How Jonestown’s sole survivor made it out alive (Jim Jones People’s Temple murder cult)

[@AspensJourney]

I can’t believe this doesn’t have more views! I’ve always searched for her story or any sort of video interview! I can’t find anything on KZbin!!! So many survivor videos yet she was one of the very few who made it out alive that day! Thanks so much for telling her story with such grace and compassion ❤

[@SketchyCharactersAndCrime]

Thank you for the kind words! I also looked for video interviews but I couldn’t find any either. When I read her story I knew I had to tell more people about her. There are so many videos painting Jones as a good man who was corrupted, and his followers as sheep who willingly went to slaughter. Hyacinth’s story shows us the complex truth: that Jones was a racist who never had good intentions and that he leveraged socio-political conditions, familial ties and other aspects to keep people in the cult. Her story shows us how trapped people really were and that on that last night Jones revealed his true brutality fully by sending the hit squads after people. It’s horrifying and heartbreaking, and I have no idea how she and the few others who remained psychologically survived it, but what I do know is that she was a strong woman and someone I respect and admire very much. ❤️

[@thatbadguy4189]

Well, it’s 2023 and I’m just now hearing of a survivor from someone else’s “short”, led me here.

[@amandadavis4446]

While she isn't the only survivor she felt what it was like to be the only person left alive when she walked out of her hut and saw everyone dead... what a nightmare...

[@emexokezie7796]

She was the 'only survivor' in the camp - the most profound account, even without images... apart from the video footage....

[@candacelaughinghouse9270]

Notice at the beginning he gives Hitler’s salute. He studied and was impressed by Hitler as a teen and young adult.

[@chrisdenney6520]

​@@candacelaughinghouse9270He would pretend to be Hitler and make the little kids who played with him goose-step.

[@ellenadams7354]

Tracy Parks is a child that survived.

[@dianaprice3660]

I was very happy to find this story of Hyacinth. I heard her speak at a church back in the early 80’s. I remember she said the reason she and her sister were deceived by Jim Jones was because they had never really studied the Bible for themselves and simply took as truth whatever Jim Jones told them. She said the day Jim Jones was ordering everyone to go the the Pavilion to drink the poiso she was afraid and didn’t want to go and started praying and then she heard like a song and the Lord speaking to her to not be afraid and He caused her to fall asleep. The next thing she knew she was waking up the next morning and she saw her dead sister lying on the floor beside her. She knew God had saved her (Hyacinth’s) life. After she finally returned to the United States and she went to live in a nursing home. That day at the church her ending words of her testimony to the congregation were, “Read your Bible. Learn it. So you won’t be deceived.” And she had a Bible tightly clutched in her hands. That testimony was so moving. I’ll never forget it.

[@pumpkensdiapers1417]

❤🙏🏻😢

[@chicagogyrl4846]

Why did they listen to some preacher??! Why didn’t they read the Bible themselves, or go to other churches and talk with different pastors to get the truth, or at least a second opinion about what he says??!

[@ceceb6264]

There were a lot of red flags before Jonestown

[@SketchyCharactersAndCrime]

Very true

[@MichaelJohnson-dw7so]

Yes

[@msrain1235]

Well, what I hear is that people were in too deep and while some people loved it because they got the help that they needed. They turned their eyes away. For those who didn't, they stayed for family and friends. Others did quit and were harassed. Some were even murdered.

[@Hollz811]

Wow great video! I didn't know any of Hyacinth's story except her hiding under a bed. The drawing is amazing to watch come to life. Rest peacefully Hyacinth

[@s.v.2796]

The storytelling mixed with film, hyacinth's own words and that artwork, amazingly done!

[@charliebrown1796]

This made me cry 😢 I am very close to my little sister and I cannot imagine the trauma this poor woman had to endure. Heartbreaking.

[@MrStevesTrains]

I was always wondering what happened to her, this survivor. Thank You for sharing her story. It’s almost unbelievable to think about what all that has happened is actually true. ❤

[@mikhailabunidal9146]

2:22 She and another elderly survivor named Grover Cleveland Davis (1900-1979) Survived.

[@danielhainline8882]

Grover C. Davis lived from 1899-1993.

[@ellenadams7354]

Tracy Parks, as a child survived

[@henryrogers5500]

This is why you should never put all your trust in a human being, but in God only. We should never idolize or put another human being up on a pedestal.

[@ralex3697]

Especially false prophets

[@karenharrison885]

I explored Jonestown some years before. Then I remembered this old lady who hid in a cupboard while the whole horror was going on. I knew her age was part of the irony. So I searched for her. Then your brilliant and detailed description came up filling so many of the blanks. I did not know she was there asleep. So pleased she lived so long later. thanks for this work.

[@DeadPixel1105]

She hid under her bed. Not in a cupboard.

