I was 11 when this happened. I remember my mom crying. Years later my grandma told me that my aunt and her best friend wanted to join. My grandma said she had a really bad feeling about it and managed to put my aunt off on going ...one week at a time. My aunt's best friend went and the plan was my aunt would join her. My grandma would tell my aunt... Can't go, next week is your grandma's birthday and she'll get her feelings hurt if you're not there, can you help me this week paint the living room and help me pick the color? Week by week she got her to put it off.... Until one day she met my Uncle and she never brought it up about going again. They were going to join while the group was still stateside and when they went to guana her best friend went. My aunt's best friend was one of the dead. My aunt was so distraught and grief stricken when this happened. I'm so grateful and thankful my grandma was able by the Grace of God to keep my aunt from going. I have often wondered if today's kids know where the saying "drinking the Kool aid" originates.
@@twamsorryhim and Mrs Jones both, she doesn't get enough credit. She didn't see what was happening until it was too late unfortunately, when it came to the full extent of Jim's endgame/way out. Ryan tried to save every defector he could, while she tried to save the innocent lives of those children who Jim selfishly condemned to death with the rest of them. Both of them are heroes in this tragedy.
I had just joined the Navy in 1977. I met this one girl in my boot camp who always talked about Jim Jones... she said she had left her 3 children with her mom, who was in Jonestown... then in 1978 she and I were in San Diego in training class... she was called out of class... a few minutes later, we heard this screaming... I ran out of the class to her... she had just learned her mom and her 3 children were dead... the base clinic sent a corpman and a doctor with an ambulance to take her to the hospital. I stayed in contact with her for a couple of years. But then I heard she had taken her life... 😢 now in 2024, to this day when I hear Jonestown or Jim Jones I see the picture she showed me of her, her mom and her 3 children. The picture had been taken at Jonestown...
The children haunt me the most also about this fiasco. Why didn't somebody just push over the vat of poison? The whole story just doesn't make sense. There's a lot we don't know. Bless those poor babies 👶 🙏. I appreciate you remembering them, they are not forgotten, at least there are two people that haven't forgotten them. Bless you too.
@@phoque121Not exactly because of the Columbine high school shooter’s were children to! Coward children but they were still children. Also all of the other school shootings that have occurred in this country & probably the entire Earth as well. The nightclubs that were also innocent people that were murdered by the psychopaths that did things like that! Completely disgusting as heck crazy & cruel & evil incarnate resides in them all.
Back in 1978 when I received my copy of Time mag I was sickened by the pictures I saw that I couldn't even close my eyes to sleep that night thinking about it. It was so unbelievable that one man could do that carnage. Then when I saw the NBC coverage of the congressman there and saw the children singing and laughing and in 24 hours they would be dead it was horrible.
@@Steve-m8sthere were more than vat of poison and they would have just been killed anyway, there were men stood there with guns so would have achieved nothing.
On the actual recording,their was cursing, yelling , kids crying and many did not want to take their lives. There also was a lady who was trying to save the children and got cussed out by the crowd. If you get a chance listen to the actual tape recordings. This scene is to calm.
It's so very sad 😭😭 I now know exactly how working with fear an how they brain wash folks . I always wonder how anyone could get others to follow this insanity . Now I know people actually believe Trump ugh 😢
I was 15 years old when this happened and still remember feeling sick to my stomach watching and listening to the news reports about it right after it happened.
This doc is so good. I’ve watched it probably five times and each time it gets more horrific .. I tend to get desensitized by all that we see now on the internet and tv ..but this really takes it to a new level. A different kind of fear altogether
Ryan was a self publicist, taking up this case was another was for him to get famous. Ended up very famous... Also, Bernice Sanders is a communist and AOC is a donkey joke that got out of hand.
This documentary was horrifying, but I couldn't help but notice that the actor for Jim Jones did a phenomenal job. Truly some of the best acting I've ever seen.
I normally hate historic recreations in documentaries because they feel so fake, but these are well done and seamlessly worked into the narrator and talking heads. Very well done.
These were individuals who lived a life that basically had nothing to offer. So people this impoverished felt like this was an alternative that was better than what they were experiencing stateside. I remember this like it was yesterday. My heart goes out to congressman Ryan. He did his best to bring this to a conclusion. He just didn't expect it to end the way it would eventually.
@MisTracy39TheVeganLady Being poor does not make you pathetic, " blessed are the poor..." It's hard hearted people that spiritually drain society. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is the most important commandment of them all.
I was 18 when this happened. Raised in an orphanage with almost 200 kids I wasn't really smart. I didn't know much about the world 🌎 and I didn't know that I was 18. I learned so much from this Jonestown. I stayed away from cults, people offering me airplane ✈️ rides and jobs in other countries. In a huge way this. Saved me from alot. Gid Bless all of you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 This innocent who are in heaven and those still on 🌎. I watch this often
He essentially put all of his drug fueled paranoia, anger and fear directly on to the people, he was insane, depressed, angry and confused so he felt that his followers had to be. Horrible tragedy and even after it he took the easy way out. It is a tragic look into the twists and chasms that the human mind can create for itself and how it can spread to others. He did get one thing right by having the sign "Those who do not remember history, are condemned to repeat it." Let us never forget this, and let us never repeat it.
What are they talking about Paradise Lost on November 18 1978, it was never a paradise, it was run like a southern slave plantation, it was never a paradise from Start to end.
Jonestown was really doomed from the start. Poor soil quality to grow crops for a start, double the population (originally 500 people), but instead nearly 1000 people settled in the jungle, meaning constant food shortages and weaking of the population. The fact that Jonestown was hundreds of miles into the jungle with no escape pretty much should have told people that this place was a prison camp.
@@joshuagrover795 It wasnt actually hundreds of miles into the jungle it was 7 miles into the jungle but from there it was surrounded by jungle. Where do you think they bought all their things from? You know the paint, clothes etc? They bought it from the narest village called Port kaituma. Thats why they couldnt escape, if they went for the nearest village they knew they would be found.
It happened in Kenya a couple of weeks ago,some pastor told his followers to starve to death so that they can meet Jesus,among them were women and children,it's so tragic may their soul Rest in perfect peace 😭🕊🌹
FEEL THINK AND BELIEVE THAT I READ AND REREAD THIS VITAL INFORMATION MANY MOONS AGO I CAN BE WRONG HOWEVER I DOUBT DEFINITELY FAMILIAR WITH THIS ARTICLE...
I visited Guyana in 1978.earlier in the year before the muder suicides happened. It was shocking because Guyana is such a backwater. Later my cousin, who lived there, said she saw Jonestown before anything untoward happened. It was located on a road cleared through the jungle where she drove a jeep on her way to Brazil and wondered what this encampment was all about. Most people in Guyana knew nothing about Jonestown before the tradegy erupted. It was kept very secretive.
1 of my training instructors in the military did search and rescue for the people there. I joined just after this happened. People would not, could not understand what that scene was like. Those dead bodies were in humid heat. Stacked up on top of others. Animals got to them. They were bloated and a sight and smell you cannot understand or forget if you ever see it. He would NOT talk about it. His wife had told a tabloid he had pictures and had sold his story without ever talking to him. She met him when he got off the plane and told him what she'd done. He went batshit. Literally. Spent months in counseling and got a divorce. Right after my class he committed suicide because he could never deal with what he saw. Rest in peace tech Sargent whitehead.
@@falcon3268He was much more than just a simple coward he was a complete psychopath as well! Narcissistic to the core. To force people to give poison to their own children is beyond comprehension! If my family were in the west coast we would have been dead to. It’s sad & sickening to know that could have been us. We were brought up Pentecostal going to church 4 times a week. Sunday worship is not correct because of the devil changing the day of the sabbath which is Saturday not Sunday. So many people go to church every Sunday instead of Saturday which is so sad. I’ll be joining a Christian church in Orlando Florida in the near future. Probably three times a week instead of the four times a week from childhood.
