Original subtitles

An evangelical preacher led nearly a thousand followers from the United States deep into

the jungles of South America.

How about you?

Is the best thing ever happened to you?

They would build a new community free of oppression and violence.

There was to be their paradise on earth.

I wanted to leave as soon as I got there, I was in an armed encampment.

But outsiders threatened to expose the dark side of their leader.

We are going into Jonestown.

And if any of your family members want to come home, then by God, we're going to bring

them home.

You keep on going.

Just leave us.

They're killing everyone.

And one day, two worlds collided and paradise was lost.

Know that you have never.

Never been loved so much as I love you right now.

The People's Temple was a wonderful mosaic of the whole spectrum of humanity.

It was a dream that died on November 18th, 1978.

The

threat of mass suicide was quite real.

Now this morning, there are fresh reports.

Jones ordered a mass suicide.

914 people were murdered or drank Kool-Aid laced with poison.

A lot of the children were crying.

And he was telling them not to tell the children that they were dying, not to tell them it

was painful, and that people had to die with dignity.

In November 1978, reporters around the world broke the news that Jim Jones and more than

900 of his followers died.

By the late 1960s and early 70s, the streets of America erupted in violence and civil strife.

The war in Vietnam, civil rights marches and political assassinations played out on television.

Out of this turmoil, thousands of Americans flocked to hear the sermons of a charismatic

preacher named Jim Jones.

A fiery orator, Jones's early speeches were a mixture of socialist ideals and Christian

redemption.

If there was anything universal about the temple experience and what it was to treat

people, it was on some level we were all wanting to believe.

Some turn to the temple because they need help.

Others want to serve humanity.

Whatever they need, Jim Jones and his people's temple seem to have it.

The only way it's going to get better is through us and what we can do in the world.

And that was everything from gradual social change to violent revolution to cleaning up

after nuclear fallout.

Jim Jones claimed special powers to heal the sick and dying.

Staged healings were a popular attraction at temple meetings.

A guy like my dad found out what you wanted to hear and see and showed it to you.

Whatever you were looking for or wherever you were running from or running toward, dad

had an uncanny ability to hook into that.

It's exhilarating and very attractive.

Once you get hooked by that, it's really hard to get unhooked.

As his popularity grew, Jim Jones preached less about the Bible and more about social

activism.

He called himself a prophet, a savior who would guide, protect, and watch over his followers.

Jim Jones's devoted followers referred to him as father.

Many signed over their paychecks, possessions, even their homes.

But at the height of his power, a darker side of Jim Jones emerged.

Former temple members accused Jones of physical and sexual abuse, mind control, and forced

drugings.

In 1977, as media interests grew, Jim Jones and hundreds of his supporters left San Francisco,

California.

They set out for Guyana, determined to build a new community in the South American country.

In the middle of the jungle, 150 miles from the capital of Georgetown, people's temple

built what was to be a socialist paradise on earth.

They called it Jones Town after their leader.

Because the father's example here in Guyana, we're building equipment and doing things

to feed hungry people and set up a little town, an actual community or a country of

our own where we can live the way we like to live with our own lifestyle, not to be

interfered with people from the outside and to help starving masses of the world.

As the allegations in the United States intensified, temple members continued to flock

to the remote outpost.

Labeling the attacks as a government conspiracy to topple people's temple, Jones and many

of his followers denied the charges.

It's the most beautiful place I've ever been in all my life.

There's so many wonderful things about it.

This is a beautiful place here.

It's fun over here.

It's really good.

I do not want to go back in any way, shape or form to the states.

I can't help but say that none of this would have been possible had it not been for Jim

Jones.

My father, his entire existence lay in the hands of those who perceived him.

I think people need to understand that every hour of the day Jim Jones thought he was a

fraud.

He knew he was a bad guy.

He knew he was a sick guy.

He just didn't want anybody else to know.

What?

What the?

What the?

What night?

White night.

Everybody report to the pavilion.

White night.

Vern Gosney had joined people's temple in 1974 and had been living in Jones Town for

eight months.

The term white night was a term used for like an extreme emergency.

There would be a siren or an announcement to come to the pavilion immediately and it

was a life and death situation.

It was something where the community was being threatened and we had to make an immediate

decision about a course of action.

And it would usually be all of the night.

White nights were used by Jim Jones to create an atmosphere of fear and desperation amongst

his followers.

The white night sometimes included rehearsals for mass suicide which Jones considered a

test of faith and loyalty.

I am the greatest friend that you will ever have and I'll try on every level to protect

this community.

I am with me.

You are with me.

There were people with guns and rifles surrounding the assembly.

People that I knew for years with guns and they weren't pointed outward.

They were pointed inward and so it was a sense of an armed encampment.

So I must warn you again and again to be together with the community.

Jim, you've been at it for hours.

You're exhausted.

They're exhausted and afraid.

But then go to sleep.

All right.

Go on, go on back to bed.

After the death of his wife, Vern Gosney arrived in Jones Town with his four-year-old

son.

I was very vulnerable.

I decided I was going to go to Jones Town and they were going to make me be a good socialist.

Whatever I was lacking within myself would be instilled in me by living in Jones Town.

I wanted to leave as soon as I got there.

I was not free to leave nor was anyone.

I had confided in my roommate that I wanted to leave and that was taking a huge, huge

risk.

He had at one time attempted to escape and he was punished so severely that he was literally

frightened out of his mind.

We're going to die here, man.

We're going to die here.

On November 14, 1978, US Congressman Leo J. Ryan, along with his aide, Jackie Speer, flew

to Guyana to investigate allegations of abuse within the temple.

The delegation included relatives who were determined to see that their loved ones were

free to come and go as they pleased.

Jim Jones considered the group a direct threat bent on his and the movement's destruction.

14 relatives, some former temple members who spoke out against Jones, accompanied Ryan.

