title: Black Mirror

text: Some writers believe that "Black Mirror" episodes are set in a shared universe, due to the abundance of Easter eggs, or tonal and thematic connections across the programme as a whole. Fans and journalists have attempted to establish concrete chronologies between episodes. The series creator Charlie Brooker's comments on this topic changed over time. He initially described the programme's setting as an "artistic universe" or "psychologically shared universe". After the release of the third series, he said that a line in "Hated in the Nation" that references the central crime in "White Bear" established a "canonical" connection between them. Brooker said of "Black Museum" that it "does actually now seem to imply that it is all a shared universe". However, he described the Easter eggs in 2018 as "an extra bit of texture for fans" and not a consideration that limits the design of new episodes.


title: Black Mirror

text: The series was created by Brooker, who was previously known as a comedy writer. He wrote video game reviews for "PC Zone" in the late 1990s and began writing television reviews for "The Guardian" and making television in the 2000s. Brooker had completed production of "Dead Set" (2008), a zombie-based drama series, and while working on "Newswipe" (2009–2010) and other programmes, decided to make an anthology drama series. It was modelled in the style of "The Twilight Zone" (1959–1964), "Tales of the Unexpected" (1979–1988) and "Hammer House of Horror" (1980).


title: Black Mirror

text: Brooker recognised that Rod Serling had based "The Twilight Zone" on contemporary issues, often controversial ones such as racism, but placed them in fictional settings to get around television censors at the time. Brooker realised he could commentate similarly on modern issues, specifically focusing on technology, a topic he explored in producing the series "How TV Ruined Your Life" (2011). He aimed to explore "the way we might be living in 10 minutes' time".


title: Black Mirror

text: Brooker wanted to keep the anthology approach, using new stories, settings, characters, and actors for each episode, as he felt this was a key element of enjoying series like "The Twilight Zone". This approach would allow "Black Mirror" to contrast with current dramas and serials that had a standard recurring cast. According to Brooker, the production team considered giving the series a linking theme or presenter, but ultimately decided not to.


title: Black Mirror

text: Most episodes are credited solely to Brooker. Many originate with him talking to the executive producer Annabel Jones or others about a "what-if idea", and considering if it could be the consequence of some new technology. Brooker said that like his previous comedy writing, the premise is a "worst case scenario compounded"; the ideas often make him laugh. Episodes generally have only one aspect at a time that requires suspension of disbelief, and characters' actions are designed to feel authentic even if their predicaments are unusual. Brooker avoided reacting to news events or topical subjects, as there was no guarantee of their continued relevance by the release date.


title: Black Mirror

text: In the first two series, Brooker would plan less and write the script as he went along, which led to more dropped subplots and several iterations of rewriting "White Bear" in particular. He would write with advertisement breaks in mind, as motivation to reach the next break, and so that he could insert some cliffhanger to make the audience return. After the first two series, Brooker wrote a full outline preceding each first draft, finding that picturing an ending made the process easier even if the ending later changed. The outline could vary substantially in length, from two to twenty-five pages.


title: Black Mirror

text: "San Junipero" was the first episode written for Netflix and came from a conscious decision to experiment with the tone of a "Black Mirror" episode. Following this, episodes became more tonally diverse. Brooker would send a brief treatment to Netflix and receive feedback before beginning the first draft. He wrote some material while standing up, as the slight discomfort discouraged time-wasting; he said that the first draft, the "vomit draft", was always terrible, but had to be written. He tried to picture the finished episode while writing and sometimes ran while listening to music as a source of inspiration. Brooker said that emotional speeches were easier to write, while sequences with multiple parts were harder. Feedback came from Jones and a director or cast member could have a large influence on the script. Additionally, Brooker and Jones were involved in all aspects of production process, observing the filming and participating in the editing room where possible. They pointed out logical inconsistencies and worked on the details of technological user interfaces. Brooker said that the final edit could allow aspects that were not working to be fixed, or for introduction of overlooked ideas.


title: Black Mirror

text: The episode "The Entire History of You" was written by Jesse Armstrong. William Bridges is co-credited on both "Shut Up and Dance" and "USS Callister" and Brooker's wife Konnie Huq received a co-credit on "Fifteen Million Merits". For these episodes, Brooker did not write in the same room as his colleagues, instead generally working remotely. One person would write the first draft and they would then iterate between feedback and re-writing. On "Nosedive", Michael Schur wrote the first half of the script and Rashida Jones wrote the second half, based on ideas and a story outline from Brooker.


title: Black Mirror

text: The series' inception was in 2010. Brooker and Jones had begun to work together on "Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe", a television review programme which aired from 2006 to 2008. The first pitch for "Black Mirror", to the head of comedy at Channel 4, was for eight half-hour episodes by different authors. Technology was a lesser focus, and the worlds were larger and more detailed, which Jones said was not possible to execute properly in the short runtime. The series was then commissioned for three-hour-long episodes. The first script was "Fifteen Million Merits". The second was "Inbound", an episode that was never produced: it was a science fiction adaptation of what was revealed at the end to be a true story about a boy in the Iraq War. Concepts from it were later repurposed for "Men Against Fire". The following script pitched became "The National Anthem", the first episode to air. The third episode is "The Entire History of You".


title: Black Mirror

text: The programme was produced by Brooker's production company Zeppotron, for the Dutch media company Endemol. Joel Collins served as production designer, with his company Painting Practice working on visual effects. In the early stages of "Black Mirror", Jones was keen to avoid casting comedy actors, as Brooker was previously a comedy writer, and they wanted the series to not feel like comedy. The production occurred concurrent to that of "A Touch of Cloth", a satirical police procedural series that Brooker wrote for. The series aired weekly from 4 December 2011. "The National Anthem" features Rory Kinnear as a British prime minister who must have sex with a pig for a kidnapped Princess to be released. In "Fifteen Million Merits", Daniel Kaluuya plays Bing and Jessica Brown Findlay plays Abi, two characters in a society where most people must cycle each day to earn currency. "The Entire History of You" follows the married couple Liam and Ffion, played by Toby Kebbell and Jodie Whittaker, respectively, as Liam becomes suspicious of Ffion's relationship to a friend.


title: Black Mirror

text: The first series was expensive for Channel 4, as the anthology format meant there were no economies of scale, but "Black Mirror" was commissioned for a second series of three episodes. Brooker described it as "more epic in scale, but more intimate in scope": the episodes have more understated technologies. Brooker commented that the second series mirrors the first: the former has topics of (in order) "warped political satire", "dystopian hellscape", and "relationship torn apart by technology", while the latter presents episodes of these forms in reverse. Each episode in the first series had a male protagonist, so Brooker deliberately wrote female protagonists for the first two episodes, "Be Right Back" and "White Bear".


title: Black Mirror

text: A trailer for the second series was made by Moving Picture Company and featured a dream sequence, a factory and a large dust cloud, but no extracts of series two episodes. The series aired weekly from 11 February 2013. "Be Right Back" follows Martha (Hayley Atwell) turning to artificial intelligence for emotional support while grieving over the death of her partner Ash (Domhnall Gleeson). Lenora Crichlow stars as Victoria Skillane, a woman in an apocalypse who has lost her memory, in "White Bear". "The Waldo Moment" is a political satire starring Daniel Rigby as Jamie Salter, a man who contests a by-election as an animated bear. "Black Mirror" was first made available in the US from November 2013 via DirecTV, where episodes aired on Audience and were available online.


title: Black Mirror

text: According to Brooker, the series was still taking its budget from the comedy department of Channel 4, and there was discussion of whether it should fall under the drama department instead. Shane Allen, head of comedy for Channel 4 at the time, stated in 2018 that someone had been taken aback by the budget for "Black Mirror", which was well above the standard for a comedy. The new head of comedy did not have an existing relationship with Brooker and Jones.


title: Black Mirror

text: Brooker reported in 2018 that Channel 4 agreed on a third series of four episodes, but requested detailed synopses of the episodes in advance. Brooker came up with an episode "Angel of the Morning", which would later become a story in "White Christmas". He also conceived of an episode based on the earlier script "Inbound" which would have been similar to the later "Men Against Fire". Another episode was named "Crocodile", which overlapped in parts with the series four episode of the same name. After a lengthy wait, Brooker and Jones were told that the ideas "weren't very "Black Mirror"". Though Channel 4 may have suggested making a one-off special, Jones said that she felt a lack of clarity from them.


title: Black Mirror

text: Jones and Brooker worked on other projects for the next year, such as "A Touch of Cloth". They set up House of Tomorrow, a division of Endemol under which later "Black Mirror" content would be produced. After bumping into a Channel 4 staff member, Brooker emailed the channel to ask how to continue with "Black Mirror". Channel 4 had the budget for an hour-long Christmas special, but Jones and Brooker pushed for a 90-minute episode. "White Christmas" was a portmanteau of three stories, inspired by works such as the 1983 science fiction film "". It starred Jon Hamm as Matt and Rafe Spall as Joe throughout. Actors in the individual stories include: Rasmus Hardiker as Harry, Natalia Tena as Jennifer, Oona Chaplin as Greta, Janet Montgomery as Beth, and Ken Drury as Beth's father. The episode aired on 16 December 2014.


title: Black Mirror

text: On the day of the press screening for "White Christmas", Brooker and Jones had a meeting with Channel 4 executives, who told them that they wanted to continue the series but due to budget constraints, it would need to be a co-production. The pair had travelled to Los Angeles a few months prior to try to secure co-production funding but were unsuccessful. The channel also suggested that Brooker could write an episode of "Electric Dreams" (2017–2018), an adaptation of short stories by Philip K. Dick. They also considered a five-episode series with an overarching storyline, at the suggestion of a US network, nicknaming the plan "Game of Drones".


title: Black Mirror

text: On 1 December 2014, the first two series of the programme were released on Netflix in the United States after they bought exclusive streaming rights, leading to increased audience attention for the programme. In a bidding war between channels, which included the American companies AMC, Syfy and HBO, Netflix led with a commitment of two series of ten episodes each. Brooker and Jones reported in 2018 that although they and Netflix were both keen to have Channel 4 as equal partners, Channel 4 were evasive. They eventually got a meeting without discussion of a co-production with Netflix, where the channel suggested a renewal for three episodes. The channel later offered six episodes if full treatments could be given in advance, but Brooker and Jones were concerned due to past rejection of ideas. They had a limited time to reply to US offers and chose to make a deal with Netflix.


