quoted saying to promote his divinity, what you need to believe in is, is what you can see. If you see me as your friend, I'll be your friend. As you see me as your father, I'll be your father. For those of you that don't have a father, if you see me as your savior,

I'll be your savior. If you see me as your God, I'll be your God. God. Damn! I'm in. I'm just kidding. Just kidding. Just every girl with daddy as she's joining this cult. But historians are kind of split whether he truly believed he was a God. I don't. I don't care what the historian says. I think he's just a narcissistic asshole who thought he could take advantage of a bunch of people. And he just wanted to manipulate the masses, basically. But it goes without saying that it was working. And the abuse would not end there. Not even close.

Jim Jones would soon become a complete drug addict, tightening the paranoia that he already had. And it would also make him use more of an iron fist in controlling and manipulating his followers. And he would compare the flow of racism from the KKK to the Nazis to a, eventually failing on the USA government. And this is when the cult-like environment really started to brew, okay? We got that stew fucking boiling right now. And the first thing that was culty as fuck was basically that he told his followers, if they joined,

they would have to turn over all of their assets, which again, classic cult. Why do they all do this? They all do this because if you don't have anything, all you have is the cult and the cult leader, and that's all you have to lean on. and then you just feel like you're trapped, yon, yon, yon, yada. So he did that. But in turn, he would gift them a room and board. And some followers who would work outside of the church

would donate large portions of their income to the church for benefit of the community. Oh, and by the way, if you didn't spread the good word of Jim Jones, he would prophesize your death with fire, car accidents, or even worse. So basically, he's the founder of gaslighting. But the discipline did not stop there. Jones would control even their sex lives, very similar to children of God, which I talked about in this video. We'll check it out if you haven't seen it.

Telling some people to get abortions, not marry certain people, and even requesting sexual favors from married women, and sexually assaulting male members of the cult as well. And anyone that would rebel against him or talk ill of him, that he would give them fewer food rations, humiliate them, publicly ridicule them, and just more terrible shit. So the church was growing rapidly at this point. He's performing miracles on a daily basis. And Jones would even go as far as to hire armed security staff to protect himself. Because obviously someone who is kind-spirited and has a very positive following

would need such defense from their own members. Makes sense. She kind of trips me out thinking about all the government people and how they need people to surround them. Defense people. It's like the people don't trust them or something. It's really weird. It's like it's evil and it shouldn't be happening or something. Anyway. And in 1971, he would receive waves and waves of negative press, calling him out for quackery. Love that word, I'm going to use it more.

AKA, he was claiming to have the powers of God, basically, like healing, which many did believe was true. And some of the stories of healing didn't really make any sense. And when investigated, revealed some horrific details. He was tricking people, but did people see it? People see it. People wanted to believe so much that they didn't see the negativity. The end justified the means. So you dismiss those means. Because the ends was creating a utopia. In one instance, a woman was drugged by Jim Jones. And in her sleep, her arm was put into a cast where she was told she fell and broke her arm. And in a later healing service, Jones would remove the cast in front of everyone promptly healing

It's kind of smart, I'm not going to lie. It's terrible. And the woman would, of course, have zero recollection of any of this happening, so she would be in absolute awe that she was cured. Like, I can't even imagine being in that scenario and that happening. And, like, you have somebody you trust, like a doctor saying that that happened. Like, I don't know. It's just, and at the time, too, it's just, I feel bad.

I feel bad for the people that were followers. And in another instance, a member of the church who was kind of in on it already claimed that he had cancer. and during one of the healing ceremonies and after the prayer, they began to cough something and spit it out. And it was a small gray blob that he claimed was a tumor. But it was actually a chicken gizzard that he put in his mouth beforehand. But the congregation naturally celebrated that it was the amazing gift of Jim Jones.

However, more and more investigations of abuse were coming out within the church, with rape, physical abuse, and mental abuse. all being accused to Jim Jones and his congregation. So Jones was already a fucking maniac at this point, and the series of articles targeting him did not help. It even got some members to actually leave the church because of all the bad press that he was getting. And these investigations were becoming more and more potent as time went on.