Members of the US media covered the trip, including Don Harris from NBC, an American

television network, and Tim Reiderman, a reporter on assignment for the San Francisco Examiner.

Jim Jones initially presented People's Temple as an extraordinary institution.

And he was someone who was viewed as a little eccentric because he went around with body

guards and he wore dark glasses, whether the sun was out or not.

I think he's got something to hide.

What do you think?

You spoke with him.

Yeah, no radio.

Once.

Figures were out to get him.

When Ryan's trip was designed to find out whether allegations from ex-members were true,

that Jim Jones controlled the members through disciplinary beatings, forcing them to turn

over their property and in some cases custody of their children and whether he was threatening

people with death if they would leave the organization.

Folks, folks, we're about to land in Georgetown.

It's been a long road for many of you.

Your loved ones are down there.

And I just want to let you know that we're going to do everything we can to make sure

they're safe, they're happy, and they're being well looked after.

In other words, we still don't have an official invite.

Let me tell you something right now.

Not as your congressman, but as your friend.

We are going into Jones Town.

And if any of your family members want to come home, well, by God, we're going to bring

them home.

I just wanted to say, to thank you, this wouldn't have happened without you.

Really?

Oh, sure.

She's going to be 22 in a week.

You always hope yours are going to turn out all right.

Your ex?

Yeah.

She was Linda when I knew her now.

She's sharing them.

Jones made her do that.

You know what?

Who's other girl called Linda?

Didn't like her.

So now, no one can be called Linda.

Don't you worry about a thing, Sherwin.

Everything's going to be justified.

Sherwin Harris was attempting to visit his daughter, Leanne, who was living in Jones Town.

Little's temple was something that started out, apparently, to be a good thing and just

turned into a nightmare.

In 1978, my daughter was 21 years old.

My daughter, Leanne, was brought into the People's Temple by her mother, who was one

of the initial members.

I had what I considered a strange relationship with my daughter.

And there was always a distance between us.

There was always something strange going on.

There was clearly a dangerous situation.

At this point, we knew that guns had been transmitted there.

We knew what their attitudes were.

We knew that they were talking, that they were Marxist and revolutionaries and people

that acted brutally towards their own members.

So I don't think there was any illusions on any of our parts.

The promise of Guyana was cloaked in religious terms.

It was the promised land.

Land of milk and honey, the land where we're going to build a society that's really just.

We work from sun up to sundown.

We ate rice three times a day.

It's hard to really convey the remoteness of that place.

There was no means of communication with the outside world.

There wasn't like, let me run a mile to go to the phone.

There's no phone.

There's no telephones.

There's no televisions.

There's no nothing.

I think it's difficult to express to people who don't have this kind of experience that,

oh, well, why didn't you leave?

It's so horrible.

It's so terrible.

How could you put yourself in that position when actually we were working for a cause

that we believed in?

It's like taking people to the limit and then moving that line and then moving that line

and then moving that line and wanting so desperately to believe in the dream and not

seeing that the dream has become a nightmare.

A handful of temple members were permitted to form a basketball team.

Amongst them was Jim Jones' 19-year-old son Stephen.

Days before the arrival of the Ryan delegation, Stephen and the basketball team left for

Georgetown to play a series of games against the Guyanese National Squad.

Dad was worried about the basketball team leaving and going into Georgetown.

He knew the congressman was coming.

I'm sure he feared that we might turn against him and fortunately, Mom saw that happening

and Mom had really made this her cause to get us out of there.

You're having your hands the opportunity to make or break Jones' Town and you have to

show a lot of character, a lot of character and grace.

I've seen tremendous growth in you Stephen.

Now what you want to do is when they score a goal, you give a little clap and you run

right back to your pose.

Alright.

Now remember boys, when the other two scores just give them a little clap, just like that

little clap.

Believe me fellas, I had a little clap in my day.

Don't let him provoke you.

He's trying to find a reason to keep you from going.

Mmm, please.

Leave a better mind.

Keep your eye on them.

I'm here.

You don't trust them?

Anybody is capable of putting a bullet into your head and then if you see any of those

relatives, those liars, you don't have anything to do with them, you understand?

I'll use it well.

Goodbye my baby.

You take care of yourself.

I'll see you real soon.

I remember saying goodbye to her.

I remember a long moment of just us looking at each other.

I remember tears in her eyes and tears of my own.

I remember each of us saying that we'll see you soon.

Um, me believing it.

I had looking back.

I don't think she did believe that would happen.

I honestly think she thought she was getting us out of here before I held real clues.

I'm walking.

When we got off the plane, the first person I saw was my wife,

and she was one of their leaders.

She was pretty much the true believer, the fanatic, if you will,

the type of person who could strap the dynamite on and walk in

and take the whole room out.

That's the degree of commitment.

When we were in Guyana, my concern was to see my daughter.

To that end, I contacted my ex-wife, a funder.

No, I'm not trying to tear anybody apart.

I'm not against anybody.

Would you stop that, please?

I am here.

I'm here to see Leanne.

Lynch, Sharon, I'm not going to argue with her.

I'm not going to argue with you.

I've just flown thousands of miles to see my daughter, and I'm going to see her.

And neither you nor the temple nor Jim Jones,

almighty himself, is going to stop me, all right?

Do you hear me?

Then hear me.

She's my daughter, too, and I am going to see her.

Tomorrow, if I have to go to Jones town myself, I am going to see her.

Good night.

I wasn't really concerned about getting into Jones town as much as seeing my daughter.

I wanted to spend the time that I had there with my daughter,

and also to discover fully what was going on.

I loved my daughter very much.

I was committed to my daughter.

You can't believe from the moment of her birth, I got that her life depended on me.

It was just that simple, and I was committed to her.

I was very young when she was born, but it didn't matter.

I was moved heaven on earth.

The People's Temple owned a house in the capital of Georgetown,

which functioned as a way station for temple members moving in and out of Jones town.

