What the fuck...

Almost three decades ago an unusual series of events led to the
deaths of more than 900 people in the middle of a South American
jungle. Though dubbed a "massacre," what transpired at Jonestown on November 18, 1978, was to some extent done willingly, making the mass suicide all the more disturbing.


The Jonestown cult (officially named the "People's Temple") was founded in 1955 by Indianapolis preacher James Warren Jones.
Jones, who had no formal theological training, based his liberal
ministry on a combination of religious and socialist philosophies.

A New, Isolated Community




After relocating to California in 1965, the church continued to grow
in membership and began advocating their left-wing political ideals
more actively. With an I.R.S. investigation and a great deal of
negative press mounting against the radical church, Jones urged his
congregation to join him in a new, isolated community where they could
escape American capitalism—and criticism—and practice a more communal
way of life.


In 1977, Jones and many of his followers relocated to Jonestown,
located on a tract of land the People's Temple had purchased and begun
to develop in Guyana three years earlier.

Relatives of cult members soon grew concerned and requested that the
U.S. government rescue what they believed to be brainwashed victims
living in concentration camp-like conditions under Jones's power.

The Visit of Congressman Ryan



In November 1978, California Congressman Leo Ryan arrived in Guyana
to survey Jonestown and interview its inhabitants. After reportedly
having his life threatened by a Temple member during the first day of
his visit, Ryan decided to cut his trip short and return to the U.S.
with some Jonestown residents who wished to leave. As they boarded
their plane, a group of Jones's guards opened fire on them, killing
Ryan and four others.

Some members of Ryan's party escaped, however. Upon learning this,
Jones told his followers that Ryan's murder would make it impossible
for their commune to continue functioning. Rather than return to the
United States, the People's Temple would preserve their church by
making the ultimate sacrifice: their own lives. Jones's 912 followers
were given a deadly concoction of a purple drink mixed with cyanide,
sedatives, and tranquilizers. Jones apparently shot himself in the head.
-------
Apparently, the church had held a meeting about something.
During the meeting, Jones had given his followers a wine, or as he called it, "a sacred drink".
About 5 minutes after all the followers had drunken the beverage, Jones said:
"You all have been poisoned. You have 1 hour to live."
Children were killed first.
I found this fucked up...

over 800 people were killed in this mass suicide.
only 33 made it out alive.