Speaker 1: All right. Can you imagine needing emotional, intellectual, or spiritual
Speaker 1: comfort so much that you'd be willing to sign your
Speaker 1: life away to a powerful, mind controlling individual. Some call
Speaker 1: it a fad, others a cult. And what happens when
Speaker 1: you drink the kool aid and give up your life
Speaker 1: for the cause. I'm Patty Steele. The Jonestown Massacre was
Speaker 1: the actual origin of the term drinking the kool aid
Speaker 1: and it left over nine hundred dead. That's next on
Speaker 1: the backstory. We're back with the backstory. So cults are
Speaker 1: nothing new. You can go back to ancient times in Greece, Rome, Egypt,
Speaker 1: and so many other societies and see the rise of
Speaker 1: these powerful influencers who basically hypnotized people into joining their cults.
Speaker 1: In Greece and Rome, a lot of them were what's
Speaker 1: called mystery cults. It was about the mystery of life itself.
Speaker 1: Join them and you had the opportunity to control your
Speaker 1: own life. That's what they told you. In order to join,
Speaker 1: you had to be initiated in order to prove your
Speaker 1: devotion to the belief system. Cults back then and now
Speaker 1: are all about accepting the absolute authority of the leader.
Speaker 1: Never questioning their decisions when it comes to your life,
Speaker 1: and accepting their unreasonable fear of upcoming catastrophes and evil
Speaker 1: conspiracies from the outside world, and most importantly, accepting without
Speaker 1: question that the group leader is always right. In ancient times,
Speaker 1: the belief in these spiritual cults allowed people to figure
Speaker 1: out a reason for distressing events like hailstorms, winds that
Speaker 1: prevented them from sailing, fires, and crop failures. If they
Speaker 1: then put their faith in these beings, sometimes gods that
Speaker 1: controlled their spiritual life, they could ask for their intervention
Speaker 1: in times of struggle. So at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: cult leaders, whether they're gods or human entities, attract people
Speaker 1: who simply want to feel safe through the process of
Speaker 1: being led, and over thousands of years that desire never
Speaker 1: went away. How many of us feel safe around a
Speaker 1: powerful figure. There's an old adage in the military that
Speaker 1: in a time of crisis, people will listen to the loudest,
Speaker 1: most powerful voice they can hear, and that is what
Speaker 1: happened almost fifty years ago during the rise and the
Speaker 1: ultimate fall of Jim Jones and his People's Temple. Jim
Speaker 1: Jones was born in Indiana at the dawn of the
Speaker 1: Great Depression. His parents were poor, his dad a World
Speaker 1: War One vet, his mom totally unemotional, except for her
Speaker 1: belief that her son was destined for greatness. Even as
Speaker 1: a kid, Jim was fascinated by religion. He'd stage funerals
Speaker 1: for dead animals or animals he'd killed himself. Neighbors said
Speaker 1: he was an intense kid who was obsessed with death
Speaker 1: and power, but he also had an ability to captivate people.
Speaker 1: He saw religion as a tool for control. It wasn't
Speaker 1: about salvation, simply domination. By the nineteen fifties, Jim Jones
Speaker 1: was a minister in Indianapolis and opened to church he
Speaker 1: named the People's Temple. It was progressive. He preached racial
Speaker 1: integration and social justice. He welcomed black members into his
Speaker 1: mostly white congregation and adopted children of different races to
Speaker 1: form what he called his Rainbow Family. Those who felt
Speaker 1: alienated by mainstream society saw him as a revolutionary, a savior.
Speaker 1: But as the People's Temple grew, so did his need
Speaker 1: for power. He started using faith healing to draw in followers,
Speaker 1: performing miracles to heal the sick and disabled. The problem
Speaker 1: is most of these healings were secretly staged. He would
Speaker 1: plant people in the audience to fake their illnesses. He
Speaker 1: moved his congregation finally to California and drew some pretty
Speaker 1: powerful people under his spell. People like Jane Fonda sang
Speaker 1: his praises for his devotion to Marxism, and California Governor
Speaker 1: Jerry Brown even spoke at the People's Temple. President Carter's wife,
Speaker 1: Rosalind Carter, appeared on stage with him, and Pulitzer Prize
Speaker 1: winning journalist Herb Kane called Jim Jones a profoundly decent man.
