jungle. i could see bodies all over. >> when you're running, they're still shooting? >> i'm still hearing shots. >> they had identified people they wanted to kill. >> we were on top of a powder keg. >> it's almost impossible to fathom, even now, more than 900 americans dead in the jungle at jonestown. >> it was something out of a horror movie. >> you're telling me this man said, drink this poison, and they drank it? >> that's right. >> we take you inside the mission that exposed the dangerous truth. >> don't you touch my kids! >> i'm thinking, oh my god, it's true. everything we feared is true. >> the only video camera there to capture it all belonged to nbc news. >> he said, i could never put this camera down. >> rare pictures, powerful details from those who survived. >> they were shooting point blank -- >> my whole shirt was dripping with red blood. >> all of a sudden, i was hit. i thought, oh my god, this is it. >> a riveting look at the story that still haunts the world. >> the enormity of it all -- >> and the insanity of it. >> it still comes up and you just can't push it down. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. jim jones led nearly 1000 americans a remote area in south america promising a religious paradise. what followed was more like hell on earth. the horror, almost too tragic to believe. just what happened in that jungle? you are about to hear from a handful of eyewitnesses to live to tell the tale. here is josh mankiewicz with jonestown, an american tragedy. >> it is a moment frozen in time. a group of journalists posed anna jungle airstrip in south america. one day later, three of these men and the u.s. congressman they were traveling with would be murdered by members of an american cult. a few miles away, hundreds of members of that cult would also perish in an orange-y of mass murder and suicide. >> good evening. in one of the strangest cases of mass suicide and murder ever recorded, the government of guyana said today -- >> this is the story behind the story of an american tragedy called jonestown. as it was recorded and reported by the journalists of nbc news. >> we do have a particular interest in it. to nbc news been were shot to test their. >> our story begins in san francisco in the mid 70s, where a charismatic preacher named jim jones was making a name for himself and attracting a particular flock. >> he considered himself a socialist and san francisco is a very liberal community. >> tim rider man was a young wire service reporter at the time. >> he was perceived as an activist preacher, somebody who practiced what he preached. somebody who brought in poor people, helped poor people. >> jones had migrated to california from the midwest in the 60s, preaching a gospel of racial harmony and communal living. in san francisco, his peoples temple ran elderly homes, offered drug counseling, and fed the poor. jones was a darling of democrats. politicians like mayor -- and governor jerry brown courted him. but the reverend jim jones was also controversial. he claimed to be christ reincarnated, a socialist god who could heal the sick, make the blind see, and the lame walk again. >> jones had established a reputation as a faith healer, as someone who could remove cancers from people's bodies. and much of this was, of course, fakery. but it did bring people through the door. >> while researching a story about jones for the san francisco examiner, writer men said he met with former followers who told him harrowing stories about jones that differed from the public image. stories of disciplinary beatings and public humiliations. >> on one occasion that was described, he had a woman in the inner circle disrobe in front of everybody so that they could make fun of her body. >> this was also disciplined, teaching somebody? lesson >> yeah, do away with your ego. identify with the group. the group alone. >> jones had to have known, if reporters were closing in, trouble wasn't far behind. so in the summer of 77, shortly before press reports critical of the peoples temple were to be published, jim jones left town. he resurfaced thousands of miles away at a jungle compound the temple had established and diana. a small country on the northeastern edge of south america. >> why guyana of all places? >> for one reason, it's an english speaking country. and it's small enough and poor enough that the temples, the natural resources would buy a welcome. >> over the next few months, jones brought roughly 1000 of his followers there. >> in promotional films, jones portrayed his jonestown settlement -- as a tropical paradise. >> nothing like that heat. -- >> and the new settlers urge family and friends to join them. there >> it will be nice when things get worked around if you can come down and share our freedom, complete freedom here in the promise land. >> but guyana move abruptly divided many families. johnson's followers gave up property and paychecks to the temple, and according to former matters, jones demanded that those moving to jonestown surrender their passports. families brought their concerns to bay area congressman leo ryan. >> -- from constituents prompted him to form a fact finding mission to find out whether the people who were living in jonestown, including the children, we are free to leave or not. >> and congressman ryan went down there to see what was really true? >> exactly. and he went with him. >> i had essentially invited myself along rob >> it was shortly before the 1978 midterm elections that nbc news assigned correspondent don harris and a camera crew to accompany ryan to diana. >> what first impressed me in meeting the nbc crew was that they were all experienced, somewhat covered wars. >> with little time to prepare, harris joe into the john sounds torre. he interviewed temple supporters, critics, and high profile defectors like a grace stone. >> you have to understand my ignorance is so great at this point, i'm doing research at the same time we're