Some Charles Manson Wikipedia pages

The Manson Family (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015)

The Manson Family
Mansonfamilyposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Jim Van Bebber
Produced by
Carl Daft
 David Gregory
 Mike King
 Jim Van Bebber
Written by
Jim Van Bebber
Starring
Marcelo Games
 Marc Pitman
 Leslie Orr
Music by
Philip Anselmo
 Ross Karpelman
Cinematography
Mike King
Edited by
Michael Capone
 Jim Van Bebber

Production
 company

Mercury Films

Distributed by
Dinsdale Releasing (Theatrical)
 Dark Sky Films
MPI Home Video (DVD)

Release dates

August 23, 2003 (London)
October 22, 2004 (US)


Running time
 95 minutes
 84 minutes (R-rated cut)
Country
United States
Language
English
Box office
$19,140
The Manson Family is a 2003 American crime drama film. The film covers the lives of Charles Manson and his "family" of followers.


Contents  [hide]
1 Overview
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Classification
5 Reception
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links

Overview[edit]
The Manson Family is a cross between fictional story and documentary, overseeing the crimes of The Manson Family as led by Charlie Manson. The fictional story centers on a Crime Scene-esque TV series of the same name and its host, Jack Wilson (Carl Day). It is filmed in semi-experimental style and focuses on the early days of the Spahn Ranch including Manson's attempts to record a music album, and the Manson family crimes, with little emphasis on courtroom drama regarding the trial, although some scenes depict Manson's followers outside the courthouse.
Cast[edit]
Marcello Games as Charlie Manson
Marc Pitman as Tex Watson
Leslie Orr as Patty Krenwinkel
Maureen Allisse as Sadie Atkins
Amy Yates as Leslie Van Houten
Jim Van Bebber as Bobby
Tom Burns as Clem Grogan
Michelle Briggs as Linda Kasabian
Sherri Rickman as Snake
Nate Pennington as Shorty
Carl Day as Jack Wilson
Corral Day as Franklin Riley
Sage Stallone as Voice of Jay Sebring
Production[edit]
The film had a long and troubled production history. Director Jim Van Bebber personally financed the production starting in 1988, and then continued to shoot it sporadically on weekends and off days.
Despite support from various people, including members of the band Skinny Puppy, who provided a musical score (in the form of Download's Charlie's Family album) that was released separately years before the film itself, the film remained incomplete. It screened on video as a work-in-progress at a number of film festivals during that time.
In 2004, Dark Sky Films stepped in with the funds to finish the film properly, and it has since been released theatrically and on home video.
Phil Anselmo of Pantera, Down, and Superjoint Ritual provided his voice as Satan.
Classification[edit]
Despite not being banned in any country in the world, it is classified harshly in almost all countries of the world due to its graphic violence and sexuality.
List of Classifications

Country
Classification
United States R[a]
United Kingdom 18
Australia R18+
New Zealand R18
Norway 18



Reception[edit]
The Manson Family received mixed to positive reviews; the film currently holds a 68% 'Fresh' rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
Notes[edit]
a.Jump up ^ An unrated version is available in the United States, running an extra 11 minutes (95 minutes) to the R-rated cut (84 minutes).
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ The Manson Family at Rotten Tomatoes
External links[edit]
Official website
The Manson Family at the Internet Movie Database
The Manson Family at AllMovie
The Manson Family at Box Office Mojo
The Manson Family at Rotten Tomatoes


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: 2003 films
English-language films
2000s crime drama films
2003 horror films
2000s crime thriller films
American crime drama films
American crime thriller films
American films
American horror films
American independent films
Films based on actual events
Films set in the 1960s
Films set in the 1970s
Films set in the 1990s
Films shot in Ohio
Manson Family in popular culture
Serial killer films
True crime films






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Italiano
Edit links
This page was last modified on 18 June 2015, at 15:14.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manson_Family_(film)










The Manson Family (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015)

The Manson Family
Mansonfamilyposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Jim Van Bebber
Produced by
Carl Daft
 David Gregory
 Mike King
 Jim Van Bebber
Written by
Jim Van Bebber
Starring
Marcelo Games
 Marc Pitman
 Leslie Orr
Music by
Philip Anselmo
 Ross Karpelman
Cinematography
Mike King
Edited by
Michael Capone
 Jim Van Bebber

Production
 company

Mercury Films

Distributed by
Dinsdale Releasing (Theatrical)
 Dark Sky Films
MPI Home Video (DVD)

Release dates

August 23, 2003 (London)
October 22, 2004 (US)


Running time
 95 minutes
 84 minutes (R-rated cut)
Country
United States
Language
English
Box office
$19,140
The Manson Family is a 2003 American crime drama film. The film covers the lives of Charles Manson and his "family" of followers.


Contents  [hide]
1 Overview
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Classification
5 Reception
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links

Overview[edit]
The Manson Family is a cross between fictional story and documentary, overseeing the crimes of The Manson Family as led by Charlie Manson. The fictional story centers on a Crime Scene-esque TV series of the same name and its host, Jack Wilson (Carl Day). It is filmed in semi-experimental style and focuses on the early days of the Spahn Ranch including Manson's attempts to record a music album, and the Manson family crimes, with little emphasis on courtroom drama regarding the trial, although some scenes depict Manson's followers outside the courthouse.
Cast[edit]
Marcello Games as Charlie Manson
Marc Pitman as Tex Watson
Leslie Orr as Patty Krenwinkel
Maureen Allisse as Sadie Atkins
Amy Yates as Leslie Van Houten
Jim Van Bebber as Bobby
Tom Burns as Clem Grogan
Michelle Briggs as Linda Kasabian
Sherri Rickman as Snake
Nate Pennington as Shorty
Carl Day as Jack Wilson
Corral Day as Franklin Riley
Sage Stallone as Voice of Jay Sebring
Production[edit]
The film had a long and troubled production history. Director Jim Van Bebber personally financed the production starting in 1988, and then continued to shoot it sporadically on weekends and off days.
Despite support from various people, including members of the band Skinny Puppy, who provided a musical score (in the form of Download's Charlie's Family album) that was released separately years before the film itself, the film remained incomplete. It screened on video as a work-in-progress at a number of film festivals during that time.
In 2004, Dark Sky Films stepped in with the funds to finish the film properly, and it has since been released theatrically and on home video.
Phil Anselmo of Pantera, Down, and Superjoint Ritual provided his voice as Satan.
Classification[edit]
Despite not being banned in any country in the world, it is classified harshly in almost all countries of the world due to its graphic violence and sexuality.
List of Classifications

Country
Classification
United States R[a]
United Kingdom 18
Australia R18+
New Zealand R18
Norway 18



Reception[edit]
The Manson Family received mixed to positive reviews; the film currently holds a 68% 'Fresh' rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
Notes[edit]
a.Jump up ^ An unrated version is available in the United States, running an extra 11 minutes (95 minutes) to the R-rated cut (84 minutes).
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ The Manson Family at Rotten Tomatoes
External links[edit]
Official website
The Manson Family at the Internet Movie Database
The Manson Family at AllMovie
The Manson Family at Box Office Mojo
The Manson Family at Rotten Tomatoes


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: 2003 films
English-language films
2000s crime drama films
2003 horror films
2000s crime thriller films
American crime drama films
American crime thriller films
American films
American horror films
American independent films
Films based on actual events
Films set in the 1960s
Films set in the 1970s
Films set in the 1990s
Films shot in Ohio
Manson Family in popular culture
Serial killer films
True crime films






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Italiano
Edit links
This page was last modified on 18 June 2015, at 15:14.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manson_Family_(film)












Manson (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015)

Manson

Directed by
Robert Hendrickson
Laurence Merrick
Music by
Brooks Poston
Paul Watkins

Release dates
 1973

Running time
 83 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Manson is a 1973 documentary film about Charles Manson and his followers. It was directed by Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick.


Contents  [hide]
1 Content
2 Post release
3 References
4 External links

Content[edit]
The film deals with the "Manson family" and has many interviews with the members of the group, including Charles Manson, "Squeaky" Fromme, and Sandra Good. It contains original footage of the Manson Family at their Spahn Ranch compound, Devil's Canyon, their Barker Ranch hideout in Death Valley, the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles and various other locations.
Post release[edit]
When "Squeaky" Fromme attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford, the Manson film was banned by United States district court Judge Thomas McBride in order to preserve Fromme's constitutional right to a fair and speedy trial. Robert Hendrickson's freedom of speech was thus set aside and the matter was taken by the ACLU to the Supreme Court.
Soundtrack music for the film was created by Brooks Poston and Paul Watkins, two former Manson associates. As well, music performed by the Manson Family can also be heard on the soundtrack.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[1]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Manson (1972)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
External links[edit]
Official website
Manson at the Internet Movie Database
Manson at Rotten Tomatoes


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































Stub icon This article about a historical documentary film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: English-language films
1970s documentary films
1973 films
American documentary films
American films
Documentary films about crime in the United States
Films directed by Robert Hendrickson
Manson Family in popular culture
Historical documentary film stubs







Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Edit links
This page was last modified on 1 June 2015, at 07:23.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
  

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_(film)










Manson (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015)

Manson

Directed by
Robert Hendrickson
Laurence Merrick
Music by
Brooks Poston
Paul Watkins

Release dates
 1973

Running time
 83 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Manson is a 1973 documentary film about Charles Manson and his followers. It was directed by Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick.


Contents  [hide]
1 Content
2 Post release
3 References
4 External links

Content[edit]
The film deals with the "Manson family" and has many interviews with the members of the group, including Charles Manson, "Squeaky" Fromme, and Sandra Good. It contains original footage of the Manson Family at their Spahn Ranch compound, Devil's Canyon, their Barker Ranch hideout in Death Valley, the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles and various other locations.
Post release[edit]
When "Squeaky" Fromme attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford, the Manson film was banned by United States district court Judge Thomas McBride in order to preserve Fromme's constitutional right to a fair and speedy trial. Robert Hendrickson's freedom of speech was thus set aside and the matter was taken by the ACLU to the Supreme Court.
Soundtrack music for the film was created by Brooks Poston and Paul Watkins, two former Manson associates. As well, music performed by the Manson Family can also be heard on the soundtrack.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[1]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Manson (1972)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
External links[edit]
Official website
Manson at the Internet Movie Database
Manson at Rotten Tomatoes


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































Stub icon This article about a historical documentary film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: English-language films
1970s documentary films
1973 films
American documentary films
American films
Documentary films about crime in the United States
Films directed by Robert Hendrickson
Manson Family in popular culture
Historical documentary film stubs







Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Edit links
This page was last modified on 1 June 2015, at 07:23.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
  

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_(film)









Helter Skelter (2004 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2015)

Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter
DVD cover

Directed by
John Gray
Starring
Jeremy Davies
Clea DuVall
Allison Smith
 Frank Zieger
Eric Dane
Bruno Kirby
Theme music composer
Mark Snow
Country of origin
United States
Original language(s)
English
Production

Producer(s)
Vincent Bugliosi
Editor(s)
Scott Vickrey
Cinematography
Don E. FauntLeRoy
Running time
137 minutes (DVD)
Production company(s)
The Wolper Organization Lakeside Productions
 Warner Bros. Television
Distributor
CBS
Release

Original release
2004 (United States)
Helter Skelter is a 2004 television film directed by John Gray based on the murders of the Charles Manson Family.[1] The film was a remake of the 1976 two-part TV movie. Unlike the 1976 version which focused mainly on the police investigation and the murder trial (as did the novel), this version also focused mainly on Linda Kasabian's involvement with the Manson Family.
Cast[edit]
Jeremy Davies as Charles Manson
Clea DuVall as Linda Kasabian
Marguerite Moreau as Susan Atkins
Allison Smith as Patricia Krenwinkel
Frank Zieger as Steve Grogan
Eric Dane as Tex Watson
Bruno Kirby as Vincent Bugliosi
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Lynette Fromme
Catherine Wadkins as Leslie Van Houten
Michael Weston as Bobby Beausoleil
Hal Ozsan as Joey Dimarco
Whitney Dylan as Sharon Tate
Marek Probosz as Roman Polanski
Rick Gomez as Milio
Robert Joy as Detective Morrisy
Graham Beckel as Jerry
Chris Ellis as Sgt. Whiteley
Isabella Hofmann as Rosemary LaBianca
Robert Costanzo as Leno LaBianca
Yvonne Delarosa as Catherine Share
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Stanley, Alessandra (May 14, 2004). "Manson Family's Summer of Death". The New York Times.
External links[edit]
Helter Skelter at the Internet Movie Database


