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Hi Crime House Community. It's Heidi Wong looking for another Crime House original podcast to add to your rotation. You will love Clues with Morgan Abshur and Kaylan Moore. Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaylin dig into the world's most notorious crimes, clue by clue. From serial killers to shocking murders. They follow the trail of clues, breaking down the evidence and debating the theories. It's like hanging out with your smart and true crime obsessed friends. Listen to Clues on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to your podcasts. This is crime house. A promise of paradise in the jungles of South America. A community isolated from the world. A leader who called himself a prophet who turned out to be a monster. This is the terrifying true story of Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre and how one film brought that nightmare back to life. Welcome to Twisted A Crime House Original. I'm Heidi Wong. Every week I'll take you deep inside the real stories behind horror's most terrifying legends. From vengeful ghosts to bloody slashers to alien encounters and more, these real life accounts are guaranteed to keep you up at night. But scary stories stories aren't any fun if you're telling them alone. If you've ever had a haunted moment or a twisted tale of your own, I want to hear about it. Drop it in the comments. The creepier the better. Crime House is made possible by you. Follow Twisted Tales and subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts for ad free early access. And if you're into true crime as well as horror, go search and follow Crime House daily, our team's twice a day show bringing you breaking news, updates and unbelievable stories from the world of crime that are happening right now. This week we're traveling to the remote jungles of Guyana where the promise of utopia ended in tragedy. We'll see how director Ti west brought the story of the Jonestown Massacre to the big screen in the Sacrament. The movie captures it all. The illusion of paradise, the desperate attempt at escape, and the horrific Deaths of over 900 People with cyanide laced flavor aid. But the real Jonestown wasn't a film set. And for the people who put their trust in Jim Jones, there was no walking away when it was over. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means half day. Yeah, give it a try@mintmobile.com. switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only speed slow 135 gigabytes of network busy taxes and fees extra cmintmobile.com Ti West's 2013 film the Sacrament is one of those cases where the truth really is stranger than fiction. Shot in found footage style, it shows three men who visit what looks like a peaceful commune. Spoiler alert, it's not. One of those men is a journalist named Patrick. He convinces two of his co workers, Sam and Jake, to go with him to a place called Eden Parish. His sister Caroline lives there, and from her letters it sounds like paradise. And at first it actually does seem perfect. Smiling families, lush gardens, kids playing in the sun. Caroline's practically glowing as she shows them around. The commune's leader, who everyone calls Father, has supposedly saved these people from being corrupted by modern society. But something feels off. Armed guards patrol the compound. The people who Patrick and his friends talk to sound like they're reading off a teleprompter, and Caroline's enthusiasm borders on manic. And when the journalists meet Father, they have this moment of realization. He seems exactly like a cult leader. He's wearing a white suit, dark sunglasses, and has hundreds of devoted followers hanging on his every word. He talks about Eden Parrish like as humanity's last hope, but there's an edge to everything he says, like he's daring anyone to question him. Then the cracks start to show. A woman slips the journalist a note that reads Please help us. And that's when things really go sideways. The journalists had flown in on a small helicopter, and suddenly they've got a crowd of people desperate to leave with them. But there's no way the helicopter can fit everyone. Father sees what's happening and announces that no one is allowed to betray the revolution. And it all builds up to the final scene, which is brutal to watch. It shows Father's followers being forced to drink barrels of poison Kool Aid. No one is spared, not even the children, who are force fed by their parents as armed guards. Look, the whole massacre is captured through shaky camera footage. It truly feels like a nightmare. But here's the the sacrament isn't fiction. It's a retelling of the Jonestown Massacre, almost beat for beat. Now we can't talk about Jonestown without talking about the man responsible for it. Jim Jones grew up in the flat farmlands of Indiana. The Jones family didn't have much the Great Depression hit them hard and they struggled to get by but none of that seemed to matter much to Jim. Weirdly enough, he actually seemed like a nice kid, someone who didn't let his family's financial situation turn him bitter. He defended classmates who were being bullied at school, took in stray animals, and even invited unhoused people to his home for food. There were two things that he was a little obsessive about. The Bible and power. He spent most of his free time reading and memorizing scripture. And he studied speeches by dictators like Joseph Stalin with the same enthusiasm. And even as a teenager, he knew how to work a crowd. Once, at a pep rally, he staged an elaborate mock funeral for the opposing school's basketball team. Naturally, Jim played the preacher. But those performances weren't the only things that made Jim stand out. Unlike a lot of people around him, he had some genuinely progressive ideas, especially about religion. Jim loved the energy of Pentecostal worship. The shouting, the music, the faith healing. But he couldn't stand that white families and black families worshiped separately. So he decided that as an adult, he was going to start his own church, one where everyone was welcome. And here's where things get complicated. In the early 1950s, Jim married a nurse named Marceline Baldwin, and they moved to Indianapolis. A few Years later, in 1955, Jim made good on his dreams and set up his own church. He called it the People's Temple. And true to his word, Jim had black and white families sitting together in the same pews. This was extremely rare for the time. