(Editor’s note: The information in this article comes from writings by Shannon Howard, her podcast Transmissions from Jonestown, and an interview conducted 8 October 2024 by Rebecca Moore.)
Although she lived in the Fillmore District of San Francisco until she was nine, leaving with her parents in the early 1980s, Shannon Howard did not encounter Peoples Temple or the events in Jonestown until she was twenty. That was when she watched a documentary about Jonestown that was set in her very own childhood neighborhood. And when she discovered the audiotape archive on the Alternative Considerations website and started listening to tapes, “that’s where I learned the story first.” She began by listening to tapes; to date she has digitized at least fifty problematic audiotapes for the website, thereby making transcripts possible.
Long fascinated by true crime accounts, and trained as a post-production sound engineer, Shannon eventually combined those interests and skills to produce the podcast series Transmissions from Jonestown. With currently more than one million followers worldwide, and anywhere from 200 to 500 listeners per day, Transmissions continues to be one of the most significant media interpretations of Peoples Temple and Jonestown available.
Begun in 2017, with two seasons and twenty-one episodes to date, Transmissions blends interviews with Temple survivors and others connected to the events in Jonestown, audio that was taped in the Temple and in Jonestown, and dispassionate narration. Undergirded by Shannon’s own musical compositions to supplement the narrative, the episodes tell the story—or stories—of the Temple and Jonestown from multiple voices and perspectives. “This totally demystified Jim Jones for me,” she observes, as it became clear that Jones was an “unreliable narrator” who concocted fables to instill fear in his followers.
While the first season developed the foundations of an account of Jonestown, it drifted somewhat into the realm of speculative theories, Shannon admits. For the second season, “By reaching out to survivors I learned more about the story from different perspectives.” By doing research before interviewing her subjects, listening to people without being judgmental, and reminding them that her sole motivation was to get their story out (since the podcasts are freely available through YouTube, Spotify, and other platforms), she has been able to interview a wide range of individuals. “I always want to come from a place of compassion,” she says. This means “sticking with what people want to talk about, for no matter how long. I just want them to feel heard.”
Three of the episodes she is most proud of are the three-part Sunday Service immersive series that explore the nine gifts of Jim Jones’s paranormal ministry. As the podcasts recreate a Peoples Temple Sunday service, former members share their memories from the audience and backstage. Many were healed and others talk about how healings worked behind the scenes.
A favorite of podcast fans is Shannon’s deep dive into the creation of the record album “He’s Able.” The episode chronicles the making of the Temple’s gospel/funk album and features two of those involved in the album’s production, Jack Arnold Beam and Mike Cartmell. (For more on “He’s Able,” click here.)
As an unpaid volunteer, who receives no remuneration for the production of Transmissions from Jonestown, Shannon has contributed greatly to the preservation of the Temple story/stories by conducting oral history interviews for the podcasts. In addition, she has spent the past eighteen months leading a team of other volunteers to create and document a moment-by-moment account of what exactly happened on 18 November 1978. Called the November 18th Project, it will ultimately include a chronology with all sources listed; an annotated version of Q042, the so-called death tape; an analysis and explanation of the NBC footage shot at the Port Kaituma Airstrip; and a written narrative.
The podcasts have prompted others to research different aspects of Temple life. One listener became interested in the Jonestown pioneers, those who built the community in the middle of the jungle. She now has her own Instagram sitedevoted to these early settlers. Others have begun academic research. Shannon says, “I’ve been lucky to find a dedicated audience who likes cinematic soundscape audio, alternative religion, true crime, and weird things they find on the internet.”
Shannon Howard is now producing the third and final season of Transmissions from Jonestown. She has lots of stories to choose from as she fills in some of the gaps previous seasons may have left: the influence of Pentecostalism on the Temple; its social justice advocacy; daily life in Jonestown; the world of the children; and other topics. “I’m not out to solve a fifty-year-old crime, though I felt that way in the beginning,” she confesses. “I’m more interested in people’s insights and their story as they want to tell it.”
And after the third season? Shannon hopes to create short podcasts and audioscapes that cover everything from true crime to unusual historical events. She’d also like to help Peoples Temple survivors who wish to write their memoirs. And she’d like to write a book that describes her own experiences as a researcher. “For me,” she writes, “the story of Peoples Temple is not merely a historical footnote. It is a compelling narrative that challenges our understanding of the human psyche, the allure of charismatic leaders, and the blurred lines between truth and perception.”
(Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, and has written and published extensively on Peoples Temple and Jonestown. Rebecca is also the co-manager of this website. Her full collection of articles on this site may be found here. She may be reached at remoore@sdsu.edu.)