CULTS: The Night Jim Jones Ended the World: Peoples Temple Pt. 2

Hi, everyone. It's Vanessa Richardson. Real quick before today's episode, I want to tell you about a show I host with forensic psychologist Dr. Tristan Engels. It's called Serial Killers and Murderous Minds. Every Monday and Thursday, we take you deep into the psychology of the most chilling murderers and uncover what drives them to kill. Follow Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, available wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Crime House. You've heard the phrase, drinking the Kool-Aid. Maybe you've even said it yourself. It means blindly following someone, going along with something without asking any questions. And the story behind it is one of the darkest things that has ever happened. What happened on this earth? On November 18th, 1978, a man named Jim Jones gathered nearly a thousand people into a pavilion in the middle of the jungle in South America, and he killed them. 918 people. More than 300 of them were children. Welcome to Crimes of Cults. I'm Sabrina Deanna Roga. I'm Corinne Vian. And this season, we're exploring the intersections of faith and manipulation. Of hope and fear. It is all about the world's most dangerous cults and the charismatic leaders who promised salvation and destroyed their followers' lives in the process. If you're loving Crimes of, please follow, rate, and review us wherever you listen. It helps us build this community, and we love hearing from you. To get early access and ad-free listening, subscribe to the Crime House Plus community on Apple Podcasts. You can also catch us on YouTube, where we include visuals that bring every case to life. Part two on the Crimes of Cults. And the case of Jim Jones and the People's Temple starts now. Get into a fall state of mind with Pura. Start the season with a free Pura Plus Home Diffuser when you subscribe to Two Cents for six months. Choose from seasonal and best-selling fall fragrances. Swap your scents anytime and set a custom schedule so your home always feels like a crisp, cozy autumn day. Bring the scents of fall like pumpings. Pumpkin, apple, and vanilla. Home with this exclusive offer. Only at Pura.com. From athletic stuff like a full-court pickup game. Swish! To athletic-ish stuff like a half-mile stroll. Get those steps in! Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. If you are just joining us, we want to let you know that this is a two-part episode about the Jonestown cult. So if you have not listened to part one, we highly recommend you go back and you start there. But if you're just here for vibes with us, then all good. We'll briefly catch you up to speed. Yeah, last week we left off on Jim Jones moving around 1,000 of his followers to the Jonestown compound in the middle of the jungles in Guyana, surrounded by guards with Jim Jones running loyalty tests and rationing out cookies like a dictator. People were working grueling hours. They were underfed. They were physically paralyzed. They were basically punished for dissent. And the Red Brigade was keeping people with rifles on the compound. And Jim Jones's latest method was called the White Night Ceremonies, where he was then forcing his followers to drink cups of flavorade that he told them were poisoned, just to see how they would react. Except the drinks were not actually poisoned and no one died. Not that night. These White Night Ceremonies with the so-called poisoned drinks occurred at least or somewhere around a dozen more times before the final night of November 18th, 1978, when Jim Jones followed through and actually handed out poisoned drinks. So today we will discuss how Jim Jones and the People's Temple went from a test to the largest single mass murder and loss of American civilian life in history outside of natural disasters. So we will pick back up in 1977. Jim Jones. Jim Jones now knows that hundreds of people are willing to drink poison if he tells them to drink poison. Yeah, especially because they, at this point, are trained that it isn't actually poison. Yes. If someone tells you a dozen times, even three times. Yeah. Yeah. What Jim does not know, though, is that even though they are isolated in Jonestown, the outside world has not forgotten about him or his followers. Around the same time that they left for Guyana in 1977, there was a group of defectors. And current members, family members, who started a group called the Concerned Relatives. And among this group were some defectors that we spoke about last week. So, Alan Jeannie Mills, Grace Stowen, whose son was legally. Still with Jim Jones in Guyana. The son of, yeah. So she was fighting to get her son back, John Victor, out of Jonestown. And in fact, the judge had already awarded her custody, but because he was across international borders, it was really difficult to get her son back. Jim did not want to give John Victor back, because if he gave in, he knew that that meant you lose custody of one child, you lose custody of all the children in Jonestown. Right, that's what he told himself. Yeah. All of whom who, like John Victor, had been signed over to Jim Jones legally as the father. So he just ignored the judge's orders from the U.S. Which was easy to do because he's in Guyana. Right, yeah. What are they going to do? But Grace Stowen was not giving up. She and the other. concerned relatives went to the media, and every politician they could possibly get access to, anyone who could help them and help her rescue their loved ones from Jim's clutches. And on September 7th, 1977, Grace's