80. Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre

Even in his youth Jim Jones was able to keep an audience’s attention when first he held funeral services for animals and then started to conduct his own church services. http://greve2013.weebly.com/jim-jones.html

Jim Jones and his wife Marceline. In addition to their biological son, the couple, adopted children of Korean-American, African-American and Native-American descent, backing up their belief that all people are created equal. https://abcnews.go.com/US/40-years-jonestown-massacre-members-describe-jim-jones/story?id=57933856

Jim Jones was a charismatic speaker who founded the Peoples Temple. He had a dynamic preaching style and held faith healings (mostly staged) during his services. He preached socialism, equality and political activism. In the 70’s these teachings were taken to heart by the people that followed him. Photo:RNS file, courtesy California Historical Society https://sojo.net/articles/35-years-after-jonestown

Once the Peoples Temple was moved to Jonestown in Guyana Jones became a power-hungry, drug-addicted, narcissistic leader, all the while claiming he loved his flock. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jan/07/jonestown-terror-in-the-jungle-review-jim-jones-death-cult-survivors-speak-out

We’ve seen the pictures, we’ve heard the stories. Jonestown was not a mass suicide, it was a mass murder with the most Americans killed at one time before 9/11. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mass-suicide-at-jonestown

The US Military had the task of transferring the Jonestown member’s remains back to the U.S. The sights, sounds, and smells are things that those involved will never forget. https://time.com/longform/jonestown-aftermath/