Today in History: November 18, over 900 die at Jonestown
Peoples Temple compound, mass suicide cult led by Jim Jones, after bodies were removed at Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. (AP Photo)
Today in history:
On Nov. 18, 1978, U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan of California and four others were killed on an airstrip in Jonestown, Guyana by members of the Peoples Temple; the killings were followed by a night of mass murder and suicide resulting in the deaths of more than 900 cult members.
Also on this date:
In 1928, “Steamboat Willie,” the first cartoon with synchronized sound as well as the first released of the character Mickey Mouse, debuted on screen at the Colony Theater in New York.
Firemen clear up around burned out ticket dispensers (left) inside London’s Kings Cross Underground Station, after the previous evening’s inferno which killed a firefighter and 33 civilians, injuring about 80 others in smoke and flaming debris. (AP Photo/Gillian Allen)
Firemen clear up around burned out ticket dispensers (left) inside London’s Kings Cross Underground Station, after the previous evening’s inferno which killed a firefighter and 33 civilians, injuring about 80 others in smoke and flaming debris. (AP Photo/Gillian Allen)
In 1987, an underground fire broke out in the King’s Cross St. Pancras subway station in London, causing 31 deaths.
Former hostage Terry Waite, waves from the steps of the plane which brought him home to England, Nov. 19, 1991, ending his 52 months in captivity. He arrived at Lyneham RAF base in England after a five hour flight from Cyprus after being released in Damascus. (AP-Photo/Denis Paquin)
Former hostage Terry Waite, waves from the steps of the plane which brought him home to England, Nov. 19, 1991, ending his 52 months in captivity. He arrived at Lyneham RAF base in England after a five hour flight from Cyprus after being released in Damascus. (AP-Photo/Denis Paquin)
In 1991, Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon freed Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland, the American dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut.
In 1999, 12 people were killed and dozens injured when a bonfire under construction at Texas A&M University collapsed. The stack of thousands of logs more than 50 feet tall gave way ahead of an annual bonfire tradition marking a Texas A&M-Texas rivalry football game in College Station.
In this Nov. 18, 2003 file photo, Ed Balmelli, left, and Michael Horgan of Boston, one of seven gay couples who sued the state of Massachusetts, celebrate during a rally at the Old South Meeting House in Boston after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In this Nov. 18, 2003 file photo, Ed Balmelli, left, and Michael Horgan of Boston, one of seven gay couples who sued the state of Massachusetts, celebrate during a rally at the Old South Meeting House in Boston after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state constitution guaranteed gay couples the right to marry, the first state supreme court to do so.
Actor Robert Blake is followed by the media as he enters court before the verdict is read in his wrongful-death lawsuit Friday, Nov. 18, 2005, outside the Los Angeles Superior courthouse in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Actor Robert Blake is followed by the media as he enters court before the verdict is read in his wrongful-death lawsuit Friday, Nov. 18, 2005, outside the Los Angeles Superior courthouse in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
In 2005, eight months after Robert Blake was acquitted of murdering his wife at a criminal trial, a civil jury decided the actor was behind the slaying and ordered him to pay Bonny Lee Bakley’s children $30 million.
Muhammad Aziz stands outside the courthouse with members of his family after his conviction in the killing of Malcolm X was vacated on Nov. 18, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Muhammad Aziz stands outside the courthouse with members of his family after his conviction in the killing of Malcolm X was vacated on Nov. 18, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
In 2021, more than half a century after the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, two of his convicted killers were exonerated; a New York judge dismissed the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam after prosecutors and the men’s lawyers said a renewed investigation had found new evidence that undermined the case against them.