And Jones was quickly starting to realize that he was under attack and that his church and congregation were more and more likely to fall apart. So Jim Jones was becoming extremely unpopular in the United States at this time. And that thought process made him question if the U.S. was actually the place to be due to his stance in the ideas of communism and religion. And because of this, it made Jim Jones believe that lead in the United States would allow him to preach and practice whatever he wanted, however he wanted, away from the prying eyes of the United States and government and reporters. So he would decide to move his congregation to a different country. And he would decide that being in South America was the best place to go, and specifically Guyana. and Guyana would already share his personal beliefs and political ideations of socialism.

And this choice even swayed his followers, believing that Jones was such an inspiration that they would follow him anywhere he went. And they would, unfortunately. Hundreds and hundreds of his followers would follow him to Guyana. Taking refuge in the capital of Georgetown, later renamed to what's famously known as Jones Town. And this location was, as most cult leaders do, advertised as a complete utopia, away from the rules and ridicule of Americans who didn't agree with the socialist heaven. And his cultish influence had them completely relying on him. And also because they basically had little to no choice.

They were in a country that they've never been in and they were completely trapped and had zero assets, no money, no way of getting out. So they were basically at Jim Jones's will. And without any of their own knowledge, Jim Jones would also restrict their visas after they arrived. So they had quite literally no chance of being able to leave. And in the commune, Jim Jones would force his followers to watch communist propaganda on a regular basis and documentaries about the failings of the American dream.

And Jonestown at this time was very small with only around 50 members existing in the new location and couldn't house any more members due to being extremely unprepared. Buildings were falling apart and weeds were covering the fields, but Jones was adamant about bringing more and more people to the commune. And later in May, 1977, 600 followers would arrive in the community. Jones Town with a few hundred more in later months. And Jones would then make preparations to transfer his money from the U.S. to Guyana, to which he had over $10 million in wealth, which at the time, according to inflation in 2024, that would be about $53 million. But because of the lack of

infrastructure, Jones would send people out to work. And for the first several months, would have them working six days a week from 6.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a generous hour lunch. How kind. But the But this isn't even paid work. It was basically like, you got to work in order to have a house in order to eat food in order to live. Very communism. And Jones was inspired by the system of eight hours of work, eight hours of study, and this is what Jim's would implement into his society after borrowing techniques from Kim Sung's Korea and Mao Zedong's China. And he was slowly introducing advanced mind control as well and behavior modification techniques inspired by his heroes, those of course being the communist and socialist leader.

he had lucked up to ever since he was a kid. And when he would give the news of what was going on, which was the only way to receive news in Jonestown, Jones would portray the U.S. as like a capitalist and imperialist villains. United States have their immigrant, black Indian population removed in six months. While his socialist heroes like Kim Sung and Joseph Stalin were put in a more heroic light. But unfortunately, he wouldn't stop there. He needed more control at all times.

Jim would crave completely blind obedience from his followers and would isolate them by controlling all communication in and out of Jonestown. Letters were screened and censored, calls were monitored and or scripted. One woman named Leslie Wagner Wilson would recall her experience in Jones Town on a Scandinavian talk show and how she joined Jim Jones at 13 years old. And when she went to school, she was instructed to only speak with the other temple kids. Well, 13, yes. I mean, my first experience that there was something wrong.

was my first day of school and someone said I wasn't to talk to anybody but temple kids. And he would test the obedience of his followers in the most fucking insane way, a way that is clear now to be foreshadowing for the events to come. And they would be called white knights. And when a white knight was held, it was basically just a giant mock sluerslide drill. And this would test his followers loyalty. His followers would be instructed to drink what they believed would be a mixture containing a fatal amount of poison. But there was no actual poison in these drills. And by drinking, you would prove yourself to be loyal to the cult and to Jim Jones. Needless to say, this was an incredibly dangerous environment to be in for everyone in Jonestown.

