Casefile True Crime - Case 60: Jonestown (Part 2)

Episode Date: September 16, 2017

[Part 2 of 3] In the late 1970s, Jim Jones and hundreds of his followers relocated to The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in the South American country of Guyana – more commonly known as ‘Jonestown’. --- 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-2

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Music 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. The tropical country of Guyana is located on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana features a variety of striking natural landscapes. Spectacular volcanic escarpments, rivers, botanical gardens, rainforests and waterfalls are hidden throughout. Colourful and exotic animals such as flamingos, iguanas, parrots, toucans can be found in the dense jungles. Guyana is raw beauty, vibrant and expansive. Guyana's motto is one people, one nation, one destiny. It was the only English-speaking country in South America and was a cooperative socialist republic.

For those reasons, Guyana caught the eye of Jim Jones. Jones perceived the United States as racist and oppressive, and he wanted to create a self-sustaining, remote commune for his thousands of followers to immigrate to and permanently live in. It would be a benevolent, multi-racial, socialist paradise where everything was owned and shared by the community as a whole. In 1974, People's Temple negotiated with Guyana's government to develop approximately 4,000 acres of land. By 1976, an official 25-year land lease was signed. People's Temple would pay roughly $1,000 annually to the Guyana government for the chosen land. An isolated area of jungle along the Venezuelan border was chosen for Jim Jones' socialist community.

Jonestown Two years before the lease was signed, 15 People's Temple members set out to Guyana to prepare for the construction of the commune. They set sail from Miami in July 1974. It took 10 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean between North and South America. The ocean lapped, pummeled, and almost swallowed the trawler. The windshield cracked. But the sea-battered People's Temple travellers managed to reach Guyana's coastal capital city, Georgetown. They purchased the spacious two-story building in an upscale area of Georgetown, which became Temple headquarters.

The People's Temple pioneers then piled back onto their trawler and sailed up the Wayney River. Before steering down the Kaituma River. The Kaituma River snatched through the foggy rainforest and led the trawler to its final destination, Port Kaituma. The harsh reality of the Third World Nation hit when they arrived at the Riverside Village of Port Kaituma. Slums were the first to arrive at the Port Kaituma River. The harsh reality of the Third World Nation hit when they arrived at the Riverside Village of Port Kaituma. Slums of shanty homes made from mismatched timber with corrugated iron roofs lined the streets. Residents suffered from disease and malnutrition.

Children's bodies were swollen, sweaty, and covered in sores. Dead animals rot in trenches of mosquito-infested water on the side of swampy red clay roads. The humid air felt oily and tasted burnt. Nevertheless, the People's Temple pioneers were determined. Each day they'd wake early, pile into flatbed trucks, and drive six miles down the pothold clay road to where their commune was to be established. What started as a single footpath through the jungle was cut away by hand using axes, cutlasses, and machetes. It was hard, backbreaking work. The jungle was unspoiled and inaccessible.

Mike Touchette, an early People's Temple settler in Guyana. Quote, Living down there was hard, heavy work, mostly with your hands and your back, but with the additional challenges of the jungle thrown in, like the heat, the rain, and the bugs. We were also isolated from everything and everyone. If we needed a piece of equipment, we couldn't go down to a local supply store. We had to fashion it ourselves, or wait for weeks while the order came in from Georgetown, or even further away.

Or do without. You had to have a pioneering spirit to survive. A bulldozer and backhoe were eventually shipped over from the United States, allowing walls of jungle to be torn down with ease. The foundations of the first buildings were laid, and fields were tilled in preparation for crops. The commune was formally named the People's Temple Agricultural Project. The People's Temple Agricultural Project population grew slowly at first, housing just 50 residents in the first few months.

Despite the difficulties of the foreign landscape and tropical climate, Pope remained high as chosen temple members made their pilgrimage from the United States to Guyana. Their jungle paradise was referred to as the Promised Land, or Freedom Land. But most called it Jonestown, after their leader, Reverend Jim Jones. The success of Jonestown relied on the determination and motivation of its residents. Most were born and raised in America's cities, and few had farming or laboring experience. Mike Touche, quote, We worked from sun up till dark, rain or shine.

We worked hard to build what we thought was going to be a better way of life for the family members back in the States. After a satisfying breakfast of eggs with biscuits, pastries and coffee, laborers headed to the fields and planted and harvested crops, tended to livestock, and laid down foundations for more buildings. The furniture department built beds, cabinets and cribs. The sawmill produced the frames for residents' homes. A medical clinic was also established. At lunchtime, everyone took a break to eat a sandwich and relax.

Elderly residents sorted, cleaned and prepared vegetables for dinner. Dinner was either a plate of fried chicken or fish with green vegetables on the side and peanut butter fudge for dessert. After dinner, the early settlers met in the pavilion in the center of the commune. The pavilion was a large, open-air structure with a corrugated iron roof set on wooden columns. Used as a central meeting area, it featured a stage at one end with multiple benches and chairs in front. Signs with slogans such as Love One Another were featured within. At night, it was a hub of social activity. Elderly residents played dominoes and cards, children watched movies and television,

teenagers listened and danced to music, and couples snuck away for privacy. Preparation to send more people's temple members to Guyana took months. Passports, visas and immunizations were needed. In the United States, apartments were vacated, homes sold, bank accounts closed and jobs quit. Population influxes were gradual so as to not overwhelm the commune and to give new settlers time to prepare. By May 1976, there were approximately 100 temple members living in Jonestown. These early days of Jonestown were filled with optimism and positivity. A shortwave radio was built in the commune to communicate with people's temple headquarters in San Francisco.