Residents of the house included Sherwin Harris' ex-wife,

and his daughter, Leanne's step-sister, Kristen,

and a younger step-brother, Martin.

Come in, Jones town. This is Georgetown.

Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

They're here.

They're determined to get in.

I'm sure Martin.

Martin. Martin.

Everybody reports with the pavilion.

Martin.

Martin.

Martin.

I had confided in my roommate that I wanted to leave,

and he confided in someone else.

What's going on?

And that was Monica.

Don't know.

I have got to get out of here.

I didn't trust anyone.

Everybody was watching everyone.

I had never had a conversation with Monica.

Got a plan?

Hell no.

I thought you did.

And we began to talk to each other

and bolster each other about wanting to leave.

For many in Jones town, the reality was at least as bad as the press reports.

From what I've seen, what was reported was true,

and it wasn't good, such as torture, abuse,

deceit, theft, fake tealings,

drugging of people, punishing of children,

the drumming up of fear.

Jim Jones used fear as his chief method of controlling his people,

especially those with thoughts of returning to the United States.

It was just one account after another of how horrible the United States was becoming.

Concentration camps were being constructed for people of color.

The borders were being patrolled by racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan.

When that failed, the message was, well, nuclear war is just around the corner,

and we were in one of the safest places to ride out nuclear Holocaust.

Jim Jones determined to keep prying eyes away from the settlement,

rallied temple members to sign a petition,

demanding the Congressman Ryan and his delegation stay out of Jones town.

I want to see how many of you will sign right now.

Right now, I'm saying no.

No, I will not go back.

The conditions at Jones town were not conducive for someone to think clearly or sharply.

I was numb.

I was emotionally, mentally, and spiritually drained.

My own personal feeling was I didn't know what was going to happen to me.

No, I will not see any of my relatives.

This is what you have to do because if your relatives come with Congressman Ryan,

if your relatives come with him, then your relatives!

Your relatives are no better than he is!

I was unclear about what the plan exactly was,

but my focus was on the Congressman and getting his assistance.

Running out of options, Congressman Ryan confronted temple members at their headquarters in Georgetown,

the only link to Jim Jones and Jones town itself.

I better do this alone.

If I'm not back in, say, five minutes, send in the dogs.

The house was full of temple members, including Stephen Jones and the rest of the basketball team.

Hi.

Hi, I'm Leo Ryan, the bad guy.

Hi.

I remember the Congressman showing up.

I remember having mixed feelings about it.

Are you drawing?

You're seeing.

Very outgoing, charismatic, genuine man, and so it seemed to me.

You don't get much of that in the temple.

What's your name?

What can I do for you, Mr. Ryan?

Well, I'd like to speak with Jim.

Jim's not here.

Well, you can put me in touch with him.

And at the same time thinking, who do you think you are walking up on our house?

You're going to have to leave.

Hi.

Leo Ryan, must have heard of me?

Stephen Jones, once or twice.

Oh, what are you doing here, Joe?

Basketball tournament, uh, against the guy in these nationals.

How's it going?

Well, sir, they kicked our butts good the first of games.

We're looking for a little revenge.

Well, let me know here.

You can use an extra pair of hands.

I can't dunk, but you know what politicians, we pass things really well.

We pass the ball from the buck.

Congressman, you can't just come in here as you please.

Well, I know.

Sharon, the man's just trying to be friendly.

It was a way to ask a couple of questions.

Like, do you like it there?

Jones telling me.

How is it?

You follow us to talk to you.

Well, good luck, Stephen.

Uh, with the game of me.

You're going to have to leave now, Mr. Ryan.

This is private property.

Okay.

That was nice meeting you.

We'll be seeing you again.

Bye-bye.

There was a point at which my father sent orders.

Funneled through the radio room.

Everything came through there and Sharon aimed us.

That we were to return to Jones Town.

The basketball team was ordered to come back.

I want you to come home.

Why?

Why?

You need it here.

Why?

I know, McElvie is coming back first thing in the morning.

I want you to be on the truck with him.

The whole damn bunch of you.

Look, you said it yourself.

We're good.

We are.

Dad.

That's all there is to be.

That's all there is to be.

We're having a good time.

We're playing basketball.

I'm going to talk to him over here.

Talk to him over here.

Talk to him over here.

Stephen, I think you better come back.

You don't know what's happening here, Stephen.

We really need you.

We're staying, Mom.

We're going to game against the national team tomorrow.

How's it going to look if we just high-tail it out of here?

I'm sorry.

You don't need to speak for him.

Well, it's up to you.

Mom, no, it is not up to him.

I don't know what he's having anything to do with that congressman.

I want the relatives.

I want him back here now.

You don't give a damn what happens here.

I knew I had known for a long time my father was nuts.

I'm one that believes he was sick from very early on.

By the time the congressman came, he only had a few more months at the rate he was going with his drug use.

He was just slowly killing himself on drugs.

Who do you think is keeping this place together?

I am!

I am keeping this goddamn place together!

I know I sent him closer to the edge by refusing to come back at that time.

There was no denying that he was losing control.

And to a man like my father, we must have been like he was sinking in a quick sand, grabbing at nothing.

Jim Jones summoned people's temple lawyer Charles Gary to handle Congressman Ryan's visit to Jones Town.

But Jones suddenly reversed course and denied entry.

What do you mean we're not going to Jones Town?

The only goddamn reason I came here is to take Ryan to Jones Town.

Who the hell changed the chair, aren't you?

Jim did, all right?

Was Ryan's fault anyway, coming in like he did?

It's a whole lot of crap.

It was Jim's decision to cancel the visit.

You know I've had it with you people.

There's a plane going back to Miami at 1pm I'm going to be on it.

You hear me?

Listen to me Jim.

We are a righteous man.

We are a righteous people.

We've traded this.

They've come to destroy what we've done.

We can all allow them.

