1. Dad's been shot.
Copy !req
2. Our leader's been gunned down.
Copy !req
3. People were screaming,
Copy !req
4. "Father's shot!
Father's shot!"
Copy !req
5. There's blood flowing
from his chest.
Copy !req
6. Then they rushed everybody
Copy !req
7. into the temple.
Copy !req
8. We're scared because
we don't know if someone else
Copy !req
9. is out there shooting.
Copy !req
10. Was it one shooter?
Was it more than one shooter?
Copy !req
11. And so we're in the temple,
Copy !req
12. and people are just in a panic
Copy !req
13. that we might lose Father.
Copy !req
14. A mourn quiet comes over
the whole community.
Copy !req
15. I was really afraid.
Copy !req
16. The idea of outside threat,
Copy !req
17. the idea of them and us,
Copy !req
18. that if you weren't with us,
you were against us.
Copy !req
19. That was the message
we heard constantly.
Copy !req
20. The doors opened,
Copy !req
21. and one of Jim's security
Copy !req
22. was carrying this shirt
with blood.
Copy !req
23. There's red stains on it,
Copy !req
24. and there's two holes
Copy !req
25. that you can put
a finger through.
Copy !req
26. And Jim's behind him,
Copy !req
27. but there's not a mark on him.
Copy !req
28. He's healed himself.
Copy !req
29. You can put me into the noose,
Copy !req
30. you can hang my body,
Copy !req
31. but I'll spring up again.
Copy !req
32. You cannot stamp me out!
Copy !req
33. I'm here to stay!
Copy !req
34. People are in a frenzy.
Copy !req
35. I mean, crying,
Copy !req
36. joyful, ecstatic.
Copy !req
37. It was— the energy was just,
it was just electric.
Copy !req
38. And we're thinking, oh, my God,
Father healed himself.
Copy !req
39. You've never seen anyone
Copy !req
40. shot down as I was,
before your eyes,
Copy !req
41. with blood
spurting from the body
Copy !req
42. and healed himself?
Copy !req
43. Yet I, a socialist worker,
did that.
Copy !req
44. How many believe
that I am the savior?
Copy !req
45. The only savior?
Copy !req
46. They were convinced
Copy !req
47. that this man is God.
Copy !req
48. It brought people together.
Copy !req
49. He was going to be the force,
Copy !req
50. the person,
Copy !req
51. who was gonna lead us
to the promised land.
Copy !req
52. It wasn't until later
Copy !req
53. that I knew
that that was fake.
Copy !req
54. Later on,
I learned from my mother
Copy !req
55. how that had gone down and that
Copy !req
56. blanks were fired,
Copy !req
57. uh, to fake this,
this attack.
Copy !req
58. I don't know how it was faked,
Copy !req
59. but my father was always looking
for ways to create drama
Copy !req
60. so that he could be the savior
Copy !req
61. and the champion
within all that drama.
Copy !req
62. Everything he did was a test
Copy !req
63. to see how many people
were gonna stay...
Copy !req
64. and how many people
were gonna leave.
Copy !req
65. So every moment he's pushing
the envelope a little bit,
Copy !req
66. you know,
a little bit further, right?
Copy !req
67. People were true believers.
Copy !req
68. And you wanted to be
Copy !req
69. because you were going to
change the world.
Copy !req
70. I believed in him 100%,
Copy !req
71. and I believed in
who he said he was.
Copy !req
72. I would follow Jim Jones
anywhere, and I did.
Copy !req
73. When we moved to San Francisco,
Copy !req
74. things went to the next level.
Copy !req
75. Peoples Temple is
getting more people,
Copy !req
76. they're getting more money,
the fame is spreading.
Copy !req
77. But you can only go so far
in Redwood Valley.
Copy !req
78. In San Francisco, we have more
political strength,
Copy !req
79. and that's important.
Copy !req
80. You've got the backing
of some people.
Copy !req
81. If we build
outside of the city,
Copy !req
82. we don't have that backing.
Copy !req
83. In San Francisco,
Copy !req
84. he is going to gradually
insinuate himself
Copy !req
85. until he becomes a power broker.
Copy !req
86. I first heard of Peoples Temple
Copy !req
87. when I was a part-time writer
for the Chronicle
Copy !req
88. back in the early '70s.
Copy !req
89. They would turn out
big crowds at rallies.
Copy !req
90. The city was full of groups
Copy !req
91. that had shown they weren't
happy with conventional life.
Copy !req
92. Jones very much
played into that.
Copy !req
93. He was a new guy with a new
message with a new act.
Copy !req
94. This country will not be safe
Copy !req
95. until we do something
to share the wealth
Copy !req
96. and share it
completely and fairly
Copy !req
97. and democratically
and peacefully.