I saw a interview where a guy said when Jim was a teen he shot at him. I read a interview where he stabbed his college roomate through a bunk bed with a pen. He was a weird sick guy but also smart and manipulative and a socipath
@@brockhershey414this guy just goes a' trollin' in every thread But yeah, Jim Jones was a really weird guy even from childhood. He wore a suit everywhere and preached to animals or toys or something
@@briannec2016 Jim Jones was a strict communist, socialist, and civil rights activist. He was very good friends with Jimmy Carter. Does that sound real MAGA to you?
thank goodness for protective parents and families that care enough to keep us as safe as possible… it’s heartbreaking just how tempting it can be, how often & easily “we”can be lead to dangerous ends and how often the best of intentions can be useless in the face of fear and people in quest for their own egos/power…
Mr. Gosney stated that he wasn't thinking clearly. I am also glad that you don't understand his thinking, because that tells me you haven't been through anything like this situation. There is NO WAY we know how Mr. Gosney feels.
I understand he was confused but he carried the child there and then when he realized things were wrong sort to get out and left his child. WTH. Either stay with your child or try to leave with your child is all I'm saying. He also didn't mention a mother so I'm assuming it was him and his son
hate to say, well done, or offer too much adulation & appreciation for the quality & outcome of this heart wrenching film. it feels disrespectful to do so. i honestly shed many tears, yet deeply appreciate the quality, work and pains that had to be endured to create this. (to have lived this)i think the timing of the release or at least to my knowledge, holds huge importance both to diligence, introspection and the value of community each simultaneously. thank you to everyone who has contributed to and worked both smart & hard to create this documentary. sincerely 🌙
@@trentcruise3084 i assume you to be rather privileged as far as not having many great heartbreak and loss, hopefully you have a community and are blessed with knowing that you & your loved ones are safe and sound… (i really do hope that is your true too!) it’s so much harder to brush off the almost unspeakable losses that the families of those who were taken away and lost from their lives in “Jonestown”… i don’t mean to shut your comment down by any means man… just wanted to try to explain how much i truly relate to that strictly human ‘ability’ to relate with the incredible depths of grief & despair those families and communities had to endure… not least of all because of callous behavior by the masses who would be so happy to indoctrinate that “drunk the coolaid” phrase into the english lexicon all too soon. people can be so crass when they want to be and i am kinda just hip to the idea of slowing that perpetuation and acknowledging those sorrows and learning what ever applicable lessons i can.. regardless of the source… gotta take the best &leave out the rest, right ?!? :) lol! ((& i just lost my own barely 18yr old son, mom and 2 grandmothers, in the past few yrs.. so guess i’m still in the storm of it all) we all have our own tragedies and lessons and can relate with one another so well, when we want to..
So Trump supporters who are Christians and claim that he is sent by God or doing God's work. Trump is the new Jim Jones. How many millions have his supporters given him. Lol
As a nurse, or just someone with common sense, watching Jim "heal" a day old broken leg...no way! I'd of ran 🏃♀️ away from these brainwashed brothers and sisters, and fast. It's so sad, especially for the children who had no choice. 😢
Oooh, ' run away '? Ok, now you realize with a broken leg, one is going to be at the mercy of whomever is around , right? Sorry, that choice of words XD im sure one would love to run.
So ; SO ,sad to think that this type pastoral and humankind worship and brain washing is still happening in the world as we "speak ." Even in the DEMOCRATIC😮 homeland called America. Only God knows best. The extent that people would go to satisfy the cravings of these cravings of their cult leaders leaves me confounded.. DIDn't the commandments admonish us against worshiping other *trumpeting* (gods) ???. I wish I could get an Amen from some critical thinking sheep from some pasture in the American south. Amen.
There were armed guards there to make sure people drank. Soldiers who removed the remains later said many bodies had bullets or cross bows in them, so some did try to run. Hundreds of the bodies had syringe marks in between shoulder blades or in the neck, according to the coroner at the scene, so many probably did refuse to drink. Only abt 5 escaped that night, 3 because Jones sent them off with a suitcase of money, and two others talked their way past the guards by walking behind a nurse who was going to get more syringes and supplies. 11 people escaped on the morning Ryan arrived (they used that distraction to walk away and acting as if they were going on a picnic). 15 or 20 left with Ryan, one of them was killed at the airstrip, others wounded and had to wait 20 hrs before being evacuated. The statistics are against you or most other people surviving. You had to be very desperate and very lucky.
I cannot, no matter how extreme this tragic story is, get my head around the fact that people were so easily fooled and influenced by this lunatic and others like it. It's like masses of people did not have a natural instinct long before they were doomed.
We just encountered a similar happening with covid and the vaccines. Look how many people fell right in line. People's livelihoods were threatened and some are still feeling the loss of jobs, homes and families. But you cannot convince them otherwise because they refuse to listen. Yep, I witnessed the acts of people that I never dreamed possible, simply out of manufactured fear driven by the government, media and pharmaceutical companies. We haven't seen anything yet.
There are personality traits which make someone likely to join a cult: high agreeableness and low conscientiousness. Joining a cult is not the same as staying in the cult. Once you had joined, the cult takes away your possessions and separate you from your family and friends to make it difficult to leave. There is also fear, manipulation, black mail, etc.
Love Vernon, had a biracial child, even though he was gay. The mother i believe was left brain dead after birth. He then lost their son in Jonestown and then died a few years ago i believe from complications due to heart surgery.Loves ya Vernon, you speak so pashionately and you and Stephen made this so interesting!
Oh for sure. Jim Jones started stockpiling cyanide among other things before his followers actually got to Guyana. There is a paper trail proving that.
Yes just a matter of time. He constantly talked of death and suicide and had many trial runs. It was an evil movement from day one that was always going to end this way.
Agreed.....it was a sad inevitability. In his drugged state with his inner circle of people enabling him, anybody from outside or within would've set him off at that point. Tragically it was Leo Ryan and relatives but it could've been anyone.
This man took advantage of their hopelessness.......thats heartbreaking whether or not anyone believes they were gullible and allowed themselves to be manipulated....they didnt deserve what happened to them, not a single one of them
There is a fine line between feeling sorry for those people, they had a choice, and they give there children’s lives for it, this man was sleeping with who ever he wanted. He had them believing that you was a chosen one to sleep with him, I saw this coming, he was the news a lot, The most felt this was coming to a bad end, No one could have made a difference.
@@patriciajones915 No, they didn't. How can you be so cruel? They didn't want their children murdered! Gosh, HE was the predator they were the victims!
I am struggling with the guy who left his little son there. He left because he was scared, he knew bad things were happening that's why he left. Why on earth would he leave his defenceless small child there??? I dont get it. He was saying he wasn't thinking straight yet he was straight thinking enough to pass a note to get himself out and yet, left his small child there. I know that people are going to come to his defense but how, as a parent, do you remove yourself from a very dangerous environment and then intentionally leave your vulnerable child in that dangerous environment?
I don't get it either. His comment about how he was worried about his son being black in the united states also made no sense. Clearly he knew it was a life threatening situation to stay, that is why he wanted to leave.
This story reminded me of this California San Diego County man who deceive about forty men to commit suicide and get on board to a comet in space travel to obliviannous outerspace.back in 1997
What’s the most sad is that Stephan Jones wanted to try and go back to Jonestown and save everyone after hearing the code phrase but they realized they were outgunned by the red brigade at Jonestown 😢
My heart goes to those that survived this. They lost everything and everyone they knew because of the will of one charismatic man. I pray we learn from this event so we don't experience it in the future.
I have a few core memories of historical note: 9/11, The Oklahoma City Bombing, The Space Shuttle Explosion, and Jonestown. All of them left an indelible mark on me. I was 7 when Jim Jones killed all of those people. I remember watching the news footage with my parents. Very sad day.