doing the taping, which is not how we typically operate. but there wasn't enough time. >> i just want to tell, you will never meet up with another man like tim jones. i'm telling you the truth. >> with grim foreshadowing, debbie layton blaikie, a defector, told harris that jones sometimes ordered his followers in guyana to drink from a vat that supposedly contained poison. >> everyone stood in a line, went out and drank this red, you know, kind of a a, tasted like you, what's that thing? the drink that children drink? a >> kool-aid? >> yes, kool-aid. without sugar. it had a horrible taste initially, and maybe there is something in there, he said it will take 45 minutes, you need to sign several people to faint, to pretend they were dead. >> how many people would you say were there than? >> between 11 and 1200 people. >> you're telling me this man takes 1100 people and gather them together. >> he does every day, yeah. >> and said, drink this poison. >> yeah. >> and they drank it? >> that's right. >> you drank it? >> yeah. >> just before leaving for diana, bob brown called his wife connie and said this about his latest assignment. >> he said, you know, if these people, these people are very strange. but of half of what they're saying is true, this is a terrible story. this is incredible. >> coming up -- the first look inside jonestown. >> when we met him the first day there, he struck me as just evil personified. >> i'm thinking, oh my god, it's true. everything we feared is true. >> when dateline continues. i've never been healthier. shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects. proven over 90% effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. kiddo: mom, can i go to the movies? 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on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. nature's bounty hair growth. clinically shown to help grow thicker, fuller hair with just one capsule a day of advanced hair complex. conquer hair thinning... ...and fall in love with your hair all over again. only from nature's bounty. josh mankiewicz: when nbc's news crew packed for the trip to guyana in november 1978, this is what they carried-- >> when nbc's news crew packed 70 pounds of camera gear-- for the trip to guyana and november 1978, this is what they carried. 70 pounds of camera gear. at the time, that was state-of-the-art. and boxes full of clunky 20 minute video tapes. sound tech -- did much of the heavy lifting >> i had to carry the tape dak, weighs about 30 5:40 pounds. and there's no remote control. it just really feeds directly into the machine. >> so you've got to be directly plugged into the cameramen at all times? >> all the time. >> a journalist would enter with -- half of them from nbc news. >> cameramen bob brown and work for all three networks, covering riots, shoot outs, and more. >> i'll tell you what bob told my brother before we went to vietnam. >> brown's wife, colony. >> nick said to him, how can you go into a war zone without a gun? and bob said, well, first off, i figure if it's that bad, they'll be guns line around. but if i don't have a gun, i can assure you i'm going to get the picture of the son of a [bleep] who shoots me. >> like brown, correspondent -- had covered rights at home and war in vietnam. >> the m16s are old and battered. but they say they have enough ammunition. >> he always said it's going to be okay. you know, i'll be fine. >> surely all overheard a lot of that during her 20 year marriage to dawn. >> i tried not to worry too much. he was in vietnam for five weeks on the front line. and they called him mr. lucky because he always came back. >> leading the nbc team was veteran field producer bob flick. >> he was a big, strong, a bowl of a man. >> san francisco chronicle reporter ron -- >> a t-shirt that said god rides the harley. and had a big white golf cap. and we bonded right away. >> along with jabbers and writer men were washington post reporter charles krause and san francisco examiner photographer greg robinson. >> he said it looks like i'm going to south america. i'm gonna do an assignment. their >> gregg sister, andrea robinson. >> i said are you serious? we were both so excited. >> it took 26 hours for the ryan entourage to travel from san francisco to georgetown, guyana. but once there, jim jones refused to let them visit his compound. >> i still hope we can work out something -- >> for three days, they waited while the congressman negotiated with temple lawyers. nbc correspondent don harris interviewed concerned relatives like jim cobb. >> what are you doing down here? >> i'm here essentially to try and see my relatives. i have a mother, three sisters, and a brother that i haven't seen my sisters and brothers in about four years now. >> 28-year-old jackie speier was congressman ryan's legislative a. she'd helped arrange the jonestown trip. and knew enough to be afraid. >> i was concerned about making that trip. >> temple defectors, she'd interviewed, had told her jonestown was a virtual prison camp. a place where members were brain camp -- and ready to kill for jim jones. >> i was in the process of purchasing a condo, my first home in arlington virginia. and i literally made the contract contingent on my surviving the trip. >> almost like you had some omen? >> almost like i had a premonition about. it >> was friday, november 17th, 1978 when jim jones finally agreed to see the ryan group. >> so far, so good. >> after landing in the small village a few miles from johnstown, the ryan group has taken the rest of the way in the back of the temple dump truck. it was after dark by the time the reporters finally arrived in johnstown. too dark to see anything except what jim jones wanted them to see. >> we see people all lined up in the -- welcoming us to come in. >> they start with music, singing, like welcoming party for us. >> so at that point, it's what you thought? everybody is happy? >> you can see the videotape where