{"id":132225,"date":"2025-10-14T14:45:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=132225"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:38:32","slug":"q042-transcript","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=132225","title":{"rendered":"Q042 Transcript of November 18 Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: This transcript is part of a special report by the November 18 Project. The table of contents for the report is here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

[This transcript was created by volunteer researchers Shannon Howard [SH], Adrian Whicker [AW], Joel X. Thomas [JXT], and Brian Holtz [BH]. <\/em><\/p>\n

[If you use this transcript, we kindly ask that you credit The Jonestown Institute and the volunteer researchers who created it.<\/em><\/p>\n

[This document will be periodically updated as new information becomes available. We welcome any additions or corrections to our work.\u00a0<\/em>radiojonestown@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

[The Death Tape audio we used for the creation of this transcript can be found both here<\/a>\u00a0and <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

[For a detailed timeline following the State Department and FBI\u2019s chain of evidence log for the death tape leading to its eventual leak to the public, go here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

[When we could not agree on what we heard, we put those variations into a spreadsheet<\/a>. The variations also appear as separately numbered footnotes throughout the transcript, with the text of the variations following the transcript\u2019s contextual footnotes.]<\/em><\/p>\n

[Recorder On]<\/p>\n

[Ghosting music][1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Microphone on]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit][2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Jones<\/strong>: How very much I\u2019ve loved you. How very much I\u2019ve tried my best to give you [Radio interference] the good life. Mmmmmm.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d [Applause]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> (Heavy breath) [ghosting music throughout] But in spite of all of that I\u2019ve tried, a handful of our people, with their lies, have made our life impossible. [Children crying and cooing in background] There\u2019s no way to detach our self from what\u2019s happened today. Not only \u2013 we\u2019re in a compound situation. Not only are there those who have left and committed the betrayal of the century \u2013 some have stolen children from others \u2013 and they\u2019re in pursuit right now to kill them, because they stole their children. And we \u2013 we are sitting here waiting on a powder keg. I don\u2019t think this is what we want to do with our babies. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what we had in mind to do with our babies. It was said by the greatest of prophets from time immemorial: \u201cNo man lay \u2013 takes my life from me; I lay my life down\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: So, to \u2013 to sit here and wait for wh \u2013 the catastrophe that\u2019s going to happen on that airplane \u2013 it\u2019s going to be a catastrophe, almost happened here. Almost happened \u2013 The congressman[4]<\/sup><\/a> was nearly killed here. But you can\u2019t steal people\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You can\u2019t take off with people\u2019s children without expecting a [emphatic] violent reaction.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Right! [murmuring]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: And that\u2019s not so unfamiliar to us either, if we \u2013 even if we were Judeo-Christian \u2013 if we weren\u2019t communists.<\/p>\n

Child<\/strong>: Daddy!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: The world \u2013 the kingdom suffereth violence and the violent shall take it by force.[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Man<\/strong>: Right<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: If we can\u2019t live in peace, then let\u2019s die in peace.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cRight\u201d! [Applause]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Music ghosting throughout] (Weary) We\u2019ve been so betrayed (sigh). We have been so terribly betrayed. But we\u2019ve tried and as Jack Beam<\/a> often said, I don\u2019t know where he is at right this moment. Where\u2019s Jack? He said if this only worked one day, it was worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cYeah!\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d \u201cYeah!\u201d [Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Unintelligible] Cuz what\u2019s going to happen here in a matter of a few minutes is that one of those people[6]<\/sup><\/a> on that plane is gonna \u2013 gonna shoot the pilot. I know that. I didn\u2019t plan it, but I know it\u2019s gonna happen. They\u2019re gonna shoot that pilot, and down comes that plane into the jungle. And we had better not have any of our children left when it\u2019s over, cause they\u2019ll parachute in here on us.<\/p>\n

[Baby cooing] [Pause]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2019m telling you just as plain as I know how to tell you. I\u2019ve never lied to you.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Emphatic] I never have lied to you.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I know\u2026 that\u2019s what\u2019s gonna happen. That\u2019s what it intends to do, and he [Larry Layton] will do it. He\u2019ll do it. Fortunately being so bewildered with many, many p \u2013 pressures on my brain, seeing all these people behave so treasonous \u2013 it was just too much for me to put together, but uh, uh, I now know what he was telling me and it\u2019ll happen. If the plane gets in the air even. (Pause, child crying) So my opinion is that we be kind to children and be kind to seniors and take the potion like they used to take in ancient Greece, and step over quietly, because we are not committing suicide: it\u2019s a revolutionary act<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We can\u2019t go back. They won\u2019t leave us alone. They\u2019re now going back to tell more lies, which means more congressmen. And there\u2019s no way, no way we can survive. Hmm? [Voice too soft]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Anybody wishes\u2026<\/p>\n

[Microphone off\/on]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Anyone that has any dissenting opinion, please speak. (Pause. Music ghosting) Yes.<\/p>\n

[Microphone off]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [music ghosting throughout] You can have an opportunity, but if our children [chokes] are left, we\u2019re going to have them butchered. We can make a strike, but we\u2019ll be striking against people[7]<\/sup><\/a> that we \u2013 we don\u2019t want to strike against. We wan\u2013 we\u2019d like to get the people who caused this stuff, and some \u2013 if some people here are p \u2013 prepared and know how to do that, to go in town[8]<\/sup><\/a> and get Timothy Stoen, but there\u2019s no plane. There\u2019s no plane. You can\u2019t catch a plane in time. [child crying throughout]<\/p>\n

[Tapping on microphone]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> He\u2019s responsible for it.<\/p>\n

Woman:<\/strong> That’s right.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> He brought these people to us.[9]<\/sup><\/a> He and Deanna Mertle<\/a>. But people in San Francisco[10]<\/sup><\/a> will not \u2013 not be idle over this. [Pause] They\u2019ll not take our death in vain; you know? [Pause] Yes, Christine? [child crying and cooing throughout]<\/p>\n

Christine Miller<\/strong><\/a>: Is it too late for Russia?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Inhaling] Here\u2019s why it\u2019s too late for Russia. They killed. They started to kill. That\u2019s why it makes it too late for Russia. Otherwise I\u2019d said, \u201cRussia, you bet your life.\u201d [licks lips or drinks] But it\u2019s too late. I can\u2019t control these people. They\u2019re out there. They\u2019ve gone with their guns and it\u2019s too late. [Pause] [Weary tone] And once we kill anybody \u2013 at least that\u2019s the way I\u2019ve always \u2013 I\u2019ve always put my lot with you. If one of my people do something, it\u2019s me. [Pause]<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: And they[11]<\/sup><\/a> say I don\u2019t \u2013 I don\u2019t have to take the blame for this, but I can\u2019t \u2013 I don\u2019t \u2013 I don\u2019t live that way. They[12]<\/sup><\/a> said deliver up Ujara [Don Sly<\/a>], who tried to get the man [Ryan] back here.[13]<\/a> Ujara, whose wi \u2013 mother\u2019s [wife Neva Sly & mother Delitha Sly] been lying on him and lying on him and trying to break up this family. And they\u2019ve all[14]<\/sup><\/a> agreed to kill us by any means necessary. You think I\u2019m going to deliver them Ujara? Not on your life. [Children crying and cooing throughout]<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> No!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No.<\/p>\n

Ujara [<\/strong>Don Sly<\/strong><\/a>]<\/strong>: If there is any way that if I go that it\u2019ll help\u2026<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No. You\u2019re not going. You\u2019re not going.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> No! No!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You\u2019re not going. I can\u2019t live that way. [Emphatic] I cannot live that way. I\u2019ve lived with \u2013 for all, and I\u2019ll die for all.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Yeah, that\u2019s right! [Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2019ve been living on hope for a long time, Christine, and I appreciate \u2013 You\u2019ve always been a very good agitator; I like agitation, because you got to see two sides of one issue, two sides of a question. But what those people[15]<\/sup><\/a> are gonna get done, what they get through, will make our life worse than hell. They\u2019ll make us \u2013 make the Russians not accept us. When they get through lying. They told so many lies between there and that truck that we are \u2013 we are done-in as far as any other alternative.<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 handed back to Christine Miller]<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Well, I say let\u2019s make an air \u2013 airlift to Russia. That\u2019s what I say. I don\u2019t think nothing is impossible\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Well, how we gonna airli\u2013<\/p>\n