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was radical, but the temple was more than just a place for worship. It became a real lifeline for the community. Soup kitchens, health clinics, housing for seniors. They were doing actual good work. For families facing discrimination elsewhere, the People's Temple truly felt safe. But it wasn't enough for Jim. He still felt like he had to prove that he was a trailblazer. That's why he and Marceline adopted kids of different races and called them their rainbow family. It helped Jim earn credibility enough that in 1961, he was appointed to the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission, where he pushed for desegregation of hospitals and restaurants and the city's police department. On the surface, he looked like a rising civil rights leader. But here's the thing. Jim wanted more than recognition. He wanted total control over his followers. And fighting for civil rights just wasn't cutting it. And once he realized that, Jim pivoted and found a new fear to exploit. By the mid-1960s, the Cold War was heating up. Vietnam was all over the news. And people were genuinely terrified of nuclear war. Jim saw this as an opportunity. He pointed to the news and basically told his congregation, we're screwed. He warned his followers that Indianapolis in particular was doomed. He knew for a fact that it would be annihilated by a nuclear bomb. And that's when everything shifted. Jim stopped building people up and started tearing them down with fear. His message wasn't about hope and equality anymore. It was about destruction and survival. And wouldn't you know it, Jim Jones was the only thing standing between them and total destruction. So in 1965, he packed up his followers and headed west to Redwood Valley, California, A quiet, isolated spot in Mendocino County. Miles of vineyards and forests, barely anyone around. Exactly what Jim wanted. Here, he could rebuild his empire on his own terms. Jim promised his congregants they were safe without the threat of nuclear war. They could finally build a society free of racism, greed and corruption. But as Jim's power grew in California, so did his need to control every aspect of his followers lives. What began as communal living soon became something much darker. Jim's followers weren't just giving him their Sundays anymore. They were giving him their paychecks, their homes, their families. In California, the people's temple became a machine fueled by sacrifice. And if anyone stepped out of line, Jim had a heavy wooden paddle he wasn't afraid to use on kids and adults. The scary part is how slowly it happened. Jim went from a caring pastor to a total dictator. So gradually that most people didn't realize until it was too late. In Indianapolis, he'd been a fiery pastor and civil rights advocate. In California, he began calling himself the prophet. By calling himself that, Jim was basically saying he had a direct line to the big man. No one could question him because questioning Jim meant questioning God. And this is where you can really see the sacrament pulling from Jonestown. In the film, the leader insists everyone call him father, Just like Jim with his prophet nickname. It's all about putting himself on a pedestal. And both leaders used the same keep people scared, scared of the outside world, scared of stepping out of line, scared of losing their shot at paradise. Of course, there was a catch, a pretty big one. The only way to get to that utopia was to do exactly as the prophet said. Unfortunately for Jim Jones, he couldn't control what happened outside of his small bubble. Over time, reporters and former followers started poking holes in his miracles and exposing, exposing years of abuse. In response, Jim became extremely paranoid. Every headline felt like proof that America was turning on him. And it didn't help that Jim was popping pills like candy. The guy who used to lecture his classmates in Indiana about drugs was now completely dependent on them. It started with painkillers, but by 1971, he moved on to the hard stuff. Amphetamines, Quaaludes, pentobarbital, you name it. The uppers especially sent his paranoia about the People's Temple into overdrive. So Jones ramped up the fear factor. He told his followers that the government would be coming after them any day now, and they needed to disappear somewhere remote where no one could find them. And Jim had the perfect place in mind. In 1974, Jim leased land in Guyana, a small country on the northern coast of South America, and started building his promised utopia. He named it Jonestown after himself, because, of course, he did. Building Jonestown wasn't exactly easy, though. And while construction dragged on in Guyana, things were falling apart back home. People in the US Were starting to catch on to Jim's lies. Then, in 1977, two journalists published a scathing expose on the People's Temple in New west magazine. Beatings, fake healings, financial extortion, forced property handovers, all of it. Jim got a heads up the night before the article dropped on August 1, 1977. By morning, he was gone. He packed