November 18:

1978 : Mass suicide at Jonestown

People's Temple leader Jim Jones leads hundreds of his
followers in a mass murder-suicide at their
agricultural commune in remote northwestern Guyana.
The few cult members who refused to take the
cyanide-laced fruit-flavored concoction were either
forced to do so at gunpoint or shot as they fled. The
final death toll was 913, including 276 children.
Jim Jones was a charismatic churchman who founded the
People's Temple, a Christian sect, in Indianapolis in
the 1950s. He preached against racism, and his
integrated congregation attracted mostly African
Americans. In 1965, he moved the group to northern
California, settling in Ukiah and after 1971 in San
Francisco. In the 1970s, his church was accused by the
press of financial fraud, physical abuse of its
members, and mistreatment of children. In response to
the mounting criticism, Jones led several hundred of
his followers to South America in 1977 and set up a
utopian agricultural settlement called Jonestown in
the jungle of Guyana.
A year later, a group of ex-members convinced U.S.
Congressman Leo Ryan, a Democrat of California, to
travel to Jonestown and investigate the commune. On
November 17, 1978, Ryan arrived in Jonestown with a
group of journalists and other observers. At first the
visit went well, but the next day, as Ryan's group was
about to leave, several People's Church members
approached members of the group and asked them for
passage out of Guyana. Jones became distressed at the
defection of his members, and one of Jones'
lieutenants attacked Ryan with a knife. Ryan escaped
from the incident unharmed, but Jones then ordered
Ryan and his companions ambushed and killed at the
airstrip as they attempted to leave. The congressman
and four others were murdered as they attempted to
board their charter planes.
Back in Jonestown, Jones directed his followers in a
mass suicide in a clearing in the town. With Jones
exhorting the "beauty of dying" over a loudspeaker,
hundreds drank a lethal cyanide and Kool-Aid drink.
Those who tried to escape were chased down and shot by
Jones' lieutenants. Jones died of a gunshot wound in
the head, probably self-inflicted. Guyanese troops,
alerted by a cult member who escaped, reached
Jonestown the next day. Only a dozen or so followers
survived, hidden in the jungle. Most of the 913 dead
were lying side by side in the clearing where Jones
had preached to them for the last time.

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