Jonestown Massacre [ Apocalyptic Cult ] Who Was Jim Jones ? |Mystery & Makeup - GRWM| Bailey Sa

Internal powers were so great, that sacred energy often shone in his eyes, and his followers did look directly at him. , the sacred glow would burn them and they could die. And they believed it. Then they said "Okay!" Also a side effect of his drug abuse was Jim's heightened sense of paranoia. Jim preached to his followers that the government was a danger to them and that the FBI and CIA were tapping the temple's phone line. Jim told his followers that everyone had to be on constant alert, which caused fear, and the followers felt very nervous.scared. They thought they were going to be the target of some kind of attack. "The holy spirit in my eyes will burn them and we will be protected." Church members called Jim and his wife, Marceline, Mom and Dad, and his relationship with the church was very close.

Jim and Marceline were very frugal and never drove like a new car, I think they drove like a beat up old wagon, but they never got new clothes, they only shopped at the thrift store they owned. Jim was saying that he never wanted to give the impression to his church that he was better than them and that he was one of them, like, "Look, I'm not going to spend money." "I don't spend church money on myself or other things, it all came back to the church." Over time, Jim's drug problem increased and he had numerous affairs with other members, and he believed he needed more sex with a variety of partners, and his ego was growing, he believed all women, regardless of their age. , and whether they admitted it or not, but he believed that all women were attracted to him.

He was like "Everyone loves me." Over time, almost every woman in Jim's inner circle would become his sexual partner. They even considered it part of his duty to have sexual relations with him. Why do they do this? Why do members of a

cult

always have to have sex with everyone, with all the girls. Why, why do you have to do this? Is this why people start

cult

s? So they could literally have sex with tons of people, because that's what it seems like. So time goes by, and Jim knew that he needed to do bigger and better things for his followers, and now he was also looking for a place that he could call the "Promised Land", where his followers could live comfortably. safe and free way without worries.

FBI or CIA attack. Some members went out looking for a permanent missionary location and, in October 1973, determined that Guyana, South America, would be the most suitable location. (aerosols) Its location was convenient, ships could make an easy trip from Miami to the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, which was a port city. And Jim wanted total isolation for his new mission, and Guyana was perfect at that, I mean, they had a population of about 850,000, but the majority lived along the Atlantic coast, and most of Guyana was covered Due to dense jungle, there were no road connections to the area, where the People's Temple would be built.

Jim told his followers that the Promised Land mission site was a place where everyone in the temple would go to avoid American martial law and the concentration camps that would soon be imposed. He was preaching this to the members of his church, telling them that this was going to happen, that the CIA and the FBI were after them, that they were going to come in with a bunch of guns and kill them all, like he was doing. . scaring his followers at every like meeting, just saying something, you know? And people were getting paranoid about him. Finally, in May of 1977, Jonestown was open and ready for members, people slowly began to arrive there, they had cabins prepared for people to live in, but unfortunately there were not enough for the hundreds of people who came. presented. .

Most of the followers contributed and helped build more cabins, the goal was to create a self-sustaining utopia. Jim had complete control over everything, no crops were planted or tools purchased without his approval. If any of the followers wanted to be like in a romantic relationship, and be like (kissing noises). First they had to request permission. If either couple wants to break up or end their relationship, it must also be approved through Jim. Any incoming mail was opened and read before being passed to the person to whom it was addressed. Outgoing mail was also censored, if there were letters that said something bad about Jonestown, or even slightly, like "Hey, there aren't enough cabins," the letter wasn't sent, and the follower, whoever it was.

