Casefile True Crime - Case 60: Jonestown (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 16, 2017

[Part 1 of 3] During childbirth, Lynetta Jones’ deceased mother appeared to her in a vision and prophesied that the baby would one day become a great man. Lynetta’s son was Jim Warren Jones, who grew up to become the leader of a new religious movement he named ‘The Peoples Temple’. ---  Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-60-jonestown-part-1

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local Crisis Centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This series on Jonestown deals with horrific events. The series deals with mass murder and suicide of men, women and children as well as other abuses. The episodes are graphic and distressing, especially episode 3. It will not be suitable for all listeners. Please use your discretion. How very much I've loved you. How very much I've tried my best to give you the good life.

But in spite of all that I've tried, a handful of our people with their lives have made our life impossible. There's no way to detach ourselves from what's happened today. Not only we're in a compound dissolution, not only are there those who have left and committed the betrayal of the century. Some stolen children from others and they're in pursuit right now to kill them because they stole their children and we are sitting here waiting on a powder cake. I don't think this is what we want to do with our babies. I don't think that's what we had in mind to do with our babies. It was fed by the greatest of prophets from time immemorial. No man late takes my life from me. I lay my life down.

During the Labor Day of her first and only child on May 13, 1931, Leneda Jones experienced a near-death mystic vision. The spirit of Leneda's deceased mother appeared before her. The spirit prophesied that Leneda's newborn baby would one day become a great man. Leneda never wanted to be a mother, but she did believe in destiny. The vision convinced her she had just given birth to a Messiah. The brown-eyed black-haired baby was named James Warren Jones after his father, but everyone called him Jim. Jim Jones was born in Crete, a small country town in the state of Indiana. Crete consisted of half a dozen farms with a population of only 28 people. Approximately 80 miles away from the city of Indianapolis, Crete was less a village and more

a stop place. Everyone in Crete lived off the land and rarely ventured beyond the border. Residents grew their own vegetables, raised their own livestock and picked wild berries. In Crete, the Jones family lived in a two-story country farmhouse. Prior to Jim's birth, his parents James and Leneda tried to grow corn and soybeans and raise hogs for slaughter on their farm. James Jones had some familiarity with farming but was rarely home. He worked a manual labor job in construction to keep his family financially afloat. Leneda Jones had no farming experience and she struggled to maintain the property in her husband's absence. A World War I veteran, James Jones was caught in a mustard gas attack on the front lines in France.

The burning gas seeped into his lungs which caused them to deteriorate and he found it difficult to breathe and talk. His voice became a raspy and difficult to understand growl. To save himself the pain, James avoided talking. Long conversations with his wife were impossible, meaning the couple rarely communicated. They struggled with the never-ending chores on their farm and as the bills piled up, Leneda often fantasized about escaping her marriage but she had nowhere else to go. Leneda fell pregnant in 1930 and gave birth to Jim Jones the following year. The baby only gave the couple more work to do and put them in an even worse financial situation. Fatherhood made James an aggressive, chain-smoking alcoholic. The economic depression finally

defeated the Joneses and the bank took ownership of their failing farmland in Crete. At risk of homelessness, James' parents stepped in to help. They provided the Joneses with a modest home in the nearby Midwestern town of Linn. Linn was also an Indiana but had a larger population than Crete. With its bustling town centre, it was a more engaging place for the young family to live. Located in the scruffier area of Linn, their new home had no working plumbing. James quit his job due to his declining health so Leneda picked up odd factory work. At home, James provided no help with cooking, cleaning or looking after their baby Jim. He suffered multiple breakdowns and was hospitalised for months at a time.

Townsfolk viewed the struggling family sympathetically but also kept their distance. A cold harshness radiated from the Jones family. There was no affection shared between anybody and young Jim was rarely shown tenderness from his parents. Jim Jones spent his childhood fending for himself. Wandering the streets of Linn alone, he'd sit in alleyways and play with rats. As an adult, Jim remarked that being from a poor dysfunctional family was a source of great personal pain and marked his childhood with feelings of neglect, loneliness and shame. Making friends was difficult for Jones. The lack of positive role models in his life fostered a defensive self-centeredness within him.

In primary school, he was an outcast. His principal noted that Jones lacked respect for authority and had earned the nickname Dennis the Manus. Despite this, he was considered innately intelligent by his teachers. A gifted child. The social isolation took its toll and Jones recalled how it affected him. Quote, I was ready to kill. I mean I was so aggressive and hostile, I was ready to kill. Nobody gave me any 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 parent was there but mine. I'm standing there, alone. Always was alone. Jim Jones' elderly neighbour took pity on the lonely 10 year old. She took him to her local

Pentecostal Church to give the isolated boy a sense of community. Jim Jones had this to say about the experience. Because I was never accepted or didn't feel accepted, I joined the most extreme Pentecostal Church. They were the rejects of the community. I found immediate acceptance and I must say in all honesty about as much love as I could interpret love. Religion sparked a curiosity in Jones. Pentecostal worshipers believe in prophecy, healing, miracles and speaking in tongues. When Jones experienced his first Pentecostal Mass, it was loud and intense and featured fanatical behaviour such as yelling, crying, chanting and cheering. Leading the Mass was a charismatic preacher who radiated positivity and power. This Mass shaped Jones' understanding of worship being

an intensely emotional experience to devotees. The Pentecostal Church community became a surrogate family for Jones and he couldn't wait for Sundays to arrive so he could go to Mass. When Jones' parents neglected Church, their sinful disobedience became a local transgression. Lynn was a religious town but Lynette Jones was sceptical of religion. She believed in spirits, reincarnation and destiny but not in God. Lynnette kept her son up late discussing grand concepts such as the meaning of life. She called Jones an underdog and reminded him constantly of his great destiny that she had foreseen. She called anyone who criticised him oppressors and she often talked about social inequality. Lynette also imparted her love of animals onto her son so Jones started

gathering chickens, cats, dogs, snakes and other creatures and kept them in the barn near his home. With candles and flowers he built an altar in the barn and preached to his animal flock. He also delivered rousing sermons at mock funerals held for dead animals. One local child claimed Jones killed a neighbourhood cat for his ritualistic ceremonies. He also attempted to heal dead animals by performing messy interspecies blood transfusions and limb grafts. Other children viewed Jones as a weird kid obsessed with religion and death. It wasn't until Jones had religious themed nightmares that Lynette put a stop to his Pentecostal Church visits. As a teenager, Jim Jones had no interest in sport or socialising. He saw dancing and drinking alcohol

as sinful. Instead he kept his face deep in books and his mind lost in political thought. He studied the strengths and weaknesses of influential leaders, revolutionaries and dictators such as Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler. From his study Jones began to shape a self-styled theology that combined aspects of an ideal society with experiences through God. By the mid-1940s, Jim Jones created a mock church called God's House. He would invite school acquaintances into the loft above his family's garage to attend his mass. He locked his visitors inside the loft and refused to release them until he deemed his mass was complete. His sermons would carry on late into the night. One night, Jim Jones' childhood