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family












































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by John Gray


















Stub icon This article related to an American TV movie is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: English-language films
American television films
American films
2004 television films
True crime films
Serial killer films
Warner Bros. films
Films directed by John Gray (director)
Films set in 1969
The Wolper Organization films
American television film stubs






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Français
Polski
Português
Русский
Svenska
Edit links
This page was last modified on 14 June 2015, at 05:52.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(2004_film)









Helter Skelter (2004 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2015)

Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter
DVD cover

Directed by
John Gray
Starring
Jeremy Davies
Clea DuVall
Allison Smith
 Frank Zieger
Eric Dane
Bruno Kirby
Theme music composer
Mark Snow
Country of origin
United States
Original language(s)
English
Production

Producer(s)
Vincent Bugliosi
Editor(s)
Scott Vickrey
Cinematography
Don E. FauntLeRoy
Running time
137 minutes (DVD)
Production company(s)
The Wolper Organization Lakeside Productions
 Warner Bros. Television
Distributor
CBS
Release

Original release
2004 (United States)
Helter Skelter is a 2004 television film directed by John Gray based on the murders of the Charles Manson Family.[1] The film was a remake of the 1976 two-part TV movie. Unlike the 1976 version which focused mainly on the police investigation and the murder trial (as did the novel), this version also focused mainly on Linda Kasabian's involvement with the Manson Family.
Cast[edit]
Jeremy Davies as Charles Manson
Clea DuVall as Linda Kasabian
Marguerite Moreau as Susan Atkins
Allison Smith as Patricia Krenwinkel
Frank Zieger as Steve Grogan
Eric Dane as Tex Watson
Bruno Kirby as Vincent Bugliosi
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Lynette Fromme
Catherine Wadkins as Leslie Van Houten
Michael Weston as Bobby Beausoleil
Hal Ozsan as Joey Dimarco
Whitney Dylan as Sharon Tate
Marek Probosz as Roman Polanski
Rick Gomez as Milio
Robert Joy as Detective Morrisy
Graham Beckel as Jerry
Chris Ellis as Sgt. Whiteley
Isabella Hofmann as Rosemary LaBianca
Robert Costanzo as Leno LaBianca
Yvonne Delarosa as Catherine Share
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Stanley, Alessandra (May 14, 2004). "Manson Family's Summer of Death". The New York Times.
External links[edit]
Helter Skelter at the Internet Movie Database


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family












































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by John Gray


















Stub icon This article related to an American TV movie is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: English-language films
American television films
American films
2004 television films
True crime films
Serial killer films
Warner Bros. films
Films directed by John Gray (director)
Films set in 1969
The Wolper Organization films
American television film stubs






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Français
Polski
Português
Русский
Svenska
Edit links
This page was last modified on 14 June 2015, at 05:52.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(2004_film)










Helter Skelter (1976 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search




[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This article needs additional citations for verification.  (December 2008)


Text document with red question mark.svg

##Some or all of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for information.  (January 2015)




##This article is incomplete.  (January 2015)



Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter (1976 film).jpg
DVD cover of Helter Skelter

Written by
Vincent Bugliosi
Curt Gentry
JP Miller
Directed by
Tom Gries
Starring
George DiCenzo
Steve Railsback
Nancy Wolfe
Marilyn Burns
Christina Hart
Cathey Paine
Alan Oppenheimer
Read Morgan
Theme music composer
Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin
United States
Original language(s)
English
No. of episodes
2
Production

Producer(s)
Philip Capice
Lee Rich
Running time
194 minutes
Production company(s)
Lorimar Television
Distributor
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release

Original channel
CBS
Original release
April 1, 1976 – April 2, 1976
Helter Skelter is a 1976 TV film based on the 1974 book by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. In the United States, it aired over two nights. In some countries it was shown in theaters with additional footage (nudity, language and more violence).
The movie is based upon the murders committed by the Charles Manson Family. The best-known victim was actress Sharon Tate. The title was taken from the Beatles' song of the same name. According to the theory put forward by the prosecution, Manson used the term for an anticipated race war, and "healter skelter" [sic] was scrawled in blood on the refrigerator door at the house of one of the victims. It recounts the murders Manson committed, the investigation, and the 1970-71 trial where prosecuting D.A. Bugliosi attempted to draw connections between the Manson family and his violent convictions.
The 1976 film, directed by Tom Gries, stars Steve Railsback as Manson and George DiCenzo as Bugliosi. Writer JP Miller received a 1977 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best TV Feature or MiniSeries Teleplay.
In 2004, the book was adapted for a second made-for-TV movie, written and directed by John Gray and featuring Jeremy Davies as Manson.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Ratings
4 Production notes
5 Versions
6 Awards and nominations 6.1 1977 Emmy Awards
6.2 Directors Guild of America
6.3 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
7 External links
8 References

Plot[edit]
Wiki letter w.svg This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (January 2015)
Cast[edit]
George DiCenzo as Vincent Bugliosi
Steve Railsback as Charles Manson
Nancy Wolfe as Susan Atkins
Marilyn Burns as Linda Kasabian
Christina Hart as Patricia Krenwinkel
Cathey Paine as Leslie Van Houten
Alan Oppenheimer as Aaron Stovitz
Rudy Ramos as Danny DeCarlo
Jon Gries as William Garretson
Marc Alaimo as Phil Cohen
Paul Mantee as Sergeant O'Neal
David Clennon as Harry Jones
Eileen Dietz as Family Girl
Carole Ita White as Big Sal
Larry Pennell as Sergeant White
Bruce French as Officer Ocher
Howard Caine as Everett Scoville
Adam Williams as Terrence Milik
Jonathan Goldsmith as Hank Charter
Robert Ito as Drees Darrin
Bart Braverman as George Brewer
Ratings[edit]



[hide]This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.

[icon]
##This section requires expansion. (January 2015)




##This section needs additional citations for verification.  (February 2015)


The film premiered with a household share of 36.5, ranking it the 16th highest rated movie to air on network television.[1] The film was also shown on TV stations in Los Angeles, although there were reservations about this and fears of bad memories for the film appeared seven years after the Manson murders.[citation needed]
Production notes[edit]



[hide]This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This section does not cite any references or sources.  (January 2015)

[icon]
##This section requires expansion. (January 2015)


The LaBianca house sequence was filmed at the actual crime scene. Much of the dialogue from the courtroom scenes was taken from the court transcripts. The 1959 Ford driven by Linda Kasabian on both nights of the murders was loaned to the producers by the Los Angeles Police Department.[citation needed]
Versions[edit]



[hide]This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This section does not cite any references or sources.  (January 2015)

[icon]
##This section requires expansion with: a description of what was specifically cut from the film. (January 2015)


There was a cut and censored 2-hour version released on VHS by Key Video in 1985, and a uncut and uncensored version made for TV and Released on DVD in 2004. The 2-hour Key Video VHS is now out-of-print, and as of 2015, neither 20th Century Fox nor Warner Bros., the latter of whom has begun to acquire some of Lorimar's films, has announced any plans to release a new VHS or DVD of the 2-hour version. For these reasons, copies of the original Key Video 2-hour VHS can be found online being sold for very high prices.
Awards and nominations[edit]
1977 Emmy Awards[edit]
Nominated, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore) – Billy Goldenberg[2][unreliable source?]
Nominated, Outstanding Directing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy – Tom Gries[2][unreliable source?]
Nominated, Outstanding Film Editing for a Special – Byron Brandt, Bud S. Isaacs[2][unreliable source?]
Directors Guild of America[edit]
Nominated, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Specials/Movies for TV/Actuality – Daniel Petrie[2][unreliable source?]
Edgar Allan Poe Awards[edit]
Won, Best Television Feature or Miniseries – J.P. Miller[2][unreliable source?]
External links[edit]
Explanation of Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter at the Internet Movie Database
Helter Skelter at AllMovie
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 805. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Awards listing on imdb.com". imdb.com. Retrieved 4 April 2010.


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family












































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Tom Gries



















  


Categories: 1976 films
CBS network films
American films
Manson Family in popular culture
True crime films
Edgar Award winning works
Serial killer films
Films directed by Tom Gries

















Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Français
Italiano
Português
Edit links
This page was last modified on 20 June 2015, at 19:03.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(1976_film)










Helter Skelter (1976 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search




[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This article needs additional citations for verification.  (December 2008)


Text document with red question mark.svg

##Some or all of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for information.  (January 2015)




##This article is incomplete.  (January 2015)



Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter (1976 film).jpg
DVD cover of Helter Skelter

Written by
Vincent Bugliosi
Curt Gentry
JP Miller
Directed by
Tom Gries
Starring
George DiCenzo
Steve Railsback
Nancy Wolfe
Marilyn Burns
Christina Hart
Cathey Paine
Alan Oppenheimer
Read Morgan
Theme music composer
Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin
United States
Original language(s)
English
No. of episodes
2
Production

Producer(s)
Philip Capice
Lee Rich
Running time
194 minutes
Production company(s)
Lorimar Television
Distributor
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release

Original channel
CBS
Original release
April 1, 1976 – April 2, 1976
Helter Skelter is a 1976 TV film based on the 1974 book by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. In the United States, it aired over two nights. In some countries it was shown in theaters with additional footage (nudity, language and more violence).
The movie is based upon the murders committed by the Charles Manson Family. The best-known victim was actress Sharon Tate. The title was taken from the Beatles' song of the same name. According to the theory put forward by the prosecution, Manson used the term for an anticipated race war, and "healter skelter" [sic] was scrawled in blood on the refrigerator door at the house of one of the victims. It recounts the murders Manson committed, the investigation, and the 1970-71 trial where prosecuting D.A. Bugliosi attempted to draw connections between the Manson family and his violent convictions.
The 1976 film, directed by Tom Gries, stars Steve Railsback as Manson and George DiCenzo as Bugliosi. Writer JP Miller received a 1977 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best TV Feature or MiniSeries Teleplay.
In 2004, the book was adapted for a second made-for-TV movie, written and directed by John Gray and featuring Jeremy Davies as Manson.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Ratings
4 Production notes
5 Versions
6 Awards and nominations 6.1 1977 Emmy Awards
6.2 Directors Guild of America
6.3 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
7 External links
8 References

Plot[edit]
Wiki letter w.svg This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (January 2015)
Cast[edit]
George DiCenzo as Vincent Bugliosi
Steve Railsback as Charles Manson
Nancy Wolfe as Susan Atkins
Marilyn Burns as Linda Kasabian
Christina Hart as Patricia Krenwinkel
Cathey Paine as Leslie Van Houten
Alan Oppenheimer as Aaron Stovitz
Rudy Ramos as Danny DeCarlo
Jon Gries as William Garretson
Marc Alaimo as Phil Cohen
Paul Mantee as Sergeant O'Neal
David Clennon as Harry Jones
Eileen Dietz as Family Girl
Carole Ita White as Big Sal
Larry Pennell as Sergeant White
Bruce French as Officer Ocher
Howard Caine as Everett Scoville
Adam Williams as Terrence Milik
Jonathan Goldsmith as Hank Charter
Robert Ito as Drees Darrin
Bart Braverman as George Brewer
Ratings[edit]



[hide]This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.

[icon]
##This section requires expansion. (January 2015)




##This section needs additional citations for verification.  (February 2015)


The film premiered with a household share of 36.5, ranking it the 16th highest rated movie to air on network television.[1] The film was also shown on TV stations in Los Angeles, although there were reservations about this and fears of bad memories for the film appeared seven years after the Manson murders.[citation needed]
Production notes[edit]



[hide]This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This section does not cite any references or sources.  (January 2015)

[icon]
##This section requires expansion. (January 2015)


The LaBianca house sequence was filmed at the actual crime scene. Much of the dialogue from the courtroom scenes was taken from the court transcripts. The 1959 Ford driven by Linda Kasabian on both nights of the murders was loaned to the producers by the Los Angeles Police Department.[citation needed]
Versions[edit]



[hide]This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This section does not cite any references or sources.  (January 2015)

[icon]
##This section requires expansion with: a description of what was specifically cut from the film. (January 2015)


There was a cut and censored 2-hour version released on VHS by Key Video in 1985, and a uncut and uncensored version made for TV and Released on DVD in 2004. The 2-hour Key Video VHS is now out-of-print, and as of 2015, neither 20th Century Fox nor Warner Bros., the latter of whom has begun to acquire some of Lorimar's films, has announced any plans to release a new VHS or DVD of the 2-hour version. For these reasons, copies of the original Key Video 2-hour VHS can be found online being sold for very high prices.
Awards and nominations[edit]
1977 Emmy Awards[edit]
Nominated, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore) – Billy Goldenberg[2][unreliable source?]
Nominated, Outstanding Directing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy – Tom Gries[2][unreliable source?]
Nominated, Outstanding Film Editing for a Special – Byron Brandt, Bud S. Isaacs[2][unreliable source?]
Directors Guild of America[edit]
Nominated, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Specials/Movies for TV/Actuality – Daniel Petrie[2][unreliable source?]
Edgar Allan Poe Awards[edit]
Won, Best Television Feature or Miniseries – J.P. Miller[2][unreliable source?]
External links[edit]
Explanation of Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter at the Internet Movie Database
Helter Skelter at AllMovie
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 805. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Awards listing on imdb.com". imdb.com. Retrieved 4 April 2010.


