M-1-a-6a
[illegible number] Filbert Ave.
Chico, CA 95926
Dec. 2, 1977
Dear Mr. Owen,
Larry and I have lived with this frightening and upsetting thing for years wondering what the right thing is to do about his children.
Jim Jones has terrified the members of his group by telling them of his supernatural powers and threatening them with “something bad will happen to you if you question my powers.”
I heard him say this myself the one time I attended a service at the Temple in 1969 or 1970.
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He also told them all that the nuclear holocaust was due to happen on Nov. 17 (1971?) and the only ones that would be saved were his group who would go into a cave in Ukiah.
He made them drink a drink with vinegar & honey every day to protect them from radiation. David Tupper & little Larry were terribly afraid of him. Little Larry was afraid to eat and became so malnourished his head looked like a skull.
Jim Jones also had some older people who pretended to die during
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the Sunday service and he would raise them from the dead (supposedly). This is a terribly frightening thing for children.
The worst thing he did was take busloads of children to Oregon and march them into the river there when they arrived in the middle of the night. Little Larry told me many times the adults who went with them hit the children with belts (he said, “The end with the buckle.”) to force them into the
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cold water. He was 4 yrs. old at the time. It was supposed to be a nuclear survival test. Then Jim Jones led them through the woods telling them there were poisonous snakes and they would be protected by his divine power. Then he pretended to be bitten & rolled on the ground and healed himself to impress them that he is God.
I think the man is a crazy maniac.
Sincerely,
Virginia Tupper