Miller:<\/strong> \u00a0\u2013 if you believe it. Well, I…<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> How are you gonna airlift to Russia?<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Well, I thought he[16]<\/sup><\/a>\u2013 they said if we got in an emergency, they gave you a code to let them know.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No, they didn\u2019t. They gave us a code that they\u2019d let us <\/em>know of an issue, not us<\/em> create an issue for them<\/em>. They said if we \u2013 if they<\/em> saw the country coming down they\u2019d create, they\u2019d give us a code. They\u2019d give us a code. You can check on there and see if it\u2019s on the code. You can… check with Russia to see if they\u2019ll take us in immediately, otherwise we die. I don\u2019t know what else you say to these people. But to me, death is not a\u2013 death is not a fearful thing. It\u2019s living that\u2019s treacherous.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right! [Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I have never, never, never, never seen anything like this before in my life. I\u2019ve never seen people take the law uh, and do uh \u2013 in their own hands and provoke us and try to purposely agitate murder of children. There is no use \u2013 Christine, it\u2019s just not \u2013 it\u2019s just not worth living like this. Not worth living like this.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right! (Woman says something unintelligible \u2026\u201dthey used us\u2026\u201d)<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: I think that there were too few who left for twelve hundred people to give them their lives for those people that left.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You know how many left?<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: [Casually] Hmmm, twenty-odd.[17]<\/sup><\/a> That\u2019s \u2013 That\u2019s a small amount com\u2013 com\u2013 compared to\u2026 (Jones speaks over)<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Somewhat mockingly] Twenty-odd, twenty-odd.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Compared to what\u2019s here.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Twenty-odd. But d\u2013 what\u2019s gonna happen when they don\u2019t leave? [Pause] I hope that they could leave. But what\u2019s gonna happen when they \u2013 when they don\u2019t leave?<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: You mean the people here?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Yeah. What\u2019s going to happen to us when they don\u2019t leave, when they get on the plane and the plane goes down?<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll go down.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You don\u2019t think it\u2019ll go down?<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cYes\u2013\u201d \u201cYes it will.\u201d (Murmurs, restless shouting)<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I \u2013 I wish I could tell you were right, but I\u2019m right.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cYes!\u201d \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: There\u2019s one man [Layton] there who blames, and rightfully so, Debbie Blakey<\/a> for the murder<\/em> [emphatic] \u2013 for the murder <\/em>of his mother \u2013 and he\u2019ll sh \u2013 he\u2019ll stop that pilot by any means necessary.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d \u201cHe will\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: He\u2019ll do it.[18]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: That plane\u2019ll come out of the air. There\u2019s no way you fly a plane without a pilot.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: I wasn\u2019t speaking about that plane. I was speaking about the plane for us to go to Russia.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: How \u2013 (Sighs in frustration)<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Stirs, murmurs. \u201cHow you get there?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013 To Russia? You think Russia\u2019s gonna want \u2013 no, it\u2019s not gonna, it\u2019s, it\u2019s, it\u2019s \u2013 We\u2019re not, uh you think Russia\u2019s gonna want us with all this stigma?<\/p>\n

Woman in crowd<\/strong>: No.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: We hav\u2026<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We had \u2013 we (speaks over Miller) \u2013 we had some value, but now we don\u2019t have any value.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Well, I don\u2019t see it like that. I mean, I feel like that as long as there\u2019s life, there\u2019s hope. [Jones inhales deeply] That\u2019s my faith.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Well \u2013 someday everybody dies. Some place that hope runs out, because everybody dies.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I haven\u2019t seen anybody yet didn\u2019t die.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong> (tries to speak): Not\u2026<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: And I\u2019d like to choose my own kind of death for a change. I\u2019m tired of being tormented to hell, that\u2019s what I\u2019m tired of.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d \u201cTired, tired.\u201d [Pause]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Tired of it.<\/p>\n

Crowd: <\/strong>[Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013 twelve hundred people\u2019s lives in my hands, and I certainly don\u2019t want your life in my hands. But I\u2019m going to tell you, Christine, without me, life has no meaning.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Applause] \u201cRight!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2019m the best friend you\u2019ll ever have.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Applause] \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I want, want, I have to pay \u2013 I\u2019m standing with Ujara. I\u2019m standing with those people. They\u2019re part of me. I can detach myself. My attorney says detach myself. No, no, no, no, no, no. I never detached myself from any of your troubles.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2019ve always taken your troubles right on my shoulders.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: And I\u2019m not going to change that now. It\u2019s too late. I\u2019ve been running too long. Not going to change now.<\/p>\n

Man<\/strong>: All right Dad!<\/p>\n

Crowd: <\/strong>[Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Maybe the next time you\u2019ll get to go to Russia. The next time `round.[19]<\/sup><\/a> This is \u2013 what I\u2019m talking about now is the dispensation of judgment. This is a revolutionary su \u2013 it\u2019s a revolutionary suicide council. I\u2019m not talking about self\u2013 self-destruction. I\u2019m talking about what \u2013 we have no other road. I will take your \u2013 your call. We will put it to the Russians. And I can tell you the answer now, because I\u2019m a prophet.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Call the Russians and tell them, and see if they\u2019ll take us.[20]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Music ghosting throughout]<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Not that I\u2019m afraid to die, by no means.[21]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I don\u2019t think you are. I don\u2019t think you are.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: But uh\u2026 [Long pause] I look at our babies and I think they deserve to live\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [inhales] I agree<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: \u2013 you know?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: But they \u2013 but also they deserve what\u2019s more, they deserve peace.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right. (murmuring)<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: We all came here for peace.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: And we\u2019ve, have we had it?<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong> (One person says \u201cYeah\u201d) \u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: No.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> I tried to give it to you. I\u2019ve laid down my life, practically. I\u2019ve practically died every day to give you peace. And you still not had any peace. You look better than I\u2019ve seen you in a long while, but it\u2019s still not the kind of peace that I wanted to give you. Say…Uh \u2013 A person\u2019s a fool who continues to say that you\u2019re winning when you\u2019re losing.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right! [Pause] [Someone says something too soft]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Win one, lose two. What? [Pause; woman calling out something from the crowd] I didn\u2019t hear you, ma\u2019am. You\u2019ll have to speak up. Ma\u2019am, you\u2019ll have to speak up.<\/p>\n

Mary Darden<\/strong><\/a>: I said hope is lost, let’s die, we dying anyway.[Variant1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: That\u2019s a sweet thought. Who said that? [Pause]<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Mary Darden![Variant2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: C \u2013Come on up and speak it again, honey. [slurring heavily] Stand up and say about, talk about it.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> …is taking off? No plane is taking off. [Pause] It\u2019s suicide. They have done it. Stoen has done it. But somebody ought to, somebody, can they talk \u2013 Can they not talk to San Francisco to see that Stoen does not get by with this infamy\u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013this is infamy. He has done the thing he wanted to do.<\/p>\n

Woman:<\/strong> So true!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Have us destroyed.<\/p>\n

Woman<\/strong>: That\u2019s right. [Pause]<\/p>\n

Another Woman<\/strong>: Can you say it?<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: When you \u2013 when you \u2013 when we destroy ourselves, we\u2019re defeated.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We\u2019re not defeated.<\/p>\n

Miller:<\/strong> We let them, the enemy, defeat us.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Did you see \u2013 did you see, I will live to fight no more forever<\/em>?[22]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Yes, I saw that.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Did you not have some sense of pride and victory in that man?[23]<\/sup><\/a> That he would not subject himself to the will and whim of people who tell \u2013 that they\u2019re gonna to come in whenever they please and push into our house. Come when they please, take who they want to, talk to who they want to \u2013 does\u2026 this is not living?<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> No!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: That\u2019s not living to me. That\u2019s not freedom. That\u2019s not the kind of freedom I sought.<\/p>\n

[Music ghosting throughout]<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: But I think where they made their mistake is when they stopped to rest. (Jones sips his drink) If they had gone on, they would\u2019ve made it. But they stopped \u2013 to rest. [Child coughing].<\/p>\n

Jim McElvane<\/strong><\/a>[24]<\/sup><\/a>: Chris\u2026<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

JIm McElvane:<\/strong> …It\u2019s over sister, it\u2019s over. We\u2019ve made that day. We made a beautiful day, and let\u2019s make it a beautiful day. That\u2019s what I say.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Applause] \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We win. We win when we go down. Tim Stoen has nobody else to hate. He has nobody else to hate. Then he\u2019ll destroy himself. I\u2019m speaking here not, as, uh, the administrator; I\u2019m speaking as a prophet today. I wouldn\u2019ta step in this seat and talk so serious if I didn\u2019t know what I was talking about. If there\u2019s any way to call back the immense amount of damage that\u2019s going to be done, but I cannot separate myself from the pain of my people. And you can\u2019t either, Christine, if you stop to think about it. You can\u2019t separate yourself. We\u2019ve walked too long together.<\/p>\n

Adult coughs.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: I, I know that. But I still think, as an individual, I have a right to\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You do, and I\u2019m listening.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: \u2013what I think, what I feel. And I think we all have a right to our own destiny as individuals.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Right. [Inhales].<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: And I think<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: I have a right to choose mine, and everybody else has a right to choose theirs.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Murmurs, \u201cOh!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Mmm-hmm.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: You know? [Woman cries out something]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Mmm-hmm. [Lue Ester Lewis<\/a>: \u201cWhy don\u2019t she leave?\u201d] I\u2019m not criticizing\u2013<\/p>\n

Lue Ester Lewis[25]<\/sup><\/a>:<\/strong> Why don\u2019t you [she?] leave then?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: What\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

Lue Ester Lewis<\/strong>: She talk like she wanna leave, why don\u2019t she just go ahead! [child crying] Your own individual life, that\u2019s what you\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n

Miller:<\/strong> That\u2019s what I\u2026<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2026said today. That\u2019s what 20 people said today with their lives.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: I think I still have a right to my own opinion.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Stirs, shouting \u201cNo! shhhh!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2013 I\u2019m not taking it from you. I\u2019m not taking it from you.<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: Christine\u2013<\/p>\n

Voice in<\/strong> crowd:<\/strong> Do you wanna leave?<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: \u2013you\u2019re only standing here because he was here in the first place.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: So, I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about, having an individual life. Your life has been extended to the day that you\u2019re standing there, because of him.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cRight!\u201d [Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2026Voice back there she has as much right to speak as anybody else, too. What did you say, Lue E [Lue Ester Lewis]?<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Well, you\u2019ll regret that this very day if you don\u2019t die. You\u2019ll regret it if you do, don\u2026 you don\u2019t die. You\u2019ll regret it.<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 handed back to Christine Miller]<\/p>\n