up his inner circle and bolted to Guyana. Jonestown wasn't ready, but Jim was out of time. Hundreds of his followers packed up and moved to Guyana with him. They were looking for paradise. But what they found was a trap. At first, though, Jonestown seemed like what was promised. They had cooks, carpenters, teachers, even engineers. The compound had dormitories, a library, a health center, and a communal kitchen. But the place was built for maybe a few dozen people. By 1978, over 1,000 people were living there. Everything started breaking down. Not enough housing, not enough food. Resources stretched impossibly thin. Everyone worked six days a week from sunrise to sunset. Building, farming, cooking, cleaning, whatever Jim needed done. From the outside, it looked like everyone was pitching in to build something together. But the people living there were exhausted, underfed, and barely surviving. Meanwhile, Jim had complete control over the community. He confiscated everyone's medicine and kept it locked away. Just one more way to make sure his people needed him, all while he was ramping up his own drug habit. Jim also took away everyone's passports and separated parents from their children. All contact with the outside world went through him. Letters were censored. Phone calls were monitored. The only story anyone heard was the one Jim wanted them to believe. Jonestown became its own echo chamber. Everything was filtered through his voice, his fear, his narrative. This was especially clear with something Jim called White Nights. These were mandatory all night meetings where everyone had to gather in the main pavilion and listen to Jim rant for hours. He said the press was after them, the government wanted to destroy them. Defectors were traitors and their own relatives were enemies. According to Jim, everyone was out to get them. At times, the gatherings escalated into rehearsals of mass suicide. Jim would hand out cups of liquid and tell members that it was poisoned. They had to drink it. Of course, it wasn't actually poisoned, just water or flavor aid. But they didn't know that if they drank without hesitation, they passed the loyalty test. If they refused, well, Jim had armed guards stationed around the compound. The whole thing was practice for a performance that would have no encore. Over 900Americans, most of them black and working class, were now trapped in a remote jungle in Guyana with no way to call home. But just when it seemed like no one would ever find out what was happening, word finally got out and it reached someone who was determined to help. Coca Cola for the big, for the small, the short and the tall. Peacemakers, Risk takers for the optimists, pessimists for long distance love for introverts and extroverts, the thinkers and the doers for old friends and new Coca Cola for everyone. Pick up some Coca Cola at a store near you and Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu. Is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty Savings. Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts. Back in the States, families were getting desperate to find out about their loved ones. At Jonestown, they wrote letters, signed petitions and staged protests. Anything to get some answers. It was November 14, 1978, when he stepped onto a plane bound for Guyana. Ryden didn't know it yet, but he was walking into a powder keg. Thankfully, he wasn't alone. Ryan brought a whole crew with him. Staffers, worried, family members, and most importantly, journalists. An NBC camera crew, a photographer from the San Francisco examiner, and print reporters. It's the same setup as the Sacrament Vice. Journalists came in with cameras, flying into Eden Parish to investigate what's really happening inside the commune. The plan was visit the compound, assess the conditions, offer any members who wished to leave the opportunity to go Home. But this wasn't a normal congressional field trip. This was a rescue mission dressed up as a courtesy call. The NBC crew, led by correspondent Don Harris, documented everything, from the cramped local flights to the tent's arrival at the remote Port Kaituma airstrip. From the beginning, things. Things were strange. The Guyanese government stalled them. Jim delayed the visit. This all echoes the Sacrament, where the Vice journalists are guided into Eden Parish under tight watch. They're told what to film, what not to ask. Father smiles wide, but his people speak in whispers, if at all. The moment the outsiders arrive, the clock starts ticking. For Congressman Ryan, the visit to Jonestown was full of contradictions, too. On the surface, the compound appeared functional. Children playing, crops growing, people smiling for the cameras. Ryan was cautious but optimistic. That first evening, the temple hosted a welcome reception. There was food, music, even dancing. NBC's cameras rolled as Ryan addressed the crowd, saying he saw nothing but joy and happiness. It was a carefully constructed illusion, one designed for broadcast. But the cracks were already there, just out of frame, because behind every fake smile was someone waiting for the chance to speak freely. As the music played and the cameras rolled, Vernon Gosney watched from the crowd. He'd been waiting for this moment, maybe his only chance to escape the nightmare that Jonestown had become. Gosney had been a devoted member of the People's Temple for years, but life in the jungle compound was nothing like the paradise that Jim had promised. As NBC reporter Don Harris moved through the crowd with his camera crew, Vernon Gosney saw his opportunity. As quickly as he could, Gosney scribbled a note and tried to slip it into the reporter's hand, mistaking him for Congressman Ryan. When the NBC reporter unfolded it, he read the desperate Dear