friend Donald Foreman was at one of these sermons. Donald wanted to go home, but Jones implored him to stay. Donald ended up leaving and he walked out the front door and onto the porch. When he glanced back, Jones was holding his father's pistol and said, just stop or I'll shoot you. Donald walked quickly to the tree-lined sidewalk. Jones fired the gun. The bullet pierced the tree Donald had passed just seconds earlier. Donald ducked and ran. When he was out of sight, he snuck a look back. Jones was standing on the porch watching with the gun hanging at his side. From birth, Jim Jones witnessed firsthand the discrimination, segregation and isolation of the African-American community in his hometown. He related their plight to his own feelings of

being a social outcast. At 16 years old, Jones created a makeshift church minister's robe out of bedsheets and began preaching on street corners in mixed-race neighborhoods. His message, break down the social constructs that divide, such as race, gender and age, and unite all people equally. It was known that James Jones, Jim's father, associated with the extremist white supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan. When Jones came out with his message of racial equality, his father was furious and declared that people of color were not permitted into their family home. Jones refused to speak to his father and during his late teens, his parents separated. Jones moved with his mother to the city of Richmond in East Central Indiana.

Richmond was a racially segregated town. When Jones arrived preaching his views of racial equality, it was a welcome surprise for the local black community and it was quick to make friends with them. Between school hours, Jim worked part-time as an orderly at Richmond's Reed Memorial Hospital. During one shift, 18-year-old senior nurse in training, Marceline Baldwin, called for an orderly as a young pregnant woman had just died. The orderly who arrived was only a high school senior, but his tenderness, empathy and maturity was beyond his years. He genuinely cared for the deceased woman's family and Marceline was impressed by him. The orderly was Jim Jones. Marceline Mae Baldwin, nicknamed Marcy, was a gentle and giving person. She inherited her

parents' kind and loyal conviction. With her deep compassion for others, also came an unflinching sense of honesty and at times a firm hand. She spoke her mind if she thought it would help and her honest words could comfort and sting at the same time. When Marceline met Jim Jones, she was drawn to him. He was handsome with his dark eyes, square jaw and slicked back hair. His reassuring intellect, ambition and brilliance shone brightly from his personality. They shared an empathetic view towards the ill, aged and socially disadvantaged. Marceline recalled, quote, Jim made me know the importance of finding each injustice as he came to it, whether it was one person or a hundred people. At the time they met, Marceline believed in

God, attended church and participated in prayer. Jones had become agnostic. He didn't disbelieve the existence of God, but he didn't worship one either. To Marceline Baldwin, Jim Jones was an open book. He spoke of climbing a ladder to perfection by basing decisions on the mantra of saying no to selfishness and yes to love. He told her that life was made up of decisions, that we may choose others or self, love or hate, life or death. Jones graduated high school in Richmond with honours in December 1948. Afterwards he attended Indiana State University and earned a straight day average. During this time his old personality traits reappeared. He became an outcast amongst his university peers. His roommate Kenneth Lemons recalled Jones was a loner. He said everyone in

the dorm got along beautifully, except for Jones, who didn't have one friend from the time he moved in until the time he moved out. One day Jones witnessed an impressive speech given by ex-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor spoke passionately about the plight of African Americans in American society. The speech complimented Jones' desire for equality and reignited his passion to enact positive change. Jones quit a basketball team when his coach was racist towards black players. He defiantly walked out of a barber shop when the barber refused to cut the hair of a black man. A man who picked Jones up hitchhiking started talking about African Americans in a derogatory manner, so Jones demanded he stop the car and let him out.

In 1949, 18-year-old Jim Jones married 22-year-old Marceline Baldwin. Together they moved to Bloomington, a city in the southern region of Indiana. The newlyweds visited their parents during the summer. During one visit, Marceline's mother started talking about how it wasn't Christian for racists to intermarry. Jones was offended by the comment and he packed his things and left. He ignored Marceline's family afterwards and left any room they were in. There was no compromise in Jones. This went on for months until Marceline's mother apologized. Marceline's mother's comment fueled Jim Jones to attack the entrenched racism that festered in Christian churches. In 1952, despite still being agnostic, Jones became a student

pastor in Indianapolis. For four years he focused on integrating the local church congregation, but he failed. White families would leave when black worshipers entered the church. Jim Jones, quote, There was one thing for white believers to nod in passive agreement when their preachers said that all humans were created equal in the eyes of God. It was quite another to stand shoulder to shoulder with a black person. When complaints from the congregation about Jim Jones' integration attempts reached the church board, they decided not to invite the radical student minister back to their church. Jim and Marceline Jones started what they called their rainbow family by adopting

children of non-Caucasian ancestry. They first adopted three Korean-American children, Lou, Suzanne, and Stephanie. Then they adopted Agnes, who was of Native American descent. Then they adopted Tim, who was Caucasian. They had one biological child together, a son, Stephen. Then they adopted an African-American baby boy named James Warren Jones Jr. Jim and Marceline were the first white couple in Indiana to adopt a black child. When Marceline walked the street with her baby, a local white woman spattered her. Marceline was afraid of a violent public backlash and begged Jones to move their family away, but he refused. He told Marceline how could his children learn what he believed in if they didn't

live it. Jones helped racially integrate churches, restaurants, a telephone company, the police department, a theater, an amusement park, and a hospital. One minister later remarked, quote, Jim was breaking new ground in race relations at a time when the ground was still hard against that. White supremacists took action to maintain racial segregation and perpetrate fear in the black community. Swastikas were painted on homes of African-American families. Afterwards, Jones walked the neighborhood, comforted frightened locals, and encouraged them not to move away. He wrote letters to American Nazi group leaders and deleted their malicious responses to the media to publicly shame them. One Sunday afternoon, Jones visited a church in Indianapolis.

The church's pastor was a personal friend. The church was packed for the service, and Jones noticed African-American worshipers were seated at the back of the church. Jones called them forward and let them sit on the preacher's stage. This radical action caused conflict between Jones and the church board. Not only did they not want black people sitting on the preacher's stage, they didn't want them attending their church at all. However, charismatic and caring Jim Jones was a membership and financial drawing card for the church board, and they didn't want to lose his support. As a compromise, they offered him the opportunity to establish his own church in an African-American neighborhood.

Jones replied, There will be no church in the black neighborhood. I will not be a pastor of a black church or a white church. Wherever I have a church, all people will be welcome. Jones despised the hypocrisy in local churches. In one church auditorium, Jones was vocally displeased with the minister's elegant Cadillac parked out front, when poverty was so evident in the community, especially amongst the church's own congregation. Jones reflected on his childhood and disavowed God for allowing poverty and injustice to exist. Quote, When I was five years old, I was laying on springs with no covers, and the rain was pouring through the roof of my old ramshackle house, and they told me to pray to God. There was no God that came. The rain kept pouring.

