Stephan Gandhi Jones is a name that hyped some time ago for all the wrong reasons. Reasons that I can bet on that, you and I would never want our names to be linked to. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the only surviving son of the infamous religious cult leader, Jim Jones led a whole town to their deaths.
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Stephan Gandhi Jones Age, Birthplace, Nationality, Wikipedia
Stephan Gandhi Jones was born June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States of America to Jim Jones and Marceline Jones, and he is 63 years old in 2022. Stephen had a lot of siblings which included Jim W. Jones Jr., Agnes Pauline Jones, Timothy Glen Jones, Jim Jon Prokes, Lew Eric Jones, John Moss Jones, Suzanne O. Jones, and Stephanie Jones. Most of which were adopted.
Stephan is a good- looking is 6-foot-5, lean, broad at the shoulder, olive-eyed, black-haired man with a a horrible past he mostly prefers not to talk about. In fact, most at times when he’s asked about his past, he says he was “overseas,” or “in volunteer service.”
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Currently, he lives just outside San Francisco with his wife Kristi Jones and daughters. They have been married since the year 1991 and have three daughters. Stephen works as an office systems installer, arranging furniture and office interiors. He loves to swim lift weights ride his bicycle and play basketball. He especially loves basketball.
An article written in The Washington post by Cynthia Gorney posted on November 7, 1983 describes Stephan Gandhi Jones as “Jonestown’s Haunted Son.” Which quite honestly, I would agree with, seeing as he can never cut the ties he has with the Jonestown massacre.
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In as much as he is tied to something so tragic, Jones has worked hard and made a good name for himself. He is known by those who do not know his past as just a regular Hollywood actor with great screen chemistry. He has been cast in movies which include: Written in Blood (2018), The People’s Advocate: The Life and Times of Charles R. Gary (2007), and The True Story of Charles R. Gary (2007).
Stephan Gandhi Jones’ father and the Jonestown Massacre
The massacre caused by his father, Jim Jones, put Stephan Gandhi Jones through a lot of traumas. After the incident, he was sentenced to three months in prison where he got addicted to drugs. He had a very miserable life, being called names like ” ‘Liquidator, Baby killer and White devil.’ ” and being shamed. After sometime however, he stopped with the drugs and has been sober ever since.
Now one would ask, what happened in Jonestown? Why did a small town like that become famous overnight? Well, here’s a story you might want to get a whole box of tissues for and maybe some drinks while you’re at it. this is just a summary and would not include all the gory details.
Jonestown Massacre caused by Stephan Gandhi Jones father
On November 18th, 1978 a total of about 918 individuals died at Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name “Jonestown.” It was a remote settlement in Guyana in the United States of America established by Stephen Gandhi Jones’ father, Rev. Jim Jones their leader.
Most of the people died from cyanide, gun shots, many injected against their will at the order of Jim Jones. This happened on an occasion Stephan Gandhi Jones’ father, Rev. Jim Jones and his followers, the People Temple members called “revolutionary suicide” on an audio tape of the event, and in prior recorded discussions. ”
The bodies of people were found around the podium from which Jim Jones was shouting encouragement for the people to drink drank red Flavor-Aid mixed with potassium cyanide and had men holding down the unwilling forcing them to drink too.
This people included the old, young, men, women and even children. People who had families and loved ones somewhere out there in the world. Stephan Gandhi Jones’ mother was found amongst the people who had died from Cyanide poisoning. Reports state that Jim himself did not drink the poison, he was found with a gunshot wound in the head probably committing what he called the “revolutionary suicide.”
Stephan Gandhi Jones says people mostly do not believe him when he confesses to being the son of Jim Jones but when he is telling the story he normally starts of by telling them that his father was a drug addict who was way in over his head and had been given too much power by people. The man already was nuts with had a superiority complex and being made a leader over such a large number of people going unchecked was bound to wreak havoc, he just didn’t imagine the havoc to be this earth shattering and life altering.
“I always explain to them that it’s not what people think–it wasn’t a bunch of starry-eyed people in line waiting to take the potion . . . no one could ever relate to it unless they were in the same situation, or they were in the atmosphere my father created . . . the whole thing he drove into people’s minds for so long……”
Stephan Gandhi Jones was about 6 years old when Jim Jones moved from Indiana to northern California with the family and 140 of the parishioners who had come to believe there was something extraordinary about the Rev. Jim Jones. He called his church “Peoples Temple”. Some said he preached the message of communalism, racial equality, “apostolic social justice” and the power of belief but he was popular and followed mostly because of his healing abilities. Stephan had known his father to be a gentle man and dad, being the best dad ever but as time went on, the power went into his head and the man started changing for the worse.
Talking about his father is a sore topic for Stephen Gandhi Jones, it brings back bad memories like when he heard his father having sex in the house. Apparently, that was not the only time and his mother was aware. He was so agitated that growing up, he started to think of ways to kill his father. He however could never bring himself to doing so because he always thought of the people who had given up their all to follow Jim Jones and juts couldn’t take away their hope, their “Messiah”.
Even so, Stephan Gandhi Jones always fought Jim and swore at him but had to obey him. He even spoke to his mother several times about how to control Jim. He said, “I say, ‘Mom, we’re talking about a man who thinks he’s God. You don’t tell God, “You’re not going out of the house. You’re not taking any more drugs.” You don’t tell God he needs help. It won’t work.’ “
The messages preached went from okay to bad to worse in a short time and before Stephan knew it, his father was bragging t people about being able to sleep with 16 people in a day, men and women alike. That was when Stephan Gandhi Jones knew for sure that his dad was teaching “a bunch of junk.” He witnessed his father have sex with temple members.
Much to the surprise of Stephan Gandhi Jones, his father had a lot of disciples; a congregation of mixed races including politicians and black leaders. They loyally listened to his messages and abided by his to “adjust society under a socialist god.”
After finally moving to thee settlement Peoples Temple agricultural mission in the small South American coastal country of Guyana now known as Jonestown in 1977, Jim started preaching the message of “revolutionary suicide”. Manipulating and polluting the minds of the people. He always used to tell them their enemies were after them and the snipers after him.
Making the people think it was better they killed themselves than be killed by their enemies. He made sure he hammered this message every week that it became a ritual called the “White Night”. A night where he goes round the settlement crying out, and preparing the minds of people for the time where they’d have to kill themselves, engaging in a rehearsal for suicide.
Quite honestly, this does not make sense at all but then, the people were cut off from the outside world and saw the leaders of the outside who were worried about what was going on there as enemies. Stephan Gandhi Jones father, fed them with lies like the soldiers from outside would take their kids and torture them. That I guess is what made the people scared, pushing them to want to take their lives.
Stephan Gandhi Jones was not around at the time of the murder, which he feels bad about because in hi sown words, he feels he could have stopped it but hen again who is he kidding, he might have joined in because of guilt.
He is indeed haunted, being left alone to bear the consequences of his father’s wrongdoings. One could only imagine. I have gone through this story several times but it always evokes new emotion from me, sending shivers down my spine and chills all over me, who were these people and did they deserve being roped into the world of some sick man with a God complex? Does Stephan Gandhi Jones really deserve to be blamed for all this or should he be given the forgiveness he seeks?
As to what exactly went through the minds of the about 918 people as they died, I guess one would never know. The one thing I know is, this is a lesson too everyone.