Miller <\/strong>[pleading]: Dad, you\u2019ve saved too many people.<\/p>\n

[Ghosting music throughout]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2019ve saved them. I saved them, but I made my example. I made my expression. I made my manifestation, and the world was ready \u2013 not ready for me. Paul<\/a> said, \u201cI was a man born out of due season.\u201d[26]<\/sup><\/a> I\u2019ve been born out of due season, just like all we are, and the best testimony we can make is to leave this goddamn world.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Raucous applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Peace, peace.[27]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Lue Ester Lewis <\/strong>[disdainful]: You must be scared to die!<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 on]<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: I\u2019m not talking to her. Will you let \u2013 Will you \u2013 will you let her or let me talk?<\/p>\n

Lewis<\/strong> [angry, off mic]:<\/strong> Well, I\u2019m talking to you! I\u2019m talking to you! (Continued unintelligible)<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You\u2019re talking. Keep talking.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Would you make her sit down and let me talk while I\u2019m on the floor or let her talk?<\/p>\n

Lewis <\/strong>[angry, off mic]:<\/strong> \u201dI\u2019m gonna stand on the line\u2026stand on the other\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Tape edit] [admonishingly] It\u2019s not proper to tell the leader what to do, it really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong> [angry]: Stirs, unintelligible loud voices<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2019ve \u2013 I\u2019ve listened to you. You asked me about Russia. I\u2019m right now making a call to Russia. What more do you suggest? I\u2019m listening to you.<\/p>\n

Crowd stirring<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: If Russia gives me one slight bit of encouragement. I just now instructed him to go there and do that.[28]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Lewis <\/strong>[angry]: And you wouldn\u2019t be no fucking good in Russia, goddamn it!<\/p>\n

Voice<\/strong>: \u201cY’all should go\u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Woman<\/strong>: \u201cWhy didn’t you get on that truck?\u201d<\/p>\n

Disruption in Crowd. Woman\u2019s voice \u201c[Unintelligible: possibly \u201carrested\u201d)[29]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Johnny Brown Jones<\/strong><\/a>: All right now, everybody hold it! We didn\u2019t come \u2013 Hold it! Hold it! Hold it! Hold it! [crowd seems frenzied]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013A stronger maintain[30]<\/sup><\/a>. [voices; glasses\/dishes rattling? Moving tables?] To lay down your burdens. I\u2019m gonna lay down my burdens. Down by the riverside.[31]<\/sup><\/a> So we lay them down here in the side of Guyana. What\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n

Crowd: <\/strong>[Applause] [Pause]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No man didn\u2019t take our life. Right now. They haven\u2019t taken it. But when they start parachuting out of the air, they\u2019ll \u2013 they\u2019ll shoot some of our innocent babies. I\u2019m not lying \u2013 I don\u2019t wanna see this\u2013 Christine. But they gotta shoot me to get through to some of these people. I\u2019m not letting them take Ujara. Can you let them take Ujara?<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> No, no, no, no.<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 on]<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: You mean you wanna see John<\/a>[32]<\/sup><\/a> die?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: What\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: You mean you want to see John, the little one and Kimo<\/a>[33]<\/sup><\/a> [Unintelligible]\u2026<\/p>\n

Jones <\/strong>[shocked]: I want to see \u2013<\/p>\n

[Tapping on microphone]<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong> [Frenzied, angry, stirring, shouting and disruption] Astonished woman: \u201cShe said!?\u201d [Unintelligible] Another woman \u201cWhat’s a matter with\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

[Tapping on microphone]<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 handed to unidentified woman, possibly Marceline Jones<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I, I\u2013 Peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace\u2026<\/p>\n

Marceline Jones<\/strong>: Christine, are you saying that you think he thinks more of them than other children here?<\/p>\n

Jones <\/strong>[shaken]: John\u2013 John<\/p>\n

Marceline Jones<\/strong>: Cause that\u2019s what you\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013 you\u2019re acting, do you think I\u2019d put John\u2019s life above others? If I put John\u2019s life above others, I wouldn\u2019t be standing with Ujara. I\u2019d send John out\u2013out, he could go out on the driveway tonight. [Voice strained]<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 handed back to Christine Miller]<\/p>\n

Miller <\/strong>[worried]: I called his name because he\u2019s young, they\u2019re young.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong> [defensive]: I know, but he\u2019s no \u2013he\u2019s no different to me than any of these children here. He\u2019s just one of my children. I don\u2019t prefer one above another. I don\u2019t prefer him above Ujara. I can\u2019t do that. I can\u2019t separate myself from your actions or his actions.<\/p>\n

Yells coming from crowd; Woman: \u201cNever has\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> If you\u2019d done something wrong, I\u2019d stand with you. If they wanted to come and get you, they\u2019d have to take me.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d<\/p>\n

Woman 1 [Sounds like a middle aged African American woman. Weepy]: <\/strong>Dad, we\u2019re all ready to go. If you tell us we have to give our lives now, we\u2019re ready. I\u2019m pretty sure all the rest of the sisters and brothers are with me.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Cheering<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Some months I\u2019ve tried to keep this thing from happening. But I now see it\u2019s the will \u2013 it\u2019s the will of Sovereign Being that this happen to us. That WE lay down our lives in protest against what\u2019s being done. That we lay down our lives to protest in what\u2019s being done. The criminality of people. (Radio bleed: I\u2026R\u2026unintelligible) The cruelty of people. Who walked out of here today? Did you notice who walked out?<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Yeah<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Mostly white people.[34]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Stirs] That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Woman in Crowd: <\/strong>White asses.<\/p>\n

[Music ghosting throughout]<\/p>\n

Jones: <\/strong>Mostly white people walked. [Pause; woman in crowd (sounds younger): \u201cJames & Thom [Bogue]\u201d] I\u2019m so grateful for the ones that didn\u2019t \u2013 those who knew who they are [Radio Interference, <\/strong>sound bleed: \u201cCome in?\u201d] \u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I just know that there \u2013there \u2013there\u2019s no point \u2013 there\u2019s no point to this. We ha\u2013 we are born before our time[35]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Cheers \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d \u201cRight!\u201d)<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: They won\u2019t accept us, and I don\u2019t think we should sit here and take any more time\u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013for our children to be endangered. Because if they come after our children, and \u2013 and we give them our children, then our children will suffer forever.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right! [emphatic applause from one person]<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 handed back to Christine Miller]<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong> [Frazzled]:<\/strong> [Unintelligible] anybody with a different idea\u2026<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> I have no quarrel with you coming up. I like you. I personally like you very much.<\/p>\n

Miller <\/strong>[shaken]:<\/strong> But these people gets hostile when you try and \u2013<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Oh, well, some people do \u2013 but then, you know, you\u2013 you, jus\u2026 some people do. Put it that way \u2013 I\u2019m not hostile.<\/p>\n

Woman 2<\/strong>: (..can explain? …)<\/p>\n

Woman 3[36]<\/sup><\/a>:<\/strong> [unintelligible] \u2013somebody…they done started shit![Variant3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You had to be honest, and you stayed, and if you\u2019da be \u2013 you wanted to run, you\u2019d have run with them \u2019cause anybody could\u2019ve run today they would have wanted to. I know you\u2019re not a runner. And I, I would \u2013 I\u2019d \u2013 your life is precious to me. It\u2019s as precious as John\u2019s. [child squeals]<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 off]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> And I don\u2019t \u2013 what I do I do with weight and justice and judgment. [child crying] I\u2019m \u2013 I have weighed it against all evidence.<\/p>\n

[Music ghosting throughout]<\/p>\n

Cough in crowd. Child crying.<\/p>\n

[Long pause]<\/p>\n

Miller<\/strong>: Ok. That\u2019s all I\u2019ve got to say.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: What comes now, folks? What comes now?[37]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Man<\/strong>: [Emphatic and clipped]: Everybody hold it!<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: Sit down now, stay seated. [Emphatic] Stay seated!<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Stirs, frenzied<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Stay peace. Stay peace. Stay peace. Stay peace. Stay peace. What\u2019s come? Don\u2019t let \u2013 Take Dwyer[38]<\/sup><\/a> on down to the mi \u2013 East House. (Heavy breath) [shushing] Take Dwyer on down to the East House and be seated.<\/p>\n

Possibly Garnett Johnson<\/a>[39]<\/sup><\/a>: [on mic with authority]:<\/strong> Everybody be quiet, please.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Show you\u2019ve got some respect for our lives.<\/p>\n

Woman in<\/strong> crowd:<\/strong> Shut up!<\/p>\n

[Microphone #2 on]<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: That means sit down, sit down. Sit down<\/em>!<\/p>\n

[Possible tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I know. [Pause] [Groans]<\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: Do you copy?)<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> I tried so very, very hard. They\u2019re trying over here to see what can may\u2013what can happen in Los Angeles.[40]<\/sup><\/a>Who is it?<\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: Do you copy?)<\/p>\n

