The sign reads: "Welcome to Jonestown,
Peoples Temple Agricultural Project" |
"Jonestown" is a word with several meanings. First, it refers
to an agricultural project established by the Peoples Temple, a religious
group based in California which immigrated to Guyana in the mid-1970s
to establish an agricultural utopia. Second, it refers to the events
of 18 November 1978 in which a U.S. Congressman was assassinated, along
with four other individuals, at a jungle airstrip in South America.
These tragic killings were followed by the mass murders and suicides
of 900 men, women, and children by ingesting potassium cyanide mixed
into a vat of fruit punch and tranquilizers. Finally, the word "Jonestown"
has been used to describe any New Religious Movement which may or may
not have the potential for violence, as in "Heaven's Gate was another
Jonestown."
The
following answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Jonestown provide
additional information about the group, its beliefs, and its practices.
Peoples Temple
What is the correct spelling of
Peoples Temple? Answer
How
did Peoples Temple begin? Answer
Who
was the leader of Peoples Temple? Answer
What was Jim Jones' racial heritage? Answer 
Was Peoples Temple a church? Answer
Was
Peoples Temple associated with a denomination? Answer
Who
joined Peoples Temple? Answer
What
were the beliefs of Peoples Temple members? Answer
How many people belonged to Peoples Temple? Answer
Were the Peoples Temple faith
healings genuine or spurious? Answer
Was Peoples Temple responsible for the deaths of some of its former members? Answer
Why did Peoples Temple make so many
audiotapes? Answer
Jonestown, Pre-November 18, 1978
Where
exactly was Jonestown? Answer
What
were conditions like in Jonestown? Answer
Were there religious services held
in Jonestown? Answer
Was Jonestown a self-sustaining
community? Answer
Was there Social Security fraud in
Jonestown? Answer
Did Peoples Temple commit fraud in its relationship with state welfare
agencies, especially with the foster children under its care? Answer
Why did people have so many different names in Jonestown? Answer
Was Jonestown an armed camp? Answer
What was Peoples Temple’s plan to
move to the Soviet Union? Answer
What are White Nights? How many of them were there? Answer
What was Jim Jones’ mental and
physical condition in November 1978? Was it related to his use of drugs? Answer
What is the definition of “revolutionary suicide”? Answer
November 18, 1978
Who accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan on his trip to Guyana in November 1978? Answer
What
exactly happened on 18 November 1978? Answer
How many people died on November 18? Answer
How many
people survived November 18? Answer
Who was killed at the Port Kaituma airstrip on November 18? Who was wounded? Who were identified as the assailants? Answer
Who was
in the group that left Jonestown to go on a “picnic” the morning of November
18th? Answer
Should the deaths in Jonestown be considered as suicides or murders? Answer
How many children and minors died in Jonestown? What were their ages? Answer
Who shot Jim Jones? Was it murder or suicide? Answer
Is there any reasonable explanation for the wide discrepancies in
the body count at Jonestown? Answer
Post-November 18, 1978
What happened to the bodies from Jonestown? Answer
What was the disposition of Jim Jones’ body? Answer
What happened to the graves of the
people who died in Jonestown before November 1978? Answer
Why are there so many conspiracy theories about what happened in Jonestown? Answer
What happened to Peoples Temple after 18 November 1978? Answer
What happened to Jonestown after 18 November 1978? Answer
How much did Peoples Temple have in assets at the time of the deaths in Jonestown? Where did it go afterwards? Answer
What happened to the survivors of Peoples Temple? Answer
Who is entitled to Unclaimed Property
from the California State Controller? Answer
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