Jonestown, was named after the spiritual leader of the religious cult,  "The People's Temple".  The Temple was founded by an Indianapolis based preacher named James Jones.  Jonestown was not in the United States but rather in the jungle of a small country in South America called Guyana..  After moving his church to California in 1965 the group, led by Jones, began taking a turn to the far left politically and evolved into a Soviet Union sympathizing congregation in the midst of the Cold War.  He actually gained local support from politicians because he could move his flock into the directions that he wanted.  To the politicians a good relationship with Jones would mean votes. Jones' sermons became more of a blend of religion and socialism.  The church began receiving frequent negative press and also began to attract the interest of the U.S. Government.  The IRS launched an investigation into the Church's accounts.   At this point Jones felt that the U.S. government was not going to let him and his congregation practice his vision of a communal society.  In 1977 Jones promised a beautiful utopia to those that would follow him to the land the church had leased in Guyana during 1974.  Over 1100 followers made the move and left their old way of life behind them.  They left to live in a peaceful communal setting away from all the problems that living in a capitalistic society creates.  They also sought to get out from under the control of what they were taught to see as their natural enemy.  The U.S. Government.  During the summer of 1978, Jones hired JFK assassination conspiracy theorists Mark Lane and Donald Freed to help make the case of a "grand conspiracy" by intelligence agencies against the Peoples Temple.

After the group disappeared into the South American jungle, families that were left behind in America became concerned.  They felt their loved ones were brainwashed and being forced to live in squatter as Jim Jones gripped his power over them.  After various attempts to get the government to intervene a California congressman named Leo Ryan felt it necessary to make an investigative trip to the remote community to interview as well as gain insight to the condition and well being of the inhabitants of Jonestown.  In June 1978, Ryan read excerpts from the sworn affidavit of Debbie Blakey, a defector from "Jonestown," which included claims that the community at "Jonestown" had, on a number of occasions, rehearsed for a mass suicide.

"The plan was to create an egalitarian agricultural community. But Peoples Temple members who worked the fields and subsisted mostly on rice soon learned it was more like a prison, recalls Jonestown defector Deborah Layton.  Dissent was unthinkable, she says. Offenders sweltered in "The Box," a 6-by-4-foot (1.8-by-1.2-meter) underground enclosure. Misbehaving children were dangled head-first into the well late at night. Loudspeakers broadcast Jones' voice at all hours."

After her escape Layton immediately went to the U.S. consulate and warned of the forced lifestyle the inhabitants were being subjected to and also warned that the People's Temple under orders of Jim Jones was practicing for a potential mass suicide event.  There was little response as the media began to concentrate on the tiny outpost based on Layton's and others concerns until Representative Ryan agreed to check it out.  The important fact to understand about Jim Jones was that it was his extreme paranoia that very much created the events of the Jonestown Massacre.  He believed that the government was wanting to kill him and possibly even created a false sniper attempt on his life to fire up his congregation in the settlement in an attempt to prepare them for an armed defense of the camp against CIA.  The legal counsel for Jonestown, Mark Lane, was a known for his strong beliefs regarding a JFK conspiracy that led to the late president's assassination.  With representative Ryan on his way it only stoked the irrational flames of anti government sentiment in the congregation.  There were attempts prior to the mass suicide of moving the settlement to either Russia,  Cuba, and a few other communist save havens.
 

After the first group left by truck, Temple member Don Sly grabbed Ryan wielding a knife. Congressman Ryan was unhurt after others wrestled Sly to the ground and disarmed him, Deputy Chief of Mission Dwyer strongly suggested that Ryan leave Jonestown  as it his life was at serious risk.  The truck departing to the airstrip had stopped after hearing of the attack on Ryan. Ryan boarded the truck that waited for him and Ryan traveled with the group to Port Kaituma airstrip and arrived there later that afternoon

The Ryan Entourage and the defectors were set to leave on two planes but were temporarily delayed late in the afternoon.  As the first plane finally taxied for take off Larry Layton who demanded to join the defectors earlier in the day pulled out a hand gun and began shooting at passengers before being wrestled to the ground.  The other plane was being boarded with the remaining defectors and Ryan.  At this moment a vehicle pulled closely to the second plane that was being boarded.  The small tractor with a trailer was carrying members of Jones' Temple security members and they opened fire on the plane.  Congressman Ryan, Bob Brown, photographer Greg Robinson, NBC reporter Don Harris and Temple defector Patricia Parks were killed in the few minutes of shooting.  The first plane crew, after wrestling the gun away from Layton was able to lift off and head back to Georgetown to tell of the deadly events at the airport.

This was a confusing event that led to the deaths of the Congressman, media and defectors.  Before leaving Jonestown for the airstrip, Congressman Ryan had told one of the Temple's attorney Charles Garry that he would issue a report that would describe Jonestown "in basically good terms." Ryan stated that none of the sixty relatives Ryan had targeted for interviews wanted to leave, the 14 defectors constituted a very small portion of Jonestown's residents, that any sense of imprisonment the defectors had was likely because of peer pressure and a lack of physical transportation, and even if 200 of the 900+ wanted to leave "I'd still say you have a beautiful place here." Similarly, Washington Post reporter Charles Krause stated that, on the way back to the airstrip, he was unconvinced that Jonestown was as bad as defectors had claimed because there were no signs of malnutrition or physical abuse, while many members appeared to enjoy Jonestown and only a small number of the over 900 residents elected to leave.  In all reality the visit would have only strengthened the resolve of Jones and his ideal community. He would have only had minimum contact with the outside world after these more positive than negative first hand reports were released.

In the end however Jones mixed a concoction of valium, Flavor aid, cyanide and a few other chemicals into a batch and called for the congregation to meet at the pavilion.  He explained to them what had happened and said that their way of life was over.  That any time paratroopers and U.S. military would arrive to destroy Jonestown and it's inhabitants.  The poison began to be distributed.  Mothers would place droplets of the poison into the mouths of their infants and then take some themselves.  As the poison was taking affect and people began dieing,  Jones urged for a faster and orderly delivery of the death cocktail.  According to escaped Temple member Odell Rhodes, first to take the poison were Ruletta Paul and her one-year-old infant. A needle-less syringe was used to squirt poison into the infant's mouth and then Paul squirted another syringe into her own mouth.  Stanley Clayton also saw mothers with their babies first approach the table containing the poison.  Clayton said that Jones approached people to encourage them to drink the poison and that, after adults saw the poison begin to take effect, "they showed a reluctance to die.  The poison caused death within around five minutes.  After consuming the poison, according to Rhodes, people were then escorted away down a wooden walkway leading outside the Pavilion.  It is not clear if some initially thought the exercise was another "White Night" rehearsal. Rhodes reported being in close contact with dying children.  Jones made reference to the cries and screams: "I don't care how many screams you hear, I don't care how many anguished cries, death is a million times preferable to ten more days of this life. If you knew what was ahead of you – if you knew what was ahead of you, you'd be glad to be stepping over tonight."  As investigators arrived and found the hundreds of dead bodies laid out throughout the pavilion area Jones was found dead in a deck chair with a gunshot wound to his head that Guyanese coroner Cyrill Mootoo stated was consistent with a self-inflicted gun wound.

An important note to this entire mass suicide event was that according to media reports that followed the drastic event  The Reverend Jim Jones was possibly very ill with either lung cancer or some other severe lung infection.  A dieing man ended up taking hundreds to the grave with him.