CULTS: The Night Jim Jones Ended the World: Peoples Temple Pt. 1

CULTS: The Night Jim Jones Ended the World: Peoples Temple Pt. 1

June 30, 2026 · 1h 4m · Episode 42

About this episode

The episode explores the rise and fall of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, culminating in the tragic mass poisoning at Jonestown.

Jim Jones told his people he loved them. He built a church that preached racial equality and social justice at a time when those words carried weight. Then he moved nearly a thousand followers to a jungle compound in Guyana and called it paradise. On November 18, 1978, 918 people died at Jonestown — including 304 children — in a mass poisoning Jones called a revolutionary act. We trace the full arc of the Peoples Temple: the idealism that drew people in, the terror that kept them from leaving, and the single worst loss of American civilian life until September 11, 2001. Head over to our Crimes Of… YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@crimehousestudios Join Crime House+ to binge a special limited series on Murder: True Crime Stories for America’s 250th: The Crimes That Built America. These are the cases that created the FBI, gave us Miranda rights, sparked criminal profiling, and gave us America’s Most Wanted. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. You’ll also get episodes of the Crimes Of ad-free and released one day early. 🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to other Crime House…

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