Cult leader Jim Jones’ commune in Guyana, South America, ended in the deaths of more than 900 people (Image: Getty)
Guyana is revisiting a dark chapter in its history, nearly 50 years after cult leader Jim Jones and over 900 of his followers died deep in the overgrown interior of the lush South American country. The Jonestown massacre was the largest mass suicide-murder in modern history.
However, despite this horrific infamy, government-backed tour operators are now considering opening the former commune, which is hard to reach and covered by lush vegetation, to visitors from around the world. With hundreds of US citizens dying after Jones’ drug-fuelled paranoia led him to shooting a sitting Congressman and then telling his followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid, the proposal is stirring up old wounds.
Critics have argued it would disrespect victims and dredge up the sordid past of the remote spot in South America. Jordan Vilchez, who was moved into the Peoples Temple commune at age 14, expressed mixed feelings about the use of the massacre site for sightseeing.
She was in Guyana’s capital when Jones ordered hundreds of his followers to drink the poisoned grape-flavoured drink, which was given to children first. Her two sisters and two nephews were among the victims.
More than 900 members of the People’s Temple committed suicide in a matter of hours, November 18, 1978 ( (Image: AP1997)
“I just missed dying by one day,” she remembered. Vilchez, 67, believes Guyana has every right to profit from any plans related to Jonestown, saying: “Then on the other hand, I just feel like any situation where people were manipulated into their deaths should be treated with respect.”
Vilchez is hopeful that the tour operator will shed light on the reasons behind the influx of hopeful individuals to Guyana, seeking a brighter future.
The rather grisly tour idea would see inquisitive travellers journey to Port Kaituma, a secluded outpost snuggled in the thick jungles of northern Guyana, reachable only by boat, helicopter, or aircraft. Guyana’s wild core is bisected by rivers instead of roads.
From Port Kaituma, tourists are expected to traverse six miles down a wild and unkempt dirt track to find themselves at the haunting remains of a once-thriving religious community and agriculture cooperative. The controversial tour has sparked outrage and drawn severe backlash from numerous quarters, with Neville Bissember, a law professor at the University of Guyana, slamming the venture as “ghoulish and bizarre” in an open letter he wrote.
The Jonestown compound, where over 900 people died, is buried deep in Guyana’s overgrown interior and hard to acces (Image: AP)
What part of Guyana’s nature and culture is represented in a place where death by mass suicide and other atrocities and human rights violations were perpetuated against a submissive group of American citizens, which had nothing to do with Guyana nor Guyanese? ” Bissember probed. Despite such misgivings, both the government’s Tourism Authority and the Guyana Tourism and Hospitality Association are supportive of the proposition.
Oneidge Walrond, Guyana’s Tourism Minister, opened up regarding the controversial Jonestown project while facing mixed reactions from the community. She stated the site cleanup is underway “to ensure a better product can be marketed,” and added with confidence: “It certainly has my support,” She cited Rwanda’s success in memorialising tragedy as a hopeful parallel, saying, “It is possible. After all, we have seen what Rwanda has done with that awful tragedy as an example.”
Rose Sewcharran, spearheading Wonderlust Adventures, also threw her support behind the endeavour, sharing her optimism: “We think it is about time,” while highlighting global precedents, “This happens all over the world. We have multiple examples of dark, morbid tourism around the world, including Auschwitz and the Holocaust museum.”
Guyana is looking to reinvent its image; once synonymous with the mass suicide-murder of November 1978, the country is now emerging as a major oil producer. Infrastructure development is booming, aiming to transform Guyana into a tourist destination.
Jordan Vilchez is one of the few survivors of the People’s Temple cult (Image: AP)
Astill Paul, who has a personal link to the tragic story as the co-pilot for the flight carrying US Rep. Leo J. Ryan on Nov. 17, 1978, concurred that Jonestown holds an undeniable draw as a historical site. In a chilling recount, Paul recalls the horror he witnessed as gunmen opened fire, leading to Ryan and four others’ deaths while attempting to board their plane on Nov. 18, looking to escape the nightmare and return to safety.
He has since championed the idea of transforming the dilapidated former commune into a heritage site, despite opposition. “I sat on the tourism board years ago and did suggest we do this, but the minister at the time lashed the idea down because the government wanted nothing to do with morbid tourism,” Paul expressed regretfully.
For years, Jonestown’s horrific legacy of mass murder-suicide led subsequent governments to shun it, desiring to distance the nation’s image from the tragedy that predominantly claimed American lives, not its few Indigenous victims. Those who had gone there following Jones endured brutal conditions – beatings, forced labor, imprisonment, and mock suicide drills.
Members of Jim Jones’ cult fired on a news crew and Congressman who had come to visit their mass commune (Image: AP)
Among the proponents of creating a touristic memorial is Gerry Gouveia, who served as a pilot back when Jonestown was a horrifying reality. He believes in reconstructing the site for visitors: “The area should be reconstructed purely for tourists to get a first-hand understanding of its layout and what had happened,” Gouveia insists.
According to his vision, notable structures like Jones’s home and other key buildings need to be resurrected. Nowadays, visitors find only shadows of the past; broken pieces of a cassava mill, sections of the central pavilion, and a decrepit tractor used for transporting temple members remain as rusted echoes of those dark times.
Most visitors to Jonestown have historically been journalists and loved ones of the deceased, but those seeking a personal journey to the site face significant hurdles. The remote and reportedly hazardous location makes organising a trip no easy feat.
Fielding McGehee, co-director of The Jonestown Institute, has voiced concerns about the viability of transforming such an area into a tourist spot due to the hefty financial implications. “It’s still a very, very, very rough area,” McGehee said.
An aerial view of the Peoples Temple compound, after the bodies of the U.S. Rev. Jim Jones and more than 900 of his followers were removed, in Jonestown, Guyana (Image: Unknown)
“I don’t see how this is going to be an economically feasible kind of project because of the vast amounts of money it would take to turn it into a viable place to visit.”
His scepticism doesn’t stop at economic factors; he warns against putting too much stock in the accounts provided by witnesses on tours, given that their reliability can deteriorate over time. “It’s almost like a game of telephone,” he pointed out.
Moreover, he cautioned about the underlying motives and potential conflicts within the community when considering proposals for development.
McGehee didn’t shy away from addressing the macabre allure of so-called dark tourism either. Visiting places like Jonestown, where a horrific mass casualty event took place, carries a certain morbid prestige, a fact McGehee summed up as stemming from “It’s the prurient interest in tragedy,” Should a tour operation commence, it’s clear not all aspects of the site’s dark history would be part of the package.
Vilchez’s poignant pilgrimage back to Guyana in 2018, her first journey since the harrowing Jonestown massacre, was far from a mere visit; it included a heartfelt homage to her lost kin. Amid the haunting ruins that once buzzed with her family’s life, Vilchez laid to rest strands of her parents’ hair—her own mother and father, who fatefully did not join their relatives at Jonestown.
“It just felt like a gesture that honoured the people that died,” she said.