Oh my goodness...how absolutely horrific 😢 I couldn't believe the way they were all gunned down and watching those poor children being forced to drink poison. Just horrific. I hope awareness of this kind of cult saves lives in the future 🙏
It must’ve felt horrible watching the kids that you raised die in front of you.. being trapped not being able to go back because you were unsure if it was real or just a drill again. Having to not have anymore hope and just accept your fate. The human mind is truly so scary.
He could have provided these people with something really great but with the paranoia, due to drug abuse, he ruined everything. He slid down a dangerous path and took so many innocent people with him. That's the problem with cult leaders. They get power happy and abuse that power in every way
Jim Jones nor any other man or woman cannot provide anything other than maybe some friendship. Jesus is the only one with something to offer. The least of what Jesus offers is better than the best a man can offer.
@@googoo8325glad to see someone here sees it for what it is. All these people got his back like he had some right to do that. He’s a coward. Shocker the socialists do this type of thing.
Out of sadness and anger I ask-what happened to the shooters at the airfield? Did they commit suicide too or were they arrested or did they just melt into the jungle?
As a rule, i like to learn all that i can about aspects and key points or events in history, this doc absolutely hit every mark for me. The victims stories DESERVE to be told and this doc handled it beautifully, even if its a tad old now. I'm so deep in my feelings rn 💔
I remember this on the news when i was in my early teens- i just could not comprehend how so many people would submit to suicide- now i understand more- and in todays world how billions are brainwashed to thinking and acting in ways of those who know how to control the mind- and leverage technology to amplify this power
absolutely! in large groups, or tribal like communities, we as humans are so powerful and yet can so easily be lost in the common hype… it’s so important to keep things in perspective and hold on to our better judgment, keeping a (small d) democratic philosophy and ensuring that we are not jumping on any “bandwagon” for the sake of keeping the chants going, no matter how “mesmerizing” the commonality of finding ‘your people’… i think i said that right, i’ve seen crowds at giant concerts get crazy and almost frightening how much folks, including myself, get caught up in it all… reminds me so much of wwII and how many otherwise good and kind families got so caught up in the furor… they fused their identities, relationships, lives & their families lives into that nazi mentality… knowing that we’re all just as capable of being so grossly corrupted is only redeemed by our ability to wake up from our trances and rethink and dispose of repugnant ideas and stories we have so blindly put our faith, energy & time into… if only we knew now, when we we were younger…🎶 we could all just get along and know how gorgeous & precious we, our youthful strength, energy and time was. :) aloha & thanks!
There was a lot of outright deception involved - like, Jim Jones told his followers that Guyanese soldiers were in the jungle and would shoot people who tried to escape from Jonestown. And he fed them paranoia about nuclear war and what would happen as a result of the murder of Leo Ryan.
As he should have regretted it. What father would leave their son there, in a place where he knew he himself wasn't safe? I would have murdered Jones before I'd have EVER left my son. I'm not having go at the man. He made the choice he made and he and his son had to pay for it. Sadly. How I wish he would have made a better decision.
if you take it out of the context of the suicide, which at this point it was - it’s a whole different decision. he probably thought something would happen on the airstrip which it did, and he was also being told to come back anytime. i doubt the idea of the mass sucide ever becoming more than a rehearsal occurred to him. also bare in mind the evil indoctrination he was subjected to by jim jones
1:18:50 This scene always gets me. I wish she had taken the little ones outside with her and made a break for it into the cab. Hopefully it would be too fast for the mother to react, and then she and her siblings would have lived. I'm near her age- I first saw this documentary during the pandemic, and I remembered when I outlived her- and I can't understand why she didn't break for it, why she didn't fight to survive. I understand the power of filial loyalty- I grew up with a mother that had a brain tumor and I followed her into situations where, in hindsight, we could have been killed. But I'd like to think that if I *knew* that my little brother and I were going to die if I didn't fight, especially if this happened now or a few years ago as opposed to when I was little, I would have fought.
"Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Revelation 12:12!
... They wanted a better life, and met their death.😢 God bless these lost souls, hope they are at peace in heaven, especially the poor innocent children. 🚸
@@trentcruise3084 if you haven't got anything even half decent to say & seem to find this whole thing extremely amusing.... how about you gtfo. Have the day you deserve.
Tenho certeza que as crianças estão no Céu. Elas eram inocentes, e foram sacrificadas por um lunático... Um abraço fraterno desde o Uruguai. Deus os abençoe.
@@user-cj9yo3qe2l Socorro Bayanihan Services from this settlement they made called "Kapihan" in a remote place in the mountains. They havent done mass suicide but its very similar to Jonestown. Blind obedience, lies and rehearsing festivities when politicians visit to investigate. It was a religious group who helped each other after the matriarch and founder died and a strong earthquake devastated their homes a new leader who was a young adult was proclaimed the new jesus and everyone was made to sell all their belongings including their homes. The money was given to the religious group and they used it to build Kapihan because they were preaching that it would be the end of the world and only those who come to the mountains will survive
@@user-cj9yo3qe2llmao it’s not lies. Google is free. It’s SBSI and they are under investigation for trafficking and homicide. It’s a massive mountain cult built JUST like Jonestown. Same white roof cottages and all.
I am actually really shocked they interviewed the son for this documentary. In my opinion he is just as bad as Jim Jones. If any of you listen to certain Jonestown audio tapes, you can hear how truly awful and disgusting Stephan Jones is as a person. He made members “salute him” whenever they were called on the stage and threatened violence if they didn’t. He was 19 years old in 1978. Definitely old enough to know it was wrong.
@@saulcarvajal7911 Jim Jones violent white night part 2 and skip to 5 minutes and 30 seconds. Plenty more evidence I can dig for you, one instance being where he says word for word to a member “salute me or ill break your neck”
I disagree. He was a child of a cult leader, that had to have massively warped his upbringing and sense of self. I think that as an adult he would have had to have had major therapy to have a chance at being a normal, regular guy. He definitely wasn't as bad as Jim Jones and I wouldn't blame him for what happened or his actions caused by such a stressful, weird upbringing. Now, if he committed offences after leaving Jonestown or behaved in such a manner as you accuse, then his actions would certainly be more suspect.
Out of all documentary I ever seen this has to be the worst to watch! No words can describe the hell these poor people went through😢 It’s heartbreaking and scary how he brainwashed so many innocent people. This is not a mass suicide, it’s mass murder, all because of one mentally ill man! Just the thought of how scared the kids must have been when they were forced to drink the flavour-aid makes me cry😢 innocent kids who have to trust that their parents/adult around protect them from danger and pain😢 The survivors must feel they were lucky to survive, but imagine how much pain and horror they have witness😢 I really regret listening to the actual audio from Jones himself, demanding parents give their kids “the medicin” and sound so evil when he said they don’t cry because of pain (when he KNEW that drinking it is extremely painful! So painful the coward didn’t even drink it himself…). Rest in peace all the innocent children and adults who was poisoned to death brutally😢❤ Hope they all is in a better place now❤️❤️ Religion can be a good thing but also very dangerous when “wrong people” is in charge! Please be safe everyone and don’t end up in a deadly religious cult😔❤️
Wait a minute… so Vernon thought that his biracial son would be better off staying with a cult organization than returning back to the U.S with his father ????? Something is off with that guy.
My takeaway from this documentary is to THINK FOR YOURSELF, and stay away from cults, churches, etc. that want your loyalty. There's a blurred line between loyalty and control.
I can only imagine the grief that Vernon has been dragged through- there's no way he couldve known what was about to happen. starving and brainwashed, he genuinely believed his decision was the right one. I feel for him so deeply and I hope he's forgiven himself ❤❤ This documentary was so well put together and I knew the premise of "remote cult mass suicide" but had no idea about the plane or congressman or the people that had escaped (it happened 20+ yrs before I was born) the whole story was so watered down in my brain that having these facts and experiences infront of me has really been eye opening
I love Stephan Jones' comments at the end of this documentary about learning from cult victims, rather than judging them. Re: the comments on this video by people expressing moral superiority--well, I never would have followed Jim Jones! Okay, congratulations? Everyone needs to raise their awareness of the dynamics of cult indocrtination so we can spot these dangerous manipulators sooner. I highly recommend Steve Hassan's Combatting Mind Control (2015 edition)--after leaving a cult in the 70s, he became a therapist specializing in exit counseling--helping thousands of people leave cults and high demand groups.