They wrote the letter that said something bad, they would be forced to rewrite it, and they would only give glowing reviews of his stay in Johnstown. I forgot to mention that when Jonestown was first built and all that, there were members of the church that went out and built it, it took a long time, but during that time, that was when Jim was preaching to his members. Like, "Hey, we're building this, start saving money, let's go out." The people who wanted to go, went. There were also many members who did not attend. They weren't forced to go at all, and I'm not trying to come across as victim-blaming at all, you know, like, "Oh, they went of their own free will." No, I mean, they believed strongly in what Jim was preaching, but there were a lot of members who decided, "I'm not going," but Jim was joking around for a long time in the church about what was going on, and how it was being built and everything.

So people were very excited about it, because they made it sound like it was going to be an amazing place. Privacy in Jonestown was non-existent, there was no privacy. Many of the cabins were overcrowded, and people kept showing up in Johnstown, but there was nowhere to stay. There was limited water available for showers, and people were told to keep their mouths shut while showering, because the water was contaminated, meanwhile, Jim, Jim, had a much better cabin, you know? And he lived in his cabin with his wife and a couple of lovers. For starters, they had a generator that powered a refrigerator, and some fans, and their bedroom, and then they had some kind of soft beds, while everyone else is miserable, because they don't have any of that.

He also had a camp radio set up in his room. It was more like an intercom system, because it made similar announcements to people outside the community. So he didn't have to leave his room, he could talk to them directly through there, probably that's why he gained weight. So Jonestown was actually being funded by his followers' social security checks that came in the mail, but in general, money was tight and social security checks weren't enough, so many of his followers started making toys. , which were cars and trains, but were carved from wood, and will then be shipped to Georgetown and sold there.

Which actually made some money, but it wasn't enough to make them like what they needed, like more cabins and proper food, because food was running out, and people were living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Also the drinks were limited. They usually drank water or Kool-Aid, because it was inexpensive and could be easily mixed with water. Jim rewarded his followers with a single cookie on Sundays. Sorry, but thanks for the cookie. Anyone who broke the rules would be forced to sleep and eat separately from the rest of the followers, they were also required to run everywhere, the people who, the rule breakers, had to run everywhere, and no one would be allowed you to talk or even look at them.

Jonestown's population grew to over 900 people, which is a lot, it's a lot of people, you know? And they were all required to attend evening meetings, at these meetings he would sometimes preach, but more often he would give his personalized accounts of recent American and world news, most of which was invented by his imagination, which would continue until two o'clock. or three. In the morning, his imagination kept everyone awake. It was the drugs, it was probably the drugs. The people of Johnstown worked every day until 6 p.m. m., while music played over the public address system, but over time Jim became increasingly frustrated that not much progress was being made within Johnstown, and his followers became increasingly dissatisfied. with their new lives, because there wasn't...

It was too full and there wasn't enough food, they ate one cookie, they ate peanut butter and jelly. They're obviously not happy, you know? Unfortunately, it wasn't easy for them to leave. Their passports were blocked, and if you wanted to leave you had to pay for it yourself, and no one made their own money, and Jim took the money that came in to finance Johnstown, so they just felt: or essentially they were trapped. Some of the followers were able to sneak away and escape, and some others could afford to leave, but they were forced to sign a contract stating that they would never speak against the church.

Some members who were able to escape spoke out, some spoke to the media about their experience and what they thought of the church, this would lead to more newspapers covering the story and speaking out against Jim Jones' practices. Of course, Jim told his followers in Jonestown that the troops were coming to take the children and that everyone had to fight because an attack was coming. He had been informed that the United States was investigating him, because people were talking and saying as if they were trapped out there. So yeah, basically they were coming, but Jim twisted it and said they were coming to kill them and stuff.

His fans only heard from Jim himself, so they really had no idea what was going on in the media or that people were talking about Jonestown. Over time, tons of weapons were smuggled into Jonestown. Jim had assembled a security team, which was set up around the city to protect from any attacks and also prevented people from leaving. They were created to protect against attack, but discreet, they were there to keep everyone inside. The fans began to get scared, because the security was now threatening to hurt them if they didn't follow any of the rules, instead of protecting them.

