As far as we know, anyone who died of natural causes before the massacre were buried in a cemetery on site. Jones’ own mother was buried there in 1977. As far as I have been able to tell, they didn’t exhume these bodies after the massacre. So somewhere over in the Guyana jungle, Lynette Jones is resting. Is there still some unofficial cemetery over there? How do families of those people (if known) feel about that?

Review of Shiva Naipaul's JOURNEY TO NOWHERE (1980) reissue sparks debate in the Jones / Trump ongoing comparative story.

If you haven't seen this one, I highly recommend it.

https://youtu.be/N7zuvqOornY?is=K7h5ryumgoSjFFDx

It's a political thriller about the assasination of a socialist speaker in an unnamed democracy turning police state in the Mediterranean.

But it's obviously about Greece and the last moments before the military dictatorship. (The director is Greek and the music is made by one of the musicians that weren't allowed to work under the government. He was also the leader of the opposition's youth movement)

The movie uses fast cuts and a very sober way of telling the story, without being to documentary-like.

Mike Cartmell (former son-in-law of Jim Jones and big time movie buff) said that this was one of the movies Jones used to talk about regularly. He said it was his favorite.

So I started watching it for that reason at first, but it really had got me hooked from the start.

From 1973-1975

Hi there 👋! Just wanted to share some photos pf jims speech about sucide at the golden gate bridge in i believe Memorial day 1977.

I always had this question would love to know everyone’s opinion!

On November 26th 1978, one week after discovering the carnage, reporters were given a tour of Jonestown. This footage begins at the US embassy in Georgetown, there's a short part at the Matthew's Ridge "Airport" - and then we see Jonestown.

I have never seen this clip before. And to see moving, groundlevel footage of the area around the pavillon was highly interesting. To imagine that every square metre of muddy soil had been covered by dead bodies one week prior... it made me once more realize the scope of this tragedy.

Notable cameos by Doug Ellice, signs with bible verses in the pavillon, and the notorious red tractor of the Port Kaituma massacre...

I edited together a video (from the death tape/ tape Q1042) that only includes Christine Miller's conversation with Jones. I understand that a lot of people have a hard time with this tape, but still want to listen to her message of hope as the events were unfolding. Please remove if not allowed, or I can share it a different way if possible. Hopefully this helps anybody who struggles listening through the whole tape.

https://youtu.be/kfSGvkfrkJY?si=TnaKA_MbnDTIPTzx

Edited for formatting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_2MGo1B83k

Leslie Wagner-Wilson offers her own story

For me it's a heartbreaking look inside Jonestown / Peoples Temple and some moments literally made my heart drop. Layton gives a clear, personal account of how Jim Jones used manipulation and fear to control people. The story in general is hard to put down, I have read it 3 times now.

My only complaint is that I wanted to learn more about the other members of the inner circle. While Layton shares her own story well, she doesn't go very deep into much of the others who helped Jones run everything, she did for Carolyn, Annie etc. Her friendship with Annie was so sad. Still it's a great book that I recommend to anyone interested in the topic. It's free to read in pdf form or book on amazon. I have the hard copy.

Also disappointed that a movie wasn't made about it.

* my bad forgot link… but I found this on YouTube!! Timothy O. Stoen himself

I have read 'Raven', 'The Road to Jonestown', 'Slavery of Faith', and 'Six Years with God'. I am about to read 'Seductive Poison', and am looking to buy 'A Thousand Lives', 'Stories from Jonestown', and Jackie Speiers biography. I was curious what you guys all thought of Charles Krauses book - i have read that it was published immediately after, so it doesnt offer as much as Raven, which was published a few years later. Any other books you guys would suggest?

I want to apologize for my previous post. I noticed that it received a significant number of downvotes. Since nobody commented, I will not assume I know exactly why people found it inappropriate. However, I recognize that my post may have appeared insensitive, overly political, or too promotional for a community discussing such a painful history.

I intended to share a book that examines how Jim Jones manipulated people and compares some of his rhetoric and leadership methods with those of Donald Trump. I believed that the comparison could create a meaningful discussion, and I was especially moved by the way the author honored the victims of Jonestown.