Positive updates about the jungle commune were relayed to temple members still living in America. By April 1977, almost three years since the first pioneers arrived in Guyana, there were 400 temple residents living in Jonestown. The commune had become an impressive township. Beyond the entrance into Jonestown were six cottages for senior residents. Amongst these homes were a doctor's office, an infirmary, a laboratory and a pharmacy. Further along was the dining tent, kitchen, bakery and a stand full of hanging bananas of various shades of green. There was a vegetable stand for storing, sorting and preparing fresh food and herbs,

as well as a smokehouse and a sump in Solador. A laundry was built behind the cooking area where the heat from the kitchen was used to dry damp clothes. At the end of the main road was the tool shop, garage, sawmill, supply storage, fuel tank and a warehouse. A dirt footpath snaking from the main road led to West House. This was where people's temples, senior leadership and staff stayed during visits. It was larger than all other residential structures in the commune. In the center of the commune was the main pavilion and adjacent to that was the radio room. Next to the radio room were two educational tents and a library where school classes were held for children.

There was also a playground and a basketball court. A dormitory was used as a nursery for toddlers and preschool children. Another was used as an animal refuge. Beyond these dormitories the path forked in two directions. To the left were several cottages known as East House where outside visitors stayed. The second path led to 48 pastel colored cottages where Jonestown's adults slept. Overlooking the cottages was a guard tower. It had children's slides installed at its lowest level and a wind driven generator at its top.

Bathrooms and showering facilities were nearby. The toilets were built over a pit and the toilet seat was a long bench with six oval holes. Generator buildings and numerous wells and windmills were located throughout the commune. Further away were the pigory, barns and a chicken coop and cultivated fields and orchards full of planted crops surrounded the commune's edges. Reverend Jim Jones visited his commune throughout its progress. When Jones came to town residents were tense and irritable. In America temple members sunk years, money and energy into people's temple.

They were rewarded with long work hours, violent punishments, public humiliations, social isolation and blackmail. The negativity corrupted the purpose of the temple to bring equality through socialism. Once a compassionate leader Jim Jones transformed into a paranoid drug abuser, sexual predator and egotistical tyrant. As temple life in America spiralled into one of cruelty and control. Temple life in Jonestown without Jones was a relaxed atmosphere. Jonestown resident Eugene Smith quote, When Jim Jones wasn't there, things tended to be a little bit lighter. People would be dancing or singing, there'd be music in different cottages.

But when Jones was present, it was very, very dark. It was almost like a dark cloud. Jones filmed one of his visits and the footage was splashed together by people's temple PR teams to relay an image of the commune that was favourable. But not truthful. The PR videos featured peening footage of the large agricultural fields lined with growing fruits and vegetables. But they didn't show that most crops failed to reach harvest due to unpredictable weather, pests and poor soil. Fruit trees took years to grow and produce so they provided no immediate sustenance. The videos featured close-ups of satisfying meals consisting of bacon, barbecued ribs, sausages and fried chicken.

However cows, pigs and chickens were dying from a mysterious illness and meat had become a rare ingredient on Jonestown's menu. Jones toured the chicken coupes on camera and lied about there being thousands of chickens in the commune and that none of them had ever died, calling it a miracle of miracles. Residential cottages were shown in impeccable condition with only two bunk beds featured in each. In reality, cottages were overcrowded because homes were not going up as fast as new residents were arriving. By mid-1977, there were already more people in Jonestown than the land could support. Jonestown residents were unaware of the bad news unraveling in America. On August 1st, 1977, New West magazine published an article titled Inside People's Temple. The article featured testimony of ex-temple members who exposed Jim Jones as a possessive and violent fraud.

The article claimed Jones was in the late stages of orchestrating a mass exodus of his temple to their commune in Guyana. Prior to the article's publication, the magazine's editor warned Jim Jones about the article's content. Jones knew backlash over the article would open him up to investigation and possibly criminal charges or civil suits. His entire organization would be destroyed, so Jones escaped for Guyana six hours before the article went to print. And as the article predicted, he ordered his temple members to follow him. The mass exodus to Guyana happened almost overnight. Temple members were told father had called them to the Promised Land. They packed their belongings, quit their jobs, and abandoned their families and friends.