Copy !req
98. He donated money,
he participated in causes,
Copy !req
99. he cultivated friends
in a very clever way.
Copy !req
100. He rose fast
as a political power.
Copy !req
101. Jim Jones was known as a person,
Copy !req
102. if you had a political
activism going on,
Copy !req
103. call Jim Jones,
get him involved.
Copy !req
104. And Jim Jones had to see
Copy !req
105. how he could manipulate it
for himself.
Copy !req
106. Reverend Jones,
how do you account for
Copy !req
107. such an avid following
as you seem to have?
Copy !req
108. I'm principled.
I'm dedicated to my people.
Copy !req
109. He loved the attention.
Copy !req
110. You know, he loved to be
mingling with
Copy !req
111. the crème de la crme,
Copy !req
112. the politicians
in San Francisco.
Copy !req
113. He was thriving in that.
Copy !req
114. Rosalynn Carter was in the city
to campaign for her husband,
Copy !req
115. and where she was at,
there weren't that many people
Copy !req
116. that showed up, and so somebody
called up Jones and said,
Copy !req
117. "Can you get some people here?"
Copy !req
118. And so he filled up
three buses
Copy !req
119. and drove everybody down there,
Copy !req
120. and all of a sudden
there was a big crowd,
Copy !req
121. and on the news it was
"Look at the warm reception
Copy !req
122. "that Rosalynn Carter
is receiving
Copy !req
123. here in San Francisco."
Copy !req
124. And Rosalynn Carter
met with him privately
Copy !req
125. to talk about his
political involvement
Copy !req
126. in Jimmy Carter's election.
Copy !req
127. So much to where he got
an invite to the inauguration.
Copy !req
128. The legend of Jim Jones
Copy !req
129. and Peoples Temple
is out there.
Copy !req
130. And money comes pouring in.
Copy !req
131. I'm very much
interested in...
Copy !req
132. He's becoming
more and more popular.
Copy !req
133. The newspapers cover him
like a celebrity.
Copy !req
134. In San Francisco,
Copy !req
135. you've got
Willie Mays,
Copy !req
136. you got the jazz scene,
Copy !req
137. and now, all of a sudden,
you've got Jim Jones.
Copy !req
138. My father was always grandiose,
Copy !req
139. far back as I can remember,
Copy !req
140. and that grandiosity only grew
Copy !req
141. as the temple grew.
Copy !req
142. He was always managing
his image of himself.
Copy !req
143. Because he was always at war
with that voice inside of him,
Copy !req
144. I believe,
that was telling him
Copy !req
145. he wasn't enough,
he was a fraud.
Copy !req
146. And I think that's where drugs
Copy !req
147. really came in
much more heavily.
Copy !req
148. Jim Jones had always been
mistrustful of most people,
Copy !req
149. but the rampant drug use
increased his paranoia.
Copy !req
150. As the Temple grew,
Copy !req
151. Jones felt like
he's losing touch
Copy !req
152. with rank and file members.
Copy !req
153. He feels as though some
of his people may betray him.
Copy !req
154. So he creates
the Planning Commission.
Copy !req
155. The Planning Commission
was made up
Copy !req
156. of the leadership
of People's Temple.
Copy !req
157. And they were the ones who were
closest to Jim Jones personally.
Copy !req
158. They were the ones
that were making decisions about
Copy !req
159. the day to day operations
of People's Temple.
Copy !req
160. At their meetings,
it gives Jones a chance
Copy !req
161. to sit there and listen
to what people are talking about
Copy !req
162. and get some sense of the way
"his people" are feeling.
Copy !req
163. I was on the Planning Commission
for five years.
Copy !req
164. During a Planning Commission
meeting,
Copy !req
165. I'd pass around a paper,
Copy !req
166. and people
who had information
Copy !req
167. about how somebody was doing
Copy !req
168. would write down notes.
Copy !req
169. I'd type it up
and then give it to Jim
Copy !req
170. and the secretaries.
Copy !req
171. It became more
of a spying on you thing.
Copy !req
172. The Planning Commission
at the People's Temple,
Copy !req
173. as far as
I was concerned,
Copy !req
174. was an enforcement agency.
Copy !req
175. If you got called
to the Planning Commission,
Copy !req
176. you were in some serious,
serious trouble.
Copy !req
177. There was a consequence
to any infraction,
Copy !req
178. whether it be, you fell asleep
during a meeting,
Copy !req
179. someone reported that you were
having affair with someone else.
Copy !req
180. I was called
to the Planning Commission.
Copy !req
181. I had just gotten
my ears pierced.
Copy !req
182. Jim Jones said,
"Well, what did you do that for?
Copy !req
183. How bourgeois is that?"
Copy !req
184. And I, I made some remark,
and they all just jumped me.