I could see myself in Jonestown because I am attracted to those simple communal lifestyles in a community setting. If Jim would not have gone to those violent extremes, it could have functioned.
I was 11 when this happened. I remember my mom crying. Years later my grandma told me that my aunt and her best friend wanted to join. My grandma said she had a really bad feeling about it and managed to put my aunt off on going ...one week at a time. My aunt's best friend went and the plan was my aunt would join her. My grandma would tell my aunt... Can't go, next week is your grandma's birthday and she'll get her feelings hurt if you're not there, can you help me this week paint the living room and help me pick the color? Week by week she got her to put it off.... Until one day she met my Uncle and she never brought it up about going again. They were going to join while the group was still stateside and when they went to guana her best friend went. My aunt's best friend was one of the dead. My aunt was so distraught and grief stricken when this happened. I'm so grateful and thankful my grandma was able by the Grace of God to keep my aunt from going. I have often wondered if today's kids know where the saying "drinking the Kool aid" originates.
Wow, that is quite the story! So thankful that your grandma kept her from going 💕
That is so sad.
No they don't. I watched that movie so many times, and I never got the connection.
Such a wise woman who believed her "feelings." So lucky for your family. Best, best wishes for all of yours from Texas.
Your grandma is a hero, bless her or rest her soul if she is no longer with us ❤
His son grew up to be a very articulate, critical thinker. Nice to see he was strong minded enough to see whats real. Especially since it was his dad.
There's a silver lining to everything. Sometimes you have to look for it.
I think his mother had a lot to do with that. She seemed to keep him grounded. She was a clever woman and she resisted to the bitter end 😢
Going to look up his son now. Thank you. Never thought to do that.
Your parents don’t have to define you
@@Back-handedLuck-ul7msThanks for sharing that!?? 😂 We don’t need to know that kid..
Congressman Ryan was a good man who died trying to rescue as many people as he could. RIP. You did your best.
seriously. that's the kind of congressman we want and need. such a shame. RIP indeed.
@@twamsorryhim and Mrs Jones both, she doesn't get enough credit. She didn't see what was happening until it was too late unfortunately, when it came to the full extent of Jim's endgame/way out. Ryan tried to save every defector he could, while she tried to save the innocent lives of those children who Jim selfishly condemned to death with the rest of them.
Both of them are heroes in this tragedy.
The Congressman got in the way of progress. It was his fault this happen. Father Jim was a good man.
@@brockhershey414yea, a good man who told people to get rid of themselves
@@IchabodvanTassel98 ... shhhh . not too loud for daddy
I had just joined the Navy in 1977. I met this one girl in my boot camp who always talked about Jim Jones... she said she had left her 3 children with her mom, who was in Jonestown... then in 1978 she and I were in San Diego in training class... she was called out of class... a few minutes later, we heard this screaming... I ran out of the class to her... she had just learned her mom and her 3 children were dead... the base clinic sent a corpman and a doctor with an ambulance to take her to the hospital. I stayed in contact with her for a couple of years. But then I heard she had taken her life... 😢 now in 2024, to this day when I hear Jonestown or Jim Jones I see the picture she showed me of her, her mom and her 3 children. The picture had been taken at Jonestown...
That's just heartbreaking
May they all Rest in Peace... except for Jim Jones and his henchmen.
God bless you for putting it out there. And God bless her and her family
This is just awful 😞
This is so heartbreaking. May they rest peacefully. 😞❤️
I cannot stop thinking about those children. Those poor, innocent children. And adults who killed them.
When a crime is committed against a child, the culprit is always an adult (except James Bulger)
The children haunt me the most also about this fiasco. Why didn't somebody just push over the vat of poison? The whole story just doesn't make sense. There's a lot we don't know. Bless those poor babies 👶 🙏. I appreciate you remembering them, they are not forgotten, at least there are two people that haven't forgotten them. Bless you too.
@@phoque121Not exactly because of the Columbine high school shooter’s were children to! Coward children but they were still children. Also all of the other school shootings that have occurred in this country & probably the entire Earth as well. The nightclubs that were also innocent people that were murdered by the psychopaths that did things like that! Completely disgusting as heck crazy & cruel & evil incarnate resides in them all.
Back in 1978 when I received my copy of Time mag I was sickened by the pictures I saw that I couldn't even close my eyes to sleep that night thinking about it. It was so unbelievable that one man could do that carnage. Then when I saw the NBC coverage of the congressman there and saw the children singing and laughing and in 24 hours they would be dead it was horrible.
@@Steve-m8sthere were more than vat of poison and they would have just been killed anyway, there were men stood there with guns so would have achieved nothing.
On the actual recording,their was cursing, yelling , kids crying and many did not want to take their lives. There also was a lady who was trying to save the children and got cussed out by the crowd. If you get a chance listen to the actual tape recordings. This scene is to calm.
It's so very sad 😭😭 I now know exactly how working with fear an how they brain wash folks . I always wonder how anyone could get others to follow this insanity . Now I know people actually believe Trump ugh 😢
I was thinking the same thing... the actual recordings are absolutely haunting.
That’s true
The 44 minute death tape
Her name is Christine Miller. The only sane person in the room
I was 15 years old when this happened and still remember feeling sick to my stomach watching and listening to the news reports about it right after it happened.
I was 11 when that happened. Turned 12 that December after this. I can still remember it as well.
I was 15 too , I couldn't believe what i was seeing that day
This doc is so good. I’ve watched it probably five times and each time it gets more horrific .. I tend to get desensitized by all that we see now on the internet and tv ..but this really takes it to a new level. A different kind of fear altogether
Father Jim had a purpose and Congressman Ryan got in the way of progress.
@@brockhershey414you've got to be kidding dd
@@ariadneschild8460 no kidding here
@@brockhershey414 really? Jeez that cool aid must be powerful.
@@brockhershey414 you are kidding right.
Congressman Ryan was a brave man, and died for his cause. We don't have such statesmen anymore.
Bernie Sanders and AOC are exceptions
Ryan was a self publicist, taking up this case was another was for him to get famous. Ended up very famous... Also, Bernice Sanders is a communist and AOC is a donkey joke that got out of hand.
is it a joke??@@praxisdragon
You mean like Jackie Speier of Ryan’s former district who retired last year? You know, his assistant who was there at Jonestown WITH him and was shot?
DF@@BoringTroublemaker
This documentary was horrifying, but I couldn't help but notice that the actor for Jim Jones did a phenomenal job. Truly some of the best acting I've ever seen.
Jim Jones looked like an Elvis impersonator who stole Roy Orbison’s glasses.
😂😂
Spot on! Good call!
No lie!😂
I knew i wasnt the only one!!! I said the same thing but that he was an Elvis impersonator that didn't make the cut!!😂😂
The guy playing Ryan looks like Mickey Mantle.
I normally hate historic recreations in documentaries because they feel so fake, but these are well done and seamlessly worked into the narrator and talking heads. Very well done.
These were individuals who lived a life that basically had nothing to offer. So people this impoverished felt like this was an alternative that was better than what they were experiencing stateside. I remember this like it was yesterday. My heart goes out to congressman Ryan. He did his best to bring this to a conclusion. He just didn't expect it to end the way it would eventually.
When you're ALWAYS the Pathetic victim .. Someone will victimize you! .. eventually you're looked down upon as a liability and a drain on society! 😶
@@MisTracy39TheVeganLady What a disgusting, unempathetic, ignorant comment.
@MisTracy39TheVeganLady Being poor does not make you pathetic, " blessed are the poor..." It's hard hearted people that spiritually drain society. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is the most important commandment of them all.