[Music ghosting throughout]<\/p>\n

[Two Voices to Jones; a woman][41]<\/sup><\/a>: \u201cBob [unintelligible] must\u2019a drive the truck, [Unintelligible] mostly security people.\u201d[Variant4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Man<\/strong><[42]<\/sup><\/a>: Stan[43]<\/sup><\/a> [Unintelligible] sent out [unintelligible] with about ten of our folks on it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Woman<\/strong>: Carol.[44]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Get Dwyer out of here before something happens to him [Pause].<\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: Do you copy?)<\/p>\n

[Noises like items being placed on a table or individual claps in background]<\/p>\n

Voices<\/strong>: \u2013goin’ to get Ujara.[45]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Dwyer?<\/p>\n

Man <\/strong>(Possibly Johnny Brown Jones or Joe Wilson<\/a>):<\/strong> Ujara?[46]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones: <\/strong>I\u2019m not talking about Ujara. I said [Emphatic] Dwyer. Ain\u2019t nobody gonna take Ujara. I\u2019m not lettin\u2019 \u2019em take Ujara. [Pause] Gather in, folks. It\u2019s easy, it\u2019s easy.[47]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: Do you copy?)<\/p>\n

Jones: <\/strong>Yes, my love.<\/p>\n

[Tape silence for several seconds other than ghosted music]<\/p>\n

[Microphone Handed to Woman 5]<\/p>\n

Woman 5 <\/strong>(elderly African American female): At one time, I felt just like Christine felt.<\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: Do you copy?)<\/p>\n

Woman 5: <\/strong>But after today I don\u2019t feel anything because the biggest majority of the people that left here were white, and I know, it really hurt my heart because \u2013<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Broke your heart, didn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: Do you copy?)<\/p>\n

Woman 5<\/strong>: It broke my heart, to think that all of these years that these white people had been with us<\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: Do you copy?)<\/p>\n

Woman 5<\/strong>: \u2013and they\u2019re not a part of us. So, we might as well end it now, because I don\u2019t see \u2013<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: It\u2019s too late, you must quit talking. (Microphone #2 off) The congressman has been murdered.[48]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Ghosted music]<\/p>\n

[Microphone #1 off]<\/p>\n

[Microphone #1 on]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Sta\u2026 [another voice in background, unintelligible]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman 6<\/strong>: We ready\u2026<\/p>\n

Male:<\/strong> Be quiet.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Voices<\/strong>: It\u2019s over. It\u2019s over…<\/p>\n

Woman 6<\/strong> (exasperated): It’s all over…<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: It\u2019s all over, all over. [Pause] What a legacy, what a legacy. But the Red Brigade\u2019s<\/a>[49]<\/sup><\/a> the only one that\u2019s ever made any sense anyway.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That’s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: They invaded our privacy. They came into our home. They followed us six thousand miles away. Red Brigade showed them justice. The congressman\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n

[Ghosted music only]<\/p>\n

Woman<\/strong>: Stop it! (clap or slap) Go ahead take a drink.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman<\/strong>:..got it<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: (Speaks authoritatively) Please get us some medication. It\u2019s simple.<\/p>\n

Child screaming\/crying<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> It\u2019s simple. There\u2019s no convulsions with it. It\u2019s just simple. Just, please get it. Before it\u2019s too late. The GDF<\/a>[Guyana Defence Force] will be here, I tell you. Get movin\u2019, get movin\u2019, get movin\u2019.<\/p>\n

Unintelligible voices[50]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Woman 7 (younger, African American female, frantic, pleading)<\/strong>: Shut up, shut up now! Who are you [Unintelligible]…[Variant5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: (More excited) Don\u2019t be afraid to die. If these people land out here. They\u2019ll \u2013 they\u2019ll torture some of our children here. They\u2019ll torture our people. They\u2019ll torture our seniors. We cannot have this.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Are you going to separate yourself from whoever shot the congressman? I don\u2019t know who shot him.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> No. No. Hell No! No! Hell No!<\/p>\n

[Microphone off\/on and\/or tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2026 speak her peace. And those who had a right to go, and they had a right to \u2013 How many are dead? [Pause] Aw, God Almighty, God Almighty…<\/p>\n

Male voice to Jones<\/strong>: Patty Parks<\/a> is dead. [shhh!][51]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Hmm?<\/p>\n

Male voice<\/strong>: Patty Parks is dead.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Patty Parks is dead?<\/p>\n

(Shortwave radio bleed: do you copy?)<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

[Child blurts out \u201chey look!\u201d \u2013 shhh!]<\/p>\n

[Very low male voice: \u201cGet in line by me.\u201d Female responds unintelligibly]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman 8 [Younger white female]<\/strong>: …you and the others to endure long enough in a safe place to write about [Jones: hmmm] the goodness of Jim Jones.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Despairing] I don\u2019t know how in the world they\u2019re ever going to write about us. It\u2019s just too late. It\u2019s too late. The congressman\u2019s dead. The congressman\u2019s aide\u2019s dead.[52]<\/sup><\/a> Many of our traitors are dead.[53]<\/sup><\/a> They\u2019re all layin\u2019 out there dead.[54]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right on! Good! Good!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Hmm? I didn\u2019t, but \u2013 but my people did<\/p>\n

Ostensibly Woman 8<\/strong> said Jones didn\u2019t kill them<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: My people did. They\u2019re my people.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013and they \u2013 they\u2019ve been provoked too much.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong> [emphatic]: That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: They\u2019ve been provoked too much. What\u2019s happened here\u2019s been too \u2013 it\u2019s been an act of provocation.<\/p>\n

Woman 9 (younger, African-American female)<\/strong>: They did it theirself!<\/p>\n

Voice<\/strong>: That\u2019s right! [unintelligible] what you asked for)<\/p>\n

Woman 9: <\/strong>They did it! If they\u2019d given us our right to [unintelligible].[Variant6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Mary \u201cRuby\u201d Johnson Rodgers<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>Any ways…<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

Mary \u201cRuby\u201d Johnson Rodgers (crying)<\/strong>: If there\u2019s any ways possible to, uh, have them to give Ted something to take him, I\u2019m satisfied, okay?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: What\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

Mary Johnson Rodgers<\/strong>: I said, if there\u2019s any way you can do to have them to give Ted something so he won\u2019t have to\u2013 let him go too, okay? And I\u2019m satisfied.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Yes. That\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

Voice in<\/strong> crowd:<\/strong> Ted Holliday.[55]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Okay, Ted, yes. Yes. Yes.<\/p>\n

Mary Johnson Rodgers<\/strong>: \u2018Cause I said I never wanted to live if you died, so this is my prayer \u2013 and I appreciate you for everything [Jones mutters something unintelligible]. You are the only[56]<\/sup><\/a> \u2013 You are the only \u2013 You are the only. And I appreciate you \u2013<\/p>\n

(Woman whispers close to Jones\u2019 ear and the microphone)<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong> [softly]: OK<\/p>\n

Crowd: <\/strong>[Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: (Urgent, panicky) Please, please can we hasten? Can we hasten with that medication? You don\u2019t know what you\u2019ve done. [Pause]<\/p>\n

Woman 10:<\/strong> (weepy): Dad, I want you to know you\u2019ve given me the happiest days of my life!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> I\u2019ve tried.<\/p>\n

[Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Move, please move.<\/p>\n

Man[57]<\/sup><\/a><\/strong>: Dad\u2026.Wesley [Briedenbach]<\/a>[58]<\/sup><\/a> told me there were two GDF [unintelligible; he either says \u201cnot\u201d or \u201cguys\u201d] \u2013<\/p>\n

[Microphone off\/on]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

[Shushing in crowd]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: They saw it happen and ran into the bush and dropped their machine guns? I never in my life. [Pause] But there\u2019ll be more. [Pause]<\/p>\n

[One mic muted]<\/p>\n

Woman 11[59]<\/sup><\/a><\/strong>: [Unintelligible]… stop it right there.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You got to move. Are you gonna get that medication here? You\u2019ve got to move.<\/p>\n

Voice in<\/strong> crowd:<\/strong> Hurry up!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Marceline, they got forty minutes.[60]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Maria Katsaris<\/strong>: You have to move, and the people that are standing there in the aisles, go stand in the radio room yard. Everybody get behind the table and back this way, okay?<\/p>\n

Woman[61]<\/sup><\/a><\/strong>: Please everybody hurry.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: There\u2019s nothing to it.<\/p>\n

Maria Katsaris<\/strong>: There\u2019s nothing to worry about. Every \u2013 Everybody keep calm and try and keep your children calm.<\/p>\n

Woman [off mic, low]:<\/strong> Have the older children give love to the little ones that act scared.[62]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Maria Katsaris<\/strong>: [Pause] And, uh, the older children help love the little children an\u2013 and reassure them. [Tape edit] Th\u2013 they\u2019re aren\u2019t crying from pain. It\u2019s just a little bitter tasting. They\u2019re not crying out of any pain.<\/p>\n

[Microphone off]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Maria Karsaris: <\/strong>Annie McGowan<\/a>, can I please see you back \u2013 [63]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: …Things I used to do before I came here. So, let me tell you about it. It might make a lot of you feel a little more comfortable. Sit down and be quiet, please. One of the things that I used to do, I used to be a therapist. [voices near mic] And the kind of therapy\u2013<\/p>\n

Woman\u2019s voice away from mic<\/strong> [Katsaris or Joyce Touchette]: You gotta keep it moving.\u201d]<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: \u2013that I did had to do with reincarnation in past life situations.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Yes, yes, yes.<\/p>\n

