01of 09Jim Jones: Murderous Cult Leader Was Once Champion for DowntroddenNBCUniversal ArchiveBefore he became infamous as a murderous cult leader who led more than 900 of his Peoples Temple followers to suicide, Jim Jones (pictured in November 1978) was an advocate for the poor and downtrodden who preached a message of racial harmony and equality.Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, former Vice President Walter Mondale and California Gov. Jerry Brown lauded Jones’ then-Northern California-based church for its charitable efforts — such as drug treatment, free college tuition for impoverished youth and clothing giveaways.Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown once described him as “an American Gandhi.”In a 2017 interview with PEOPLE, Jones biographer Jeff Guinn said, “Most demagogues work from a negative angle, but Jones recruited from the aspect of, ‘Let’s all work together and make this a positive world.’ ”
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Jim Jones: Murderous Cult Leader Was Once Champion for Downtrodden
NBCUniversal Archive
Before he became infamous as a murderous cult leader who led more than 900 of his Peoples Temple followers to suicide, Jim Jones (pictured in November 1978) was an advocate for the poor and downtrodden who preached a message of racial harmony and equality.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, former Vice President Walter Mondale and California Gov. Jerry Brown lauded Jones’ then-Northern California-based church for its charitable efforts — such as drug treatment, free college tuition for impoverished youth and clothing giveaways.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown once described him as “an American Gandhi.”
In a 2017 interview with PEOPLE, Jones biographer Jeff Guinn said, “Most demagogues work from a negative angle, but Jones recruited from the aspect of, ‘Let’s all work together and make this a positive world.’ ”
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Girish Gupta/Reuters
Over time, whispers of Jones’ drug use and sexual affairs with male and female congregants began to surface as he sought to control every aspect of his followers’ lives. Jones began to surround himself with bodyguards and took to wearing dark sunglasses at all times.
In 1977, after a scathing and meticulously reported magazine piece on Jones’ physical and emotional abuse of his followers, he moved them to a 3,800-acre jungle compound in South America (pictured in November 2011) that he’d leased from the government of Guyana, promising a vision of utopia.
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Tracy Parks: Childhood Jonestown Member Sensed Evil
Jonathan Sprague/Redux
But Tracy (pictured in November 2016) always sensed darkness in the group, from the armed guards who stood watch over worship services to how Jones would stomp on Bibles and rant against the government.
“Even as a child, sitting in these meetings,” Tracy recalls, “I’d look at all the adults and think, ‘What’s wrong with these people? How can you think this is okay?’ ”
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Jonestown Was ‘the Closest Thing to Hell on Earth’
Ken Hawkins/AP/Rex/Shutterstock
Tracy, along with her parents and sister, reluctantly arrived in Jonestown in April 1978. Very quickly, they discovered it was far from the paradise Jones promised.
“That place was the closest thing to hell on earth,” she remembers.
Within hours after the family’s arrival, Tracy’s father, Jerry (pictured with Tracy in 1978), announced he wanted to return to California. Tracy looked on in horror as Jones goaded some followers into beating him.
05of 09Congressman Tries to Help Members Leave CultGreg Robinson/San Francisco Examiner/APBack in San Francisco, pressure from worried relatives of Jonestown members forced authorities to investigate Jones, who was being accused of crimes including abuse, kidnapping and money laundering.In November 1978, California Congressman Leo Ryan (pictured that same month) arrived at Jonestown. After hearing from members that they were being held against their will, he offered to escort via plane those who wanted to leave back to the U.S.
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Congressman Tries to Help Members Leave Cult
Greg Robinson/San Francisco Examiner/AP
Back in San Francisco, pressure from worried relatives of Jonestown members forced authorities to investigate Jones, who was being accused of crimes including abuse, kidnapping and money laundering.
In November 1978, California Congressman Leo Ryan (pictured that same month) arrived at Jonestown. After hearing from members that they were being held against their will, he offered to escort via plane those who wanted to leave back to the U.S.
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Congressman and 4 Others Slain on Airstrip While Trying to Leave
Courtesy William Chaffin
Ryan, three journalists and Tracy’s mother, Patty (pictured hours earlier), were killed in the gunfire.
As 12-year-old Tracy beheld the bodies scattered around her, her father said, “Run. I’ll take care of your mother.”
Tracy and her sister, Brenda, sprinted into the dense rainforest to hide.
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David Hume Kennerly/Getty
“Don’t be afraid to die,” he said in a disturbing 45-minute audio recording found afterward. “This is a revolutionary suicide. This is not a self-destructive suicide.”
Pictured: some of the dead at the compound afterward.
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AP/Rex/Shutterstock
The mass suicide is considered the largest in modern U.S. history. (Pictured are American military personanel with coffins of the victims.)
The death toll at Jonestown was 908 followers, a number that includes 304 children, whose parents forced cyanide-filled syringes into the mouths of those too young to sip from cups.
Tracy Parks, now a 41-year-old California day care owner, believes that to characterize the massacre as a “suicide” fails to acknowledge the children who were killed — along with Jones’ violent threats and coerciveness toward the adults who died, many of whom drank the poison under threat of armed guards.
“This wasn’t suicide,” she insists. “This was murder. Those children didn’t want to die and neither did many of the adults.”
09of 09Jones Revealed His Abusive Nature Incrementally: BiographerCHR/AP/REX/ShutterstockJones’ biographer, Jeff Guinn, who wroteThe Road to Jonestownin 2017, wondered how seemingly intelligent, high-minded people could succumb to Jones (pictured in January 1976).The answer, Guinn said, was that Jones revealed his controlling and abusive nature incrementally. Guinn used this familiar analogy: If a frog is placed in a pot of boiling water, it will jump out immediately. But if the frog is placed in lukewarm water that is slowly heated to a boil, it will stay until it dies.By the time Jones’ nature revealed itself — and, eventually, his plans of “revolutionary suicide” — church members were in too deep, according to Guinn. It was easier to concoct rationalizations than face reality head-on.
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Jones Revealed His Abusive Nature Incrementally: Biographer
CHR/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Jones’ biographer, Jeff Guinn, who wroteThe Road to Jonestownin 2017, wondered how seemingly intelligent, high-minded people could succumb to Jones (pictured in January 1976).
The answer, Guinn said, was that Jones revealed his controlling and abusive nature incrementally. Guinn used this familiar analogy: If a frog is placed in a pot of boiling water, it will jump out immediately. But if the frog is placed in lukewarm water that is slowly heated to a boil, it will stay until it dies.
By the time Jones’ nature revealed itself — and, eventually, his plans of “revolutionary suicide” — church members were in too deep, according to Guinn. It was easier to concoct rationalizations than face reality head-on.
source: people.com