Copy !req
185. All these people starting
pounding me and stuff
Copy !req
186. and, I think,
ripped the earrings out.
Copy !req
187. I was not considered
by Jim Jones
Copy !req
188. as one of the faithful.
Copy !req
189. I got in trouble a lot.
Copy !req
190. It's so sickening.
Copy !req
191. I can't hardly talk about it.
Copy !req
192. And then it gets to...
Copy !req
193. the boxing matches.
Copy !req
194. You're gonna
have an opponent
Copy !req
195. that would beat on someone
Copy !req
196. that was not even
a physical match to them.
Copy !req
197. It would get bloody.
Copy !req
198. They're not supposed to
even fight back,
Copy !req
199. you're just
supposed to get beat.
Copy !req
200. And Jim, he would laugh
over this type of thing,
Copy !req
201. that sinister laugh he had.
Copy !req
202. Jim Jones had
a sadistic quality,
Copy !req
203. he absolutely did.
Copy !req
204. He enjoyed that type of thing.
Copy !req
205. It was like a gladiator sport
to him, I think.
Copy !req
206. They set up
the counseling department
Copy !req
207. and eventually I got made
head counselor.
Copy !req
208. And I'll never forget,
one night in a meeting,
Copy !req
209. I saw somebody
Copy !req
210. very severely beaten.
Copy !req
211. And I saw them the next day
Copy !req
212. professing their love
for Jim Jones
Copy !req
213. as they were
walking in the church.
Copy !req
214. And I looked at them
and I said to myself,
Copy !req
215. "I don't ever want
to be broken
Copy !req
216. and in this situation
as a broken person."
Copy !req
217. I'd rather be dead
Copy !req
218. than to live
the rest of my life
Copy !req
219. in this situation.
Copy !req
220. I knew I had to leave.
Copy !req
221. From the time he organized
Copy !req
222. his first storefront church
in Indianapolis,
Copy !req
223. Jones took it personally
any time anybody left.
Copy !req
224. He couldn't stand it.
Copy !req
225. Because loyalty was the greatest
value within Peoples Temple,
Copy !req
226. defection was the greatest sin.
Copy !req
227. There was always the fear
that anybody that left
Copy !req
228. would be utilized
by the enemies
Copy !req
229. to help tear down
Peoples Temple.
Copy !req
230. He preaches that
once you're in with us,
Copy !req
231. you're part of us forever.
Copy !req
232. He has members sign statements
Copy !req
233. claiming that they had done
all sorts of terrible things,
Copy !req
234. from committing
cold-blooded murder
Copy !req
235. to planning the assassination
Copy !req
236. of the President
of the United States.
Copy !req
237. I signed blank pieces of paper,
Copy !req
238. I signed pieces of paper that
I wanted to kill the President.
Copy !req
239. I signed pieces of paper
that I molested my child.
Copy !req
240. Try being in a room
with 50 people,
Copy !req
241. and you're asked to sign
a blank piece of paper
Copy !req
242. and say,
"No, I'm not gonna sign it."
Copy !req
243. If you didn't sign it,
they're like,
Copy !req
244. "Oh, are you
thinking about leaving?
Copy !req
245. Should we be concerned
about you?"
Copy !req
246. He's got something on everyone.
Copy !req
247. All of it manufactured.
Copy !req
248. But making it clear,
"If you leave this church,
Copy !req
249. we'll make it hard on you."
Copy !req
250. I was done.
Copy !req
251. Spent.
Copy !req
252. Grace Stoen was
Peoples Temple royalty.
Copy !req
253. She had a child
while in the church.
Copy !req
254. Jones claimed the child as his.
Copy !req
255. She knew a lot about
church activities,
Copy !req
256. she was very informed
on how the church operated.
Copy !req
257. But then the personal stuff,
the beatings,
Copy !req
258. were just too heavy
a memory and an experience
Copy !req
259. for her to ignore.
Copy !req
260. I'll never forget, we were on
a cross-country trip
Copy !req
261. and one of the members
came to me and he said,
Copy !req
262. "Grace, please stop acting out,
stop acting up."
Copy !req
263. He said,
"They're talking about you.
Copy !req
264. "They're gonna get you
when we get back
Copy !req
265. and they're gonna
beat you up."
Copy !req
266. And I said to myself,
Copy !req
267. "I'll never allow myself
to get beaten."
Copy !req
268. I knew I had to leave.
Copy !req
269. And, uh, I just
gathered some stuff.
Copy !req
270. I didn't tell anyone
I was leaving.
Copy !req
271. I snuck out.
Copy !req
272. And I ended up escaping
with one of the bus drivers.
Copy !req
273. We were told to leave the state
Copy !req
274. because we were going to be
hunted down and killed
Copy !req
275. if we ever left.