To avoid suspicion, members told loved ones they were going on a routine temple bus trip. Temple staff forged letters on behalf of members stating they left for Jonestown voluntarily and were in good spirits. To avoid unwanted attention, buses split the hundreds of migrants between airports across the country. The media noticed the disappearing act, but People's Temple quickly released statements denying they were pulling out of America. They attacked the media for orchestrating a well-coordinated conspiracy and smear campaign against Jim Jones. Over the following days, worried friends and relatives of temple members arrived at the temple's San Francisco headquarters. But no one answered the door. One worried relative told the media, quote,

I think that Jim Jones took his group down to Guyana because he was afraid to face the publicity and answer the questions here in this country. I don't think that he feels confident having People's Temple members talk to their relatives. I think the only way he can survive and sustain what he started is to isolate all his followers from this country and from their families. Temple members were excited to go to Jonestown. For years, they'd listen to updates of Jonestown over radio and watch the videos. They thought they would be visiting for just days, weeks, or maybe even months, but would eventually return to America. But they were unaware of a confidential order direct from Jim Jones to temple leadership. The trip to Guyana was final for anyone who took it.

No one would ever return to America. Once in Guyana, new arrivals were made to surrender their belongings as everything was communal in socialist Jonestown. Their passports were confiscated for safekeeping and locked away. Jonestown leadership determined housing and job placements. Parents were upset to find they were lied to. There wasn't a cottage for every family in Jonestown. Leadership divided couples into different cottages. Men and women were housed separately and children were taken to the nursery.

Long time Jonestown residents were anxious. The mass exodus from America brought more than 500 new people into Jonestown. In weeks, the population spiked from 400 to almost 1000 people. Jonestown wasn't equipped to sustain a population of that size. It was already struggling with the population it had before the exodus. Each residential cottage was designed for four people. They now housed between 10 and 20 people. Some cottages were missing doors and window screens.

Cramped inside were combinations of double and triple bunk beds with additional beds in the upper loft area. Mattresses were thin slabs of foam and blankets were too thick. Cottages would become stifling hot as the South American sun roasted their corrugated iron roofs. Residents were working each day at 6am and sometimes as early as 3am. Newcomers were expected to head straight into the agricultural fields and start working upwards of 12 to 16 hours per day. Soon, all meals consisted of rice and gravy. Portion sizes shrunk daily and some meals were skipped entirely. Food became currency. You'd earn it if you worked for it.

Insects fell in the soupy sticky pots of food and they were impossible to pick out. So people laid in darkness to avoid seeing what ended up in their mouths. Gone were the days of cooked meat, pastries, coffee and peanut butter fudge. Wounds festered, infections spread, mosquito bites dotted skin. Diarrhea, dehydration, intestinal worms and rashes were common. The Promised Land was everything but what they were promised. Jonestown wasn't a place of freedom and equality. It was more like a police state. As people's temple members suffered, their leader lived comfortably in his two bedroom West House cottage with his mistresses.

Jones' cabin had air conditioning, a double bed, window screens, a typewriter, a radio and a refrigerator stocked with his favourite soft drinks and treats. His daily meals consisted of meat, salad, jelly and coffee. Despite his luxuries, Jones felt like a prisoner in his own home. His reputation in the states was ruined and he could never return. Paranoia withheld personal responsibility. He was convinced his enemies including the US government, the CIA and the temple defectors were out to destroy him. To cope, he became more dependent on drugs and alcohol. Loyal aids kept an eye on Jonestown residents and updated Jones on the status of the commune. Reports were always the same. People weren't happy. They missed America.

Jones centred all incoming and outgoing mail to cut the emotional ties his followers had to what he called fascist America. Jonestown residents were sent hundreds of letters from worried loved ones back home. A father sought answers from his ex-wife who took their children to Guyana. A brother asked his sister to see him before he died of cancer. One letter notified a mother that her daughter had overdosed. Some put money inside their letters for flights back home. Letters were first received by Jonestown senior staff and then read to Jones. When asked if the recipient should receive their mail, Jones' reply was always the same. No.

Residents started to question why they weren't receiving letters anymore. At first, Jones blamed the US government and when that answer became unsatisfactory, he claimed their relatives had simply stopped writing to them. Jones allowed for outgoing mail under the condition that letters were written in front of censors. Approved letters were filled with lies about what residents were reading, what they were achieving, and how healthy and how happy they were. Jones rigged a loudspeaker system throughout Jonestown. Every day for hours at a time, he'd rant into a microphone about America, fascists, and his enemies. And he would give his own biased opinions and commentaries on reported news. Jonestown resident Deborah Layton, quote,

Only Jim spoke on the speaker system that went 24 hours a day and he would tape himself so in the middle of the night, all through the night, his voice was talking to you. Jones used the droning broadcasts as a deliberate psychological technique to interrupt free thinking. It kept listeners in a disjointed state that made them receptive to fed information. Access to radio and television had been prohibited, so members had no idea what was truly happening outside of Jonestown. Large-scale race riots, mass murder of minorities, and the reintroduction of slavery were just some of the lies Jones spread about America. He wanted to make life in Jonestown appear better than life back home. Residents were quizzed daily on the content of Jones' broadcasts. Those who failed the tests were made to work twice as hard and were forbidden to talk to others.