They want to steal our children.

Jim.

So long.

So long.

So long.

Jim, cut it.

Now what I'm going to say is very simple.

You've got two alternatives.

Now the first is you can tell the Congress, the United States to go to hell.

You can tell the media to go to hell, which is what you've been doing on a lot over Mike Jackson.

You can tell the concerned relatives to go to hell.

But if you do that, I can't live with it.

If it's the end of the line, I won't be with you.

Now, second alternative is what I've been urging you to do all along.

You can let the media in.

You can let the Congress know.

You can let the concerned relatives in.

And you can let them see for themselves what a beautiful place we have there.

Come down that, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Just come down.

Finally, we got word after negotiations between the Congressmen and people's temples, lawyers, and Jones, that we would be allowed to head into Jones Town.

Go get it in here, so show it.

What are you doing using that?

I see a couple of them.

The preparation for Jones Town before Ryan's visit was just like the mayor was visiting or the Congressmen was visiting.

You'd paint the house, you'd spruce up the plants, you'd weed everything would be in A number one condition to make positive impression.

A constant, a constant.

We need to grow a mother to be supported by the radio room immediately.

We had a lot of rehearsal about what to say to these people if they came in.

We rehearsed over and over and over and over again.

How long do you, would you like to stay?

Forever.

You just can't imagine that all the hundreds of us here are so extremely happy.

And I love it here, nobody's about to be. I'm free. And I love everything about it.

Now you, tell them, those big buildings out there, what are you doing?

I've got to just say.

And how many people would you say on average lives in a house?

Four or five.

Two couples to our house?

No, no, no. I wouldn't say that. I'd say four or five. Just don't you go into that. Okay, Pat.

What do you find that's wrong on this place?

Well, I don't find anything wrong. I had more opportunities here than I ever had in the States.

And how do you feel about the USA?

I feel it's wrong. For those who want to be.

That's very good. We don't want to say we're pro-Soviet or that we're against America.

You got that?

I got it.

Pat.

Monica, when you refer to Jon's Town, how do you refer to it?

It is a very nice place.

There was always an atmosphere of us versus them.

Jon's mentioned that Congressman Ryan was coming, concerned relatives were coming.

And journalists who were evil incarnate were coming and they were coming to destroy us.

People get along. White and black together.

I just say it's a community.

Jon's Town, it's a community. All right, pass.

The survival of the community rested upon a good report from these people coming and leaving without incidents.

And giving wonderful reports on Jon's Town.

What are common complaints you hear in the community?

I don't hear any complaints. Only praises of our being able to live here in Guyana.

My son's here with me and I appreciate being here. I enjoy here.

I've had many more opportunities for learning trades than I have in my whole entire life.

What are some other complaints you hear against the community, against the town hall?

I don't hear any complaints. The only thing I hear is so much people love it here.

Everybody says this is the best thing that's ever happened in their whole lives.

How are you?

Is the best thing ever happened to you?

I really appreciate being here. I enjoy it.

That's right. Thank you.

Thank you.

Leanne's coming here.

No, no, that's fine. I don't need to go to Jon's Town.

No, if she's coming here, then I'll just stay here.

Okay. Lunch is... lunch dinner. I really don't care.

Oh, hold on. Hold on.

One second.

Oh, okay. Go ahead.

I'm on.

Gardens.

Good.

No, no, I'll find it.

Yes. Okay.

And Linda.

Sharon.

Thank you.

Bye.

When I got that information that my daughter was going to come down on Saturday,

there was no reason in my mind to, at that point, to go to Jon's Town.

Now, if it turned out I was being lied to and she didn't show up on Saturday,

I'm going to Jon's Town. I'm going wherever I need to go.

I'm going to find my daughter.

Congressman Ryan chartered a plane to transport relatives and journalists to Jon's Town.

Hey, folks. Lane's ready.

More than 150 miles deep into the jungle.

There's a constitution. The constitution gives him the right to come down here and see us,

because we are American taxpayers.

I see the constitution does not give him the right to go wherever he is not invited.

Ladies!

Ladies!

What do we want to say to him? What do we want to say to him anyway?

You cannot win. I'm telling you, it was kind of a trick. You cannot win.

He treated our children all night.

He come tripping into our house like he owned it. Tell him, Sharon Amos,

heard a lot of dirty things about it.

Well, I said, you tell him, you tell him to go to hell.

And then, then, then, you get lost.

You know what?

We don't have to tell him anything anyway.

We don't have to tell him anything.

And you know what? I don't know how long he's going to say, but I can assure you.

If he stays long enough for tea, he is going to regret it.

Let's do it again. Let's do it again.

No, that you have never.

Never been loved so much as I love you right now.

Amen!

I love you.

We love you, too!

Monica, myself, and my roommate did have a meeting about Ryan coming.

The plan was I was going to slip the Congressman a note asking for his help to leave.

This is our chance. Monica, Keith.

What about your son, Vern?

If I tell him, he might report us.

I wrote the note.

Vern and Gosney, Monica Bagby, help us get out of Jonestown. That was the note.

He's better off here anyway.

I didn't know whether to take my son was the right thing to do or not.

I wasn't thinking clearly.

When we flew over the jungle, it became pretty clear how remote and inaccessible Jonestown really was.

The plane touched down at an isolated airstrip within five miles from Jonestown.

When we finally landed on a small dirt airstrip in Port Kaituma, it became clear how difficult it would have been for anyone to leave Jonestown.

Here, there's the truck.

When a truckload of people's temple members pulled up with a flatbed, we expected that we'd be moving on quickly to Jonestown and started unpacking our gear.

Come, from Ryan.

I'm Corporal Emo Rudder.

The guy in east of the fence force.

Thank you very much for coming to meet us.

I've been instructed to inform you that only Mr. Gary is to board the truck for Jonestown.