Copy !req
276. She left the temple
Copy !req
277. but leaving her son behind.
Copy !req
278. She knew that she couldn't
probably pry him loose
Copy !req
279. and get away like that.
Copy !req
280. It was hard.
Copy !req
281. It was,
it was very har—
Copy !req
282. very devastating for me.
Copy !req
283. And we left on July 3rd
Copy !req
284. and I'll never forget,
we woke up
Copy !req
285. to what we thought
were gunshots.
Copy !req
286. We sat up and we went,
Copy !req
287. "Oh, my God,
they've already found us."
Copy !req
288. Only to realize
it was firecrackers.
Copy !req
289. It was 4th of July.
Copy !req
290. Every time someone would leave,
Copy !req
291. Jones would absolutely
lose it.
Copy !req
292. Jones was so paranoid about
the loyalty of his people,
Copy !req
293. he decided he would give
the Planning Commission members
Copy !req
294. the ultimate test.
Copy !req
295. We're having a Planning
Commission meeting
in San Francisco.
Copy !req
296. Meeting starts,
Copy !req
297. and the ranch
Copy !req
298. had a small vineyard
Copy !req
299. that was part of
the property that was there.
Copy !req
300. So on this night, he said,
Copy !req
301. "We have some wine
from the ranch.
Copy !req
302. Everybody's invited
to have some."
Copy !req
303. There were Styrofoam cups,
Copy !req
304. like, half filled with wine.
Copy !req
305. Drank the wine.
Copy !req
306. And, like, five minutes later,
Jones says,
Copy !req
307. "You've all just been poisoned."
Copy !req
308. So immediately, inside,
my adrenaline starts running.
Copy !req
309. People were yelling
and screaming.
Copy !req
310. Jones says,
you have an hour to live.
Copy !req
311. Jim Jones says,
"You've all just been poisoned."
Copy !req
312. "You have an hour to live."
Copy !req
313. Jones says, "No one leaves."
Copy !req
314. And the minutes go by.
Copy !req
315. People start saying,
"I can feel myself dying,
Copy !req
316. I'm feeling faint."
Copy !req
317. So after about 45 minutes,
Jones says,
Copy !req
318. "Okay, well, you haven't
all been poisoned."
Copy !req
319. "This was a test to see
how you handle death."
Copy !req
320. So I thought, okay,
Copy !req
321. he's teaching people what it's
like to face your own mortality,
Copy !req
322. your own death.
Copy !req
323. That's how
I rationalized that.
Copy !req
324. And I want to make it clear,
Copy !req
325. that it was a rationalization
on my part.
Copy !req
326. Not one of them
grabbed Jones by the throat,
Copy !req
327. you know,
"You son of a bitch."
Copy !req
328. There was none of that reaction.
Copy !req
329. He had people that much cowed,
Copy !req
330. that much
under his control.
Copy !req
331. He really enjoyed seeing
what people did.
Copy !req
332. And it was a test
of loyalty, right?
Copy !req
333. "Are these people
really willing to just lay down
Copy !req
334. now that I've told them
I've killed them?"
Copy !req
335. He was very sadistic
at that point.
Copy !req
336. Looking back on it,
Copy !req
337. I think the appropriate response
would've been,
Copy !req
338. "This is a crazy M.F.,
Copy !req
339. and it's time for me
to get out of Dodge."
Copy !req
340. It's clear that
as early as 1974,
Copy !req
341. that Jim Jones realizes that
Copy !req
342. some of the practices
of Peoples Temple
Copy !req
343. cannot be sustained.
Copy !req
344. The punitive practices
with people.
Copy !req
345. The paranoid practices.
Copy !req
346. All of these things
eventually mean
Copy !req
347. that law enforcement
is gonna come in
Copy !req
348. and break up Peoples Temple.
Copy !req
349. He needed a place that
they could escape to
Copy !req
350. in case criticism
became too great,
Copy !req
351. and in case Jim Jones himself
Copy !req
352. was in danger
of being arrested.
Copy !req
353. He loves Guyana
'cause it's socialist,
Copy !req
354. it's mostly minority,
Copy !req
355. because it's the only country
in South America
Copy !req
356. where the national language
is English.
Copy !req
357. He ultimately works out a deal
with the Guyanese government
Copy !req
358. and sends a crew out
to start building Jonestown.
Copy !req
359. So it started in '74.
Copy !req
360. I think there was, like,
seven guys that went down there.
Copy !req
361. All of them had some
heavy equipment experience.
Copy !req
362. We cleared a lot of land
Copy !req
363. and we built
a lot of structures
Copy !req
364. in very short time.
