Collective suicide
Exactly 40 years ago in Guyana, 900 people committed mass suicide. Members of the sect called the Temple of Peoples, on the orders of its leader Jim Jones, drink poison. This incident went down in history as the Jonestown Massacre. To this day, it is believed that it was the greatest mass suicide in history.
Mass suicide - Temple of the Peoples
A religious sect founded in 1956 in Indianapolis by Jim Jones. In its prime form, it had as many as 30 followers, and its founder was called the unquestionable authority. The sect's wealth grew very quickly as the number of members of the group also increased. Each legacy of the new believer became the legacy of the Temple of Peoples. The phenomenon of Jim Jones was the fact that the man had never graduated from school, yet he was able to attract thousands of people to him. At one point, his fame was so great that politicians also sought his support.
Living in a cult
Members of the sect were constantly under surveillance from the very beginning of joining the Peoples Temple. Control and “brainwashing” were commonplace there. If one of the followers deserved punishment in the eyes of Jim Jones, he became the object of public criticism or even whipping. The founder used people for very hard, everyday work, but when the media started writing and talking loudly about the sect's activities, Jim decided to disappear for some time. This idea led to the purchase of some land in the jungle in Guyana. He created a plantation there called jonestown.
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Killing a congressman
As more talk and writing about the sect began, many of its members began to think more and more about leaving the Temple of Peoples. Several of them even asked Congressman Leon Ryan for help in returning to the US. Unfortunately, at the moment when the congressman, three journalists and several followers of the sect were already at the airport from where they were supposed to go to the United States. They were murdered by firing a machine gun.
November 18.11.1978, XNUMX collective suicide
While the abovementioned people, in Jonestown 900 people, including 300 children, take poison. The circumstances of this event are unknown to this day. However, it is known from the stories of people who managed to survive that at the time of taking the poison, there was a cordon of armed guards around hundreds of people. 903 bodies were found at the scene, including the body of Jim Jones. He, on the other hand, did not drink the poison, and his death was caused by a shot to the head. Fortunately, a few escaped survivors survived the entire incident.
