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MODERN society is not immune to falling victim to another Jonestown, with a survivor who lost 27 family members in the massacre warning, what if Jim Jones had social media
Ed Norwood’s relatives were among 909 members of the People’s Temple who were found dead in a Guyanan compound on November 18, 1978, having either willingly consumed or been forcibly administered a lethal dose of cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.
Among the dead were 300 children – relatives of the victims have long pushed back against the tragedy being a mass suicide event[/caption]
Author Ed Norwood lost 27 relatives in the massacre, including a cousin as young as 3 months old[/caption]
The slaughter of the flock was ordered by the Temple’s deranged leader, Reverend Jim Jones, after a visiting US Congressman was shot dead by the church’s security team on a nearby airstrip.
Fearing authorities were minutes away from raiding the compound and shattering Jones’ vision of building a utopia on Earth, he ordered his followers to “die with dignity” by consuming a deadly cocktail of potassium cyanide.
The Temple’s 300 or so children were killed first, followed by their parents.
Anyone who resisted was either injected with the poison by force or shot dead.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Jonestown became known as a mass suicide event and the term “drink the Kool-aid” entered the American vernacular as shorthand for blindly buying into a dubious belief system.
But survivors and family members of the dead have long since pushed back against such notions, insisting their loved ones were not brainwashed fools who blindly followed Jones into the abyss – they were victims of mass murder in a horrifying scheme long pre-meditated by the megalomanic Jones.
While stigmas persist, Norwood called for a revision of opinion, warning that modern society is just as vulnerable to falling victim to a “Jonestown 2.0” as his relatives were the first time around.
“Jonestown was doomed to be a gravesite the moment people landed and surrendered their passports to him,” Norwood said.
“[Jones] lured 1,000 people, a third of them children, into the jungle in the 1970s, but what if he had social media
“I imagine the scores of people would multiply by 1000s, attracting the fatherless to a father.”
Norwood continued, “I’ve had a lot of people who have shamed my family for being associated with the People’s Temple or related to people that died in the way they did.
“But I believe that, because human nature is the same, we’re always susceptible to another Jonestown.
“We’ve all done things that would shame us, we all have stories that are buried treasure, that outline devastating things that have happened to us in life, we’ve all trusted the wrong people, and we’ve all ignored red flags in relationships – but we can’t escape what’s happened to us.
“As long as people have implicit and explicit memories that can hurt, traumatize, and trigger them, we can always be taken advantage of.
“We’re all at risk of someone coming and laying their hands on those areas of our lives and making us believe in things that cannot hurt us again.
“So yes, Jonestown can happen again. Absolutely.”
WELCOME TO JONESTOWN
Norwood’s entanglement with the Peoples Temple began in 1975 when he was 5 years old.
The only son of a traveling evangelist, Norwood spent much of his time in the care of his grandma, Fairy Norwood, who was a member of Jones’ church in San Francisco.
At the time, the Peoples Temple was an incredibly popular church with an estimated membership of several thousand.
Jonestown was a graveyard of broken people and dreams, and a nightmare that Jones tried to camouflage as paradise.
Ed Norwood
The church was originally founded by Jones in Indianapolis in 1954.
The white self-proclaimed prophet made his name preaching socialism and other progressive ideologies to a predominantly Black congregation.
Mixing biblical teachings with Marxist theology – something he called “apostolic socialism” – Jones promised to build a utopia on Earth and provide social and economic equality for the oppressed and maligned.
In hindsight, Norwood says it’s easy for him to see why his family was so enamored by Jones’ messages and teachings.
Jones came to San Francisco when the local African-American population was enduring a period of intense poverty and racial inequality, luring new members in with the promise of community, and free food and toys for their children.
Norwood has only a handful of clear memories from his time visiting the temple.
Whenever his mother was out of town, Norwood said he would visit the temple with his grandmother, his aunt Doris Lewis, his seven youngest cousins, and other family members.