Jones' loudspeaker ramblings were frantic, nonsensical, and outrageous. Some residents quietly contemplated if Jim Jones had finally gone insane. In December 1977, four months after moving to Jonestown, Jim Jones' mother, Lynetta, passed away. Lynetta lived in her own private cottage. A long-time smoker, she suffered from lung disease and rarely left her bed. One day she had a stroke, and two days later she was dead. Publicly, Lynetta was a great defender of her son. Jones loved his mother deeply.

Her avid interest in humanitarianism defined his formative years and influenced his goals in life. Privately, Lynetta was the only person of Jones' inner circle unafraid to confront, shame, and control him. When Lynetta died, it caused a dramatic shift to ripple throughout Jonestown. Jones lost his only source of authoritative moderation and constraint. Now, no one could stop him. Jones called a meeting at the pavilion days after his mother's passing. The topic of conversation was death, and Jones considered and compared the different ways to die, remarking that drowning would be most preferable as it is easy, numbing, and peaceful.

His crowd remained silent. Jones yelled at them. Some of you people get so fucking nervous every time I talk about death. When an elderly woman scowled at him, Jones told her, You're gonna die someday, honey. You old bitch. You're gonna die. One night from the depths of the jungle,

a gunman fired several bullets in quick succession at West House. The bullets narrowly missed Jim Jones, who was standing at the window at the time. He ran to the loudspeaker and yelled to his people, Alert, alert, we are under attack. Frightened residents rented the pavilion and Jones was waiting for them. Their government allies had abandoned them, he said, and now fascist mercenaries had surrounded Jonestown. They were going to kidnap their children, invade the town, and capture them all.

This pervasive feeling of being under attack felt very real to Jonestown residents. Jones' daily loudspeaker tirades often featured warnings that enemy forces were heading to Guyana to destroy them. Farming tools were handed out to residents who were ordered to stand in a line facing the jungle. They were told to defend Jonestown from the invading mercenaries. Or die trying. No one in the line knew that the gunman who shot at Jim Jones was not an enemy mercenary, who was their leader's son, Jim Jones Jr. He had been ordered by his father to go into the jungle and shoot at West House.

Jones pressed himself against the interior side wall to avoid the bullets he knew were coming. Anxious residents watched the jungle throughout the night and into the morning. They were permitted to sleep in short shifts before taking their defensive positions once more. Jones allowed them to work during the day to maintain food production, but at night he ordered them back into defensive lines. Traumatized children were sedated while Jones walked a line in tears saying goodbye to each person. This was it, he told them. This siege lasted six days.

On the sixth day, Jones permitted his makeshift army to stand down. He gave a rousing speech about how they all proved they'd rather die than surrender to their enemies. Jones asked who was willing to die and commit revolutionary suicide for their cause. Only two people out of hundreds raised their hands. They were two members of Jones's inner circle. Everyone else wanted to fight. They felt they owed their commitment to socialism to stay alive as long as possible. They didn't come to Jonestown to die.

Jones called a meeting in the pavilion every night. He'd press a microphone to his lips, only stopping his long-winded rants to chew on blocks of ice, peanuts or pills. Jones looked puffier and puffier at each meeting. He still wore his trademark sunglasses at all times to hide his red drug-hazed gaze. Sickly, aggressive and easily distracted, Jones constantly licked his lips, a habit common in drug abusers. His speech stuttered and slurred, and he interchangeably blamed exhaustion, illness, a tooth infection, incorrect medication and the sound system for his odd behaviour. Residents cheered, sang and rallied at his order, but their enthusiasm was weak. Jones would ran for hours without break, even when his audience appeared bored and weren't paying attention.

During meetings, Jones would often get drunk and vulgar. He'd swear and threaten people, brag about sex, burp, urinate and vomit. During one meeting, he shot a pistol into the air and yelled, I ought to kill every last one of you. Meetings went all night, with residents crawling into bed at 4am, only to be woken an hour or two later to start work. Jones continued to dull out punishments at these meetings. Gone were the whipping belt and the Board of Education. They were replaced by crueler punishments that wouldn't just cause physical pain, but extreme mental distress. One teenage boy was forced to eat slices of an incredibly spicy native pepper after it was discovered he was growing his own watermelon crop.

A 60 year old woman was punished by being stripped naked and paraded down the aisles of the pavilion. Troublemakers were tied to a pole and left on the edge of the jungle under the impression they were going to be eaten by a tiger. A resident deathly afraid of snakes was forced to endure a snake being wrapped around her. Another was marched into the jungle and had a gun pressed against his head until he agreed to apologise to Jim Jones for his wrongdoings. Other transgressors were paraded by the crowd, slapped and beaten. This misplaced violence between residents was a form of emotional release. Some residents were locked in the box for several days. The box was a 1.2x1.8m shipping container that had been dug into the earth.

It was soundproof, dark and hot. The sensory and social deprivation caused them to hallucinate. For long term punishment, Jones invented the learning crew. Infractions that could get you assigned to the learning crew included being late to work, worshipping God, acting capitalist or saying the words, I want to go home. The learning crew were forced to do low status, exhausting and undesirable tasks. Repeat offenders got extended sentences. The special care unit was an area in the medical section of Jonestown reserved for the most rebellious residents. Those who were increasingly vocal in expressing opposition to Jones. Protesters were restrained and sedated with drugs until they were almost catatonic.