[@neilbrogan9919]

What a strong woman she was.

[@susanmckisson5764]

Ive been experiencing freezes and black screens while watching videos recently. Unfortunately, yesterday it was your video that kept glitching. I was glad I was able to watch the whole thing, uninterrupted, today. This was an excellent presentation! I’m old enough to remember this horrific event, and I have seen a number of accounts over the years; but your telling it through the eyes of Hyacinth brought the massacre of 900 people down in scale to the size of one heart, the heart of a tiny, stubborn, disabled Black woman. What a touching story. And your portrait, as always, is masterful.

[@SketchyCharactersAndCrime]

You've summarized it so beautifully Susan. I'm interested in learning about cults so I have read and watched Jonestown stories countless times, but somehow in this instance the story of 900 lives seems to have less emotional impact than the story of one woman. I knew I had to tell her story. Perhaps seeing it through the eyes of one individual makes it feel more "real" to me because 900 is such a shockingly large number of lives lost.

[@gardensofthegods]

​@@SketchyCharactersAndCrimeThere used to be a lot of stuff about the real Horrors and what really goes on in Scientology but I I have a feeling a number of those vids , documentaries and websites have been removed . ... the reason I believe this is it seems nowadays far too many people still don't understand what really happens in Scientology if you are not an actor or a celebrity . Some of it was so horrific and frightening and I believe the people like Dave Miscaviage's father as well as ... I can't think of her name now ... the actress who was in the TV show amd who did several documentaries , a series about The ugly truth of Scientology . She's been on Joe Rogan also and I just can't think of her name even though it's at the edge of my brain I want to say Leah Remini but I don't think that's it .

[@gardensofthegods]

​@@SketchyCharactersAndCrimeokay it is Leah Remini and I got her confused with some goofy actress who's on reality shows that has big fake lips and a lot of other cosmetic surgery . Anyway what I wanted to say is even though the documentaries and interviews by Leah Remini were really excellent they were not as horrifying as some of the other stories and seemed more mild actually compared to what some of them revealed . I don't know if she was afraid of scaring people by having some of the worst stories out there or maybe she herself didn't know of them but I find it hard to believe she didn't know of them . There were people who had to physically escape and made it into the town to whete the train stations in bus routes were ... only to be physically dragged and forced back into captivity ... I am not making this up . Scientology was able to listen to their landline phone calls and knew what they were saying and who they were talking to and they also started interfering with people's mail . How they've gotten away with so much including taking people's lives and the cover-ups is just mind-blowing and it's incredible they can call themselves to church when they have no deity ... ? 😂 They are being exposed more and more and a good place to start looking is the story of the young woman who was chosen to be Tom Cruise's date or something like that and then for whatever reason they were displeased with her and had her scrubbing toilets ... with a toothbrush of all things . I am not making this up if you do the digging you will find the story

[@caseystrange]

Patty Cartmell along with her daughter Tricia were found near the radio room in Jonestown.. Hycanth notes her to be one of Jones' henchmen. SHe was someone who would go through temple members garbage for information on them. There was no drainage ditch near the radio room in Jonestown. Patty's body can be seen in the photo where someone is standing on the porch of a house over looking bodies on a lawn. There were dozens of cross bows near them to.

[@amandadavis4446]

Yep in the purpleish floral dress...

[@Shannonbarnesdr1]

About 80 members of Peoples Temple who were living in Guyana survived that day. Hundreds of members living in San Francisco and Los Angeles did too.

[@SketchyCharactersAndCrime]

Correct, but they were not present for the massacre as they were in town or elsewhere.

[@margotasquith7208]

​@Sketchy Characters & Crime there were 2 men also present during the mass suicide who hid in the jungle Stanley Clayton and Odell rhodes- odell Rhodes came back to jonestown and identified some of the dead

[@ellenadams7354]

Tracy Parks survived

[@Missfenyxx]

@@SketchyCharactersAndCrime thom bogue wax shot on the airfield while on a plane. His father Jim, and sister both also survived. Thom and his sister escaped into the jungle. Thom Bogue was my town mayor & was just elected to the state legislature

[@BlackRainbow84]

Imagine waking up, thinking another usual day but you find everyone around you dead.

[@toddbarney2094]

Thank you for posting this it answered so many of my questions about Jonestown

[@mikhailabunidal9146]

1:47 As a youth while still living in his 🏡state of Indiana, One childhood acquaintance recalled that Jones gave the Nazi salute and shouted "Heil Hitler!" when he met German prisoners of war passing through their community en route to a detention facility

[@engespress]

Don't be brainwashed by corporate media propaganda about Hitler.

[@mikhailabunidal9146]

8:54 , gosh! I never knew that , thanks for the info and that for me was something new to hear

[@shable1436]

You are so talented, and great storyteller

[@soniacastro8258]

You are very talented and thank you for your story on last survivor 😢.