Congressman Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, please help us get out of Jonestown. Harris gave the note to Congressman Ryan, and that's when everything started to unravel. The sacrament recreates this moment exactly. In the movie, people at Eden Parish secretly pass notes to the journalists, begging for help, just like Vernon Gosney did in real life. When Ryan brought up the note in an interview the next day, Jim lost it. He insisted Gosney and the others were lying, and they were just trying to sabotage everything he'd built. But the damage was already done. Word spread quickly throughout the compound. More and more people started coming forward, saying they wanted to leave, too. It was clear to Jim that everything was falling apart. That note had blown his cover. Now everyone was whispering about leaving, and the whispers were only getting louder. By the morning of November 18, 1978, less than 24 hours after Ryan and his delegation arrived, the situation had spiraled completely out of Jones control. Eleven Temple members had sensed enough danger to simply walk out of Jonestown in the early morning hours, making their way through the jungle to the town of Matthews Ridge. Among them were the wife and son of Joe Wilson, Jim's own head of security. But even more defectors were coming forward. Around 3pm 14 temple members who wanted to leave climbed onto a truck taking Congressman Ryan's group to the airstrip. Among them was a man named Larry Layton. Except he wasn't actually trying to escape. He was there on Jim's orders. For these people, this was their one shot at freedom. Some have been trapped in Jonestown for years, living under Jim's increasingly paranoid and violent rule. Jones had told them that the jungles were full of mercenaries who wanted to kill them and tigers and snakes would eat them alive. But the fear of staying, staying had finally become greater than the fear of leaving. When they arrived at the airstrip, the families began loading onto the two small aircrafts. And for one brief moment, freedom felt like just a plane ride away. The problem was there weren't enough seats for everyone. But Congressman Ryan wanted to save anyone he could, so they started boarding whoever would fit. The sacrament shows this as well. In the movie, the helicopter that brought the vice crew can't fit. Everyone who was wants to leave, just like the real planes in Port Kaituma. But Jim Jones wasn't about to just let them leave. He spent too many years building his empire, and he wasn't going to watch it crumble because of a few defectors. As the plane prepared for takeoff, a tractor rolled onto the tarmac. A group of men popped out and started shooting at the people who were about to board the plane. Chaos erupted. The gunmen riddled Ryan's body with over 20 bullets before shooting him in the face. Three journalists were killed alongside them, and one of the defectors, Patricia Parks, was gunned down as she tried to escape with her family. At the same time, inside the smaller plane, Larry Layton, the man who'd been pretending to defect, pulled out a hidden gun and shot Vernon Gosney and another follower named Monica Bagby before other passengers tackled him. The larger plane Ryan had been boarding never left the ground. But somehow the smaller aircraft managed to take off with his wounded survivors. Others fled into the jungle. Ryan's aide, Jackie had been shot five times, but managed to crawl to safety. By then, Jim had reached his breaking point. The outside world had finally penetrated his isolated kingdom. And if he couldn't control his followers lives, he would control their deaths. The people trying to leave had no idea that their attempt would doom everyone still in Jonestown. Back at the compound, Jones had his followers surrounded. Guards with crossbows in front, guards with guns behind them. For the 900 people still in Jonestown, there would be no escape, no second chances, no tomorrow. Jim Jones was ready to play his final card. At New Balance. We believe if you run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running is all about. About Run your way@newbalance.com running meet the computer you can talk to with Copilot on Windows Working, creating and collaborating is as easy as talking. Got writer's block? Share your screen with Copilot Vision to help spark inspiration and use Copilot voice to have a conversation and brainstorm ideas. Or maybe you need some tech help with Copilot Vision. Copilot sees what you see. Let Copilot talk you through step, step by step guidance so you can master new apps, games and skills faster. Try now@windows.com copilot tis the season to cozy up with all your favorite holiday movies and shows. You coming where to the North Pole, of course, like a very Jonas Christmas movie and Home Alone on Disney. Did I burn down the joy? I don't think so. Then snuggle up with the Polar Express at National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We with Hulu on Disney. I think we're all in for a very big Christmas treat this season. There's something for everyone with Hulu on Disney Bundle Subscription required terms apply. Visit disneyplus.com hulu for details. About 30 minutes after Ryan's delegation left for the airstrip on the afternoon of November 18, 1978, Jim made an announcement over the Jonestown speaker system, calling all members to the pavilion immediately. This was it. The moment he'd been building towards for months. As people gathered in the main pavilion, Jim began recording what would become known as the death tape, 44 minutes of chilling audio that captured the final moments of nearly 900 people. In a voice cracked by drugs and stress, Jim started it by saying, how very much I've loved you, how very much I tried my best to give you the good life. But this was no farewell