Lying in the dense dank jungles of northwestern Guyana is the dilapidated yet historic city of Jonestown. It is infamous for being the constituent part of one of the world’s most catastrophic tragedies. Jonestown was founded on the principles of a temple that was led by cult leader Jim Jones, and later crossed over to the dark side when it became the site for mass murder-suicides. This set of events took place in November of 1978, where close to a thousand assets, heavily being American citizens, were slaughtered.
The trip to Jonestown is fulfilling in a rather heart-wrenching way. Visitors must reach the port city of Kaituma first and then continue their journey with a slight bumpy ride through the forest of Port. The grandeur of what once was a dangerously beautiful commune, dangerously lies as a skeleton of what is left. There is no sign of any formal museum or center, and what stands is a ghostly graveyard- The reminder of what could have been.
The abandoned structures have all but disappeared, nature having walloped them into submission. Now only traces of civilization’s past bones are left, including some foundation stones fragments of buildings and rusted remnants. The beauty of the land, however, does not erase the weight of history. The silence of the area, as described by many travelers, serves as a bone-chilling reminder for those who were caught in a brazen exploitation of military evil.
Guides and other locals reminisce and recount spine-chilling tales of bodies scattered and the pandemonium that ensued in their aftermath. Many visitors come out of courtesy, offering sentiments of homage to the fallen souls beneath the ground. Others, however, try to grasp how an event, so horrific, came to existence within the society we live in.
A store or signs do not exist here—the pain goes unacknowledged. The site, however, stands unwaveringly regardless of judgment passed for acting as a shrine to uncontrolled power and zeal.
Visiting Jonestown serves as a horrifying yet captivating experience that brings back dreadful memories the world has chosen to erase. Though largely forgotten in the modern public consciousness, Jonestown remains one of the most disturbing chapters in modern history, making the visit incredulously unforgettable.
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