Critical thinking, skepticism, sound epistemology; these are so important
And lost in the US atm for half the country under the control of someone this insane .
The guy who played Jim Jones in this honesty deserves an Oscar
I think he's overdoing it personally.
@@5wheels178apparently you haven't listened to Jim Jones. He's a dramatic, controlling man. The actor did a fabulous job.
He did an amazing job. The gestures, voice, the way he walked… all of it.
Canadian actor Rick Roberts.
@@missmew3499 I have actually, I'm well steeped in the story. The real Jones was more understated, more insidious than this.
Congressman Ryan was a true hero, sad that he had to die for this cause😢
@@brockhershey414why do you keep supporting Jim?
I was 18 when this happened. Raised in an orphanage with almost 200 kids I wasn't really smart. I didn't know much about the world 🌎 and I didn't know that I was 18. I learned so much from this Jonestown. I stayed away from cults, people offering me airplane ✈️ rides and jobs in other countries. In a huge way this. Saved me from alot. Gid Bless all of you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 This innocent who are in heaven and those still on 🌎. I watch this often
✌✌✌Peace & Stay stronge to yourself. Looks like U-R doing fine now. By👋
I was 19.😊
I hope you're well today.
I love when people use this to educate themselves instead of judging. But then again, you should've stayed away from religion.
@@lookilookibuthearingtooiThat's not religion, that's sacrilege. Know the difference! Religion saves your soul and sacrilege condems it.
He essentially put all of his drug fueled paranoia, anger and fear directly on to the people, he was insane, depressed, angry and confused so he felt that his followers had to be. Horrible tragedy and even after it he took the easy way out. It is a tragic look into the twists and chasms that the human mind can create for itself and how it can spread to others. He did get one thing right by having the sign "Those who do not remember history, are condemned to repeat it." Let us never forget this, and let us never repeat it.
So let's not listen to Justin Trudeau and WEF AND FAUCI AND THERESA Tam and other liars
Jones was DEMONIC.
You only have to look at war to realise that this is not the case..They never learn and never will
Isn't there something called scientology?
It's being repeated right now with the Orange Clown traitor. Get ready for Armageddon.
What are they talking about Paradise Lost on November 18 1978, it was never a paradise, it was run like a southern slave plantation, it was never a paradise from Start to end.
They used the term paradise to what was promised by Jones to the people.
Jonestown was really doomed from the start. Poor soil quality to grow crops for a start, double the population (originally 500 people), but instead nearly 1000 people settled in the jungle, meaning constant food shortages and weaking of the population. The fact that Jonestown was hundreds of miles into the jungle with no escape pretty much should have told people that this place was a prison camp.
@@joshuagrover795 It wasnt actually hundreds of miles into the jungle it was 7 miles into the jungle but from there it was surrounded by jungle. Where do you think they bought all their things from? You know the paint, clothes etc? They bought it from the narest village called Port kaituma. Thats why they couldnt escape, if they went for the nearest village they knew they would be found.
Interview with the son was fascinating
It happened in Kenya a couple of weeks ago,some pastor told his followers to starve to death so that they can meet Jesus,among them were women and children,it's so tragic may their soul Rest in perfect peace 😭🕊🌹
We’re all going to the pit
FEEL THINK AND BELIEVE THAT I READ AND REREAD THIS VITAL INFORMATION MANY MOONS AGO I CAN BE WRONG HOWEVER I DOUBT DEFINITELY FAMILIAR WITH THIS ARTICLE...
@@valentinealusa7406 😲😲😲
xD
I visited Guyana in 1978.earlier in the year before the muder suicides happened. It was shocking because Guyana is such a backwater. Later my cousin, who lived there, said she saw Jonestown before anything untoward happened. It was located on a road cleared through the jungle where she drove a jeep on her way to Brazil and wondered what this encampment was all about. Most people in Guyana knew nothing about Jonestown before the tradegy erupted. It was kept very secretive.
Wow. Thanks for sharing. That's so interesting to know!
Father Jim was a genius.
1 of my training instructors in the military did search and rescue for the people there. I joined just after this happened. People would not, could not understand what that scene was like. Those dead bodies were in humid heat. Stacked up on top of others. Animals got to them. They were bloated and a sight and smell you cannot understand or forget if you ever see it. He would NOT talk about it. His wife had told a tabloid he had pictures and had sold his story without ever talking to him. She met him when he got off the plane and told him what she'd done. He went batshit. Literally. Spent months in counseling and got a divorce. Right after my class he committed suicide because he could never deal with what he saw. Rest in peace tech Sargent whitehead.
@@kdallas636 Congressman Ryan is to blame or all that mess.
@@brockhershey414 explain EXACTLY how he's responsible for that mass suicide
This is why we need to stay prayed up and read up on the word. BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS ❤
Oh my god! You are in a cult yourself! Religion isn't real.
His son is amazing. I feel for him. He must have survivors guilt badly. ❤ He is empathetic to equal his father's callousness.
..how horrible, he still has his father swimming around in his gene pool. 😶
I can’t imagine what he went through, losing everyone he loved in one horrific evening.
@@lenoramitchell7021 What a disgusting thing to say.
All I’m gonna say is this was some good acting and production in general. Good job 👏
I'm here because of what is happening in the Philippines. Praying it will not end like this one.
Same
Same
Now I am curious on what is happening there?
@@Ro6entXSEARCH FOR SBSI ITS LIKE A JONESTOWN BUT AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
Sameeee
Dreadful. That so few survived.
And so many died for nothing.
What a coward, made the children suffer from the poison but he takes the easy way out
Indeed, Jim Jones is nothing more than a coward.
@@falcon3268He was much more than just a simple coward he was a complete psychopath as well! Narcissistic to the core. To force people to give poison to their own children is beyond comprehension! If my family were in the west coast we would have been dead to. It’s sad & sickening to know that could have been us. We were brought up Pentecostal going to church 4 times a week. Sunday worship is not correct because of the devil changing the day of the sabbath which is Saturday not Sunday. So many people go to church every Sunday instead of Saturday which is so sad. I’ll be joining a Christian church in Orlando Florida in the near future. Probably three times a week instead of the four times a week from childhood.
And his wife was a lowlife murderer.@@falcon3268
Such a sad outcome 😢
I feel for the families of the ones who passed. And the fact that its so easy to do this to others is so sad and sickening.😢😢😢
are you even aware enough to realise that governments are manipulating us constantly
Even in his youth Jim Jones was a sick individual. The things I researched about him were disturbing.
I saw a interview where a guy said when Jim was a teen he shot at him. I read a interview where he stabbed his college roomate through a bunk bed with a pen. He was a weird sick guy but also smart and manipulative and a socipath
Father Jim was just like any average American
@@brockhershey414 whatever that supposed to mean
@@BrianSmith-yq7ys he is crazy
@@brockhershey414this guy just goes a' trollin' in every thread
But yeah, Jim Jones was a really weird guy even from childhood. He wore a suit everywhere and preached to animals or toys or something
I can't get 5 people together for an outing, but this dude gets 914 people to end thier lives...unbelievable right. History is utterly fascinating!!
A lot of them were murdered by his guards. They didn't drink the coolaid .
Forced to
Three hundred of them were children who had no choice, and I would venture to say a majority of the adults were forced, too.
He worshipped the 👿
It’s all about giving motivating speeches. He knew what people wanted to hear and just said it. No magic there. Still works today.
Us versus them is always one of the signs of a cult.
*cough*ma*cough*ga*cough*
@@briannec2016
They made a movie about him called “the trump prophecy” 😬
Just imagine
@briannec2016 and it's only gotten worse
@@briannec2016 Jim Jones was a strict communist, socialist, and civil rights activist. He was very good friends with Jimmy Carter. Does that sound real MAGA to you?
@@thejamnasium6447MAGA is a cult
My brother wanted to go to Jonestown but since he was not 18 my parents would not let him go.
