Nov. 18, 1978

Jim Jones was, at the time, known for his charisma, winning over thousands of Americans to join his religious-based group he called the People Temple. Today, he is remembered for using that same charisma to order his cult into a mass suicide-murder, resulting in the deaths of over 900 lives.

Jones founded his new group in his home state of Indiana in the 1950s. Inspiring Americans with messages of anti-racism, along with claims of having psychic powers and having the gift to heal the sick, Jones’ People Temple quickly outgrew its home in Indianapolis. Jones would move his church to north California, first relocating to Ukiah, before eventually settling in San Francisco in the early 70s. After the move, Jones gifted himself the name of “the Prophet.”

Shortly after the move, Jones’ church found itself in the middle of several alarming accusations, including financial fraud and physical abuse involving minors. Jones, a constantly paranoid man due to what he called “visions,” feared the investigations that mounted in the wake of these accusations. Jones decided he needed to devise a plan to escape any potential government raids, setting up a final relocation to Guyana, establishing the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known as Jonestown.

Jones’ promised paradise turned out to be a harsh nightmare to many upon arriving in Jonestown. They were subjected to beatings and blackmail if they questioned Jones, along with being censored in any letters written out of their new home and confiscated passports. The mistrustful man, now turned to drugs and a rapidly deteriorating mental health, began instructing his supporters to rehearse practice mass suicide drills in the event the United States government came after him and his church.

In November of 1978, Leo Ryan, a representative from California, arrived in Guyana to conduct an unofficial investigation after being contacted by relatives of the Jonestown residents. Following his investigation, as Ryan prepared to return home, several Jonestown members pleaded for passage to escape the cult. Before Ryan could leave with the fleeing cultists, Jones ordered an assassination on the group, murdering Ryan and four other people as they were boarding the plane. However, ten of the deserters escaped the attack, leaving Jones to agonize over the possibility of the authorities being alerted. Jones decided the only option he had left was to enact his mass suicide plan he had prepared for.

Back in Jonestown, Jones ordered his followers to drink a punch mixed with cyanide and sedatives as he had armed guards surrounding the establishment, leading to the commonly used phrase today “drinking the Kool-Aid.” First, he declared the children must die first, instructing the parents and nurses to force syringes with the poison down the kids’ throats. After, it was the adults’ turn to line up to drink the punch, most of which took willingly and passively.

The next day, Guyanese troops discovered the aftermath of the tragedy, finding a total of 913 dead, 304 of them minors, and Jim Jones with a bullet in his head, a suspect self-inflicted wound. Including the people killed boarding Ryan’s plane, 918 total people died from the devastating suicide-murder.

Prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Jonestown mass suicide was the single largest incident of intentional American death.