On this day, Nov. 18, 1978, cult leader Jim Jones led hundreds of followers in a mass murder-suicide in a remote South American jungle.
Jones, a charismatic Christian preacher who claimed he was the reincarnation of Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha and Vladimir Lenin and also sold pet monkeys to raise money, had built his San Francisco-based church to as many as 8,000 members by the 1970s.
But, in 1977, when reports surfaced about drug use, financial fraud and brainwashing, Jones moved his followers to a retreat in Guyana called Jonestown.
Complaints continued and U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan visited the compound to investigate. When members asked Ryan to help them escape, Jones’ armed brigade killed the congressmen and four others as they tried to leave on a plane.
Jones then ordered a state of emergency in the compound and extolled the “beauty of dying.” Cult members who refused to drink a cyanide-laced fruit-flavored concoction were shot.
The final death toll was 913, including 276 children.
— Scott McCabe