Johnstown by outsiders, they were attacking their own people. If people tried to leave Jonestown, "security" would shoot them. In February 1978, Jim called all the people together for an emergency meeting, where he told them that soldiers were coming to attack Jonestown, that the CIA was following them, and that they would attack within hours. His intention was to kill all of the followers living in Jonestown, including children. This is how you get them. The children, however. Jim told them that instead of dying at the hands of these monsters, they should take their own lives, as doing so would deprive their enemies of any triumph.

Some of the followers agreed that this was the best idea, but others, who were exhausted with all the nonsense, simply wanted to leave. Large containers were brought out and filled with this strange dark liquid, everyone was told to line up, fill a cup and drink. This drink mixture would kill them in about 40 minutes, Jim was preaching as the followers were forced to drink the poison, and he told them that their deaths would be peaceful. When everyone had swallowed their drinks, Jim told them "You didn't drink anything", and that it was all the test to see if they were really willing to die for the cause, as a reward the faithful followers left for the rest. of the day.

It was said that no one stood up or got mad at Jim for this, and that the true believers accepted what Jim had done. So it was just a test. HA HA HA. This was the moment Jim knew that he had complete control over his people. He really wanted to put them to the test and he did. The fact that they were willing to die, just because he told them to, he said, "Fuck yeah," so I'm sure, I don't know, because again I wasn't there, but I'm sure that really boosted his ego. , to say the least.

During all of this, Jim was still using drugs and was becoming increasingly paranoid, because in the US, parents of people living in Jonestown were worried about the strange letters they were receiving, or the fact that they were not They had received no letter. . Many people went to the authorities and pressured them to investigate Jonestown. "Please, my sons there, my daughters there." like "Please look into this." In November 1978, US Congressman Leo Ryan traveled to Guyana to inspect the activities of the People's Temples and the Jonestown compound itself. He was investigating rumors that some cult members were being held against their will and subjected to physical and psychological abuse.

Leo arrived in Jonestown on November 17 and planned to return home the next day. When he walked into Jonestown, everyone was on their best behavior to try to impress him. Make sure this congressman had nothing but good things to say about Jonestown. And at the end of the day, Leo was done and was going to get into his truck, drive to a small plane nearby, and then head back to the United States. As he was leaving, walking towards his car, there were several members of the temple who asked him if they could take them with him, because they wanted to leave, and he agreed.

SoThey got into their car and returned to where the plane was, so they could return to the United States. Now the security, who were there protecting Jonestown, saw this happening, and because they were trained or brainwashed, or just bad people, they believed that these members were being taken away. You know, Jim was right, like, "Oh my God, the CIA guy came and took these people," or whatever, "And they're going to kill them." So instead security ended up shooting at the truck to try to stop them from taking away the fans and just trying to get them to stop.

Luckily, the people in the truck were able to get out unharmed, but now there was a sense of urgency to get out, "They're shooting at us, we have to leave," as in, "We have to leave." So they arrive at the landing strip, about to get on this little plane, but unfortunately some of the supporters/security showed up at the landing strip, with their weapons, tons of weapons. They shot and attacked people who were trying to leave, and ended up killing five people, including the congressmen and three other members of the press who accompanied them, and 11 people were injured.

Around 4 p.m., Jim spoke over the camp loudspeaker to his followers, announcing a meeting at the pavilion. Inside the People's Temple they recorded almost all of Jim's sermons and any meetings they had, which they had hundreds of thousands of tapes of, oh my goodness. But unfortunately, that means they recorded their last and final meeting. Jim told the people that he was trying to give them the best life, and that one of the people on the plane was going to shoot the pilot, and that they would blame the people of Jonestown, and soon he would bring his enemies to town. .

Jim knew that people have no idea what happened on the runway, because the security team came back and told him, but he turned it around and made it sound like, you know, "One person was hurt, just one". Jim told the people that he had a solution, that he would prevent children from being enslaved and the elderly from being slaughtered. Jim said that it was time for them to drink the potion, that they were not committing suicide, but that it was a revolutionary act. Many of the members refused to move or begged to be let go, not wanting to drink this poison.