lawyer actually traveled to Jonestown to try to figure things out in person. In response, Jim launched a full-scale offensive. He told his followers that they were under attack from outside forces. He literally passed out weapons, stationed them, them and the Red Brigade all around the outside of the compound, made them stay there on guard for days without breaks. And he even asked the Guyanese government to help stall things. Taking steps even further, Jim Jones even threatened that the entire population of Jonestown would, quote, extinguish itself if he didn't get his way. Naturally, everyone who's hearing this is like, okay, well, we can't threaten the lives of thousands for one child. It's reminding me why I can't, I'm blanking on the name, but in Texas, the Waco, Texas cult, where they were surrounded and- I just always think of Waco. Yeah. But like, it's just, it's so disturbing. Because you know that inside, there are a lot of people that aren't just blindly following. They just don't feel like they have another choice. They physically don't have another choice. So after six days of these threats that Jim Jones was throwing out there, Grace's lawyer was forced to leave. Empty-handed. Sadly, John Victor did stay in Jonestown. So yeah, diplomatically, this means that Jim Jones had already tested this idea of mass death out, and it worked in his favor. And it was shortly after this that Jim held the very first white knight ceremony where he handed out a not-poisoned-but-told-everyone-it-was-poisoned drink. So he was learning that this idea of collective annihilation was a useful bargaining chip. But back in the United States, the Concerned Relatives group, they were not backing down. Sam Houston, who had a son, Bob, who had mysteriously died back in San Francisco, wanted to get Bob's daughters out of Jonestown. So Sam was pretty sure that Jim had actually killed Bob. Which is like, the stakes are raising, because it's like not only is he pretending to kill people and poison people, but like now there's a thought that he actually has committed murder in the past. Which I don't think there's ever been evidence to confirm it, but. No, they were never able to prove this one out. Not at least with Bob. I wouldn't be surprised. But at the very least, Sam wanted to keep his granddaughter safe. So he turned to an old friend, California Congressman Leo Ryan, for help. And turns out Congressman Ryan was already looking into Jim Jones and Jonestown. So he'd been keeping tabs on Jonestown ever since it was founded, partly because the IRS was eyeing Jim and the People's Temple for tax evasion, and also because the FCC had fined Jim for broadcasting on unregulated radio channels. So he's just doing a lot. A lot of illegal things and gaining attention. But now, after speaking with Sam and the claims of potential murder and everything that's going on, Ryan was really inspired to help the concerned relatives group. So then in June of 1978, Congressman Ryan read an affidavit that was published in the San Francisco Chronicle, and this was filed by a woman named Deborah Layton. Deborah's account is one of the most important firsthand testimonies that we have from inside Jonestown, and she did later write a book about it called Seductive Poison. But in the affidavit, Debbie detailed some of her personal experiences. She talks about how she joined the People's Temple when she was 18, that she was looking for her place in the world, and Jim's message of social justice really spoke to her. Again, common theme. Everyone was joining for that reason. She worked her way up and actually became the financial secretary for the People's Temple, which meant that she could see exactly where all that money, where all the possessions that people were handing over were going. Can you guess where they were going? To Jim Jones himself. Surprise, surprise. But despite knowing that, she believed in the People's Temple enough to follow Jim to Jonestown in Guyana in 1977. But after she got there, she started to see Jim Jones for the tyrant he really was. And then in early 1978, Debra was assigned to do recruitment work in Guyana's capital city, which meant for a very brief moment and a very lucky moment, she was able to leave the compound. And in the capital, she had access to a phone. The second she could get her hands on a phone, she called her sister, who was back in the U.S., and within a few hours, she had a flight back home. Which is so lucky for her. So lucky. Once she landed in San Francisco, Debbie went straight to a lawyer and submitted the affidavit that Congressman Leo Ryan would later read about in the newspaper, and it summarized the horrible conditions at Jonestown. It described everything in detail, the forced labor, the punishment, the white knight ceremony, and all of the weapons. It feels fake to read that. You're like, what is this propaganda? That can't be real. Right. And so in August of 1978, after Congressman Leo Ryan read this, and after speaking with the concerned relatives in Sam Houston, he decides he is going to go to Jonestown himself. And this is not out of character for Leo Ryan, just as some context about him. He was a very hands-on congressman. Like, he had previously gone undercover inside a California prison to investigate conditions himself. Like, someone wrote, Undercover boss. That he literally went undercover. The creator. But, like, as a congressman, he didn't have to do that. No, not at all. He was taking things, yeah, he was very hands-on. I love that he did. He even lived on a Native American reservation