title: Black Mirror

text: In September 2015, Netflix commissioned 12 episodes of "Black Mirror". By this point, the series was available in around 80 territories. In March 2016, it outbid Channel 4 for the rights to distributing the third series in the UK, with a bid of . Endemol released a statement saying that Channel 4 had "had the opportunity to recommission ["Black Mirror"] since 2013 and passed on this and subsequent co-production offers put to them. [...] Further efforts were made to try to reach a settlement regarding a UK window for Channel 4, but these were also sadly to no avail". In a press release, Channel 4 stated that they "offered to recommission "Black Mirror"". This marked the first time that an online streaming service had gained the rights to a series when the original network had wished to renew it.


title: Black Mirror

text: In developing the third series' stories, Brooker had looked at previous episodes and recognised that all of the stories were about characters becoming trapped in a situation from which they could not escape. With the third series, Brooker wanted to explore different formats, adding more conventional stories like a romance and a police procedural. The producer Lucy Dyke commented that Netflix expected the series to become "bigger and better" and "more international", while production designer Joel Collins said that Netflix was happy to support ideas on the same scale or on a larger scale than previous episodes. The first episode that Brooker wrote for the series was "San Junipero", and it was an intentional departure from previous episodes as well as a "deliberate raspberry-blow" at fans who were concerned at the series' potential Americanisation.


title: Black Mirror

text: The titles of the six episodes that make up series three were announced in July 2016, along with the release date. A trailer was released in October 2016. The series was released on Netflix worldwide on 21 October 2016. "Nosedive" is an episode starring Bryce Dallas Howard as Lacie, a woman pursuing social media popularity in a world where individuals assign ratings to every interaction with each other. "Playtest" is a horror story starring Wyatt Russell as Cooper, a playtester for a new virtual reality game. "Shut Up and Dance" is about a teenager blackmailed anonymously over the internet, starring Alex Lawther as Kenny and Jerome Flynn as Hector, and written by Brooker and William Bridges. "San Junipero" is a science fiction love story starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Kelly and Mackenzie Davis as Yorkie. "Men Against Fire" is a war story starring Malachi Kirby as Stripe. "Hated in the Nation" is a police procedural, with Kelly Macdonald as Karin Parke and Faye Marsay as Blue Coulson exploring the role of robot bees in a series of deaths.


title: Black Mirror

text: Brooker said that the fourth series of six episodes has more variety than the third. He began writing in July 2016 and continued throughout the 2016 United States presidential election, telling "Digital Spy" that he did not know what demand there would be for "nothing but bleak nihilism" and thus included "more hope" than in previous series. The first episode made was "Arkangel", which was filmed in Canada in November 2016. The Netflix budget allowed them to set and film "Crocodile" in Iceland and make the special effects-intensive episode "Metalhead". Filming concluded in June 2017.


title: Black Mirror

text: In May 2017, a Reddit post unofficially announced the names and directors of the six episodes in series 4 of "Black Mirror". The first trailer debuted on 25 August 2017 and two promotional photos were released in September. Beginning on 24 November, Netflix published a series of posters and trailers for each episode in the fourth series of the programme, referred to as the "13 Days of "Black Mirror"", concluding on 6 December with the announcement of the release date, 29 December 2017.


title: Black Mirror

text: "USS Callister" is a space epic based around a video game company, starring Jesse Plemons as CTO Robert Daly and Cristin Milioti as the new programmer Nanette Cole. "Arkangel" is an episode about a mother implanting an invasive technology in her daughter, starring Rosemarie DeWitt as Marie and Brenna Harding as Sara, and directed by Jodie Foster. "Crocodile" is about the consequences of a hit-and-run, starring Andrea Riseborough as Mia. "Hang the DJ" is a love story between Amy, played by Georgina Campbell, and Frank, played by Joe Cole, centred around an artificial intelligence that selects people's partners for them. "Metalhead" is a black-and-white apocalypse episode starring Maxine Peake as Bella, a woman trying to escape a robotic "dog", and directed by David Slade. "Black Museum" is an anthology of three stories, one of which was written by the magician Penn Jillette. Focused around a crime museum, the episode stars Douglas Hodge as Rolo Haynes and Letitia Wright as Nish.


title: Black Mirror

text: According to "Engadget" and "Gizmodo", as a means of viral marketing Netflix sent private messages to users of the Turkish website Ekşi Sözlük. The messages were sent from the account "iamwaldo" and read, "We know what you're up to. Watch and see what we will do." Although the advertising was met with positive reception from some users, others were concerned by distress that the messages may have caused.


title: Black Mirror

text: After much media speculation sparked by social media reports of filming, a quickly-deleted Twitter announcement by Netflix and foreign film board certifications, Netflix announced on 27 December 2018 that the film "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch" would be released the following day. Set in 1984, the film follows Stefan, portrayed by Fionn Whitehead, a young programmer who begins to question reality and experience deteriorating mental health as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game. "Bandersnatch" is an interactive film, regularly prompting the viewer to select one of two choices on screen that affect how the storyline continues; there are over one trillion potential paths to view the work and five distinct endings. Other main cast include Will Poulter, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe, and Asim Chaudhry.


title: Black Mirror

text: Netflix announced the fifth series on 5 March 2018. The complexity of "Bandersnatch", which was originally part of the fifth series, delayed production, although Netflix still committed to its release in 2019. The first episode, "Striking Vipers", had been filmed prior to "Bandersnatch". On 15 May 2019, a trailer for the fifth series was released, indicating it would comprise three episodes.


title: Black Mirror

text: On 5 June 2019, the series was released. "Striking Vipers" sees Danny (Anthony Mackie) and Karl (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) exploring a virtual relationship despite Danny's marriage to Theo (Nicole Beharie). "Smithereens" follows Andrew Scott as Chris through his kidnapping of a social media company intern. "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" stars the two titular sisters (Angourie Rice and Madison Davenport) co-operating with a doll cloned from the pop star Ashley O (Miley Cyrus).


title: Black Mirror

text: Around January 2020, Brooker and Jones announced their departure from House of Tomorrow. "Variety" reported that intellectual property issues were at the centre of this change, with the series' rights held by Endemol. By February 2020, Brooker and Jones had established Broke and Bones, a new production company. Netflix had arranged a long-term contract for series and other production rights with the Broke and Bones company by July 2020, although rights for "Black Mirror" still remained with Endemol. According to "Variety", this left Brooker and Jones unable to produce additional series unless new agreements were put in place. In a May 2020 interview with "Radio Times", Brooker questioned whether the public mood would suit a sixth series of "Black Mirror" and said that he had been working on more comedic projects.


title: Black Mirror

text: A sixth series was announced by Netflix in May 2022. The series will be produced by Broke and Bones, rather than House of Tomorrow. However, House of Tomorrow's new owners Banijay retain ownership of the programme (Banijay bought the Endemol Shine Group in 2020). It is planned to have more than three episodes—the length of the previous series. According to "Variety", cast for the first three episodes includes Zazie Beetz, Paapa Essiedu, Josh Hartnett, Aaron Paul, Kate Mara, Danny Ramirez, Clara Rugaard, Auden Thornton and Anjana Vasan. In August and September 2022, "Deadline" reported that Rory Culkin and Rob Delaney had been cast in the series. Zazie Beetz said that her episode was filmed in June 2022. "Variety" reported that the series was in production as of July 2022.


title: Black Mirror

text: Several sequel episodes or spin-offs have been suggested, though none have been produced. In 2013, Robert Downey Jr. optioned the episode "The Entire History of You" to potentially be made into a film by Warner Bros. and his production company Team Downey; in 2018, the episode's writer Jesse Armstrong said that the project was in "development hell". In 2016, Brooker said that he had ideas for sequels to both "White Bear" and "Be Right Back" that were unlikely to be made. He said in 2017 that there were no plans for a sequel episode to "San Junipero". Brooker has suggested that some characters in "Hated in the Nation" could potentially recur, as could Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), a "Bandersnatch" character with awareness of alternate timelines and realities. The director of "USS Callister", Toby Haynes, expressed interest in 2018 in a spin-off to the episode as a television series.


title: Black Mirror

text: "Black Mirror" has been met with critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first series received a 98% rating, the second received an 87% rating and "White Christmas" received an 89% rating. Series three received an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 82 on Metacritic, series four received an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 72 on Metacritic, "Bandersnatch" holds a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 61 on Metacritic, and series five holds a rating of 68% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 65 on Metacritic. According to Víctor Cerdán Martínez of "Vivat Academia" in 2018, "Black Mirror" was one of China's five most-watched Western television series.


title: Black Mirror

text: Series one garnered praise. David Sims of "The A.V. Club" gave the first episode—"The National Anthem"—an A rating, viewing each character decision and plot revelation as natural. Jim Goodwin of "Bleeding Cool" complimented the acting. However, the episode received 145 complaints to the television regulatory body Ofcom, the eighth-largest figure for the year. Reviewing "Fifteen Million Merits", Ryan Lambie of "Den of Geek" extolled the romance between Bing and Abi, as well as the production quality, music and acting. Sam Richards of "The Telegraph" rated it four stars, praising the "acerbic humour". Critical reaction to "The Entire History of You" was more mixed. Sims believed that Liam's actions escalated too quickly, but found the central premise of memory recording plausible. Richards thought that the memory technology was not necessary to the story, but James Hibberd of "Entertainment Weekly" said that the episode's execution was "sophisticated and flawless".