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family












































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Tom Gries



















  


Categories: 1976 films
CBS network films
American films
Manson Family in popular culture
True crime films
Edgar Award winning works
Serial killer films
Films directed by Tom Gries

















Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Français
Italiano
Português
Edit links
This page was last modified on 20 June 2015, at 19:03.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(1976_film)








Helter Skelter (book)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders
Helter Skelter Bugliosi 1st-ed-1974 WWNorton.jpg
First edition of W. W. Norton & Co., 1974

Author
Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Charles Manson and the "Manson Family"
Genre
True crime
Publisher
W. W. Norton & Company

Publication date
 1974
Media type
Print (hardcover)
Pages
502 pp
ISBN
9780393087000
OCLC
15164618
Helter Skelter (1974) is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. Bugliosi had served as the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson. The book presents his firsthand account of the cases of Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and other members of the self-described Manson Family. It is the best-selling true crime book in history.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Description
2 Reception and legacy
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Description[edit]
The book recounts and assesses the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of Charles Manson and his followers for the notorious 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, actress Sharon Tate, and several others.[2]
The book takes its title from the apocalyptic race war that Manson believed would occur, which in turn took its name from "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles.[2] Manson had been particularly fascinated by the Beatles' White Album, from which the song came.
Reception and legacy[edit]
Helter Skelter was first published in the United States in 1974 and became a bestseller. The book won the 1975 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book,[3] and was the basis for two television films, released in 1976 and 2004.[4] At the time of Bugliosi's death in 2015, it had sold over seven million copies, making it the best-selling true crime book in history.[1]
The book was the main influence for the story line of the 2008 movie The Strangers.[5][6]
See also[edit]
1974 in literature
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Stout, David (2015-06-10). "Vincent T. Bugliosi, Manson Prosecutor and True-Crime Author, Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-06-09.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Rogers, Michael (November 17, 1974). "Manson Meets The Bug: Helter Skelter". The New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ Alexander, S. L. (2004). Media and American Courts: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 170. ISBN 9781576079799.
4.Jump up ^ Mustazza, Leonard (2006). The Literary Filmography 1. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 235. ISBN 9780786425037.
5.Jump up ^ Rotten, Ryan (August 1, 2007). "EXCL: Never Talk to Strangers". Crave Online. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
6.Jump up ^ Rotten, Ryan (May 26, 2008). "Interview: The Strangers' Bryan Bertino (Pt. 2)". Crave Online. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
External links[edit]
Explanation of Helter Skelter
Partial trial testimony regarding "Helter Skelter"
News article on Charles Manson's letter to N.Korean leader Kim Jong-il


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: 1974 books
Edgar Award winning works
Manson Family
Non-fiction books about murders in the United States
Books by Vincent Bugliosi
W. W. Norton & Company books


Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Svenska
Edit links
This page was last modified on 17 June 2015, at 19:34.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
  

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(book)









Helter Skelter (book)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders
Helter Skelter Bugliosi 1st-ed-1974 WWNorton.jpg
First edition of W. W. Norton & Co., 1974

Author
Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Charles Manson and the "Manson Family"
Genre
True crime
Publisher
W. W. Norton & Company

Publication date
 1974
Media type
Print (hardcover)
Pages
502 pp
ISBN
9780393087000
OCLC
15164618
Helter Skelter (1974) is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. Bugliosi had served as the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson. The book presents his firsthand account of the cases of Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and other members of the self-described Manson Family. It is the best-selling true crime book in history.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Description
2 Reception and legacy
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Description[edit]
The book recounts and assesses the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of Charles Manson and his followers for the notorious 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, actress Sharon Tate, and several others.[2]
The book takes its title from the apocalyptic race war that Manson believed would occur, which in turn took its name from "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles.[2] Manson had been particularly fascinated by the Beatles' White Album, from which the song came.
Reception and legacy[edit]
Helter Skelter was first published in the United States in 1974 and became a bestseller. The book won the 1975 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book,[3] and was the basis for two television films, released in 1976 and 2004.[4] At the time of Bugliosi's death in 2015, it had sold over seven million copies, making it the best-selling true crime book in history.[1]
The book was the main influence for the story line of the 2008 movie The Strangers.[5][6]
See also[edit]
1974 in literature
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Stout, David (2015-06-10). "Vincent T. Bugliosi, Manson Prosecutor and True-Crime Author, Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-06-09.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Rogers, Michael (November 17, 1974). "Manson Meets The Bug: Helter Skelter". The New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
3.Jump up ^ Alexander, S. L. (2004). Media and American Courts: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 170. ISBN 9781576079799.
4.Jump up ^ Mustazza, Leonard (2006). The Literary Filmography 1. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 235. ISBN 9780786425037.
5.Jump up ^ Rotten, Ryan (August 1, 2007). "EXCL: Never Talk to Strangers". Crave Online. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
6.Jump up ^ Rotten, Ryan (May 26, 2008). "Interview: The Strangers' Bryan Bertino (Pt. 2)". Crave Online. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
External links[edit]
Explanation of Helter Skelter
Partial trial testimony regarding "Helter Skelter"
News article on Charles Manson's letter to N.Korean leader Kim Jong-il


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: 1974 books
Edgar Award winning works
Manson Family
Non-fiction books about murders in the United States
Books by Vincent Bugliosi
W. W. Norton & Company books


Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Svenska
Edit links
This page was last modified on 17 June 2015, at 19:34.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
  

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(book)









Charles Manson Superstar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Charles Manson Superstar
1989 Charles Manson Superstar.jpg
Videotape cover

Directed by
Nikolas Schreck
Produced by
Video Werewolf
Starring
Charles Manson
 Nikolas Schreck
Narrated by
Nikolas Schreck, Zeena Schreck
Language
English
Charles Manson Superstar is a documentary film about Charles Manson, directed by Nikolas Schreck in 1989.[1][2][3] Most of the documentary (the entire interview) was filmed inside San Quentin Prison. Schreck and Zeena narrated the segments while images were shown, and music played in the background. There was brief footage of Spahn Ranch, and a short clip of James M. Mason being interviewed about the Universal Order, and Manson. Olivier Messiaen's "Death and Resurrection," Bobby Beausoleil's "Lucifer Rising," Krzysztof Penderecki's "Apocalypsis," and Anton LaVey's "The Satanic Mass," and Manson's own songs "Clang Bang Clang" and "Mechanical Man" from the album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, were played during the film.
The film was remastered and uploaded to YouTube by an alternative news production company in 2012[4]
Transcript of Raw Footage of Interview[edit]
Zeena Schreck's "Easter Monday Audience with the Underworld Pope: Charles Manson Interviewed and Decoded" is Zeena's introduction with her full transcript and annotations of the raw footage of this interview as printed in Nikolas Schreck's 2011 French and English editions of Le Dossier Manson: Mythe Et Réalité D’un Chaman Hors-La-Loi and The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman for Camion Noir/World Operations.[5][6]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Puchalski, Steven (2002). Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movies. Headpress. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-900486-21-7.
2.Jump up ^ Hunter, Jack (2002). The Bad Mirror: A Creation Cinema Collection Reader. Creation. pp. 144, 153. ISBN 978-1-84068-072-0.
3.Jump up ^ Pratt, Douglas (2004). Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!. UNET 2. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-932916-00-3.
4.Jump up ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh6my9e0NOw
5.Jump up ^ "Ref. to Zeena Schreck bibliography page for "Easter Monday Audience with the Underworld Pope: Charles Manson Interviewed and Decoded"".
6.Jump up ^ "ref. to "The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman" where this transcript appears. ISBN 978-3-8442-1094-1 English Edition ©Nikolas Schreck,World Operations, 2011. Cover Artist: Jacket design/Jacket illustration/Art direction by Zeena Schreck.".
External links[edit]
Charles Manson Superstar at the Internet Movie Database


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: English-language films
1989 films
American biographical films
American films
Manson Family in popular culture


Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages

Edit links
This page was last modified on 24 May 2015, at 06:28.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson_Superstar










Charles Manson Superstar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Charles Manson Superstar
1989 Charles Manson Superstar.jpg
Videotape cover

Directed by
Nikolas Schreck
Produced by
Video Werewolf
Starring
Charles Manson
 Nikolas Schreck
Narrated by
Nikolas Schreck, Zeena Schreck
Language
English
Charles Manson Superstar is a documentary film about Charles Manson, directed by Nikolas Schreck in 1989.[1][2][3] Most of the documentary (the entire interview) was filmed inside San Quentin Prison. Schreck and Zeena narrated the segments while images were shown, and music played in the background. There was brief footage of Spahn Ranch, and a short clip of James M. Mason being interviewed about the Universal Order, and Manson. Olivier Messiaen's "Death and Resurrection," Bobby Beausoleil's "Lucifer Rising," Krzysztof Penderecki's "Apocalypsis," and Anton LaVey's "The Satanic Mass," and Manson's own songs "Clang Bang Clang" and "Mechanical Man" from the album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, were played during the film.
The film was remastered and uploaded to YouTube by an alternative news production company in 2012[4]
Transcript of Raw Footage of Interview[edit]
Zeena Schreck's "Easter Monday Audience with the Underworld Pope: Charles Manson Interviewed and Decoded" is Zeena's introduction with her full transcript and annotations of the raw footage of this interview as printed in Nikolas Schreck's 2011 French and English editions of Le Dossier Manson: Mythe Et Réalité D’un Chaman Hors-La-Loi and The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman for Camion Noir/World Operations.[5][6]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Puchalski, Steven (2002). Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movies. Headpress. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-900486-21-7.
2.Jump up ^ Hunter, Jack (2002). The Bad Mirror: A Creation Cinema Collection Reader. Creation. pp. 144, 153. ISBN 978-1-84068-072-0.
3.Jump up ^ Pratt, Douglas (2004). Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!. UNET 2. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-932916-00-3.
4.Jump up ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh6my9e0NOw
5.Jump up ^ "Ref. to Zeena Schreck bibliography page for "Easter Monday Audience with the Underworld Pope: Charles Manson Interviewed and Decoded"".
6.Jump up ^ "ref. to "The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman" where this transcript appears. ISBN 978-3-8442-1094-1 English Edition ©Nikolas Schreck,World Operations, 2011. Cover Artist: Jacket design/Jacket illustration/Art direction by Zeena Schreck.".
External links[edit]
Charles Manson Superstar at the Internet Movie Database


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: English-language films
1989 films
American biographical films
American films
Manson Family in popular culture


Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages

Edit links
This page was last modified on 24 May 2015, at 06:28.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson_Superstar









Helter Skelter (Manson scenario)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search




[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




This article contains too many or too-lengthy quotations for an encyclopedic entry.  (December 2013)


Ambox rewrite.svg

This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines.  (December 2013)




This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably.  (December 2013)




This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience.  (December 2013)


In the months leading up to the Tate/LaBianca murders, Charles Manson often spoke to associates about Helter Skelter, an apocalyptic war arising from racial tensions between blacks and whites.[1]:311–2 This "chimerical vision"—as it was termed by the court that heard Manson's appeal from his conviction for the killings[2]—involved reference to music of The Beatles (particularly songs from the album The Beatles, also known as The White Album) and to the New Testament's Book of Revelation.[1]:238–44 Manson and his associates were convicted of the murders based on the prosecution's theory that they were part of a plan to trigger the Helter Skelter scenario.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background 1.1 Fulfillment
2 References to the Beatles and the Book of Revelation 2.1 Beatles lyrics, as interpreted by Manson
2.2 Book of Revelation, as interpreted by Manson
2.3 Synthesis
3 Abbey Road epilogue
4 Timeline 4.1 1967
4.2 1968
4.3 1969
5 Impact
6 Manson's testimony
7 Primary sources
8 Footnotes
9 External links