If they wouldn't willingly swallow the tranquilisers, they were forcibly injected. It seemed impossible to escape Jonestown. The surrounding thick walls of unexplored jungle were impossible to track for most residents. However, one person took a chance. On an early August morning, Guyanese police in Port Kaituma noticed the dishevelled man emerge from the dense jungle. He introduced himself as Leon Brassard, a member of People's Temple and resident of Jonestown. Leon told the police Jonestown was a slave colony. When Guyanese police investigated, Jim Jones called Leon a drug addicted liar, but agreed to return the man's passport and pay for him to return to the US.

After this escape, Jones encouraged his followers to spy on each other and report dissent. If a resident looked too long at the jungle, they were reported for plotting an escape. Residents became so paranoid about their thoughts and behaviour, they confessed to minor infractions before others could dob them in. Jonestown resident Vernon Gosney recalled, quote, A father would turn in a son, a husband would turn in a wife, a small child would turn in a parent. There was no freedom to express to one another what was going on because everything was suspect. The most forbidden thing to express was to leave. Jonestown's resident doctor was a 29 year old man called Lawrence Eugene Sharkt.

Lawrence, or Larry as he was known, was once addicted to crystal meth and People's Temple helped rehabilitate him. Temple leadership noted Sharkt as emotionally unstable and insecure, but also highly intelligent. The temple funded Sharkt to study medicine at university. He graduated with honors and began an internship at San Francisco General Hospital. But by the fifth week of his internship, Sharkt disappeared. Jim Jones had ordered him to Jonestown. Sharkt was the only doctor in Jonestown and his inexperience was a problem. He was unfamiliar with treating simple medical issues such as setting broken bones and medicating skin rashes.

Dr. Sharkt worked up to 16 hours per day looking after all 1000 Jonestown residents. To cope, he started taking the calming drug Valium, but it fostered depressive tendencies within him. To Jonestown residents, Dr. Sharkt was a strange loner who was emotionally unstable, paranoid and highly inappropriate. He would perform prostate exams on male temple members who didn't require them. Jonestown resident Laura Johnston Cole recalled, Larry was really different because once he got to Jonestown, he never really established close relationships with anyone. It's almost like he was kind of a recluse in the community. There wasn't anybody else in Larry's life that was anywhere near as monumental as his relationship with Jim Jones.

There's not one friend that I can think of that Larry ever spent time with or hung around. Dr. Sharkt had one free day per week, Wednesday, but it wasn't long before Jones gave him work to do on Wednesdays as well. Private, discreet work. Jones had ordered him to find ways to carry out a mass suicide. Jones had been obsessed with the idea of killing his entire congregation for years. Prior to relocating to Guyana, Jones had orchestrated mock mass suicides within his own leadership group. Those who had witnessed Jones' death plans had brushed them away as loyalty tests. When Dr. Sharkt was given the direct order to find an ideal way to kill 1,000 people, over 300 of whom were children.

His first step was to ask Jones for a book on forensic medicine. Dr. Larry Sharkt quote, I am quite capable of organizing the suicide aspect and will follow through and try to convey concern and warmth throughout the ordeal. In May 1978, Dr. Sharkt believed he'd come up with the quickest and cleanest method for mass suicide. Cyanide Sharkt explained to Jones that cyanide was one of the most rapidly acting poisons. Depending on the dosage, cyanide could take up to three hours or only minutes to kill. Cyanide poisoning stops body cells from absorbing oxygen and results in the sensation of suffocation.

Symptoms of cyanide poisoning occur within minutes and include headaches, dizziness, fast heart rate, shortness of breath and vomiting. Followed by seizures, slow heart rate, low blood pressure and loss of consciousness, ending in cardiac arrest. Jones Town residents noticed Dr. Sharkt exhibiting strange behavior around town, muttering to nobody, shaking, appearing sick and ingesting large amounts of the calming drug Thorazine. No one knew why the doctor was increasingly on edge or what he was planning to do to them all. Jim Jones started importing guns into Jones Town hidden in false crates marked agricultural suppliers. He referred to them as Bibles. He amassed over 30 different firearms and said, There are enough Bibles here to do a lot of praying if necessary. Jones called a town meeting at the pavilion. When residents arrived, they were shocked to find guards circling them holding guns.

Vernon Gosney recalled, quote, There were people that I knew for years with guns and they weren't pointed outward. They were pointed inward. It was a sense of an armed encampment. Jones then went on one of his usual paranoid tangents. One resident recalled, He would tell us that in the United States, African Americans were being herded into concentration camps, that there was genocide on the streets. They were coming to kill and torture us because we'd chosen what he called the socialist track. He said they were on their way. Another resident recalled, We were informed that our situation had become hopeless and that the only course of action open to us was a mass suicide for the glory of socialism. We were told that we would be tortured by mercenaries where we taken alive.