title: Black Mirror

text: The series two opener, "Be Right Back", received critical acclaim. Morgan Jeffery of "Digital Spy" rated it four stars, praising the characters and emotionality, but criticising the ending. "Flickering Myth"s Luke Owen lauded the acting of Hayley Atwell as Martha and Domhnall Gleeson as Ash, as well as the directing. "White Bear" was well-received, with Simon Cocks of "Screen Anarchy" and Sims praising the plot twist and Tuppence Middleton's role as Jem. However, Lambie criticised the passiveness of the main character, Victoria. "The Waldo Moment" was considered the worst "Black Mirror" episode of the series by a number of reviewers, and criticised for poor writing and characterisation. "White Christmas" garnered positive reception, including praise of the acting and the connections between narrative threads by "The A.V. Club"s Zack Handlen and "The Independent"s Ellen Jones.


title: Black Mirror

text: The third series received positive reception. Benjamin Lee of "The Guardian" and Emily St. James of "Vox" rated it four stars. Writing in "Vulture", Jen Chaney analysed that it had an increased variety in setting and tone, as well as longer episodes. Chaney found that four episodes are "very good to great", while the other two are "merely decent". Lee praised "Nosedive" and "San Junipero" for their cinematography, acting, increased budget and narrative ambition. Richard Lawson of "Vanity Fair" reviewed the episodes as "all engrossing in their way", but thought "Men Against Fire" had the weakest premise and production quality. St. James wrote that the series was, as with previous series, equal parts "brilliant... pretty good, and... kinda stupid", praising "San Junipero" but finding that other episodes should have been shorter and were "constrained" in their shared social media theme.


title: Black Mirror

text: The production and acting in series four were praised, as were some episodes. Writing in "Variety", Sonia Saraiya commented that four of the six episodes explore human consciousness inside technology. She viewed "Black Museum" as a demonstration of the series' flaws, with its artificial consciousness technologies, use of violence and storylines that require characters to "be stupid and/or evil". However, Saraiya said that the production and acting was "beautiful" and praised "USS Callister" and "Metalhead" for diverging from "Black Mirror"s "typical austere futurism". Sophie Gilbert of "The Atlantic" identified the same theme and praised "USS Callister" and "Hang the DJ", but saw the writing as the biggest weakness of the series. Similarly, "The Sydney Morning Herald"s Brad Newsome praised the series' casting, and highlighted "USS Callister" as well-directed and well-acted.


title: Black Mirror

text: Reception to "Bandersnatch" and series five was more ambivalent. Linda Holmes of "NPR" praised "Bandersnatch"s technical design but criticised the narrative and the repetition of scenes. Holmes said that the audience are not given a reason to care about the main character, Stefan. In "The Guardian", Lucy Mangan rated the fifth series four stars, finding that the episodes are disparate in content but share "a new air of calm authority" that could reflect "an increasing confidence" of the producers. Lucy Pavia of the "Evening Standard" said that the episodes "still pack a punch", with "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" as the highlight. However, Hugh Montgomery of the BBC said that the programme's "variable quality is more starkly evident than ever" with "one good episode to two middling-to-bad ones". Montgomery praised "Striking Vipers" as "among the finest and most soulful" episodes. Additionally, "Vulture"s Kathryn VanArendonk reviewed that though they are well-produced and well-acted, the instalments lack suitable premises.


title: Black Mirror

text: Critics of "Black Mirror" often view the show as self-righteous, with obvious morals in each story. Norman Wilner of "Now" commented that the first three series are "rigidly formulaic" in its presentation of a worst-case scenario and a "sardonic twist" in each episode, with "San Junipero" as the only exception. Chris Taylor argued for "Mashable" that the show should be viewed as more comedic and non-serious than prophetic, as it employs "nightmare logic" and concepts that require suspension of disbelief. In a satirical article for "The Toast", Daniel M. Lavery used the phrase "what if phones, but too much" to describe a parody episode plot. This became a common refrain for criticism, encapsulating the paranoia, pessimism or predictability of the programme. Some reviewers found that "Black Mirror" decreased in quality over time. "Vulture" critics categorised the show as hit-and-miss, and worsening throughout time. LaToya Ferguson wrote in "Paste" that later series saw a "creative downfall" and increasing Americanisation, with their lengthier episodes, higher-profile actors and more "polished" style not compensating for a decline in quality.


title: Black Mirror

text: A number of publications named "Black Mirror" on their lists of the best television programmes of the 2010s:


title: Black Mirror

text: "Den of Geek" included it as one of the 13 "Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Shows of the 2010s" and though "Vanity Fair" did not include it in their top 10, it listed the episode "White Bear" as one of 15 "honourable mentions". At the end of 2019 and 2020, a number of publications also created lists of the best television shows of the 21st century to date: readers of "Digital Spy" voted that "Black Mirror" was 13th-best, "The Guardian" included it in 23rd place and "Deadline Hollywood" reported that it was one of the 21 "most influential" programmes.


title: Black Mirror

text: In November 2012, "Black Mirror" won Best TV Movie/Miniseries at the International Emmy Awards. Bryce Dallas Howard received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her performance in the episode "Nosedive". At the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, "Black Mirror" received three nominations with two wins, including Outstanding Television Movie for "San Junipero". "USS Callister" received three Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Movie, and four Emmy nominations in 2018. "Bandersnatch" won two Emmys in 2019, including Outstanding Television Movie, making it the third consecutive win for "Black Mirror" in that category.


title: Black Mirror

text: Along with "American Horror Story" (2011–), "Black Mirror" has been credited with repopularising the anthology format, which was rarely used in the 1990s and 2000s. Changing profit incentives from increased streaming television consumption has been attributed to this success. A 2019 reboot of "The Twilight Zone", the primary show to inspire "Black Mirror", can be seen as an example of this. It was described by the creator Jordan Peele as broader than "Black Mirror" in that its themes do not have to be technological, and Sophie Gilbert of "The Atlantic" suggested that it may have avoided darker themes or explorations into human nature to avoid overlap. Other anthology series that were part of this phenomenon include "Room 104" (2017–2020) and "Solos" (2021). Additionally, Adam White of "The Independent" stated that "Black Mirror" and Brooker's other works spawned an era of horror and fantasy that explores modern technology. Science-fiction television that critics have compared to "Black Mirror" includes "Humans" (2015–2018) and "Upload" (2020–).


title: Black Mirror

text: The anthology "Electric Dreams" was widely compared to "Black Mirror". Reviewers found "Electric Dreams" to be less violent and more understated than "Black Mirror", but contain some similar plots. For instance, the episode "Real Life" is a story about virtual reality. The settings are further in the future and more allegorical. Another example is "Inside No. 9" (2014–), a British anthology series that critics saw as more comedic than "Black Mirror", and known for intricate plot twists. The creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have a larger role in the show than Brooker does in "Black Mirror", as they star in most episodes and direct some in addition to writing them. The serialised British dystopia "Years and Years" (2019) follows a family from 2019 to 2034, and drew many comparisons to "Black Mirror" in themes and its near-future technology. "The Verge" Liz Shannon Miller called it ""Black Mirror", but with a full and beating heart". Simon Cellan Jones, who directed the first four of six episodes, saw it as less dystopian than "Black Mirror", and with less emphasis on technology. The science fiction film "Friend of the World" (2020) was arranged like a "Black Mirror" episode. The creator Brian Patrick Butler said he wanted a sequence of stories with escalating tension, to create a "creepy and thought-provoking experience".


title: Black Mirror

text: There was critical consensus that the anthology series "Soulmates" (2020–) is inferior to "Black Mirror". Its central conceit—that a company can determine its customers' perfect partner—is similar to the series four episode "Hang the DJ". "Soulmates" was created by William Bridges, a writer for two "Black Mirror" episodes, and Georgina Campbell—who has a starring role in "Hang the DJ"—is a main character in one episode. "The One", a science-fiction programme with the same premise, was also seen as lesser than "Black Mirror" by critics. The romantic comedy "Made for Love" (2021) stars Cristin Milioti of series four episode "USS Callister" and its technological premise of a woman whose ex-husband implanted a monitoring device in her body was compared to "Black Mirror". Milioti saw both stories as about "a woman trying to find herself".


title: Black Mirror

text: Brooker has often been described by commentators as prescient in his scripts for "Black Mirror". In 2015, G. Clay Whitaker of "The Daily Beast" called the show a Magic 8-Ball. The first episode, "The National Anthem", features the UK prime minister blackmailed into having sexual intercourse with a pig. Four years later, the "Daily Mail" published allegations that the then-prime minister David Cameron had placed a "private part of his anatomy" into the mouth of a dead pig as an initiation rite at university. Brooker later said that after hearing the news, he "did genuinely for a moment wonder if reality was a simulation, whether it exists only to trick me". In "The Waldo Moment", a 2013 episode, the animated cartoon Waldo places second in a UK by-election. The US presidency of the media personality Donald Trump (2017–2021) and the Ukrainian presidency of the comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy (2019–) were compared by journalists to the platform of Waldo. Brooker described Trump as "an anti-politics candidate who's raucous and defensive" and "offers nothing", like Waldo. Adrian Karatnycky of "Politico" stated that as with Waldo, Zelenskyy had few clear policy positions prior to his election.


title: Black Mirror

text: The 2016 episode "Nosedive" presents a society in which citizens rate interactions with each other from one to five stars and receive an overall rating that largely determines their socioeconomic status. This has been compared to China's Social Credit System, where local governments collect data on citizens to assign them an overall score. Example data points include publicly criticising the government, defaulting on a loan or having high-rated friends. Like the system in "Nosedive", a low score can limit a person's access to transport. "Be Right Back" shows an artificial intelligence technology designed to mimic a deceased loved one. Chatbots with similar functionality and personalisation have been compared to this premise, as has a 2022 announcement that a future Amazon Alexa feature will imitate voices of dead loved ones. "Shut Up and Dance" is about a man who is blackmailed after footage of him masturbating is recorded through his webcam. Computer viruses can allow for covert recording through an unsuspecting person's webcam, and similar real-life blackmail has been reported.


title: Black Mirror

text: More minor facets of episodes have also been seen as prescient. Ten days after "Crocodile" depicted a self-driving pizza delivery truck, Toyota and Pizza Hut presented plans for a driverless pizza delivery vehicle at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. "Fifteen Million Merits" features a talent show with a virtual animated audience based on "Britain's Got Talent". In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "Britain's Got Talent" had a virtual audience, which had an aesthetic resembling that of "Fifteen Million Merits". Other real-life technologies have been described as progress towards those seen in "Black Mirror", such as the motion capture animation of Waldo in "The Waldo Moment", the augmented reality military system from "Men Against Fire" and the artificial bees in "Hated in the Nation".