[@matthewseamans6830]

Great artist 🎨 the portrait looks just like Hyacinth

[@SketchyCharactersAndCrime]

Thanks Matthew!

[@sharonsekhon9475]

This was well done. Thank you!

[@tanyanike]

Jim did not shoot himself….he had someone else do it because he was a coward. What a horrible man!

[@ryanwood6754]

which is the irony because he was supposed to be obsessed with how Hitler committed suicide (shot himself in the head) yet the monstrous coward couldn't even do that. Not sure if I believe in a hell but for people like him and those that forced it upon the kids etc I sure hope there is.

[@gardensofthegods]

​@@ryanwood6754he probably reincarnated as dysentery amoeba or parasites over and over and over again before he even got lucky enough to reincarnate back as a maggot over and over again and who knows how many lives he lived as insects or whatever before he even had the chance to become a more normal type Critter like a cow or a cat or a dog 😂. He would probably have to reincarnate as all those things thousands and thousands of times before he could even hope to be born as a human into the worst poverty and with the worst type twisted deformed body probably also deaf and blind before he could ever ever even eventually incarnate as someone born into a more normal situation . Karma is real and so is hell ... more and more people are starting to realize they are one in the same and we create them right here ... and come back to them right here .

[@gardensofthegods]

Also the same people that believe in the different karmic states and Hell Realms also believe that a person can even yes reincarnate and come back as a demon and they are in even more hell than all those other things I mentioned . Buddhists and Hindus believe that our thoughts words and deeds create our realities and future lives and that a person through evil Deeds can actually turn themselves into a demon literally and I believe it . That guy was so evil .

[@greentea2774]

Wow, thank you for telling this woman's story it is truly inspiring, and I hope that there are many more who will come forward and expose Jim Jones for the murder he was. Black people have so much history that we must never forget ❤

[@RalphLaak]

Living in Indianapolis as a kid I met this loon,got a really creepy feeling...I got that same feeling from Trump in 1982...

[@nikki66972]

Thank you for this video. Jim is definitely in torment.

[@Chicagocubbiegirl]

Nicely done! Thanks.

[@auschwitzsoccercoach]

She wasn't the only one to survive. Quiet a few people survived.

[@estherharing7430]

Fear not I am with you... Jesus has saved her! that's how much power our prayers have!!! Thank you Jesus for your protection!

[@avail1.]

She wasnt the only one. And she slept through it all.

[@katemaloney4296]

The narrator specifically said "One of only a few survivors"; she didn't say the only survivor.

[@BlackRainbow84]

The title says sole survivor tho so it's misleading

[@chicagogyrl4846]

“Lovely insects.” 😣😂🤣

[@eileendriscoll4002]

A lesson to be remembered as many still follow blindly leaders with bad and self serving motives.

[@MeeMee-gz5vp]

Brilliant idea for a channel! Subscribed!

[@noliberalzone1533]

Great story strong woman

[@chicagogyrl4846]

I’m surprised that these people were not sick, or just dropping dead from malnutrition, and dehydration!!

[@amckx81]

She wasn't the only "sole survivor" there were more than a few that walked away and got away during the turmoil. Stanley Clayton for instance. This title is innacurate.

[@brendashacks7407]

At camp, I think another senior citizen

[@chicagogyrl4846]

I’m surprised that those goons didn’t search the huts, and find her!

[@jlvandat69]

Many thanks for this incredible story. It makes my heart ache to think about the babies, especially. But we need these stories. We need to be reminded that charismatic personalities can have power over those who do not use reason. This scenario is currently seen in the USA, on a much larger scale. How will the MAGA movement end? Let's pray the ending isn't similar to Jonestown.

[@chicagogyrl4846]

It’s surprising to me that African American people were part of his church!

[@ashgreene4914]

What an incredible story

[@NewsHistorian]

6:28 It was a Time magazine article that claimed Ukiha, California was one of a dozen safe places to be in a nuclear war.

[@chicagogyrl4846]

I don’t know about the tin roofs making the house hot, because many people down South, ect. have tin roofs. I have no idea why they used tin. I saw huts with natural plant roofs in the compound, which is better and more prevalent down there in the tropics, not tin.

[@lisafoos8976]

You are very talented.

[@mastersamurai7683]

Excellent

[@sherryowens9981]

Shecwasnt solecsurviver a man who didn't by age fear things in didn't vhear announcement

[@chicagogyrl4846]

Why in the world would an elderly person, let alone 100 years old, who can barely walk, go down to a sweltering jungle full of bugs, no doctors , proper medical care, hospitals, pharmacies, ect. to live for a year??! How did these elderly people get their medical care, medicine, and supplies??! What happened when any of these people get ill, need a doctor, medicine, ect. or need to have a surgery??! No dentists, eye care, nothing!