He remembers always being surrounded by children and gifted free toys, but his opinions of the church would hastily change one Sunday morning in either 1977 or 1978.
That day, the typically jovial atmosphere inside the temple was displaced by one of darkness and horror, he said.
Norwood was taken to the Peoples Temple to hear Jim Jones speak when he was just 5[/caption]
Jones mixed biblical teachings with Marxist theory in what he called ‘apostolic socialism’[/caption]
Jonetown’s 900 inhabitants were ordered to consume cyanide-laced punch[/caption]
Some members drank it willingly – others were forcibly injected or shot dead[/caption]
Norwood disturbingly recalled how Jones instructed some of his followers to set up a make-shift boxing ring on the stage to reprimand a five-year-old boy who had reportedly broken a little girl’s leg by accident while playing.
The offending child was punished by being forced to box a much bigger eight-year-old boy who pummeled him unconscious as Jones and other followers cheered him on.
Norwood said he and seven of his young cousins watched on in fear.
“The message to every family’s child that day was fear: ‘Whatever happened to this five-year-old boy will happen to you if you act out – you cannot hide. I will find you,’” he said.
“He was sending the message that he was a father who could take the decisions out of the hands of parents and punish anyone how he sees fit.”
HAUNTING VISIONS
Such fear-mongering, manipulation, and abuse would become increasingly commonplace under Jones’ stewardship.
Similar tales of bullying, physical assault, and even accusations of rampant fraud eventually leaked in the press, sharpening scrutiny on the congregation.
Norwood’s mom, Jynona Norwood, meanwhile, was growing increasingly concerned about his and his grandmother’s visits to the Temple.
For months, Jynona complained of being haunted by a recurring nightmare that Jones was going to kill her family and the rest of the church in a jungle.
She warned her relatives of the visions, believing them to be warnings from God, but her concerns were ignored.
Determined to at least save her son, Jynona stormed into the Peoples Temple in the middle of a service one day and hoisted an eight-year-old Norwood out by his arm.
Members of the church attempted to intervene, causing a human tug of war to break out with Norwood serving as the rope.
Jynona triumphed in the struggle but her actions resulted in Jones putting a hit out on her life, according to Norwood.
More than two-thirds of the victims were black[/caption]
Congressman Leo Ryan was shot to death along with four others at an airstrip near the Temple[/caption]
Ed lost seven of his cousins – whom he regarded to be siblings – in the massacre. Pictured above is Adrienne Lewis[/caption]
Victim: Alicia Lewis[/caption]
Victim: Barry Lewis[/caption]
Victim: Cassandra Lewis[/caption]
It was around this time that Jones, growing increasingly paranoid by unfavorable press, began preaching a far-flung government conspiracy that the church was being unjustly targeted.
He announced to his flock they would be fleeing San Francisco and moving to a compound in Guyana, just outside of Georgetown, to build a socialist utopia that he promised would be Heaven on Earth.
Within weeks, Norwood would see his grandmother, his cousins, and more than a dozen relatives for the last time.
He remembers crying and screaming, clawing at his grandmother’s waist, begging her not to leave as she packed her suitcase.
The following day, she was gone.
THE DEATH TAPE
Gone, too, were Norwood’s seven youngest cousins who were taken to Guyana by his aunt, without the permission of the children’s father, Freddie Lewis, who was not involved in the church.
Freddie returned home one day to find his home ransacked and all his children gone. The youngest of them was just three months old.
More than a dozen of Norwood’s other relatives had also upped and left.
The next time Norwood heard of his family members was when he saw their names flash up on the screen on November 18, 1978, during a newscast reporting an apparent mass suicide of over 900 people at the Jonestown compound in Guyana.
Their deaths came shortly after US Congressman Leo Ryan was shot dead along with four other people by Temple gunmen at an airstrip near the Jonestown compound.
Ryan had been visiting Guyana to investigate alleged abuses and claims Jones’ followers were being held against their will.
