Ever heard the term “drinking the Kool-Aid”? It all started with Jim Jones and his people’s temple cult in the 1970s. After outspoken support from people like Jane Fonda and First Lady Roselyn Carter, he led his followers to the jungles of Guyana in South America in 1978. In the end, over 900 people drank his cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
All right. Can you imagine needing emotional, intellectual, or spiritual comfort so much that you'd be willing to sign your life away to a powerful, mind controlling individual. Some call it a fad, others a cult. And what happens when you drink the kool aid and give up your life for the cause. I'm Patty Steele. The Jonestown Massacre was the actual origin of the term drinking the kool aid and it left over nine hundred dead. That's next on the backstory. We're back with the backstory. So cults are nothing new. You can go back to ancient times in Greece, Rome, Egypt, and so many other societies and see the rise of these powerful influencers who basically hypnotized people into joining their cults. In Greece and Rome, a lot of them were what's called mystery cults. It was about the mystery of life itself. Join them and you had the opportunity to control your own life. That's what they told you. In order to join, you had to be initiated in order to prove your devotion to the belief system. Cults back then and now are all about accepting the absolute authority of the leader. Never questioning their decisions when it comes to your life, and accepting their unreasonable fear of upcoming catastrophes and evil conspiracies from the outside world, and most importantly, accepting without question that the group leader is always right. In ancient times, the belief in these spiritual cults allowed people to figure out a reason for distressing events like hailstorms, winds that prevented them from sailing, fires, and crop failures. If they then put their faith in these beings, sometimes gods that controlled their spiritual life, they could ask for their intervention in times of struggle. So at the end of the day, cult leaders, whether they're gods or human entities, attract people who simply want to feel safe through the process of being led, and over thousands of years that desire never went away. How many of us feel safe around a powerful figure. There's an old adage in the military that in a time of crisis, people will listen to the loudest, most powerful voice they can hear, and that is what happened almost fifty years ago during the rise and the ultimate fall of Jim Jones and his People's Temple. Jim Jones was born in Indiana at the dawn of the Great Depression. His parents were poor, his dad a World War One vet, his mom totally unemotional, except for her belief that her son was destined for greatness. Even as a kid, Jim was fascinated by religion. He'd stage funerals for dead animals or animals he'd killed himself. Neighbors said he was an intense kid who was obsessed with death and power, but he also had an ability to captivate people. He saw religion as a tool for control. It wasn't about salvation, simply domination. By the nineteen fifties, Jim Jones was a minister in Indianapolis and opened to church he named the People's Temple. It was progressive. He preached racial integration and social justice. He welcomed black members into his mostly white congregation and adopted children of different races to form what he called his Rainbow Family. Those who felt alienated by mainstream society saw him as a revolutionary, a savior. But as the People's Temple grew, so did his need for power. He started using faith healing to draw in followers, performing miracles to heal the sick and disabled. The problem is most of these healings were secretly staged. He would plant people in the audience to fake their illnesses. He moved his congregation finally to California and drew some pretty powerful people under his spell. People like Jane Fonda sang his praises for his devotion to Marxism, and California Governor Jerry Brown even spoke at the People's Temple. President Carter's wife, Rosalind Carter, appeared on stage with him, and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Herb Kane called Jim Jones a profoundly decent man. The more powerful he became, the more power he wanted. He demanded total loyalty and made his followers cut ties with anybody outside the church, saying they were all out to destroy the faithful. Meantime, members were viciously disciplined and publicly humiliated if they didn't follow the rules. Fear and paranoia were at the base of his cult's identity, and he made it clear he was the only one that could trust what to do escape. In nineteen seventy four, Jim Jones founded a utopian community in the Jungles of Guyana in South America. He promised that Jonestown would be a paradise free from racism, inequality, and the outside world. Hundreds of followers sold their homes, gave up their savings, and followed him into the jungle. Problem is, it was no paradise. There was nothing there but dense jungle. They worked hours in the sweltering heat, clearing land, building primitive homes, and growing crops. Descent was not tolerated. He had loud speakers throughout Jonestown, broadcasting his voice day and night, paranoid tirades about enemies closing in and the need for total loyalty. He staged what he called white Knights, which were rehearsals for mass suicide. He wanted his followers to see death as an act of devotion. At this point, back in the US, relatives started to freak out a little bit. As stories about what was going on leaked out. A congressman named Leo Ryan decided to launch an investigation. In November of nineteen seventy eight, Ryan went to Jonestown with a number of journalists and worried family members. At first, things looked fine. Jim Jones offered a warm welcome with smiling followers and happy speeches. About the joys of life in Jonestown, but it all began to fall apart. Some residents slipped notes to Ryan's team, begging for him to help them escape. As Ryan got ready to leave, armed guards from Jonestown rushed the airstrip. They ambushed the group, killing Congressman Ryan, three journalists, and a defector. There were some survivors, but the violent sealed Jonestown's fate. Back at Jonestown, Jim Jones told his followers the enemies would storm them and destroy their community. He said, the only solution is revolutionary suicide. Cyanide was mixed with a fruit flavored drink, Thus the kool aid and mothers were instructed to give it to their children first. As the children died, the adults followed. Armed guards made sure everybody did as told, and anybody who resisted was forced to drink it. Jim Jones himself was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head. In all, authorities found over nine hundred people dead, including around three hundred children. How did Jim Jones convince so many to give up their lives? Pure manipulation, isolating his followers, breaking their spirits, and enforcing blind loyalty to him. In the end, Jonestown was the culmination of one guy's quest for absolute control. Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.