Residents watched as staff brought forward stacks of paper cups, placing them on the table at the front next to a large vat filled with dark liquid. Line up, Jones ordered. Drink the liquid. It would be painless. In 45 minutes, you'd fall asleep forever. When the reality of what Jones was asking of them set in, the crowd protested. But armed guards stood them up and marched them to the vat. The victim was handed a cup filled with liquid and made to drink it at gunpoint. They were then forced to the field next to the pavilion and told to lie down. Jones threatened if anyone tried to flee, they would be shot. Everyone was made to get in line to drink the liquid, even children. Those who had been through similar drills before believed this was just another one of Jones's loyalty tests. Those who continued to resist weren't shot. Instead, guards held them down, pulled open their jaw and poured the liquid forcibly down their throats. Others drank willingly. They were so disenfranchised by Jonestown that death was welcomed.

Hundreds of stained cups were piled up around the near empty vat and hundreds of people lay together watching the sunset. They held each other's hands, whispered farewells and closed their eyes to fall asleep forever. Until Jones' booming voice shattered the silence. He didn't take anything. He had only punch with something a little stronger in it. These simulated suicides would come to be part of what was called White Knights, code for extreme emergency. Every few weeks Jones' voice would ring out over the loudspeaker. White Knight, White Knight, get to the pavilion. Your lives are in danger. All residents would run to the pavilion and would be made to either partake in sieges that went for days or rallies that went for hours. Each White Knight ended the same. Residents were told to line up, take a cup, drink and die.

At the end of each White Knight, Jones would laugh and clap. He'd explained it was only a rehearsal and to now he knew whom he could trust. Then he'd say, go home my darlings. Sleep tight. Jones was manipulating his followers into a learned behaviour by repeating in action over and over until it no longer had an emotional impact. Frequent White Knights made each one less terrifying than the last. Eventually, as residents were handed their cup of dark coloured liquid, nobody fought back. Nobody refused. There was no fear. After each White Knight, Jones would cast another vote for revolutionary suicide. In the beginning, only several hands would rise, but Jones continued to call White Knights until residents were physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted by the process. White Knights became so meaningless, they just wanted them to end.

And eventually, when Jones asked who would commit revolutionary suicide, all hands went up in the air. Some American government officials visited Jones Town briefly throughout its inception, but Jones Town leadership would spend weeks preparing residents' answers to questions and ship in large quantities of food. Beds were removed from cottages to dispel rumors of overcrowding. Residents who looked unhealthily thin were given larger servings of food to fatten up. When official visitors arrived in Jones Town, there didn't appear to be any signs of trouble. When they questioned residents to see if anyone was being held against their will, residents assured them that they were free to leave if they desired. Without seeing any guards, guns or barbed wire, the officials left with the impression that everything was well in Jones Town. Back in America, the relatives of Temple members refused to believe the positive news coming out of Jones Town. They compared letters they had received from loved ones in Guyana.

Letters bore striking similarities to each other, quoting similar lines of text. They noticed things such as spelling errors being crossed out and corrected in someone else's handwriting. Letters arrived unsealed. Some were cut off at the bottom. Eventually, they stopped receiving letters at all. Together with ex-Temple members, they founded a support group called the Concerned Relatives. The Concerned Relatives picketed in San Francisco and sent letters to the media, government officials and members of Congress. They handed out flyers to raise public awareness of the abuses happening in Jones Town. The flyers read,

This nightmare is taking place right now. Will you help us free our families? We are individuals having only one bond in common. Relatives isolated in the Jones Town jungle encampment in Guyana, South America, under the total control of one man, Jim Jones. We espouse no political or religious viewpoint. Our only concern is for our families. We are bewildered and frightened by what is being done to them. Their human rights are being violated and the fabric of our family life is being torn apart. Very few Jones Town residents had successfully escaped the commune. Most who did were members of the Jones Town leadership group and were within Jim Jones' inner circle. Being trusted by Jones, they had access to the locked away piles of passports and were able to obtain their own before fleeing the commune.

Upon their return to America, they were able to publicly detail the conditions in Jones Town and strengthen the claims made by the Concerned Relatives group. On April 11, 1978, the Concerned Relatives delivered a document titled, Accusation of Human Rights Violations by Reverend James Warren Jones. The document attacked Jim Jones directly and outlined the many abuses rampant in Jones Town. The Concerned Relatives gave copies of the document to the press and various members of Congress, including Congressman Leo Ryan. Congressman Leo Ryan was a member of the Democratic Party and had served as the U.S. Representative from California's 11th Congressional District since 1973. A vocal advocate for the often overlooked, less fortunate and poorly treated people within society, Ryan's hands on activism made him a standout campaigner. He was not the type of politician to just sit behind his desk doing nothing.

He always carried a strong sense of responsibility to personally help those who couldn't help themselves. One of Ryan's peers said this about him. He was accustomed to going into battle. He really felt there was nothing to worry about. He was a congressman, as if he had some kind of a protective shield. Synonymous with Ryan's name was the word gutsy. He never took no for an answer. When he believed in something, no matter how difficult, he never gave up.