McElvane:<\/strong> And every time anybody had the experience of it\u2013 of going into a past life, [child screaming] I was fortunate enough through Father to be able to let them experience it all the way through their death, so to speak. And everybody was so happy when they made that step to the other side.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: When you\u2019re stepping there’s no other thing you can do but step that way. It\u2019s the only way to step.<\/p>\n

Microphone off briefly.<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: If\u2026<\/p>\n

[Child screaming, crying)<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: But the choice is not ours now. It\u2019s out of our hands.<\/p>\n

[Children crying and screaming in the background]<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: If you have a body that\u2019s been crippled\u2013<\/p>\n

Jones <\/strong>(to the parents and\/or nurses): Try to calm them. Tell them it\u2019s just something to give them a little rest, a little rest. Calm the children. [Jones and McElvane talking over each other]<\/p>\n

McElvane<\/strong>: \u2013suddenly you have the kind of body that you want to have. It feels good. You\u2019ve never felt so good, family I tell you. You\u2019ve never felt so good as how that feels. (Child cries No!)<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Thank you. [screaming and crying]<\/p>\n

[Pause]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: And I do hope that those attorneys [Charles Garry and Mark Lane] will stay where they belong and don\u2019t come up here.[64]<\/sup><\/a> [Pause] What is it? [Pause] What happened? What is it?<\/p>\n

Man off mic [Jones?]:<\/strong> What\u2019d you say Johnny?<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [Pause] Did what? [unintelligible, boy makes anguished cry] it\u2019s hard, it\u2019s hard, it\u2019s hard but only at first \u2013 only at first is it hard. It\u2019s hard only at first. Living \u2013 you\u2019re looking at death, it only looks, eh \u2013 living is much, much more difficult.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Raising up every morning and not knowing what\u2019s going to be the night\u2019s bringing. It\u2019s much more difficult. [murmuring in crowd] It\u2019s much more difficult.<\/p>\n

Voices and crying and coughing [African American female: \u201cLet\u2019s get it over with.\u201d]<\/p>\n

Irene Edwards<\/strong><\/a>[65]<\/sup><\/a>: (Joyous) I just want to uh, say something for everyone that I see that is standing around and uh, crying. This is nothing to cry about. This is something we should all rejoice about. We should be happy about this. [clapping, \u201cright!\u201d] They always told us that we should cry when you\u2019re coming into this world. But when we\u2019re leaving, and we\u2019re leaving it peaceful, I think we should be \u2013 we should be happy about this.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We are.<\/p>\n

Irene Edwards<\/strong>: I was just thinking about Jim Jones. He just has suffered and suffered and suffered<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> (clapping) That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Irene Edwards<\/strong>: We\u2013 He is the Avant Garde,[Variant7]<\/sup><\/a> and he don\u2019t even have the chance to enjoy hisself here.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> (clapping) That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Irene Edwards<\/strong>: I want to say one more thing. Let me say just one more thing. That\u2019s few that\u2019s gone, but many more here. He\u2019s still\u2026 That\u2019s not all of us. That\u2019s not all yet. That\u2019s just a few that has got a chance to get to the one, that woul\u2013 to tell they stories, and lies to. So, I, I\u2019m looking at so many people crying. I wish you would not cry. [child screaming] And just thank Father. Just thank him.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Sustained applause]<\/p>\n

Irene Edwards<\/strong>: I\u2019ve been here about \u2013<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> [Sustained applause]<\/p>\n

Edwards<\/strong>: I\u2019ve been here one year and nine months. And I never felt better in my life. Not in San Francisco, but until I came to Jonestown.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Edwards<\/strong>: I\u2019ve enjoyed this life. I had a beautiful life. And I don\u2019t see nothing for us to be crying about.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> No! Right!<\/p>\n

Edwards<\/strong>: We should be happy. At least I am. That\u2019s all I\u2019m gonna say.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Weird muffled, edited applause [ghosting music]<\/p>\n

Woman 12<\/strong>: (weepy) \u2026wouldn’t be alive today. I just like to thank Dad, \u2019cause he was the only one that stood up for me when I needed him. And thank you, Dad.<\/p>\n

Applause<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman 13<\/strong>: [Unintelligible] I\u2019m glad you\u2019re my brothers and sisters, and I\u2019m glad to be here.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> \u2013don\u2019t have a lot of testimonies. Let\u2019s get on with this…<\/p>\n

Woman 13: <\/strong>Okay.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [Pleading, desperate] Please. For God\u2019s sake, let\u2019s get on with it. We\u2019ve lived \u2013 we\u2019ve lived as no other people have lived and loved. [screaming and crying children] We\u2019ve had as much of this world as you\u2019re gonna get. Let\u2019s just be done with it. Let\u2019s be done with the agony of it.<\/p>\n

Applause<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> It\u2019s far, far harder to have to watch you every day, die slowly and from the time you\u2019re a child \u2019til the time you get gray, you\u2019re dying.<\/p>\n

[That’s right!]<\/p>\n

[Pause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit])<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2026Dishonest, and I\u2019m sure that they\u2019ll \u2013 they\u2019ll pay for it. They \u2013 They\u2019ll pay for it. This is a revolutionary suicide. This is not a self-destructive suicide.<\/p>\n

Child<\/strong>: No!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: So, they\u2019ll pay for this. They brought this upon us. And they\u2019ll pay for that. I \u2013 I leave that destiny to them.<\/p>\n

Woman with a crying child yelling \u201cMama!\u201d off mic: Honey you\u2019re all right, you\u2019re all right, you\u2019re all right<\/p>\n

[Microphone off]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Who wants to go with their child has a right to go with their child. I think it\u2019s humane. I want to go \u2013 I want to see you go, though. I \u2013 They can take me and do with me whatever they want to do. I want to see you go. I don\u2019t want to see you go through this hell no more. No more, no more, no more.<\/p>\n

Woman 14<\/strong>: Get off my damn seat.<\/p>\n

Woman 15<\/strong>: Drink that make you feel good\u2026especially with [Unintelligible].[Variant8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones: <\/strong>[Pause] We\u2019re trying. If everybody will relax. The best thing you do is to relax, and you will have no problem. You\u2019ll have no problem with this thing, if you just relax.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Man[66]<\/sup><\/a>:<\/strong> \u2026[unintelligible] the children here a great deal because of Jim Jones. And the way the children are laying there now, I\u2019d rather see them lay like that than to see them have to die like the Jews did, which was pitiful anyhow<\/p>\n

Voice in<\/strong> crowd:<\/strong> That was terrible…suffer?.<\/p>\n

Man<\/strong>: And I\u2019d just like to thank Dad for giving us life and also death. And I appreciate the fact the way our children are going. [Screaming boy] Because, like Dad said, when they come in, what they\u2019re gonna do to our children \u2013 they\u2019re gonna massacre our children. And also the ones that they take [shhhh!] captured, they\u2019re gonna just let them grow up and be dummies like they want them to be. And not grow up to be a socialist like the one and only Jim Jones.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Man:<\/strong> So I\u2019d like \u2013 I\u2019d like to thank Dad for the opportunity for letting Jonestown be, not what it could be, [emphatic] but what Jonestown is. Thank you, Dad.<\/p>\n

Crowd: <\/strong>[Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2026It\u2019s not to be afeared. [Child crying] It is not to be feared. It\u2019s a friend. It\u2019s a friend. [Child crying]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013if you\u2019re sitting there, show your love for one another [children crying, talking].<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: They just heard they\u2019re coming,[67]<\/sup><\/a>don\u2019t let them take him.[68]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Let\u2019s get calm. Let\u2019s get calm. Let\u2019s get calm [children screaming].<\/p>\n

Children crying<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013to us we had nothing we could do. We can\u2019t\u2013 we can\u2019t separate ourselves from our own people.<\/p>\n

(Pause, children screaming in anguish. Unintelligible voices, yells)<\/p>\n

Man<\/strong>: C’mon, mom! (Overlapping voices and screams) (Recording pause)<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: For twenty years laying in some old rotten nursing home.<\/p>\n

Crowd: <\/strong>Right!<\/p>\n

(Microphone off\/on)<\/p>\n

[Music ghosting]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Taking us through all these anguish years.<\/p>\n

Voice in crowd:<\/strong> Oh yeah!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> They took us and put us in chains and that\u2019s nothing. This business \u2013 that \u2013 that, [stumbles]\u2013 there\u2019s no comparison to that, to this (children screaming). They\u2019ve robbed us of our land, and they\u2019ve taken us and driven us until we tried to find ourselves. We tried to find a new beginning. But it\u2019s too late. You can\u2019t separate yourself from your brother and your sister.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No way I\u2019m going to do it. I wi\u2013 I refuse. I don\u2019t know who fired the shot. I don\u2019t know who killed the congressman. But as far as I am concerned, I killed him. You understand what I\u2019m saying? I killed him. He had no business coming. I told him not to come.<\/p>\n

Woman 16<\/strong> [near Jones, possibly Marceline]: That\u2019s right. That\u2019s right\u2026<\/p>\n

[Microphone off\/on. Long pause follows]<\/p>\n

Ghosted music and crying and coughing and screaming and talking<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [Pleading] Die with respect! Die with a degree of dignity! Lay down your life with dignity. (crying and screaming) Don\u2019t lay down with tears and agony. There\u2019s nothing to death. It\u2019s like Mac [Jim McElvane] said, it\u2019s just stepping over into another plane. Don\u2019t \u2013 Don\u2019t be this way. Stop this hysterics. This is not the way for people who are socialists or communists to die.<\/p>\n

