Jonestown started out as an attempt to create a harmonious paradise in the remote forests of Guyana. A utopia for members of the Peoples Temple, a church which should really be called a cult. Instead it resulted in a mass suicide where 909 Americans took their own life in what was the largest single loss of American civilians as a result of deliberate action until 9/11. The church was created by Jim Jones as a form of apostolic socialism and he relocated himself and his flock to Guyana to practice this in 1974. However, once settled Jones became more radical with his socialist ideology, aligning himself more with Stalin and Kim Il-Sung and not allowing members to leave the commune without his explicit permission. Following the death of US congressmen Leo Ryan and several defectors at the hands of Temple members, all residents, including 304 children, drank cyanide laced Kool-Aid as a revolutionary suicide following a recorded speech from Jones. From the late 1980s the compound was allowed to fall into decay, dissolving into the jungle until a television crew returned in 2003 to find many of the buildings still standing. The crew found a standing mill, several deserted trucks, and a large bed of daisies planted amongst the thick, dense canopy.
