A cult hunter has revealed how children were forced to drink poison given to them by their brainwashed mums in a mass suicide that left more than 900 dead.
Jonestown cult leader Jim Jones built up a mass following of thousands who believed in his People's Temple religious organisation in the US and then he moved his community to the jungle commune of Jonestown in Guyana, South America.
He promoted “revolutionary suicide” and convinced his followers into a massacre that left 918 people dead on November 18, 1978.
Now cult hunter Rick Ross has told how many children who died were pushed into it.
"Those children didn't want to drink the punch or didn't know what they were drinking," he told The Sun.
A study by San Diego State University revealed that there were 304 under 18s who died in the massacre, including 150 who were under 10.
Ross said that Jones was a “narcissistic psychopath who became unhinged after so much drug use.”
It was due to his practices being exposed in the US and bad publicity that he moved his cult to South America. He moved from more traditional Christian beliefs as a youth to believing he was God in the 1970s.
Mr Ross said the move to Guyana was typical for cult leaders.
"This is a standard technique of cult leaders," he said. "The more extreme the group is, the more extreme the isolation is, but the children were not willing participants.
"The choice was made for them. They were given the the poison. And some parents who saw their children die, felt like they had nothing to live for."
The cult specialist said that the 1978 horror exposed the dangers that an come with people being brainwashed but there have been many cults since and they are difficult to stop legally.
He pointed out it is only when a criminal act takes place that the authorities can then intervene.
"Right now, there’s no criminal action or law against brainwashing people and manipulating your followers," Ross said.
"By the time they cross the line into criminality and law enforcement can intervene, it's usually too late."
