Peoples Temple was a leftist cult founded in the US in 1955, known for its social contributions. However, in the 1970s, it began to change, and in 1978, over 900 members committed suicide or were killed in Jonestown, Guyana. The cult was led by Jim Jones, who suffered from mental illness and moved the organization to Guyana. Reports of American citizens being held against their will led to an investigative team visiting Jonestown, where members killed them. The community then chose mass suicide, with many victims appearing to have been coerced.
Peoples Temple was a cult founded in the United States in 1955. In its 23-year history, Peoples Temple actively contributed to social causes in Indiana and later in Northern California after the cult’s headquarters were moved. Despite the cult’s long and complex history, it is best remembered for the peculiar and horrific way it collapsed on November 18, 1978, when over 900 People’s Temple members committed suicide or were killed in Jonestown, Guyana.
This organization was founded by the Reverend James Warren Jones, better known as Jim Jones. People’s Temple beliefs were leftist and quite radical for the time; one of the most important precepts of the Temple was the concept of racial integration and service to disadvantaged people such as the poor, the sick and the homeless. The People’s Temple was based in Indianapolis, Indiana until the 1960s, when it moved to Northern California to take advantage of the liberal climate and cheaper real estate.
Once the People’s Temple moved to Northern California, the organization began recruiting members from large cities like San Francisco. It operated a number of homeless shelters and also provided services such as a camp for disabled children, residential treatment programs for the elderly, and homes for foster children. Under Jim Jones, the People’s Temple was essentially run as a charitable organization, partnering with other charities and the state welfare system to provide necessary services.
However, in the 1970s, the People’s Temple began to undergo a change. This change was partially triggered by external pressures, such as a growing interest in the cult and its activities among journalists, law enforcement officers and other members of the government. The organization also began to suffer internally, as Jim Jones began experiencing signs of mental illness, displaying extreme paranoia. In 1974 he moved the People’s Temple back to the more hospitable climate of Guyana, where he founded Jonestown, with the intention of creating a community where people could live and raise their children in a friendly environment.
In the late 1970s, however, strange reports of Jonestown began to emerge. These reports included allegations that American citizens were being held against their will in Guyana, and eventually an investigative team traveled to the region, visiting Jonestown on November 17, 1978. At the time, several Jonestown residents expressed a desire to leave, and as the group reached the airstrip and prepared for departure on the afternoon of the 18th, they were killed by members of the People’s Temple; the massacre was filmed by a journalist killed in the bombing.
The community came together to decide the best response to the killings and sadly chose mass suicide. Site investigations later showed that many of the victims appear to have been coerced; Jonestown victims were shot, strangled, suffocated and injected with toxins. 270 of the victims were children; by the time investigators reached the site, many of the victims were severely debilitated, making identification and cause of death difficult to determine.
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