[@mikevi33023]

what happened to the guards ?

[@UncleDavesKitchen]

I just made a video of my memory of Rev Jim from my childhood. I never was at Jonestown but did lose friends and family there. My story is on my channel.

[@chicagogyrl4846]

How did they have a bakery in that sweltering jungle??! And who were they selling the goods to??!

[@ellenadams7354]

Tracy Parks was a child survivor. 🙏🏼

[@ReturnJaguar]

Please interview me, am kin of jonestown leftover. None of you 🗣️ about how Jim Jones has spinoff divisions in part of Cali & US, then and today .... He had a keyword of Piggy ,for them

[@DeadPixel1105]

Have you considered getting back on your meds?

[@ReturnJaguar]

@@DeadPixel1105 you the one on dope*** you just random replying anything to what isn't practical sense. Go let your body and fingers be first syllable of your id name! Your mind is such already.

[@Missfenyxx]

I believe you.

[@chicagogyrl4846]

So why did this woman and her friend follow him all the way to California, and stay a part of his club??! What did he ever do for them??!

[@Tha.Kid...LL3]

Crazy = Dangerous

[@blmtrejureydepourtment5899]

Multiple individuals survived the Jonestown Massacre by running into the jungle, please fix your title

[@michelemartin3360]

💗💗

[@GDIrber]

0:45 did Jim Jones just stickbug me

[@JohnDoe-rk9bx]

What kind of spider was that guys?

[@chicagogyrl4846]

Why would you give a preacher all of your money??! 😂🤣 And so then how did they support themselves??!

[@chicagogyrl4846]

I have no idea how she opened a care home for the mentally ill! What did she know about caring for people with mental illness??! I think she was taking their benefits. These people were probably so out of it, they didn’t care, or even know!

[@BlackRainbow84]

Why does the title say sole survivor? She wasn't.

[@janetczernecki7779]

💔🙏💐

[@GeorgiaJones-g4e]

Typos...2024 the reign of terror of father dog and fair you Jillian married to red man...little Katie was the ultimate sacrifice as he grasped those keys from her cold stone body....

[@GeorgiaJones-g4e]

Forget the 2025 typos.

[@chicagogyrl4846]

Why do you say, “For just 1 year.”??! 😂🤣

[@RolandRees]

Jim Jones didn't shoot himself! He had one of his henchmen shoot him in the back of his head.

[@SketchyCharactersAndCrime]

Fair enough. Suicide by henchman is still suicide though.

[@11baggio11111]

The only true hope to be found in life is through knowing Jesus as our saviour. We can know the peace of having our sins forgiven and hope for the future by becoming a Christian. St. John 6:37 Jesus said “....whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

[@1456Sassy]

The title is not accurate. There were more than just one survivor. Sole says one survived. There were more than 30.

[@JohnDoe-rk9bx]

PT Barnum was correct. There’s a sucker born every minute.

[@hairywhiteprince]

He ain’t do it.

[@davidmcbrayer6458]

There were a few survivors

[@MicheleEllis-pj1dq]

He didn’t have an admiration for Adolf Hitler

[@chicagogyrl4846]

Would have been good if you had photos or videos going instead of drawing. I would be interested of photos and videos of Jonestown, not watching you draw.

[@mistychenoweth9716]

Not the only survivor and she didn’t ‘refuse to go down to the pavillon.” She was in the hospital asleep. Watch a doc or read a book.

[@SketchyCharactersAndCrime]

@@mistychenoweth9716 thank you SO much Misty, for this very helpful, kind and pleasant comment. You sound like a really charming individual. And I did read a book. Hyacinth’s book. It’s called “The Onliest One Alive: Surviving Jonestown, Guyana.” It’s a good read, I recommend it. May you have the day you deserve. ☺️✌🏻

[@trapmafia4716]

What bullshit is this? there was more than 1 sole survivor 🤦‍♂

[@AspensJourney]

A few fled to the jungle, some left with Congressman Ryan, some left earlier that day but she was the only one who survived the entire ordeal! Alone amongst 900 dead bodies…

[@avail1.]

Not true.....

[@rjmullinz2258]

An elderly man named Grover Cleveland Davis also survived the mass suicide at Jonestown but it obviously doesn't fit the agenda that is so often passed as truth regarding Jonestown videos

[@GeorgiaJones-g4e]

2025

[@johnerickson4064]

I tried to make a joke about Jonestown but the punch line was too long.....da da dum

[@mk202]

😏

[@Unchainedful]

🥴

[@bcaye]

You must be young. No one who was alive and old enough to remember when this happened would make bad jokes about it.

[@MrJorgerocha]

Fantastic