On the morning of November 19th, 1978, David Netterville, a fighter pilot working at Base Howard, Panama, owned by the United States Air Force, along with seven others received a call asking them to pack their luggage within 24 hours. They were never told where they were going or what they were supposed to do. They were only ordered to pack up and get to the location as soon as possible.
It was
not until he was on the transport aircraft that Netterville learned what was
happening. Leo Ryan, a congressman from California, and his delegation were
shot dead by members of a cult in Guyana (South America), and they were coming
to investigate the incident.
As it
turned out, it was not simply an investigation. What Netterville saw when he
arrived in Guyana was a true nightmare. In a remote jungle area, the team found a
small settlement of makeshift buildings. Beside and inside those buildings were
hundreds of decomposing bodies, lying on the grass.
"Originally
the number was about 400 bodies." – he recalled. "But because there
are many bodies were lying on top of each other, that number was increasing day by day." The team continued to raise the number from 400 to 700 and
beyond.
At that time, little was known about Jonestown (the settlement's name) or what happened there. People like Netterville were faced with the unexpected scale of the disaster and the challenge of bringing home all the Americans who died there.
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| A helicopter participating in the rescue in Jonestown |
Since
then, 43 years have passed, but the impact of the tragedy remains to this day,
haunting survivors and rescuers. It was the deadliest act of terrorism against Americans until 9/11, with the official death toll of 918 people, and a third
of them were children.
Everything
was caused by a cult, called the Peoples Temple.
The Peoples Temple
The Peoples
Temple was founded in 1956 and it began as a branch of the church with
volunteer activities, helping the poor in the United States. It was founded in
Indiana by Jim Jones, a missionary, and moved to California 10 years later.
For that good purpose, Peoples Temple received the support of the masses and attracted the participation of many followers. However, behind that is a terrible conspiracy of Jim Jones that no one expected.
The
establishment of Jonestown
In 1973,
PT's activities became increasingly suspicious by the authorities and
culminated in their name being called out by the famous broadcaster Lester
Kinsolving, and eight members of the PT defected. To deal with police and
media. Jim Jones and several others planned to run away. Guyana was selected.
In 1974,
after renting a 1500 hectare land in the woods 240km west of the Guyana capital
Georgetown, a new settlement was established by PT, named Jonestown. This
location is isolated by the forest, suitable for the illegal activities of PT.
Since everything had to be shipped from the United States, settlement construction progressed very slowly. By the end of 1976, less than 50 people lived in Jonestown and the PT leader himself, Jones, was in the United States. However, in early 1977, when Jones learned that the media was preparing to publish stories obtained after interviewing former PT defectors, he attempted to negotiate the mass immigration of hundreds of people to Guyana and was approved by the officials there. The night before the articles were published, Jones and hundreds of PT members flew to Guyana and moved to Jonestown.
In Jonestown
Although
PT members had hoped that the place they went to would be like a real paradise,
however, when they arrived, what they received was temporary housing, very
difficult living, and not even enough room to sleep at night. Dozens of people
were crammed together in an area the size of a room, and the high temperature
and humidity made many sick. No one can contact the outside world.
Not only
that, but they also have to work nearly half a day continuously at the farm.
They also have to continuously attend classes in propaganda about negative
things in the USA. Jones once compared the schedule of work and study here with
the schedule in North Korea, which means that PT members and their children would
gradually be subjected to psychological control, leading to behavioral control.
Although
many people like to live there, the majority want to leave. However, whether
they like it or not, the surrounding area is only full of jungle, and entry or
exit must be approved by Jim Jones himself.
Jones didn't want anyone to leave. He wanted to train a generation to sabotage the USA and of course that must be done in secret.
The
airfield attack
In 1978,
Leo Ryan, a congressman in California, announced that he was going to Jonestown
to see what was going on there. A friend of his, father of Bob Houston, a
member of PT, was found dead on October 5th , 1976, just three days after his
phone conversation with his ex-wife, in that talk about leaving PT, was
recorded. Over the next few months, Ryan received more and more accusations
about PT, and on November 14th, 1978, he flew to Jonestown with a delegation that
included several officials and numerous reporters.
When he arrived in Jonestown, Ryan said he would be available to help anyone who wanted to leave there and return to the USA. Only a few people accepted the offer out of fear of Jim Jones' reaction. And yes, on November 18th, 1978, on the way to the airport, Leo Ryan and his crew were attacked by PT members. A shooting took place, Ryan and four journalists were killed. The rest of them managed to escape to Georgetown. Some details of the shooting were captured by NBC reporter Bob Brown, one of the dead. You can watch the full footage here.
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| Still image from Bob Brown's footage, showing gunmen hopping out of a trailer and opening fire |
The
massacre
Meanwhile,
in Jonestown, Jim Jones gathered everyone. He told everyone that a congressman
from the United States was attacked, so Jonestown was no longer safe. He feared
that the governments of both countries would react to the incident.
“When
they come here, they will shoot our children. They will torture them and we
won't be able to bear it…”
After arousing everyone, he brought large jars, which were prepared cyanide poison. Some people volunteered, others were forced, to drink the poison. Children who are not yet aware enough are forced to drink with cylinders and funnels.
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| The poison jars used in Jonestown |
They took about 5 minutes to die completely.
Aftermath
When the
Guyana army arrived at Jonestown the next day, they were surrounded by a
strange scene, eerily silent, as if time had frozen. Dead bodies piled up
everywhere. However, there were still survivors, thanks to hiding in the forest
when the poisoning took place. Another elderly woman was sleeping during the
incident and woke up to find everyone dead. Jim Jones was also found dead with
a gunshot to the head that was absolutely self-inflicted. Peoples Temple is
considered collapsed since November 18th, 1978.
The weather and humidity in Jonestown caused the bodies to decompose quickly and gave off an awful smell. The smell of hundreds of bodies still haunts the rescuers. Tin coffins were prepared to bring them all home, and they were decontaminated one by one.
By April
1979, more than 300 bodies had been recovered by the family. However, the more
than 500 bodies that remained were still unaccounted for because the families
of the victims could not afford to pay too much to transport – almost $500.
Even many cemeteries didn't want to get involved with PT so they didn't accept the
coffins. Finally, in Oakland, a cemetery had accepted a full burial.
The Cult
Awareness Network (CAN) was established, with the participation of many
influencers, including congressman Leo Ryan's daughter, Patricia. CAN was
created to wipe out the remnants of the Peoples Temple, and also to investigate
and fight a variety of other cults such as The Family International and
Scientology, and the most famous Branch Davidians, which were taken over by the
FBI during the infamous Waco siege in 1993. After encountering legal problems,
CAN announced its disbandment in 1996.
Every year, memorial activities for those who have died are still held in Oakland. After all, those who have died are also victims, victims of the paranoia and brainwashing stemming from the activities of Jim Jones.