title: Black Mirror

text: A number of "Black Mirror" tie-in products have been released. A "Nosedive" board game based on the episode of the same name was produced by Asmodee. Released on 25 November 2018, the game requires between three and six players and is designed to last for roughly 45 minutes. The fictional game "Nohzdyve", which is featured in "Bandersnatch" and named after the episode "Nosedive", was created by Netflix for a ZX Spectrum emulator and released on a "Bandersnatch" tie-in website. A 2017 museum exhibit at the Barbican Centre, entitled "Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction", included an installation based on "Fifteen Million Merits". A number of mock "Tucker's Newsagent and Games" storefronts, designed after the fictional "Bandersnatch" shop of the same name, were erected in Birmingham and London shortly after the film's release in 2018.


title: Black Mirror

text: Soundtracks to 12 of the 23 instalments have been released on online streaming services: "Be Right Back", "White Bear", "White Christmas", "Nosedive", "San Junipero", "Men Against Fire", "Hated in the Nation", "USS Callister", "Arkangel", "Hang the DJ", "Black Museum" and "Smithereens". Brooker also released a 42-track Spotify playlist of songs that were either featured in "San Junipero" or planned for inclusion at some stage. The "Hang the DJ" soundtrack, credited to Alex Somers and featuring Sigur Rós, was additionally released on vinyl. The song "On a Roll" from "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" is based on the Nine Inch Nails song "Head Like a Hole". It was released by the performer, Miley Cyrus, under her character's name Ashley O and went on to chart in multiple countries. The B-side "Right Where I Belong" was another Nine Inch Nails adaptation featured in the episode.


title: Black Mirror

text: A series of webisodes, titled "Little Black Mirror" (Polish: "Czarne Lusterko"), was produced for Netflix Polska by Jacek Ambrosiewicz, in collaboration with Polish YouTubers. Released on 19 January 2018, the four shorts vary between eight and twenty-one minutes in length. "69.90" explores "loneliness and gaming", according to the creators Huyen Pham and Marcin Nguyen; they discussed 20 different ideas before deciding on a computer simulation which is indistinguishable from real life. "The Breakup" features Krzysztof Gonciarz and Kasia Mecinski: it used realism and ordinary technology, such as a Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 that emulates vlog aesthetics. "The Sum of Happiness" was posted on Martin Stankiewicz's YouTube channel and focuses on a neurological implant and a relationship app, previously explored "Black Mirror" topics. "1%", filmed by Groupa Filmowa Darwin, and is about a violent piece of obstetrics technology.


title: Black Mirror

text: A second series of webisodes, initially announced as "Little Black Mirror" but eventually renamed "Stories From Our Future", was directed for Netflix América Latina by American YouTuber Rudy Mancuso. Initially planned for release on Netflix América Latina's YouTube channel, as part of promotion for the programme's fifth series, the original trailer for the project was removed by Netflix. The shorts were released on 10 June 2019 on YouTube channels of those involved. "Cure for Loneliness" was released on Mancuso's channel; "Getting to Know You" was released on Lele Pons' channel; "The Healthy Alternative" was released on Juanpa Zurita's channel. Also featured in the series is Australian actor Maia Mitchell.


title: Black Mirror

text: In June 2018, the oral history companion book "Inside Black Mirror" was announced. Brooker, Jones and Jason Arnopp are the credited writers. The book features sections on the 19 episodes in the first four series, each consisting of conversational interviews from cast and crew along with stills and behind-the-scenes images. The book was released in the UK on 1 November 2018 and in the US on 20 November 2018 from Penguin Random House. "Starburst" rated the book ten out of ten stars, praising its "wonderfully-comprehensive format" and summarising it as "blunt, brittle, often killingly funny and lavishly-illustrated".


title: Black Mirror

text: In June 2017, Brooker announced a series of prose stories based on "Black Mirror". The first volume was to be published on 20 February 2018 and scheduled to be edited by Brooker; two further volumes were planned for later in 2018 and in 2019. Planned writers included the science fiction authors Cory Doctorow, Sylvain Neuvel and Catherine Webb, under the pseudonym Claire North. The project was postponed indefinitely in 2018 as Brooker and Jones could not dedicate enough time to it, with Brooker saying "I'm not sure when or if [the series] will appear. Probably not".


title: Black Mirror

text: In mid-2019, Thorpe Park Resort in Chertsey, United Kingdom, announced that it was to open a walkthrough maze, the "Black Mirror Labyrinth". The maze was scheduled to open in March 2020, but this was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It opened on 21 May 2021 and is themed around artificial intelligence. The subject's name and a photo taken of them are used to personalise the maze.


title: Jonestown

text: The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, a U.S.–based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. Jonestown became internationally infamous when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 909 people died at the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a Temple-run building in Georgetown, Guyana's capital city. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.


title: Jonestown

text: In total, 918 individuals died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, a significant number of whom were injected against their will, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones and some Peoples Temple members on an audio tape of the event, and in prior recorded discussions. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at Port Kaituma, including Congressman Leo Ryan, an act that Jones ordered. Four other Temple members committed murder–suicide in Georgetown at Jones' command.


title: Jonestown

text: Terms used to describe the deaths in Jonestown and Georgetown have evolved over time. Many contemporary media accounts after the events called the deaths a mass suicide. In contrast, most sources today refer to the deaths with terms such as mass murder–suicide, a massacre, or simply mass murder. Seventy or more individuals at Jonestown were injected with poison, and a third of the victims (304) were minors. Guards armed with guns and crossbows had been ordered to shoot anyone who attempted to flee the settlement as Jones lobbied for suicide.


title: Jonestown

text: The Peoples Temple was formed by Jim Jones in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1955. Though its roots and teachings shared more with Christian revival movements than with Marxism, it purported to practice what it called "apostolic socialism". In doing so, the Temple preached that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment—socialism." Jones had an interest in Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Adolf Hitler from a young age, and would later frequently praise Stalin and Vladimir Lenin as heroes. He was also upset with persecution against the Communist Party USA and was fascinated with the influence of religion. In the early 1960s, Jones visited Guyana – then a British colony – while on his way to establishing a short-lived Temple mission in Brazil.


title: Jonestown

text: After Jones received considerable criticism in Indiana for his integrationist views, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California, in 1965. In the early 1970s, the Temple opened other branches in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and would eventually move its headquarters to San Francisco.


title: Jonestown

text: With the move to San Francisco came increasing political involvement by the Temple and the high levels of approval they received from the local government. After the group's participation proved instrumental in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, Moscone appointed Jones as the Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. Increasing public support in California gave Jones access to several high-ranking political figures, including vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Guests at a large 1976 testimonial dinner for Jones included Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and California Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others.


title: Jonestown

text: In the fall of 1973, after critical newspaper articles by Lester Kinsolving and the defection of eight Temple members, Jones and Temple attorney Tim Stoen prepared an "immediate action" contingency plan for responding to a police or media crackdown. The plan listed various options, including fleeing to Canada or to a "Caribbean missionary post" such as Barbados or Trinidad. For its Caribbean missionary post, the Temple quickly chose Guyana, conducting research on its economy and extradition treaties with the U.S. In October 1973, the directors of the Temple passed a resolution to establish an agricultural mission there.


title: Jonestown

text: The Temple chose Guyana, in part, because of the group's own socialist politics, which were moving further to the left during the selection process. Former Temple member Tim Carter stated that the reasons for choosing Guyana were the Temple's view of a perceived dominance of racism and multinational corporations in the U.S. government. According to Carter, the Temple concluded that Guyana, an English-speaking, socialist country with a predominantly indigenous population and with a government including prominent black leaders, would afford black Temple members a peaceful place to live.


title: Jonestown

text: Later, Guyanese Prime Minister Forbes Burnham stated that Jones may have "wanted to use cooperatives as the basis for the establishment of socialism, and maybe his idea of setting up a commune meshed with that". Jones also thought that Guyana was small, poor, and independent enough for him to easily obtain influence and official protection. He was skillful in presenting the Guyanese government the benefits of allowing the Peoples Temple to establish a settlement in the country. One of the main tactics was to speak of the advantages of their American presence near Guyana's disputed border with Venezuela. This idea seemed promising to the Burnham government, who feared a military incursion by Venezuela.


title: Jonestown

text: In 1974, after traveling to an area of northwestern Guyana with Guyanese officials, Jones and the Temple negotiated a lease of over of land in the jungle located west of the Guyanese capital of Georgetown. The site, located near the disputed border with Venezuela, was isolated and had soil of low fertility, even by Guyanese standards. The nearest body of water was away by muddy roads.


title: Jonestown

text: As 500 members began the construction of Jonestown, the Temple encouraged more to relocate to the settlement. Jones saw Jonestown as both a "socialist paradise" and a "sanctuary" from media scrutiny. In 1976, Guyana finally approved the lease it had negotiated (retroactive to April 1974) with the Temple for the over of land in northwest Guyana on which Jonestown was located.


title: Jonestown

text: In 1974, Guyanese officials granted the Temple permission to import certain items "duty free". Later payoffs helped safeguard shipments of firearms and drugs through Guyanese customs.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones reached an agreement to guarantee that Guyana would permit Temple members' mass migration. To do so, he stated that they were "skilled and progressive", showed off an envelope he claimed contained $500,000, and stated that he would invest most of the group's assets in Guyana. The relatively large number of immigrants to Guyana overwhelmed the government's small but stringent immigration infrastructure in a country where immigrants had outweighed locals. Guyanese immigration procedures were compromised to inhibit the departure of Temple defectors and curtail the visas of Temple opponents.


title: Jonestown

text: Jonestown was held up as a benevolent communist community, with Jones stating: "I believe we're the purest communists there are." Jones' wife Marceline described Jonestown as "dedicated to live for socialism, total economic and racial and social equality. We are here living communally." Jones wanted to construct a model community and claimed that Burnham "couldn't rave enough about us, the wonderful things we do, the project, the model of socialism". Jones did not permit members to leave Jonestown without his express prior permission.


