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On November 18, 1978, a terrible event known as the Jonestown Massacre occurred in the far-off jungle of Guyana, South America. The Jonestown Massacre resulted in the deaths of 918 individuals, including the U.S. Congressman, three journalists, and 914 members of the Peoples Temple agricultural mission.
According to TIME, about 80 people from the Peoples Temple living in Guyana managed to survive the scary incident. Additionally, hundreds of Peoples Temple members residing in San Francisco and Los Angeles who were not present in Jonestown also survived.
Hulu's latest show, Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown, is based on a real event and focuses on the people who lived through it. The show premiered in the United States on June 17, 2024, and is available on Hulu.
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The official synopsis of the show reads:
"Survivors and eyewitnesses tell the immersive story of Jim Jones' idealistic organization's final hours that spiraled into a mass casualty event."
Survivors of the Jonestown Massacre
The common narrative about the Jonestown Massacre often describes it as a "mass suicide" where everyone willingly consumed poisoned Kool-Aid. This idea is often summed up by the saying, "They drank the Kool-Aid." However, this description is a huge oversimplification and isn't completely true.
Not everyone who died in the Jonestown Massacre chose to do so. Some people, including many children and older adults, were forced to take cyanide through injections. The idea that all participants were blind followers of Jim Jones diminishes the complexity and tragedy of their experiences.
Jim Jones, the charming and controlling leader of Peoples Temple, is usually the main person talked about when people discuss the Jonestown Massacre. This focus on him often makes people forget about the individual stories of the people who were part of the Peoples Temple, why they decided to join, and what they experienced.
The members of the Peoples Temple were not all alike. They were unique individuals with their own reasons for joining and different life experiences. Many of them were African Americans who joined to escape the difficult life in poor areas and the discrimination of the Jim Crow South during the 1960s and 1970s.
In the early 2000s, dramatist Leigh Fondakowski and her group decided to write The People's Temple to provide the complete history of the Jonestown Massacre. They spoke with survivors who had been reluctant to tell their stories for fear of ridicule or social rejection for five years while touring the country. Through these discussions, the writers gained insight into the survivors' intense feelings and pain.
The play wanted to tell the stories of the Peoples Temple members in their own words, focusing on their experiences instead of making Jim Jones the main focus of the Jonestown Massacre. The People’s Temple play started in 2005 and was liked by many, showing the Peoples Temple community as real people with complex lives.
Many people who were part of the Peoples Temple and saw the play said that for the first time, they felt the audience saw them as people, not outsiders. Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown also highlights the same narrative of the survivors getting to tell their own stories.
When a recent biopic of Jim Jones was announced, survivors expressed frustration, feeling that the focus on Jones continued to marginalize their stories. Jonestown survivor Yulanda Williams told CBS News:
"They were innocent. They were victims. They did not willingly die. They did not willingly take the poison. This was a massacre."
Williams further continued:
"Nothing is going to be given to you freely. There is always a cost. And whenever someone tries to take your identity from you and tell you how you should think and who you should be, that should be one of the warning signs."
Another Jonestown survivor, Jynona Norwood, expressing frustration, told CBS News:
"We lost generations. We lost babies. We lost seniors."
Norwood further continued:
"You've got to be in denial and delusional to insult us and want us to honor Jim Jones."
The Jonestown Massacre story isn't only about a leader and his followers. It's also about people looking for a better life, going through terrible pain, and sometimes making it through despite very tough situations.
Survivors like Christine Miller, who argued with Jones in the final moments, urging for hope and life, and Hyacinth Thrash, who hid and survived while her sister perished, embody the complex human stories often overlooked.
"As long as there is life, there’s hope. That’s my faith," Christine Miller told TIME.
The future generations of those who lived through the Jonestown Massacre still struggle with the long-lasting effects of the trauma that has been passed down. The disappearance of a whole group has left deep wounds in these areas.
Deborah, another survivor, told ABC News:
"I wrote an affidavit begging the United States government to get involved, that 1,000 people were being held against their will in Jonestown, and that Jones was a monster and had lost his mind."
Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown is streaming on Hulu.
