International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010 31
was only one of many. She indicated that large
men beat children as young as four and five
years old, sometimes as much as 150 times
(Mills, 1979: 13). (As did Hall, she indicated
that parents signed release forms prior to the
public beatings, which reputedly gave Jones
permission to carry them out [Mills, 1979: 260,
296].) During various periods in the group’s
history, children received beatings with boards
(Mills, 1979: 53, 71, 289), belts (Mills, 1979:
254, 259), elm switches, and electric cables
(Mills, 1979: 260). She also indicated clearly
that, as punishment, Jones forced young children
(as well as adults) into boxing matches (Mills,
1979: 53, 279). In one case, the group forced a
young boy, whom an adult man had molested, to
watch as punishers stripped the molester and
beat him with a board “all over his body” (Mills,
1979: 48 see 71)—an account substantially
confirmed by a later source (Layton, 1998:
61).11 In addition, Mills also told the story, in
far more detail than Hall, about the youngster
whom Jones forced to eat his own vomit (Mills,
1979: 162). Another tale that she recounted,
from a family who escaped the group and came
to her, was about “young people [who] were
forced to eat hot peppers or even have hot
peppers put up their rectums as disciplines”
(Mills, 1979: 79).
Finally, Mills recounted a punishment that a
defector from Jonestown told her about, in
which adults put children down a well (Mills,
1979: 81), which a later account about life in
Jonestown confirmed (Layton, 1998: 177).12
11 Layton did not mention the victim having to watch the beating,
but she did recount that “There was the secret rubber hose beating
of a member who had molested a Temple child. Father [i.e., Jones]
made me watch the beating and had my photo taken holding the
rubber hose, which paralyzed my questioning inner voice”
(Layton, 1998: 61). Note that Mills said that the beating instrument
was a board, while Layton indicated that it was a rubber hose.
12 Layton wrote,
There was also the Well, a punishment used especially for
children. They would be taken to the Well in the dark of
night, hung upside down by a rope around their ankles, and
dunked into the water again and again while someone hidden
inside the Well grabbed at them to scare them. The sins
deserving such punishment included stealing food from the
kitchen, expressing homesickness, failing a socialism exam,
or even ‘natural’ childish rebelliousness. Their screams were
chilling but we had learned from the consequences of
previous people’s objections not to complain. (Layton, 1998:
176)
Reiterman with Jacobs contextualized the story
about the well by placing it among other abuses
that adults inflicted upon children and teens:
For younger children, punishment could
be especially terrifying. At first Jones
would threaten to turn disobedient
children loose in the bush to see how
long they would survive there by
themselves. Those who continued to act
up were blindfolded then lowered by
rope into a well. Adults, on Jones’s
orders, would hide in nearby bushes or
even in the bottom of the well, making
noises and pretending to be monsters.
(Reiterman with Jacobs, 1982: 394)
The authors further recounted the punishments
Tommy Bogue, a teenager around sixteen years
old, and another boy who tried to escape
Jonestown suffered:
Once when Tommy Bogue and another
boy ran off, a Temple search squad
caught them near the railroad tracks to
Matthews Ridge, then put the boys in
leg irons. Back in Jonestown, their
heads were shaved and they were forced
under armed guard to cut logs into small
pieces until Stephan Jones got his
mother to intervene. (Reiterman with
Jacobs, 1982: 294 see 551)
Subsequently, Bogue was among the people who
tried to leave Jonestown with Congressman Leo
Ryan, and he was shot in the leg (Reiterman
with Jacobs, 1982: 551). Hall failed to mention
that one of the wounded defectors was a
teenager (see Hall 1987: 279).