title: Jonestown

text: The Temple established offices in Georgetown and conducted numerous meetings with Burnham and other Guyanese officials. In 1976, Temple member Michael Prokes requested that Burnham receive Jones as a foreign dignitary along with other "high ranking U.S. officials". Jones traveled to Guyana with Dymally to meet with Burnham and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Willis. In that meeting, Dymally agreed to pass on the message to the State Department that socialist Guyana wanted to keep an open door to cooperation with the U.S. Dymally followed up that meeting with a letter to Burnham stating that Jones was "one of the finest human beings" and that Dymally was "tremendously impressed" by his visit to Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: Temple members took pains to stress their loyalty to Burnham's People's National Congress Party. One Temple member, Paula Adams, was involved in a romantic relationship with Guyana's ambassador to the U.S., Laurence "Bonny" Mann. Jones bragged about other female Temple members he referred to as "public relations women" giving all for the cause in Jonestown. Viola Burnham, the wife of the prime minister, was also a strong advocate of the Temple.


title: Jonestown

text: Later, Burnham stated that Guyana allowed the Temple to operate in the manner it did on the references of Moscone, Mondale, and Rosalynn Carter. Burnham also said that, when Deputy Minister Ptolemy Reid traveled to Washington, D.C. in September 1977 to sign the Panama Canal Treaties, Mondale asked him, "How's Jim?", which indicated to Reid that Mondale had a personal interest in Jones' well-being.


title: Jonestown

text: In the summer of 1977, Jones and several hundred Temple members moved to Jonestown to escape building pressure from San Francisco media investigations. Jones left the same night that an editor at "New West" magazine read him an article to be published by Marshall Kilduff detailing allegations of abuse by former Temple members. After the mass migration, Jonestown became overcrowded. Jonestown's population was slightly under 900 at its peak in 1978.


title: Jonestown

text: Many members of the Temple believed that Guyana would be, as Jones promised, a paradise or utopia. After Jones arrived, however, Jonestown life significantly changed. Entertaining movies from Georgetown that the settlers had watched were mostly canceled in favor of Soviet propaganda shorts and documentaries on American social problems.


title: Jonestown

text: Bureaucratic requirements after Jones' arrival sapped labor resources for other needs. Buildings fell into disrepair and weeds encroached on fields. School study and nighttime lectures for adults turned to Jones' discussions about revolution and enemies, with lessons focusing on Soviet alliances, Jones' crises, and the purported "mercenaries" sent by Tim Stoen, who had defected from the Temple and turned against the group.


title: Jonestown

text: For the first several months, Temple members worked six days a week, from approximately 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with an hour for lunch. In mid-1978, after Jones' health deteriorated and his wife began managing more of Jonestown's operations, the work week was reduced to eight hours a day for five days a week. After the day's work ended, Temple members would attend several hours of activities in a pavilion, including classes in socialism.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones compared this schedule to the North Korean system of eight hours of daily work followed by eight hours of study. This also comported with the Temple's practice of gradually subjecting its followers to sophisticated mind control and behavior modification techniques borrowed from Kim Il-sung's Korea and Mao Zedong's China. Jones would often read news and commentary, including items from Radio Moscow and Radio Havana, and was known to side with the Soviets over the Chinese during the Sino-Soviet split.


title: Jonestown

text: "Discussion" about current events often took the form of Jones interrogating individual followers about the implications and subtexts of a given news item, or delivering lengthy and often confused monologues on how to "read" certain events. In addition to Soviet documentaries, political thrillers such as "The Parallax View", "The Day of the Jackal", "State of Siege", and "Z" were repeatedly screened and minutely analyzed by Jones. Recordings of commune meetings show how livid and frustrated Jones would get when anyone did not find the films interesting or did not understand the message Jones was placing upon them.


title: Jonestown

text: Nothing in the way of film or recorded TV, shown on the commune's closed-circuit system, no matter how innocuous or seemingly politically neutral, could be viewed without a Temple staffer present to "interpret" the material for the viewers. This invariably meant damning criticisms of perceived capitalist propaganda in Western material, and glowing praise for and highlighting of Marxist–Leninist messages in material from communist nations.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones' recorded readings of the news were part of the constant broadcasts over Jonestown's tower speakers, such that all members could hear them throughout the day and night. Jones' news readings usually portrayed the U.S. as a "capitalist" and "imperialist" villain, while casting "socialist" leaders, such as Kim Il-sung, Robert Mugabe, and Joseph Stalin in a positive light.


title: Jonestown

text: Jonestown's primary means of communication with the outside world was a shortwave radio. All voice communications with San Francisco and Georgetown were transmitted using this radio, from mundane supply orders to confidential Temple business. The FCC cited the Temple for technical violations and for using amateur frequencies for commercial purposes. Because shortwave radio was Jonestown's only effective means of non-postal communication, the Temple felt that the FCC's threats to revoke its operators' licenses threatened Jonestown's existence.


title: Jonestown

text: Because it stood on poor soil, Jonestown was not self-sufficient and had to import large quantities of commodities such as wheat. Temple members lived in small communal houses, some with walls woven from Troolie palm, and ate meals that reportedly consisted of nothing more on some days than rice, beans, greens, and occasionally meat, sauce, and eggs. Despite having access to an estimated $26 million by late 1978, Jones also lived in a tiny communal house, though fewer people lived there than in other communal houses. His house reportedly held a small refrigerator containing, at times, eggs, meat, fruit, salads, and soft drinks. Medical problems, such as severe diarrhea and high fevers, struck half the community in February 1978.


title: Jonestown

text: Although Jonestown contained no dedicated prison and no form of capital punishment, various forms of punishment were used against members considered to have serious disciplinary problems. Methods included imprisonment in a plywood box and forcing children to spend a night at the bottom of a well, sometimes upside-down. This "torture hole", along with beatings, became the subject of rumor among local Guyanese. For some members who attempted to escape, drugs such as Thorazine, sodium pentathol, chloral hydrate, Demerol, and Valium were administered in an "extended care unit". Armed guards patrolled the area day and night to enforce Jonestown's rules.


title: Jonestown

text: Children were generally surrendered to communal care, and at times were only allowed to see their biological parents briefly at night. Jones was called "Father" or "Dad" by both adults and children. The community had a nursery at which 33 infants were born.


title: Jonestown

text: For a year, it appears the commune was run primarily through Social Security checks received by members. Up to $65,000 in monthly welfare payments from U.S. government agencies to Jonestown residents were signed over to the Temple. In 1978, officials from the U.S. embassy in Georgetown interviewed Social Security recipients on multiple occasions to make sure they were not being held against their will. None of the 75 people interviewed by the embassy stated that they were being held captive, were forced to sign over welfare checks, or wanted to leave Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: African Americans made up approximately 70% of Jonestown's population. 45% of Jonestown residents were black women.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones made frequent addresses to Temple members regarding Jonestown's safety, including statements that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were conspiring with "capitalist pigs" to destroy the settlement and harm its inhabitants. After work, when purported emergencies arose, the Temple sometimes conducted what Jones referred to as "White Nights". During such events, Jones would sometimes give the Jonestown members four options: attempt to flee to the Soviet Union, commit "revolutionary suicide", stay in Jonestown and fight the purported attackers, or flee into the jungle.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones was known to regularly study Adolf Hitler and Father Divine to learn how to manipulate members of the cult. Divine told Jones personally to "find an enemy" and "to make sure they know who the enemy is" as it will unify those in the group and make them subservient to him.


title: Jonestown

text: On at least two occasions during White Nights, after a "revolutionary suicide" vote was reached, a simulated mass suicide was rehearsed. Temple defector Deborah Layton described the event in an affidavit:


title: Jonestown

text: Everyone, including the children, was told to line up. As we passed through the line, we were given a small glass of red liquid to drink. We were told that the liquid contained poison and that we would die within 45 minutes. We all did as we were told. When the time came when we should have dropped dead, Rev. Jones explained that the poison was not real and that we had just been through a loyalty test. He warned us that the time was not far off when it would become necessary for us to die by our own hands.


title: Jonestown

text: The Temple had received monthly half-pound shipments of cyanide since 1976 after Jones obtained a jeweler's license to buy the chemical, purportedly to clean gold. In May 1978, a Temple doctor wrote a memo to Jones asking permission to test cyanide on Jonestown's pigs, as their metabolism was close to that of human beings.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones' paranoia and drug usage increased in Jonestown as he became fearful of a government raid on the commune, citing concerns that the community would not be able to resist an attack. Jones would call "Alert, Alert, Alert" over the community loudspeaker to call the community together in the central pavilion. Armed guards with guns and crossbows surrounded the pavilion. One drill lasted for six days. Known as 'the Six Day Siege', this ordeal was used thereafter by Jones as a symbol of the community's indomitable spirit. For days on end, frightened townsfolk ringed the commune, armed with machetes and whatever crude tools would serve as weapons. Surrounding them, Jones claimed, were mercenaries bent on murder, as well as the abduction of Jones' son John Victor Stoen and others. Jones' wife and others outside of the commune engaged in interminable shortwave radio conversations with Jones, seeking to dissuade him from ordering a mass suicide. The panic reached such a point that an ad hoc evacuation was ordered by Jones, with dozens of townsfolk hastily loaded onto boats on the George River. The destination of this exodus was Cuba. Several people fell into the river, suffering injuries. At last, Jones bowed to pressure, and the drill ended. Veterans of the 'Siege' were held in high regard in Jonestown, and in numerous addresses Jones tearfully recalled their stoic courage on the 'front line.'


title: Jonestown

text: In September 1977, former Temple members Tim and Grace Stoen battled in a Georgetown court to produce an order for the Temple to show cause why a final order should not be issued returning their five-year-old son, John. A few days later, a second order was issued for John to be taken into protective custody by authorities. The fear of being held in contempt of the orders caused Jones to set up a false sniper attack upon himself and begin his first series of White Nights, called the "Six Day Siege". During the Siege, Jones spoke to Temple members about attacks from outsiders and had them surround Jonestown with guns and machetes.