to really understand what life on a reservation was like and what they were experiencing. All in all, this man was an incredible man. Right. He was the type of politician who really cared and took matters into his own hands. But as you can imagine, when Jim Jones learned of Leo Ryan's plans, he was not happy about it. In fact, his legal team tried to shut it down immediately. So they sent letters arguing that the visit was an invasion of privacy, that his followers had chosen to be there freely, so there was nothing to see. Which, if I were Congressman Leo Ryan and I got a letter like that, I'd be like, this is even more reason I have to come. If you're fighting this adamantly that you don't want someone to see. Why don't you want me to see? Yeah. That's when I would not announce when I'm coming and I would just go immediately. Yeah. But it's dangerous. He knows that there's weapons. It's super dangerous and we're going to hear more about that right now. Okay. So even the State Department is trying to talk the congressman out of this because they're really worried about the implications of a U.S. congressman showing up unannounced in a foreign country to investigate one of their residents. So Leo Ryan, he responds in writing and he says that he has a responsibility to any constituent who might be there against their will. So whether Jim Jones likes it or not, he is coming. Which is kind of badass of him to be like, I'm coming. So what? Deal with it. You think you can threaten me? My presence is a threat to you. Yeah. I'm coming. Jim's wife, Marceline, told Jim that this was actually going to be a great thing. This is a good thing. They'll be able to see what we built. They'll be so proud of it. The congressman gets to see it. It'll be great. And Jim is like, no. Part of me does wonder if Marceline was like really hoping that she could convince Jim Jones to let him come so that she could see him. It's safe. Yeah. It reminds me of like one of the plots in Handmaid's Tale. A little bit. Marceline pushed back again when Jim was like, no. And she's like, okay, well, we have worked so hard. I have worked so hard for this life. I deserve a say in what can or can't happen. And in this argument, I don't know how many other points she made, but Jim relents. This feels like the first time ever that he's actually like saying okay, because one of the staple parts of who he was as a person was to like, never let anyone make a decision except for himself. But he's like, okay, fine. So ahead of the group's arrival, Jim made sure the Jonestown was spotless. No, he did like what a kid does when they tell their parents they cleaned the room. He threw everything in a closet or under the bed. Yeah. They like swept paths and trimmed the trees and like just tried to clean up the property and make it look spotless. Yeah. Like basically try to scrape things together enough. And even. Cooked enough food to make a full dinner for Leo Ryan's arrival, despite the fact that everyone else is starving here. So, yeah, Congressman Leo Ryan made the trip to Jonestown on November 14th, 1978. He traveled to Guyana with a group of 19 people, including an NBC camera crew, other politicians and some of the concerned relatives like Tim and Grace Stowen, who were really trying to go get their son. Jim Jones didn't want cameras or previous members on the compound. So there was a lot of back and forth between Jim Jones and the congressman, but they came to a compromise. The Stowens and other concerned relatives could travel to Guyana with Ryan, but they were not allowed to come back to the compound. Ryan and several other journalists and cameras were, however, welcomed onto the compound. I like just knowing the parents are there trying to get their child. It's just like. It's devastating. It's devastating. It's. I can't imagine getting that far. And then being told to stay back and not being able to just like run on and grab your child, grab your child. Leo Ryan and several journalists arrive at Jonestown. They're admitted to the compound. November 17th is the date, and they're pleasantly surprised. There were no signs of mistreatment, no signs anyone was being held against their will. And that evening after dinner, there was live music. It looked like everyone was happy. Everyone was having fun. Maybe this was this like wonderful place that they said that they'd created. And then. Jim Jones took the stage. He made a really big speech about defectors threatening Jonestown and everything that they'd built together. Which is like you can tell this man is paranoid. Yeah. And it's also like a really interesting choice to do in front of the congressman. But also like was it for the cameras in a way? Like who's he? Who's he talking to? Who's he trying to give his threats to? I don't know. But it caught the attention of the journalists who were there. And they asked a natural follow up question to Jim. Why would he feel threatened? Right. As far as everyone knew, leading up to his speech, it looked great. Yeah. Like what are you talking about? Who's coming for you? Yeah. So he said it was because they were socialists and the government didn't want them to live in peace. And then just to make it super clear, he emphasized that no one here wanted to leave Jonestown. And so now the journalists are like, OK, this went from being like, oh, maybe we were wrong to sharing some uncertain glances because like things are getting weird. And why is he speaking for everyone? Up until this point, everything seemed cool. But is everything Jim's saying true? Like, where's