His unique head-first style of investigating was given the name of experimental legislating by his peers. Due to his hard-earned political success and respect, in late 1978, Congressman Ryan was re-elected for his fourth term in office by a 78-22 majority. Congressman Ryan had been keeping an eye on news regarding people's Temple and Jim Jones, but had yet to make a move on the matter. It wasn't until Sam Houston, an old friend of Ryan's, contacted the Congressman, seeking an investigation into the death of his son that Leo Ryan stepped in. Sam Houston's son was Bob Houston. Bob was a long-time Temple member whose body was found crushed to death by a train car in San Francisco in October 1976. Bob's death was ruled a workplace accident, but his work colleagues took issue with that. Rumors suggested Jim Jones had orchestrated Bob's death.

Congressman Ryan agreed to investigate people's Temple and Jim Jones. On November 1, 1978, Ryan announced plans to travel to Guyana to visit Jonestown on an open and honest fact-finding mission to determine if residents were being held in the commune against their will. He said he would go to Jonestown with or without Jim Jones' permission, and he would stay there for as long as it took to find out what was really going on. Jim Jones believed Ryan's intention was to bring media attention to Jonestown to smear the Temple and destroy the Church. He refused to permit Ryan visitation into Jonestown and sought help from the Guyanaese government to refuse Ryan and his delegation into the country at all. But he was unsuccessful. Jones said, we prefer death to this kind of harassment, and it would be a grave mistake if the Ryan delegation came to Jonestown. Anxiety consumed Jim Jones. He was obviously ill, his body was bloated and it strained him to walk.

Jones was weak and distracted, and some residents saw this as an opportunity to escape. But Jones noticed the rebellious undercurrent and warned them. See if you can get to any passport. Try. I dare you to try. You don't know who you are talking to. Just because I don't use the language of the Church, I am that which they call God. I will see you in the grave. Many of you. As the date of the Ryan visit approached, Jones spent days bunkered down in his cabin, tended to by his mistresses. Armed guards stood at his door day and night. White nights were the tensest they had ever been. Jones was worried that when Ryan visited, some of his followers would escape with a congressman. Therefore, Jones ordered for 20 problematic Jonestown residents to be sedated in the special care unit during Ryan's visit.

People he was worried might speak out against him or attempt to leave. He then painstakingly coached other residents on what they were permitted to say and do when Ryan arrived. As far as your relatives coming up to talk to you, be civil, but don't get engaged into long conversations with them. Tell them how happy you are. Tell them what your food is. How much food. That you wouldn't go back to the United States if someone were to give you a ticket tomorrow. Days before Ryan's visit, a special delivery arrived to Jonestown. It was a large steel drum. An image of a human skull sitting on two angled bones was marked on its surface. The chemical drum wasn't listed on any itinerary.

It was whisked away and hidden in the warehouse by Jonestown medical staff the moment it arrived. The presence of the drum lingered in the minds of those few who had seen it. They considered the possibility that Jim Jones was planning to poison Congressman Ryan. They didn't know that inside the drum was one pound of sodium cyanide. Enough to kill 1,800 people. On November 12, 1978, Ryan, his media entourage and 14 concerned relatives arrived in Guyana's capital city, Georgetown. Congressman Ryan travelled to the temple's headquarters in Georgetown and negotiated with Jonestown leadership over radio for several days. It was eventually agreed that the Congressman could enter Jonestown for a few days to interview residents for his investigation.

But not all of Ryan's delegation were permitted to enter. His staffer from the US Embassy was accepted, as were several reporters, a producer, a cameraman and a soundman. Only four out of the 14 concerned relatives were given permission to visit. The night before the visit, Jones held a final rally in the pavilion. He said, We've been debating about dying. It's easier to die than talk about it. I'll worry about what you people think because you're trying to hold on to life, but I've been trying to give mine away for a long time. And if that fucker wants to take it, he can have it.

But we'll have a hell of a time going together. On November 17, 1978, Congressman Ryan organised a light plane charter to take his group from Timery Airport south of Georgetown and to make the 150-mile flight to the Port Kytuma air strip, located just a few miles out of Jonestown. The narrow dirt runway of Port Kytuma was initially too muddy to land, so the pilot turned away to realign his landing path to a space that was drier. While turning his plane around, he briefly flew over Jonestown, giving his passengers a look at the massive size of the project below. It was a fully realised town, not a small jungle camp as they expected. Reporter Tim Riedemann quote, When we flew over the jungle, it became pretty clear how remote and inaccessible Jonestown really was. It became clear how difficult it would have been for anyone to leave Jonestown.

The pilot returned to Port Kytuma and landed. On the side of the runway, waiting for Ryan and his delegation, was a beat up flatbed truck that would take them to Jonestown. The only road in and out of Jonestown was the Matthews Ridge Port Kytuma road. It was a narrow, long road of red clay. A cloud of crimson coloured dust rose when the truck carrying Congressman Ryan's entourage drove towards Jonestown. Logs were placed across the road and what the visitors perceived was a deliberate act to keep them out. They waited for a bulldozer to arrive and clear the way forward. By the time they reached Jonestown, day had become night.

