CNN PRESENTS: ESCAPE FROM JONESTOWN: REPORTED BY SOLEDAD O'BRIEN (TV)
Summary
This news report special marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Jonestown mass suicide, in which over 900 people fatally ingested cyanide at the behest of cult leader Jim Jones at their compound in Guyana. Reporter Soledad O'Brien visits the location of the former "religious paradise," now an empty field, explaining that only thirty-three individuals managed to escape the massacre, and the various survivors comment on their terror in attempting to escape the "slave camp," recalling that several people, including visiting California Congressman Leo Ryan, were killed by Jones' gunmen at a nearby airport. O'Brien explains that Jones was born in Indiana during the Great Depression and went on to found his own church, the Peoples Temple, and survivor Jerry Parks recalls being "fooled for years" by Jones' claims of faith-healing abilities. He preached equality and racial harmony but warned of impending disaster and nuclear war, stating that he had a cave in the Northern California mountains that could protect his followers from a bomb. His devotees eagerly donated thousands of dollars to his "cause," and Jerry's daughter Tracy recalls being forbidden from associating with children outside of Jones' movement.
Leslie Wilson describes "catharsis" meetings at which members were beaten for their various mistakes and recalls Jones bragging about his sexual exploits, and Jones' former "trusted aide" Tim Carter recalls an incident in which Jones tested his followers by falsely stating that they had been poisoned and would shortly die, to which they reacted with calm acceptance. He soon secured a land deal in the small socialist country of Guyana to build Jonestown, and Vernon Gosney explains that Jones sought out followers who had led "difficult lives" and were attracted to his messages of harmony and equality. Jones relocated to San Francisco and was, ironically, asked to give the benediction for the new suicide-prevention barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge, but when a magazine published an exposé with former members describing his abusive tactics, he fled the country and brought many followers along to Guyana with him. Wilson followed her husband and infant son to South America and had her passport immediately taken away by Jones' people, and though Jones created appealing home movies about idyllic Jonestown life to recruit new members, Wilson states that life in the compound was filled with hard manual labor in the hot sun and minimal food. She wrote a despairing letter to a friend back in America but was "turned in" by her best friend, and Jones read the letter aloud to the congregation and punished her with more hard work. Jerry quickly realized that they were trapped in the "jungle prison" by armed guards, and young Tracy too became convinced that she would die there.
Gosney, whose wife lapsed into a coma giving birth to their daughter, went to Jonestown to get clean of drugs, and he describes the compound as a "dictatorship." Jones soon considered a move to Communist Russia and ordered his followers to learn Russian, though he was also secretly stocking up on vast quantities of cyanide, having been assured by a doctor that it provided a painless death. He informed his followers that they would likely need to "sacrifice" their children, prompting Jerry to resolve to leave once and for all. In November 1978, Congressman Ryan visited Jonestown with his aide, Jackie Speier, and seemed convinced of the residents' happiness, though Gosney quickly passed a note begging for help to one of the NBC cameramen who had accompanied Ryan. Wilson and a number of others escaped with the help of the NBC reporters, and Wilson recalls her terrifying "walk to freedom" over a rickety bridge, but the group was then stopped by police and learned of shootings at the nearby Port Kaituma. Jerry's mother appealed to Speier for help, and Jones became agitated as more and more followers prepared to leave and the tense situation worsened. Ryan was attacked by a knife-wielding devotee as he hurried to the airport with Speier, and fifteen defectors, including Larry Layton, boarded a small plane on the Port Kaituma airstrip, but Jones' gunmen then arrived in a tractor trailer and opened fire, killing Ryan, Jerry's wife Patricia, and several others. Jerry and Tracy vividly recall Patricia's death, explaining that Layton, still loyal to Jones, joined in the shooting, and Tracy fled into the jungle with the other children as Gosney collapsed from blood loss.
Back at the compound, Carter realized that Jones was ready to carry out his long-plotted suicide plan, and Jones informed his followers that the Congressman was dead and urged them all to drink the cyanide-laced Flavor Aid, calling it "medication" and claiming that the Guyanese army was on its way to torture them and their children. 303 children, including Gosney's son and Wilson's niece and nephew, were the first to be killed, dying painfully despite Jones' promises, and Carter recalls the "chaos and insanity" of the scene as his own wife dosed their infant son with a syringe and then ended her own life. Jones himself did not ingest cyanide but was instead shot in the head, likely by a close confidante, and Carter, who departed with two others and suitcases full of cash, as instructed, seriously considered suicide as well. He was nabbed by nearby police and later taken back to camp to help identify the 909 bodies, realizing that some were "flat-out murdered" when they refused to drink the Flavor Aid. A few older followers were "overlooked" and lived, as did Layton, making a total of thirty-three survivors in all. More than 400 of the dead went unclaimed and were buried anonymously, and Wilson visits her family's grave and denounces Jones as a "maniac."
Tracy recalls hiding in the jungle and nearly drowning in a river before eventually reuniting with her father, and O'Brien explains that many survivors went on to further tragedy, haunted by their Jonestown experience. Carter states that the scent of almonds, similar to cyanide, still sickens him, and Gosney and Wilson both describe their extensive drug use and self-destructive behavior, caused in part by their survivors' guilt. Wilson went on to write a book and explains that she is still spiritual, though dislikes organized religion, and Gosney displays his many Eastern religion-inspired tattoos. Speier was eventually elected to Ryan's former seat in Congress, and Tracy, who had her own struggles with alcohol, returns to the Port Kaituma airport where her mother died and lays flowers for her. She then visits the former compound site, explaining that she feels a sense of closure in seeing that the Jonestown structures are truly gone. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CNN
- DATE: 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:23:20
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 108103
- GENRE: Talk/Interview
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - News/Talk; Talk/Interview; Jonestown Mass Suicide, Jonestown, Guyana, 1978
- SERIES RUN: CNN - TV, 2008
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- James Polk … Executive Producer
- Mark Nelson … Senior Executive Producer
- David Matthews … Producer
- Jack Austin … Producer
- Lee Hughey … Producer
- Blake Luce … Producer
- Karen Nolan … Producer
- Wendy Tennery … Producer
- John Cooke … Post-Production Producer
- Matt Scheibner … Post-Production Producer
- Soledad O'Brien … Anchor
- Leslie Wilson … Interviewee
- Vernon Gosney … Interviewee
- Gerald Parks … Interviewee
- Tim Carter … Interviewee
- Tracy Parks … Interviewee
- Jackie Speier … Interviewee
- Jim Jones
- Larry Layton
- Leo Ryan