I then had a beam of consciousness. I said there shouldn't be any poor, there shouldn't be any private property. When I looked inside of me, I found the power of socialism in me, and I quit praying. Jim Jones started attending gatherings of the Communist Party USA. Supporters of communism believe it leads to true equality. Critics judge communism by its failed implementation throughout history. Whenever communism has been in effect, it has caused mass killings, crimes against humanity, suppression of human rights, and power imbalances. Communism was at the time prominent in places like China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and Russia, areas that were deemed enemies or allies of the enemies of the United

States. Therefore, American communists were viewed as anti-American and traitors. Jim Jones considered ways he could convince American people to accept communism, and that's when he got his light bulb moment. Imphiltrate the Church. In 1954, Jones bought a small church building in Indianapolis, located in a neighborhood that had been issued a court order to desegregate. He named his church Community Unity, and went door to door inviting members of the African American community to the first interracial church in town. Jones boasted, our door is open so wide that all races, creeds, and colors find a hearty welcome to come in, relax, meditate, and worship God.

A child who had spent learning and replicating religious showmanship now served a purpose for Jones. His sermons were filled with the same dramatic pauses, shaking hands, shouted and repeated words, and pointed fingers that featured in the sermons he witnessed as a child. He used the traditions of Pentecostalism to create a dynamic and engaging church experience that people would come back to. With his thick, dark hair slicked back in the hip rockabilly style reminiscent of Elvis Presley, a charming grin, a pair of aviator sunglasses that he wore even in church, and his use of street slang, Jim Jones stood out as a modern, progressive pastor. His mass featured upbeat hymns, jazzy organ music, and dancing down the aisles.

Soon after starting his church, Jim Jones witnessed the faith healing service. Faith healing uses prayer and gestures to elicit divine intervention to cure sickness. Believers claim a healer with a spiritual connection to God can heal physical ailments, paralysis, and disorders. Medical science considers faith healings a psychological phenomenon attributed to endorphins creating a placebo effect. Jones observed that faith healings attracted vulnerable, desperate people. These people would donate their life savings for an opportunity to heal themselves or their loved ones. So Jones saw faith healings as a means to achieve his own goals. At the time he was struggling financially. Marceline's full-time

nursing work barely covered the essentials for their family. Jones realized the money he could make by performing healings could be used to propel his socialist dreams of equality into reality. Ready to grow his congregation, 24-year-old Jim Jones was ordained as a minister. The now Reverend organized a religious convention to take place in Indianapolis from June 11 to June 15, 1956. To draw a crowd, Jones invited popular healing evangelist, Reverend William Branham, to headline the event. Afterwards, Reverend Jim Jones went public with his own healing powers. To prepare for healings, Jones discreetly investigated his congregation. He'd eavesdrop on conversations and use overheard information during mass to assert his mind-reading

powers. During mass, Jones would call forward injured or ill people from abuse. With the touch of his healing hands, he claimed to remove cataracts, cure cancers, growths and headaches, and replace broken hips. Jones had a group of loyal aides who disguised themselves as church visitors to spy on other guests to gather intel. They'd sift through the garbage of congregation members, visit members' homes to snoop around, and call homes pretending to be conducting a survey on behalf of an agency. This allowed Jones to know the personal details about church colors. From what medications they were taking to what brand of mayonnaise they ate. All this data was noted on paper that Jones hid on his preacher's podium.

Jones paraded meaty, foul-smelling cancerous lumps he claimed to have removed from sick bodies. Backstage, two of his aides guarded the bag of cancers where the lumps were stored. The lumps were actually chicken gizzards, but people fell for it. During one public show, Jones ordered an elderly woman confined to a wheelchair to stand and move forward. She doubted herself and shook her head. He told her, bless your heart and take that step. She stood, shakily at first. The old woman then shuffled down the rows of pews to Jones' encouragement. Then she ran. The crowd hooted and hollered at the miracle. Jones healed this woman of nothing. She was his personal secretary and was never confined to a wheelchair.

Throughout his life, Jones performed this miraculous healing on the same woman multiple times. Word of the miracles performed by Jim Jones spread throughout the city and beyond. His healings were aired on television and local radio. People arrived at Jones' church at 2 p.m. just to get a seat for his 7.30 mass. Others climbed through the windows of the overcrowded buildings to witness his gospel. His performances became so popular, Jones moved to a larger church building to accommodate the enormous crowd. He renamed his church People's Temple Full Gospel Church, commonly referred to as People's Temple. Jones only performed healings at the end of his sermons, meaning his audience first had to sit through his speeches on improving rights for women,

minorities and the poor. Then came his most impressive healings yet. Churchgoers who defied Jim Jones or doubted his power dropped dead during mass. These people weren't actors in on Jim Jones' deception. They were real people who doubted him. Unbeknownst to everyone but Jones and his aides, each victim had been drugged with potent sedatives moments prior to their death. Only they didn't really die. They only passed out. And as they came to, Jones pretended he brought them back to life. Drugs became a useful tool throughout Jim Jones' career as a healer. An elderly woman was drugged after one service. She woke up afterwards with a cast around her leg. Church staff told her she

had fallen and broken it. Days later she attended Jim Jones' mass. He singled her out, placed his hands on her leg and claimed to have healed her. The cast was removed and to the woman's surprise she stood and walked without paint. It was as though her leg was never broken. And that's because it wasn't. Once he had followers, Jim Jones directed attention from his healing powers towards his communist agenda. Healings of individual people became less common. Instead, Jones said he wanted to heal society. He told his congregation that living a life of God required something of them. They needed to feed the hungry, take care of the sick,

and donate their possessions to create economic equality. Only then would they become more godlike. Quote, I represent the Vine principle. Total equality. A society where people own all things in common. Where there is no rich or poor. Where there are no races. Wherever there are people struggling for justice and righteousness. There I am. And there I am involved. It became clear a large percentage of his audience were only interested in his healings. Worshipers were hesitant to give away their possessions and live a life of charity. They began abandoning Jim Jones' church as quickly as they joined. What remained was a group of loyal devotees who wanted to go on and reach perfection by living

the life Jim Jones instructed of them. Marceline Jones stated that when the audience numbers dropped after the healings, quality was gained. People's temple became a small, devoted church family. They spoke of a bond stronger than blood. However, the massive and sudden desertion hurt Jones. When it came to followers, he cared about quantity more than quality. A small group with little funding could not achieve his dreams of a socialist Eden. Jones blamed himself. He had not done enough to force the disenfranchised people to stay. A mistake he would never make again. In 1961, Jim Jones had a vision of an explosion from a nuclear bomb so devastating. It annihilated everything. The threat of nuclear war was very real to Americans at the

time. Fallout shelters were built, children were taught bomb survival drills, and people were warned to avoid looking at flashes in the sky. Jones wasn't the only preacher to have a nuclear apocalypse vision of the future. Many preachers used these haunting visions to pressure flocks of people back into the church. Jones read an article in Esquire magazine titled Nine Places to Hide. The article listed locations that could survive a global nuclear war. The location that appealed to Jim Jones the most was Belo Horizonte in southeast Brazil. In 1962, Jones convinced his family to pack their belongings and travel with him to Belo Horizonte. He wanted to investigate the location and determine if he could relocate people's temple there. This big move would

make abandoning the church far more difficult for people's temple members in the future. Life in Belo Horizonte was not ideal. The language difference was a problem, and Jones struggled to get work and provide for his young family. By mid-1963, Jones fooled his family to Rio de Janeiro, where he got work helping people in the poverty-stricken slums. Jones' associate preachers back in Indiana contacted him and warned him that his people's temple church was close to collapsing. Mass services that once attracted 2,000 people now barely attracted 100. Jones felt he had abandoned his congregation and given up on the American civil rights struggle. By December 63, Jones was back in Indiana and back behind

his lectern in church. His return reinvigorated people's temple and the empty pews began to refill. Upon Jones' return to America, swastikas were painted on the outside of his church. A stick of dynamite was left in his coal pile. A dead cat was thrown at his home. Rocks were thrown through his windows. His car tyres were slashed, and he received threatening phone calls. Whilst visiting a friend, Jones was alone in a front room when a rock shattered the window beside him. He blamed the attack on racists. However, the window glass shattered outwards from the inside. The pile of broken shards were resting on the front lawn, not in the room. Some called into question the legitimacy of these attacks.