Copy !req
365. It was hard, hard work.
Copy !req
366. They are trying to build
a village
Copy !req
367. that would be able to hold
about 500 people,
Copy !req
368. to live there, to work there,
Copy !req
369. to feed them from the crops,
and so forth.
Copy !req
370. It's the hottest part
of the entire year
Copy !req
371. and, uh,
they're doing real well.
Copy !req
372. When I first heard about
Jonestown was 1974.
Copy !req
373. Jim Jones had just come back
from Guyana
Copy !req
374. and was giving a talk
about Jonestown,
Copy !req
375. and it's going to be
an agricultural community.
Copy !req
376. Back over here is the area
Copy !req
377. we're clearing
for more planting.
Copy !req
378. Potatoes and carrots
and eddoes
Copy !req
379. and, uh, papaya.
Copy !req
380. We could grow our own food
Copy !req
381. and there would be a community,
Copy !req
382. and there wouldn't be
any violence or racism.
Copy !req
383. And it was going to be
"the Promised Land."
Copy !req
384. Darrin, how do you like it
here in the Promised Land?
Copy !req
385. My name is Anthony Simon,
I'm here in the Promised Land.
Copy !req
386. My name is Don Swonie,
Copy !req
387. and, um, I'm grateful
to be down here.
Copy !req
388. I'm working on
our fishing trawler
Copy !req
389. and I enjoy going down
the rivers and meeting
new people.
Copy !req
390. It is more freer down here
and it's more beautiful.
Copy !req
391. This is a walking stick,
friends.
Copy !req
392. But that's a gentle guy.
Copy !req
393. Walking stick.
Copy !req
394. Jim Jones said
to be able to go to Jonestown
Copy !req
395. was a privilege.
Copy !req
396. It was... a reward to go there.
Copy !req
397. The time that I spent there
building the town
Copy !req
398. that our community
was going to come live in,
Copy !req
399. was one of the happiest times
of my life
Copy !req
400. up to that point.
Copy !req
401. We are going to have peace
Copy !req
402. in our Promised Land valley.
Copy !req
403. Now, in retrospect, I know much
of what he said at that time
Copy !req
404. was just a flat-out lie.
Copy !req
405. I was a city hall reporter
in San Francisco.
Copy !req
406. I noticed Jones
had a lot of events,
Copy !req
407. where he would bring in
huge numbers of people
Copy !req
408. for inconsequential meetings.
Copy !req
409. So that piqued my curiosity.
Copy !req
410. Why does he behave
this way?
Copy !req
411. Isn't it unusual for
a religious figure to travel
Copy !req
412. in this kind of exalted way?
Copy !req
413. I thought there was
more to Jim Jones.
Copy !req
414. So I went to a local California
magazine at the time
Copy !req
415. called "New West,"
and they said,
Copy !req
416. "Um, okay, let's see
what you got."
Copy !req
417. I had heard Marshall Kilduff
had been looking for me.
Copy !req
418. And Jeannie and Al Mills,
Copy !req
419. who had defected before I did,
Copy !req
420. called me one night
and they said,
Copy !req
421. "We're gonna do an article."
Copy !req
422. And I said that
I would, too,
Copy !req
423. that I wasn't gonna
let 'em do it alone,
Copy !req
424. that I would speak as well.
Copy !req
425. The ex-members,
Copy !req
426. the folks who had
fled the church said,
Copy !req
427. "Here's what you don't know."
Copy !req
428. And I think we were there till,
like, 3:00 in the morning.
Copy !req
429. I told them everything.
Copy !req
430. The more power that he got,
the sicker he got.
Copy !req
431. The whippings got
worse and worse.
Copy !req
432. Our daughter was beaten
75 times with a board.
Copy !req
433. I ran with my child out,
got into my car
Copy !req
434. and he was yelling my name
as I left.
Copy !req
435. He told me that there would be
an accident in which
Copy !req
436. all three of us
would be killed.
Copy !req
437. Once you enter Peoples Temple,
you don't leave.
Copy !req
438. Or you don't leave
very easily.
Copy !req
439. There are death threats.
Copy !req
440. There is a lot of pressure
from the congregation.
Copy !req
441. We talked it over
with our children,
Copy !req
442. explained to them that we were
going to be quitting the church.
Copy !req
443. And they said,
"Well, Mom and Dad,
Copy !req
444. "we love you very much,
and we just hope
Copy !req
445. "that when you do
decide to quit the church,
Copy !req
446. you move far away, so we aren't
the ones assigned to kill you."
Copy !req
447. I don't think I really realized
Copy !req
448. how dangerous
a position that I was in,
Copy !req
449. but I just credit it
to being young.
Copy !req
450. And not knowing any differently
or any better.
Copy !req
451. I think what we had to say
needed to be heard
Copy !req
452. because, in the past,
Copy !req
453. Jim had always been able to
stifle any bad press like that.