Speaker 1: The more powerful he became, the more power he wanted.
Speaker 1: He demanded total loyalty and made his followers cut ties
Speaker 1: with anybody outside the church, saying they were all out
Speaker 1: to destroy the faithful. Meantime, members were viciously disciplined and
Speaker 1: publicly humiliated if they didn't follow the rules. Fear and
Speaker 1: paranoia were at the base of his cult's identity, and
Speaker 1: he made it clear he was the only one that
Speaker 1: could trust what to do escape. In nineteen seventy four,
Speaker 1: Jim Jones founded a utopian community in the Jungles of
Speaker 1: Guyana in South America. He promised that Jonestown would be
Speaker 1: a paradise free from racism, inequality, and the outside world.
Speaker 1: Hundreds of followers sold their homes, gave up their savings,
Speaker 1: and followed him into the jungle. Problem is, it was
Speaker 1: no paradise. There was nothing there but dense jungle. They
Speaker 1: worked hours in the sweltering heat, clearing land, building primitive homes,
Speaker 1: and growing crops. Descent was not tolerated. He had loud
Speaker 1: speakers throughout Jonestown, broadcasting his voice day and night, paranoid
Speaker 1: tirades about enemies closing in and the need for total loyalty.
Speaker 1: He staged what he called white Knights, which were rehearsals
Speaker 1: for mass suicide. He wanted his followers to see death
Speaker 1: as an act of devotion. At this point, back in
Speaker 1: the US, relatives started to freak out a little bit.
Speaker 1: As stories about what was going on leaked out. A
Speaker 1: congressman named Leo Ryan decided to launch an investigation. In
Speaker 1: November of nineteen seventy eight, Ryan went to Jonestown with
Speaker 1: a number of journalists and worried family members. At first,
Speaker 1: things looked fine. Jim Jones offered a warm welcome with
Speaker 1: smiling followers and happy speeches. About the joys of life
Speaker 1: in Jonestown, but it all began to fall apart. Some
Speaker 1: residents slipped notes to Ryan's team, begging for him to
Speaker 1: help them escape. As Ryan got ready to leave, armed
Speaker 1: guards from Jonestown rushed the airstrip. They ambushed the group,
Speaker 1: killing Congressman Ryan, three journalists, and a defector. There were
Speaker 1: some survivors, but the violent sealed Jonestown's fate. Back at Jonestown,
Speaker 1: Jim Jones told his followers the enemies would storm them
Speaker 1: and destroy their community. He said, the only solution is
Speaker 1: revolutionary suicide. Cyanide was mixed with a fruit flavored drink,
Speaker 1: Thus the kool aid and mothers were instructed to give
Speaker 1: it to their children first. As the children died, the
Speaker 1: adults followed. Armed guards made sure everybody did as told,
Speaker 1: and anybody who resisted was forced to drink it. Jim
Speaker 1: Jones himself was found dead with a gunshot wound to
Speaker 1: the head. In all, authorities found over nine hundred people dead,
Speaker 1: including around three hundred children. How did Jim Jones convince
Speaker 1: so many to give up their lives? Pure manipulation, isolating
Speaker 1: his followers, breaking their spirits, and enforcing blind loyalty to him.
Speaker 1: In the end, Jonestown was the culmination of one guy's
Speaker 1: quest for absolute control. Hope you like the Backstory with
Speaker 1: Patty Steele. I would love it if you'd subscribe or
Speaker 1: follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and
Speaker 1: feel free to dm me if you have a story
Speaker 1: you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
Speaker 1: and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
Speaker 1: Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis
Speaker 1: Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.