Rumours swelled outside of the church that Jim Jones had orchestrated some, if not all of the attacks against him. Inside his church, Jones was using the attacks as proof to his congregation that Indianapolis was too racist for them to be free and safe. He pitched the possibility of relocating his church to somewhere more socially progressive. The apocalypse was still a hot topic for Jones. He predicted Russia would launch missiles at the United States on July 16, 1967. A nuclear war would follow that would engulf the world. Jones convinced his followers that it was time to move people's temples somewhere that would withstand the nuclear war. But Bello Horizonte was ruled out, and church members were relieved. Most were reluctant to

abandon their homes, comforts and families to relocate to the unfamiliar Third World Nation. Another location listed as a nuclear war safe spot in the article Nine Places to Hide was Eureka, California. And in 1965, Jim Jones made the announcement that he was relocating his church to California. This move to rural California would make abandoning the church far more difficult for people's temple members. They'd be isolated from outsiders, far from retrieval, embedded to Jones, and invested in the long-term socialist goals of the church. Most people's temple members followed Jim Jones to California. Some wanted to grow the church community and make a positive impact elsewhere. Others were invested in the church

community and didn't want to be left behind. Some had nothing in Indiana but the church. Outsiders called people's temple members crazy for abandoning their lives, family and belongings to follow evangelical crackpot Jim Jones to California. They believed his end of the world omen was a lie used to manipulate his followers through fear. In response, Jones sent members of his congregation to a psychiatrist. Certified letters from the doctor stated that people's temple members were of sound mind. Non-temple members watched helplessly as their friends and family drove away in Jim Jones' California convoy. The convoy consisted of 15 cars with Jim Jones' car leading the pack.

It was a two-day drive from Indiana to the wine country of California in the west. Jones purchased 60 acres of rural property in Redwood Valley, about 150 miles south from nuclear safe haven Eureka. In Redwood Valley, dark-colored grapes grew in lined vineyards over rolling hills. Large acreages of thick woodland were full of blooming oak trees. Bright bluebell flowers bloomed across meadows, creating a blanket of soft blue across the landscape. It was a beautiful and sprawling place, ideal for Jim Jones, who desired space and remoteness. Temple members built a church out of Redwood near Jones' home. It had floor-to-ceiling windows bathing the interior of the church in natural light. A window behind the preacher's stage

featured a colorful stained glass dove in flight. Several administration officers were built near the church. Temple members purchased nearby homes so they could visit the church often to attend mass hall meetings and to do chores. On the Redwood Valley property named The Ranch, they raised animals, grew and harvested fruits and vegetables, baked cakes and crafted knickknacks to sell at markets. To satisfy the religious temple members, Jim Jones continued religious traditions such as baptisms and healings, but he constantly reminded his followers that the highest worship of God was service to one's fellow man. People's Temple was a positive influence on the local community. They ran soup kitchens, homeless shelters, adult education classes,

free legal aid clinics, food banks and an animal refuge. They managed job placement services for the unemployed. They sponsored disadvantaged young people to attend college and donated money to the local sheriff's department. People's Temple purchased and took ownership of several care homes for the elderly, the mentally ill and the disabled people. Residents were asked to sign life care contracts. The contracts allowed the temple to keep their social security checks in exchange for board health care and a positive living and social environment. The state of California paid the temple almost $300 a month per resident in their care. The temple offered free blood pressure tests, free anemia testing and free childcare for working parents. It was important for people's

temple to maintain a wholesome public image at all times. When they came across the occasional opposition or critic, they never resorted to violence or aggression. During his career, Jim Jones met multiple times with an African-American preacher, Father Devine. Father Devine was the leader of the religious group Peace Mission based in the city of Philadelphia in the east coast US state of Pennsylvania. Peace Mission members believed Devine was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Devine's teachings were that he was God, heaven was a state of consciousness, property ownership is communal, goods and services must be donated and sinful pleasures were prohibited.

Like Jim Jones, Father Devine was a charismatic and grossing man. He also promoted racial and gender equality. Peace Mission had an impressive congregation of thousands of followers. When Jim Jones first met Father Devine in Philadelphia during the mid 50s, he described the preacher as a repulsive man who was incredibly controlling of his congregation. Devine ordered that his congregation remain celibate, live communally, call him their father and sign their wages and property over to Peace Mission. His devotees eventually built and lived in an agricultural commune called the Promised Land. As years passed and people's temple membership grew, Jim Jones began to adopt the practices of

Father Devine that he once detested. Jones's followers were made to call him father or dad and his wife Marceline, mother or mum. Another rule Jones adopted was bearing sex. He explained that sexual relationships were selfish and distracted people from the focus of the church. Sexual energy needed to be re-channeled into their cause. Jones told his church that he didn't agree with gay relationships, but he was arrested and charged with soliciting a male undercover police officer for sex in a movie theater in Los Angeles. Jones was quick to defend himself to his devotees. He explained that he only engaged in gay relationships for the adherents own good

and to allow men to connect with him symbolically. Jones claimed everyone was gay except him, and that he was the only true heterosexual on the planet. The charges against him were eventually dropped, but the event was a turning point for Jones. By acting recklessly on the outside, he almost destroyed his entire church. He promised he's in a circle, no more sex with strangers. Instead, his church became his outlet for sexual gratification. Jones preyed on multiple members of the temple and indulged in multiple sexual relationships. His sexual deviancy was an open secret amongst his inner circle,

but was intentionally kept from the general church population. Deborah Layton was a temple member who was a victim of Jim Jones. Jim was not celibate. Nobody knew that until perhaps it was their time to find out. What he spoke from the pulpit wasn't what he did behind the scenes. Jones told church members that he prayed upon, my love will not reach you if you put a piece of flesh between you and me. Jones explained that sex with him would help you relate to the cause of the church. There was a sacrifice for him, one that he said he didn't enjoy making.

Marceline Jones was suffering chronic back pain, and Jones felt she could no longer fulfill his sexual needs. So he participated in two long-term romantic affairs in the summer of 1969, just after his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife. When Jones confessed to his wife about the affairs, Marceline demanded a divorce. Jones threatened that she would never see their children again. Devotion to her children made Marceline stay. Publicly, she spoke lovingly of her adulterous husband and remained loyal and devoted to him. If anyone spoke ill of him, Marceline would be the first to remind them of the good he is done.