I can't imagine how, like, on the edge of their seat, every moment of the day was living there. So the isolation of Jonestown, plus the patrol of armed guards outside as well, who served as both protectors and captors prevented anyone from leaving. Some utopia. And family members of Jonestown residents were extremely concerned for their relatives. They would even form groups and call them the concerned relatives. The name needs some work, but I get where you're coming from. And this was the primary opposition of Jonestown. And was the same group Jim Jones would rail against in all the night,

in his all-night long rants. And the concerned relatives would put extreme pressure on American authorities to investigate Jim Jones and Jonestown, with the primary goal of being able to communicate with their families and free them from the cult. The concerned relatives would create flyers to rally support, to freeing the captives of the cult, Jones Town would attempt to combat with flyers of their own. And these efforts were aided by

Jonestown defectors, such as Deborah Layton and Tim Stoan, telling their stories as former cult members. Deborah Layton would be a financial secretary and trusted aid of Jim Jones, who left the cult and issued an affidavit detailing the threat and possibility of mass sluer slide in Jones Town. And Tim Stowen was a lawyer who had been instrumental in choosing Guyana as the location for Jonestown, and would later work with the concern relatives to petition for the government to investigate the cult, as well as helping a mother fight for her son who was trapped in the cult at the time. But Tim's defection from the cult was speculated by some at the time and was said to be possibly one of the things that sent Jim Jones over the edge. And after a significant time of Jonestown

being a thing in Guyana, the U.S. government would finally get involved when Congressman Leo Ryan of California's 11th Congregational District, which includes a lot of San Francisco, to investigate what exactly was happening in Jonestown with the large population. And Leo would have a personal connection to the Jim Jones cult, given that he was friends with Bob Sammy Houston Sr. The father of Bobby Houston Jr., who was a temple member whose mutilated body was found near the train tracks in 1976. And Congressman Leo Ryan would be accompanied on his trip to Guyana as well by the congressional delegations consisting of the following. Jackie Speyer, his then legal advisor, Neville Annaborn from Guyana's Ministry of Information,

Richard Dwyer, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Guyana, and several reporters were also brought from various media channels. Tim Ryderman, a reporter, and Greg Robinson, a photographer from the San Francisco Examiner, and four people from NBC accompanied as well. Don Harris, a reporter, Bob Brown, a camera operator, Steve Sung, an audio technician, and Bob Flick, a producer. The Washington Post sent their reporter Charles Krause as well, and the San Francisco Chronicle sent a reporter,

well, Ron Javers. So the entourage of reporters accompanying the congressmen were also joined by the representatives of concerned relatives, including Tim Stoan, the attorney who'd been previously integral to the formation of Jonestown. Basically all three groups that Jim Jones regularly preached against to his followers. The US government, the media, and the family members who were opposed to the cult were coming right to them with the man, Tim Stoan, whose departure spurred a lot of resentment and vitriol within Jim Jones. So Leon Ryan and his delegation would arrive in Georgetown, about 24 miles away from Jonestown on November 14, 1978,

and were initially refused access to Jonestown. They would inform Jones on the morning of November 17th that they'd be coming whether or not they were willing. And they would make their way to Port Katuma, which had an airstrip that was about six miles away from Jonestown. And Congressman Leo Ryan would make his intentions clear upon landing on the airstrip, while speaking with the local government and military.