title: Jonestown

text: The rallies took an almost surreal tone as black activists Angela Davis and Huey Newton communicated via radio-telephone to the Jonestown crowd, urging them to hold strong against the "conspiracy". Jones made radio broadcasts stating "we will die unless we are granted freedom from harassment and asylum." Deputy Minister Reid finally assured Marceline Jones that the Guyana Defence Force would not invade Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: After the Six Day Siege, Jones no longer believed the Guyanese could be trusted. He directed Temple members to write to over a dozen foreign governments inquiring about immigration policies relevant to another exodus by the Temple. He also wrote to the State Department inquiring about North Korea and Albania, then enduring the Sino-Albanian split.


title: Jonestown

text: In Georgetown, the Peoples Temple conducted frequent meetings with the embassies of the Soviet Union, North Korea, Yugoslavia, and Cuba. Negotiations with the Soviet embassy included extensive discussions of possible resettlement there. The Temple produced memoranda discussing potential places within the U.S.S.R. in which they might settle.


title: Jonestown

text: Sharon Amos, Michael Prokes, Matthew Blunt, Timothy Regan, and other Temple members took active roles in the "Guyana-Korea Friendship Society", which sponsored two seminars on the revolutionary concepts of Kim Il Sung. In April 1978, a high-ranking correspondent of Soviet news agency TASS and his wife visited Jim Jones.


title: Jonestown

text: Although Jones, his executive partners, and congregation voiced their thoughts about moving their operation to the Soviet Union, Jones had a change of heart. He had stated that he preferred to stay within the Guyanese borders because of the sovereignty it afforded them.


title: Jonestown

text: On October 2, 1978, Feodor Timofeyev, consul for the Soviet Union in Georgetown, visited Jonestown for two days and gave a speech. Jones stated before the speech, "For many years, we have let our sympathies be quite publicly known, that the United States government was not our mother, but that the Soviet Union was our spiritual motherland." Timofeyev opened the speech stating that the Soviet Union would like to send "our deepest and the most sincere greetings to the people of this first socialist and communist community of the United States of America, in Guyana and in the world". Both speeches were met by cheers and applause from the crowd in Jonestown. Following the visit, Temple members met almost weekly with Timofeyev to discuss a potential Soviet exodus.


title: Jonestown

text: Meanwhile, in late 1977 and early 1978, Tim and Grace Stoen participated in meetings with other relatives of Jonestown residents at the home of Jeannie Mills, another Temple defector. Together, they called themselves the "Concerned Relatives". Tim Stoen engaged in letter-writing campaigns to the U.S. Secretary of State and the Guyanese government, and traveled to Washington, D.C. to attempt to begin an investigation. In January 1978, Stoen wrote a white paper to Congress detailing his grievances and requesting that congressmen write to Prime Minister Burnham; 91 congressmen wrote such letters, including Congressman Leo Ryan.


title: Jonestown

text: On February 17, 1978, Jones submitted to an interview with "San Francisco Examiner" reporter Tim Reiterman. Reiterman's subsequent story about the Stoen custody battle prompted the immediate threat of a lawsuit by the Temple. The repercussions were devastating for the Temple's reputation, and made most former supporters more suspicious of the Temple's claims that it was the victim of a "rightist vendetta".


title: Jonestown

text: Still, others remained loyal. On the day after Reiterman's article was published, Harvey Milk – a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who was supported by the Temple – wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter defending Jones "as a man of the highest character," and stating that Temple defectors were trying to "damage Rev. Jones' reputation" with "apparent bold-faced lies".


title: Jonestown

text: On April 11, 1978, the Concerned Relatives distributed a packet of documents, including letters and affidavits, that they titled an "Accusation of Human Rights Violations by Rev. James Warren Jones" to the Peoples Temple, members of the press, and members of Congress. In June 1978, Layton provided the group with a further affidavit detailing alleged crimes by the Temple and substandard living conditions in Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: Tim Stoen represented three members of the Concerned Relatives in lawsuits filed in May and June 1978 against Jones and other Temple members, seeking in excess of $56 million in damages. The Temple, represented by Charles R. Garry, filed a suit against Stoen on July 10, 1978, seeking $150 million in damages.


title: Jonestown

text: During the summer of 1978, Jones sought the legal services of Mark Lane and Donald Freed, both Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorists, to help make the case of a "grand conspiracy" by U.S. intelligence agencies against the Temple. Jones told Lane he wanted to "pull an Eldridge Cleaver" and return to the U.S. after repairing his reputation. In September 1978, Lane spoke to the residents of Jonestown, providing support for Jones' theories and comparing him to famed civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.


title: Jonestown

text: Lane then held press conferences stating that "none of the charges" against the Temple "are accurate or true" and that there was a "massive conspiracy" against the Temple by "intelligence organizations," naming the CIA, the FBI, and even the U.S. Postal Service. Though Lane presented himself as a disinterested party, Jones was actually paying him $6,000 per month to generate such theories.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones' health significantly declined in Jonestown. In 1978, Jones was informed of a possible lung infection, upon which he announced to his followers that he in fact had lung cancer – a ploy to foster sympathy and strengthen support within the community. Jones was said to be abusing injectable Valium, Quaaludes, stimulants, and barbiturates.


title: Jonestown

text: Audio tapes of 1978 meetings within Jonestown attest to Jones' declining physical condition, with the commune leader complaining of high blood pressure which he had since the early 1950s, small strokes, and weight loss of 30 to 40 pounds in the last two weeks of Jonestown, temporary blindness, convulsions, and, in late October to early November 1978 while he was ill in his cabin, grotesque swelling of the extremities.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones often mentioned chronic insomnia; he would often say he went for three or four days without any rest. During meetings and public addresses, his once-sharp speaking voice often sounded slurred; words ran together or were tripped over. Jones would occasionally not finish sentences even when reading typed reports over the commune's PA system.


title: Jonestown

text: Reiterman was surprised by the severe deterioration of Jones' health when he saw him in Jonestown on November 17, 1978. After covering Jones for eighteen months for the "Examiner", Reiterman thought it was "shocking to see his glazed eyes and festering paranoia face to face, to realize that nearly a thousand lives, ours included, were in his hands".


title: Jonestown

text: Leo Ryan, who represented California's 11th congressional district, announced that he would visit Jonestown. Ryan was friends with the father of Bob Houston, a Temple member in California whose mutilated body was found near train tracks on October 5, 1976, three days after a taped telephone conversation with Houston's ex-wife in which leaving the Temple was discussed. Over the following months, Ryan's interest was further aroused by the allegations put forth by Stoen, Layton, and the Concerned Relatives.


title: Jonestown

text: When the Ryan delegation arrived in Guyana, Lane and Garry initially refused to allow them access to Jonestown. However, by the morning of November 17, they informed Jones that Ryan would likely leave for Jonestown that afternoon regardless of his willingness. Ryan's party, accompanied by Lane and Garry, came to an airstrip at Port Kaituma, six miles (10 km) from Jonestown, some hours later. Because of lack of room on the plane, only four of the Concerned Relatives – Anthony Katsaris, Beverly Oliver, Jim Cobb and Carolyn Boyd – accompanied Ryan, Speier and the journalists to Port Kaituma and ultimately to Jonestown. It was felt that the presence of the Stoens would unnecessarily antagonize Jones, and Harris wanted to remain in Georgetown because he hoped to spend time with his daughter Liane, who was staying at the Temple’s Lamaha Gardens headquarters there.


title: Jonestown

text: Only Ryan, Speier, Lane and Garry were initially accepted into Jonestown, while the rest of Ryan's group was allowed in after sunset. That night, they attended a musical reception in the settlement's main pavilion. While the party was received warmly, Jones said he felt like a dying man and ranted about government conspiracies and martyrdom as he decried attacks by the press and his enemies. It was later reported – and verified by audio tapes recovered by investigators – that Jones had run rehearsals on how to convince Ryan's delegation that everyone was happy and in good spirits.


title: Jonestown

text: Two Temple members, Vernon Gosney (1953–2021) and Monica Bagby (1960–2009), made the first move for defection that night. In the pavilion, Gosney mistook Harris for Ryan and passed him a note, reading, "Dear Congressman, Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby. Please help us get out of Jonestown." A child nearby witnessed Gosney's act and verbally alerted other Temple members. Harris brought two notes, one of them Gosney's, to Ryan and Speier. According to Speier in 2006, reading the notes caused her and the congressman to realize that "something was very, very wrong."


title: Jonestown

text: Ryan, Speier, Dwyer, and Annibourne stayed the night in Jonestown while other members of the delegation, including the press corps and members of Concerned Relatives, were told that they had to find other accommodations. They went to Port Kaituma and stayed at a small café.


title: Jonestown

text: In the early morning of November 18, eleven Temple members sensed danger enough to walk out of Jonestown and all the way to the town of Matthew's Ridge, in the opposite direction from the Port Kaituma airstrip. Those defectors included the wife and son of Jonestown's head of security, Joe Wilson. When journalists and members of the Concerned Relatives arrived in Jonestown later that day, Marceline Jones gave them a tour of the settlement.


title: Jonestown

text: That afternoon, the Parks and the Bogue families, along with in-laws Christopher O'Neal and Harold Cordell, stepped forward and asked to be escorted out of Jonestown by the Ryan delegation. When Jones' adopted son Johnny attempted to talk Jerry Parks out of leaving, Parks told him, "No way, it's nothing but a communist prison camp." Jones gave the two families, along with Gosney and Bagby, permission to leave. When Harris handed Gosney's note to Jones during an interview in the pavilion, Jones stated that the defectors were lying and wanted to destroy Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: After a sudden violent rainstorm started, emotional scenes developed between family members. Al Simon, a Native American Temple member, attempted to take two of his children to Ryan to process the requisite paperwork for transfer back to the United States. Al's wife, Bonnie, summoned on the loudspeakers by Temple staff, loudly denounced her husband. Al pleaded with Bonnie to return to the U.S., but Bonnie rejected his suggestions.