Crowd: <\/strong>Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> No way for us to die. We must die with some dignity.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: That\u2019s right! Right!<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> [Sigh] [Pause]<\/p>\n

(coughing and crying)<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> Soon we\u2019ll have no choice. Now we have some choice. (crying) Do you think they\u2019re gonna stand \u2013 allow this to be done and allow us to get by with this? (Crying)<\/p>\n

Jones <\/strong>(off mic): You must be insane.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones: <\/strong>[Pause] Look children, it\u2019s just something to put you to rest.<\/p>\n

[Possible tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: (Anguished, despairing tone) Oh, God.<\/p>\n

Children crying and coughing and a woman screaming. Child says something unintelligible.<\/p>\n

[Possible tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Mother, Mother, Mother, Mother, Mother, please. [Woman yells something hysterically Don’t take my (children?)[69]<\/sup><\/a>] Mother, please, please, please. Don\u2019t [screaming] \u2013 don\u2019t do this. Don\u2019t do this.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Lay down your life with your child. But don\u2019t do this.<\/p>\n

[Blood curdling, hysterical screaming and crying, stirring, sounds like a rush or movement[70]<\/sup><\/a> Voices]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Voices<\/p>\n

Marceline: <\/strong>[Unintelligible; maybe \u201cVolunteering\u201d) all of this to you.[Variant9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Free at last\u2026. [Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Peace. (voices, yelling) Keep your emotions down. Keep your emotions down. (children screaming) Children, it will not hurt. If you\u2019ll be \u2013 if you\u2019ll be quiet. If you\u2019ll be quiet.<\/p>\n

(2nd mic off)<\/p>\n

[Music ghosting, long pause]<\/p>\n

Child<\/strong>: No! No! (much screaming)<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: It\u2019s never been done before, you say. It\u2019s been done by every tribe in history. [Emphatic] Every tribe facing annihilation.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> All the Indians of the Amazon are doing it right now. They refuse to bring any babies into the world. They kill every child that comes into the world, because they don\u2019t want to live in this kind of a world.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right! (screaming, crying)<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> So be patient. Be patient. Death is, I tell you, I don\u2019t care how many screams you hear, I don\u2019t care how many anguished cries, (blood curdling screams) death is a million times preferable to ten more days of this life. If you knew what was ahead of you \u2013 if you knew what was ahead of you, you\u2019d be glad to be stepping over tonight.[71]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

(2nd mic off)<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right. [Applause]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Death, death, death is common to people. And the Eskimos, they take death in their stride. Let\u2019s be dignitif \u2013 let\u2019s be dignified. [voices, screaming, yelling] (Reprimands) If you\u2019ll quit tell them they\u2019re dying \u2013 if you adults would stop some of this nonsense. Adults! [voices yelling] Adults! Adults! I call on you to stop this nonsense.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I call on you to quit exciting your children, when all they\u2019re doing is going to a quiet rest.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I call on you to stop this now, if you have any respect at all. Are we black, proud, and socialist, or what are we?<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right! Yeah!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Now stop this nonsense. Don\u2019t carry this on anymore. You\u2019re exciting your children.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: It\u2019s all over and it’s good.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No, no sorrow that it\u2019s all over. I\u2019m glad it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Hurry, hurry, my children. Hurry. All right let us not fall into the hands of the enemy. Hurry, my children. Hurry. There are seniors out here that I\u2019m concerned about. Hurry. I don\u2019t want to leave my seniors to this mess.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

(Screaming, coughing, yelling, crying) [Pause]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Sisters, good knowing you.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No more pain, Al [Bell<\/a>, Stahl<\/a>, Tschetter<\/a>, Touchette<\/a>, Simon<\/a>?].<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: No more pain, I said Al. No more pain.<\/p>\n

[Voices]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones: <\/strong>Jim Cobb<\/a> is laying on the airfield dead at this moment.[72]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Enthusiastic applause [Man emphatically yells: \u201cYeah!]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Remember the, the [unintelligible voices] \u2013 this Oliver[73]<\/sup><\/a> woman said she\u2019d come over and kill me if her sons wouldn\u2019ta stop her? These, these are the people[74]<\/sup><\/a> \u2013 the peddlers of hate. All we\u2019re doing is laying down our life.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We\u2019re not letting them take our life. We\u2019re laying down our life<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right!<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2026not seeking their lives. We just want peace.<\/p>\n

[Ghosted music]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Billy Oliver<\/strong><\/a>: All I would like to say is that my, uhm \u2013 my so-called parents[75]<\/sup><\/a> is filled with so much hate…<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: (Clapping in reprimand, emphatic) Parents, stop this, stop this, stop this, parents! Stop this crying, and hollering!<\/p>\n

[Tape edit] (This almost seems like it was placed over Billy Oliver\u2019s comment. Listen to when Billy starts it again, it\u2019s like a tape restarting and the end of hate comes out. Or Billy had his own microphone and he accidentally hit the mute button on the mic, but it still sounds like a restart)<\/p>\n

Oliver<\/strong>: \u2026hate and treachery. I think you \u2013 you people out here should think about how your relatives was and be glad about, that the childrens are being laid to rest. And all I\u2019d like to say is that I thank Dad for making me strong to stand with it all and make me ready for it.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right! Thank you, Dad.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: \u2013talking to them all they\u2019re doing is \u2013 All they do is taking a drink to take, to go to sleep. That\u2019s what death is, sleep.<\/p>\n

(Screaming and crying)<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: I\u2019m tired of it. I\u2019m tired of it all.<\/p>\n

[Microphone off]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman 17 (African American)<\/strong>: [Most] loving thing we could have ever done, most loving thing all of us could have done, (screaming) and it\u2019s been a pleasure walking with all of you in this revolutionary struggle. (Crying) No other way I would rather go than to give my life for socialism, communism, and I thank Dad very, very much.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: Yeah (clapping).<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Woman 18 (Elderly African American)<\/strong>: \u2026That Dad\u2019s love and mercy, goodness and kindness, and he bring us to this land of freedom. His love, his mother,[76]<\/sup><\/a> was the Advance \u2013 the Advance Guard to socialism. And his love and his mercy should go on forever unto the fields of Zion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Where\u2019s the vat, the vat, the vat? Where\u2019s the vat with the Green Cs eh, C in?<\/p>\n

Woman 18<\/strong>: \u2013 Go on friends unto the fields of Zion, and thank you, Dad. [Jones and Woman 18 talk over each other]<\/p>\n

Woman in crowd [emphatic]<\/strong>: Shhhh! Quiet!<\/p>\n

Man in Crowd: <\/strong>Who has that vat?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: …the vat with the green CN\u2013 Please? Bring it here so the adults can begin.[77]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Beg you, don\u2019t, don\u2019t fail to follow my advice. You\u2019ll be sorry.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You\u2019ll be sorry.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: If we do it, then they do it.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: You must trust. You have to step across.<\/p>\n

[Ghosting music]<\/p>\n

Crying<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We used to sing this world was \u2013 \u201cThis world is not our home\u201d[78]<\/sup><\/a> \u2013 well, it sure isn\u2019t \u2013<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: We were saying it sure wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Woman 19<\/strong>: That\u2019s right, Dad..<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Child: <\/strong>I don’t want\u2013<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: He doesn\u2019t want to \u2013 tell him, all he\u2019s doing, if we will tell them, assure these chicken\u2013, can some people assure these children of the relaxation of stepping over to the next plane? We\u2019ve set an example for others. We\u2019ve said \u2013 one thousand people who said, we don\u2019t like the way the world is.<\/p>\n

Crowd<\/strong>: That\u2019s right!<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones <\/strong>(off mic): <\/strong>Please stop.<\/p>\n

[Microphone off]<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Take our life from us. We laid it down. We got tired.<\/p>\n

Woman 20<\/strong>: Greatest day ever \u2013 happy times.<\/p>\n

[Tape edit]<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> We didn\u2019t commit suicide; we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.<\/p>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Right, right.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: [Groans twice]<\/p>\n

[Microphone off]<\/p>\n

[Ghosting music and previously recorded radio chatter that is pitched down and playing in reverse. When reversed the name Joe and what sounds like \u201cJoe don\u2019t lie to me\u201d and \u201cover the radio\u201d can be heard.]<\/p>\n

(42:42<\/strong> No more Nov 18 recording on the remaining 100 seconds of tape available with half-speed ghost recording of music.)<\/p>\n

Music: Delfonics\u2019s – I\u2019m Sorry<\/a>, Darrow Fletcher – The Pain Gets a Little Deeper<\/a>, Jerry Butler – Never Give You Up<\/a><\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Music ghosts throughout the tape. We will make note of it only when it\u2019s particularly noticeable.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Any time we list tape edit, that could also be a recording pause.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> John 10:18.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/sup><\/a> Leo Ryan.<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/sup><\/a> Matthew 11:12.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/sup><\/a> Larry Layton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/sup><\/a> Guyana Defense Force\/Guyanese.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/sup><\/a> Georgetown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/sup><\/a> Concerned Relatives, Ryan Party.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/sup><\/a> San Francisco Temple members.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/sup><\/a> Mark Lane<\/a> & Charles Garry<\/a>, Temple attorneys.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/sup><\/a> Lane, Garry, Ryan.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Earlier that afternoon, as Leo Ryan was preparing to depart Jonestown for the Port Kaituma airstrip, Jonestown resident Don Sly\/Ujara lunged at him with a knife, bloodying the congressman\u2019s shirt. The attack was a turning point in how Ryan perceived his visit. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t change everything, but it changes things,\u201d Ryan told Jones immediately after.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/sup><\/a> Concerned Relatives<\/a>, Government<\/p>\n