Background[edit]
Manson had been predicting racial war for some time before he used the term Helter Skelter.[3][4] His first use of the term was at a gathering of the Family on New Year's Eve 1968. This took place at the Family's base at Myers Ranch, near California's Death Valley.[4][5]
In its final form, which was reached by mid-February 1969,[6] the scenario had Manson as not only the war's ultimate beneficiary but its musical cause. He and the Family would create an album with songs whose messages concerning the war would be as subtle as those he had heard in songs of The Beatles.[3][7] More than merely foretell the conflict, this would trigger it; for, in instructing "the young love,"[8] America's white youth, to join the Family, it would draw the young, white female hippies out of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury.[6][9][10] Black men, thus deprived of the white women whom the political changes of the 1960s had made sexually available to them, would be without an outlet for their frustrations and would lash out in violent crimes against whites.[10][11] A resultant murderous rampage against blacks by frightened whites would then be exploited by militant blacks to provoke an internecine war of near-extermination between racist and non-racist whites over blacks' treatment. Then the militant blacks would arise to sneakily finish off the few whites they would know to have survived; indeed, they would kill off all non-blacks.[12][13][14]
In this holocaust, the members of the enlarged Family would have little to fear; they would wait out the war in a secret city that was underneath Death Valley that they would reach through a hole in the ground. As the only actual remaining whites upon the race war's true conclusion, they would emerge from underground to rule the now-satisfied blacks, who, as the vision went, would be incapable of running the world; Manson "would scratch [the black man's] fuzzy head and kick him in the butt and tell him to go pick the cotton and go be a good nigger...."[13][15]
The term Helter Skelter was from the Beatles song of that name, which referred to the British amusement-park ride of that name and was interpreted by Manson as concerned with the war.[3] The song was on the Beatles' White Album, first heard by Manson within a month or so of its November 1968 release:[16]
Former Manson follower Catherine Share, in a 2009 documentary called Manson, for Cineflix Productions et al., claimed:
When the Beatles’ White Album came out, Charlie listened to it over and over and over and over again. He was quite certain that the Beatles had tapped in to his spirit, the truth — that everything was gonna come down and the black man was going to rise. It wasn’t that Charlie listened to the White Album and started following what he thought the Beatles were saying. It was the other way around. He thought that the Beatles were talking about what he had been expounding for years. Every single song on the White Album, he felt that they were singing about us. The song "Helter Skelter" — he was interpreting that to mean the blacks were gonna go up and the whites were gonna go down.[17]