title: Jonestown

text: While most of the Ryan delegation began to depart on a large dump truck to the Port Kaituma airstrip, Ryan and Dwyer stayed behind in Jonestown to process any additional defectors. Shortly before the dump truck left, Temple loyalist Larry Layton, the brother of Deborah Layton, demanded to join the group. Several defectors voiced their suspicions about Larry Layton's motives.


title: Jonestown

text: Shortly after the dump truck initially departed, Temple member Don "Ujara" Sly grabbed Ryan while wielding a knife. While Ryan was unhurt after others wrestled Sly to the ground, Dwyer strongly suggested that the congressman leave Jonestown while he filed a criminal complaint against Sly. Ryan did so, promising to return later to address the dispute. The truck departing to the airstrip had stopped after the passengers heard of the attack on Ryan, and took him as a passenger before continuing its journey towards the airstrip.


title: Jonestown

text: The entourage had originally scheduled a 19-passenger Twin Otter from Guyana Airways to fly them back to Georgetown. Because of the defectors departing Jonestown, the group grew in number and now an additional aircraft was required. Accordingly, the U.S. embassy arranged for a second plane, a six-passenger Cessna. When the entourage reached the airstrip between 4:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m., the planes had not appeared as scheduled. The group had to wait until the aircraft landed at approximately 5:10 p.m. Then the boarding process began.


title: Jonestown

text: Larry Layton was a passenger on the Cessna, the first aircraft to set up for takeoff. After the Cessna had taxied to the far end of the airstrip, he produced a handgun and started shooting at the passengers. He wounded Bagby and Gosney, and tried to kill Dale Parks, who disarmed him after the gun misfired.


title: Jonestown

text: Meanwhile, some passengers had boarded the larger Twin Otter. A tractor with a trailer attached, driven by members of the Temple's Red Brigade security squad, arrived at the airstrip and approached the Twin Otter. When the tractor neared within approximately of the aircraft, at a time roughly concurrent with the shootings on the Cessna, the Red Brigade opened fire with shotguns, handguns and rifles while at least two shooters circled the plane on foot. There were perhaps nine shooters whose identities are not all certainly known, but most sources agree that Joe Wilson, Stanley Gieg, Thomas Kice Sr., and Ronnie Dennis were among them.


title: Jonestown

text: The first few seconds of the shooting were captured on U-Matic ENG videotape by NBC cameraman Bob Brown, who was killed along with Robinson, Harris, and Temple defector Patricia Parks in the few minutes of shooting. Ryan was killed after being shot more than twenty times.


title: Jonestown

text: Jackie Speier, Sung, Dwyer, Reiterman, Anthony Katsaris, Boyd, Oliver, Krause, and Javers were the nine injured in and around the Twin Otter. After the shootings, the Cessna's pilot Tom Fernandez, along with the pilot and co-pilot of the Twin Otter, Captain Guy Spence and First officer Astil Rodwell Paul, as well as the injured Monica Bagby, fled in the Cessna to Georgetown. The damaged Twin Otter and the injured Ryan delegation members were left behind on the airstrip.


title: Jonestown

text: Before leaving Jonestown for the airstrip, Ryan had told Garry that he would issue a report that would describe Jonestown "in basically good terms". Ryan stated that none of the 60 relatives he had targeted for interviews wanted to leave, the 14 defectors constituted a very small portion of Jonestown's residents, that any sense of imprisonment the defectors had was likely because of peer pressure and a lack of physical transportation, and even if 200 of the 900+ wanted to leave, "I'd still say you have a beautiful place here." Despite Garry's report, Jones told him, "I have failed." Garry reiterated that Ryan would be making a positive report, but Jones maintained that "all is lost."


title: Jonestown

text: After Ryan's departure from Jonestown towards Port Kaituma, Marceline Jones made a broadcast on the public address system, stating that everything was all right, and asking residents to return to their homes. During this time, aides prepared a large metal tub with grape Flavor Aid, poisoned with diphenhydramine, promethazine, chlorpromazine, chloroquine, chloral hydrate, diazepam, and cyanide.


title: Jonestown

text: The concoction was prepared with the help of Jonestown in-house doctor, Dr Larry Schacht, a Texan native and former methamphetamine addict who got sober with the help of Jones who subsequently paid for his college education to become a doctor. Schacht had been researching the best ways for a person to die in advance of the foreseen mass suicide. About 30 minutes after Marceline Jones' announcement, Jim Jones made his own, calling all members immediately to the pavilion.


title: Jonestown

text: A 44-minute cassette tape, known as the "death tape", records part of the meeting Jones called inside the pavilion in the early evening of November 18, 1978. When the assembly gathered, referring to the Ryan delegation's air travel back to Georgetown, Jones told the gathering:


title: Jonestown

text: One of those people on that plane is gonna shoot the pilot, I know that. I didn't plan it but I know it's gonna happen. They're gonna shoot that pilot and down comes the plane into the jungle and we had better not have any of our children left when it's over, because they'll parachute in here on us.


title: Jonestown

text: Parroting Jones' prior statements that hostile forces would convert captured children to fascism, one Temple member stated: "The ones that they take captured, they're gonna just let them grow up and be dummies."


title: Jonestown

text: On the tape, Jones urged Temple members to commit "revolutionary suicide". Such an act had been planned by the Temple before and, according to Jonestown defectors, its theory was "you can go down in history, saying you chose your own way to go, and it is your commitment to refuse capitalism and in support of socialism."


title: Jonestown

text: Temple member Christine Miller argued that the Temple should alternatively attempt an airlift to the Soviet Union. Jim McElvane, a former therapist who had arrived in Jonestown only two days earlier, assisted Jones by arguing against Miller's resistance to suicide, stating "Let's make it a beautiful day" and later citing possible reincarnation. After several exchanges in which Jones argued that a Soviet exodus would not be possible, along with reactions by other Temple members hostile to Miller, she backed down. However, Miller may have ceased dissenting when Jones confirmed at one point that "the Congressman has been murdered" after the airstrip shooters returned.


title: Jonestown

text: When the Red Brigade members came back to Jonestown after Ryan's murder, Tim Carter, a Vietnam War veteran, recalled them having the "thousand-yard stare" of weary soldiers. After Jones confirmed that "the Congressman's dead," no dissent is heard on the death tape. By this point, armed guards had taken up positions surrounding the pavilion area. Directly after this, Jones stated that "the Red Brigade's the only one that made any sense anyway," and, "the Red Brigade showed them justice." In addition to McElvane, several other Temple members gave speeches praising Jones and his decision for the community to commit suicide, even after Jones stopped appreciating this praise and begged for the process to go faster.


title: Jonestown

text: According to escaped Temple member Odell Rhodes, the first to take the poison were Ruletta Paul and her one-year-old infant. A syringe without a needle fitted was used to squirt poison into the infant's mouth, after which Paul squirted another syringe into her own mouth. Stanley Clayton also witnessed mothers with their babies first approach the tub containing the poison. Clayton said that Jones approached people to encourage them to drink the poison and that, after adults saw the poison begin to take effect, "they showed a reluctance to die."


title: Jonestown

text: The poison caused death within five minutes for children, less for babies, and an estimated 20–30 minutes for adults. After consuming the poison, according to Rhodes, people were then escorted away down a wooden walkway leading outside the pavilion. It is not clear if some initially thought the exercise was another White Night rehearsal. Rhodes reported being in close contact with dying children.


title: Jonestown

text: In response to reactions of seeing the poison take effect on others, Jones counseled, "Die with a degree of dignity. Lay down your life with dignity; don't lay down with tears and agony." He also said,


title: Jonestown

text: I tell you, I don't care how many screams you hear, I don't care how many anguished cries ... death is a million times preferable to 10 more days of this life. If you knew what was ahead of you—if you knew what was ahead of you, you'd be glad to be stepping over tonight.


title: Jonestown

text: Rhodes described a scene of both hysteria and confusion as parents watched their children die from the poison. He also stated that most present "quietly waited their own turn to die", and that many of the assembled Temple members "walked around like they were in a trance". Survivor Tim Carter has suggested that, like a previous practice, that day's lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches may have been tainted with sedatives. This crowd was surrounded by armed guards, offering members the basic dilemma of death by poison or death by a guard's hand. Cries and screams of children and adults were easily heard on the tape recording made. As more Temple members died, eventually the guards themselves were called in to die by poison.


title: Jonestown

text: Jones was found dead lying next to his chair in the pavilion between two other bodies, his head cushioned by a pillow. His death was caused by a gunshot wound to his left temple that Guyanese Chief Medical Examiner Leslie Mootoo stated was consistent with being self-inflicted.


title: Jonestown

text: The events at Jonestown constituted the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the incidents of September 11, 2001.


title: Jonestown

text: Three high-ranking Temple survivors claimed they were given an assignment and thereby escaped death. Tim Carter and his brother Mike, aged 30 and 20, and Mike Prokes, 31, were given luggage containing $550,000 in U.S. currency, $130,000 in Guyanese currency, and an envelope, which they were told to deliver to the Soviet embassy in Georgetown. The envelope contained two passports and three instructional letters, the first of which was to Timofeyev, stating:


title: Jonestown

text: The letters included listed accounts with balances totaling in excess of $7.3 million to be transferred to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Prokes and the Carter brothers soon ditched most of the money and were apprehended heading for a Temple boat at Port Kaituma. It is unknown how they reached Georgetown, away, since the boat had been sent away earlier that day. The brothers were given the task before the suicides began, and soon abandoned it when they realized what was about to happen; Tim Carter desperately tried to search for his wife and son, discovering his son in time to witness him being poisoned, and his wife killing herself in despair. At this point, Carter had a nervous breakdown, and was pulled away from the village by his equally distraught brother.


title: Jonestown

text: Just before the start of the final meeting in the pavilion, Garry and Lane were told that the people were angry with them. The lawyers were escorted to a house used to accommodate visitors. According to them, they talked their way past two armed guards and made it to the jungle, before eventually arriving in Port Kaituma. While in the jungle near the settlement, they heard gunshots. This observation concurs with the testimony of Clayton, who, having previously fled into the jungle, heard the same sounds as he was sneaking back into Jonestown to retrieve his passport. Rhodes volunteered to fetch a stethoscope and hid under a building.


