Jonestown - The Murder | 126

Hysteria 51

Cult leader Jim Jones used a dangerous mix of lies, abuse, and manipulation to control the members of his People’s Temple. The hold he had over his cult was so severe he convinced the members to move into the middle of the jungles of Guyana, AKA Jonestown. But, as the events unraveled so too did Jones. Failing health and a drug addiction fueled his craziness and led to a US Congressman flying to Guyana to see things for himself. The ensuing events led to the tragic murder of the Congressman and much of his party, then culminated in in the deaths of over 900 people at Jonestown…over a 3rd of which were kids. Jones convinced his followers to drink Flavor-Aid laced with Cyanide. Some drank of their own volition, some were forced, while many (including children) were injected. How does a diverse church group who set out to build a paradise on Earth, a Utopian society free from racism and hatred, end up unleashing hell on Earth that culminated in one of the greatest crimes in our modern times? We dive in deep this week. Plus, Conspiracy has decided he’s going to be on Shark Tank, in an unrelated note he also decides he need to go to the aquarium, and finally Pecker, Kevin, and Chris Marcum all take a trip back to the lower 4th to finish this crazy topic. All of that and more on the podcast that has never met Jim Jones, but we know a guy who knows Jim Belushi - Hysteria 51.
Special thanks to this week’s research sources:
Research Assistant – Raymond Walden IV
Books
Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People | Tim Reiterman
The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple | Jeff Guinn
Videos
Return to Jonestown- Survivors revisit site 40 years after the tragedy | Sunday Night
Jonestown: Life and Death of Peoples Temple | Documentary
Jonestown: Paradise Lost | Documentary
A People's Temple Meeting With Jim Jones - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUE5OBwDpfs
Websites
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones
The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/17/an-apocalyptic-cult-900-dead-remembering-the-jonestown-massacre-40-years-on
Time - http://time.com/longform/jonestown-aftermath/
Rolling Stone - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jonestown-jim-jones-bodies-memorial-756320/
Rolling Stone - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jonestown-13-things-you-should-know-about-cult-massacre-121974/
Biography -https://www.biography.com/people/jim-jones-10367607
PBS - https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/jonestown-bio-jones/
ThoughtCo – https://www.thoughtco.com/jim-jones-and-the-peoples-temple-1779897
Alt Jonestown – https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=14026

Intro Music:
Nervous Piano – Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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