Of all the evidence collected in Jonestown a single audio recording proved to the world that over 900 American citizens chose to drink cyanide laced Kool-aid on the command of their cult leader Jim Jones. But what if the tape was edited? Or spliced together from earlier white nights and planning commission meetings in which suicide drills took place? Join us as we analyze the death tape. 

Episode 4 The Death Tape

On November 18 1978 Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple died in Jonestown in what is considered to be the largest mass suicide in modern history. Locked deep within an FBI vault,  the tapes chronicling the history of Peoples Temple were finally made public after 20 years. From Jim Jones shady beginnings as a faith healer to that final tragic night that his loyal followers drank the Koolaide. Join us as we piece together the history of Peoples Temple and try to understand what led to their demise.

History

Society & Culture

True crime

Jim Jones had a gift for recognizing and cultivating a person’s capacity for magical thinking or the belief that unrelated events are connected by invisible, supernatural threads. Those who followed Jim Jones surrendered their will, believing that, whatever Father was planning, he had the power and knowledge to guide them home. Temple members were systematically conditioned to accept the fake healings and miracles as a part of the tapestry their lives were woven into. With a wink and a smile Jim Jones reassured his flock that the chicanery was all a part of God’s plan.   

Episode 21 Sunday Service Liar's Communion

The paranormal healing ministry drew new members into the movement with Jim Jones’ promises of supernatural support for the cause. The divine gifts physically drained him, he could feel people’s sickness and pain as he healed them. He began using sleight of hand when removing cancers, this seemed to cause a chain reaction and trigger actual healings. It was the catalyst to build faith. As more helpers were recruited, secrets were traded amongst the inner circle like currency, making Jim Jones the richest man in Peoples Temple.

Episode 20 Sunday Service Leave Room for the Holy Ghost

Welcome to the Sunday Service, a 3-part immersive experience exploring Jim Jones’ paranormal ministry and the mystery of the nine gifts of the holy spirit. Your first visit to Peoples Temple will involve a profound, life changing, spiritual experience of the paranormal variety. The blind shall see, the deaf shall hear and the dead shall rise again! Lose yourself in the mystique, as Jim Jones’ creates the illusion that leads to the Temple’s eventual demise.

Episode 19 Sunday Service Hands Clasped

Denise was three years old when her family first joined the Peoples Temple. Like so many early childhood memories, obscured by the lenses of time or augmented by repeated viewings of the family photo album, Denise’s early recollections of her time in the temple are vivid snapshots of experiences and emotions. She sacrificed her youth to Jim Jones and the cause. As she grew up, she learned that no show of loyalty was ever enough.

Episode 18 Where there's smoke

Music was often peoples first, and last impression of Peoples Temple. From the moment you walked into a temple service, the music created a certain atmosphere. The voices of the choir lifted the spirits of the congregants, electrifying the audience. In 1973 the temple recorded the gospel funk album “He’s Able”. The altruistic message of equality expressed on the album, the optimism and high energy of the singers juxtaposes what we know will be their eventual fate in Jonestown. Yet in that moment in 1973 now etched on vinyl, the temples future is not yet set, and the dreamers still believe, and you can hear it.  This is the story behind the making of “He’s Able”.

Episode 4 The Death Tape

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