{"id":32655,"date":"2013-07-25T16:49:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T16:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=32655"},"modified":"2019-03-02T16:15:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T00:15:59","slug":"875stacy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=32655","title":{"rendered":"Q 875 Makes Case for Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The events that spiraled out of control in the then-obscure Latin American country of Guyana left the world stunned and still defy explanation to this day. The thoughts of a Satanic pied piper leading his flock into a desolate, overcrowded farm carved out of some of the most inhospitable jungle in northern South America both fascinated and appealed to the prurient interest of a mortified world. At the time, the deaths represented one of the largest peace-time tragedies in modern history, and the very mention of the place where they occurred – “Jonestown” – has become synonymous with death, waste, and evil. <\/p>\n

The first reports out of the jungle reported a low body count, leaving survivors and families to hope that their loved ones had reconsidered participating in the death ritual and had fled into the jungle. This seemed to have been corroborated by early reports that large numbers of people were seen hiking towards the Venezuelan border. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, the disheartening news within the week confirmed the unbelievable worst: virtually all persons in the settlement were dead by cyanide poisoning, and there were no more survivors to search for. Reports of mothers filling their children’s cups with poison and squirting the concoction down the throats of infants caused ordinary, reasonable people to recoil in horror. How could anyone kill their own children and then kill themselves? Why didn’t anyone run? Surely, if it had been a mass suicide, some persons would have objected. It would likely be statistically impossible to have a 100% participation rate for a mass suicide – a horrific act that these gentle seniors, children and generally underprivileged people had likely never heard of before being introduced to the concept by Jim Jones. Was it suicide or was it a mass murder? <\/p>\n

The initial reports out of Jonestown seemed to confirm that this terrible obscenity was a mass suicide. The government had conducted initial interviews with survivors and learned about the plan for mass suicide for socialism if the community were ever threatened from without. There just didn’t seem to be a need to pursue any other avenue than to label the entire incident a mass suicide. All were dead, including the culprits who would have been sought for the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan (D-San Mateo), three members of the media from NBC and The San Francisco Examiner<\/i>, and a defector – the popular Patricia Parks – whose entire family had left with the congressional party that afternoon.  <\/p>\n

Had the government not officially labeled the deaths a mass suicide, though – thus closing the books on further forensic studies and homicide investigation – then a much more sordid plan would have surfaced. In the history of the Peoples Temple, record-keeping was of top priority to Jim Jones. He wanted everything documented, whether it is his growing political\/religious achievements or confessions of his parishioners, which he could then use to blackmail into staying in the church or at the least to keep quiet if they did leave. Part of Jim Jones’ vanity was to record many of the meetings over which he presided. Indeed, a treasure trove of recordings documenting the entire South American history of the Peoples Temple and various California and Indiana period was recovered. <\/p>\n

Among the most notorious is the infamous “Death Tape,” or Q42 as identified by the FBI. This aural suicide note documents one of the most incomprehensible acts in modern history. But careful listening to this tape, along with eyewitness accounts from Tim Carter, Odell Rhodes, Stanley Clayton, Grover Davis and Hyacinth Thrash tell a different story. The May 1978 interview with Debbie Blakey and the post-Jonestown interviews with Terri Buford seem to indicate this to be a large plot for mass murder to fulfill the twisted desires of Jim Jones. This act was likely a planned mass murder where various individuals did actually “willingly” participate rather than be forced into the fatal act. <\/p>\n

Certainly by listening to Q42, one hears that not all persons were willing participants, in particular Christine Miller, an African-American woman from Los Angeles. She stood her ground against Jim until he became flustered and, using his oft-demonstrated techniques of summoning tremendous peer pressure to keep people in line, had her shouted down. Certainly seniors were coerced to participate. Many were invalid, not able to move, likely injected with the foul substance. Certainly the children did not willingly participate in this act. Parents helped line them up and then laid their bodies at the bottom of a concave dip parallel to the pavilion. The participating adults may have been more inclined to die after seeing the younger generations die before them, and facing the agony of having participated in the murders of their children, the prospect of being invaded by the Guyanese Army, and armed guards threatening death with bullets if the potion was not taken. Paroxysms of a swirling, hypnotic frenzy carried through to a grisly completion.  <\/p>\n

Guyanese forensics on the scene made a determination that many, many individuals did not participate willingly and therefore were injected or forced to drink the concoction. This was indicated by abscesses on the upper arms of many victims, injection by the multitude of hypodermic needles found around the compound. Large amounts of weapons, and bows and arrows were found littered around the pavilion. <\/p>\n

So how many of these deaths were suicide and how many were murder? Since only six autopsies were conducted – and only then by the result of the persistent lobbying by the families of Laurence Schacht and of Carolyn Layton and Ann Moore – the exact cause of death for each individual will never be known. But consider the following witnesses and warnings:<\/p>\n