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Jonestown mass death survivors who didn’t ‘drink the Kool-Aid’ weigh in on the site becoming a tourist attraction
ny post ^ | July 12, 2025 | y Michael Kaplan

Posted on 07/12/2025 11:29:49 AM PDT by BenLurkin

Jonestown is seared into the American psyche as one the darkest tragedies of the modern era, where 918 people “drank the Kool Aid” and ended their lives under the command of cult leader Jim Jones.

Located in the remote Guyanese jungle, the site where the army first discovered the mass of dead bodies of People’s Temple members in 1978 is now opening as a somewhat morbid tourist attraction. It is designed to pay somber tribute in the manner of Auschwitz and the Killing Fields of Cambodia.

The curious can pay $750 to visit the clearing where Jones’ religious cult, mostly US citizens who had traveled with him to Guyana, unraveled in the most gruesome way imaginable.

...

Once in the heavily hippie-fied Frisco, Jones began dabbling in illicit drugs and his sense of paranoia is said to have ratcheted up.

The People’s Temple was founded by Jim Jones, a Communist sympathizer, in Indianapolis, in 1955. He put on fake healings to generate income and promoted the idea that all races and ethnicities would be welcome.

In 1961, with the cold war top of mind for most American, Jones claimed to have a vision that Indianapolis would be decimated by nuclear attack. The People’s Temple relocated to California, with its main headquarters in San Francisco.

Jones began proclaiming, “I am come as God Socialist [sic].”

...

Jones, who had a particularly magnetic personality, put up a convincing argument for belonging and in 1974, the People’s Temple rented more than 3,800 acres in Guyana, a tropical country which borders Venezuela.

Jones promised to create a “socialist paradise,” and reminded followers how he’d read that in the event of a nuclear war, South America was the safest place to be.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: jimjones; jonestown; socialism
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1 posted on 07/12/2025 11:29:49 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Tourist attraction?....that’s down right disgusting.

Why not just build a church of satan on the sight and get it over with. SMH


2 posted on 07/12/2025 11:32:50 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: BenLurkin

Democrats are always searching for the God socialist utopia.


3 posted on 07/12/2025 11:34:26 AM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave e them.-S.Adams)
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To: shanover

If Jones was around today the Democrat Party would run him for mayor.


4 posted on 07/12/2025 11:37:19 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

...Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters...


5 posted on 07/12/2025 11:38:29 AM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: BenLurkin
We were told that America would become a police state and our safety was in being part of this group.

History rhymes.
6 posted on 07/12/2025 11:39:08 AM PDT by posterchild
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To: BenLurkin

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MGxjIBEZvx0


7 posted on 07/12/2025 11:40:00 AM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: BenLurkin

The sick part is people will pay to go there.


8 posted on 07/12/2025 11:43:23 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: BenLurkin

Funny how none of the armed guards drank the Kool aid .


9 posted on 07/12/2025 11:46:15 AM PDT by central_va (The I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...a)
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To: BenLurkin

That COWARD, Jim Jones, didn’t even drink the Kool Aid! Just another chicken-shiite like all Commies.

Who shot Jim Jones? Was it murder or suicide?

These are questions that may never be definitively answered. All that is known for certain is that Jim Jones died of a gunshot wound to the head, and that he was one of only two people to die in Jonestown of a gunshot.

Jones was one of only seven people to be autopsied, but the report shed no new light: He died of a gunshot wound to the head, but the limited forensics – the location of the entry wound, the path of the bullet – were consistent with both murder and suicide.

The autopsy report is inconclusive on the subject. “The manner of death is consistent with suicide because of the finding of a hard contact gunshot wound of the head,” the report concluded. “The possibility of homicide cannot be entirely ruled out because of the lack of specific and reliable information.”

The position of the gun that killed Jones doesn’t provide any answer as to his manner of death. He was found lying on the ground, with the gun several feet away. Someone could have shot him and dropped the gun close by. He could have shot himself, and the recoil could have knocked the gun that distance. (Other anecdotal reports say alternately that the gun was on his chest, within reach of his arm, and 200 feet away.)

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35415


10 posted on 07/12/2025 11:46:19 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: BenLurkin

Where did this phrase “top of mind” come from? It sounds weird to me.


11 posted on 07/12/2025 11:50:12 AM PDT by Mr. K (no i think 10%consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself.)
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To: BenLurkin
One of Jones' staunchest defenders:


12 posted on 07/12/2025 11:52:39 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BenLurkin

From what I understand, the area was long since stripped of anything valuable and is largely overgrown.

If people want to revisit areas of tragedy and consider the depths of human folly, more power to them.


13 posted on 07/12/2025 11:54:11 AM PDT by DarrellZero
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To: BenLurkin
pay $750 to visit

One would have to be a pretty big fan of Jim Jones to pay that kind of money. I'd charge less, and then gouge visitors on Kool-Aid at the snack bar.

Auschwitz with hotel pick up is less than $50; Buchenwald admission only is less than $10.00. Oradour-sur-Glane is apparently free. Katyn Forest museum and site are also apparently fee; English audio guide under $5.00. (All numbers rounded up due to currency fluctuations).

14 posted on 07/12/2025 11:57:47 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: BenLurkin

Do they offer kool aid drinks with a souvenir cup ?


15 posted on 07/12/2025 11:59:26 AM PDT by al baby (Whoopie Cushion Goldberg )
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To: PGalt

Best rock video ever. :-)


16 posted on 07/12/2025 12:05:50 PM PDT by dayglored (This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24)
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To: PGalt
> ...Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters...

I was gonna post back "The vandals took the handles" but then I saw you posted the video. Great stuff.

Helluva song to sing, though. I've only known one guy who could do it, besides Dylan himself of course.

17 posted on 07/12/2025 12:08:49 PM PDT by dayglored (This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24)
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To: BenLurkin

Guyana fun theme park will have surprises :)

Lots of dangerous snakes, Boas, Green Anaconda (largest snake in the world!) rattlesnakes, mosquitoes, jaguars, caimans (like croodiles or alligators with strong jaws and explosive ambush attacks), piranhas...

well, enjoy!


18 posted on 07/12/2025 12:44:37 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: PGalt; All

Take care, beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks


19 posted on 07/12/2025 12:57:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

“Drinking the Flavor-Aid” doesn’t have the same ring.


20 posted on 07/12/2025 1:10:20 PM PDT by Rinnwald
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