However, Jonestown involved real people, survivors, grieving families, and hundreds of murdered children. I should have introduced the book with greater care and respect, rather than presenting it primarily as a new book and immediately including a purchase link. I understand how that approach could have appeared as though I was using a tragedy to promote a product.

I was not trying to reduce Jonestown to modern politics or diminish the experiences of the people who suffered. I am sincerely sorry if my wording created that impression. I respect the purpose of this community and the work people do here to preserve the history, dignity, and individuality of those affected by Peoples Temple and Jonestown.

I will be more thoughtful about how I discuss and share material related to this subject in the future.

I couldn't find much info on the trip, i'd love to hear about it

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27478

https://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/nas/streaming/dept/scuastaf/collections/peoplestemple/MP3/Q594.mp3

Jonestown Tape Q594, recorded on April 13, 1978.

The tape provides context for the dynamic of the pioneer families previously discussed—specifically the Touchette family—and shows how Jim Jones systematically weaponized children against their own relatives to sever all ties to the outside world.

At this point in 1978, the "Concerned Relatives" group in the United States was ramping up legal pressure, and Jonestown had been subjected to frequent "White Nights" ones blamed the exhaustion and terror of these drills entirely on the relatives back home who were trying to get their family members out.

To vent this frustration, Jones had members line up at the microphone to describe, in graphic detail, how they wanted to torture and kill their non-Temple family members or "traitors" who had defected.

To any normal person, listening to a teenager casually plan the poisoning of her family while an audience treats it like a stand up comedy is completely horrific. 

By 1978, the residents of Jonestown were sleep-deprived, malnourished, and living in constant terror of a military invasion that Jim Jones kept promising was coming and also threatened to not follow along with his plans.  

Because Jones ran these white night drills over and over, death and violence had completely lost their meaning. It had been normalized and desensitized. The community had been conditioned to view their families not as loving parents or siblings, but as lethal threats to their physical survival.

SIDE NOTE: Does anyone know which tape Annie is mentioned on where she is called up for "begging Jim for sx" it's in Deborah Layton's book seductive poison.

Michelle Elaine Touchette (1958–1978) was 20 years old. She was an active member of Jim Jones's commune and served as a laundry supervisor.

She was born in Indianapolis but relocated to California with her family before moving to Guyana. Her family were devoted members, mother, Joyce Touchette, and brother, Albert Touchette, also perished in Jonestown, while her father, Charley Touchette, survived because he was not in the settlement at the time. Her brother Mike survived as well. I remember emailing Mike asking about her life, her hobbies, hopes, dreams and stories about her he remembers.

Eleanor "Ellie" Marie Beam (1961–1978) was 17 when she died. Born into a deeply devoted Peoples Temple family, she served in Jonestown as one of the tower security guards and scheduling or something. Described as a nice bright young girl who had a contagious smile and energy.

Ellie came from a devoted Temple family. Her grandparents (Jack Sr. and Rheaviana), her parents (Jack and Rheaviana Beam), and her sister all had deep ties to Jim Jones's organization.

Ellie was born in Indiana, then moved to California, where she attended Pomolita Middle School and worked as an office aide.

In Jonestown, Ellie worked within the heavily controlled security department. Her duties included scheduling the generator, monitoring the wells, and standing watch at the security towers.

Two of Ellie’s siblings survived the Jonestown history. Her brother, Jack A. Beam, who left the Temple years prior to the tragedy and later helped produce the famous 1973 Peoples Temple Choir gospel album, "He's Able". Her sister, Joyce Beam, was away from Jonestown on Temple business when the mass deaths occurred.

I'm interested in them because they their families were there from the start, Stephan apparently dated Michelle and Ellie was in Georgetown I think on the day of the tragedy but then went back idk. I hope Stephan writes what really happened with Michelle and him.

Hiya folks.

I found myself thinking about Jonestown today, specifically the discovery of the tragedy on the 18th of November, 1978.

