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[[Image:Jonestown.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The Jonestown pavillion, November 20, 1978]]

[[Image:Jonestown.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The Jonestown pavilion, November 20, 1978]]

The '''Jonestown Massacre''' consisted of a charismatic [[communist]],<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_jones.htm Jim Jones' People's Temple]</ref> Jim Jones, leading his cult to a mass suicide on November 18, 1978, in a settlement in northern [[Guyana]].  In total, 914 members of the People's Temple cult died, including five people murdered at a nearby airstrip.

The '''Jonestown Massacre''' consisted of a charismatic [[communist]],<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_jones.htm Jim Jones' People's Temple]</ref> Jim Jones, leading his cult to a mass suicide on November 18, 1978, in a settlement in northern [[Guyana]].  In total, 914 members of the People's Temple cult died, including five people murdered at a nearby airstrip.

Following breakfast, Ryan, Speier, and Dwyer continued their round of interviews with People's Temple members in the process of which they were approached by an individual who indicated to them secretly that she and her family wished to leave Jonestown; further notes were passed to the journalists as well.  Don Harris took advantage of one of them and passed it to Jones as part of his interview with him; Jones became visibly agitated as a result, and as interviews went on around him between potential defectors, followers and the visitors, he was seen on camera whispering something to an aide.

Following breakfast, Ryan, Speier, and Dwyer continued their round of interviews with People's Temple members in the process of which they were approached by an individual who indicated to them secretly that she and her family wished to leave Jonestown; further notes were passed to the journalists as well.  Don Harris took advantage of one of them and passed it to Jones as part of his interview with him; Jones became visibly agitated as a result, and as interviews went on around him between potential defectors, followers and the visitors, he was seen on camera whispering something to an aide.

By 3:00 in the afternoon, Ryan's entourage, as well as fifteen defectors, boarded a truck to take them to the Port Kaituma airstrip; among the defectors was a man named Larry Layton, who caused suspicion among the others that he was a Jones plant.  Ryan himself had intended to stay an additional night, but an unsuccessful knife attack by a follower named Don Sly caused Dwyer to compell Ryan to leave.

By 3:00 in the afternoon, Ryan's entourage, as well as fifteen defectors, boarded a truck to take them to the Port Kaituma airstrip; among the defectors was a man named Larry Layton, who caused suspicion among the others that he was a Jones plant.  Ryan himself had intended to stay an additional night, but an unsuccessful knife attack by a follower named Don Sly caused Dwyer to compel Ryan to leave.

The Congressional delegation, journalists, and defectors were all on the airstrip by 4:45 pm; the planes needed to fly them (a twin-engine Otter and a Cessna) out didn't arrive until after 5:00.  Just after the Cessna arrived and was loaded, Layton opened fire with a hidden gun on the passengers at about the same time as the occupants of a People's Temple tractor and trailer pulled up near the aircraft and fired shotguns.  Ryan, Robinson, and Harris were killed outright; Brown was hit, his camera still rolling, before another shot ended his life; a defector was also killed, and several others wounded.  The Cessna was able to take off, while survivors on the ground hid in the jungle; the bodies would remain clustered aound the Otter until Guyanese authorities arrived hours later.

The Congressional delegation, journalists, and defectors were all on the airstrip by 4:45 pm; the planes needed to fly them (a twin-engine Otter and a Cessna) out didn't arrive until after 5:00.  Just after the Cessna arrived and was loaded, Layton opened fire with a hidden gun on the passengers at about the same time as the occupants of a People's Temple tractor and trailer pulled up near the aircraft and fired shotguns.  Ryan, Robinson, and Harris were killed outright; Brown was hit, his camera still rolling, before another shot ended his life; a defector was also killed, and several others wounded.  The Cessna was able to take off, while survivors on the ground hid in the jungle; the bodies would remain clustered around the Otter until Guyanese authorities arrived hours later.

===The white night===

===The white night===

Jones by then had ordered his followers to be at the pavillion, exhorting them into the final "white night"; a vat of poison sat just outside, with adults told to gather paper cups and drink, and to pour the brew down their children's mouths.  Armed guards were stationed about the perimeters to prevent escapes; despite this several did and survived.  Those that refused to drink were set upon by guards with cyanide-filled syringes and killed.  Caught on audio tape, Jones pushed his flock to drink his potion, exhorting them in his paranoid fantasy that the authorities would torture them all when they arrived:

Jones by then had ordered his followers to be at the pavilion, exhorting them into the final "white night"; a vat of poison sat just outside, with adults told to gather paper cups and drink, and to pour the brew down their children's mouths.  Armed guards were stationed about the perimeters to prevent escapes; despite this several did and survived.  Those that refused to drink were set upon by guards with cyanide-filled syringes and killed.  Caught on audio tape, Jones pushed his flock to drink his potion, exhorting them in his paranoid fantasy that the authorities would torture them all when they arrived:

:''"Well it's all over, all over. What a legacy, what a legacy. What's the Red Brigade doing, and one's that ever made any sense anyway? They invaded our privacy. They came into our home. They followed us 6,000 miles away. Red Brigade showed them justice. The Congressman's dead."''

:''"Well it's all over, all over. What a legacy, what a legacy. What's the Red Brigade doing, and one's that ever made any sense anyway? They invaded our privacy. They came into our home. They followed us 6,000 miles away. Red Brigade showed them justice. The Congressman's dead."''

:''"Please get us some medication. Simple. It's simple, there's no convulsions with it. It's just simple. Just, please, get it. Before it's too late. The G.D.F. will be here, I tell you, get movin', get movin', get movin'."''

:''"Please get us some medication. Simple. It's simple, there's no convulsions with it. It's just simple. Just, please, get it. Before it's too late. The G.D.F. will be here, I tell you, get movin', get movin', get movin'."''

The body of Jim Jones was found inside the pavilion, near the steel vat, a single gunshot wound to his head.  Guyanese military would do a preliminary body count of 440, and over the next few days broadcast over loudspeakers to those they thought were hiding in the jungle.  But as they began removing bodies they saw additional ones underneath, bodies on top of bodies, and it was realized that nearly all the members of the commune were dead.  The count stopped at 914.

The body of Jim Jones was found inside the pavilion, near the steel vat, a single gunshot wound to his head.  Guyanese military would do a preliminary body count of 440, and over the next few days broadcast over loudspeakers to those they thought were hiding in the jungle.  But as they began removing bodies they saw additional ones underneath, bodies on top of bodies, and it was realized that nearly all the members of the commune were dead.  The count stopped at 914.

Investigators and coroners had determined the following ingredients were in the vat placed near the pavillion:

Investigators and coroners had determined the following ingredients were in the vat placed near the pavilion:

*Grape-flavored Kool-Aid

*Grape-flavored Kool-Aid

*Thorazine, a sedative

*Thorazine, a sedative