I wear a congressional delegation. We're here to inquire into the health and welfare of the people of Jonestown.

My instructions are clear.

Well, who are you getting instructions from?

Please return to the plane.

Congressman Ryan, any assistant here can come with us?

Mr. Gary, I was told...

I won't ever mind what you've been told. I'm telling you. If you catch any grief, I'll be right there.

Congressman.

You want to go to the others?

Working on us.

Thank you.

Don't try and come on your own.

Clearly at that point, we were not welcome. All we could do was wait.

Finally, within a few hours, the truck returned to the airstrip.

If I don't want to come to Jonestown, climb on.

And we were allowed to board it and we rode toward Jonestown with several members in the temple.

Let's go!

I think everyone recognized that there was a potential for danger.

We were entering a place where not only were we surrounded by miles of jungle,

but we also were in the control of Jim Jones and his members.

And as a practical matter, it would be hard to get out without their permission.

We pulled into Jonestown.

My first impression was that this place had taken a tremendous amount of work to produce.

To make something from scratch in the middle of nowhere was an impressive feat.

Partners are arriving.

Some of them will want to take pictures, so anyone who doesn't want their picture taken will be excused.

There were hundreds of people around the pavilion and we were escorted there directly to the Reverend Jim Jones.

Jim, the gentleman of the press of the line, Don Harrison, to see news.

I have to meet Jim.

Reverend Jones, it's him right of me.

I've read many of your stories. I guess you can only print what they tell you.

Well, we tried to get your sound out of the story, having had much success.

That's why I'm here to see the mission for myself.

Good. A lot of people have found it to be beautiful. Paradise.

He was very cordial, but it was still disturbing to see that he appeared weak.

What really concerned me was the way he spoke.

Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?

Why did you decide to let us in now, a year after my first request?

We got to lose.

So barbed wire here, we don't have three little, three hundred to one elite.

We're not violent. We don't do violence to anyone.

The ageism, sexism, racism, all been eliminated.

Alitism is almost eliminated. We're Marxist in the sense of sharing work and in the distribution of goods and services.

What about the threats in Massachusetts, I remember?

I only said that it will be better that we commit suicide than kill.

Why hurt social progress?

He started speaking in a paranoid fashion about his enemies and began to quietly sort of rant about them.

I cursed the day I was born. I don't know why these people hate me so in some ways I feel like a...

...or a dying man, you don't need to put a bullet in my hand.

Thank you.

It was disturbing to hear him sort of put a figurative gun in the hands of those of us who had come to Jones Town to visit.

It was also disturbing to hear someone who had the lives of so many people in his hands speak that way.

Plan was I was going to slip on the Congressman a note asking for his help.

In my state of mind, I didn't know who was her who at that time yet.

I see someone who I think is the Congressman who's walking around the perimeter of the Assembly.

If I passed the note and it was unsuccessful, I knew I would be killed.

There was no doubt about it. I would be... I would be killed.

I'm going to get a shot.

He dropped us.

He passed the note!

What was that about, boy?

That was nothing fun. He dropped something and I did it from the top.

I would like to introduce you to a very special guest.

He has represented many of us who lived in his district back in California and we'd like for you to say a few words to us.

It wasn't until later that I found out that that individual was not the Congressman.

Congressman Ryan.

Thank you, Marcellin.

I'm not used to making public speeches.

Don't give me that here, I guess.

I'm glad to be here.

I've already met a former student of mine.

I've already met a former classmate of one of my daughters from Mills High School in Burlington.

This is a congressional inquiry.

I think all of you know that I'm here to find out more about questions that have been raised about your own.

I can tell you right now that from the conversations I've had with some of the folks here already tonight,

that no matter what the comments are, there are some people here believe that this is the best thing that's ever happened to them and their whole lives.

After Ryan spoke, I was approached by Congressman Ryan.

Is your name Vernon Gosney?

Did you give this man a no and ask me to leave those here?

Yes, sir.

Let me tell you, you've got seats on the first plane out of here tomorrow.

Congressman Ryan had no idea of what he had walked into at all.

I'm not sure we should wait till tomorrow, Congressman.

You've got a lot of work to do here.

You're in danger and you have to know that.

It'll be fine.

We're in a protection of the U.S. Congress tomorrow.

And it was apparent after talking to him that he couldn't really conceive the level of danger that he was in.

On that Saturday, the last day, I wondered just how many other people might want to leave.

The thing is, Ryan told me someone else aside from this Vernon guy at first.

Morning out?

Yeah, it's okay.

Morning.

Sleep alright?

That was the softest, hardwood floor a man could ask for.

Marcelyn Jones, who was Jim Jones' wife, took some of us throughout the encampment.

This is my pride and joy, I don't mind saying.

This is the first home to all 33 children born here in Jones Town.

Marcelyn Jones was clearly proud of everything that had been built in Jones Town.

The school and the nursery, the clinic that provided health care for children that seemed to be what inspired her and sustained her.

That's some pretty advanced reading.

Those are some pretty advanced kids.

Hey.

Oh, hi. I'll take them from here, Vernon.

I think you're needed back as a pavilion, aren't you?

We also have a large nursing staff, of course. We could always use more.

There are almost 300 children here in Jones Town.

Tim, come now.

Tim's going to run.

Come back.

Come.

Would you like to see the dispensary?

Excuse me.

You okay? I'll get back here.

You all right? You'll pay those back.

Don't you get back here.

Within hours, it became clear that more than just two people who slipped a note to a reporter wanted to come out.

There were some entire families who were there.

There were families who stepped forward and informed the congressmen that they wanted to leave with us.

I'm all right. I'm just going to just say goodbye to some.

And the tension just radiated out from Jones and those groups of potential defectors.

The whole place was paralyzed.

I'm going to stay put. I'm going to have a word with you later.

Please don't go anywhere right now. I want to talk to you and ask you some questions.

I want to talk to you.

Why are you doing this?

