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12 unusual facts about Jonestown


Eastmont, Oakland, California

Evergreen Cemetery is located there, and is the burial place for unclaimed victims of the Jonestown mass killing.

Elmer Grey

The church Grey designed for the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Los Angeles was later used by Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple immediately prior to the 1978 Jonestown tragedy.

Get Damned

The location, now commonly called Jonestown was the site of a mass suicide in the 1970s which resulted in nearly 1,000 deaths, including hundreds of children.

Jonathan Z. Smith

His research includes the theory of ritual, Hellenistic religions, Māori cults in the 19th century, and the mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

Jonestown, Coahoma County, Mississippi

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic wrote in 2006:There are towns like Jonestown, Mississippi, that in their shocking poverty make one gasp.

Jonestown, Demerara

More narrowly, traditional geographic terms put Jonestown in the Mahaica district of the East Coast of Demerara — East Coast Demerara or just ECD, for short, in any case meaning that part of Demerara east of the Demerara River and facing the Atlantic Ocean.

Lionel Luckhoo

Jones was the founder and leader of the People's Temple Church, and had left California in the 1970s to establish a commune in Guyana known as Jonestown.

Manada Gap, Pennsylvania

It stood on what is now the property of William Rhoads, east of the Manada Creek, about midway between it and the road to Jonestown, Pennsylvania and three-quarters of a mile south of the mill in Manada Gap.

Mel White

He is also an author; among his 16 books (nine bestsellers), he wrote about the Philippines' Ninoy and Corazon Aquino (Aquino), the Jonestown tragedy (Deceived), David Rothenber (a child burned by his father) (David), Lust the Other Side of Love, and talk-show host/producer Mike Douglas (When the Going Gets Tough).

Mexican Moon

The song "Jonestown" is a scathing critique of the theology surrounding the Jonestown Massacre and opens with a minute-long sample of Jim Jones ranting about warfare.

Proud to Commit Commercial Suicide

The album cover is a picture of the aftermath of the infamous Jonestown suicides.

Travis Parker

Originally from Jonestown, Texas, his sponsors have included Capita Super, K2 Snowboards, DC Boots, Airblaster, Union Bindings, Level, Lifetime, and Bluebird.


Atrocity story

Danny Jorgensen, Professor at the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Florida, in his book The Social Construction and Interpretation of Deviance: Jonestown and the Mass Media argues that the role of the media in constructing and reflecting reality is particularly apparent in its coverage of cults.

Cold Dark Matter

300 Year old Tibetan Thigh Bone Trumpet; New Guinea Bamboo Bass Flute; African Tree Trunk Ceremonial Drum; Marcel Duchamp Ready-Made Bicycle Wheel; Burmese Temple Gong; Nepali Temple Bells; Tibetan Singing Bowl; John Cage Prepared Piano; African Gazelle Horn Pipe; Thai Military Bass Drum; Japanese Koto; one "found" and warped audio cassette of Christian Devotional Choir (actually original recordings made at Jonestown, Guyana prior to the mass suicides)

Crime of the century

Guyana: Crime of the Century, a 1979 exploitation film loosely based on the Jonestown massacre

Cult Awareness Network

The CAN predecessor, Citizen's Freedom Foundation ("CFF"), was founded in the wake of the 1978 Jonestown mass murder-suicide, and was run for a time by Patricia Ryan, the daughter of US Congressman Leo J. Ryan (D-Millbrae, California), who died from gunfire while investigating conditions at the Jonestown cult compound in Guyana.

Joel Gion

His image is also on the cover of the Brian Jonestown Massacre album, Thank God For Mental Illness (and a very distended image of him can be seen on Give It Back!).

Koolaid Moustache in Jonestown

Koolaid Moustache in Jonestown is the 1997 release by avant-garde metal band Don Salsa.

Rob Campanella

Brian Jonestown Massacre, And This Is Our Music, album (2003) — Producer, Engineer, Hammond Organ, Dobro, Mandolin, Piano

Robert Francis Peckham

Hours after Mr. Ryan and four others were shot to death at an airstrip near Jonestown, which was the headquarters of the cult, the cult's leader, the Rev. Jim Jones, and 912 of his followers died by poison and gunfire in mass killings and suicides.

St. Peter the Apostle Church

Its appearance is similar to the now landmark Lloyd Street Synagogue off East Baltimore Street, also designed by Long, a year later for the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation in the Jonestown/Old Town neighborhood of East Baltimore, across the Jones Falls.

The Lea Shores

Andy Bell (formerly of Ride, currently of Oasis) had this to say about the band's live performance: The Lea Shores are my favourite new band… I saw them supporting the Brian Jonestown Massacre in Stockholm and was hooked straight away.

The Out Crowd

The Out Crowd was featured briefly on the DVD extras of the movie Dig! about The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre

What Makes a Man Start Fires?

Further showing off their sense of humor, Watt introduces "Mutiny In Jonestown" by slating the take during the basic track recording as "Pavarotti, take one".

Wilson Harris

His most recent novels include Jonestown (1996), which tells of the mass-suicide of followers of cult leader Jim Jones, The Dark Jester (2001), his latest semi-autobiographical novel, The Mask of the Beggar (2003), and The Ghost of Memory (2006).