Wow, have you talked to him about it after they all died?? Thank gosh your parents stopped it
@@007janerussell we did after the news of what happened there was on tv. I was about 15-16 when it happened
thank goodness for protective parents and families that care enough to keep us as safe as possible… it’s heartbreaking just how tempting it can be, how often & easily “we”can be lead to dangerous ends and how often the best of intentions can be useless in the face of fear and people in quest for their own egos/power…
@@crystalchurch1810 So true. My brother did not go to Jonestown and lost interest in Jim Jones .
Did he go to somebody else instead?
I was a teenager when this happened, it flooded the newspapers everyday.
Those poor innocent babies!😢
How this man just left his son there is baffling. I just can’t understand his way of thinking.
Total.coward and loser
Mr. Gosney stated that he wasn't thinking clearly. I am also glad that you don't understand his thinking, because that tells me you haven't been through anything like this situation. There is NO WAY we know how Mr. Gosney feels.
If that place was traumatic and awful that he had to leave, then why leave a child there? Bad parenting.@@longwhitemane
I understand he was confused but he carried the child there and then when he realized things were wrong sort to get out and left his child. WTH. Either stay with your child or try to leave with your child is all I'm saying. He also didn't mention a mother so I'm assuming it was him and his son
This man has since died.
hate to say, well done, or offer too much adulation & appreciation for the quality & outcome of this heart wrenching film. it feels disrespectful to do so. i honestly shed many tears, yet deeply appreciate the quality, work and pains that had to be endured to create this. (to have lived this)i think the timing of the release or at least to my knowledge, holds huge importance both to diligence, introspection and the value of community each simultaneously. thank you to everyone who has contributed to and worked both smart & hard to create this documentary. sincerely 🌙
No great loss🤣
@@trentcruise3084 i assume you to be rather privileged as far as not having many great heartbreak and loss, hopefully you have a community and are blessed with knowing that you & your loved ones are safe and sound… (i really do hope that is your true too!) it’s so much harder to brush off the almost unspeakable losses that the families of those who were taken away and lost from their lives in “Jonestown”… i don’t mean to shut your comment down by any means man… just wanted to try to explain how much i truly relate to that strictly human ‘ability’ to relate with the incredible depths of grief & despair those families and communities had to endure… not least of all because of callous behavior by the masses who would be so happy to indoctrinate that “drunk the coolaid” phrase into the english lexicon all too soon. people can be so crass when they want to be and i am kinda just hip to the idea of slowing that perpetuation and acknowledging those sorrows and learning what ever applicable lessons i can.. regardless of the source… gotta take the best &leave out the rest, right ?!? :) lol!
((& i just lost my own barely 18yr old son, mom and 2 grandmothers, in the past few yrs.. so guess i’m still in the storm of it all) we all have our own tragedies and lessons and can relate with one another so well, when we want to..
@@crystalchurch1810 Ignore him, he's made other such immature comments elsewhere on this thread. He needs a dictionary.... over the head lol
@@crystalchurch1810 Much love & prayers from one grieving mother to another 💔 God Bless 🙌 🙏 💚
@@Leonforever5 Your god didn't bless them, including 300 children!
Its beyond comprehension that one man can have so much power over so many people. I have never in my life been a “ sheep”.
@coreencasey5109 You are probably just as much of a sheep as those people
If you vote Dem or belong to a religion....
So Trump supporters who are Christians and claim that he is sent by God or doing God's work.
Trump is the new Jim Jones. How many millions have his supporters given him. Lol
@@pointmanzeroMAGA cult
lol “if you hold any beliefs whatsoever” /s 😂
As a nurse, or just someone with common sense, watching Jim "heal" a day old broken leg...no way! I'd of ran 🏃♀️ away from these brainwashed brothers and sisters, and fast. It's so sad, especially for the children who had no choice. 😢
Oooh, ' run away '? Ok, now you realize with a broken leg, one is going to be at the mercy of whomever is around , right? Sorry, that choice of words XD im sure one would love to run.
Yep, run through miles of jungle
So ; SO ,sad to think that this type pastoral and humankind worship and brain washing is still happening in the world as we "speak ."
Even in the DEMOCRATIC😮 homeland called America.
Only God knows best.
The extent that people would go to satisfy the cravings of these cravings of their cult leaders leaves me confounded..
DIDn't the commandments admonish us against worshiping other *trumpeting* (gods) ???.
I wish I could get an Amen from some critical thinking sheep from some pasture in the American south.
Amen.
There were armed guards there to make sure people drank. Soldiers who removed the remains later said many bodies had bullets or cross bows in them, so some did try to run. Hundreds of the bodies had syringe marks in between shoulder blades or in the neck, according to the coroner at the scene, so many probably did refuse to drink. Only abt 5 escaped that night, 3 because Jones sent them off with a suitcase of money, and two others talked their way past the guards by walking behind a nurse who was going to get more syringes and supplies. 11 people escaped on the morning Ryan arrived (they used that distraction to walk away and acting as if they were going on a picnic). 15 or 20 left with Ryan, one of them was killed at the airstrip, others wounded and had to wait 20 hrs before being evacuated. The statistics are against you or most other people surviving. You had to be very desperate and very lucky.
I’d like to think that “nowadays” ppl would be able to differentiate, but … can we?
I cannot, no matter how extreme this tragic story is, get my head around the fact that people were so easily fooled and influenced by this lunatic and others like it. It's like masses of people did not have a natural instinct long before they were doomed.
We just encountered a similar happening with covid and the vaccines. Look how many people fell right in line. People's livelihoods were threatened and some are still feeling the loss of jobs, homes and families. But you cannot convince them otherwise because they refuse to listen.
Yep, I witnessed the acts of people that I never dreamed possible, simply out of manufactured fear driven by the government, media and pharmaceutical companies. We haven't seen anything yet.
People are like that to this day. So sad
He was a industry plant for Mk ultra..
Unfortunately Jim Jones played on their faith in the lord. He spent years learning how to manipulate people. And they loved and worshiped him
There are personality traits which make someone likely to join a cult: high agreeableness and low conscientiousness. Joining a cult is not the same as staying in the cult. Once you had joined, the cult takes away your possessions and separate you from your family and friends to make it difficult to leave. There is also fear, manipulation, black mail, etc.
My fourth time watching this, depressing yet fascinating.
I was glued to my TV during this. So much sorrow.
That was an excellent episode. Thankyou. Geez that must have been tough for Vernon.
Love Vernon, had a biracial child, even though he was gay. The mother i believe was left brain dead after birth. He then lost their son in Jonestown and then died a few years ago i believe from complications due to heart surgery.Loves ya Vernon, you speak so pashionately and you and Stephen made this so interesting!
I personally belive Jonestown was gonna happen one way or another even if Leo Ryan never showed up
Oh for sure. Jim Jones started stockpiling cyanide among other things before his followers actually got to Guyana. There is a paper trail proving that.
Agree 💯. They practiced suicide drills long before November 18th.
I agree
Yes just a matter of time. He constantly talked of death and suicide and had many trial runs. It was an evil movement from day one that was always going to end this way.
Agreed.....it was a sad inevitability. In his drugged state with his inner circle of people enabling him, anybody from outside or within would've set him off at that point. Tragically it was Leo Ryan and relatives but it could've been anyone.
This man took advantage of their hopelessness.......thats heartbreaking whether or not anyone believes they were gullible and allowed themselves to be manipulated....they didnt deserve what happened to them, not a single one of them
This man was also hopeless and tormented. There are no good guys here.
There is a fine line between feeling sorry for those people, they had a choice, and they give there children’s lives for it, this man was sleeping with who ever he wanted. He had them believing that you was a chosen one to sleep with him, I saw this coming, he was the news a lot, The most felt this was coming to a bad end, No one could have made a difference.
@@patriciajones915 No, they didn't. How can you be so cruel? They didn't want their children murdered! Gosh, HE was the predator they were the victims!
Although one cant deny the tragedy of this event the guy playing Jim Jones is quite good. Ive never understood how Vernon could leave his son there.