this conversation going? Their questions were answered when amidst the evening's events, a resident of Jonestown, a man named Vernon Gosney, discreetly handed a note over to the NBC reporter, Don Harris. And the note read, please help us get out of Jonestown. To play with no purchase necessary, explore hundreds of social games, including top tier slots, jackpot games and table classics with new games launching regularly. At home on your lunch break or relaxing on the couch, world class entertainment is just a tap away. Score free daily login bonuses and kick things off with a free welcome bonus. Sign up today and discover why over one million players choose Chumba Casino to play for nonstop fun. Your next fun moment starts now at Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW group would be prohibited by law. Twenty one plus terms and conditions apply. Four universities, four deaths and four deaths. Four times the truth got buried under the institution that was supposed to protect it. I'm Vanessa Richardson, and this is Campus Crimes, a four part bonus series on Crime House 24-7. It starts in 1905 when Stanford's own co-founder is fatally poisoned and the school quietly recasts it as natural causes. A biology professor denied tenure opens fire in a faculty meeting. A graduate student. Stabbed to death in a crowded library and a killer who simply vanishes and a college basketball player murdered by his own teammate while his coach schemes to smear the victim to save himself. Every case asks the same question. What happens when an institution has more to protect than the truth? Listen every Sunday in August on the Crime House 24-7 feed or join Crime House Plus to get all four episodes right now ad free. Join on Apple Podcasts or at Crime House Plus dot com. I've always dreamed of being able to order my coffee in Italian like a local instead of just pointing at the menu and hoping for the best. 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Which is like so daring too, because you've heard that there's weapons, like you don't know what's going to snap. Are they suddenly going to be held captive? Is everyone going to get shot until only Jim stands there and escapes to another country? Like, it is so risky. It's so risky. On camera, Jim's face fell. The smooth-talking showman was gone. He stumbled over his words, making excuses, claiming people were lying, that they didn't actually want to leave. He then tried to change the topic and kept repeatedly asking the outside world to leave him and the people of Jonestown alone. But he looked scared the entire time. Leo Ryan and the NBC reporters knew that something was deeply wrong here, but they couldn't make a move just yet. Like, they were trying to be strategic about it. So instead, they go back to their hotel for the night and they try to make a game plan. The plan before all this was for them to go back the next day and get a tour of the compound from Marceline herself. So they were like, let's do that as planned. Let's go back as planned. Let's pretend nothing is wrong. Let's play our part. But they were planning to, while they were doing the tour, use that as a distraction to help people leave the compound. So they returned the next morning. November 18th. But Jim was nowhere to be found. And no one had answers as to where he was when they asked. They went on the tour with Marceline as planned. And as it was happening, as planned, 11 people were able to escape out of the Jonestown compound and make their way to the U.S. embassy. When Jim Jones learned of this and that others were now talking to the congressman about leaving as well, he was furious. He wasn't going to stand for that. He stormed outside, screaming that anyone who wanted to leave didn't truly believe in their cause. And from there, the scene descended into complete chaos. Families arguing whether to stay or to leave. People were crying. People were trying to get into cars to leave. And in the end, about 15 people did decide to defect and leave with Ryan, including Vernon Gosney, who handed over that note. Plus, there were the 11 who'd left earlier that day, which compared to how many followers were in Jonestown. This number is so small. But this was way too many for Jim. So the writing was on the wall. All these people are leaving. This would set a precedent. And Jim could not have this happen. So he called over a few members in his inner circle, and he whispered in their ears and then watched as they marched towards the cars. Congressman Ryan was trying to figure out some last-minute travel arrangements. There weren't enough seats in the cars for everyone who wanted to leave. To be able to leave. So they would have to go in groups. And as Ryan counted people off, one of Jim's henchmen and loyalists named Don Sly pulled out a knife and he lunged at Ryan and then stabbed at him repeatedly. Someone was able to pull Don away just in time before he actually got injured. So luckily, Ryan was unharmed. But Ryan was not going to come back. No one. Yeah. You're like, get out of here. So much for the trips back and forth to help people leave. So seeing how dangerous things had just become and fearing further escalation, Leo Ryan rushed everyone into the cars, told the drivers to get the heck out of there. Whoever could fit could fit. And that is when one more defector, Larry Leighton, ran up to one of the cars and begged to come with them. And being the kind of man that he was, Leo Ryan welcomed him into the car. And as they drove off, Jim watched them go calmly. The cars were able to