Random Facts About What Happened At Jonestown (10 items)

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  (#1) The Peoples Temple Grew To 900 Members After Jones Moved To The Compound Promising A 'Tropical Paradise'

  After moving to California in 1963, Jones's followers only continued to grow and he began to think of himself as more a dictator than a pastor. Hue Forston Jr., a former Temple member, remembers Jones saying: 

  What you need to believe in is what you can see... If you see me as your friend, I'll be your friend. If you see me as your father, I'll be your father, for those of you that don't have a father... If you see me as your savior, I'll be your savior. If you see me as your God, I'll be your God.

  In 1974, The Peoples Temple signed a lease for a plot of land in Guyana that would become the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project - or Jonestown - where his followers could escape from what he believed were the engrained evils of American society.

  In 1977, Jonestown had 50 residents, and in 1978, Jones decided to move to the compound himself following a harsh critique of his congregation in the New West. He encouraged many of his followers to come with him, promising a "tropical paradise." The population ballooned to over 900. 
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  (#5) Armed Men Surrounded The Compound And Were Required To Stop Anyone Who Tried To Leave 

  Teri Buford O'Shea told The Atlantic about her experience at the Jonestown compound, providing insight into what members of the Jonestown community experienced. She said there was little opportunity to escape: 

  Unless you were one of the lucky ones who happened to sneak off into the jungle, you were dead. They went around with stethoscopes, and if you still had a heartbeat, you'd be shot... 
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  (#9) Jonestown Members Were Mostly Motivated To Help Others, Not Worship Jones 

  Journalist Tim Reiterman explained to Time that Jones's congregation was full of “hard-working people, [who] were drawn initially to a rare thing in the Midwest, an integrated Christian congregation.”

  He added that Jones had, from a young age, been able to engage people with his charisma and the power of his voice, and attracted "young, idealistic, many of them college-educated people, who wanted to belong to an organization that practiced what it preached and had a social and political component."

  He also emphasized that they were motivated to help others, not to worship Jim Jones as a “self-proclaimed deity.”
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  (#8) Jim Jones Was Said To Be Heavily Influenced By History's Most Notorious Dictators 

  Jim Jones was the founder of The Peoples Temple at Jonestown, where he used both his charm and his position as a pastor to attract followers. 

  Jones spent a lot of time studying the works of Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, and Adolf Hitler while growing up. According to some childhood friends inverviewd for a PBS special, he was "obsessed with religion... obsessed with death."

  It wasn't until 1955 that a 25-year-old Jones founded his first church in Indianapolis. This church would change names several times until landing on its final moniker: Peoples Temple Christian Church Full Gospel.
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  (#3) Members Of Jonestown "Rehearsed" Their Demise In Loyalty Tests

  Teri Buford O'Shea, who left Jonestown three weeks before the tragic event took place, told The Atlantic that the main warning sign that her life was in danger was the collective destruction practices Jones referred to as "White Nights." O'Shea described how:

  There were loudspeakers all over the compound, and Jim Jones's voice was on them almost 24/7. He couldn't be talking all the time, but he'd tape what he said and then play it back all day long. And the rule was that we couldn't talk when Jim Jones was talking. So, on the loudspeakers, he'd suddenly call out, 'White Night! White Night! Get to the pavilion! Run! Your lives are in danger!' Everyone would rush to the pavilion in the middle of the encampment.

  She continued:

  Then he would tell us that in the United States, African Americans were being herded into concentration camps... So there you were, in the middle of the jungle. Shots were being fired, and people were surrounding you with [arms]. Then a couple of women brought out these trays of cups of what they said was cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, or Flavor-Aid - whichever they had. Everybody drank it. If we didn't drink it, we were forced to drink it. If we ran, thought we'd be [ended].

  At the end of it, we were wondering, 'Why aren't we dead?'... And then Jim would just start laughing and clapping his hands. He'd tell us it was a rehearsal and say, 'Now I know I can trust you.' And then, in the weirdest way, he said, 'Go home, my darlings! Sleep tight!' We weren't really in mood for sleeping tight at that point.
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  (#4) Many Actively Protested Jones's Endgame As It Occurred 

  Because of the "White Nights," many initially believed this was another of Jones's drills or loyalty tests. Still others believed Jones that military troops were inbound, ready to decimate Jonestown and everyone in it.

  Audio recordings from the event itseld reveal that many members did not go willingly, and tried to convince a group of followers devoted to Jones that taking their lives was not the answer. Some even confronted Jones himself.

  Jonestown resident Christine Miller can be heard questioning Jones saying, "Well, I don’t see it like that. I mean, I feel like as long as there’s life, there’s hope. That’s my faith."

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