Memory of macabre cult massacre buried in Guyana jungle
(Graphic content) This file photo taken on 19 November 1978 shows bodies of more than 400 members of the Jim Jones' sect "Temple of people" in Jonestown, Guyana. Deep in the Guyanese jungle, only a signpost and a nondescript plaque serve as memories of a cult settlement where one of the most spine-chilling mass murder-suicides in modern history took place almost five decades ago. (Photo by AFP)
Deep in the Guyanese jungle, only a signpost and a nondescript plaque serve as reminders of a cult settlement where one of the most spine-chilling mass murder-suicides in modern history took place almost five decades ago.
"Welcome to the People's Temple," reads the green lettering on a sign above a red dirt road announcing the entrance to what was once Jonestown, a jungle utopia-turned-nightmare, where 914 adults and children died on 18 November 1978.
They were the followers of the US reverend-guru Jim Jones, who coerced them into committing suicide, urging parents to give their children poison, while others were shot trying to flee or forced to drink the deadly liquid.
The carnage highlighted the manipulative power cult leaders wield over their followers, and those who live nearby are torn between wanting to move on and wishing the site could serve as a lesson as to what went wrong.
"There is really nothing to see, unless the place is cleared up, and you will see what remains on the ground in terms of old vehicles, tractors, and other things," said Fitz Duke, who lives in the remote nearby village of Port Kaituma.
He was 31 when the massacre occurred, and he recalls the presence of Jones and his following of poor African Americans, who worked hard to clear the jungle as they built what was meant to be a socialist, self-sufficient settlement on about 1,500 hectares in the middle of nowhere.
"They had a very good agricultural system," Duke said, adding that local villagers would often work for the community.
"They had a lot of livestock. They were almost self-sufficient in terms of food for themselves. We used to visit often. They had a very good band, a lot of instruments," he added.
However, while the community was billed as a non-racist, non-sexist, paradise on earth, it was run with an iron fist by Jones and his aides.
Ex-cult members made claims of drugs use, hunger, and sexual enslavement, saying Jones forced his followers to work from dawn to dusk, six days a week.
"You couldn't just come and go as you like," said Duke.