---
title: "1978 Jonestown Murder-Suicide"
year: 1978
country: "Guyana"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1978/jonestown-massacre"
slug: "jonestown-massacre"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1978-11-18"
---

# 1978 Jonestown Murder-Suicide

> The mass death of over 900 People's Temple members exposed the dangers of cultic isolation and shook American faith in religious movements.

## Summary

The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name Jonestown, was a remote commune in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, an American religious organization led by Jim Jones. On November 18, 1978, 918 people died in a coordinated mass murder-suicide across three locations: the Jonestown compound, a nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and the group's headquarters in Georgetown, making "Jonestown" internationally infamous. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.

## Sources

- [1978 Jonestown mass murder-suicide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1978/jonestown-massacre