Are you lovers?

No.

No. Because you can have a relationship here.

We're not lovers.

Don't you talk to any of the reporters? All right, they're liars. They're all liars. You don't have to say anything.

Even the ones who lie, they always come back. They always do.

Always have a blazier.

All right.

I signed a document that I was leaving my son there of my own free will.

I didn't know if I was doing the right thing.

Um...

I signed it.

How many you got, Congressman?

I think we're going to need another plane.

As time went on, probably about a dozen people had stepped forward and they were insistent on leaving.

My name is Monica Batby. I wish to leave Jones town of my own free will and return to the United States.

Is that it?

Um...

My name is Vernon Gosney and I wish to leave Jones town of my own free will and return to the United States.

I was of a divided mine. On one hand, I thought my son is black and he's going to be subject to the racism of the United States government

and I thought that this was the better place for him to be.

I didn't know. I was confused.

What now?

No, we pack up. Truck's leaving soon.

I don't think I ought to go alone.

Now, wouldn't you though. That lady said she'd go with me. You ought to get someone too.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

When the door swung open, there was a number of security guards within the cottage.

I was petrified.

I was in extreme fear and terror.

What are you doing, Vernon?

He's packing up.

What are you doing?

Go ahead, Vernon.

Pack your things.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

I'm not going to go alone.

Thank you.

Has the potential defectors began gathering up their belongings, NBC conducted an interview

with Jim Jones and the Pavilion?

Okay, Robert. Ready to go.

You never accomplished what you said out. I'm a perfectionist.

We wanted to fade out of the whole arena of public contention, but obviously we haven't

because of lies. I never understood how people could lie with such total freedom and conviction.

As the interview went on, Jones grew more and more tense.

That's a lie.

It was a lie.

Who conspired to kill Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John Kennedy, every agency in the

whole government has given us a hard time. Somebody just doesn't like socialism.

I think it was sinking in if it hadn't already that this visit was not going to play well

outside Jones town.

I've heard that security guards with guns had gone around to the houses and warned people

that nobody came to see people with guns. I strictly prohibited guns. You don't have

to shoot me because the media smear doesn't. I've given my life for people serving people.

Are you people going to just leave us?

I just beg you, please just leave us.

I'm going to go say goodbye to them.

Try this!

Come on in here, we don't need you.

Don't they shoot the plane down!

I met with my son briefly and...

See you soon, okay?

I was in the present of an age where I could tell him what was happening. I just... I hugged him.

I said goodbye to him and that was the last time that I saw him.

I...

I don't know what else to say about that moment.

I'm going to go back any time. I always have a place here. Come back any time. Visit your son. Okay.

Come back any time. I'll always be welcome here.

Reverend, can I just ask you? Can I get your reaction on what's going on here today?

Did you try to stop anyone from leaving? No. I feel sorry we were being destroyed from this end.

All we want is to be left in peace.

He looked somewhat broken and crestfallen but angry. And what he was saying really was that the defections and some of his members were going to be the undoing and the unmasking of Jim Jones and people's temple.

And what was going on inside of Jones Town?

Get out now. I can still make deadline. Where's Ron?

I'm staying back to help with the rest of the defectors. I mean there's more.

Yeah, I mean he's not saying so. Thanks.

Everybody ready?

Jim, why are you so upset? There are only 15 people leaving out of nearly a thousand. I mean if 400 people were leaving then I'd be worried.

Things were spiraling out of control. There was a crack that had opened and the crack was continuing to open. Jones was losing control and the whole community in my opinion was going to crack open completely.

It's only 15 people. When I get back I'm going to report to Congress that if the 60 people sided by the concerned relatives none of them wanted to leave. They said they were completely happened.

Wait, wait.

Hey, do you have one more?

There's no way he's a defector.

What?

Why are you leaving?

It's all you leave.

Jim, this is a wonderful thing you've got going.

Two lines!

I'm a two line!

Well, it's not me.

I guess it has changed as things, doesn't it?

Some things.

Not everything.

That convinced the Congressman not to stay behind and process any more defectors that he needed to leave with us on the truck.

Hey, you're bleeding in Congressman?

It isn't mine.

What happened? The minor disagreements?

We were in serious danger.

Hey, let's roll!

Because the Congressman was, in some ways, our protector.

To see him with blood spattered on his shirt from his assailant and all the shoveled showed just how precarious our situation was.

I think we wanted to move as quickly as possible down that dirt road and get on a plane with the defectors.

When that truck is pulling away, I have no faith in whatsoever that we're ever going to get out of there.

Saturday, November 18, I headed out to Temple Headquarters in Lamaha Gardens to see my daughter.

Hey, Anne.

Leanne?

Hello.

Hey, Anne.

When I first saw Leanne, it was like nothing was between us.

Come inside, we're just about to sit down.

We hugged and, you know, and kissed, and it was just wonderful to see her.

I wish you could see the wonderful work, the great work that we do.

You see, there's nothing to be concerned about.

And I know she felt the same way to see me.

How long are you thinking of staying?

A couple of weeks.

Maybe even a month we could tour around.

You could show me things.

Why don't you two sit down to dinner?

Everything's in the kitchen.

I won't be a minute.

It is so good to see you, Leanne.

It's been hard.

And I just want to get to know you again and you me.

Would that be...would that be all right?

You must be hungry.

Come on.

Please.

Please take care of everyone there.

Everyone, Jim.

Everybody.

From Georgetown.

Everybody.

Relatives too.

They take revenge.

I don't have to tell the others.

Things were going bad.

We've been ordered to get revenge.

Revenge met.

Go out and kill people.

Concerned relatives first.

Maybe members of the congressman's party.

But those who had turned against us would have been considered the worst enemies.

It just took one spark.

It's time. It's time.

One thread of insanity to unravel the whole works.

Why not?

Why not?

Everybody.

The force is prepared immediately.