leave Jonestown and got to the airship without any problems, which we'll see is a concerning thing. The convoy reached the airship at Port Kytuma and people started to board the small plane. One by one, they boarded, including Larry Leighton and Vernon Gosney. Remember, Larry Leighton is the one who last second begged for a spot. But there were so many of them that they had to wait for a second plane to come to pick them up. So they sat on the tarmac waiting. And as they're sitting there, NBC reporter Don Harris, spots something in the distance. A massive dump truck was pulling onto the airstrip. It parked on the tarmac. And Don noticed that there were about a dozen men piled inside. And immediately, he just had this feeling he knew that these were men from Jonestown and that something bad was about to happen. He shouted for everyone to get down, but was too late because one of the men in the front of the dump truck reached back into the bed, grabbed a gun, and they start to open fire. At the same time, Larry Leighton, the man who begged for a spot in the very last minute, stood up from his seat, pulled a gun, and he too started shooting. He fired twice, hitting Vernon Gosney and one other defector until the other people on board finally overpowered him. They managed to take his gun, but Larry slipped through their grasps and he ran off the plane towards the truck of other people from Jonestown. So this had been the plan all along. This was Jim's plan. This is why Jim like stood there and just let them. He pulled his closest, followers to him, whispered things to him, and then calmly watched them leave. Yep. Larry had his orders and Larry succeeded in it. So the men in the truck continued to fire at everyone, careful not to hit Larry when he was running back to them. And they did not stop shooting until movement on the tarmac stopped, until they thought that they had successfully killed everyone who was trying to flee. What the shooters didn't know was that while 16 people had been shot, 11 of them were playing dead, lying completely still, waiting for the attackers to leave. And this is a detail I didn't know about, or I just don't remember, because when you think about Jonestown, you think about the horrible 918 deaths. But could you imagine playing dead? I'm so glad that so many of them did. Among those pretending to be dead were Vernon Gosney and Jackie Spear, who was a congressional aide. Jackie had been shot five times, but was still alive. She was terrified of moving, and she laid on the tarmac for hours. There was a report that said that she laid there for 20 hours, but I don't think it was that long. But it was long. Yeah, it was definitely a really long time before anything else happened. Either way, she spent hours bleeding out, pretending to be dead until help finally arrived. Jackie Spear, and this is just like one little positive note in the midst of horror, but Jackie Spear did survive, and she will never forget the horrors of that day. She went on to as Congresswoman, and for decades she fought to strengthen protections for cult survivors, for whistleblowers, and for others who were trying to escape the kind of situation that she was fortunate enough to survive. She then also spoke about the horrors of Jonestown on the house floor and made sure it was never forgotten. So yeah, while Jackie and Vernon were lucky to survive, the same cannot be said for everyone. Five people tragically lost their lives during the airstrip attack. That included NBC cameraman Bob Brown, San Francisco examiner photographer Greg Robinson, defector Patricia Parks, Don Harris, and Congressman Leo Ryan. Immediately following the attack on the airstrip, the shooters turned the truck around and headed right back to Jonestown. Back at Jonestown, Jim got a radio call from the men in the truck that the shooting had gone as planned. The congressman was dead. What the members of the People's Temple were thinking and feeling, we don't know. We can't even imagine. But there are a couple testimonies. Some of them vary. But one survivor, Odell Rhodes, said that the mood in Jonestown in the hours following this airstrip attack was one of complete shock and numbness. People had been so conditioned to crisis and participated in so many of those white nights. But at the same time, they felt like this was something that Jim Jones could still handle. Yeah, because they had been through so much chaos with him. Yeah. And he had protected, right, a thousand people that he was like shepherding into this new place. And now he's shepherding them into this pavilion on this day at 4 p.m., November 18th, 1978. Sort of felt like business as usual. This was a normal place for them to gather. And Jim Jones had some of his most trusted followers in this moment set up tables in the back and they start mixing giant vats of flavorade. So members are gathering in the pavilion, carrying their babies, holding their children's babies, guiding the elderly members, all routine. And to them, this was just another white night. ceremony, a loyalty test, where Jim was going to give them Flavor-Aid, say it was poisoned, and then say, haha, it's not, but thank you for trusting me. But this time, it was not a test. The Flavor-Aid was in fact mixed with a lethal mix of cyanide and valium. As a content warning, we are going to discuss some very heavy matters, heavier than we've read in this episode, but including the murder and the death of children, so please listen with care. Prior to November 18th, 1978, Jim Jones had been stockpiling valium and cyanide, and