people are happy and we are coming in. >> they have some very good musicians down there, with some really good music. >> washington post reporter charles krause. >> i also noticed that there were people who were comatose who were clapping, but without any kind of nothing related to the music. >> that's a pretty clear sign that everything maybe isn't as it seems? >> that's right. >> presiding over all of it was jim jones. >> when we met him the first day there in johnstown, he struck me as just evil personified. and we were almost sure that he was on drugs. and at one point, he had asked his wife marceline to give me a pill. and she was overheard saying, no pills. >> in the spirit of the moment, congressman ryan took to the stage and complemented his hosts. >> i can tell you right now that the few conversations i've had with some of the folks here this evening that whatever the comments are, there's some people here who believe in this and think it's the best thing to happen in their whole life. [applause] >> everybody chairs. and the sense you get is, well, everything's fine. >> it was almost a manic cheering, almost to the point that it made you a little uncomfortable. >> it was during that raucous applause that someone passed a note to nbc correspondent don harris. the node signed by two people read simply, please help us get out of jonestown. >> don brings this note over to us and says, you might want to see this. and leo ryan looks at it and hands it to me and i'm thinking, oh god, it's true, everything we feared is true. >> don harris's son jeff humphrey was 17 when his father went to ghana. he believes he knows exactly how his father responded to that note. >> this is my dad's nbc news notebook. it says it's jonestown on the front of it. he was trying to write this note to somebody without anybody else knowing about it. it says find me tomorrow, whether you find me or not, i'll help. >> that secret plea for help is just the beginning. tensions reach a breaking point as reporter don harris confronts jim jones and the fragile order at jonestown starts to unravel. >> coming up -- >> you bring those kids back here! >> word started to get out that people were leaving. >> division in the compound. danger was just ahead. >> suddenly, the knife was around my neck. >> when dateline continues. josh mankiewicz: after the show was over that first night, jones insisted the reporters return to port kaituma, where he'd arranged for them to sleep in a local bar. after >> the show is over that so we ended up sleeping on the floor. first, night jones insisted the reporter return to port -- where heated range for them to sleep in a local bar. >> so we ended up sleeping on the floor. >> there would be a little rest while the nbc crew had a nightcap at the bar, tim writer men and the other reporters were approached by a local constable who wanted to talk about jonestown. >> he said that on multiple occasions there were people who were evacuated from jonestown, flown out of port kahuna after receiving injuries and he felt that some of them had been beaten. and he described a pit. >> what do you mean, a pit? >> a deep hole in the ground that people couldn't climb out of. >> it be placed in it for punishment. >> the next morning, the print reporters told don harris about the pit. and harris showed them the note he'd gotten the night before. >> and he rolled down his combat boot that he had on, and in there was a white tablet not that big that said please help us get out of jonestown. >> by the time the news man passed through the temple gates later that morning, they were no longer a collection of rivals. they were a team. >> i think i said let's just each of us fan out and each reporter get as much stuff as you can get. and then we'll get together again and we'll share it all. and everybody said absolutely. >> the temple monitors shadowed there every step, making it impossible for reporters to speak privately with jonestown residents like maria cancerous. >> are you happy here? >> i'm very happy here. >> you know that your father and your brother are convinced that you're not? >> well, i'm very happy here. i don't know what else i can do to convince them. >> her brother anthony, who flew in with the ryan group, wasn't so sure. >> it's hard for me to know what to think. for me, to be satisfied, i'd have to see it somewhere else. >> we're just a news team. we don't care one way or the other. are you happy here? >> i should say i am. i've never been any happier in my life. >> her son, jim cobb, was skeptical. >> are you satisfied that they are not under duress at this moment? that they can talk to you? >> i know they can talk with me right now, sure. >> back at the main pavilion, however, other residents were stepping forward to tell jackie speier that they wanted out of jonestown. >> your name is? >> brenda parks. >> brenda parks? and what is your wish today? >> to go back home. >> word started to get out that people were leaving. and then more people wanted to leave. >> congressman ryan said he was willing to take anyone who wanted to leave. and though jim jones pleaded with the defectors to stay, their minds were made up. >> just know that we -- there's always a place where you with us. >> running short on time, harris and the nbc crew set up to tape their interview with jim jones. >> last night, someone came and passed me the snow. >> that's what you're talking about, they wanted to be -- they want to be sunny here. means the one i'm just talking about. this is the man i want you to -- >> does it concern you that this man, for whatever reason, one of the people in your group -- >> people play games, friend. they lie, they lie, what can i do about liars? if you leave us, i just beg you, please leave us. >> all of a sudden, the skies just turned dark and it down to this torrential rain. and it was almost like some sort of evil omen. >> a sign from above. >> struck everybody that way. it was so eerie. >> w