Fulfillment[edit]
In the months before the murders were conceived, Manson and his followers began preparing for Helter Skelter, which they thought inevitable. In addition to working on songs for the hoped-for album, which would set off everything, they prepared vehicles and other items for their escape from the Los Angeles area (their home territory) to Death Valley when the days of violence would arrive. They pored over maps to plot a route that would bypass highways and get them to the desert safely. Indeed, Manson was convinced that the song "Helter Skelter" contained a coded statement of the route they should follow.[1]:244–5[18][19]
Manson had said the war would start in the summer of 1969.[11] In late June of that year, months after he'd been frustrated in his efforts to get the album made,[18] he told a male Family member that Helter Skelter was "ready to happen."[20] "Blackie never did anything without whitey showin’ him how," he said. "It looks like we’re gonna have to show blackie how to do it."[20]
Main article: Tate-LaBianca murders
On August 8, 1969, the day Manson instructed his followers to carry out the first of two sets of notorious murders, he told the Family, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter."[21] When the murderers returned to Spahn Ranch, the Family's Los Angeles area headquarters, after the crime, Manson asked Tex Watson, the sole man among them, whether it had been Helter Skelter. "Yeah, it was sure Helter Skelter," Watson replied.[22]
At the conclusion of the second set of murders, the following night (August 9–10), one of the killers wrote "Healter [sic] Skelter" on the refrigerator of the house in which the murders took place. That, along with other references to Beatles songs, was written in blood.[23][24]
References to the Beatles and the Book of Revelation[edit]
When The Beatles first came to the United States, in February 1964, Charles Manson was an inmate in the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island, in southern Puget Sound. He was serving a sentence for attempting to cash a forged U.S. Treasury check;[1]:142–3 he was 29 years old.[1]:136 His fellow inmates found his interest in the British rock group "almost an obsession." Taught by inmate Alvin Karpis to play the steel guitar, Manson told many persons that "given the chance, he could be much bigger than the Beatles."[1]:145[25]
To the Family, a few years later, Manson spoke of The Beatles as "the soul" and "part of 'the hole in the infinite.'"[6] When he delivered the Helter Skelter prophecy around the campfire at Myers Ranch, the Family members believed it:
[A]t that point Charlie’s credibility seemed indisputable. For weeks he had been talking of revolution, prophesying it. We had listened to him rap; we were geared for it – making music to program the young love. Then, from across the Atlantic, the hottest music group in the world substantiates Charlie with an album which is almost blood-curdling in its depiction of violence. It was uncanny.[6]
In My Life with Charles Manson, Paul Watkins wrote that Manson "spent hours quoting and interpreting Revelation to the Family, particularly verses from chapter 9."[18] In an autobiography written with assistance some years after the murders, Tex Watson said that, apart from Chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation, the Bible had "absolutely no meaning in our life in the Family."[3] (Even so, Watson stated that "we... knew that Charlie was Jesus Christ.")[3]
For a period in his childhood, Manson lived with an aunt and uncle, while his mother was in prison. He later told a counselor that the aunt and uncle had "some marital difficulty until they became interested in religion and became very extreme."[1]:137
Beatles lyrics, as interpreted by Manson[edit]
I Will
Lyric: And when at last I find you/ Your song will fill the air/ Sing it loud so I can hear you/ Make it easy to be near you Meaning: The Beatles are looking for Jesus Christ.[26]Honey Pie
Lyric: Oh, honey pie, my position is tragic/ Come and show me the magic/ Of your Hollywood song Meaning: The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.[26] They want Manson to create his "song," that is, his album that will set off Helter Skelter.[3]Lyric: Oh, honey pie, you are driving me frantic/ Sail across the Atlantic/ To be where you belong Meaning: The Beatles want Jesus Christ to come to England[26]Consequence: In early 1969, Manson and his female followers attempt to contact the Beatles by letter, telegram, and telephone; they are struggling to make clear to the Beatles that it is they, the Beatles, who are to come across the Atlantic, to join the family in Death Valley.[26]Lyric: I'm in love, but I'm lazy Meaning: The Beatles love Jesus Christ but are too lazy to go looking for him[26] They've worn themselves out in a trip to India to visit the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whom they now regard as a false prophet.[3][26]Don't Pass Me By
Lyric: I Listen for your footsteps coming up the drive/ Listen for your footsteps, but they don't arrive/ Waiting for your knock dear on my old front door/ I don't hear it; does it mean you don't love me any more?/ I hear the clock a-ticking on the mantel shelf/ See the hands a-moving, but I'm by myself/ I wonder where you are tonight and why I'm by myself/ I don't see you; does it mean you don't love me any more? Meaning: The Beatles are calling for Jesus Christ.[26]Yer Blues
Lyric: Yes, I'm lonely; wanna die/ Yes, I'm lonely; wanna die/ If I ain't dead already/ Girl, you know the reason why[26] Meaning: The Beatles are calling for Jesus Christ.Blue Jay Way
Lyric: There's a fog upon L.A./ And my friends have lost their way/ They'll be over soon they said/ Now they've lost themselves instead/ Please don't be long/ Please don't you be very long/ Or I may be asleep. Meaning: The Beatles are calling for Jesus Christ.[26]This connects the Helter Skelter prophecy with a song from outside The Beatles. "Blue Jay Way" appeared on Magical Mystery Tour, the 1967 album that preceded The Beatles and that had, itself, influenced Manson. The Family had come to call its roundabout journey from its place of origin, San Francisco, to its place of settlement, the Los Angeles area, the "Magical Mystery Tour."[27]The primary sources of information on Helter Skelter do not detail Manson's interpretation of the lyrics of this song. If the "friends" are imagined to be the Beatles, looking for Manson in Los Angeles, the lyrics retain their ordinary sense, in which someone is trying to get to a place in L.A., not out of it. If, on the other hand, the "friends" are the Family, who, because of the "fog upon L.A.," have "lost their way" to the Beatles in England, the interpretation would seem to be consistent with Manson's view that the lyrics are a call to him ("Please don't you be very long") and that the Beatles want him to "sail across the Atlantic." (See Honey Pie, above.)"Blue Jay Way" is the name of an actual Los Angeles street; the primary sources of information about Helter Skelter do not indicate whether Manson knew that. George Harrison was staying at a house on that street when he wrote the song.[28]Sexy Sadie
Significance: Manson had renamed Family member Susan Atkins "Sadie Mae Glutz" long before the release of The Beatles. This served to reinforce the mental connection Manson felt he had with The Beatles.[7]In San Francisco, where she met Manson, Atkins had been a topless dancer.[1]:80 Paul Watkins wrote that Atkins "thrived on sex," and he even seemed to suggest she had the nickname Sexy Sadie before the Family heard the song.[29] Similarly, Tex Watson wrote that the words of "Sexy Sadie" fit Atkins so well "that it made us all sure [the Beatles] had to be singing directly to us." Watson specifically noted that the song's title character "came along to turn on everyone," "broke the rules," and "laid it down for all to see." Atkins, he said, "had broken all the rules, sexually, and liked to talk about her experience and lack of inhibitions."[30]Rocky Raccoon
Significance: Rocky Raccoon means "coon," vulgar term for a black man[7]Of all the Beatles songs known to have been connected with Helter Skelter, this is the only one that mentions the Bible. (It is possibly the only Beatles song at all that mentions the Bible.) A play on the Gideons International practice of leaving Bibles in hotel rooms, the references are to a Bible left in the room of the title character by a "Gideon": So one day [Rocky Raccoon] walked into town/ Booked himself a room in the local saloon/ Rocky Raccoon/ Checked into his room/ Only to find Gideon's Bible... Now Rocky Raccoon/ He fell back in his room/ Only to find Gideon's Bible/ Gideon checked out/ And he left it no doubt/ To help with good Rocky's revival.Manson made the connection. In the period before his trial, he was visited at the Los Angeles County Jail by David Dalton and David Felton, who were preparing a Rolling Stone story, about him, that appeared in the magazine in June 1970. In an article in the October 1998 issue of the periodical Gadfly, Dalton, recounting the visit to Manson, relayed the remarks Manson made to Felton and him about "Rocky Raccoon": "Coon," said Charlie. "You know that's a word they use for black people. You know the line, 'Gideon checked out / And left no doubt / To help good Rocky's revival.' Rocky's revival—re-vival. It means coming back to life. The black man is going to come into power again. 'Gideon checks out' means that it's all written out there in the New Testament, in the Book of Revelations [sic]."[31]Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Significance: The Beatles are telling blacks to get guns and fight whitesSample lyric: When I hold you in my arms/ And I feel my finger on your trigger/ I know no one can do me no harm/ Because happiness is a warm gun/ (Bang bang, shoot shoot)[7]
While in the Death Valley area after the New Year's Eve gathering at which Manson announced Helter Skelter, the Family played over and over The White Album's five following songs:[6]
Blackbird
Lyric: Blackbird singing in the dead of night/ Take these broken wings and learn to fly/ All your life/ You were only waiting for this moment to arise. Meaning: The black man is going to arise and overthrow the white man. The Beatles are programming blacks to rise.[7]In detailing Helter Skelter in his autobiography, Tex Watson invoked this lyric obliquely: [The white establishment] would slaughter thousands of blacks, but actually only manage to eliminate all the Uncle Toms, since the "true black race" (sometimes Charlie thought they were the Black Muslims, sometimes the Panthers) would have hidden, waiting for their moment.[3] (Emphasis added)Helter Skelter
Lyric: When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide/ Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride Significance: A reference to the Family's emergence from "the Bottomless Pit," the underground Death Valley hideaway where the group will escape the violence of Helter Skelter[32]In British English, helter-skelter not only has its meanings of "confused" or "confusedly" but is the name of an amusement park slide,[33] which this portion of the lyrics suggests is one of the term's surface denotations in the song. There is nothing to indicate Manson was aware of this meaning.Lyric: Look out... Helter Skelter... She's coming down fast... Yes she is. Meaning: The upcoming explosion of race-based violence is imminent. These are the "last few months, weeks, perhaps days, of the old order."[3]Even to someone unaware that helter-skelter is the name of a slide, the song's mention of a slide might have indicated that the "she" in this part of the lyrics is someone who, literally or otherwise, is riding on a slide and "coming down fast" (i.e., "helter-skelter", or "out of control"). In My Life with Charles Manson, Paul Watkins makes clear Manson construed "she" as a reference to the words "helter skelter" themselves. It is Helter Skelter—which, in America, at least, can be the noun "confusion"[34]—that is coming down fast, i.e., is imminent.[35]In trial testimony, Gregg Jakobson, who first met Manson at the home of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson in May or early summer of 1968, described a mural he had eventually seen at the Spahn Ranch, where Manson and most of the Family were residing at the time of the murders:Jakobson: There was a room called — it was an old saloon in one of the [ranch’s] old [movie] sets.Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi: Among the front buildings at the ranch?Jakobson: Right.Bugliosi: Right off Santa Susana Road there?Jakobson: Yes. And there was a big mural in day-glo colors. It glowed with blue light. It depicted Helter Skelter, and it was written.Bugliosi: The words [Helter Skelter] were written?Jakobson. Yes. And there was a picture of the mountains and the desert and Goler Wash, and so on, and Helter Skelter coming down out of the sky.Bugliosi: Something like a map?Jakobson: It was more like a mural that covered the whole wall. It was rather impressive.Manson also hears the Beatles whispering to him to call them in London.[36] (See Honey Pie, above.)Piggies
Lyric: What they need's a damned good whacking Significance: Blacks are going to give "the piggies"—i.e., the establishment—a damned good whacking.[32] This phrase Manson particularly liked.[3]Lyric: Everywhere there's lots of piggies/ Living piggy lives/ You can see them out for dinner/ With their piggy wives/ Clutching forks and knives/ To eat their bacon. In Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, which he wrote with Curt Gentry, Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson and the others accused of the Tate-LaBianca murders, draws attention to this. He notes that Leno LaBianca was left with a knife in his throat and a fork in his stomach. (Bugliosi has to make the point somewhat indirectly in the text because George Harrison, who wrote the song, refused the book authors' permission to quote the lyrics.)[32]Revolution 1
Lyric: You say you want a revolution/ Well you know/ We all want to change the world.../ But when you talk about destruction/ Don't you know that you can count me out (in) Significance: The singing of "in" after the word "out," even though "in" doesn't appear in the lyrics as they were presented on the printed sheet enclosed with the album, indicates that the Beatles had been undecided but now favor revolution.[1]:242–3 Though they are no longer on a "peace-and-love trip," they can't admit as much to the establishment.[3]Lyric: You say you got a real solution/ Well you know/ We'd all love to see the plan Meaning: The Beatles want Manson to tell them how to escape the horrors of Helter Skelter.[37] They are ready for the violence; they want Manson to create his album that will tell them what to do. Its songs will be "the plan" whose subtle messages will be aimed at the various parts of society that will be involved in Helter Skelter.[3][7]Revolution 9
This is the White Album piece Manson spoke about the most,[37] the one he deemed most significant.[3] An audio collage more than eight minutes long, it has no lyrics.Significance: Manson hears machine-gun fire, the oinking of pigs, and the word "Rise." The piece is audio representation of the coming conflict; the repeated utterance "Number 9" is reference to Chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation. Revolution 9 is prophecy, paralleling Revelation 9.[37] "Revolution 9" = Revelation 9.[13]"Rise" is "one of [Manson's] big words"; the black man is going to "rise" up against the white man.[1]:241–2 While playing "Revolution 9," Manson screams "Rise! Rise! Rise!"[36] (From 2:33 to 2:50 of the recording, a voice that could be that of John Lennon does, in fact, repeat what is possibly the word "Right," not "Rise."[38] About twenty-five seconds before that word is first heard, a voice says something that seems to include the words "lots of stab wounds";[37] but Bugliosi and Gentry, who mention this in Helter Skelter, do not indicate whether Manson or any of the Family members heard it.)Manson also hears the Beatles whispering: "Charlie, Charlie, send us a telegram."[36] (See Honey Pie, above.) At approximately 3:45 of the recording, a voice that could be that of George Harrison does, in fact, seem to be saying something about a telegram.[38]
In his autobiography, Tex Watson tied the prophecy to one more White Album song, Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey, though he changed monkey to monkeys, plural. While on LSD at a party in late March 1969, Watson explained, he and two Manson girls realized they themselves were "the monkeys,... just bright-eyed, free little animals, totally uninhibited." As they started "bouncing around the apartment, throwing food against the walls, and laughing hysterically," they were, in their own view (if not that of the others in attendance), "all love—spontaneous, childlike love." It would seem Watson took the song's "me and my monkey[s]" to signify Manson and the Family, though he doesn't say it that way; he doesn't indicate whether the interpretation was brought to Manson's attention.[39]
Manson himself invoked, too, "Yellow Submarine," a Beatles song that was released in 1966 and that inspired an animated movie of the same title. The movie was released in November 1968, within a week or so of The White Album. In the first months of 1969, after he had delivered the Helter Skelter prophecy around the New Year's Eve campfire near Death Valley, Manson applied the name "Yellow Submarine" to a canary-yellow, Canoga Park house to which the Family repaired at his instruction. There, as they would prepare for Helter Skelter, they would be "submerged beneath the awareness of the outside world."[6]
Book of Revelation, as interpreted by Manson[edit]
CHAPTER 7[40]
Verse 4: And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. One hundred forty-four thousand would be the membership of the Family when, in Helter Skelter's aftermath, it would emerge from "the bottomless pit" to rule.[1]:246[41] "It would be our world then. There would be no one else, except for us and the black servants."[42]It is difficult to determine how the Family's number was to grow to one hundred forty-four thousand. In his autobiography, Charles Watson seems to think, with incredulity, that the growth was somehow simply to be a result of procreation;[3] the trial testimony of Paul Watkins, on the other hand, seems to indicate the increase was to result from the release of the Family's album, which would draw "the young love" to the group.[13] The Family would also acquire (rescue) babies made homeless in Helter Skelter.[6] Several decades were to pass before the Family would at last depart the Bottomless Pit; the group would live there in miniaturized form.[43]
CHAPTER 9:[44]
Verses 2–3: And he opened the bottomless pit.... And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. locusts = Beatles[45]as the scorpions of the earth have power = the power of scorpion, that is, Manson, a Scorpio, will prevail[18]bottomless pit = as noted above, the underground city in which the Family will ride out the ravages of Helter Skelter. The Family would be lowered into this by means of a gold rope;[46] accordingly, Manson bought expensive gold rope at a Santa Monica sporting-goods store.[47]Verses 7–8: ... [A]nd [the locusts'] faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women.... the Beatles are men with long hair[45]Verse 17: And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. breastplates of fire = the Beatles' electric guitarsfire and smoke and brimstone out of their mouths = the Beatles' powerful lyrics,[45] the power of their music to ignite Helter Skelter[3]Verse 7: And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle things that are shaped like unto horses prepared unto battle = the dune buggies the Family will be riding during Helter Skelter[45]In Manson's view, dune buggies were the ideal vehicles of the apocalypse; they would enable the Family to outrun police in the Bottomless Pit and were light enough that a few of the girls could carry them. During the war, the Family would be making forays from the Bottomless Pit. Accordingly, the dune buggies the Family acquired, licitly and otherwise, were fitted, on Manson's inspiration, with machine gun mounts; while the men would drive, the girls would operate the guns.[6][48]Fitted next to the steering wheel of Manson's personal buggy was a metal scabbard. It held a sword with which, in July 1969, Manson slashed the ear of Family acquaintance Gary Hinman.[1]:102[49] On the buggy's front was a winch that Manson envisioned using to evade police, apparently in Helter Skelter. He would fling the winch's rope up into a tree and then winch himself up out of sight as pursuing officers would drive haplessly by.[50]In an article published in Los Angeles magazine in July 2009, as the fortieth anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders approached, former Manson associate Catherine Share was quoted as follows: Charlie talked about Helter Skelter every night. … [W]e’d learn to live off the land. We’d live in the desert and come in on dune buggies and rescue the orphaned white babies. We’d be the saviors.[51]Verse 15: And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men the four angels = The Beatles,[45] prophets who are preparing the way for Jesus Christ, Manson, to lead the chosen people away to safety[3]slay the third part of men = destroy the white race, that is (it would seem), one of the three races[45]Verse 16: And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. two hundred thousand thousand horsemen = motorcycle gang-members Manson is attempting to recruit into the Family, in advance of Helter Skelter[3][45]The motorcyclists, whose attention Manson began cultivating when the Family moved to the Yellow Submarine, were to be the Family's "needed military wing."[52] They and the Family would cruise through Helter Skelter in the manner of a flock of birds, all turning in one direction or another without even a sound from their leader.[18] If the cyclists were to be worthy of surviving Helter Skelter alongside the Family, it was, of course, necessary they attain the Family's level of hippie enlightenment. Toward this end, Manson unleashed his girls as seductresses, to wean the gang members from predisposition to marriage as well as materialism and concern with time of day (the latter horrors jointly embodied in the wearing of wristwatches); with a passing exception or two, the cyclists remained bourgeois.[1]:101[53]Verse 4: And it was commanded [that the locusts] should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree = only humans, not nature, will be destroyed in Helter Skelter[18]seal of God in their foreheads = a mark that would indicate whether someone was on Manson's side or not;[45] in Helter Skelter, those without it would perish[3] (Manson never described the mark, but he left no doubt he would be able to recognize it.)[3][45]Verse 20: And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.... worship of idols of gold and silver and brass = the establishment's worship of automobiles, houses, and money[45]Verse 1: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. the fifth angel = according to Gregg Jakobson, who arranged a recording session for Manson: Stu Sutcliffe, one of the original five, not four, Beatlesaccording to Family members such as Tex Watson and Paul Watkins: Manson[3][18][45]
CHAPTER 10:[54]
Verses 1 and 2: And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.... For about two weeks after their departure from the "Yellow Submarine," Family members moved into—or broke into—an unoccupied mansion that had recently been vacated by the rock group Iron Butterfly. Overlooking the sea from the Mulholland Hills, the house met Manson's demand that "[the Family] have access to the sea and to the desert and that the two roads be joined."[55]With the help of three hundred dollars' worth of topographical maps, the Family laid out a complete and continuous Helter Skelter escape route that ran from Malibu beach (near this Iron Butterfly mansion), past the Family's headquarters at Spahn Ranch, and to Golar Wash, site of the Family's desert ranches near Death Valley. From Spahn, Manson, peering toward the heart of Los Angeles, really could have his right foot upon (toward) the sea and his left foot upon the earth. It was even rumored that Manson or a Family member stole and maybe ruined a half-track supposedly used to clear a Spahn-area portion of the route.[18][56]The escape route was marked with locations for supply-caches, command posts, campsites. The Family's topographical maps were found buried in Death Valley.[18][56]
CHAPTER 16:[57]
Verses 14 and 16: For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.... And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. In his autobiography, Watson seems to indicate that Manson spoke of Helter Skelter as Armageddon, a term that has come to stand for apocalyptic war.[3][58] In Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, Bugliosi seems to confirm this.[37]
CHAPTER 21:[59]
Verses 10 and 18: And [an angel] carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God... and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.Verse 21: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.Verse 23: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. The Family's Helter Skelter sanctuary under Death Valley would be a city of gold where there would be no sun and no moon.[13]
CHAPTER 22:[60]
Verse 2: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.... The city underneath Death Valley would have a tree that would bear twelve different kinds of fruit, a different kind each month.[13] (The city was also expected to have chocolate fountains; but in that detail, it seems to have departed from the Biblical scheme.)[61]
Synthesis[edit]
To Manson, the synthesis of Beatles and Bible was hardly to be questioned:
Look at [the Beatles'] songs: songs sung all over the world by the young love; it ain’t nothin’ new.... It’s written in... Revelation, all about the four angels programming the holocaust…the four angels looking for the fifth angel to lead the people into the pit of fire…right out to Death Valley. ... It’s all in black and white, in The White Album — white, so there ain’t no mistakin’ the color....[18]
Abbey Road epilogue[edit]
If Manson's interest in and references to Magical Mystery Tour constituted a prologue to his focus on the White Album, there was also a kind of epilogue in the form of Family references to Abbey Road, the Beatle album that came after the White Album.
Abbey Road was released in the United Kingdom in late September 1969,[62][63][64] after the murders. By that time, most of the Family was at the group's camp in the Death Valley area, searching for the Bottomless Pit.[1]:233 Around October 1 (the U.S. release date),[65] three Family members arrived at the camp with an advance copy of the album, which the group played on a battery-operated machine.[66]
