Episode 379 - Jim Jones Part 1: The Journey to Jonestown

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On the 18th of November 1978, 909 men, women, and children were killed by chemical-laced Flav-Or-Aid in the Guyanese jungle, all at the will of one man - Jim Jones. It was the largest loss of American lives since the Second World War. That’s what everyone remembers.

But despite the notorious “Jonestown Massacre” being forever etched into the public consciousness, few people know how almost 1000 people ended up living in the jungle, thinking they were fighting the Capitalist machine, whilst starving half to death, and following the words of a meth-addled maniac.

This is the first part of their story. 

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Sources:
The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn (ISBN:9781476763835)

A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheers (ISBN: 9781416596394)

Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People by Tim Reiterman (ISBN: 9780525241362)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/17/an-apocalyptic-cult-900-dead-remembering-the-jonestown-massacre-40-years-on

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jonestown-massacre-documentary-40-years-drink-kool-aid-jim-jones-what-happened-mass-suicide-cult-guyana-dead-a8232856.html

https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/jonestown-13-things-you-should-know-about-cult-massacre-121974/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7552231/Trumps-tactics-taken-playbook-cult-leaders-like-Jim-Jones-David-Koresh-says-author.html

https://theconversation.com/how-cult-leaders-like-charles-manson-exploit-a-basic-psychological-need-57101

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/trump-death-cult/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/talking-apes/202006/why-people-kill-in-the-name-god

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/am-i-right/201512/violence-in-the-name-god

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/02/religion-wars-conflict

https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/14/if-islam-is-a-religion-of-violence-so-is-christianity/

https://culteducation.com/brainwashing1.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/15/style/the-psychology-of-the-cult-experience.html

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/may/27/cults-definition-religion

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CULT EXPERIENCE - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

An Object Relations Approach to Cult Membership | American Journal of Psychotherapy (psychiatryonline.org)

4 psychological techniques cults use to recruit members - Big Think

If You Exhibit These 9 Personality Traits, You’re More Likely To Join A Cult (bustle.com)

Joining a Cult: Religious Choice or Psychological Aberration (csuohio.edu)

Why Did NXIVM Members Stay? The Psychology Of Cults (refinery29.com)

Psychotherapy with Former Cult Members

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=40193

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/15/archives/excerpts-from-transcript-of-tape-describing-the-final-moments-at.html

https://countrysquire.co.uk/2020/01/24/i-survived-jonestown/

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