Jonestown: An American Tragedy

Dateline NBC

NBC News

True Crime, Culture, Social, Society & Culture, News

4.4 • 38K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2020

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Dateline classic, Josh Mankiewicz takes an in-depth look at the journalists who exposed the dangers of cult leader Reverend Jim Jones. Originally aired on NBC on July 13, 2018.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I just kept going into the jungle.
0:04.0	You could see bodies all over.
0:07.0	While you're running, there's no shooting.
0:09.0	I'm still hearing shots.
0:10.0	They had identified people they wanted to kill.
0:14.0	We were on top of a powder keg.
0:19.0	It's almost impossible to fathom, even now.
0:23.0	More than 900 Americans dead in the jungle at Jonestown.
0:29.0	It was something out of a horror movie.
0:31.0	You're telling me this man said, drink this poison.
0:34.0	Yeah.
0:35.0	And they drank it.
0:36.0	That's right.
0:37.0	We take you inside the mission that exposed that dangerous truth.
0:42.0	Don't shoot this, my kid!
0:44.0	I'm thinking, oh my god, it's true.
0:46.0	Everything we fear is true.
0:48.0	The only video camera there to capture it all belonged to NBC News.
0:54.0	He said, I can never put this camera down.
0:57.0	Rare pictures and powerful details from those who survived.
1:02.0	They were shooting point blank.
1:04.0	My whole shirt was just dripping with red blood.
	...

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