Was Jonestown a CIA Medical Experiment?: A Review of the Evidence

by Michael Meiers

A work of investigative journalism that presents the theory that the Central Intelligence Agency employed the Reverend Jim Jones to administer a pharmaceutical field test in mind control and ethnic weaponry to a large test group, namely the membership of the Peoples Temple. Proposes that Dr. Laurence Layton (Former Chief of the U.S. Army's Chemical and Biological Warfare Division) cultured the AIDS virus to be tested and deployed in a CIA-backed experiment in Jonestown, Guyana.

Genres: Conspiracy Theories

575 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Robert Kirkconnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author meticulously documents this incredible story, and the connections are off-scale. Jones had several CIA assignments before this one. The first was to organize the resistance movement in Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion. He was a seasoned and experienced CIA operative long before the People's Temple, and he even fooled Castro! Days after the Jonestown massacre San Francisco Mayor Mascone, who had extensive knowledge of the People's Temple, was assassinated in his office, and yes it was connected to Jones! Jones literally ran Mendocino County and had the power to do what ever he wished to do, including several murders. The connections Jones had to very powerful people, all the way to the White House, are almost beyond belief. And the list of revelations goes on.... Having researched and published a book in Political Science, I found the author of this book corroborated many startling facts that I also found in other places. It all fit. Yes, I believe the vast majority of what is in this book, and now I know why, until recently, it was so hard to get a hold of. Does anyone really believe that Jim Jones was the type to shoot himself? This one blows the lid off!! Get it while you can!!
Robert Kirkconnell
Author of: American Heart of Darkness: Volume I: The Transformation of the American Republic into a Pathocracy (Volume 1). http://www.amazon.com/American-Heart-...

[Paula Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book read more like fiction, and was completely insane, but still interesting and entertaining. The author provides a lot of footnotes and citations, but unfortunately most of the citations are not about the wackiest claims. Interesting reading if you have an interest in Jonestown or conspiracy theories. Probably not a good first book on Jonestown for those who don't know much about it.

[dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of documentation, little of substance. I’ve read a lot about Jonestown and Jim Jones so these are just my overall thoughts.

While there are a few interesting questions that come from this work; (I.e. why were bodies that should have been racked by convulsions upon their death, neatly organized as if lied out for some purpose) it ultimately implodes on the narrative bookends of the Nazi footprint in the CIA continuing a Nazi agenda thought abandoned after WWII.

If as a researcher, you’re going to make two bold claims:

1) Jim Jones was a CIA operative (plus still alive in Brazil, as of the 1989 publication) and;

2) Jonestown was a CIA experiment in mind control (with Joesph Mengle as a possible recipient of the data)

then your argument should be presented in the bulk of the 500ish pages. Questions like:

How did the CIA come to recruit Jim Jones?; or If Jones was vested in operations like Bay of Pigs and king-making operations in South America wouldn’t there be more overlap with other studies of these events?; or If Jonestown was a medical experiment then what was the purpose, parameters, and results the CIA was hoping to obtain?

Too many little conspiracies expounded but none of the large ones.

There are many interesting points of additional direction of interest not tied in Nazis and Mind Control. There were many murders across the Jim Jones/Jonestown orbit to attribute to more than possible coincidence. Not taking the author’s word but there is an interesting line of questioning to follow.

Did Jim Jones employ body doubles (first I’ve read he did)? If so, was the Jim Jones the FBI purportedly fingerprint at Dover AFB after his ‘death’ the actual Jim Jones or a double who was arrested in LA to have his fingerprints on file as matching those of Jim Jones.

Again, little sparks but no conflagration of seedy truths.

A good read for someone who may not have read enough about Jim Jones but not so much for a casual reader with a one of curiosity.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a PDF version (scanned ) from the book; from the links on this site from SDSU “alternate considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple “https://jonestown.sdsu.edu The quality of the PDF. in places was poor , especially the photos & many pages were not properly copied. The reason I read this was because I grew up San Jose during the 60’s-70’s & was living in Oregon in 11/78 when when tragedy struck . But I remember living in the Bay Area reading & watching the news about all the crazy stuff that was happening around me.
Reading other books about CIA , the SLA etc. Before reading this book is encouraged, since the reader will read about stuff that was not mentioned in the other books & visa versa. For example, Sidney Gotlieb is never mentioned in this book, nor is Jones mentioned in Poisoner in Chief by Stephen Kinzer. Likewise Jones is never mentioned in Revolution's End: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control, and the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze and the SLA
by Brad Schreiber.
That said, this book’s extensive footnotes & bibliography are impressive. I also appreciated the chapter near the end of the book reviewing & critiquing the some of the books he used listed in the bibliography. Other authors might’ve put this in the appendix.
Even though some parts of this book may seem far fetched , too fabulous to believe, it’s worth reading
The author begins and ends the book discussing Nazis

[Robert Kirkconnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Explosive Information that Shakes the Foundations of America!!
The author meticulously documents this incredible story, and the connections are off-scale. Jones had several CIA assignments before this one. The first was to organize the Cuban resistance movement before the Bay of Pigs invasion. He was a seasoned and experienced CIA operative long before the People's Temple, and he even fooled Castro! Days after the Jonestown massacre, San Francisco Mayor Mascone, who had extensive knowledge of the People's Temple, was assassinated in his office, and yes, it was connected to Jones! Jones literally ran Mendocino County and had the power to do whatever he wished to do, including several murders. The connections Jones had to very powerful people, all the way to the White House, are almost beyond belief. And the list of revelations goes on.... Having researched and published a book in Political Science, I found that the author corroborated many startling facts I had also found elsewhere. It all fits. Yes, I believe the vast majority of what is in this book, and now I know why, until recently, it was so hard to get a hold of. Does anyone really believe that Jim Jones was the type to shoot himself? This one blows the lid off!! Get it while you can!!
Robert Kirkconnell
Author of: American Heart of Darkness: Volume I: The Transformation of the American Republic into a Pathocracy (Volume 1)