Survivors

How Deborah Layton Escaped the 1978 Jonestown Massacre

Bill Thompson

II was news that stunned the entire world, this week in 1978.

Inspired by a charismatic leader named Jim Jones, more than 900 people, including over 300 children, had committed suicide at he People’s Temple compound in Jonestown Guyana.

Many had died after drinking a soft drink laced with cyanide.
It popularized the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” to mean blindly following a dangerous leader or way of thinking.

One lucky young woman, Deborah Layton, was able to escape Jonestown, although her brother Larry was not so lucky.

It took her 20 years, but finally Layton wrote a book describing the Jonestown horror and her escape from it. That’s when i met her

So here now, from 1998, Deborah Layton.

Larry Layton was paroled in 2002 after serving more than 20 years in prison.

You may also like these episodes:


Laura Walker

Polly Nelson

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

https://amzn.to/473QMcm

Aron Ralston

Bill Thompson
Aron Ralston with Bill Thompson and Bill’s daughtter Krystal

Twenty years ago this spring, a young mountaineer and mechanical engineer named Aron Ralston set out on a rike through the mountains and canyons of remote Utah.

He was alone, and had not told anyone where he was going.

On that Saturday in April 2003, a boulder dislodged as Ralston was moving through a difficult canyon, and it pinned his right arm.

All alone, with no food, water, or means of communication, Ralston contemplated his death. Ultimately, however, as you will hear in a few minutes, something miraculous happened, and Ralston was able to save his own life.

At the cost of his arm.

The title of Ralston’s 2005 autobiography practically wrote itself: Between a Rock and A Hard Place.

So here now, from 2005, Aron Ralston.

Aron Ralston is 48 now, and is a popular motivational speaker, and yes, he is still a rock climber too.

You may also like these episodes:

Nando Parrado
Pierette Domenica Simpson

Buy Books / Media from Amazon