He could he leave Jonestown to become a police officer in Hawaii and care for the child at the same time? lol, yes they let him into the police force.
Me either
History unfortunately repeating on different side...when will lessons be learned and perpetuated
This is such a well made documentary
The acting is superb!
I am struggling with the guy who left his little son there. He left because he was scared, he knew bad things were happening that's why he left. Why on earth would he leave his defenceless small child there??? I dont get it. He was saying he wasn't thinking straight yet he was straight thinking enough to pass a note to get himself out and yet, left his small child there.
I know that people are going to come to his defense but how, as a parent, do you remove yourself from a very dangerous environment and then intentionally leave your vulnerable child in that dangerous environment?
I think a lot of us are thinking the same thing.
Dude is a coward. Its infuriating
I don't get it either. His comment about how he was worried about his son being black in the united states also made no sense. Clearly he knew it was a life threatening situation to stay, that is why he wanted to leave.
I so agree. But, I gave much harsher words, and it's not PC. It's obvious what he is, besides a weak cowl weird.
You're not alone in this thought process. We came together.. We leave together or we die together😥
Poor Hyacinth. Coming out to see all the people she knew gone.
The more I look into this mass murder the more questions I am left with...
There’s nothing to think about. It’s very simple but you won’t understand it.
This story reminded me of this California San Diego County man who deceive about forty men to commit suicide and get on board to a comet in space travel to obliviannous outerspace.back in 1997
@@davidortega357 Heavens Gate?
What’s the most sad is that Stephan Jones wanted to try and go back to Jonestown and save everyone after hearing the code phrase but they realized they were outgunned by the red brigade at Jonestown 😢
The Red Brigade did what they had to do. They had no choice.
The lesson: if any mere human claims to be a saviour, run in the opposite direction.
Like Jesus?! Gosh, you religion doesn't make sense at all, does it?
If that happened now there is no way a Congressman would visit a suspicious organization without a secret service or military security detachment
They tried that at Waco and look how that ended
I was wondering why did he go without some sort of security detail. Especially with the rumors they heard about the dangers going on there.
And Jonestown , he was shot dead trying to board his plane out of dodge..Tanks are the safest way 👍
He probably should have had a security detail of some sort, even if it was completely secret
@@Rosco-P.Coldchain
Branch Davidians had guns as well you know. Always come prepared with religious zealot's!
In 2023, it's still happening in the world. Unfortunately in the Philippines, there are cults like this ugh....
Turmoil if you trust people like his dad. I'll never forget this tragedy 💔
My heart goes to those that survived this. They lost everything and everyone they knew because of the will of one charismatic man. I pray we learn from this event so we don't experience it in the future.
It'll happen again in one form or another
It happened many times since then? What are you talking about? Religion is still here. Mental illness is still here.
I have a few core memories of historical note: 9/11, The Oklahoma City Bombing, The Space Shuttle Explosion, and Jonestown. All of them left an indelible mark on me. I was 7 when Jim Jones killed all of those people. I remember watching the news footage with my parents. Very sad day.
Who let's a 7 year old watch that?!
Oh my goodness...how absolutely horrific 😢 I couldn't believe the way they were all gunned down and watching those poor children being forced to drink poison. Just horrific. I hope awareness of this kind of cult saves lives in the future 🙏
It must’ve felt horrible watching the kids that you raised die in front of you.. being trapped not being able to go back because you were unsure if it was real or just a drill again. Having to not have anymore hope and just accept your fate. The human mind is truly so scary.
He could have provided these people with something really great but with the paranoia, due to drug abuse, he ruined everything. He slid down a dangerous path and took so many innocent people with him. That's the problem with cult leaders. They get power happy and abuse that power in every way
At least he kept them hydrated with Kool-Aid🤣
Jim Jones nor any other man or woman cannot provide anything other than maybe some friendship. Jesus is the only one with something to offer. The least of what Jesus offers is better than the best a man can offer.
@@tugbankert6581 Jesus was a man.
@@toppinzr3743 you are 100% right. He was also God in the flesh and 100% God
@@trentcruise3084 Should've been Fla-Vor-Aid...
Vernon Gosney passed away in 2021 due to Surgical complications.
Rest In Peace Mr. Gosney, you are with your son now, your life was not in vain.
I doubt it
He was a coward, left his son to die.
@@googoo8325glad to see someone here sees it for what it is. All these people got his back like he had some right to do that. He’s a coward. Shocker the socialists do this type of thing.
Karma took 43 years, but finally caught up to Vernon a second time. The first was getting shot on the airplane.
@@Zachary_WalkerI agreed till you went all "socialist bad" nonsense. 🙄
That 40 year old man playing Jim's 19 year old son had me laughing so hard...
Me too 😂 I was like.. they seriously couldn't find an actual 19 year old to play him? They had to pick a man in his forties 😂😂
@@bluewolf2708That shiny wig??!! 😂😂
Sharon was just as crazy as Jones.
So very horrifying words cannot express 😢😢😢
But an emoji will do?
Out of sadness and anger I ask-what happened to the shooters at the airfield? Did they commit suicide too or were they arrested or did they just melt into the jungle?
Very well made, thanks.
Really well done documentary. Thanks for the crew.
This is what happens when you give power to a single entity
& it's not like he was a christian.he used Christianity as a mask
The actor playing Leo Ryan really looks like him
Agree
As a rule, i like to learn all that i can about aspects and key points or events in history, this doc absolutely hit every mark for me. The victims stories DESERVE to be told and this doc handled it beautifully, even if its a tad old now. I'm so deep in my feelings rn 💔
I think he wore sunglasses all the time is so people couldn't see his eyes and would know he was on drugs
I was 10 years old. I remember this vividly. My mom was in the kitchen listening to the radio and the news story came on. She was so upset
I remember this on the news when i was in my early teens- i just could not comprehend how so many people would submit to suicide- now i understand more- and in todays world how billions are brainwashed to thinking and acting in ways of those who know how to control the mind- and leverage technology to amplify this power
absolutely! in large groups, or tribal like communities, we as humans are so powerful and yet can so easily be lost in the common hype… it’s so important to keep things in perspective and hold on to our better judgment, keeping a (small d) democratic philosophy and ensuring that we are not jumping on any “bandwagon” for the sake of keeping the chants going, no matter how “mesmerizing” the commonality of finding ‘your people’…
i think i said that right, i’ve seen crowds at giant concerts get crazy and almost frightening how much folks, including myself, get caught up in it all… reminds me so much of wwII and how many otherwise good and kind families got so caught up in the furor… they fused their identities, relationships, lives & their families lives into that nazi mentality… knowing that we’re all just as capable of being so grossly corrupted is only redeemed by our ability to wake up from our trances and rethink and dispose of repugnant ideas and stories we have so blindly put our faith, energy & time into…
if only we knew now, when we we were younger…🎶 we could all just get along and know how gorgeous & precious we, our youthful strength, energy and time was. :)
aloha & thanks!
There was a lot of outright deception involved - like, Jim Jones told his followers that Guyanese soldiers were in the jungle and would shoot people who tried to escape from Jonestown.
And he fed them paranoia about nuclear war and what would happen as a result of the murder of Leo Ryan.
RIP Vernon Gosney. I know he always regretted leaving his son there.
Oh my god, I had no idea he died!
@@mintyglamour last year :( after these events, he went on to be one of the first openly gay police officers
@@wigglyennui he literally knew it was too dangerous for him to stay yet he leaves a defenceless 4 year old there, sounds about g4y tbh
As he should have regretted it. What father would leave their son there, in a place where he knew he himself wasn't safe? I would have murdered Jones before I'd have EVER left my son. I'm not having go at the man. He made the choice he made and he and his son had to pay for it. Sadly. How I wish he would have made a better decision.
@@wigglyennuihe was gay?
How can you just leave your son?? That's crazy!