Internally, Marceline struggled with depression and found herself torn between accepting and hating her husband's lovers. Caroline Layton fell pregnant to Jones. Jones told his followers Caroline was sent to Mexico on a secret mission for the church. When she returned nine months later with a baby boy, Jones claimed Caroline had been raped during her mission to Mexico. She named their son Jim John. Jones' sexual activities reached frantic proportions. A member of his inner circle was given the task of discreetly maintaining his calendar of sexual appointments with temple members. Jones referred to the calendar as his fuck schedule.

In Redwood Valley, People's Temple purchased and fixed up 18 buses. A banner reading Brotherhood is Our Religion was hung on the sides or rear of each bus. Jones would take the buses on tours across America to spread his beliefs about socialism, integration, communal lifestyles and to actively recruit new temple members. The buses travelled to Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and New York. Faith healings were again orchestrated to draw in a crowd. Advertisements promoting Reverend Jim Jones and his miraculous abilities were printed in the local newspapers. Jones boasted of his ministry in Redwood Valley.

I've got acres of fields of greens and potatoes and strawberries and pear and tomatoes. I've got grapes. I've got the harvest on a hundred hills. Take me up on my offer and come to California. Come out there in those beautiful fields of Eden. See what we're doing out there for freedom. And I'll tell you, you won't want to come back. 700 temple members were crammed onto the buses to bolster Jones' campaign. The trips could take upwards of three weeks. At each location, Jones stated, There is indeed hope for our troubled nation. For in this single spirited church, there is alive the type of dedication and commitment to brotherhood

and fundamental human cooperation that may well be the best solution to the problems that beset our land. This group is demonstrating what religion should be. We would not have wars if everyone thought and lived as these people do. People from all walks of life were attracted to the positive lifestyle and optimistic worldview promoted by the temple. And Jones kept membership demographics balanced and equal. To complement the large number of working class, Jones recruited younger college educated people. To balance out the traditionally religious group he brought from the Midwest, he recruited progressive atheists. Jones melded these separate, often conflicting

groups into one cohesive group of supporters, not under God, but under socialism. Homes were sold and jobs were quit. In return, the recruited were moved to California into temple-owned buildings. Residents received small living quarters, communal meals, and an allowance of $5 per week for necessities. Jones also reached out to the homeless, alcoholics, sex workers, the drug addicted, the unemployed, and to single parents. He intentionally targeted the desperate. He promised to care for them, to protect them, and to cleanse their addictions. He offered them jobs, a bed, a home, and a welcoming community. All they needed to do was get on the bus. And many of them did.

As People's Temple membership grew, so did the work. By 1973, there were 2,570 People's Temple members across America. Some members became full-time workers for the church to help with the endless duties and chores required to maintain their growing community. It wasn't unusual for full-time temple workers to work upwards of 20 hours a day. Workers compared and bragged amongst themselves over how little they slept due to their commitment to People's Temple. The mentality of temple workers was explained by member Hugh Forston Jr. Being in an environment where you are constantly up, you're constantly busy, and you're made to feel guilty if you take too many luxuries like sleeping.

You tend to not really think for yourself, and I did allow Jim Jones to think for me, because I figured he had the better plan. I gave my rights up to him, as many others did. Those who couldn't work full-time for the church were asked to donate 25% of their paychecks in an act called the Commitment. Church staff asked members to donate their sentimental riches such as jewellery. Before meetings, temple staff frisked members for valuables. Their shoes were even emptied in case they tried to hide anything. The money collections taken from the congregation during Mass reached several thousand dollars per week, but Jones deceived his followers and told them the total of their

offerings was much less. This encouraged more donations. He took checks from the county to help those in his care, but he only offered those people canned foods and second-hand clothes in return. Thirty homes belonging to temple members were signed over to the church, who sold the properties and kept the profit. The profit was recorded as gifts. Jones was earning around $20,000 per week. The excessive amounts of money and profit the church accumulated was kept hidden in various bank accounts, maintained by the church's financial and legal teams. To justify constantly asking temple members for money, Jones explained that he was planning to build them a commune, somewhere they could all go where fascists couldn't destroy them.

Of the growing community, 100 long-standing people's temple members were chosen to form the planning commission. The majority of those chosen were young, attractive, white females. The temple and its members were run under their leadership, but Jim Jones retained final decision-making authority. David Parker Wise was a pastor and long-term friend of Jim Jones. He was offered a position on the planning commission. David recalled, quote, The great respect that I had from the other inner staff ended later when I was asked to join the planning commission, which ruined everything. Jim told me that the planning commission could learn from my great honesty. However, I learned that honesty was not really

welcome. I was expected to be an attack dog or to be attacked myself and decided not to play ball. As a result, Jim and I became more alienated from each other, and he began to perceive me as a threat. Frankly, I thought his behavior in the planning commission was insane and absurd. I was especially worried that he contradicted himself all the time. It was around that time that I found amphetamines in his pill bag. To keep himself awake, alert, and energised, Jones was secretly taking amphetamines. This prolonged and frequent drug consumption amplified Jones' paranoia. He began rambling about enemies who were after him. On one Sunday afternoon, whilst the congregation knelt about in the church's parking lot,

they heard the swift crack of gunfire. Panicked, they looked to their leader. Blooming from the centre of Jones' shirt was a large, soggy, red stain. Jones clutched his chest and fell. His aides quickly lifted his limp body into the church. Fear gripped the congregation. They believed Jim Jones had been assassinated. Half an hour later, the doors to the church opened. Their leader emerged, wearing a new shirt. Jones explained he had healed his bullet wound and the crowd cheered. The bloody shirt was hung in the church as a reminder to followers that Jim Jones was in constant danger. Members chose not to question why there wasn't a bullet hole through the fabric.

Attacks on Jim Jones and his temple became regular occurrences. Molotov cocktails were thrown at church property. Dead animals were left on front lawns. Jones found broken glass in his food. Sniper dots constantly tracked him. A bone was found under his bus, and a needle filled with poison was hidden in his folded underwear. Like his faith healings, these dramatic events were orchestrated by Jones to trick his followers. He perpetrated the fear by surrounding himself with armed bodyguards and by making his vehicles bulletproof. Guards stood at the entrance to the church and questioned and searched everyone who entered. Familiar faces and strangers alike. Some guards carried guns.