Copy !req
454. So they were just blown away
by what we had to say.
Copy !req
455. "We were beaten, we had to
give up all our money."
Copy !req
456. "There's a sexual angle here
Copy !req
457. that we don't think
you know about."
Copy !req
458. Fake healings.
Copy !req
459. The church's inner dynamics.
Copy !req
460. The whole thing.
Copy !req
461. I had no idea.
Copy !req
462. This was a new level
of problem,
Copy !req
463. a new level of the story.
Copy !req
464. I talked to his aides,
I talked
Copy !req
465. to everybody I could
at the church.
Copy !req
466. So Jones knew
I was working on stories,
Copy !req
467. but he never wanted to talk.
Copy !req
468. Jim advised us defectors
were talking to
Copy !req
469. "New West" magazine.
Copy !req
470. And there was going to be
an article full of lies
Copy !req
471. about Peoples Temple.
Copy !req
472. We knew it was trouble.
Copy !req
473. We knew that people
were talking about
Copy !req
474. what was— happened
behind closed doors,
Copy !req
475. which we were not supposed
to speak about.
Copy !req
476. Jones knew maybe his followers
Copy !req
477. initially are gonna
believe in him.
Copy !req
478. If Father says none of
it's true, it's fake news.
Copy !req
479. But his political base—
Copy !req
480. the mayor
of San Francisco,
Copy !req
481. the governor of California—
Copy !req
482. he's gonna lose
that political clout.
Copy !req
483. And when he loses that,
Copy !req
484. he's going to lose
his standing in San Francisco,
Copy !req
485. he's gonna look terrible.
Copy !req
486. Jim was like hyper,
Copy !req
487. and he increased the talk about
Copy !req
488. enemies and defectors
and traitors
Copy !req
489. and people out to get us.
Copy !req
490. When the story breaks,
it's tremendously controversial.
Copy !req
491. Everybody reads it,
everybody's talking about it.
Copy !req
492. Both San Francisco newspapers
Copy !req
493. immediately assign
their own reporters now.
Copy !req
494. "Dig in. Do more. Find more."
Copy !req
495. Reverend Jim Jones works
in some very unexpected ways.
Copy !req
496. Why didn't you just
get out?
Copy !req
497. Where did all that money go?
Copy !req
498. He had us sign papers,
blank papers.
Copy !req
499. "No matter what
goes on here, you go out
Copy !req
500. "and tell everybody
everything's okay.
Copy !req
501. Deny everything you hear
about what's going on here."
Copy !req
502. The TV stations
are all there, flocking.
Copy !req
503. "Where's Jim Jones?"
Copy !req
504. By the time
the story came out
Copy !req
505. and there was this doubt
about him,
Copy !req
506. he wasn't around
to answer for it.
Copy !req
507. In the "New West" article,
Copy !req
508. some of the questions
had to have direct answers.
Copy !req
509. He didn't want
to answer the questions.
Copy !req
510. The storm
is not gonna stop.
Copy !req
511. So the only solution
is to get out.
Copy !req
512. So I remember my father saying,
"We're going to Guyana."
Copy !req
513. I think that Jim Jones
was afraid to face the publicity
Copy !req
514. and answer the questions
here in this country.
Copy !req
515. After the "New West" article
backlash that happened...
Copy !req
516. groundswell started.
Copy !req
517. "What's the story
behind Jim Jones?"
Copy !req
518. Was all the magic
that Peoples Temple put out,
Copy !req
519. was it true?
Copy !req
520. And if you scratched the surface
a little bit,
Copy !req
521. you saw maybe it— it wasn't.
Copy !req
522. In Guyana,
Copy !req
523. Jim Jones was outraged
by the "New West" article.
Copy !req
524. And he was also very frightened.
Copy !req
525. He was afraid
that this would give
Copy !req
526. the detractors of Peoples Temple
Copy !req
527. the ability to break up
the church.
Copy !req
528. The original plan was that,
Copy !req
529. as soon as all this died down,
he'd be back.
Copy !req
530. But it's not dying down.
Copy !req
531. What he's got to do is
he's now got to make Jonestown
Copy !req
532. the focal point
of Peoples Temple.
Copy !req
533. And now, suddenly, Jim Jones
wants virtually everybody
Copy !req
534. in Peoples Temple
to get over there.
Copy !req
535. I wasn't given a reason
why I was going to Jonestown.
Copy !req
536. Things were in such a frenzy.
Copy !req
537. It was just, "Let's get
people down there now."
Copy !req
538. That summer, they began
shipping people out.
Copy !req
539. Buses went down to banks,
Copy !req
540. where people would deposit their
money into church accounts.