Swinging over the entrance was a sign that read, Welcome to Jonestown, People's Temple Agricultural Project. There were no barbed wire fences surrounding the commune. No watchtowers, guard posts or prisons. No guards with guns. Aside from the wall of thick swampy jungle surrounding the commune's edges, it was an open space and it appeared as though people were free to come and go as they pleased. At Jonestown's entrance, 51 year old Marceline Jones, the wife of People's Temple leader Jim Jones, warmly welcomed Congressman Ryan and his delegation.

She was to be their tour guide during their short visit. Marceline took the visitors down the road towards the main pavilion. Reporter Charlie Krauss immediately noticed the hundreds of Jonestown residents milling about and realised that his and his group's imaginings and assumptions of Jonestown were completely wrong. He later stated, I noticed immediately that contrary to what the concerned relatives had told us, nobody seemed to be starving. Indeed, everyone seemed quite healthy. I began to walk toward the main building in the centre of Jonestown thinking that considering everything,

this little place was rather pleasant. I could see how someone might want to live here. Reporter Tim Riedemann later described his first impressions of Jonestown. When we pulled into Jonestown, my first impression was that this place had taken a tremendous amount of work to produce. To make something from scratch in the middle of nowhere was an impressive feat. There were hundreds of people around the pavilion and we were escorted there directly to the Reverend Jim Jones. 47-year-old Jim Jones wore a red sleeveless button shirt and light-coloured pants for the occasion. His thick black hair was neatly styled back from his face,

hiding his eyes where his trademark aviator-style sunglasses. Next to Jones sat his lawyers. Jones greeted his guests and sat with them. Over a dinner of barbecued pork, biscuits, greens and coffee, he spoke candidly on camera to reporters. They were quick to notice his peculiarities and speech impairments, the way he stuttered and slurred his way through rants about conspiracies while licking his lips. The reporters believed Jim Jones was high on drugs. The reporters asked Jones about his threats of mass suicide.

He responded, I only said it is better that we commit suicide than kill. The four concerned relatives who were allowed into Jonestown were able to reconnect with the loved ones they hadn't heard from or seen in months. But the reunion they'd been waiting for was prickly. Residents gave evasive answers to important questions, and some even accused their relatives of coming to Jonestown to kill them. During the welcoming dinner, Ryan interviewed many Jonestown residents. When the residents were discreetly shown a card instructing them to nod if they wanted to leave,

they kept their heads perfectly still. At one stage, Jim Jones brought a young child over to meet Congressman Ryan. He had a mop of thick brown hair, dark eyes, and skin darkly tanned from the South American sun. The child appeared shy. His eyes were red and glossy as though he was on the verge of tears, and his meek smile contradicted his uneven eyebrows that gave the impression the boy was incredibly uncomfortable. He was John Victor Stone, the son of Grace Stone, who had defected from the church years earlier. When Grace defected, Jones kidnapped the boy and moved him to Guyana.

Grace had won custody of her son, but Jones refused to hand him over, claiming the boy was biologically his. Although an American court order compelled Jones to return the boy to his mother, he refused. Jones knew if he ever returned to the US, he would be arrested for non-compliance. After dinner, the Jonestown Entertainment Committee put on a show of song, dance, and comedy for their guests. Within the people of Jonestown, there was a clear sense of camaraderie, community, and purpose. Laughter echoed around the pavilion. News that the Jonestown basketball team had just won its game in Georgetown was announced. The crowd erupted in cheers.

Jim Jones jumped to his feet and announced gleefully, that's a coop. Marceline Jones then introduced Congressman Ryan, who stood and faced the large group of Jonestown residents at the event. Hanging above the stage behind Ryan was a sign that read, those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Congressman Ryan began his speech, quote, very glad to be here. I think all of you know that I am here to find out more about questions that have been raised about your operation here. And I can tell you right now, that a few conversations I've had with some of the folks here already this evening, that whatever the comments are, there are some people here who believe that this is the best thing that ever happened in their whole life. The Jonestown crowd erupted in booming cheers and applause, most gave a standing ovation. The over the top show of joy was deafening and continued on for longer than a minute before Congressman Ryan put a stop to the noise and continued on with the speech, quote.

It's really a pleasure to be here. I really appreciate the hospitality you've shown me already. My work here is important to me. I know it's very important to you too. I hope to be through here tomorrow sometime. In the meantime, you're obviously having a very good time tonight. I don't want to spoil any more with political speeches. Just let me say thank you on behalf of my staff, on behalf of the press who are here, and on behalf of the relatives who are in here now for hosting us here this evening. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much. During the congressman's speech, Jonestown resident Vernon Gosney approached NBC reporter Don Harris who was walking by the edge of the pavilion. Gosney slid a small folded piece of paper under the fold of Harris's arm. The note fell to the floor and Gosney picked it up and handed it back to the confused reporter.

You dropped something, he said. A child who saw the exchange started yelling. He passed a note. Gosney quickly merged into the crowds of people and disappeared. Don Harris took the note to congressman Ryan, who carefully unfolded the paper away from Jim Jones's gaze. In that moment, congressman Ryan knew something was very wrong. On the paper was a hastily scrawled message that read, Dear congressman, please help us get out of Jonestown to be continued in part three. Thank you.