Why are you here, they would ask visitors suspiciously. What do you think about Jim Jones? Fear of outside enemies embedded itself deep within temple membership, and temple members became fiercely defensive and loyal towards their church and leader, which is exactly what Jim Jones had intended. Outside the church, Jones's paranoia, attention seeking, and fear of rejection manifested in bizarre behavior around his family. Jones would feign sickness that would cultivate in dramatic scenes. He'd collapse, grasp his chest, wheeze for air, and choke on words. Moments later, once everyone was worrying over him, it seemed perfectly fine. His son, Stephen Jones, would

later look back on his father's behavior. Quote, It was losing its luster. It seemed like we were always fearing for our lives, or his, or both, and I was growing tired of it. Inside the church, Jones's controlling behavior manifested in other ways. Still harboring bitterness for those church members who had abandoned him in the past, Jones came up with some nefarious ways to ensure his new followers could never leave him. Temple members older than 11 years old were made to sign the bottom of a blank piece of paper, referred to as an attendance sheet. If members were to leave or threaten a temple, a damaging message could be typed on the blank page above the signature. A false confession,

incriminating statements, suicide notes, threats, or power of attorney. Their signatures and the fear of what he could do with them bound members to Jim Jones indefinitely. During temple meetings, the planning commission handed out pens and paper and told members to write down confessions to imaginary crimes. These pages of false confessions to murder, terrorism, rape, molestation, theft, and fraud were kept by Jones to further ensure allegiance. At other meetings, members were told to write what they would do to people who might hurt the cause or hurt Jim Jones. Explicit and violent details were encouraged. Despite objections, members were forced to write that they would kill anyone who harmed their movement.

Temple members were encouraged to spy on one another and were rewarded for doing so. Anyone heard talking negatively about Jones or making plans to leave the church were reprimanded. It seemed impossible for temple members to willingly leave. They were committed financially. Homes, stocks, and belongings had been sold and paychecks handed over. Socially, they were also committed. Their friends and family were members and most wouldn't consider abandoning their loved ones. The implicating false documents they all signed also kept them bound within the church. With the fear of not knowing who to trust, as even friends and family members were turning

each other in, escape couldn't be planned without Jim Jones finding out. Jones himself would often say, you cannot escape this movement. It was the cause that motivated people's temple members. They all still believed in doing good work and helping others to bring about equality. But with Jim Jones' overly paranoid and controlling behaviour, the church lost its enthusiastic and contagious joy that once made it so intoxicating. To further compel members to stay in the church, families were divided. Couples, parents, children, siblings, and relatives were intentionally separated amongst temple locations. For Jim Jones, breaking up traditional nuclear families

was key to maintaining control of individuals. He didn't want groups of people to have loyal ties to each other. Just to him. Parental authority was given to the Planning Commission, as most children did not reside in the same building as their parents. The church community raised children. Members were ordered to divorce partners that refused to join the temple. The Relationship Committee took control of intimate relationships by pairing off permitting affairs and marrying couples of their choosing and forcing other couples to break up. Throughout the 1960s, there was a sense of optimism amongst US citizens who believed change could occur through social movements. Anti-Vietnam War protests, the sexual revolution,

the civil rights movement, second wave feminism, and gay rights were movements that gave power to the people. People's Temple had spent five years in Redwood Valley before Jim Jones moved the temple's headquarters to San Francisco in 1970. San Francisco was the centre for activist movements at the time. People's Temple was unnoticed in the rural hills of Redwood Valley, so Jones decided to head into the heart of a major political city to propel and promote his socialist movement. In San Francisco, People's Temple purchased the narrow, multi-story building as their new headquarters. Jones and his family lived in an apartment on the third floor. Temple members lived in shed cubicles on the floors above. When these became

overcrowded, members slept in the sanctuary downstairs where sermons and meetings were held. Multiple apartment buildings were purchased around the headquarters to house more members. It was rare to find a temple member living outside of the communes. Life in San Francisco was rough for temple members. Members' pets were killed and buried in mass graves as there wasn't enough space for them to live in the communes. The church also tightened internal budgets. Low nutrition, mass-produced cheap meals were always on the menu. Often, members were served the same bland meal throughout the day. Complaints were rarely aired in fear of being labelled selfish. Armed guards were placed out the front of the San Francisco People's Temple

headquarters. The front door was kept locked and only those with express permission from temple staff could enter and leave. Written communication to outsiders was heavily inspected, scrutinized and censored by temple staff, and only positive statements about the church and Jim Jones were released. Within San Francisco, Jones worked to have people's temple become politically influential. Members were used to bolster campaign crowds for politicians who were friends with Jones. Jones ordered temple members to support politicians who worked for the temple's interests. To outsiders, it appeared these politicians had massive support from a diverse section of the community. People's temple members were tailor-made for political rallies due to the

variety of cultures, genders, ages and skin tones. Without Jim Jones, these political rallies would have nowhere near the amount of supporters, and at the time, it was understood that it was impossible to win office in San Francisco without the support of Jones and People's Temple. To outsiders, Reverend Jim Jones was the epitome of a selfless Christian. He was seen as down-to-earth, witty and effective. He was highly respected and admired for his boldness to take on injustice and corruption. In 1975, Reverend Jim Jones was named one of the most influential clergymen in the country. In 1976, he received the Los Angeles Herald's Humanitarian of the Year award. One newsman said of Jones, quote,

You were truly an affirmation of all that is best in the human race. Jones concealed the truth that the social gospel principles he preached were actually the principles of communism. Jones blended religion and socialism for years to ensure the progression from one to the other seemed natural to his congregation. He told his followers, If you're born in the capitalist America, racist America, fascist America, then you're born in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you are not born in sin. The Bible served no function in his long-term socialist goals, and he wanted his religious followers to give up on God. He said, Those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion

had to be brought to enlightenment, socialism. Church meetings became intensely anti-Bible. Jones called Christianity a flyaway religion and labelled the Bible a tool used to oppress. He denounced the sky God. In one sermon, he said, You're going to help yourself, or you'll get no help. There's only one hope of glory that's within you. Nobody's going to come out of the sky. There's no heaven up there. We'll have to make heaven down here. People are not saved through reading the Bible. Networks refused to air Jones' controversial anti-Bible sermons. Proud religious people began a campaign of harassment targeted at Jones' family. Jones didn't stand down.

He continued his crusade to discredit the Bible. During one mass, he accused his Christian members of being hung up on the Bible. He explained the book had held down Black people for the last 200 years, and he would show them it had no power. He threw the Bible across the church. The thump when it hit the wooden floor echoed up into the tall hollow roof. Jones looked back and forth at his shocked audience. Now, he said, Did you see any lightning come out of the sky and strike me dead? Like Father divine before him, Jones referred to himself as God. He began a sermon saying, For some unexplained set of reasons, I happen to be selected to be God. And you may not believe it, but I'll tell you, there was never a miracle done in the world

lest I did it. I am the God Messiah. In 1973, eight college students left People's Temple. They were the children of original Indiana People's Temple members and were considered by Jones as his best and brightest. They didn't trust anyone else and only spoke to each other about their plan to escape. They didn't even tell their families, as they felt they would fight them and try and make them stay. They came to be known as the Eight Revolutionaries or the Gang of Eight. The Gang of Eight had every reason to be concerned. One of them said, quote, At one point, we had been told that any college student who was going to leave the church would

be killed, not by Jones, but by some of his followers. In a letter to Jones, the Gang of Eight explained the reasons for their abandonment. They detailed the hypocrisy rampant in Temple staff. Jim Jones demanded celibacy, but his inner circle had sexual affairs with each other. Jones preached racial equality, but the church leadership was predominantly white. Money doesn't exist in a socialist society, but rich temple members were propelled into positions of power. They complained that Temple staff had become more concerned with castrating members than about working on advancing the socialist movement. When Jim Jones read the letter, he didn't care for its contents. He was just furious that despite all his tricks and traps,

