‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’ has become a common phrase in American vernacular, however, the expression has a sinister origin with roots in a violent cult and mass murder. 

The phrase originated from a tragedy that occurred in Jonestown, Guyana, where more than 900 people died in a mass murder-suicide plot. 

The chilling event took place on November 18, 1978, when cult leader Jim Jones forced his followers to drink a powdery fruit drink laced with deadly cyanide. 

It was reported at the time that the drink used as a catalyst for poison was Kool-Aid, eventually leading to the phrase, ‘drinking the Kool-Aid.’ 

Oddly enough, the powdery substance used was actually Flavor Aid, a less popular brand of sugary powdered drinks. 

Many Americans have forgotten about the Jonestown massacre, but the phrase associated with it has lived on. A post on Reddit went viral when people began to realize the eerie origin of the expression. 

A Redditor asked under the thread ‘Ask an American’ what Kool-Aid was and where the popular phrase originated. 

‘”Don’t drink the Kool-aid” is a grim/dark humorous warning to another person,’ one comment read. 

‘It’s a very very good insult to use, IMO it’s us saying “you’re so stupid you’ve believed something so dangerously idiotic, it’s on the same level of dangerous that has killed others” without actually saying that,” another chimed in. 

A Kool-Aid-like drink was used to administer poison to over 900 people at a compound in Jonestown 

Jim Jones is an infamous cult-leader known as the mastermind behind a mass murder-suicide plot

Redditors were shocked to hear the gruesome origin of the phrase, with one commenting, ‘I had no idea. That is wild.’

‘There is nothing about Jonestown that isn’t the complete darkness of the human soul that we should naturally recoil from in fear and loathing at a basic level,’ another added. 

The tragic events that unfolded in 1978 came after infamous cult leader Jim Jones gained prominence in the 1950s and 60s in Indianapolis, Indiana for being a notable religious figure. 

He eventually founded the Wings of Deliverance, which came to be known as the Peoples Temple, in 1955. 

Jones preached against segregation and became known for progressive causes. He served as the head of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission from 1960 to 1962 and set up homes for the elderly and those who struggled with mental illness. 

What started as a beacon of social change soon began to take a dark and menacing turn. 

After relocating the church from Indianapolis to San Francisco, California, in 1965 rumors began to swirl of abuse within the temple. 

By this time, Jones had convinced hundreds of people to join his church and congregations popped up in major cities. 

As allegations of fraud and abuse intensified, Jones plotted to lead his ministry to a commune in Jonestown. 

In 1977, hundreds of clergy members traveled to the compound. They set up a community, but Jones’s vicious leadership manifested into a mini-society where temple members were consistently abused, according to an FBI investigation. 

Kool-Aid soon became associated with the Jonestown massacre after the 1978 tragedy

Hundreds of bodies were discovered after members of the Peoples Temple drank poison 

The compound operated for years before the mass murder-suicide occurred 

Concern grew back in the US over what was occurring at the compound, eventually prompting California Congressman Leo Ryan to intervene. 

Ryan embarked on a mission to Jonestown along with a group of news reporters and government officials in November 1978. They interviewed members of the Temple and coordinated an escape plan for those who asked to go back to the US with the group. 

While waiting on the airstrip for their plane, the group noticed a dump truck from Jonestown approach with several armed men on November 18, according to the FBI. 

A loyalist of the Peoples Temple named Larry Layton shot at the group, killing Ryan and four others. 

Tim Reiterman, a reporter from the San Francisco Examiner, was able to escape the gunshots and later described the gruesome scene in the paper.  

‘Though I couldn’t see over the tall brush, I could hear the shots become less frequent. Then there were just a few. My arm was gushing blood so I stripped off my belt and pinched down the biggest wounds,’ Reiterman wrote.

‘I heard a few more shots and saw the tractor pull away. After they left, I crept out of the bush and saw five bodies around the plane. Other people were injured.’ 

Layton was arrested by Guyanese authorities and the rest of the survivors were cared for in army tents. 

Jim Jones often attended rallies and spoke about integration before he left with his followers for Jonestown 

Hundreds of people, mostly Americans, lived on the compound in Jonestown before their gruesome deaths in November 1978 

Reverend Jim Jones gained prominence for his preaching’s in the 1950s before starting the Peoples Temple 

Stephan Gandhi Jones was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. He survived the Jonestown massacre and is now a father to three daughters

Congressman Leo Ryan was killed after trying to help members of the Peoples Temple escape back to the US 

As the haunting scene commenced on the airstrip, chilling events unfolded back at the commune. 

Jones feared retaliation for his crimes and that same day, ordered the hundreds of members to drink the Flavor Aid laced with poison. Those who refused were shot. Children reportedly were told to take the poison first. 

Several survivors of the mass tragedy, who either escaped or were away from the commune on November 18, spoke out in 2018 on the 40-year anniversary of the tragedy. 

Stephan Gandhi Jones, the biological son of Jim Jones and his wife Marceline, survived the massacre as he was playing in a basketball tournament on the day. 

‘I focused my rage on Dad and his circle, rather than deal with me,’ he recalled when discussing his grief from the tragedy. 

Questions remain as to how the mass murder-suicide plot was carried out and how Jones was able to keep the Temple operating for so long, but many still remember the infamous Flavor Aid drink that murdered hundreds in the rainforests of Guyana.