In the second week of October, the desert redoubts were raided by law officers who found the Family with stolen vehicles, including dune buggies; Manson and several others were arrested.[1]:126–8 By mid-November, when Manson had become a suspect in the Tate-LaBianca murders, Family members who had been released from jail had made their way back to Spahn Ranch.[67] There, on November 25, 1969, LAPD confiscated a door on which someone had written "Helter Scelter [sic] is coming down fast."[1]:294
A photograph shows the confiscated door was also inscribed with "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 — ALL GOOD CHILDREN (Go to Heaven?)" [sic].[68] This children's rhyme is heard in "You Never Give Me Your Money," a song that appears on Abbey Road. In October 1970, the prosecution offered testimony about the door during Manson's trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders; but only the "Helter Skelter" inscription seems to have been noted.[1]:376
In late September or early October 1969,[69] before the arrests, Tex Watson had left the desert camp and gone on to separate himself from the Family. Late in the separation, he, too, bought a cassette recording of Abbey Road. Walking for miles across the desert to rejoin the Family in late October, he played his tape continuously to see what The Beatles might have to tell him. When, at the last moment, he turned back, an old prospector informed him the arrests had taken place. Watson returned to his native Texas, where his own arrest, for the Tate-LaBianca murders, occurred a month later.[70]
In late July 1970, while Manson was on trial, three persons were hacked, two fatally, on the beach near Santa Barbara, California. One of the Manson girls spoke of this incident as "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," an Abbey Road song that plainly is about homicidal madness.[71]
Timeline[edit]
1967[edit]
March 21: Charles Manson, aged 32, is released from Terminal Island, San Pedro, California, after seven years' imprisonment for attempting to cash a forged government check. He is granted permission to move to San Francisco.[1]:146
Summer: Manson and the first members of what will come to be known as his Family leave the San Francisco area in an old school bus they modified in hippie style.[72] (In an alternate account, some months of Manson travels and acquisition of Family members precede the group's departure from San Francisco in the school bus, around November 10.)[73]
November 27: The Beatles' album Magical Mystery Tour is released in the United States.[74] The Family will come to call its geographical and psychological movement in the school bus "the Magical Mystery Tour."[27]
1968[edit]
April 4: Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Late spring: Having ended up in the Los Angeles area after months of roaming through the West Coast and the Southwest,[1]:174 Manson and the Family become associated with The Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson after Wilson picks up two female Family members hitchhiking in Malibu. Several Family members begin living in Wilson's Pacific Palisades home while, by midsummer,[75] others will be living at the Spahn Ranch in (or near) Chatsworth.[1]:250 During the spring/summer of 1968, Dennis Wilson also introduces Manson to his friend Terry Melcher, a record producer who has worked not only with the Beach Boys, but also with The Byrds, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Mamas & The Papas, & many other L.A. based musical acts.
August 9: Gregg Jakobson, another music industry friend of Dennis Wilson, pays for studio time to record songs written and performed by Manson.[1]:214
August: Three weeks before his lease on his house is to run out, Dennis Wilson has his manager evict the Family members from it.[1]:251
October 31: Having been consolidated at the Spahn Ranch since the eviction from Dennis Wilson's house, the Family members set out in a new school bus (purchased September 1)[76] toward Death Valley to set up an alternate base.[77]
November 1: The Family members arrive at the Death Valley area's Golar Wash, maybe one hundred twenty miles north of Los Angeles and ninety miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada. They load themselves into the unused Myers Ranch, which is owned by the grandmother of a new Family member.[77]
November 3: When Manson and Family member Paul Watkins take a short trip from Golar Wash to visit "Ma Barker," owner of another unused (or little-used) ranch,[78] not far from Myers, Manson presents himself and Watkins to her as musicians in need of a residence congenial to their work. When she agrees to let them stay at the ranch if they'll fix what needs fixing, Manson honors her with one of The Beach Boys' gold records, several of which he'd been given by Dennis Wilson. On the way back to Golar Wash, Watkins, who has seen a newspaper while they've been on their trek, mentions a police shooting of a young black in San Francisco; Manson replies that a black revolt has been building up for years. He says the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr., is a "heavy number."[77]
November 13: Animated movie Yellow Submarine, based on the song of the same name by The Beatles, is released in the United States.[79]
November 25: Release of the Beatles' White Album (formal name, The Beatles) in the United States.[80] (Release in the United Kingdom was November 22.)[80][81][82]
Mid-December: Family member Paul Watkins and two female Family members go to Los Angeles for a few days. While they're there, they see Yellow Submarine.[6]
Before the end of December: While back at Spahn Ranch, Manson and Charles "Tex" Watson visit an acquaintance in nearby Topanga Canyon. When, in response to a question from the acquaintance, they tell him they haven't heard the new Beatles album, he plays it for them.[83]
New Year's Eve: Around a campfire on a bitter cold night at the Myers Ranch, the Family members listen as Manson lays out the prophecy of Helter Skelter.[84]
1969[edit]
~January 10: Word comes from Manson, who is in Los Angeles, that the Family is to move from the desert to a house he's found in Canoga Park. Because the canary-yellow house is a place where the Family, preparing for Helter Skelter, will be "submerged beneath the awareness of the outside world," Manson dubs it the Yellow Submarine.[6]
Mid-February: While riding in a car with Paul Watkins, Manson sees a white woman and a black man holding hands on the street. He explains to Watkins that that's why black men have not yet risen up in rebellion against whites: they're pacified by access to white women.[6][10]
Before mid-March: In preparation for a visit they are for some reason expecting from Dennis Wilson's friend Terry Melcher, owner of a record company, Family members clean the Canoga Park house, set up their instruments, and prepare vegetables, lasagna, salad, French bread, freshly baked cookies, and marijuana. They are hoping Melcher will agree to record the music they've been preparing to trigger Helter Skelter; Melcher doesn't arrive.[3][18]
March 23: Entering uninvited upon 10050 Cielo Drive, which he has known as the residence of Terry Melcher, Manson gets a cool reception from a male friend of Sharon Tate, who, with her husband, Roman Polanski, is the new lessee; Tate looks on. Manson, who possibly knows Melcher no longer lives at the place, has come calling for someone and is told to check the guest house; after briefly going back to the guest house, he leaves. In the evening, when he enters the property again, Manson is received with an equal lack of enthusiasm, at the guest house, by landlord Rudi Altobelli, an entertainment-industry figure who had met him the previous summer through Dennis Wilson. Though Manson asks for Melcher, he prolongs the conversation with Altobelli and attempts to establish a connection with him. Altobelli, who will be going to Europe the next day, lies that he will be out of the United States for a year; he gives Manson incomplete information about Melcher's new location. In learning that Manson had been directed to the guest house by persons at the main house, Altobelli expresses his wish that Manson not disturb his tenants. Manson leaves; Tate later asks Altobelli whether "that creepy-looking guy" showed up at the guest house.[1]:226, 228–31
~April 1: The Family starts settling back into the Spahn Ranch, which they had quit after owner George Spahn, under pressure from police, had shut down an unlicensed nightclub they'd set up at the ranch to raise money for their preparations for Helter Skelter. They will not concern themselves with Spahn's objections; during Helter Skelter, they must be at Spahn, from which they'll have a "clear escape route to the desert."[39][55]
Mid-June: While Manson and Family member Paul Watkins are discussing Helter Skelter, Manson tells Watkins "it looks like we're gonna have to show blackie how to do it."[20]
July 27: In a dispute over money, Family member Bobby Beausoleil acts on Manson's instruction to murder Family acquaintance Gary Hinman. After stabbing Hinman to death, Beausoleil writes "Political piggy" on a wall in Hinman's blood.[1]:33, 102–3
August 6: Beausoleil is arrested after he is caught driving Hinman's car; the knife he used to stab Hinman is found in the car's tire well.[1]:33
August 8: In the afternoon, Manson tells the Family members, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter."[85]
August 9: After midnight, acting on Manson's instruction, three Family members including Tex Watson murder Sharon Tate and four other persons on the premises of 10050 Cielo Drive. Susan Atkins, one of the killers, writes "Pig" on the house's front door, in Sharon Tate's blood. When the killers and a fourth Family member, who accompanied them, return to Spahn Ranch, Watson assures Manson it was Helter Skelter.[86]
August 10: After midnight, three Family members acting on Manson's instruction murder Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at their Los Feliz home, next door to a house at which Manson and Family members had attended a party the previous year.[1]:182, 207 Using LaBianca blood, one of the killers writes "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the living room walls. She writes "Healter [sic] Skelter" on the refrigerator.[1]:39[87]
Impact[edit]
Manson entranced youths of the 1960s and at first, he and his Family represented a peaceful, harmonious, and loving revolution to strive for a better world than they inherited. To Tex Watson Manson had exactly the type of love that he needed [5]. Through this convincing love that Manson put out, he was able to create murderers for his plan to start a race war. [88]
Tex Watson, who, as noted above, was with Manson when Manson first heard the White Album, took part in both the Tate murders and the LaBianca murders. Indeed, in his own recounting of the crimes, he is the only killer to participate directly in every one of the seven homicides and is the sole killer of at least three of the victims.[86][87] While awaiting trial, he told other Family members, “It seemed like I had to do everything.”[89]
On the late 1968 day he and Manson first heard the album, Watson separated himself from the Family,[78] which he did not rejoin until the following March (1969). By that time, Manson’s prophecy had captured the group’s imagination; but Watson would be a while in grasping its details. In his 1978 autobiography (as told to Ray Hoekstra), he wrote as follows:
Although I got it in bits and pieces, some from the women and some from Manson himself, it turned out to be a remarkably complicated yet consistent thing that he [Manson] had discovered and developed in the three months we'd been apart....It was exciting, amazing stuff Charlie was teaching, and we'd sit around him for hours as he told us about the land of milk and honey we'd find underneath the desert and enjoy while the world above us was soaked in blood.[3]
Manson's testimony[edit]
At his 1970 trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders, Manson was permitted to testify, after the attorneys for the other defendants and him had attempted to rest their case, without calling a single witness. Lest he violate the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Aranda by implicating his co-defendants, the jury was removed from the courtroom.[1]:388 He spoke for over an hour.[1]:388 As for Helter Skelter, he said the following:
It means confusion, literally. It doesn't mean any war with anyone. It doesn't mean that some people are going to kill other people ... Helter Skelter is confusion. Confusion is coming down around you fast. If you can't see the confusion coming down around you fast, you can call it what you wish.[1]:390–1
As to there having been a conspiracy, of which he was alleged to have been a part, to commit the murders, Manson said this:
Is it a conspiracy that the music is telling the youth to rise up against the establishment because the establishment is rapidly destroying things? Is that a conspiracy?The music speaks to you every day, but you are too deaf, dumb, and blind to even listen to the music ...It is not my conspiracy. It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says 'Rise,' it says 'Kill.'Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music.[1]:391
In various press and parole board interviews, Manson has dismissed the Helter Skelter conspiracy as an invention by the trial prosecutor to tie him to the murders. At about the one-fifth point of his 1992 parole hearing, Manson said the following:
[A]s far as lining up someone for some kind of helter skelter trip, you know, that's the District Attorney's motive. That's the only thing he could find for a motive to throw up on top of all that confusion he had. There was no such thing in my mind as helter skelter.[90]
Primary sources[edit]
More detail about Helter Skelter is found in the following:
Prosecution's closing argument in trial of Charles Manson and others for the Tate-LaBianca murders. This includes references to and excerpts from testimony of Paul Watkins.
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry
Will You Die for Me? by Charles Watson as told to Ray Hoekstra
My Life with Charles Manson by Paul Watkins and Guillermo Soledad
As has been noted, Bugliosi led the prosecution in the Tate-LaBianca trials; at the time of the trials, he was a Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney.[1]:xiv, 117 Charles Watson is the above-mentioned Family member who took part in the murders. Watkins was an above-mentioned Family member who was not involved in the murders.
Another source is The Family by Ed Sanders (Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, 2002. ISBN 1-56025-396-7). Sanders covered Manson's trial for the Los Angeles Free Press;[91] during the trial and in the period that led up to it, he spent time in the company of Family members.[92] His book avoids much detail of the Beatle and Bible references, but it enables the reader to grasp Manson's vision of the Family as marauders wheeling through Helter Skelter's chaos. (When originally published, in 1971, the book was entitled The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion.[93])
See also the trial testimony of Gregg Jakobson, who met Manson at the home of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson in May or early summer of 1968 and who arranged a recording session for Manson in August of that year.[1]:155, 214 Jakobson indicated that Manson and he had talked about Manson’s "philosophy on life" in various settings "innumerable times" – "Maybe 100."[1]:223[94]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Bugliosi, Vincent; Gentry, Curt (1994). Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (25th Anniversary ed.). W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-08700-X.
2.Jump up ^ Decision in appeal by Charles Manson and others from conviction for Tate-LaBianca murdersPeople v. Manson, 61 Cal. App. 3d 102 (California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division One, August 13, 1976). Retrieved June 19, 2007. The court's characterization of Helter Skelter as a "chimerical vision" appears in the third paragraph from the end of the decision's section headed "The Conspiratorial Relationship."
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Watson, Charles as told to Hoekstra, Ray, Will You Die for Me?, Chapter 11 Watson website. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Bugliosi 1994, 244.
5.Jump up ^ Watkins, Paul and Soledad, Guillermo, My Life with Charles Manson, Chapter 12.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Watkins, Ch. 12
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Bugliosi 1994, 241.
8.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 11
9.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument. Page 30 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Bugliosi 1994, 247.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Prosecution's closing argument Page 28 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
12.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 6 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Testimony of Paul Watkins in the Charles Manson Trial University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
14.Jump up ^ In trial testimony, Manson associate Paul Watkins indicated the militants would be "the Black Muslims." In his autobiography (as told to Ray Hoekstra), Manson associate Tex Watson said Manson sometimes indicated the Black Muslims, sometimes the Black Panthers. On page 246 of the 1994 edition of Bugliosi and Gentry's Helter Skelter is a similar statement, apparently based on statements made to Bugliosi by Paul Watkins. In Chapter 10 of the Watkins autobiography, My Life with Charles Manson (written with Guillermo Soledad), Manson is quoted as follows: "The heavy dudes, though, are the [Black] Muslims. I’ve seen those cats in jail. They sit back real stoic like and watch and stay cool, you know. But they’ll be the ones who bring the shit down. Yeah, it’s gonna come down hard... a full-on war." The statement predates Manson's formulation of Helter Skelter.
15.Jump up ^ Witness Paul Watkins, quoted in prosecution's closing argument 2Violent.com. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
16.Jump up ^ In an interview, Family member Tex Watson has indicated he and Manson first heard the White Album on December 1, 1968;[1] but this does not appear to match recollections in Watson’s autobiography, in which, among other things, Watson seems to indicate he and Manson first heard the album on a Saturday (which December 1 was not).[2] In an autobiography of his own, Paul Watkins, another Family member, seemed to think Manson first heard the album near December’s end. This is not the only chronological mismatch between the recollections of Watkins and Watson.
17.Jump up ^ Manson 2009 documentary by Cineflix Productions et al.
18.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Watkins, Ch. 13
19.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 12 Retrieved 28 April 2007.
20.^ Jump up to: a b c Watkins, Ch. 15
21.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 13 Retrieved 28 April 2007.
22.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 14 Retrieved 28 April 2007
23.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 15 Retrieve 28 April 2007.
24.Jump up ^ Susan Atkins’ Story of 2 Nights of Murder Los Angeles Times, Sunday, December 14, 1969. mansonfamilytoday.info. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
25.Jump up ^ Sanders, Ed (2002). The Family. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 11. ISBN 1-56025-396-7.
26.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Bugliosi 1994, 240.
27.^ Jump up to: a b Sanders 2002, 27.
28.Jump up ^ "Blue Jay Way" review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
29.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 6
30.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 7 Oddly, the song seemed to continue to be about Atkins, even after the murders. When David Dalton and David Felton, in their 1970 Rolling Stone story about Manson, wrote that "Sexy Sadie laid it down for all to see," they were referring not to Atkins's sexual frankness but to her crime account as published within a week of the Tate-LaBianca indictments. Running nearly three pages when it appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, December 14, 1969, the said account was based mainly on a tape-recorded interview of Atkins by her attorney at his office on December 1; it detailed the "2 Nights of Murder" of the Tate-LaBianca crimes. (See Bugliosi 1994, pages 160 and 193.)
31.Jump up ^ "If Christ Came Back as a Con Man" by David Dalton, Gadfly, October 1998. gadflyonline.com. Retrieved 17 September 2007.
32.^ Jump up to: a b c Bugliosi 1994, 242.
33.Jump up ^ helter skelter, defined in Compact Oxford English Dictionary Retrieved June 19, 2007.
34.Jump up ^ helter-skelter, defined in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
35.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 12. As Watkins tells it, Manson said, "Are you hep to what the Beatles are saying?... Dig it, they’re telling it like it is. They know what’s happening in the city; blackie is getting ready. They put the revolution to music... it’s 'Helter-Skelter.' Helter-Skelter is coming down."
36.^ Jump up to: a b c Sanders 2002, 106.
37.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Bugliosi 1994, 243.
38.^ Jump up to: a b Revolution 9: Minute by Minute David J. Coyle. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
39.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 12
40.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 7:
41.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument. Page 30 multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
42.Jump up ^ Paul Watkins (relating Manson's vision), quoted in Bugliosi 1994, page 246.
43.Jump up ^ 1992 parole hearing
44.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 9:
45.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Bugliosi 1994, 239.
46.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 114.
47.Jump up ^ Transcript of Charles Manson's 1992 parole hearing University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
48.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 109–10.
49.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 127.
50.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 138.
51.Jump up ^ Oral history of the Manson murders, Steve Oney, Los Angeles magazine, July 2009, page 152.
52.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 107.
53.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002,107-8.
54.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 10:
55.^ Jump up to: a b Watkins, Ch. 14
56.^ Jump up to: a b Sanders 2002, 111.
57.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 16:
58.Jump up ^ Book of Revelation, Chapter 16, King James Version Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
59.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 21:
60.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 22:
61.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 87.
62.Jump up ^ Abbey Road review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
63.Jump up ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1990). The Beatles Day by Day: A Chronology 1962–1969. New York: Harmony Books. p. 123. ISBN 0-517-57750-X.
64.Jump up ^ Schultheiss, Tom, ed. (1980). A Day in the Life, The Beatles Day-by-Day 1960–1970. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Pierian Press. p. 266. ISBN 0-87650-120-X.
65.Jump up ^ Schultheiss, 268.
66.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 288.
67.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 23
68.Jump up ^ Photograph of Spahn Ranch door University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved April 29, 2007.
69.Jump up ^ In Chapter 3 of his 1978 autobiography, Watson indicated he left the desert camp on October 2, 1969. In a letter of April 1, 2008, to CNN, he revised this and indicated he had left around September 25.
70.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 16
71.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 93, 393.
72.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, 164 and 174.
73.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 13–20.
74.Jump up ^ Magical Mystery Tour review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
75.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 2 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
76.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 8
77.^ Jump up to: a b c Watkins, Ch. 10
78.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 9
79.Jump up ^ The Yellow Submarine at the Internet Movie Database
80.^ Jump up to: a b Schultheiss, 226.
81.Jump up ^ White Album review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
82.Jump up ^ Lewisohn, 110.
83.Jump up ^ In an interview, Tex Watson has indicated he and Manson first heard the album on December 1, 1968;[3] but this does not appear to match recollections in Watson’s autobiography, in which, among other things, Watson seems to indicate he and Manson first heard the album on a Saturday (which December 1 was not).[4] In an autobiography of his own, Family member Paul Watkins seemed to think Manson first heard the album near December’s end. This is not the only chronological mismatch between the recollections of Watkins and Watson.
84.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 12
85.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 13
86.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 14
87.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 15
88.Jump up ^ Atchison, Heide pg 23
89.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 25
90.Jump up ^ Transcript of Charles Manson's 1992 parole hearing Retrieved 2 February 2012.
91.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 330–1.
92.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 341, 346, 349–52, 354–5, 368–9, 376–8, 384–5, 393, 395, 402–3, 427–8, 440, 459.
93.Jump up ^ The Family, first edition amazon.com. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
94.Jump up ^ Also Jakobson’s trial testimony.
External links[edit]
Prosecution's closing argument in trial of Charles Manson 2Violent.com. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Prosecution's closing argument in trial of Charles Manson Trial Watch. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Testimony of Paul Watkins in the Charles Manson Trial Trial Watch. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Book of Revelation, Chapter 9, King James Version Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Will You Die for Me? Charles Watson autobiography as told to Ray Hoekstra, 1978. Watson Website. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
Testimony of Gregg Jakobson in the Charles Manson trial truthontatelabianca.com. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
Charles Manson and the Family: The Application of Sociological Theories to Multiple Murder Retrieved October 13, 2014.


