Jonestown 100 years earlier?

In the 1870s a radical preacher and almost 1,000 of his followers found a socialist commune made up of people from "all races and classes". He then poisons them all. What effect does this have on history?
 
In the 1870s a radical preacher and almost 1,000 of his followers found a socialist commune made up of people from "all races and classes". He then poisons them all. What effect does this have on history?


Sounds very plausable. Say one of the early Pentacostal commune groups pulls a George W. Hensley, and gets into snake handling and then goes on to the drinking poision...
 
There was a similar situation in Brazil during the late 1800s. The Brazilian military finally had to intervene and crush the movement.
 
There was a similar situation in Brazil during the late 1800s. The Brazilian military finally had to intervene and crush the movement.


Interesting... More details, please.

I could definately see a US/German pentacostal commune type community relocating/reestablishing itself in Central America, and ending up with snke handlers then mass stricnine drinking.
 
every time i see this thread i think it's Jamestown you're talking about!

I thought it was Johnstown.

Hehehe...

Schantzstadt is a small town in Iowa founded as a religious utopian community by German Pentacostal leader Jakob Schantz and his followers in 1855. Schantz preached racial equality and a communal lifestyle. In 1880, based on the passage Mark 16:17-18, he began preaching snake handling. In 1883, he and his followers drank a mixture of a locally produced sweet fruit drink, known as Amana Ade, and strychnine, resulting in over 1000 deaths.

Effects on history later - gotta run.

And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:17-18
 
About 1/3 of the congregation survived. However, the poisoning incident split the community.

In 1930, James Jones, who continued to preach snake handling, became disenchanted with the more secular portion of the community, and left, along with roughly 1000 of his followers. He established a new commune in Guyana.

Shortly after, the town changed its name to Johnstown. Today, the town is largely a tourist attraction. However, the Johnston Corporation is one of the largest producers of hope appliances in the US.

Finally, "Don't drink the lemonade!" entered the language as an expression.

Notes:
This is based in the idea of the Amana colonies in Iowa being settled by German Pentacostals, as I suggested above.

By the 1930s the Amana colonies communal system had broken down. Amana Refrigeration, the USA home appliance company came from the Amana colonies. The area's become one of my favorite historical spots since my family back in the US moved to Iowa - among other things, they've got good German food and a nice little microbrewery.

Schantzstadt was the original name of Johnstown, and the link was too good to pass up.

Amana ade is a precursor to the powdered "fruit drinks" Kool Aid and Flavor Ade. "Don't drink the lemonade!" reflects the OTL's substitution of Kool Aid for the actual Flavor Aid used in the OTLs expression.
 
Part of what made Jonestown special was that they moved it away from the US. So what if the early Jonestown cult move their headquater away from the states? I think that would be interesting in an era where it was easier to meddle in latin America, sort of a cultist Walker...
 
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