Jim Jones And The Peoples Temple

Imagine this: A man traveling from America to South America to build a town where there was absolute peace, a utopia, almost. This man is no ordinary man. He led a church, The Peoples Temple, where he performed miracles to convince his impressionable followers to put their lives completely in his hands. All of them at a desperate state, when he asks them to come follow him to Jonestown in South America, they pack up and leave the States to their ultimate doom. Jim Jones is the man who led over 900 people to his new town, to his utopia where no speculations could be made about him. He convinced over 900 people to commit suicide on November 18th, 1978 . He was able to build a town from nothing by pure ambition, the support of his church, the Peoples Temple, and the desire of a utopia where everyone worked together for a common good.

Jim Jones was born May 13th, 1931 in Lynn, Indiana to a drunk, World War I veteran and a factory-working mother . Jones as a child was known to be different from the others. He held funerals for dead animals, and rumor says that he killed animals himself in order to have a funeral where he can preach . Not only was Jones obsessed with death, but due to the fact that Jim Jones did not make friends easily, he was also obsessed with religion . Jones admired leaders such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Karl Marx and took notes of each leader’s strengths and weaknesses. Later on, Jones grew to be a communist thinker. Jones came to believe in racial integration; he felt the pain of the suppressed blacks and other minorities because he knew what it felt like to be a social outcast. Jones obtained a racially integrated family, church, and later on, compound.

As an adult, Jim Jones mastered how to control...

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...orld of peace. Jones told his people that the outside world would come in and torture them. Jones ordered that all community members were to commit suicide by drinking Fla-Vor-Aid that was poisoned with valium and cyanide. By the end of the day, 918 people were dead.

Jim Jones was a charismatic man that ultimately led 918 people to their deaths. His insanity, fear of others after him, and his ability to manipulate those around him led Jones to build a church, the People’s Temple. When he couldn’t take scrutiny from the United States anymore, Jones and his Temple hightailed it Jonestown, a town that Jones created as a utopia. Once he realized that Jonestown would not protect him from United States scrutiny, Jones demanded that everyone commit suicide, including himself. By the end of November 18th, 1978, 918 people died from drinking poisoned Fla-Vor-Aid.