Failed Utopia

In today’s episode we are going to talk about the granddaddy of utopian fails, Peoples Temple. Or, as you might know it, Jonestown. This is Part 1.

Connect on Facebook or at the Failed Utopia website.

Links & Resources

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741 741

Domestic Violence Helpline: 1-800-799-7233

VictimConnect, a referral helpline for victims of crime: 1-855-484-2846

Make The Connection

• Jeff Guinn’s The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
• Leigh Fondakowski’s Stories from Jonestown 
• Deborah Layton’s Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple
• 1983 interview with Stephan Jones 
• 2018 interview with Laura Johnson Kohl 
• Truth and Lies: Jonestown, Paradise Lost—an ABC documentary 40 years after Jonestown
• The Jonestown “Death Tape” (Content warning: disturbing material!) 
• Jonestown Institute 

Written and produced by Anna Roberts

Burning palm tree artwork by Perry Vasquez

Intro music by Elliot Middleton

On this episode we’re talking about an ecovillage in Scotland. There won’t be any maniacal cult leaders or rattlesnake bites on this one, but there will be fairies, nature spirits, failed guru takeovers, and meditation in the public toilet at an RV park.

Connect on Facebook or at the Failed Utopia website.

Links & Resources

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741 741

Domestic Violence Helpline: 1-800-799-7233

VictimConnect, a referral helpline for victims of crime: 1-855-484-2846

Make The Connection

• Findhorn Ecovillage
• Findhorn Foundation
• The Jim Rutt Show Episode 74 Daniel Christian Wahl on Regeneration Dynamics (and about 30 seconds at the beginning on Findhorn!)
• Paul Hawkins’ The Magic of Findhorn
• Eileen Caddy’s books
• Scientific American’s Can Plants Hear?
• Freakishly large vegetables and a bunch of ladies dressed up as cabbages in Alaska
• I’m Farming and I Grow It by Peterson Farm Bros

Written and produced by Anna Roberts

Burning palm tree artwork by Perry Vasquez

Intro music by Elliot Middleton

Special thanks to Peterson Farm Bros

The drug rehab/utopian community/violent cult. Shaved heads, The Game, rattlesnakes, and dope fiends!

Connect on Facebook or at the Failed Utopia website.

Links & Resources

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741 741

Domestic Violence Helpline: 1-800-799-7233

VictimConnect, a referral helpline for victims of crime: 1-855-484-2846

Make The Connection

• Synanon movie trailer. Skip to 2:23 for the best fight scene of all time.
• Paul Morantz’s Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults and From Miracle to Madness: The True Story of Charles Dederich and Synanon
• Paul Morantz’s website 
• A website run by a former Synanon member with a bunch of pictures. This is probably the worst website I have ever seen, and it’s worth looking at based on that alone. 
• Mikel Jollett’s Hollywood Park 
• An interview with Mikel Jollett on NPR’s All Songs Considered
• Claire Clark’s The Recovery Road: The Battle Over Addiction Treatment in the United States
• Rod Janzen’s The Rise and Fall of Synanon: A California Utopia
• C.A. Wittman's Synanon Kid
• THX 1138
• Equilibrium

Written and produced by Anna Roberts

Burning palm tree artwork by Perry Vasquez

Intro music by Elliot Middleton

Welcome to Failed Utopia. This is a podcast about utopian ideas and paradise lost. We look at utopian concepts from the past, present and future, as well as utopian societies and communes, which promise the world to eager followers but inevitably fail when it all starts to unravel. Some of these utopias just fall apart, while others devolve into true horrors and even brutal cults. I’ll break down what these groups’ leaders were thinking, what attracted their devotees in the first place, and how it all went wrong. 

Connect with me on Facebook or the Failed Utopia website.

I’m your host, Anna Roberts. As I’ve been researching for this show, I’ve come across some truly incredible stories, and I cannot wait to share them with you. We’ll cover wide-ranging topics, from concepts and technologies like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to cults like Synanon, Heaven's Gate, and Peoples Temple—all united by their utopian aspirations.

Join me as we follow the yellow brick road to meet some unbelievable characters and pull back the curtain on the charismatic leaders, charlatans and conmen who have enticed so many into giving up everything, from their money and material things to relationships and families, and sometimes, even their very lives for the promise of utopia.