unbiased investigation should be done into the activities of The People’s Temple. Knowing what probing any deeper than the superficial exterior of his mission would uncover, Jim Jones knew the time had come. The money he had been so generously sending to Guyana had in fact been used to procure a plot of land in the Guyanese Jungle, soon to be known as ‘Jonestown’. Accommodation had also been built, with space enough for Jim Jones to bring 1,000 followers. Here they would set up and live out Jim Jones’s utopia.
In November 1977, Jim Jones and 1,000 of his faithful followers left for Guyana, and behind them San Francisco breathed a sigh of relief that the problem of The People’s Temple was no longer its own. All of San Francisco that was, except for one man – Leo Ryan.
L EO R YAN
Ryan was a local politician, and rather than waving Jones off, pleased to see the back of him, his concerns grew for the 1,000 citizens he had taken with him. He had already heard disturbing reports from the relatives of suicide victims who had belonged to, and attempted to leave, The People’s Temple while in San Francisco. Already, news was reaching him from the friends and family of those who had left for Guyana, that they were being held against their will, and that they were prisoners in Jonestown.
Ryan decided that he had to get out there, to see for himself the conditions in which these people were being held, and if indeed, they were being held against their will at all. He arranged the trip with the agreement of State Department officials, and also sent a telegram to Jim Jones to announce his forthcoming visit. Jones imposed some conditions on the visit, banning media coverage and insisting that the Temple’s legal counsel be present in all discussions.
When the time for the trip eventually came, Leo Ryan landed in Guyana to find that Jim Jones had retracted his permission to allow him to visit, and he was barred from even getting out of the plane. Lengthy negotiations ensued, and eventually Ryan was allowed access to Jonestown. What he found there confirmed his fears, and disturbed him greatly. The members, although professing complete devotion to their saviour Jim Jones, were indeed trapped – Jones had taken their passports from them. What’s more, they were in a poor physical state, weak and undernourished. Ryan addressed the group, telling them that any one of them was at complete liberty to leave with him, and that he guaranteed them total protection should they decide to do so. Out of the silent and slightly shocked group, one person stepped forward.
Ryan stayed on in Jonestown to talk further with the members of The People’s Temple. The journalists he had travelled out with, left to stay the night in a neighbouring town. When they were safely out of Jonestown, one of the journalists read a note which had been secretly passed to him by one of Jones’s followers. ‘Please, please get us out of here,’ it said, ‘before Jones kills us.’ Four people had signed the piece of paper. The second journalist claimed that one of the group had whispered the same thing, barely audibly to him.
On their return to Jonestown the next day, the journalists found Leo Ryan sitting with 15 people who had dared to say they wanted to leave. The plane in which Ryan and the journalists had made the trip to Guyana was only small, and it would have been impossible to carry the additional passengers back with them. So it was decided that they would have to call for a second plane to come and get them. The group was divided into two. Ryan was going to stay at the settlement and see if he could persuade any others to defect, but as the journalists and the defectors were about to leave, one of the Temple’s elders lunged at Ryan with a knife. He missed him, and Ryan was hauled onto the departing vehicle by his travelling companions. They travelled immediately to the airfield but the second plane had not yet arrived and they had
In November 1977, Jim Jones and 1,000 of his faithful followers left for Guyana, and behind them San Francisco breathed a sigh of relief that the problem of The People’s Temple was no longer its own. All of San Francisco that was, except for one man – Leo Ryan.
L EO R YAN
Ryan was a local politician, and rather than waving Jones off, pleased to see the back of him, his concerns grew for the 1,000 citizens he had taken with him. He had already heard disturbing reports from the relatives of suicide victims who had belonged to, and attempted to leave, The People’s Temple while in San Francisco. Already, news was reaching him from the friends and family of those who had left for Guyana, that they were being held against their will, and that they were prisoners in Jonestown.
Ryan decided that he had to get out there, to see for himself the conditions in which these people were being held, and if indeed, they were being held against their will at all. He arranged the trip with the agreement of State Department officials, and also sent a telegram to Jim Jones to announce his forthcoming visit. Jones imposed some conditions on the visit, banning media coverage and insisting that the Temple’s legal counsel be present in all discussions.
When the time for the trip eventually came, Leo Ryan landed in Guyana to find that Jim Jones had retracted his permission to allow him to visit, and he was barred from even getting out of the plane. Lengthy negotiations ensued, and eventually Ryan was allowed access to Jonestown. What he found there confirmed his fears, and disturbed him greatly. The members, although professing complete devotion to their saviour Jim Jones, were indeed trapped – Jones had taken their passports from them. What’s more, they were in a poor physical state, weak and undernourished. Ryan addressed the group, telling them that any one of them was at complete liberty to leave with him, and that he guaranteed them total protection should they decide to do so. Out of the silent and slightly shocked group, one person stepped forward.
Ryan stayed on in Jonestown to talk further with the members of The People’s Temple. The journalists he had travelled out with, left to stay the night in a neighbouring town. When they were safely out of Jonestown, one of the journalists read a note which had been secretly passed to him by one of Jones’s followers. ‘Please, please get us out of here,’ it said, ‘before Jones kills us.’ Four people had signed the piece of paper. The second journalist claimed that one of the group had whispered the same thing, barely audibly to him.
On their return to Jonestown the next day, the journalists found Leo Ryan sitting with 15 people who had dared to say they wanted to leave. The plane in which Ryan and the journalists had made the trip to Guyana was only small, and it would have been impossible to carry the additional passengers back with them. So it was decided that they would have to call for a second plane to come and get them. The group was divided into two. Ryan was going to stay at the settlement and see if he could persuade any others to defect, but as the journalists and the defectors were about to leave, one of the Temple’s elders lunged at Ryan with a knife. He missed him, and Ryan was hauled onto the departing vehicle by his travelling companions. They travelled immediately to the airfield but the second plane had not yet arrived and they had
Similar Books
The 30-Minute Vegan's Taste of the East: 150 Asian-Inspired Recipes--from Soba Noodles to Summer Rolls
Mark Reinfeld, Jennifer Murray