Why not?

Why not?

Everybody.

The force is prepared immediately.

Why not?

Why not?

Everybody reports the pavilion immediately to white line.

It was heavy as I'm pulling.

And I'm pulling. I'm reeling it in.

And finally, I yank it up, it's a tire.

A lot of tire.

Just like in the movies.

And I'm muster-keeping like that.

Yeah.

Here's a piece of paper.

I'm going to show you a piece of paper.

I'm going to show you a piece of paper.

I'm going to show you a piece of paper.

Here's a card for you.

We'd just gotten a message...

And LeeAnn came down, and LeeAnn was having dinner with her father,

and LeeAnn was told by Sharon.

I'll be back.

I'll be back.

I'll be back.

The orders just come through.

We have to die.

Okay.

She very calmly took the news,

and I was just struck by that.

This is really real, and how surreal that was.

Should I go back to dinner?

You better have him leave your father.

This is a 21-year-old girl who has just been told in the dinner with your father,

because we're going to have to kill ourselves in so many words.

And I was overwhelmed with fear at that point,

just dread and fear of what must be going down at Jonestown.

A large shipment of the liquid poison, potassium cyanide,

have been delivered earlier to Jonestown.

The cyanide was now mixed with sedatives and tranquilizers

and added to a fruit-flavored drink.

I think that for Dad,

he took him just gone and found a room somewhere and shot himself.

One, I don't think he was capable of shooting himself.

Two, I don't think he could bear to go alone.

His view of existence was so bleak that he thought it was the best for everyone to check out.

A handful of people with their lives have made our life impossible.

And we are sitting on a powder keg here,

and I don't think that this is what we want to do with our baby, you know.

It has been said, by the greatest of profits from time immemorial,

no man may take my life from me, but I lay my life down.

We have been betrayed.

We have been so horribly betrayed.

Now, here's what's going to happen in the matter of a few minutes.

It's that one of the people on the plane is going to shoot the pilot.

And down comes the plane into the jungle,

and we have better not have any of our children left when it is over,

because they will parachute in here on us.

When we got to the airstrip,

I still had this feeling of impending doom that something was going to happen.

As people were boarding, a tractor, load of men returned to the airstrip.

It was clear to me that there was no real reason for them to be coming back.

There might well be trouble.

It was decided that Monica and myself were going to go onto the small plane,

so that plane was boarded first.

Sorry about this, folks. I'm sorry, but let's get safe. Get on the plane.

We wanted to make sure that nobody was getting on either of these two planes with weapons,

because we didn't really know whether the defectors, in fact, were defectors.

Hey, Congressman. I didn't search him.

Excuse me. Excuse me. It's a moment, please.

What's your name?

Larry Lee.

Everybody okay?

There shouldn't have been allowed to come with.

Someone said he might have a gun.

Ryan's checking him, right?

He's looking to let us leave here.

Jones, I mean.

We'll be in the air in five minutes.

Thank you. That was a good flight.

When do I take care of tomorrow?

Tomorrow?

Yeah.

Whenever you like.

I like seven in the morning.

Okay.

Good.

We in.

This is bullshit, man.

I needed to get away from it. I needed to find out for more information, maybe gather ourselves.

And with the hope that we would learn something other than the madness we were hearing from Sharon.

My ex-wife came out from downstairs where the radio room was and kissed me goodbye on the cheek.

I just want to thank you.

And when she kissed me goodbye, that was really good-bye.

You know, I was feeling rather buoyant. Overall, you know, we had plans for the next day.

I felt we're making certain inroads. I think they got-I felt they got the message.

See you tomorrow. 7 a.m.

Okay.

Tag is this hotel, please.

So I felt very upbeat and I felt that we're making progress.

Get good, okay?

I don't need those, get good, let's go.

Get somewhere.

Okay. Let's start getting back on the plane.

lio.

Now,, let's look at the Floorbook.

You're supposed to spread it out!

Shh!

Ooh.

They're killing everyone.

20 ok.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

I'm going to get him.

The gunfire died down.

Then there were several deliberate shots over the space of maybe a half minute.

And then there was silence.

Anyone who has any dissenting opinion, please speak.

Yes, Christine.

Well, I feel like that as long as there's life, there's hope.

Someday everybody dies.

Someday that hope runs out.

I just like to choose my own kind of a death for a change.

I'm tired of being tormented to hell. That's what I'm tired of.

I ain't ready to die.

I don't think that you are.

But look about at the babies and I think babies have to live.

You know?

Yeah, I agree. I agree, but don't they also deserve much more?

Don't they deserve peace?

We all came here for peace.

And have we had it?

No.

Just hold on, Sister.

We made it a beautiful day and let's make it a beautiful day. That's what I say.

Yes!

I tried to stop this thing from happening, but now I see. I see it is the will.

The will of sovereign being that this happened to us, that we laid down our lives as a protest against what is being done.

You know, the criminality of people, the cruelty of people.

I just know, I know there is no point. There's no point to this.

Welcome to hell. Welcome to hell.

It's all over. The congressman has been murdered.

Sharon Amos is one of the small percentage of the temple membership that I viewed as a zealot.

And certainly by the end days, she was every bit as sick as my father was.

I know that woman loved her children dearly.

And this isn't no way an explanation or excuse her of a defense of what she did.

But for her, she thought she was saving them.

We give them our children and our children will set up forever.

We win. We win when we go down.

We win.

We win.

What a legacy.

They invaded our privacy. They come into our home.

They've followed us 6,000 miles away. Get us some medication.

It's simple. There's no convulsions. It's just simple. Just please. Get some.

So much of it feels like fate.

Every possible ingredient that could be thrown into this disastrous recipe was thrown in there.

You know, you've got my father who's already unraveling.

Are you going to separate yourself from who shot the congressman?

I'm a new child.

And you've got a demoralized, malnourished, exhausted, populous, people of Jonestown, just...

