The Writers’ Corner… Jonestown 38 years later: Survivor turned author remembers

Nov 27, 2016 Book Review…, Features / Columnists

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By Dr Glenville Ashby
On the evening of November 18, 1978 US Congressman Leo Ryan was assassinated minutes

after leaving Jonestown, a community carved in the jungle of Guyana. His death was relayed to cult leader Jim Jones who hurriedly called a meeting. A carapace of dread descended over the community. Jones convinced over 900 of his followers that they faced imminent annihilation at the hands of the Guyana Defence Force and the US military. They weighed their options – be slaughtered or “die with dignity” (Jones’ words). There was a tug-of-war of opinions. Alas, Jones reigned.
“Do you think they will let us get away with this?” Jones asked rhetorically. “They will torture our babies; they will torture our seniors…” His last recorded words are indelibly haunting: “We didn’t commit suicide; we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.”
Jonestown echoes some of the darkest chapters in history: The Siege of Masada (73-74 CE) that led to the mass suicide of Jews in the face of a Roman assault; and the Balinese people who in 1906 suffered a similar fate when they refused to be captured by Dutch colonizers in 1906.
It has been 38 years since the Jonestown tragedy and survivor Laurie Efrein Kahalas remembers a movement that defied the socio-cultural zeitgeist and challenged the most powerful government in the world while creating a pulsating, sustainable community. But something went terribly wrong.
“The Peoples Temple was an oasis for the disaffected. The temple gave us a sense of purpose and belonging.” Kahalas is referring to the early days of a movement that gained political traction in California. “We were a family. We never wanted to leave even to the end when Jim was gravely ill and becoming more hysterical due to outside pressure.”
Jones, she said “was an immensely powerful person who possessed amazing humanitarian qualities.” He was also a healer unrestricted by time and space. Kahalas, who was member of the community’s prestigious planning commission, also handled healing testimonies. She attests to “floods of letters from people from all over the country who were miraculously cured by Jim.”
The movement, though, was hamstrung by what Kahalas calls, “Jones’ bizarre sexual exploits.” She recalls the sexual manipulation and dominance of members – men and women. She attributes this twisted pattern to Jones’ abuse as a child. “It was classic case of projection and denial.”
Interestingly, African Americans made up 75% of the movement. They built Jonestown, a self-sufficient agricultural community that boasted a metallurgy shop, an accredited school system, a medical facility, a basketball team that competed at a national level, and a musical band that performed in Georgetown. Blacks resisted any attempt to wrestle the community from them. According to Kahalas, it would have been difficult for blacks to “dissolve back into the US,” given the social climate at the time. “There was a mentality in the community that we will never be forced back to the United States.”
But paradise quickly lost its luster. Jones was entangled in a bitter custody battle and life was consumed by a growing chorus of concerned relatives who exerted pressure to access the community. This culminated with Congressman Ryan’s calamitous visit. Thereafter, panic gripped Jonestown.
Here, individualism surrendered to collective fear and helplessness; and it is from within this psychosocial context that mass suicide reared its head.
Providence was on Kahalas’ side that day. Hers was not the dramatic survival of Leslie Wagner-Wilson who slipped pass security on the morning of the tragedy, nor the breathtaking escape of Stanley Clayton, who hid in the woods after witnessing hundreds of deaths. Kahalas was managing the Temple headquarters in San Francisco getting minute-by-minute audio feeds of the Congressman’s visit until communication abruptly ended. The unthinkable had begun.
Would Kahalas have willingly taken her life?  ”I am sure I would have,” although she adds that the sight of seeing babies and children writhing in agony would have been overly revolting. “I am sure I would have fainted or be immobilized by the sight of all that dying.”
Kahalas is hardly the apologist that some survivors have charged. “Suicide is irreversible,” she asserts. “Infants and children don’t commit suicide. So, in as much as I can understand the terror of that day, the outcome is indefensible. Parents don’t have the right to take the life of their children.”
Before the tragic turn of events Kahalas had a premonition, a channeled epic she named Allegory.
“I was pre-recording the deaths of people I loved, people that worked by my side day by day, and would later make their exodus to Jonestown and die.”
She continues, “I was rapt with metaphors, overwhelmed with outpourings of grief. I thought my heart would burst, but how could this be a real future event? It was terrifying even to consider.”
Jonestown has spurred a slew of conspiracy theories, including the complicity of Jones with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Jonestown was said to be part of the agency’s MK-Ultra Mind Control Experiment. The vast quantities of drugs found on the compound only fueled suspicion. Kahalas balks at such a suggestion.
In her book, Snake Dance: Unraveling the mysteries of Jonestown, Kahalas details her version of events. She reiterates that the CIA was responsible for the assassination of Congressman Leo Ryan, creating a scenario to implicate Jones. Using enlarged photographs of the airstrip where the killing occurred she identified the assassins, pointing to their military postures and the towering stature of the point man.
“There was no one that tall at Jonestown; furthermore, we didn’t have any military training. Obviously, the assassins didn’t come from Jonestown,” she argues. Why then would the congressman be targeted?
Kahalas refers to the Hughes-Ryan Act that required the CIA to report all covert operations to congressional oversight committees. In other words, Leo Ryan was a thorn in the side of the intelligence agency. What better way to proverbially kill two birds with a single stone?
“Intelligence agencies study your Achilles Heel,” Kahalas asserts. “They exploit your weakness; whatever it is they will work to undermine you. Jim Jones was suicidal. They pushed the right buttons.”
Kahalas is now happily married and is buoyed by the success of Snake Dance, one of the most insightful books on the subject.
Still, for survivors, Jonestown is a psychological albatross that is nervously locked away. They are ever mindful of its enduring power to inflict pain when least expected.
“I might experience nightmares after this interview,” Kahalas says, but quickly counters with a sense of reassurance. “I am okay… I will be alright.”

Feedback: [email protected] or follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby
Dr Ashby is the author of Anam Cara: Your Soul Friend and Bridge to Enlightenment and Creativity

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