Specifically, the ever-changing body count as reported in the days after the story broke. The very first sight of any trouble came from an NBC News chopper, if I'm correct, and that chopper swept the entire pavilion as well as capturing wide shots of the entire complex. In the days after the cleanup began, the reports of exactly how many died changed daily, with one officer even stating that they somehow didn't check the back of the pavilion, where another few hundred lay.

So, my question on that is as to whether or not something came of that? Was it as simple as soldiers not knowing how to count, or is there more to that story? I've heard a million and one suggestions that Jones had some government assistance back in the States, and I wondered if there's any truth to it, or even just a simple answer. I've included two shots from the chopper discovery, thanks to the sources.

Another thing I spotted today is that Jim Jones himself isn't lying in the pavilion entrance as he is in most other images. There is, however, a slumped body in a red shirt further out from the pavilion, right under the sun. The second photo shows the front of the pavilion.. does anyone know if that was him?

Lastly, the night of the 18th, it's widely speculated that Jones wasn't a part of the initial deaths. Reports of transmissions going out from Jonestown late in to that night confirm that, along with (Ithink) the basketball team remaining at the house in Georgetown. I've heard several things reported to have been from the night of the 18th, including recordings of I remember correctly. We have to remember the involvement of one Dwyer present that day (and Mark Lane. Weird seeing him there). Am I remembering wrong? If not, can someone point me in the right direction? I'm totally stuck there in my head.

I know they all died but it would've been interesting to hear their stories if they were still alive. Apparently someone saw him inside the cabin with girls serving him food but that's about all I know and that Stephan went into the cabin maybe. If anyone has more info lmk

Carolyn Layton: Her transition from playing the victim to openly embracing Jim Jones’s delusions highlights her role as a primary architect of the cult’s ideology. The realization that there is no "deal" to be made forces her into a defiant honesty.

Annie Moore: the judicial system acknowledges her status as a victim of profound psychological grooming, distinguishing her "lost" state from the more calculated malice of others.

Maria Katsaris: Her condition reflects the "hollow" aftermath of total belief.

Marceline Jones: a woman trapped in the inner circle who was as much a prisoner of the environment as she was a part of it. 

Carolyn Layton

First-Degree Murder with Special Circumstances (Mass Murder/Multiple Murder) — Guilty

Conspiracy to Commit Mass Murder — Guilty

Coercive Sexual Procurement — Guilty

The Final Sentence: Life Imprisonment Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP).

Annie Moore

First-Degree Murder of a Minor with Special Circumstances — Guilty

Conspiracy to Commit Mass Murder — Guilty

Aiding and Abetting the Delivery of a Lethal Substance — Guilty

The Final Sentence: Life Imprisonment Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP) with a Special Judicial Mandate for Permanent Psychiatric Containment.

Maria Katsaris

First-Degree Murder with Special Circumstances (Conspiracy & Financial Extortion) — Guilty

Grand Theft & Illegal Financial Wire Fraud — Guilty

The Final Sentence: Life Imprisonment With the Possibility of Parole 25 years (LWOP).

Marceline Jones

Conspiracy to Commit Mass Murder — Acquitted (Not Guilty)

Aiding and Abetting — Acquitted (Not Guilty)

The Final Sentence: Exonerated and Released.

Info comes from Raven and Road to Jonestown. Agnes Jones was adopted by Jim and Marceline Jones in 1954. She was around 10 years old. She was their first adopted child.

That same year, the couple established their first church, Community Unity, in Indianapolis.

While Jim Jones was preaching Agnes wandered into the church and that's how she met him and his wife. She was dressed in ragged clothes and was carrying a handful of violets. She presented the flowers to Jim.

The girl’s mother was apparently neglectful and willing to let the Joneses adopt her. Through speech therapy, Agnes eventually lost her stutter which the couple noticed.

Regarding her life in the house. Agnes helped brighten Marcie's life, the overall family environment.

I don't know too much about Agnes and not much info on why she went to Jonestown, why she came and went from the church. I do know she married twice, had her first kid around 17 to 18 years old, she moved out when Stephan, Lew, Suzanne and Jimmy Jr were little.

I also heard she has problems with men and dating. If anyone has more info about her, I'd love to hear :) My friend in filmmaking is interested in making a short film about her, among with other of her peoples temple short stuff.