representatives. So when they arrived at Jonestown that afternoon, only Leo Ryan and Jackie Speer were admitted entrance, with the reporters and family members being made to wait until the night before they were allowed in, at which point they spoke with the members of the temple and filmed these conversations. And during these conversations, everyone seemed pretty happy, and there was even a musical reception in the pavilion. But what's incredibly eerie while watching this footage is the dozens of children that were in the front of the crowd. And eventually, Congressman Ryan was able to address the congregation of people here and notes that from the few conversations that he had, it seems to most that it was the best thing that has ever happened to them. So clearly, they were

coached because most people fucking hated their lives there, but they were just scared for their lives. And immediately upon saying that to the crowd, the crowd erupted in cheers, only cementing that point further. Whatever the comments are, there are some people here who believe this is the best thing that ever happened on their whole life. These people love Jonestown, and there is no cause for concerned. At least that's what Jim Jones wants this delegation of reporters, government representatives, and family members to think. And during this night of fun and festivities, a couple members of the temple seeing an opportunity to get a message to the people from outside the cult would approach the members of the delegation. Vernon Gossney, a man who had regretted coming to Jonestown nearly as

soon as he arrived. No f***. I wanted to leave Jonestown almost as soon as I got there. We were searched and surrendered our passports. We had arms secured. It was very regimented. And they would pass a note to Congressman Ryan, begging for help escaping. So we had all these people pretending that they were enjoying being in Jonestown, and then you had a few people that sent the note to the congressman, and this would unfortunately cause their demise. Because unfortunately, a child nearby, a snitch, if you will,

saw they were passing the note to the congressman, and had alerted Loyalist Temple members. Nothing would immediately happen, however. And that night, Congressman Ryan, Jackie Spear, and two of the four people of the delegation were allowed to stay the night in Jonestown. While everyone else, the media teams and the relatives of Temple members were forced to find lodging back in Port Katuma. And the next day, when the rest of the delegation returned to Jonestown, they were given a tour of the grounds.

And this was also a day that Vernon Gosney would have a conversation with Jackie Spear about the situation of Jonestown. And he would become one of the growing numbers of defectors who would try and escape Jonestown with Congressman Ryan's delegation. So in trying to get to the bottom of what was going on, because this was in fact a finding mission, Congressman Ryan would ask Jim Jones about the note he received from Vernon, to which Jones would respond calling Vernon a liar. And when it was getting closer in time for those who were defecting to leave, the temple wanted to keep the children of those who were attempting to leave. And Vernon's own four-year-old son was left behind after he was forced to sign a statement

saying that he was leaving his son behind of his own free will. So many of those who left and defected from Jones Town loaded up into the back of a dump truck and headed for Port Katuma, while Congressman Ryan and Richard Dwyer from the U.S. embassy stuck behind to process anyone else who decided to defect as well. So after the truck had left and the news teams and concerned relatives, and defectors were headed for the airstrip, Congressman Ryan would be grabbed by a knife-wielding cult member,

though he was freed when the others wrestled the man. In an article, it would say, Jones thought he was still in charge, his henchman. Don Sly attempted to stab Ryan to death on the afternoon of Saturday the 18th. But Sly's failure only exposed Jones' comparative lack of power. So Ryan would rejoin the delegation on the airstrip and retell the story of the assault that just happened. And among those on the airstrip was Larry Layton, brother to Deborah Layton, who we discussed earlier was the former financial secretary.

And top aide to Jim Jones, who had been key in getting the U.S. government to launch an investigation into Jones Town in the first place. And due to the size of the group that was attempting to leave with the Ryan delegation, a second plane had to be arranged by the U.S. embassy. a six-passenger Cessna to join the 19-passenger Twin Otter. But before they could get on the plane, a tractor had pulled up full of Jonestown Red Brigade security, and they would begin to open fire on the crowd attempting to board the Twin Otter, killing Bob Brown, the cameraman who would film the attack on the airstrip.

And on the Cessna, Larry Layton was seated with Vernon Gosney, the defector who passed the note to the Congressman Ryan on the first night in Jonestown. So as the Cessna began to taxi down to the airstrip, Larry Layton, not the defector he seemed to be, pulled out a handgun and began shooting those on the plane, including Vernon. A piece of shit. So he basically faked being a defector to kill everyone on board. But before his firearm misfired, he was disarmed. Among those that were killed that day were Bob Brown, Don Harris, Greg Robinson, and Congressman Ryan, who'd been shot over 20 times. And nine others were injured inside and around the Twin Otter, including Jackie Speer. And after the shooting, the pilot of the Cessna alongside the pilot and co-pilot of the Twin Otter, all fled in the Cessna with one temple defector. Monica Bagby, leaving the dead and the injured members of the Ryan delegation on the airstrip, though these survivors were later rescued.