people had abandoned him yet again. A threatening campaign to harass the Gang of Eight began. Notes made out of chopped newspaper lettering were sent to them. The pages were smeared with poison oak to irritate the skin of the unsuspecting handlers. We know where you live, the letters read. We're watching you all the time. Keep your ass clean and your mouth clamped up. No pigs. The Gang of Eight were bombarded with untraceable, threatening phone calls. Obituaries were written in newspapers under their names. Rented hurses were left idle in front of their homes. These actions were enough to keep the defectors silent. After the Gang of Eight left, life changed in people's temple. Jones said,

my love isn't working. I guess I'll have to start getting hard on people. They seem to respond to it better. Up until this point, correcting negative behaviour within the church involved private meetings with troublesome members. They were counselled, offered self-criticism and gently reprimanded. But that all changed once people started defecting. Jones started calling forth troublemakers from the crowd to get up on stage. He would speak highly of the individual before cutting the flattery with a harsh statement. Whether court committing a defined crime such as smoking or a less tangible crime such as being selfish, all punishments were equal. Hundreds of temple members would berate and shame the troublemaker on stage,

and these verbal attacks became more menacing over time. They were loud, threatening and personal. The victim stood silent before the crowd, which usually contained their friends and families, who would join in on the vicious verbal assault. This disciplinary process was labelled catharsis. Temple leadership stated it reeducated the self-centred, elitist and capitalist temple members, and turned them into selfless, autonomous communists. One night, as a transgressor stood before the crowd for their catharsis, Jim Jones changed things again. He silenced the congregation, asked for a belt, and then whipped the victim with it. Once Jones introduced physical punishments to catharsis, they eventually became

normal. Victims were lined up on stage and whipped one after the other. Parents were made to whip their children too. If parents whipped gently to protect their child, Jones called them disloyal. Then the parent was whipped. Once the belt became predictable and less effective, it was replaced by something known as the board of education. A one by four inch board, two and a half feet long. The board was used up to 100 times in one catharsis. If a child refused to stand still and accept their beating, two adults would hold them down. Children often collapsed afterwards and needed to be carried off stage. During one meeting, Jones ordered 16-year-old Linda Myrtle on stage. Linda stood before the crowd of 700 temple members, including her parents.

Her crime was that she was seen greeting a female friend with a hug and a kiss. Linda was hit 75 times as the crowd yelled scathing words at her. The beating was so severe Linda couldn't sit for a week and a half afterwards. Younger badly behaved children were subjected to the blue-eyed monster. The child was left in a dark room where a frightening voice told them, I am the blue-eyed monster and I am going to get you. Paddles of an electroshock therapy machine were pressed to the child's chest. A sharp jolt of electricity prickled through their body and the traumatized child was then used as a warning to others. Adult punishments progressed into boxing matches. Multiple assailants beat troublemakers before the congregation.

It was considered cowardly if the victims defended themselves or fought back. If knocked unconscious, the victim's face was splashed with water to wake them up, then the beating would continue. After punishment, Reverend Jim Jones would wrap his arms around the victim and say, I realized that you went through a lot, but it was for the cause. Father loves you and you're a stronger person now. I can trust you more now that you've gone through and accepted this discipline. The victim was required to respond into the microphone. Thank you, Father. The abuse continued outside of the catharsis sessions. During temple meetings, doors would be locked and no one was allowed in or out. Members were not allowed to talk, go to the bathroom,

or sleep. Guards carrying guns walked through the sanctuary, threatening and separating talkers. They roughly woke up worshipers who fell asleep. Some temple members wet their pants during the meetings, unable to hold on until the end. If caught chewing gum, members were thrown into the church's swimming pool. When one child threw up, Jones ordered the child to eat their vomit. A misbehaving three-year-old boy was forced to stay up all night scrubbing floors with a toothbrush. Teenagers were made to pick lint off carpet floors for hours. Members were stripped naked in meetings and their bodies criticized. One exhausted man was vomited and urinated on when he accidentally fell asleep.

These meetings would go on all night, with several meetings held per week. Some followers dismissed concerns about the abusive behavior within the temple, as they believed the ends justified the means. Others were scared into silence. No one wanted to be called up on stage and beaten for criticizing the church. They stripped members of free will and thought. Eventually, even the most shocking acts became normal. One night, Jones ordered an urgent meeting with the Planning Commission. After the defections, Jones wanted to determine how loyal his remaining followers were. Jones claimed that if his followers were loyal, they should be willing to jump off the Golden Gate

Bridge for the cause. He suggested filling buses with temple members and driving them off the Golden Gate Bridge. After a long silence, Jack Beam, who had been alongside Jones since Indiana, yelled, go ahead and kill yourself if you want, but leave the rest of us out of this. No, Jones responded. He would be the only survivor. He'd remain behind to explain to the world why the temple chose to commit revolutionary suicide. Revolutionary suicide was coined in the late 1960s by Huey Newton. Newton was the leader of the Black Panther Party. Newton spoke of revolutionary suicide in relation to assassinations of Black Panther members by police and public enemies. Newton said these murders were a consequence of challenging the system,

standing up against the power of the man. The man will shoot you down. Death is a sacrifice for the cause. It was revolutionary suicide. Jim Jones' interpretation of revolutionary suicide was completely different. According to Jones, revolutionary suicide was a voluntary act committed by members of a cause to make a political statement. Newton never considered revolutionary suicide a choice. Jim Jones did. On New Year's Day, 1976, the People's Temple Planning Commission were in the church sanctuary celebrating. Jones was on stage and beside him were dozens of glasses sitting in neat rows on a tray. Purple-coloured wine was poured into each glass. Jones had permitted the Planning Commission

members to consume alcohol for the special occasion. Each partygoer took a glass and within seconds the glasses were empty. Jones' voice boomed over the happy chatter. You just drank poison. People were stunned, eyes wide and shaking. Elderly people felt faint. Should anyone leave to seek a doctor, they'd be traitors, Jones announced. One woman ran to the door but was forced back by armed guards. As panic swept through the sanctuary, Jones watched with staunch indifference. 45 minutes after drinking the poisoned wine, everyone remained well. The party suspected they had been fooled. Jones said, that wasn't poison you drank. I had my staff watching each of your 30 faces to

determine if you were indeed ready to die. Anyone seen clinging to life was chastised. It was a privilege to die for your beliefs. The idea of his followers dying for his cause became an obsession for Jim Jones. His sermons were suddenly peppered with ominous statements about killing his congregation. When Jones boasted of his love of socialism, he added, I'd be willing to die to bring it about, but if I did, I'd take a thousand with me. He also said, the last orgasm I'd like to have is death, if I could take you all with me. The day is coming when I'm going to wish you an order that will shock you. With his hands deep in politician pockets, Jim Jones and his temple

were able to live and prosper in San Francisco without government intervention or questioning. One politician who owed Jim Jones was George Mosconi. Jones had temple members campaign on behalf of Mosconi, leading to him getting elected as the mayor of San Francisco. Mosconi rewarded Jones with the role of chairman of the housing authority. The housing authority city hall meetings were previously uneventful affairs, but when Jones was appointed chairman, meetings turned into bizarre spectacles. Jones wore his trademark sunglasses and arrived to meetings with an entourage of aides, bodyguards and his own audience. When Jones spoke, his planted audience would erupt in loud applause and standing ovations.

