Peoples Temple, Jonestown Tragedy

Date: 18 Nov 1978
Location: Barima-Waini, Guyana
Surnames/tags: Peoples_Temple Guyana

The Jonestown Tragedy

"One of the myths of Jonestown was that it was a mass suicide, whereas it was, in fact, a mass murder. It happened because Jim Jones didn’t want word to get out to the outside world what was happening in his community." – Tim Reiterman, journalist and Jonestown survivor^[1]

The Jonestown Tragedy, also known as the Jonestown Massacre, took place on 18 November 1978 in Guyana due to Jim Jones's orders for the murder of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and for the "revolutionary suicide"^[2] of his followers, the latter of which also includes many murders.^[3] There were 909 people who died in Jonestown, five people who were killed at the Port Kaituma airstrip, and four who died at the Peoples Temple headquarters in Lamaha Gardens, Georgetown, Guyana. Those who died include Peoples Temple members as well as U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan, one defector of Peoples Temple (Patty Parks), and three members of the press.^[4] Causes of death include cyanide poisoning (through cyanide-laced Flavor Ade or forced injection), gun shots, and stabbing.

---

References:

1. ↑ Reiterman, Tim (Journalist). (2007). Jonestown: Paradise Lost [Online video on Amazon Prime]. United States: XiveTV.
2. ↑ Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. (2018). "What is the definition of 'revolutionary suicide'?" from Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35348
3. ↑ Murder or Suicide: What I Saw by Tim Carter on the Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple website
4. ↑ Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. (2018). "The Jonestown Memorial List" from Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?post_type=who_died

See Also:

• Wikipedia: Jonestown
• Spier, J. (2018, November 10). Surviving Jonestown. Politico Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/10/jonestown-massacre-first-person-speier-ryan-jones-222222