That’s what I said ! Talkin bout he better off in Jonestown cause he’s black ! Like sir your black to.
if you take it out of the context of the suicide, which at this point it was - it’s a whole different decision. he probably thought something would happen on the airstrip which it did, and he was also being told to come back anytime. i doubt the idea of the mass sucide ever becoming more than a rehearsal occurred to him. also bare in mind the evil indoctrination he was subjected to by jim jones
Who was supposed to watch him?
@@kaylamay7104Says who? He is not Black.
1:18:50 This scene always gets me. I wish she had taken the little ones outside with her and made a break for it into the cab. Hopefully it would be too fast for the mother to react, and then she and her siblings would have lived. I'm near her age- I first saw this documentary during the pandemic, and I remembered when I outlived her- and I can't understand why she didn't break for it, why she didn't fight to survive. I understand the power of filial loyalty- I grew up with a mother that had a brain tumor and I followed her into situations where, in hindsight, we could have been killed. But I'd like to think that if I *knew* that my little brother and I were going to die if I didn't fight, especially if this happened now or a few years ago as opposed to when I was little, I would have fought.
I only feel bad for the children, they had no control over what happened to them.
It's a tragedy all around. Judge not lest ye be judged. Many were forced to take the poison.
Some things you should keep to yourself.
Many of them were injected or strangled / shot. They didn’t want to die.
I agree with you
A lot of them were forced by injection or killed by the hands of their own people.
Death is a million times more preferable than 10 more days of this life.
"Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
Revelation 12:12!
... They wanted a better life, and met their death.😢
God bless these lost souls, hope they are at peace in heaven, especially the poor innocent children. 🚸
🤣😂🤣😂
@@trentcruise3084 if you haven't got anything even half decent to say & seem to find this whole thing extremely amusing.... how about you gtfo.
Have the day you deserve.
😂😂😂😂
Tenho certeza que as crianças estão no Céu. Elas eram inocentes, e foram sacrificadas por um lunático... Um abraço fraterno desde o Uruguai. Deus os abençoe.
This is literally being reimagined in a town here in the Philippines. Its sad
WHERE? do not just say the country what is the location unless it is lies
@@user-cj9yo3qe2l Socorro Bayanihan Services from this settlement they made called "Kapihan" in a remote place in the mountains. They havent done mass suicide but its very similar to Jonestown. Blind obedience, lies and rehearsing festivities when politicians visit to investigate. It was a religious group who helped each other after the matriarch and founder died and a strong earthquake devastated their homes a new leader who was a young adult was proclaimed the new jesus and everyone was made to sell all their belongings including their homes. The money was given to the religious group and they used it to build Kapihan because they were preaching that it would be the end of the world and only those who come to the mountains will survive
@@user-cj9yo3qe2l just Google Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. or SBSI cult
@@user-cj9yo3qe2llmao it’s not lies. Google is free. It’s SBSI and they are under investigation for trafficking and homicide. It’s a massive mountain cult built JUST like Jonestown. Same white roof cottages and all.
@@user-cj9yo3qe2lgoogle it it’s a fact
I am actually really shocked they interviewed the son for this documentary. In my opinion he is just as bad as Jim Jones. If any of you listen to certain Jonestown audio tapes, you can hear how truly awful and disgusting Stephan Jones is as a person. He made members “salute him” whenever they were called on the stage and threatened violence if they didn’t. He was 19 years old in 1978. Definitely old enough to know it was wrong.
Yeah.. I see snake all over him. He's not so innocent....
Evidence?
@@saulcarvajal7911 Jim Jones violent white night part 2 and skip to 5 minutes and 30 seconds. Plenty more evidence I can dig for you, one instance being where he says word for word to a member “salute me or ill break your neck”
The more FOIA requests are fulfilled, the quieter the "survivors" become in giving interviews and such lol.
I disagree. He was a child of a cult leader, that had to have massively warped his upbringing and sense of self. I think that as an adult he would have had to have had major therapy to have a chance at being a normal, regular guy. He definitely wasn't as bad as Jim Jones and I wouldn't blame him for what happened or his actions caused by such a stressful, weird upbringing. Now, if he committed offences after leaving Jonestown or behaved in such a manner as you accuse, then his actions would certainly be more suspect.
First time watching this so sad all those people died being deceived by an evil man
Really sad story , why people get easily fooled 😢
Out of all documentary I ever seen this has to be the worst to watch! No words can describe the hell these poor people went through😢 It’s heartbreaking and scary how he brainwashed so many innocent people. This is not a mass suicide, it’s mass murder, all because of one mentally ill man! Just the thought of how scared the kids must have been when they were forced to drink the flavour-aid makes me cry😢 innocent kids who have to trust that their parents/adult around protect them from danger and pain😢 The survivors must feel they were lucky to survive, but imagine how much pain and horror they have witness😢 I really regret listening to the actual audio from Jones himself, demanding parents give their kids “the medicin” and sound so evil when he said they don’t cry because of pain (when he KNEW that drinking it is extremely painful! So painful the coward didn’t even drink it himself…). Rest in peace all the innocent children and adults who was poisoned to death brutally😢❤ Hope they all is in a better place now❤️❤️ Religion can be a good thing but also very dangerous when “wrong people” is in charge! Please be safe everyone and don’t end up in a deadly religious cult😔❤️
Wait a minute… so Vernon thought that his biracial son would be better off staying with a cult organization than returning back to the U.S with his father ????? Something is off with that guy.
I'm here because of what's happening here in the Philippines. I hope it's not going to be like this.
whats happening? i wanted to move there
Same here, SSBI is crazy
Kaya nga nakakatakot talaga...Pero wag naman sana😢
Sameee
@@LionProductionsHDdon't you ever dare it the members of the local version of the People's Temple is as deranged as their leader
My takeaway from this documentary is to THINK FOR YOURSELF, and stay away from cults, churches, etc. that want your loyalty. There's a blurred line between loyalty and control.
Watching here because of the SBSI controversy here in my country .
I can only imagine the grief that Vernon has been dragged through- there's no way he couldve known what was about to happen. starving and brainwashed, he genuinely believed his decision was the right one. I feel for him so deeply and I hope he's forgiven himself ❤❤
This documentary was so well put together and I knew the premise of "remote cult mass suicide" but had no idea about the plane or congressman or the people that had escaped (it happened 20+ yrs before I was born) the whole story was so watered down in my brain that having these facts and experiences infront of me has really been eye opening
I was committed to my daughter! From the day she entered this world, id move heaven and earth.....
If all fathers thought like this.....
Very sad, but well done documentary. Thanks for sharing
I know two young teens who were killed that day while their parents were away on temple business. RIP Maury and Darren J.
Seems like Senator just underestimated the craziness of Jim Jones and some fanatics... sad
Why did Congress people didn't have gun there self???
@@MyraAllen-ey2xm because he's a US government representative, in a foreign country. Neither the Guyanese government nor Jones would of let him.
Can you imagine the federal charges that'd been pressed if alive.
The fed charges were never a factor. There was no way he was going to be alive to be indicted
I love Stephan Jones' comments at the end of this documentary about learning from cult victims, rather than judging them. Re: the comments on this video by people expressing moral superiority--well, I never would have followed Jim Jones! Okay, congratulations? Everyone needs to raise their awareness of the dynamics of cult indocrtination so we can spot these dangerous manipulators sooner. I highly recommend Steve Hassan's Combatting Mind Control (2015 edition)--after leaving a cult in the 70s, he became a therapist specializing in exit counseling--helping thousands of people leave cults and high demand groups.
I could see myself in Jonestown because I am attracted to those simple communal lifestyles in a community setting. If Jim would not have gone to those violent extremes, it could have functioned.
I'm with you. Let's have a garden community without the death and violence. I own land. I'm game.
I’m sorry but if you’re so scared for your life that you want to escape a place why would you think it was best to leave your son there??
The old lady was the only one who had any sense and hidden under the bed😕 I'm sadden of all the innocent children that died💔😢
Will u marry me
rip for all victims