These unruly meetings caught the curiosity of the media, and People's Temple suddenly found themselves under constant media scrutiny. Journalists began investigating People's Temple. One journalist watched Jones faith heal the same person of the same illness, twice in one day. Jones had once admitted publicly to being an atheist. He didn't believe in God, but his church was exempt from paying tax by claiming to be a religious institution. Journalists exposed this hypocrisy. Suddenly, journalists were receiving dozens of calls a day from temple members, telling them not to criticize Jones. Members even picketed the officers of journalists and pressured advertisers not to buy space in these publications. However,

the temple's threats had the adverse impact. It compelled journalists to keep digging, which led them to the discovery of seven suspicious deaths of People's Temple members. Maxine Harp was found hanged in her garage in March 1970. The death ruled a suicide. Maxine knew temple members had infiltrated government agencies, including the welfare department. The temple were purposefully disbanding families and putting their children into temple-owned foster care homes. This made the children eligible for welfare support, which the temple collected on their behalf. Maxine confronted Jones, who told her, why don't you just kill yourself, get it over with. Jones predicted the day before Maxine's death,

that bitch is going to die. After her death, Maxine's three children were put into temple foster homes. The temple collected $10,000 in welfare support checks on their behalf. As well as the $3,000 trust fund their mother left for them. Chris Lewis shot Rory Hilt dead in November 1973, during a heated argument in a room full of temple members. Lewis was later acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. Rumors spread that Jones had ordered the killing, though a motive remained unclear. Chris Lewis himself was shot dead outside a temple-owned thrift shop. Police concluded the crime was drug related. Lewis was a personal bodyguard to Jones. Two different people shot him twice in the back. The killers were never identified.

Jones blamed the murder on enemies of people's temple, but temple staff used Lewis's death as a threat to what might happen if they didn't comply with temple demands. Truth Heart died of congestive heart failure in July 1974. Truth was an X-piece mission member who joined people's temple shortly after Father Divine's death. Truth turned against Jim Jones once he started disrespecting the Bible. Days prior to the event, Jones predicted the 66-year-old's death. He also directed a temple nurse to order a drug known to induce heart attacks. Jones used Truth's death as an example to others of what happens when people left Father's protection. John Head was found dead on a Los Angeles street in October 1975. His death was ruled a suicide.

The 22-year-old suffered depression and was a patient in a mental health hospital where several temple members worked. John had recently collected a $10,000 insurance settlement from a motorcycle accident in which he was the victim. Temple members convinced John to donate his settlement to their church. Afterwards, the temple relocated John to their commune in Los Angeles. Within three weeks, John called his old neighbor from a payphone. He was unhappy in the temple and wanted to leave, but they wouldn't let him. The following day, John fell to his death from the roof of a three-story warehouse. Asri Hood vanished without a trace and was never found. People's temple were pressuring her to relocate from her home in Texas to their Redwood Valley

commune. Asri refused to move and suspected she was being followed and that her phone had been tapped. One night, Asri received a phone call from a temple member who offered to pay for her to fly to Redwood Valley. Again, Asri refused to move. Within hours of the call, Asri Hood disappeared and was never heard from again. Bob Houston was found dead at the train depot where he worked in October 76. His death was ruled an accident. Bob was a youth counselor contributing $2,000 a month to the temple. When Bob questioned temple policy, Jones said Bob was too smart for his own good. Bob received a phone call from his defected ex-wife convincing him to leave the church

and rekindle their relationship. The next day, Bob's body was found crushed by a train car in the San Francisco Rail Yard where he worked. His death was reported as a workplace accident. Bob's coworkers took issue with this ruling. Bob wasn't wearing gloves at the time of his death. He was a musician who took great care of his hands and he only took his gloves off at work when he went to shake someone's hand. Jones' lawyers fought hard to keep the media's negative press at bay. Publications were threatened with lawsuits. As a result, stories were scrapped and publications were forced by temple lawyers to print redactions. Jones used the negative press to further perpetrate the sense of imminent danger.

He told his congregation that outside forces didn't want them to succeed doing the good that they were doing. Lies were being published to hurt the cause. In late 1976, New West magazine started researching the People's Temple and Jim Jones for an upcoming article. As soon as People's Temple heard about it, the magazine, its editors, and advertisers were bombarded with 50 calls and 70 letters a day from temple members and supporters. Under knowns to the temple, several temple defectors were contemplating speaking out together about the abuses within the church. The defectors contacted the writer of the New West article and agreed to be named an interview about People's Temple and Jim Jones.

The New West magazine article titled, Inside People's Temple, was written from the interviews with 10 ex-temple members. The ex-members explained how Jim Jones was initially a compassionate person, but slowly the atmosphere inside the temple changed to one of cruelty and punishments. The New West article detailed the horrors within People's Temple, a life of segmentation, fear, and self-imposed humiliation. Events and behavior were orchestrated and nothing was real. Temple members were prepared beforehand whenever dignitaries or guests visited. Everything they would say and do was scripted and rehearsed, creating an illusion that the temple was a safe, welcoming, and happy place. The article described the forcibly signed false confessions that

incriminated members in bogus illegal activity, the humiliating catharsis beatings were revealed, and Jones' fatalities were exposed as a sham. The harassment defectors received from the temple was detailed, along with the fact that those who had left feared being murdered. The article also revealed that the People's Temple redwood valley properties were up for sale, as were the Los Angeles temple buildings and three care homes they owned. The article stated property sales were evidence that Jim Jones and his temple were in the final stages of orchestrating a mass exodus to avoid prosecution. The article read, quote, Several former temple members believed Jones and a few hundred of his closest

followers may be planning to leave, no later than September of this year. The ex-members we interviewed had the ability to walk away from the temple once they found the courage to do it. Whether the church will permit those who move the option of ever leaving is questionable. On August 1st, 1977, six hours before the article was to go to print, New West Magazine's editor Rosalie Wright made a phone call. On the other end of the line was People's Temple leader, Reverend Jim Jones. Rosalie offered to read the article to Jones personally. She had no idea that Jones was with five members of his inner circle who were discreetly listening in on the call.

Rosalie read out the detailed accounts and allegations revealing Jim Jones to be a negotistical perverted fraud. The article was critical of the temple's financing, recruitment, political influence and work practices. In the room with Jim Jones during the call was Deborah Layton. She recalled, quote, As Wright continues to read this article, Jones is looking around the room at the five of us and you can tell he's becoming more and more anxious and his mouth becomes drier and he realizes this article is going to be hugely damning. Whilst on the phone, Jones reached out for a pen and paper. He screwed with a short message and handed the note to each person in the room. At red, we leave tonight. To be continued in part two.