Another one of Hall’s sources also wrote about
a trench, roughly nine feet deep by nine
feet square, where the slackers were
dumped…. A few children who
maintained they were sick and unable to
work were lowered into that excavation
and made to dig in the mud, first light
till last light. (Reiterman with Jacobs,
1982: 357)
As far as I can determine, however, Hall also
omitted these punishments in his rendition of
physical abuses.
was only one of many. She indicated that large
men beat children as young as four and five
years old, sometimes as much as 150 times
(Mills, 1979: 13). (As did Hall, she indicated
that parents signed release forms prior to the
public beatings, which reputedly gave Jones
permission to carry them out [Mills, 1979: 260,
296].) During various periods in the group’s
history, children received beatings with boards
(Mills, 1979: 53, 71, 289), belts (Mills, 1979:
254, 259), elm switches, and electric cables
(Mills, 1979: 260). She also indicated clearly
that, as punishment, Jones forced young children
(as well as adults) into boxing matches (Mills,
1979: 53, 279). In one case, the group forced a
young boy, whom an adult man had molested, to
watch as punishers stripped the molester and
beat him with a board “all over his body” (Mills,
1979: 48 see 71)—an account substantially
confirmed by a later source (Layton, 1998:
61).11 In addition, Mills also told the story, in
far more detail than Hall, about the youngster
whom Jones forced to eat his own vomit (Mills,
1979: 162). Another tale that she recounted,
from a family who escaped the group and came
to her, was about “young people [who] were
forced to eat hot peppers or even have hot
peppers put up their rectums as disciplines”
(Mills, 1979: 79).
Finally, Mills recounted a punishment that a
defector from Jonestown told her about, in
which adults put children down a well (Mills,
1979: 81), which a later account about life in
Jonestown confirmed (Layton, 1998: 177).12
11 Layton did not mention the victim having to watch the beating,
but she did recount that “There was the secret rubber hose beating
of a member who had molested a Temple child. Father [i.e., Jones]
made me watch the beating and had my photo taken holding the
rubber hose, which paralyzed my questioning inner voice”
(Layton, 1998: 61). Note that Mills said that the beating instrument
was a board, while Layton indicated that it was a rubber hose.
12 Layton wrote,
There was also the Well, a punishment used especially for
children. They would be taken to the Well in the dark of
night, hung upside down by a rope around their ankles, and
dunked into the water again and again while someone hidden
inside the Well grabbed at them to scare them. The sins
deserving such punishment included stealing food from the
kitchen, expressing homesickness, failing a socialism exam,
or even ‘natural’ childish rebelliousness. Their screams were
chilling but we had learned from the consequences of
previous people’s objections not to complain. (Layton, 1998:
176)
Reiterman with Jacobs contextualized the story
about the well by placing it among other abuses
that adults inflicted upon children and teens:
For younger children, punishment could
be especially terrifying. At first Jones
would threaten to turn disobedient
children loose in the bush to see how
long they would survive there by
themselves. Those who continued to act
up were blindfolded then lowered by
rope into a well. Adults, on Jones’s
orders, would hide in nearby bushes or
even in the bottom of the well, making
noises and pretending to be monsters.
(Reiterman with Jacobs, 1982: 394)
The authors further recounted the punishments
Tommy Bogue, a teenager around sixteen years
old, and another boy who tried to escape
Jonestown suffered:
Once when Tommy Bogue and another
boy ran off, a Temple search squad
caught them near the railroad tracks to
Matthews Ridge, then put the boys in
leg irons. Back in Jonestown, their
heads were shaved and they were forced
under armed guard to cut logs into small
pieces until Stephan Jones got his
mother to intervene. (Reiterman with
Jacobs, 1982: 294 see 551)
Subsequently, Bogue was among the people who
tried to leave Jonestown with Congressman Leo
Ryan, and he was shot in the leg (Reiterman
with Jacobs, 1982: 551). Hall failed to mention
that one of the wounded defectors was a
teenager (see Hall 1987: 279).
Another one of Hall’s sources also wrote about
a trench, roughly nine feet deep by nine
feet square, where the slackers were
dumped…. A few children who
maintained they were sick and unable to
work were lowered into that excavation
and made to dig in the mud, first light
till last light. (Reiterman with Jacobs,
1982: 357)
As far as I can determine, however, Hall also
omitted these punishments in his rendition of
physical abuses.