Some people on the poison line thanked Jim for everything he did for them, all the followers drink the poison flavored aid mix. All of this was also recorded on the recording. You can listen to it, but I'm just giving you a little disclaimer: it will ruin your day, it will ruin your week, it will ruin your month. It's horrible, it's horrible and I don't recommend it, but I know there are many of you curious cats out there who are, but know, know that it's horrible. It's just, oh. (grunt of disgust) Then the next day, Guyana Defense Force troops went to Jonestown and found a horrible scene.

There were bodies everywhere, some of them had marks where the poison was injected. It is believed that these people, who had these injection marks, refused to drink the poison, were restrained, and instead had it injected into their bodies. Oh my God. They found Jim's body lying on the stage of the pavilion. Jim and one of his lovers, I don't know why, were the only ones who died from a gunshot wound to the head, instead of from poison. I guess Jim just wanted to get this over with. What an idiot. Originally, the local government of Guyana had reported 383 deaths, and the news had reached the US, where the media was covering the story, so shortly after, US troops went to Jonestown to investigate, they soon found more and more bodies. and a week after the tragic event, the total number of deaths reached 909 deaths. 909, 909.

That's a lot of people. This is a side note, when I first heard about Johnstown, I mean, I don't know how old I was or whatever, but in my mind, when I think of a cult, I think of 5 to 10 people, hmmm. Do you know how? Which is still sad, still horrible. But 909 people, that's a lot, he... Wow, wow. You already know how. That's crazy. I just still can't understand it, it's crazy. Investigators ended up searching the complex and taking more than 60,000 printed pages, plus several hundred recordings, and the FBI spent hours and hours going through it all.

Also in Jim's cabin, they found about $700,000 in suitcases. What were you doing with that? He also had a bunch of different bank accounts that had money in them. Like this guy had millions of dollars, he had no idea what his plan was, obviously he wasn't spending it in Jonestown. They spent months trying to identify the victims, some were identified through fingerprints and, if they were lucky, dental records, but most of the victims had not been to the dentist in years, many of them were too decomposed to identify, even Although it had only been about a week, the heat and humidity had decomposed the body at a rapid rate.

Unfortunately, 409 bodies were never identified. Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California, provided land for a mass grave, where the 409 people were buried on May 11, 1979. All of Jim Jones' churches were confiscated and closed, as were the many, many bank accounts he had. He had, hiding more than 7 million dollars, all the money was confiscated by the government and used to pay the victims' families. The events of Jonestown constituted the largest loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the tragic incidents of 9/11. A lot of the victims' family members tried to sue, and they tried to get money from the Johnstown property and all that, and also, they were trying to sue, because, first of all, they were trying to get help from the government to search this place. and no one did, there were many demands to follow.

And there were also many different members of the church who were being sued. There's a lot more to it than this, too, but for the most part, it's a horrible, gruesome, tragic story about Jonestown. Jim Jones, I don't know what the hell happened to him, because he started very well. I don't know what... I think it was drugs. I think money and drugs completely derailed him. Money and drugs tend to do this to a lot of people, money sure does this to people. I was reading a biography about Jim Jones, and it really sounded like he started out as an amazing person, with a big goal in life to really help and serve people, and then it seems like maybe when the drugs and the money went where he went away. out of character, but it's like, I don't know what happened.

What happened? Greed, money and drugs, I guess? I guess that's the answer. I just can't believe those things could actually make someone do this. Let me know your opinion below. I really appreciate you being with me today. Many thanks to CaseTiFY for collaborating with me on today's video. Oh, and let me know who you want me to talk about next week. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, that you make good decisions. Please make good decisions. Glad to be back, yes! Well. And I'll see you later. Bye bye. (suspicious music)