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: Manson Family
1969 in the United States
Racism in the United States
Apocalypticism
Book of Revelation







Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Edit links
This page was last modified on 20 June 2015, at 05:42.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(Manson_scenario)










Helter Skelter (Manson scenario)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search




[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




This article contains too many or too-lengthy quotations for an encyclopedic entry.  (December 2013)


Ambox rewrite.svg

This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines.  (December 2013)




This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably.  (December 2013)




This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience.  (December 2013)


In the months leading up to the Tate/LaBianca murders, Charles Manson often spoke to associates about Helter Skelter, an apocalyptic war arising from racial tensions between blacks and whites.[1]:311–2 This "chimerical vision"—as it was termed by the court that heard Manson's appeal from his conviction for the killings[2]—involved reference to music of The Beatles (particularly songs from the album The Beatles, also known as The White Album) and to the New Testament's Book of Revelation.[1]:238–44 Manson and his associates were convicted of the murders based on the prosecution's theory that they were part of a plan to trigger the Helter Skelter scenario.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background 1.1 Fulfillment
2 References to the Beatles and the Book of Revelation 2.1 Beatles lyrics, as interpreted by Manson
2.2 Book of Revelation, as interpreted by Manson
2.3 Synthesis
3 Abbey Road epilogue
4 Timeline 4.1 1967
4.2 1968
4.3 1969
5 Impact
6 Manson's testimony
7 Primary sources
8 Footnotes
9 External links

Background[edit]
Manson had been predicting racial war for some time before he used the term Helter Skelter.[3][4] His first use of the term was at a gathering of the Family on New Year's Eve 1968. This took place at the Family's base at Myers Ranch, near California's Death Valley.[4][5]
In its final form, which was reached by mid-February 1969,[6] the scenario had Manson as not only the war's ultimate beneficiary but its musical cause. He and the Family would create an album with songs whose messages concerning the war would be as subtle as those he had heard in songs of The Beatles.[3][7] More than merely foretell the conflict, this would trigger it; for, in instructing "the young love,"[8] America's white youth, to join the Family, it would draw the young, white female hippies out of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury.[6][9][10] Black men, thus deprived of the white women whom the political changes of the 1960s had made sexually available to them, would be without an outlet for their frustrations and would lash out in violent crimes against whites.[10][11] A resultant murderous rampage against blacks by frightened whites would then be exploited by militant blacks to provoke an internecine war of near-extermination between racist and non-racist whites over blacks' treatment. Then the militant blacks would arise to sneakily finish off the few whites they would know to have survived; indeed, they would kill off all non-blacks.[12][13][14]
In this holocaust, the members of the enlarged Family would have little to fear; they would wait out the war in a secret city that was underneath Death Valley that they would reach through a hole in the ground. As the only actual remaining whites upon the race war's true conclusion, they would emerge from underground to rule the now-satisfied blacks, who, as the vision went, would be incapable of running the world; Manson "would scratch [the black man's] fuzzy head and kick him in the butt and tell him to go pick the cotton and go be a good nigger...."[13][15]
The term Helter Skelter was from the Beatles song of that name, which referred to the British amusement-park ride of that name and was interpreted by Manson as concerned with the war.[3] The song was on the Beatles' White Album, first heard by Manson within a month or so of its November 1968 release:[16]
Former Manson follower Catherine Share, in a 2009 documentary called Manson, for Cineflix Productions et al., claimed:
When the Beatles’ White Album came out, Charlie listened to it over and over and over and over again. He was quite certain that the Beatles had tapped in to his spirit, the truth — that everything was gonna come down and the black man was going to rise. It wasn’t that Charlie listened to the White Album and started following what he thought the Beatles were saying. It was the other way around. He thought that the Beatles were talking about what he had been expounding for years. Every single song on the White Album, he felt that they were singing about us. The song "Helter Skelter" — he was interpreting that to mean the blacks were gonna go up and the whites were gonna go down.[17]