[15]<\/sup><\/a> Ryan, journalists, Concerned Relatives.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/sup><\/a> Ostensibly Soviet Embassy official Feodor\u00a0Timofeyev,<\/strong> who had visited Jonestown earlier in the year.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/sup><\/a> At this point in the day 26 people had left Jonestown without Jones\u2019 permission or even knowledge. Two more had been sent away under orders [Herbert Newell and Clifford Gieg]; and three more [Tim and Mike Carter, and Mike Prokes] were preparing to leave at this point under orders. Two more would escape in the next few hours, and two more hid to avoid the ritual.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/sup><\/a> Jones refers to Larry Layton and his defector sister Debbie Layton Blakey<\/a>. Their mother Lisa Layton died of cancer in Jonestown three weeks earlier, on Oct 30. Jones said that Debbie’s defection interfered with his miraculous ability to hold off Lisa’s cancer.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/sup><\/a> Jones is apparently alluding to reincarnation.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/sup><\/a> There is no evidence that any such call “to Russia” was attempted.<\/em><\/p>\n

[21]<\/sup><\/a> According to Hue Fortson in a deleted scene for the documentary Jonestown Paradise Lost<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Jones once pointed his pistol at Miller’s head for standing up to him, and she challenged him to shoot her. This occurred in California, before the migration to Jonestown.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/sup><\/a> I Will Fight No More Forever<\/em><\/a>. Videotape was recovered in Jonestown by the FBI.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/sup><\/a> Chief Joseph<\/a> of the Nez Perce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/sup><\/a> Chief of Peoples Temple security in San Francisco. Arrived in Jonestown only 2 days earlier.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/sup><\/a> Identified by eyewitness survivors Odell Rhodes & Stanley Clayton.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/sup><\/a> 1 Corinthians 15:8<\/p>\n

[27]<\/sup><\/a> This and the preceding pause and ensuing comments suggests the crowd was growing restless toward Miller.<\/p>\n

[28]<\/sup><\/a> Not that he was being serious, but is he referring to Carolyn Layton? Harriet Tropp? Marceline Jones? Maria Katsaris? Who else worked the Radio? Or Sharon Amos in Georgetown? Tom Adams was operating radio in San Francisco and Mike Carter in Jonestown, at least up to a point.<\/p>\n

[29]<\/sup><\/a> Possibly Marceline Jones. It is definitely a white midwestern accent.<\/p>\n

[30]<\/sup><\/a> This comment out of context doesn\u2019t seem to make sense. We believe the crowd was on the verge of acting against Miller and Johnny Brown Jones and Jim Jones are attempting to avoid a complete breakdown of order.<\/p>\n

[31]<\/sup><\/a> African American spiritual song.<\/a><\/p>\n

[32]<\/sup><\/a> John Victor Stoen<\/a>, son of defectors Grace<\/a> and Tim Stoen<\/a>, but probably sired by Jones.<\/p>\n

[33]<\/sup><\/a> Jim Jon “Kimo” Prokes<\/a> was JJ’s son by his mistress and powerful lieutenant Carolyn Moore Layton<\/a>, who helped plan<\/a> the mass poisoning.<\/p>\n

[34]<\/sup><\/a> In fact, about the same number of African Americans and whites left, albeit without Jones\u2019 knowledge: Besides Monica Bagby, who left with the Ryan Party, Leslie Wagner Wilson, Jakari Wilson, Diane Louie Clark, Richard Clark, Robert Paul, Johnny Franklin, Julius, Sandra, Sonya, Shirelle, and Sharla Evans escaped into the jungle that morning; and Grover Davis and Hyacinth Thrash would feign death, while Odell Rhodes and Stanley Clayton would escape in the next minutes\/hours. Whites leaving with the Ryan Party were: Edith, Gerald, Patricia, Dale, Brenda, and Tracy Parks; Chris O\u2019Neal; Jim, Edith, Teena, Juanita, and Tommy Bogue; Harold Cordell; and Vernon Gosney (along with Larry Layton who was apparently sent by Jones). Mike Carter, Tim Carter, and Mike Prokes were sent away by Maria Katsaris and Clifford Gieg had been sent away that morning on the Cudjoe <\/em>with Herbert Newell<\/a>, who is African American.<\/p>\n

[35]<\/sup><\/a> Again referencing 1 Corinthians 15:8<\/p>\n

[36]<\/sup><\/a> Possibly Tinetra Fain<\/a>. Sounds very much like her from tape Q807<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[37]<\/sup><\/a> 20:05 Evidently the truck and\/or tractor has just arrived back from Port Kaituma with the shooters. Odell Rhodes said security chief Johnny Brown Jones<\/a> approached Jones with news of the airstrip shooting [Feinsod, Ethan. Awake in a Nightmare<\/em> (W.W. Norton: 1981), 195.] The next minute of the tape records pandemonium apparently caused by 1) the shooting news and 2) the beginning of the poisonings.<\/p>\n

[38]<\/sup><\/a> Richard Dwyer<\/a>, US Embassy Official. Dwyer was Deputy Chief of Mission and accompanied Rep. Ryan to Jonestown. Dwyer was not considered a Peoples Temple enemy, presumably because jurisdiction rules and U.S. privacy laws sharply limited how much he could help the Concerned Relatives. He was spared from execution at the airstrip even though he was lying right next to Ryan, who received a point blank coup de grace shot. Dwyer had planned to return to Jonestown from the airstrip, to ensure the arrest of Don Sly and to protect further defectors like Al Simon’s family. After the airstrip shooting he of course did not return to Jonestown and instead called in the Guyana Defence Force.<\/p>\n

[39]<\/sup><\/a> Audio comparison from Q734<\/a> compares favorably. Could also be an African American female with some authority.<\/p>\n

[40]<\/sup><\/a> San Francisco? Was Los Angeles Temple still extant?<\/p>\n

[41]<\/sup><\/a> This is at 20:47. This woman has an Appalachian\/Ohio River Valley accent.<\/p>\n

[42]<\/sup><\/a> Probably Johnny Brown Jones, according to Odell Rhodes\u2019 testimony.<\/p>\n

[43]<\/sup><\/a> Stanley Gieg was the driver of the tractor.<\/p>\n

[44]<\/sup><\/a> We believe the Carol could refer to Carol McCoy<\/a> whose partner Ellihue Dennis<\/a> was a tractor driver in Jonestown and had driven the tractor to Port Kaituma on November 17.<\/p>\n

[45]<\/sup><\/a> Don Sly aka Ujara was guarding visiting Peoples Temple lawyers Mark Lane<\/a> and Charles Garry<\/a>, while waiting to be ordered back to the pavilion for the revolutionary suicide, which is now starting.<\/p>\n

[46]<\/sup><\/a> One possible theory is that Jones doesn\u2019t see Dwyer. He doesn\u2019t confuse him with Charles Garry as logically posited\u00a0here<\/a>; he simply thought Dwyer would be coming back as he said he would. However, that begs the question, did he \u2013 or Johnny Jones or Jim McElvane \u2013 specifically instruct the airstrip shooters to not harm Dwyer? He was wounded, though not seriously. Otherwise, wouldn\u2019t he have expected the shooters to take out everyone?<\/p>\n

One confusing factor is that Tim Carter \u2013 who was present at the time \u2013 told Shannon Howard that Jones thought Dwyer was coming back on the tractor, but that Marceline, who could see the returning tractor from her vantage point, told Jones that only \u201cour people\u201d were on it.\u00a0 Does this mean that Jones thought the plane was coming down out of the sky \u2013 as opposed to what actually happened \u2013 or that he knew people were shot and believed Dwyer had returned anyway?<\/p>\n

In the final analysis, we don\u2019t know for sure what Jones was thinking when he made the remark.<\/p>\n

[47]<\/sup><\/a> This is the first evidence of poisoning on the tape. Ruletta Brown Paul (24) went first, poisoning her 18-month-old son Robert Paul Jr (no photo) and then herself. Ruletta’s husband Robert Paul was one of the eleven who had quietly escaped into the jungle that morning. The second woman to poison herself and her one-year-old son Deron was “Michelle Wilson” i.e. Michelle Wagner Fitch (24), sister of Leslie Wagner-Wilson who had also escaped that morning with her own young son. Ruletta and Michelle may have volunteered early out of despair or shame over these family defections.<\/p>\n

[48]<\/sup><\/a> Stanley Clayton said that one of the returning \u201cRed Brigade\u201d whispered in Jones\u2019 ear the news about the congressman being dead. One source says it was Tom Kice, another says Bob Kice.<\/p>\n

[49]<\/sup><\/a> Jones admired the Red Brigades<\/a>, a communist terrorist group that murdered Italian Prime Minister Moro six months earlier. Jones had contingency plans to kidnap U.S. politicians if Jones were jailed. Jonestown security was known as the Red Brigade.<\/p>\n

