In the Valley of the Shadow of Death: Guyana After the Jonestown Massacre

Rolling Stone ^ | January 25th, 1979 | Tim Cahill

[Auntie Mame]

Thanks. Great post.

[Monterrosa-24]

The audio recording of Jones harangue at the pavilion has him spouting socialism over the screams. He says nothing that could be considered religious and simply spout Marxism. He did not want the people wailing and crying. “This is no way for socialists to die” he said. ROLLING STONE and most of the media back then were pop culture socialist so we have their take that the people had suffered in the USA and then suffered in Jonestown. It is a ridiculous position to condemn their opportunities in the States and compare it to their life in Jonestown. In an honest assessment he would never have been presented to the American people as the Reverend Jim Jones.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

Thank you for posting this, the details just make one shudder.

If anyone has a stomach for it, there is the actual audio recording of the massacre on YouTube. Horrible to listen to, but as the author says, they were convinced by Jones that they were going to be killed and had no choice.

[drSteve78]

I hated to read the whole thing. Evil.

[Drew68]

Thank you for posting this, the details just make one shudder.

I must say, in the past few days I've delved into the Jonestown Massacre more than I ever have.

I was just shy of my 10th birthday when it occurred. I remember it, but then over the years I pretty much just memory-holed the event without ever really learning the details.

I've been reading a lot up on it lately. I don't know why. And what happened that day is just horrific, as are the photos that can quickly be found on the internet.

Vice Magazine (of all places) has a pretty good article on what the U.S. Military faced who went down to engage in what they thought was going to be a rescue operation, only to have to clean everything up.

Declassified FBI Photos Show the Horror of Being a First Responder in Jonestown