speech. It was a sales pitch for death. While Jim spoke, his aides were busy preparing something horrific. Dr. Larry Schocht the compound's only doctor was mixing a deadly cocktail in a large metal tub. Grape flavor aid, which was an off brand kool aid laced with cyanide and sedatives. Ti Wiss captured this chilling detail perfectly in the Sacrament. In the film we see the same poison laced fruit punch being prepared. And just like in real life, armed guards surround the pavilion to prevent anyone from escaping. Jim told his followers there was no choice. The congressmen had been killed, but the world would still be coming after them. They could die with dignity through, quote, revolutionary suicide, or they could be tortured by their enemies. When a woman named Christine Miller stood up and challenged Jim, other temple members shouted her down. The peer pressure was overwhelming, the manipulation complete. And then came the most horrific part of all, something the Sacrament also shows in unflinching detail. Jim ordered that the children be given the poison first. Parents and nurses. Nurses used syringes to drop the lethal mixture into babies throats. This was horrible and strategic. Jim knew that once the parents watched their children die, they would have no reason left to live. The entire process took about four hours. Adults then lined up to drink the poison while armed guards surrounded the pavilion with crossbows and guns. Anyone who tried to run was stopped. Anyone who resisted was forced to drink the sacrament. Gets these details exactly right, showing how the guards weren't there to keep anyone out. They were there to keep everyone in. The next day, Guyanese police and US Officials made it to Jonestown. Word had gotten out about the airstrip massacre and they knew something terrible had happened at the compound. What they found was even worse than anything they could have imagined. Bodies everywhere, many still holding each other, paper cups and syringes surrounding them. Jim Jones himself was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head after forcing hundreds of others to drink poison. In the Sacrament, Father meets the same fate, choosing the bullet over the poison he forced on everyone else. 918 people died that day, including 304 children. And it wasn't revolutionary. It was just murder. In the days after the massacre, the world tried to make sense of what had happened. The FBI worked with Guyanese officials to interview survivors and identify the dead. But the survivors, about 80 temple members who were out of the compound on various errands, plus a few who managed to escape, faced their own nightmare. Many returned to the United States with literally nothing. The Temple had required members to sign over all of their assets, leaving survivors penniless. Just like in the Sacrament, where only two journalists survived to tell the story, the real Jonestown survivors became reluctant witnesses to history. In the movie Patrick is killed at the compound by his own sister, while Sam and Jake escape on their helicopter, traumatized and changed forever. The real survivors face something similar. A world that looked at them with suspicion and morbid curiosity. The aftermath was devastating. San Francisco's Fillmore neighborhood, where Jim Jones had eventually also established a following, lost so many people that it felt like a ghost town. Most of them were black leaders, teachers and neighbors who'd built their lives and futures there. Soon, Jonestown became a punchline. Don't drink the Kool Aid, right? But that turns this into a joke and let's just call it what it cold blooded murder. The Sacrament ends with a simple death toll. 167 killed at Eden Parish. But real life doesn't wrap up that neatly. Survivors spent decades trying to be heard. Two of Jim Jones sons who survived because they were playing basketball in Georgetown that day still wrestle with what their father did. Only one person was ever prosecuted, Larry Layton, who was sentenced to life in prison for shooting people on the plane and conspiring to kill Congressman Ryan. Jonestown changed the way we talk about cults, how much freedom religious groups should have, and whether the government should step in when people are in danger. Ty Weiss understood this when he made the Sacrament. He didn't want to just make another supernatural thriller. He wanted to show what real terror looks like. And the terrifying thing about Jonestown, it was devastatingly human. A charismatic leader who twisted people's deepest hopes against them. Followers who believed so completely that they gave up everything, including their lives. No movie could ever fully capture that. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of Twisted Tales, a Crime House original. I'd love to hear from you. What did you think about today's stories? Anything you're dying for me to COVID Leave a comment or review wherever you're tuning in. And make sure to follow twisted tales so we can keep building this community together. I'll be back next week with another unbelievable true story. Until then, stay curious and remember, there's no reason to fear the dark unless you try to hide from it. Join Vanguard for a moment of meditation. Take a deep breath. Picture yourself reaching your financial goals. Feel that freedom. Visit vanguard.com investinginyou to learn more. All investing is subject to risk. Looking for your next crime house? Listen, don't miss Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaylin Moore. Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaylin take you deep into the world of the most notorious crimes ever. Clue by clue. It's like hanging out with your your smart, true crime obsessed friends. Listen to clues on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.