[50]<\/sup><\/a> This could be the woman in the next sentence.<\/p>\n

[51]<\/sup><\/a> Patty Chaffin Parks<\/a> (44) was ironically the most reluctant November 18 defector. Her mother-in-law Edith Parks had joined Peoples Temple 20 years earlier in Indiana. Edith’s grandson Dale and Dale’s wife Joyce worked in the Jonestown medical clinic. Joyce was away in Caracas, Venezuela, but the rest of the Parks family escaped as defectors on November 18. It’s unclear how Jones’ informant knows Patty was dead. Her body was still on the locked Twin Otter when the shooters left the airstrip. It’s possible her assassin saw his through-the-window head shot find its mark. Or, the shooters could be making a random unsubstantiated claim, as they did for Jim Cobb.<\/p>\n

[52]<\/sup><\/a> Jackie Speier<\/a> in fact was not dead, but was severely wounded.<\/p>\n

[53]<\/sup><\/a> Only Patty Parks was killed. Vernon Gosney, Monica Bagby, and Tommy and Teena Bogue were wounded.<\/p>\n

[54]<\/sup><\/a> The five killed were Ryan, Patty Parks, NBC\u2019s correspondent Don Harris<\/a>, San Francisco Examiner<\/u> photographer Greg Robinson<\/a>, and NBC cameraman Bob Brown<\/a>. Besides the aforementioned wounded, Richard Dwyer, Beverly Oliver, Anthony Katsaris, NBC sound man Steve Sung, San Francisco Examiner<\/u> reporter Tim Reiterman, The Washington Post<\/u> Latin America correspondent Charles Krause, and San Francisco Chronicle<\/u> reporter Ron Javers were also wounded.<\/p>\n

[55]<\/sup><\/a> Ted Holliday was not in Jonestown but was the son of Mary \u201cRuby\u201d Johnson Rodgers and brother of Poncho Johnson and Irra Jean Johnson. It certainly sounds like the person in the crowd says \u201cTed Holliday,\u201d but he was an adult back at the San Francisco Temple. Thus Ruby is asking that Ted back in California be poisoned too. She does not mention her oldest son Bennett Rodgers, perhaps because he was not in Peoples Temple.<\/p>\n

[56]<\/sup><\/a> Mary \u201cRuby\u201d Rodgers apparently believed in the divinity of Jones.<\/p>\n

[57]<\/sup><\/a> We believe this may be Don Casanova<\/a> Sheid.<\/p>\n

[58]<\/sup><\/a> Wesley Breidenbach was one of the airstrip shooters. At the end of the airstrip were four Guyanese Defense Forces soldiers guarding a disabled GDF plane. They stood by during the shooting, explaining later that Americans shooting Americans was not their problem.<\/p>\n

[59]<\/sup><\/a> Possibly Maria Katsaris.<\/p>\n

[60]<\/sup><\/a> Is this about finishing all poisoning before the GDF arrives from Matthews Ridge? Or perhaps a deadline for Marceline’s sons in Georgetown to begin their revenge and suicide assignments?<\/p>\n

[61]<\/sup><\/a> Likely Joyce Touchette<\/a>. Other candidates are Sharon Cobb<\/a>, Marceline Jones, or Judy Ijames<\/a>. Joyce Touchette and Marceline Jones had similar voices based on Touchette\u2019s voice on Q599<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[62]<\/sup><\/a> Again, likely Joyce Touchette, who is named<\/a> by Stanley Clayton as helping mix the poison and helping administer it.<\/p>\n

[63]<\/sup><\/a> Annie McGowan was the signatory on several PT financial accounts. She needs to sign off on them. She was an elderly woman to whom Peoples Temple bank accounts were transferred after the 1978 defections of Temple financial secretaries Debbie Layton and Terri Buford. Katsaris and McGowan signed letters<\/a> leaving PT funds to the Soviet embassy, and Katsaris gave cash and the letters in 3 suitcases to Michael Prokes and Tim and Mike Carter to carry out of JT.<\/p>\n

[64]<\/sup><\/a> Attorneys Mark Lane<\/a> and Charles Garry<\/a> had already been released a few minutes earlier, soon after Don Sly was fetched from guarding them around at 21m00s on the tape.<\/p>\n

[65]<\/sup><\/a> Irene Edwards<\/a> (57) and her husband James \u201cReb\u201d<\/a> were devoted Temple members originally from the Gulf Coast. Reb could be seen working at the guard shack on the morning of the 18th and talking with Beverly Oliver in the NBC footage when the truck came back from Port Kaituma.<\/p>\n

[66]<\/sup><\/a> This man sounds similar to a man at 23:40 on side two of tape Q734<\/a>, but he is unidentified there as well.<\/p>\n

[67]<\/sup><\/a> GDF, US troops. Evidently he\u2019s saying the radio just heard they\u2019re on the way.<\/p>\n

[68]<\/sup><\/a> John Victor Stoen.<\/p>\n

[69]<\/sup><\/a> This woman sounds very much like Bonnie Simon, who that afternoon yelled “Don’t you take my kids!” when her husband tried to take their kids with Ryan. The entire Simon family stayed and died.<\/p>\n

[70]<\/sup><\/a> Some accounts have guards manhandling Marceline as she protests and Poncho Johnson<\/a>, her personal bodyguard coming to her aid, fighting off the guards, and saying something to the effect of \u201cyou can\u2019t treat Mother this way.\u201d Jones then admonished him and told him to drink the potion. Poncho stood at attention and drank it immediately and then Marceline, resigned to her and everyone else’s fate did the same. This incident on the audio sounds as if it\u2019s possible here, at least the act of drinking it, and almost like it\u2019s a toast to Jones by saying \u201c…all of this to you.\u201d It seems the first mention of the story in a book is Kenneth Wooden\u2019s The Children of Jonestown<\/em> as reported by Stanley Clayton to the author. There is no further source information. Supposedly, this information was told to Stephan Jones by someone who witnessed it (would have to be Clayton, Odell Rhodes, or Tim Carter). The story seems dubious to us due to other circumstantial evidence and accounts and the fact that the context here is not conclusive, though it\u2019s possible much of the incident was not recorded as there is an edit\/mic on\/off here.<\/p>\n

[71]<\/sup><\/a> This is a clue that we are past sundown.<\/p>\n

[72]<\/sup><\/a> In fact, Concerned Relative Jim Cobb, one of the “8 Revolutionaries” from 1973, was physically uninjured in the airstrip attack. Cobb’s family joined Peoples Temple in Indiana in the 1950s. Cobb lost his mother, brother, and three sisters on November 18. None of the four visiting Concerned Relatives were able to persuade any relatives to leave.<\/p>\n

[73]<\/sup><\/a> Beverly Oliver, former member of Peoples Temple during the San Francisco era. Member of Ryan Party\/Concerned Relatives, and mother of Bruce and William \u201cBilly\u201d Oliver who had just visited with her sons hours before. She was shot in both feet during the Port Kaituma shootings.<\/p>\n

[74]<\/sup><\/a> Concerned Relatives.<\/p>\n

[75]<\/sup><\/a> Howard & Beverly Oliver. Beverly made the trip to Jonestown while Howard remained in Georgetown. Howard suffered a stroke after hearing of the deaths of his sons and his wife\u2019s wounding at the airstrip.<\/p>\n

[76]<\/sup><\/a> Lynetta Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[77]<\/sup><\/a> We are unsure if Jones is saying green C in or green CN, which is the elemental sign for cyanide.<\/p>\n

[78]<\/sup><\/a> \u201cThis World Is Not My Home.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Variants<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Variant 1]<\/sup><\/a> “I said Hold them close, and die, we die distinguished” [JXT]; Mary Johnson<\/strong>: (Unintelligible) …in time, we die anyway! [BH]<\/p>\n

[Variant 2]<\/sup><\/a> \u201cMary Johnson.\u201d [BH]<\/p>\n

[Variant 3]<\/sup><\/a> \u201cI’m tired of this shit.\u201d [JXT]<\/p>\n

[Variant 4]<\/sup><\/a> \u201cBob Carroll…Then move your security\u201d [JXT]; Woman [Marceline?]<\/strong>: Bob, Carl[?], Wesley (driving? brought?) truck, they must be security people.<\/p>\n

[Variant 5]<\/sup><\/a> Woman 7<\/strong> (younger, African American female frantic, pleading): Now! Do it now! [SH]; Now! Shoot them [`em] now! [AW, SH]<\/p>\n

[Variant 6]<\/sup><\/a> Angry Woman: They did it themselves! (Voice: “That’s right!”) They did it! They\u2019ve given up our right to yourselves here. [BH]; Woman 9 (younger, African-American): They did it theirself! (That\u2019s right!) They did it! (Unintelligible \u201c[they] had no right,\u201d \u201cyou be worried [about?]\u201d). [BH]; They\u2019ve given up the right to get themselves killed. [SH]<\/p>\n

[Variant 7]<\/sup><\/a> He is the only god. [JXT]<\/p>\n

[Variant 8]<\/sup><\/a> Black women’s voices: \u2013make it a quick death, especially if\u2013 [BH]<\/p>\n

[Variant 9]<\/sup><\/a> children out of the SCU [BH]; We\u2019re doing all of this for you. [JXT]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: This transcript is part of a special report by the November 18 Project. The table of contents for the report is here.] [This transcript was created by volunteer researchers Shannon Howard [SH], Adrian Whicker [AW], Joel X. Thomas [JXT], and Brian Holtz [BH]. [If you use this transcript, we kindly ask that you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":132428,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-132225","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132225"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135570,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132225\/revisions\/135570"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}