Investigating Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre [Murder Made Fiction Podcast]

Peoples Without The Apostrophe

After spending the month of October discussing Ed Gein and the various cinematic adaptations of his crimes, including The Silence of the Lambs, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (listen here) and House of 1000 Corpses (listen here), Jenn and I are broadening our perspectives for November.

On the Main Feed, we’re focusing on cults and cult leaders with a look at two different, but complementary examples.

First up: we’re zeroing in on Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple and the notorious Jonestown massacre that killed more than 900 people. It’s a fascinating case that prompts us to consider how people can begin a cause with altruistic motives and the intent to do good, but eventually, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Jones is a prime example of this.

Over time, the horrific mass suicide that occurred in the jungles of Guyana have been reduced to a cultural joke – “Drink the Kool-Aid” – which a) is factually incorrect and b) diminishes the cultural impact this event had. It’s a horrifying story, but one with a long legacy about how cults are perceived and handled, particularly by law enforcement.

More on that when we get to Waco and David Koresh later in November!

Episode 10: Jonestown Primer

Jenn and Joe are spending November talking about cults on the Main Feed. First up: Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple (note the lack of apostrophe), the cult that claimed the highest number of American civilian deaths until 9/11.

Who was Jones? Was he always a bad person? And how many people actually died in the infamous Jonestown massacre in Guyana?

If you want even more Murder Made Fiction, be sure to check out the pod’s Patreon feed, where Jenn and I have 13+ hours of bonus content. November on Patreon, we’re diving deep into the Menendez brothers, with a separate primer on their case, individual instalments on all nine episodes of Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, as well as the new Netflix documentary, The Menendez Brothers (2024).