on this day, that was all being mixed into the vats of Flavor-Aid punch. Jim watched as everyone took their seats. He popped a tape into a recorder and then spoke into his megaphone. And this tape recording still exists today. We talked about it in part one. The FBI seized it and then eventually released it to the public. We do not recommend listening to it. I never have. You have, and I think it probably scarred you forever. Yeah, I think it was played in a documentary or something that I watched. I didn't actively just go click on the recording. But because of this recording, that is why we know so many intricate details of this final moment at Jonestown. So Jim Jones started by telling everyone how much he loved them and how much he tried to provide for them and give them a good life. But then soon, he spiraled into a long, rambling speech about how outside forces, we're trying to invade Jonestown and destroy everything he had built. A lot of his followers applauded and cheered as Jim spoke. And then Jim's tone shifted. There was something he needed to tell them. There had been a shooting at the airstrip and Congressman Leo Ryan was dead. With that, a hush fell across the pavilion. But the response wasn't really what you would expect. Survivors describe a kind of stunned, exhausted silence, some people did weep quietly, some stared straight ahead. And the true believers, who had really been under his grasp, nodded. Somewhere in the crowd, one of Jim's followers cried out, it's all over. And Jim agreed it was all over, that all they had now was their legacy. As everyone tried to process what was going on, a few people started to cry out in fear and in defiance. And one woman who spoke up, her name was Christine Miller, she argued with them. She argued with Jim Jones directly this night. It's heard on the tape. Yes, her voice is on the tape, you can hear her. And she asks why they couldn't flee to Russia instead. Because Jim had previously spoken about Soviet asylum before. And on the tape, you can hear multiple people dissenting. The tape cuts out, and then when it comes back, the voices are all gone. Christine and the others were silenced. Which proves that he even was altering the final tape. The moment. He didn't want it to be recorded that people were trying to dissent. Yeah, that this was even a conversation, that anyone wouldn't just blindly follow him. How long that happened, how many people were trying to dissent. Instead, the voices of his inner circle start speaking in defense of Jim Jones when the tape starts up again. Then Jim's henchmen started passing out the flavor aid. And for a lot of people in Jonestown, the years of the White Night ceremonies and everything, like, up until this point, that they'd been rehearsing without knowing it, like, this just seemed like a normal-ish thing to do on this evening. I'm sure a lot of them thought it wouldn't be poisoned, because at least 12 times before this. Yes. So, that night it was poisoned. It was a lethal concoction. It was passed out. Jim Jones radioed followers who were at the capital city of Georgetown for the day, including his two sons, Jim Jr. and Stephen, who had tried to leave the cult before Jim had sent them to Guyana. And they had gone to Georgetown for a basketball game, but Jim radioed them, said that it was time for, quote, a revolutionary suicide. One person in Jonestown followed Jim's orders immediately, and she used a knife to kill her three children right there before killing herself. It's horrible. Jim's two sons refused. Instead, they went to local authorities and told them that something dangerous was about to happen at Jonestown. But no one took them seriously, and Jim's sons couldn't get back in time to stop everything that would happen. And also, what could they have done? No, it's like two kids against a thousand people. So, back at Jonestown, in the pavilion, Marceline, Jim's husband, and the mother of these two sons who were in Jonestown, sat with the rest of her children. When the inner circle handed her the cup of Flavorade, they told her and everyone else that it would be painless, just like going to sleep. That it was an act of dignity, not defeat. And she genuinely believed, because Jim Jones had just radioed to everyone in Jonestown for them to also commit this act of suicide, she believed that they were dead. She didn't know that her two sons that were in Jonestown were still alive, and she believed all of her children were about to die. So, she drank the poisoned Flavorade. It's just so wild, too, because, like, while leading up until this moment, when he, like, announces this, they had done this so many times. So, you'd think, like, as, like, concoctions being mixed, that it's normal. But, like, there was a moment where it becomes real, before a lot of people even drank it. Yes. All around her, people were fatally dosing themselves, and parents were feeding the poison to their babies. Soon, though, Jim and his accomplices realized that they hadn't used enough Valium. So, the plan was to put enough Valium into this concoction so that the people would fall asleep before the cyanide took effect, which is why they promised that the death wouldn't hurt, but they were wrong. Children cried out. Adults shuddered through the final moments of their lives. And that, like, obviously terrified a lot of people and made people have doubts as they're seeing and witnessing this painful death happening before them. But some of Jim's most devoted followers clapped each time another person was confirmed dead. Others were