Copy !req
541. They lined them up
with passports
Copy !req
542. to get 'em
out of the country legally.
Copy !req
543. My wife, Gloria,
was already in Guyana.
Copy !req
544. And I wanted to be with her
Copy !req
545. for the birth
of my child.
Copy !req
546. It wasn't going to happen.
Copy !req
547. I was sent to New York City
Copy !req
548. to help facilitate people
getting to Guyana.
Copy !req
549. The media attention
on the temple at that time
Copy !req
550. was intense.
Copy !req
551. So, they would fly
out of different airports,
Copy !req
552. whether it was Los Angeles,
Sacramento, San Francisco,
Copy !req
553. and they would fly on
different airlines
Copy !req
554. and they would fly
in groups of three.
Copy !req
555. They always sat apart
from each other,
Copy !req
556. nobody recognized anybody else,
Copy !req
557. and there was a flight
every day at 4:30.
Copy !req
558. It's important to understand
how isolated Jonestown was
Copy !req
559. from Georgetown,
the capital of Guyana.
Copy !req
560. You've got 160 miles
that cannot be driven.
Copy !req
561. You have to either try to fly
over the top of the jungle
Copy !req
562. and land on a tiny airstrip,
Copy !req
563. or you have to take a boat
along the coast
Copy !req
564. and down a river.
Copy !req
565. It was a 19-hour boat trip
Copy !req
566. from Georgetown
up a river.
Copy !req
567. Way, way, way, way up the river.
Copy !req
568. I was seasick.
Copy !req
569. It was not a pleasant trip.
Copy !req
570. But part of me was happy.
It's like, "Don't complain,
Copy !req
571. because you're on the way
to the promised land."
Copy !req
572. When we pulled up to the dock
and we got off...
Copy !req
573. I was still apprehensive.
Copy !req
574. We got on the tractor
and we rounded this corner,
Copy !req
575. and I could just hear them.
Copy !req
576. What a swing.
Copy !req
577. What liberation brings.
Copy !req
578. Jonestown was a town,
it was a community.
Copy !req
579. From the doctor's office...
Copy !req
580. to the pharmacy.
Copy !req
581. Medications here.
One whole shelf
Copy !req
582. that goes half
the warehouse length.
Copy !req
583. We have medical manuals,
Copy !req
584. even how we could do surgery
if we had to.
Copy !req
585. If civilization as we know it
now began to crumble.
Copy !req
586. To the classrooms...
Copy !req
587. to the kitchen.
Copy !req
588. It was built from
scr— from nothing.
Copy !req
589. From nothing.
Copy !req
590. It was really kind of remarkable
Copy !req
591. that this whole little town
Copy !req
592. was built in the middle
of the jungle.
Copy !req
593. Far, far away from anything.
Copy !req
594. I... wanted to get back
to my husband.
Copy !req
595. I was happy to see my baby,
Copy !req
596. my son,
and spend time with him.
Copy !req
597. When I finally got
into Jonestown,
Copy !req
598. I got to see Gloria
and my son, Malcolm.
Copy !req
599. I could actually feel tension
leaving my body.
Copy !req
600. Really, it was
a physical sensation.
Copy !req
601. Because it is incredibly
beautiful and peaceful.
Copy !req
602. And I thought it was exciting.
Copy !req
603. We've been building
this community—
Copy !req
604. as I look out over it,
it's the most fantastic thing—
Copy !req
605. and we've made this
part of the country.
Copy !req
606. We've enriched it by
everything that's growing
Copy !req
607. and all of these
beautiful buildings,
Copy !req
608. and our medical clinic,
and our lovely homes.
Copy !req
609. A typical day in Jonestown
was up at 5:00.
Copy !req
610. There would be someone
on the side of the—
Copy !req
611. the cabin with a stick.
Copy !req
612. "5:00, 5:00."
Copy !req
613. So 5:00.
Copy !req
614. We'd work six days a week,
and I was okay with that
Copy !req
615. because I felt like
I was building something,
Copy !req
616. and now I was really
a good socialist.
Copy !req
617. ♪ Long live
Copy !req
618. That's beautiful.
Copy !req
619. Thank you!
Copy !req
620. The getting up sweaty
Copy !req
621. and this kind of stuff,
I hated that.
Copy !req
622. Oh, I hated that.
I hated that.
Copy !req
623. I hated walking out
of your cabin on a r—
Copy !req
624. on— in the rainy season,
Copy !req
625. and your feet
are full of mud and...
Copy !req
626. You know, I hated
all that kind of stuff.
Copy !req
627. But you know something?
Copy !req
628. When you're with 900 people
you care about...
Copy !req
629. it didn't seem that bad.
Copy !req
630. I remember the dances,
the youth dances.
