Jonestown

The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name Jonestown, was a remote commune in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, an American religious cult led by Jim Jones. On November 18, 1978, 918 people died in a coordinated mass murder-suicide across three locations: the Jonestown compound, a nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and the group's headquarters in Georgetown, making "Jonestown" internationally infamous. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations. A total of 909 individuals died in Jonestown itself, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, many of whom were injected against their will. Jones and some Peoples Temple members referred to the act as a "revolutionary suicide" on an audio tape of the event, and in prior recorded discussions. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others, including U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan, by Temple members at Port Kaituma, an act that Jones ordered. Four other Temple members committed murder-suicide in Georgetown at Jones's command. Terms used to describe the deaths in Jonestown and Georgetown have evolved over time. Many contemporary media accounts after the events called the deaths a mass suicide. In contrast, later sources refer to the deaths with terms such as mass murder-suicide, a massacre, or mass murder. Seventy or more individuals at Jonestown were injected with poison, a third of the victims were minors, and armed guards had been ordered to shoot anyone who attempted to flee the settlement as Jones lobbied for suicide.