second-guessing things, holding the drinks to their mouths, but hesitating. However, they still had no choice. Some of Jim's accomplices started feeding people against their will. His armed guards had surrounded the pavilion, armed, with weapons, so really, they didn't have a choice. It didn't matter if someone wanted to live. Jim Jones was going to make sure that all of his followers died that day. And by 7 p.m. on November 18th, 1978, Jonestown had fallen silent. Today's episode is brought to you by Alma. What if the small things actually felt small, like getting out of bed when you said you would, or replying to a text right when it came in? Therapy can help you bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. And Alma can help you find a great therapist. The search can be the hardest part of getting started, right? Well, Alma has simplified it. Alma has a directory of over 26,000 quality therapists with different specialties, life experiences, and identities, and 98% of them take insurance. Answer a few quick questions, and they'll help you find a match. And most people find their match on their first try. Clients with insurance pay $20 on average, and most people find their match on their first try. If you're hoping to improve your mental health, try searching for a provider through Alma. 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Between the mass murder in Jonestown, the deaths in Georgetown, and the airstrip attack, 918 people died in total. And more than 300 of them were children. Among those children was John Victor Stoen, whose parents were there trying to see him again and trying to help him escape. It's also important to say that roughly 70% of the people who died at Jonestown were Black Americans, people who specifically followed Jim Jones because of his civil rights work. And because he had genuinely fought for them for years, he used that trust to gain their total loyalty and devotion to bring them to the jungle and then kill them. The final death that occurred at Jonestown was Jim Jones's. He was found with a single gunshot wound to the head, and it's still kind of debated whether someone shot him or whether he did it himself. But either way, 918 people were dead and most of them murdered. But not everyone at Jonestown died that day. There were some extraordinary stories of people who survived. People escaped into the jungle during the chaos. One survivor, Odell Rhodes, got away by volunteering find a stethoscope and just kind of like in the commotion walking into the jungle and escaping yeah and then there was hyacinth thrash who was a 76 year old woman and she hadn't really been feeling well that day so she went back to her cabin to lay down and rest and had fallen asleep and she definitely wasn't feeling well because she didn't wake up until the next day and when she did she discovered the bodies of everyone horrifying and then she was discovered by the Guyanese authorities on November 19th 1978 she was the only person alive left on the compound when authorities arrived and she actually went on to write a memoir called the only one alive then there were also roughly 60 members who were in Georgetown that day including two of Jim's sons and when that order from Jim Jones came in most of them did refuse and while the survival stories are remarkable and a small silver lining we have to talk about the horrors the mass murder and the unbelievable amount of men women and children who were killed murdered because that's what they were at Jonestown on November 18th 1978 Guyanese authorities responded to the shooting at the airstrip and the next day is when they discovered the horrific tragedy at Jonestown over time they were able to identify only about half of the deceased and their remains were returned to their families but over 400 bodies were unidentifiable no IDs or any other way to identify and determine who they were those people were laid to rest in mass graves in Oakland California as for Jim Jones he was cremated and his ashes were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean after it was all said and done the church's assets went to the U.S. government to repay Jim's debts and Larry Layton was the only person prosecuted for the crimes of Jonestown and the Jonestown massacre because after the airstrip shooting the church was he didn't return to the compound with the others on the truck he was actually apprehended by authorities after the airstrip shooting and taken into custody but this is the most upsetting thing he was convicted of conspiracy and aiding and abetting it's not the most upsetting but it's upsetting and aiding and abetting in the murder of congressman Ryan and he was released on parole in 2002 it's so little time to serve literally pulled out his gun shooting people on the airstrip yeah and it wasn't like a heat of the moment he it was intentionally got in the car rode there ready to shoot people got out on parole the Jonestown compound has over time been reclaimed by the jungle so almost nothing remains of it but the impact of what happened that day lives on I mean since then we have all said or heard the phrase drinking the kool-aid which has become this idiom for the dangers of just blind loyalty yeah but like Sabrina said in part one in the very beginning drinking the kool-aid isn't quite factually accurate because they didn't drink kool-aid they drink flavor aid but is that important here not really a bunch of people that I think also what's wrong about the phrase is it's implying that people are following with blind loyalty but the people at