They were also crazy on some level because of the...

What they'd been put through by my father.

It's just simple. Just please. Get some. Just get it.

And then who were the first to die? The children were the first to die.

All they're doing is taking a drink.

The guy in a defense force will be here. I'm telling you. Get moving. Get moving. Get moving.

I'm sure many people believe that they were lost, that they were going to come in with force,

and their children are going to be taken from them, and they were going to die or suffer greatly.

All they're doing is taking a drink.

Mother, Mother, please. Mother, Mother, please. Mother.

Mother, Mother.

Some people assure these kids of the relaxation of stepping over to the next plane.

They've had an example for the other.

They take it to the mall and see that that's what death is.

And even those that still wanted to get out of it, where were they going to go at that point?

They get out of it.

It's about more than Jim Jones saying, line up and take the poison. It's time to go.

Oh my God. Oh my God.

No, no, no.

No, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

Lay down your burden. Don't help your brain to die.

You've told me to go.

It asked me to tell the world what happened here.

Okay? The truth of it.

I'm not going to let them take your child.

Let them take your child.

Please, please, please, please.

Please, please, please.

They're not in your life with dignity. Don't lay down on the tears and agony.

I'll tell you, I don't care how many dreams you hear. I don't care how many anguish tries.

Death is a million times preferable to ten more days of its life.

If you knew what was ahead of you, if you knew what was ahead of you, you'd be glad that it's stepping over.

If we can't live in peace, then let's die in peace.

We've set one thousand people so we don't like the way the world is.

Take our life from us.

We'll lay it down. We got time.

When you live suicide, we come in an act of evolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.

Absolutely, let's go.

After a while, I stood and started to work my way back to the airstrip.

I wanted to see what had happened to everyone else.

I saw several bodies on the ground.

I appeared from the wounds of some of them that temple members had gone around and finished them off with shots to the head.

Don Harris of NBC.

Congressman Ryan.

Greg Robinson, the photographer with me.

Bob Brown of NBC.

Patricia Parks, one of the defectors. All of them were dead.

During the ambush at the airstrip, five people were murdered, including Congressman Leo Ryan.

Eleven others were wounded but survived, including Ryan's aide, Jackie Speer, and defector Monica Bagby.

Jones sent gunmen to the airstrip to kill the congressman and others so that he could then turn to his followers and say,

no country, no place, wants us any longer because some of our people have now killed the congressman.

There's no hope.

Until the last possible minute, you claimed to hope that people are alive.

A young woman came out and walked up to me and said Sharon's killed herself and killed her children.

She believed that her children were going to be taken to horrible circumstances and that death was better for them.

As I opened the door, the first thing I saw was the babies and they were dead, clearly dead, clearly gone.

It was just, it was horrible.

And Leanne wanted so much to please her mother.

We love a daughter for a mother. I had probably nothing like it. And what I learned later was that they actually killed each other by slitting each other's throats.

I came to several hours later and I knew it was several hours later because it was dark.

I could hear people walking through the bushes. What it was in fact was people looking for survivors.

Only a handful of temple members inside Jonestown survived. Some escaped into the jungle.

76-year-old Hyacinth Thrash had hidden under her bed.

She was a little bit older than she was.

She was a little bit older than she was.

She was a little bit older than she was.

She was a little bit older than she was.

She was a little bit older than she was.

She was a little bit older than she was.

She was a little bit older than she was.

I lost everything that day. I lost brothers and sisters and dear friends, people I'd known my entire life and the dearest person on the planet to me, which was my mother.

She resisted. I'm physically restrained until the last child died and then she walked up and took the poison herself.

My father, well I can tell you I've never grieved his death. I remember feeling disgust that he didn't go the way everybody else went.

Not only did he have to be shot in the head, but he had to have somebody else do it.

I still believe it was because he couldn't bear to go out the way he was seeing other people go out.

For the entire incident I blame Jim Jones.

It's as if he was determined to make sure nobody won. If he wasn't going to win, nobody was going to win.

The people that died in Jones Town were my family.

And they were my family when my family wasn't my family.

And they're all just really few wonderful, good people who wanted to make a positive change in the world.

One of the myths of Jones Town was that it was a mass suicide. Whereas in fact it was a mass murder.

It happened because Jim Jones didn't want word to get out to the outside world.

What was going on inside his community.

He didn't want the defectors to tell their stories and they didn't want the reporters to tell their stories.

And he didn't want the Congressmen to tell his story.

The first time I thought about the consequences of Jones Town and what had happened when I was in a military hospital in Puerto Rico.

And a military psychiatrist came to speak to me and tell me that my son was dead.

The loss of my son has been the most difficult thing in my life to deal with.

My sense of remorse, my sense of guilt.

By going back to that moment a million times and making a different decision.

To find some level of peace and some level of forgiveness has been the most challenging thing for me.

I love my daughter very much.

I've lost her. I'm suffering. Truly suffering with the grief of that.

All these, you know, for years.

And I came to see that it was really holding on to the grief as if I let it go.

I'd be letting go of her. And I said, that's not right.

And I came to see that I could hold my daughter as a living memory forever.

And let the grief go.

There were a lot of reasons I think that people ended up taking the poison.

I don't know who took it, who was injected.

I think more than anything. It was out of loyalty to everybody else there.

In my case, if I had been there, I know I had a strong will live.

But I think that it was so important to me, or how I was perceived by the people of my community,

was so important to me, that it might have taken me to my death.

Ask yourself, what would someone have to tell you?

Or what would someone have to do to you to get you to do something that you couldn't possibly believe

you were capable of? And examine that.

Learn from it. Don't judge it. Don't stand separate from it.

Be willing to stand in the shoes of the people you're judging.

And I hope that, you know, 900 plus people, that they died, and the way they died,

might offer us something so that their lives won't be in vain.

You know, I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.

I'm not going to be alone.