The congressman found no evidence of widespread abuse, but 14 members of the Temple voiced a willingness to defect back to the US.
Jones took the revelation hard, telling Ryan “All is lost” before putting his psychopathic swan song into action.
Ed Norwood (pictured with his wife)was taken out by the church by his mom, who was convinced Jones was leading his flock to the slaughter[/caption]
His memories of Jones are fragmented but today he believes the cult leader to be one of the most prolific mass murderers in history[/caption]
Freddie Lewis Jr. also died at Jonestown[/caption]
As did Karen Lewis[/caption]
Lisa Lewis was also killed[/caption]
A 45-minute recording, commonly referred to as the Death Tape, captured Jonestown’s deadly culmination.
When an older woman, Christine Miller, pleaded with Jones to spare the children and those who weren’t willing to die, Jones told her it was too late and time to commit “revolutionary suicide.”
He instructed the compound’s doctor, Larry Schact, to prepare the poison.
Medical personnel brought large syringes and containers filled with a milky-white liquid into a tent that had been used as a school and library.
Jones told the commune the Guyanese Defense Force would be at their door within 45 minutes, and all of them would likely be shot on sight. Those unfortunate enough to survive would be castrated and tortured.
It was time to die with dignity, he said.
The children would be first.
“Lay down your life with dignity,” urged Jones.
“Don’t lay down with tears and agony. It’s nothing to do with death […] it’s just stepping over to another plane.
“Don’t be this way. Stop this hysterics. This is not the way for people who are socialists or communists to die. No way for us to die.
“We must die with some dignity; we have no choice.”
‘MURDER, NOT SUICIDE’
Some mothers willingly carried their children to the murder pulpit. Others had their sons and daughters ripped from their arms and stood wailing and crying as their children died in front of them.
Jones repeatedly urged the importance of speed and began physically ushering members of the congregation to the poison and to their deaths.
Once they’d consumed the drugs, church members would be escorted by two others and thrown face down on the ground where they eventually succumbed to their fate.
Security guards circled the pavilion with crossbows to deter any detractors. Men with guns guarded the wider boundaries for the same purpose.
It’s unclear how many of the 909 dead were forcibly injected.
Jones, meanwhile, was found with a single gunshot wound to his head, his eyes still open and his head resting on a pillow. The bullet entered beneath his right ear.
Norwood said he was overcome with a sense of relief and gratitude not to see his name on the television screen alongside his grandmother and 26 other family members.
The Road to Jonestown: A Timeline
March 2, 1954: Jim Jones forms the Community Unity Church in Indianapolis, which will later be renamed the Peoples Temple
April 11, 1961: Jones is appointed the first director of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission
May 4, 1962 – December 1963: Paranoid about an impending nuclear war, Jones moves with his family to Brazil leaving the Temple to function without him. Jones chose Brazil after Esquire magazine named it among the nine safest places to be to avoid a thermonuclear blast
August 6, 1965: The Peoples Temple and its 140 members relocate to Ukiah, California, doubling its membership within four years
May 5, 1971: Jones moves the church again, this time to San Francisco believing room for expansion in Ukiah to be limited. A second church is also opened in Los Angeles
July – October 1973: The Peoples Temple exceeds 2,750 members, and the board of directors authorizes the establishment of a new agricultural project in Guyana. Jones visited the country while living in Brazil, labeling it a socialist paradise
April 4, 1974: The first of the Temple members arrive in Guyana to set up the Jonestown compound
July 6, 1976: Jones obtains a jeweler license, allowing him to import large monthly shipments of cyanide into Jonestown
June 5, 1977: Amid mounting local scrutiny in San Francisco, Jones and several hundreds of Temple members mass migrate to Guyana permanently
October 10, 1978: Jonestown reaches almost 1000 members
November 14, 1978: US Congressman Leo Ryan visits Jonestown with a delegation of 18 people. Jones initially refuses them entry but later grants permission
November 17, 1978: 14 defectors approach Ryan and ask to leave with him. Jones sees the small number as a profound failure, telling Ryan “All is lost”
November 18, 1978: Loyalist Larry Layton opens fire on a plane full of defectors. He wounds two before being disarmed.