Jonestown didn't willingly drink the poison most most of them were forced I guess there were some who did it willingly but many of them were forced yeah I think that was the hard part of like hearing survivor stories on different documentaries that I've watched and things like that of people just like talking about how many people like didn't want to and were crying for their lives and trying to escape literally forced to drink this their children yeah oh yeah yeah oh I hate this okay again over 300 children who had no choice at all so calling it a mass suicide it kind of like doesn't even fit it erases a lot of what actually happened yeah because this was mass murder it was orchestrated by this one man Jim Jones carried out by some of his most loyal enforcers against people who trusted him with everything or just had everything taken away from them and had felt like there was no other option a man who if you remember from part one idolized Adolf Hitler from a young age Jim Jones might have done some real good for some people which we talked about in part one but he did it for his own benefit and the story of Jonestown I again mentioned this in part one but it really feels like Animal Farm Jim fought for people he fought for equality and then said but I'm now in power and then he took advantage of those he once helped he took their money he took their autonomy he took their children and then he took their lives and that's the horrible tragic story of Jim Jones and the violence that happened at Jonestown absolutely horrific as always before we get out of here we want to remind everyone listening and watching that there are resources available if you believe that you or someone you know is trapped in a cult you can visit cultrecovery101.com for more information and resources and that will also be in the show notes of this episode but also remember you are not alone and there is honestly no good transition after the story because the story is so devastating and I think it's going to be so devastating and I think it's going to be so devastating uh but we do have an announcement this will be my last episode of crimes of and before anyone's like oh my gosh no where's the show going it's not going anywhere it's all good but the show takes a lot of work and I say this with a lot of love I cannot do true crime 24 7 I learned that about myself and I'm about to have my second child as you can see I can't even keep my computer on my lap I have a stool in front of me so I've made the decision to be a little bit more protective of my off-air time and we're obviously going to miss you corinne thanks very sad to see you go but to all you jurors do not worry I have been working with the team at pave and we have some very exciting announcements coming very soon the show will continue with me and someone I'm so excited to share with you but news is coming soon it's going to be great it's going to be great so next week corinne and I are going to do one last episode of crimes of it's going to be sappy it's going to be fun reflective on the cases that we've covered through the last few seasons of crimes of and then yes stay tuned for what's to come I'm excited for you and excited for the show we're going to miss you but this is but now I'm just turning into an audience member now I just get to watch and listen every week so excited to share the next chapter of crimes of with everyone and I'm really grateful to be doing it with all of you jury members who were along for the journey and also do not worry you can still catch corinne and I together every week on two girls one ghost that is not going anywhere you're not allowed to leave leave that it's been a decade of that yeah you're still catch corinne and I together on two girls one ghost every week thank you guys so much for listening we are your hosts sabrina diana roga and corinne vn join us next tuesday for a special episode of crimes of here at crime house we want to thank each and every one of you for your support and if you like what you heard today reach out on all social media at crime house and join us next week for the send-off corinne's to be very fun favorite moments from the past few seasons of crimes of yes maybe we'll do something crazy probably not I can't move but don't forget to rate review and follow crimes of wherever you get your podcasts your feedback truly makes a difference and stay tuned for all the exciting announcements to come court agenda hey our ride's almost here are you ready just grabbing my shoes that's what you said 10 minutes ago I just dropped a video call uploading this giant file on my tablet looking at my watch cool bananas with the group chat and of course still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone all at once yep story of my life that's why I switched to 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Our cardiovascular team offers the latest imaging and device technology, testing, and surgical procedures you'd expect from a national health system with the personal touch you want from local experts. We know the importance of seeing the person behind the patient because we see all of you. Learn more at trinityhealthofne.org slash heart. Thanks for listening to this episode from Crime House. If you're looking for another show to check out, listen to Serial Killers and Murderous Minds. Every Monday and Thursday, Dr. Tristan Engels and myself dig into the most chilling murders and uncover what drives them to kill. Follow Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, available wherever you listen to podcasts.