Copy !req
631. I remember some of the meetings
that my father did,
Copy !req
632. and we talked about
building a new world, you know?
Copy !req
633. Those were powerful to me.
Copy !req
634. I felt like we were
Che Guevara,
Copy !req
635. building a new world...
that's how I felt.
Copy !req
636. The people united
will never be defeated!
Copy !req
637. The people united will
never be defeated!
Copy !req
638. The people united
will never be defeated!
Copy !req
639. The people united...
Copy !req
640. Things were good for a while.
Copy !req
641. Grandma Bates,
how do you like it here?
Copy !req
642. I love it.
I love it.
Copy !req
643. It's— I love it
better than any place
Copy !req
644. I've been in my life.
Copy !req
645. All of a sudden,
things started shifting.
Copy !req
646. I just love it.
Copy !req
647. I hope everything
is gonna be all right for us.
Copy !req
648. Jonestown was ill-equipped
Copy !req
649. to provide a life
Copy !req
650. for all the people
that arrived.
Copy !req
651. And Jim Jones is aware that
what's happening in Jonestown
Copy !req
652. is not sustainable, either.
Copy !req
653. Ultimately Jones
has about 1,000 people
Copy !req
654. in a place built
for half that.
Copy !req
655. Almost instantly,
there's not enough food.
Copy !req
656. We're gonna conserve on food.
Copy !req
657. Keep that up because
we'll need every dollar.
Copy !req
658. 'Cause this is the only
kind of place to be.
Copy !req
659. Freedom.
Copy !req
660. As more people began coming,
Copy !req
661. even the children weren't
getting what they needed.
Copy !req
662. And the senior citizens
definitely were not getting
Copy !req
663. the food that they needed.
Copy !req
664. We even sell bananas now because
we're trying to make money.
Copy !req
665. We need money so badly
to take care
Copy !req
666. of all of our family,
to save them.
Copy !req
667. Jones knows he's got money
that could take care of that
Copy !req
668. for decades,
but he's not revealing that.
Copy !req
669. So instead people are told,
"We've gotta do better
Copy !req
670. or we're gonna starve
and be humiliated."
Copy !req
671. You're physically adjusting
to the work,
Copy !req
672. but you get used to it,
you get used to the work.
Copy !req
673. What you don't get used to
Copy !req
674. is the sirens
in the middle of the night.
Copy !req
675. Or Jim's drugged,
sometimes incoherent voice
Copy !req
676. over the loudspeaker
in the middle of the night.
Copy !req
677. In Jonestown, there were
loudspeakers everywhere.
Copy !req
678. They went on 24/7.
Copy !req
679. The voice of Jim Jones.
Copy !req
680. Jim Jones did a terrible job
Copy !req
681. of maintaining his leadership
Copy !req
682. within the community
of Jonestown.
Copy !req
683. He would stumble,
Copy !req
684. he would urinate off
the side of the walkways.
Copy !req
685. It was apparent that his...
Copy !req
686. drug use had increased.
Copy !req
687. He was slurring
his speech.
Copy !req
688. Remember, his number one
source of well-being,
Copy !req
689. if you could even call it that,
Copy !req
690. was adulation.
Copy !req
691. Or feeling like he was adored
by the people around him.
Copy !req
692. And now his source was finite.
Copy !req
693. It was the same people
every day, same thing.
Copy !req
694. So, what he tried to do
was just escalate things.
Copy !req
695. So I'm looking at all this,
Copy !req
696. I'm seeing this,
Copy !req
697. and I'm starting
to really acknowledge
Copy !req
698. what I'm seeing
as not my imagination
Copy !req
699. or not my ability to be
a good socialist,
Copy !req
700. but the fact that there is
something seriously wrong here.
Copy !req
701. I think Dad was very much
aware of the fact
Copy !req
702. that our town could not last.
Copy !req
703. What we were doing
was not sustainable.
Copy !req
704. As Jim Jones realized
Copy !req
705. what was happening
at Jonestown
Copy !req
706. was a kind of failed experiment,
Copy !req
707. he and his leadership
began to ask themselves,
Copy !req
708. "How can we still succeed
in terms of history?"
Copy !req
709. And so this,
"We're an egalitarian community
Copy !req
710. "that's gonna show the world
how we can live
Copy !req
711. as a utopian gathering
of people,"
Copy !req
712. became instead,
"How do we show the world
Copy !req
713. "what a truly committed group
of people would do
Copy !req
714. "if they are threatened with
Copy !req
715. the disintegration
of their community?"
Copy !req
716. The people that went
to Jonestown
Copy !req
717. wanted to believe in something.
Copy !req
718. And they wanted to make
a better world.
Copy !req
719. I never saw us dying
from within.
Copy !req
720. I never, ever
saw it... coming.
Copy !req