title: Jonestown

text: Two more people who were intended to be poisoned managed to survive. Grover Davis, 79, who was hearing-impaired, missed the announcement to assemble on the loudspeaker, lay down in a ditch and pretended to be dead. Hyacinth Thrash, 76, realized what was happening and crawled under her bed, only to walk out after the poisonings were completed.


title: Jonestown

text: The only medical doctor to initially examine the scene at Jonestown was Mootoo, who visually examined over 200 bodies and later told a Guyanese coroner's jury of having seen needle marks on at least 70. However, no determination was made as to whether those injections initiated the introduction of poison or whether they were so-called "relief" injections to quicken death and reduce suffering from convulsions from those who had previously taken poison orally. Mootoo and American pathologist Lynn Crook determined that cyanide was present in some bodies, while analysis of the contents of the vat revealed several tranquilizers as well as potassium cyanide and potassium chloride.


title: Jonestown

text: Plastic cups, Flavor Aid packets, and syringes, some with needles and some without, littered the area where the bodies were found. Mootoo concluded that a gunshot wound to Annie Moore could not have been self-inflicted, though Moore had also ingested a lethal dose of cyanide.


title: Jonestown

text: Guyanese authorities waived their requirement for autopsies in the case of unnatural death. Doctors in the U.S. performed autopsies on only seven bodies, including those of Jones, Moore, Lawrence Schacht, and Carolyn Layton. Moore and Layton were selected among those autopsied, in part, because of the urging of the Moore family, including Rebecca Moore, the sister of the two victims, who was not a Temple member herself.


title: Jonestown

text: Found near Marceline Jones' body was a typewritten note, dated November 18, 1978, signed by Marceline and witnessed by Moore and Maria Katsaris, stating:


title: Jonestown

text: Moore also left a note, which in part stated: "I am at a point right now so embittered against the world that I don't know why I am writing this. Someone who finds it will believe I am crazy or believe in the barbed wire that does NOT exist in Jonestown." The last line, "We died because you would not let us live in peace," is written in different color ink. No other specific reference is made to the events of the day. Moore also wrote, "JONESTOWN—the most peaceful, loving community that ever existed."


title: Jonestown

text: In addition, she stated, "JIM JONES—the one who made this paradise possible—much to the contrary of the lies stated about Jim Jones being a power-hungry sadistic, mean person who thought he was God—of all things." And "His hatred of racism, sexism, elitism, and mainly classism, is what prompted him to make a new world for the people—a paradise in the jungle. The children loved it. So did everyone else."


title: Jonestown

text: Found near Carolyn Layton's body was a handwritten note signed by Layton, witnessed by Katsaris and Moore, dated November 18, 1978, stating, "This is my last will and testament. I hereby leave all assets in any bank account to which I am a signatory to the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R."


title: Jonestown

text: In the early evening of November 18, at the Temple's headquarters in Georgetown, Temple member Sharon Amos received a radio communication from Jonestown instructing the members at the headquarters to take revenge on the Temple's enemies and then commit revolutionary suicide. Later, after police arrived at the headquarters, Sharon escorted her children, Liane (21), Christa (11), and Martin (10), into a bathroom. Wielding a kitchen knife, Sharon first killed Christa, and then Martin. Then Liane assisted Sharon in cutting her own throat, after which Liane killed herself.


title: Jonestown

text: Stephan, Tim and Jim Jr. eventually found them dead after they arrived at the Temple headquarters in their efforts to return to Jonestown to stop the suicide.


title: Jonestown

text: At the airstrip, Reiterman photographed the aftermath of the shootings. Dwyer assumed leadership at the scene and, at his recommendation, Larry Layton was arrested by Guyanese police. Dwyer was grazed by a bullet in his buttock during the shootings. It took several hours before the eleven wounded and others in their party gathered themselves together. Most of them spent the night in the Port Kaituma café. The more seriously wounded slept in a small tent at the airstrip. A Guyanese government plane arrived the following morning to evacuate the wounded.


title: Jonestown

text: Five teenage members of the Parks and Bogue families, with one boyfriend, followed the instructions of defector Gerald Parks to hide in the adjacent jungle until help arrived and their safety was assured. Thereafter, that group was lost for three days in the jungle and nearly died. Guyanese soldiers eventually found them.


title: Jonestown

text: After escaping Jonestown, Rhodes arrived in Port Kaituma on the night of November 18, 1978. That night, Clayton stayed with a local Guyanese family and travelled to Port Kaituma the next morning. Prokes and the Carter brothers were put into protective custody in Port Kaituma. They were later released in Georgetown. Rhodes, Clayton, Garry, and Lane were also brought to Georgetown. Prokes died by suicide on March 14, 1979, during a press conference, four months after the Jonestown incident.


title: Jonestown

text: 914 of the 918 dead, including Jones himself, were collected by the United States military in Guyana, then transported by military cargo plane to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, a location that had been used previously for mass processing of the dead from the Tenerife airport disaster. The last shipment of bodies arrived early on the morning of November 27, 1978. The base's mortuary was tasked with fingerprinting, identifying, and processing the bodies. The base's resources were overwhelmed, and numerous individuals tasked with moving or identifying the bodies suffered symptoms of PTSD. In many cases, responsibility for cremation of the remains was distributed to Dover area funeral homes.


title: Jonestown

text: In August 2014, the never-claimed cremated remains of nine people from Jonestown were found in a former funeral home in Dover. As of September 2014, four of their remains had been returned to next-of-kin, and the remaining five had not. Those five were publicly identified in the hope that family would claim their remains; all five remain unclaimed by family and have been interred at the Jonestown Memorial at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, CA, along with the remains of approximately half of those who perished on November 18, 1978.


title: Jonestown

text: Larry Layton, who had fired a gun at several people aboard the Cessna, was initially found not guilty of attempted murder in a Guyanese court, employing the defense that he was "brainwashed." Acquittal in a Guyanese court did not free Layton, who was promptly deported back to the U.S. and arrested by the US Marshals Service upon arrival in San Francisco. Layton could not be tried in the U.S. for the attempted murders of Gosney, Bagby, Dale Parks, and the Cessna pilot on Guyanese soil and was, instead, tried under a federal statute against assassinating members of Congress and internationally protected people (Ryan and Dwyer). He was convicted of conspiracy and of aiding and abetting the murder of Ryan and of the attempted murder of Dwyer. Paroled in 2002, he is the only person ever to have been held criminally responsible for the events at Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: The event was covered heavily by the media, and photographs pertaining to it adorned newspaper and magazine covers for months after its occurrence. It was labeled a "cult of death" by both "Time" and "Newsweek" magazines. In February 1979, 98% of Americans polled said that they had heard of the tragedy. George Gallup stated that "few events, in fact, in the entire history of the Gallup Poll have been known to such a high percentage of the US public".


title: Jonestown

text: After the deaths, both the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the U.S. State Department itself criticized the latter's handling of the Temple. Guyanese political opposition seized the opportunity to embarrass Prime Minister Burnham by establishing an inquest which concluded that Burnham was responsible for the deaths at Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: The Cult Awareness Network (CAN), a group aimed at deprogramming members of cults, was formed soon after the Jonestown deaths. The group, which included Congressman Ryan's daughter Patricia, was involved in various personal, social and legal battles with a range of religious organizations, from The Family International and Scientology to David Koresh's Branch Davidians, where they were found to be influential on law enforcement's concerns for children in the eventual Waco siege in 1993. After a slew of legal and fiscal issues, CAN disbanded in 1996.


title: Jonestown

text: In late February 1980, Al and Jeanne Mills (co-founders of the Concerned Relatives) and their daughter Daphene were shot and killed execution style in their Berkeley, California home. Eddie Mills, Al and Jeanne's son, was believed to be involved to the extent that he was arrested in 2005, but charges were not filed against him. The case has not been solved. In 1984, former Temple member Tyrone Mitchell, who had lost both of his parents and five siblings at Jonestown, fired upon students at a Los Angeles elementary school from his second-story window, killing two people and injuring twelve; Mitchell then turned his weapon on himself and committed suicide.


title: Jonestown

text: The sheer scale of the event, as well as Jones' socialism, purported inconsistencies in the reported number of deaths, allegedly poor explanation of events related to said deaths, and existence of classified documents led some conspiracy theorists to suggest CIA involvement. including a Soviet-published book a decade later. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigated the event and announced that there was no evidence of CIA involvement at Jonestown. Others suggested KGB involvement, beyond the attested visits of Soviet diplomatic personnel to Jonestown and the overtures made by Jim Jones to the USSR.


title: Jonestown

text: The bodies of over 400 of those who died are buried in a mass grave at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California. In 2011, a memorial to them was erected at the cemetery.


title: Jonestown

text: Although Jones used poisoned Flavor Aid, the drink mix was also commonly (mistakenly) referred to as Kool-Aid. This has led to the phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid", referring to a person or group holding an unquestioned belief, argument, or philosophy without critical examination.


title: Jonestown

text: In 1979, Joseph Hollinger, a former aide to Congressman Leo Ryan, claimed that Jonestown was a "mass mind control experiment" conducted by the CIA. A 1980 newspaper column by Jack Anderson also claimed that the CIA was involved in the Jonestown Massacre, and speculated that Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to Guyana Richard Dwyer had ties to the CIA. In 1980, an investigation by the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence found no evidence of CIA activity in Jonestown.


title: Jonestown

text: In 1987, "The Jonestown Carnage: A CIA Crime (1978)" (Russian: "Гибель Джонстауна - преступление ЦРУ") was published in the Soviet Union, claiming that group members were assassinated by CIA agents and mercenaries to prevent further political emigration from the U.S. as well as suppress opposition to the U.S. regime. Political scientist Janos Radvanyi cites the book as an example of Soviet active measures during the 1980s that "spread both disinformation stories and enemy propaganda against the United States", adding, "It's hard to imagine that anyone could believe so ridiculous a story".


title: Jonestown

text: According to Religious Studies scholar Rebecca Moore, "In the twenty-three years since the deaths in Jonestown, conspiracy theories have blossomed in number and sophistication."