Ignorant question here since I'm uninformed on this topic. Was Jones supposedly one of the dead?

Jones was reported to have taken his life (or had one of his inner circle shoot him) the night before while the other People's Temple members were taking their lives.

No one, was supposed to have been alive in Jonestown until the following evening when the Guyanese Defense Force (GDF) arrived in Jonestown. So this tape is a great mystery.

Originally posted by jms88
No one, was supposed to have been alive in Jonestown until the following evening when the Guyanese Defense Force (GDF) arrived in Jonestown. So this tape is a great mystery.

Indeed. I'm going to have to make an addition to my reading list.

If the recording is of people listening to news stories about what happened in Jonestown, then wouldn't that indicate that someone was already in Jonestown to have been able to report on what happened there?

I'm a little confused here. For some reason I thought I had read that there were people who escaped the camps and hid out in the jungles around Jonestown, also about a woman who hid under a bed, and some who hid among the dead bodies (I'm from Guyana, so I'm sure if my recollection is from "stories" heard about the event or documentaries I have seen.

The voice of the "reporter" has the distinctive Guyanese accent, but I cannot make out what is being said in the beginning of the tape.

How do we know the tape was made in Jonestown? It could have been in Georgetown right?

I have to research this more, I'm ashamed that as a Guyanese I don't know as much about Jonestown as I should know.


edited to correct spelling


[edit on 12-4-2007 by worldwatcher]

I'm inclined to believe that both Jim Jones and Charles Manson had CIA mind control training because they were so good at it. Some have alleged that Manson could have been arrested long before his slayings but the LAPD basically forbade it and I wonder if something could have been done about Jones earlier. Were both of these atrocities some sort of sick experiment to test the limits of MK-ULTRA-type techniques?

Originally posted by worldwatcher
I'm a little confused here. For some reason I thought I had read that there were people who escaped the camps and hid out in the jungles around Jonestown, also about a woman who hid under a bed, and some who hid among the dead bodies (I'm from Guyana, so I'm sure if my relocation is from "stories" heard about the event or documentaries I have seen.

The voice of the "reporter" has the distinctive Guyanese accent, but I cannot make out what is being said in the beginning of the tape.

How do we know the tape was made in Jonestown? It could have been in Georgetown right?

I have to research this more, I'm ashamed that as a Guyanese I don't know as much about Jonestown as I should know.

Well, the tape was reported to be found in Jonestown and cataloged by the FBI. There is a theory that it was indeed recorded in Georgetown but there are some things on the tape that would say it wasn't. One is a dog that can be heard growling on the tape. The temple members in Georgetwn did not have a dog. Secondly, there are jungle birds that can be heard in the background noise on parts of the tape. Third, if it was made in Georgetown it would've had to been brought to Jonestown and left for the FBI to find it and catalog it. Why someone would go through the trouble to do that is an unanswered question.

You're right about the old woman that slept through the entire event. She was alive the next morning but I don't think she hung around Jonestown. Even if she did, the voices on the tape are clearly younger Americans males and a man with a Guyanese accent.

The others that escaped (eight in all I believe) all got out of Jonestown that night. There were others that left before the massacre and some think maybe they came back and recorded the tape. I don't think that is likely though given the calm nature of the voices as well as a man giggling towards the end of the tape.

It certainly is a mystery. Some think that maybe it was the CIA but I doubt that if there was some covert operation going on that they would be sloppy enough to leave some tape around for the FBI to find.

Who knows? Unless someone comes forward I don't think the truth will ever be told.

Originally posted by craig732
If the recording is of people listening to news stories about what happened in Jonestown, then wouldn't that indicate that someone was already in Jonestown to have been able to report on what happened there?

If you listen to the news reports you can tell that the news stories were from the 19th and all the information was not known yet. In one report the reporter says "There are reports of mass suicide in Jonestown". This would indicate that nothing was known for certain at that point about what exactly happened yet.

Don't forget, the GDF did not arrive at Jonestown until almost twenty four hours later. They weren't sure what was going on and they had to be cautious because they didn't know if the temple members intended to attack them when they showed up.

As the creator of the above mentioned sites, I can concur with JMS88's comments.

We know the tape was made on the 19th b/c the news casts speak of "last nights shootings"

We can reasonably assume it was made in Jonestown b/c of the "dog" factor, as well as the problem of transporting the tape 250 miles back to jonestown.....why would anyone do that.

CRAig: Yes...it would indicate that someone was there (a group) to have made the tape.....that is one of the conundrums about it....who were they?

And another big question: WHY make the tape to begin with?
I have made some suppositions but am unable to post the links. You can pm me with questions.

Joey






[edit on 10-12-2007 by josefjoey]