And residents of Jonestown were completely unaware of what just transpired on the airstrip. And the public address system in the settlement had advised everyone to return to their homes, and that everything was okay. During this time, though, Jim Jones, whose followers on the airstrip, who just made very real enemies of the U.S. government, ordered his aides to fill a tub of grape flavor aid. Because in the past, he had done sluerslide drills, and it was time for those practice runs to be realized,

because the flavor aid would be poisoned with cyanide. And he would gather his followers into the main pavilion, and we'll record 44 minutes worth of audio, during which time he talks about how the plane will go down in the jungle because someone on board will shoot the pilot. He is likely referring to lariore. and referring to a singular plane because he doesn't know that the second plane got requested to fit the defectors and the Ryan delegation.

What's going to happen here in a matter of a few minutes is that one of those people on that plane is going to shoot the pilot. I know that. I didn't plan it, but I know it's going to happen. And after that he speculates that because of this... And we had better not have any of our children left when it's over because they'll parachute in here on us. So my opinion is that we'd be kind of the children and be kind to seniors and take the portion like they used to take in ancient Greece and step over quietly because we are not committing suicide. It's a revolutionary act. The recording that has now been called the Death Tape is essentially 44 minutes of Jim Jones

justifying, rationalizing, and convincing his followers to take a willing step out of his life and into the next plane. And the ending of the tape is incredibly eerie. I mean, I I encourage you to listen to the whole thing, just sort of pure curiosity. But he says, We've said an example for others. We've set 1,000 people who say we don't like the way the world is. We stopped. Take our life from us.

We laid it down. We got tired. We didn't commit suicide. We came in an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world. And then there's only silence with only, like, faint music playing in the background. It's like a fucking movie. It's a nightmare. It is an actual nightmare.

And that is when over 900 cultists would either drink the flavorade or not drink the flavor aid. And those that would not drink flavor aid would flee into the forest and get shot by the security. And those that did died a absolutely horrific death. Convulsing, foaming at the mouth, and dying extremely slowly. And among that 900 were 200 children

that were given the cyanide lace drink. And Jim Jones would go out a completely different way, a completely selfish way, and die of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. After the fact, Jim Jones is a giant hypocrite and a fucking coward, and I hope is burning in hell and being forced to drink cyanide every second of the day, and night, and I fucking hate you. But unfortunately, the legacy of Jonestown lives on when you hear, don't drink the Kool-Aid, or is she drinking the Kool-Aid?

It's a reference to Jonestown in drinking the flavorade. and it just indicates blind obedience and brainwashing to something or someone. But it is truly a tragedy that's remembered and memorialized still. In 2011, a memorial service laid out pictures of all those that died in Jonestown. And a gravesite in Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California has memorialized plaques as well. And conspiracy theories have also arisen, which are interesting and I haven't heard of until researching this, that what happened in Jonestown was a mind control experience conducted by the CIA, with Congressman Leo Ryan's own children filing a $3 million lawsuit in 1980,

alleging that the CIA was involved two years after the events that ended with their father's death. But obviously, no evidence was ever found suggesting the CIA had been involved. But it's all I'm going to say about that. But in conclusion, I think this was absolutely tragic and seeing the tapes and listening to him rant. And just the absolute disregard for human life is horrific. And my heart goes out to any family members that know anybody that were involved. But yeah, I mean, like I always say, I say this stuff just so people are aware.

I just want everybody to stay safe, but also educated, you know. I find this stuff extremely interesting, the psychology and everything. But you guys know I love to cover this kind of stuff. So if you have anything else, you want me to cover it. Let me know down below. But until next time, Jim Jones, I hope you're burning in hell. Fuck you. And I will see your beautiful face in the next episode.

All right. Bye.