What happened at Jonestown in 1978, and why do people still talk about it?

Jonestown was a remote commune in the jungle of Guyana, set up by the Peoples Temple, an American religious organization led by Jim Jones. On 18 November 1978, 918 people died in a coordinated mass murder-suicide at Jonestown, at a nearby airstrip and at the group's headquarters in Georgetown. A third of the victims were minors. The deaths made the name "Jonestown" internationally infamous.

It did not start that way. Jones formed the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis in 1955 with a message that combined Christianity with socialism and put racial equality at the centre. In California the church earned a reputation for helping the poorest people: racial minorities, drug addicts and the homeless. African Americans made up about 70% of the population of Jonestown itself.

Over time the group came to control its members' lives. People who joined had to hand over all their assets, and at Jonestown Jones did not allow members to leave without his permission. When worried relatives and journalists pressed for answers, Congressman Leo Ryan, whose interest was raised by those allegations, went to Guyana to see for himself. Five people, including Ryan, were murdered at an airstrip on Jones's order, and the deaths in the settlement followed. Early reports called it a mass suicide; later sources speak of a mass murder-suicide, a massacre or mass murder. A third of the victims were minors, and armed guards had been ordered to shoot anyone who tried to flee.