I was all of nine years old when I heard about Jonestown. I do recall picking up a Time magazine and paging through pictures of the carnage with some interest. "Why?", I wondered, "would they end their lives for a notion?" I'm still curious...
1978: Mass suicide leaves 900 dead
The bodies of 914 people, including 276 children, have been found in Guyana in South America.
Most of the dead - members of the People's Temple Christian Church - had consumed a soft drink laced with cyanide and sedatives.
However, the body of the People's Temple charismatic leader, Jim Jones, was said to have a bullet wound in the right temple, believed to be self-inflicted.
The deaths are being linked to the earlier killings of five people, including US Congressman Leo Ryan, on a nearby airstrip.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2540000/2540209.stm