Other members of the Temples’ Red Brigade security team open fire on Ryan and his delegation, killing the congressman, an NBC cameraman, and three others
Later, the congregation is ordered and forced the consume Jones’ death potion. 918 died in total.
Owning his life to his mother’s bravery, Norwood said, “I was relieved it wasn’t me. I could have been a name on that screen, and even at eight years old I had a sense of understanding that it could have been me.
“And it was tough for my mom. She was angry that they didn’t listen to her.
“I lost 27 relatives to a madman,” he added.
“We all have histories that have harmed us and people we love, but I believe that we transform the next generation through our transparency, we can spark a revival of change by pulling people from isolation and not burying our stories by bringing them comfort, words, and actions that inspire them to tell that story.
“I’m encouraged today to continue to share my family’s story and hopefully give others the courage to come out of hiding, to come out of their jungles, to come out of their imprisonment and their fake relationships that we all live in from time to time, to come from behind their mask and share their stories, because our stories can save lives.”
REWRITING HISTORY
A new documentary about the Peoples Temple, Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown, aired on Hulu earlier this week.
Norwood has since watched all three parts and credited the series for “finally” getting the story of Jonestown right.
“This was the most sobering and forthright documentary I have ever seen […] the mass suicide has finally been recognized as a mass murder,” said Norwood.
Distinguishing the Jonestown tragedy as a mass murder rather than mass suicide is incredibly important, he added.
“We don’t talk about the Peoples Temple’s history, the history of the people, or how Jim Jones came into San Francisco and captured the hearts of so many people and stood on the platforms alongside so many high-profile politicians,” he said.
“We don’t always talk about the hysteria and hurts that led them there.”
The Jonestown compound is seen above. The bodies of its members can be seen scattered around the church’s pavilion[/caption]
Prior to 9/11, the Jonestown massacre was the largest single incident of intentional civilian death in American history[/caption]
Rather than a radical, crazed contingent consenting to their own suicides, Norwood says Jonestown was a “graveyard of broken people” whose trauma Jim Jones preyed upon and fed off.
“The people of Jonestown called Jim Jones ‘father,’” said Norwood.
“And there were so many broken people in San Francisco who were fatherless, who were broken, who were abandoned, and who were ostracized when Jones arrived and began calling himself their father.
“Jonestown was a graveyard of broken people and dreams, and a nightmare that Jones tried to camouflage as paradise.
“I’m so grateful I wasn’t there, but I am here now, and what I’m not going to do 46 years later is drink the Kool-Aid and say my family and all these other people died willingly.
“He was a conman and a false prophet who preached a fake gospel.
“He should’ve never been trusted, but unfortunately so many people fell for it.”
DEADLY ENDGAME
Norwood was inspired to write his book, Be A Giant Killer, by his family’s history and deadly association with Jim Jones.
He believes Jones’ endgame was a desperate attempt to fulfill his own self-aggrandized legacy – and his family was an innocent pawn in it all.
“Jones did what happened to prevent a defection. He was desperate to make sure that the optics didn’t look a certain way.
“He couldn’t picture the government coming in and putting him in handcuffs and taking everyone else home.
“So, he decided at that moment to change the optics and change the narrative and try to sell us a cup of this flavor aid 46 years later that they did it to themselves.
“But we won’t be deceived like that. We know better than that. We know that what took place in Jonestown, if we look deep enough, and we look beyond the front page story, and we look in the pages of history and the people that came out as survivors, we know that it was that he, after assassinating a congressman of the United States, he gave them no choice but to die on November 18, 1978.
“And if they would not die willingly, he took their lives from them.”
A copy of Ed’s book ‘Be A Giant Killer’ can be purchased here. More Information about his works can be found on his website.
