42. Jonestown: How can you tell that you’re in a cult?
In the late 1970s, a charismatic cult leader promised his followers a utopian community. Instead, it was a massacre.
In the late 1970s, a charismatic cult leader, Jim Jones, promised his followers that they would create a utopian community based on Christian values and racial equality. In the jungle in Guyana, South America, Jones started the project and named it after himself: Jonestown.
On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss why so many people joined and later stayed in Peoples Temple. Once isolated in the jungle, it became hard for the inhabitants to escape and Jim Jones' abuse escalated. The cult ended abruptly after a visit from a concerned US congressman.
Warning: This episode includes descriptions of murder, suicide, graphic violence, drug abuse and possibly strong language.
This episode contains audio collected by The Jonestown Institute and from The Jonestown Massacre: Paradise Lost by Real Stories produced by Cineflix, Galaxie Production, Film Afrika and NextFilm.
CREDITS
Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen
Producer: Louisa Field
Assistant Producer: Simona Rata
Music: Matt Chandler
Editor: Rami Tzabar
Academic Consultants for The Open University: Dr Lara Frumkin and Dr James Munro
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Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland
Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Audio Science Production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds.
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Bad People
True crime stories and insights into why people do bad things.