Fulfillment[edit]
In the months before the murders were conceived, Manson and his followers began preparing for Helter Skelter, which they thought inevitable. In addition to working on songs for the hoped-for album, which would set off everything, they prepared vehicles and other items for their escape from the Los Angeles area (their home territory) to Death Valley when the days of violence would arrive. They pored over maps to plot a route that would bypass highways and get them to the desert safely. Indeed, Manson was convinced that the song "Helter Skelter" contained a coded statement of the route they should follow.[1]:244–5[18][19]
Manson had said the war would start in the summer of 1969.[11] In late June of that year, months after he'd been frustrated in his efforts to get the album made,[18] he told a male Family member that Helter Skelter was "ready to happen."[20] "Blackie never did anything without whitey showin’ him how," he said. "It looks like we’re gonna have to show blackie how to do it."[20]
Main article: Tate-LaBianca murders
On August 8, 1969, the day Manson instructed his followers to carry out the first of two sets of notorious murders, he told the Family, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter."[21] When the murderers returned to Spahn Ranch, the Family's Los Angeles area headquarters, after the crime, Manson asked Tex Watson, the sole man among them, whether it had been Helter Skelter. "Yeah, it was sure Helter Skelter," Watson replied.[22]
At the conclusion of the second set of murders, the following night (August 9–10), one of the killers wrote "Healter [sic] Skelter" on the refrigerator of the house in which the murders took place. That, along with other references to Beatles songs, was written in blood.[23][24]
References to the Beatles and the Book of Revelation[edit]
When The Beatles first came to the United States, in February 1964, Charles Manson was an inmate in the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island, in southern Puget Sound. He was serving a sentence for attempting to cash a forged U.S. Treasury check;[1]:142–3 he was 29 years old.[1]:136 His fellow inmates found his interest in the British rock group "almost an obsession." Taught by inmate Alvin Karpis to play the steel guitar, Manson told many persons that "given the chance, he could be much bigger than the Beatles."[1]:145[25]
To the Family, a few years later, Manson spoke of The Beatles as "the soul" and "part of 'the hole in the infinite.'"[6] When he delivered the Helter Skelter prophecy around the campfire at Myers Ranch, the Family members believed it:
[A]t that point Charlie’s credibility seemed indisputable. For weeks he had been talking of revolution, prophesying it. We had listened to him rap; we were geared for it – making music to program the young love. Then, from across the Atlantic, the hottest music group in the world substantiates Charlie with an album which is almost blood-curdling in its depiction of violence. It was uncanny.[6]
In My Life with Charles Manson, Paul Watkins wrote that Manson "spent hours quoting and interpreting Revelation to the Family, particularly verses from chapter 9."[18] In an autobiography written with assistance some years after the murders, Tex Watson said that, apart from Chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation, the Bible had "absolutely no meaning in our life in the Family."[3] (Even so, Watson stated that "we... knew that Charlie was Jesus Christ.")[3]
For a period in his childhood, Manson lived with an aunt and uncle, while his mother was in prison. He later told a counselor that the aunt and uncle had "some marital difficulty until they became interested in religion and became very extreme."[1]:137
Beatles lyrics, as interpreted by Manson[edit]
I Will
Lyric: And when at last I find you/ Your song will fill the air/ Sing it loud so I can hear you/ Make it easy to be near you Meaning: The Beatles are looking for Jesus Christ.[26]Honey Pie
Lyric: Oh, honey pie, my position is tragic/ Come and show me the magic/ Of your Hollywood song Meaning: The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.[26] They want Manson to create his "song," that is, his album that will set off Helter Skelter.[3]Lyric: Oh, honey pie, you are driving me frantic/ Sail across the Atlantic/ To be where you belong Meaning: The Beatles want Jesus Christ to come to England[26]Consequence: In early 1969, Manson and his female followers attempt to contact the Beatles by letter, telegram, and telephone; they are struggling to make clear to the Beatles that it is they, the Beatles, who are to come across the Atlantic, to join the family in Death Valley.[26]Lyric: I'm in love, but I'm lazy Meaning: The Beatles love Jesus Christ but are too lazy to go looking for him[26] They've worn themselves out in a trip to India to visit the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whom they now regard as a false prophet.[3][26]Don't Pass Me By
Lyric: I Listen for your footsteps coming up the drive/ Listen for your footsteps, but they don't arrive/ Waiting for your knock dear on my old front door/ I don't hear it; does it mean you don't love me any more?/ I hear the clock a-ticking on the mantel shelf/ See the hands a-moving, but I'm by myself/ I wonder where you are tonight and why I'm by myself/ I don't see you; does it mean you don't love me any more? Meaning: The Beatles are calling for Jesus Christ.[26]Yer Blues
Lyric: Yes, I'm lonely; wanna die/ Yes, I'm lonely; wanna die/ If I ain't dead already/ Girl, you know the reason why[26] Meaning: The Beatles are calling for Jesus Christ.Blue Jay Way
Lyric: There's a fog upon L.A./ And my friends have lost their way/ They'll be over soon they said/ Now they've lost themselves instead/ Please don't be long/ Please don't you be very long/ Or I may be asleep. Meaning: The Beatles are calling for Jesus Christ.[26]This connects the Helter Skelter prophecy with a song from outside The Beatles. "Blue Jay Way" appeared on Magical Mystery Tour, the 1967 album that preceded The Beatles and that had, itself, influenced Manson. The Family had come to call its roundabout journey from its place of origin, San Francisco, to its place of settlement, the Los Angeles area, the "Magical Mystery Tour."[27]The primary sources of information on Helter Skelter do not detail Manson's interpretation of the lyrics of this song. If the "friends" are imagined to be the Beatles, looking for Manson in Los Angeles, the lyrics retain their ordinary sense, in which someone is trying to get to a place in L.A., not out of it. If, on the other hand, the "friends" are the Family, who, because of the "fog upon L.A.," have "lost their way" to the Beatles in England, the interpretation would seem to be consistent with Manson's view that the lyrics are a call to him ("Please don't you be very long") and that the Beatles want him to "sail across the Atlantic." (See Honey Pie, above.)"Blue Jay Way" is the name of an actual Los Angeles street; the primary sources of information about Helter Skelter do not indicate whether Manson knew that. George Harrison was staying at a house on that street when he wrote the song.[28]Sexy Sadie
Significance: Manson had renamed Family member Susan Atkins "Sadie Mae Glutz" long before the release of The Beatles. This served to reinforce the mental connection Manson felt he had with The Beatles.[7]In San Francisco, where she met Manson, Atkins had been a topless dancer.[1]:80 Paul Watkins wrote that Atkins "thrived on sex," and he even seemed to suggest she had the nickname Sexy Sadie before the Family heard the song.[29] Similarly, Tex Watson wrote that the words of "Sexy Sadie" fit Atkins so well "that it made us all sure [the Beatles] had to be singing directly to us." Watson specifically noted that the song's title character "came along to turn on everyone," "broke the rules," and "laid it down for all to see." Atkins, he said, "had broken all the rules, sexually, and liked to talk about her experience and lack of inhibitions."[30]Rocky Raccoon
Significance: Rocky Raccoon means "coon," vulgar term for a black man[7]Of all the Beatles songs known to have been connected with Helter Skelter, this is the only one that mentions the Bible. (It is possibly the only Beatles song at all that mentions the Bible.) A play on the Gideons International practice of leaving Bibles in hotel rooms, the references are to a Bible left in the room of the title character by a "Gideon": So one day [Rocky Raccoon] walked into town/ Booked himself a room in the local saloon/ Rocky Raccoon/ Checked into his room/ Only to find Gideon's Bible... Now Rocky Raccoon/ He fell back in his room/ Only to find Gideon's Bible/ Gideon checked out/ And he left it no doubt/ To help with good Rocky's revival.Manson made the connection. In the period before his trial, he was visited at the Los Angeles County Jail by David Dalton and David Felton, who were preparing a Rolling Stone story, about him, that appeared in the magazine in June 1970. In an article in the October 1998 issue of the periodical Gadfly, Dalton, recounting the visit to Manson, relayed the remarks Manson made to Felton and him about "Rocky Raccoon": "Coon," said Charlie. "You know that's a word they use for black people. You know the line, 'Gideon checked out / And left no doubt / To help good Rocky's revival.' Rocky's revival—re-vival. It means coming back to life. The black man is going to come into power again. 'Gideon checks out' means that it's all written out there in the New Testament, in the Book of Revelations [sic]."[31]Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Significance: The Beatles are telling blacks to get guns and fight whitesSample lyric: When I hold you in my arms/ And I feel my finger on your trigger/ I know no one can do me no harm/ Because happiness is a warm gun/ (Bang bang, shoot shoot)[7]
While in the Death Valley area after the New Year's Eve gathering at which Manson announced Helter Skelter, the Family played over and over The White Album's five following songs:[6]
Blackbird
Lyric: Blackbird singing in the dead of night/ Take these broken wings and learn to fly/ All your life/ You were only waiting for this moment to arise. Meaning: The black man is going to arise and overthrow the white man. The Beatles are programming blacks to rise.[7]In detailing Helter Skelter in his autobiography, Tex Watson invoked this lyric obliquely: [The white establishment] would slaughter thousands of blacks, but actually only manage to eliminate all the Uncle Toms, since the "true black race" (sometimes Charlie thought they were the Black Muslims, sometimes the Panthers) would have hidden, waiting for their moment.[3] (Emphasis added)Helter Skelter
Lyric: When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide/ Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride Significance: A reference to the Family's emergence from "the Bottomless Pit," the underground Death Valley hideaway where the group will escape the violence of Helter Skelter[32]In British English, helter-skelter not only has its meanings of "confused" or "confusedly" but is the name of an amusement park slide,[33] which this portion of the lyrics suggests is one of the term's surface denotations in the song. There is nothing to indicate Manson was aware of this meaning.Lyric: Look out... Helter Skelter... She's coming down fast... Yes she is. Meaning: The upcoming explosion of race-based violence is imminent. These are the "last few months, weeks, perhaps days, of the old order."[3]Even to someone unaware that helter-skelter is the name of a slide, the song's mention of a slide might have indicated that the "she" in this part of the lyrics is someone who, literally or otherwise, is riding on a slide and "coming down fast" (i.e., "helter-skelter", or "out of control"). In My Life with Charles Manson, Paul Watkins makes clear Manson construed "she" as a reference to the words "helter skelter" themselves. It is Helter Skelter—which, in America, at least, can be the noun "confusion"[34]—that is coming down fast, i.e., is imminent.[35]In trial testimony, Gregg Jakobson, who first met Manson at the home of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson in May or early summer of 1968, described a mural he had eventually seen at the Spahn Ranch, where Manson and most of the Family were residing at the time of the murders:Jakobson: There was a room called — it was an old saloon in one of the [ranch’s] old [movie] sets.Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi: Among the front buildings at the ranch?Jakobson: Right.Bugliosi: Right off Santa Susana Road there?Jakobson: Yes. And there was a big mural in day-glo colors. It glowed with blue light. It depicted Helter Skelter, and it was written.Bugliosi: The words [Helter Skelter] were written?Jakobson. Yes. And there was a picture of the mountains and the desert and Goler Wash, and so on, and Helter Skelter coming down out of the sky.Bugliosi: Something like a map?Jakobson: It was more like a mural that covered the whole wall. It was rather impressive.Manson also hears the Beatles whispering to him to call them in London.[36] (See Honey Pie, above.)Piggies
Lyric: What they need's a damned good whacking Significance: Blacks are going to give "the piggies"—i.e., the establishment—a damned good whacking.[32] This phrase Manson particularly liked.[3]Lyric: Everywhere there's lots of piggies/ Living piggy lives/ You can see them out for dinner/ With their piggy wives/ Clutching forks and knives/ To eat their bacon. In Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, which he wrote with Curt Gentry, Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson and the others accused of the Tate-LaBianca murders, draws attention to this. He notes that Leno LaBianca was left with a knife in his throat and a fork in his stomach. (Bugliosi has to make the point somewhat indirectly in the text because George Harrison, who wrote the song, refused the book authors' permission to quote the lyrics.)[32]Revolution 1
Lyric: You say you want a revolution/ Well you know/ We all want to change the world.../ But when you talk about destruction/ Don't you know that you can count me out (in) Significance: The singing of "in" after the word "out," even though "in" doesn't appear in the lyrics as they were presented on the printed sheet enclosed with the album, indicates that the Beatles had been undecided but now favor revolution.[1]:242–3 Though they are no longer on a "peace-and-love trip," they can't admit as much to the establishment.[3]Lyric: You say you got a real solution/ Well you know/ We'd all love to see the plan Meaning: The Beatles want Manson to tell them how to escape the horrors of Helter Skelter.[37] They are ready for the violence; they want Manson to create his album that will tell them what to do. Its songs will be "the plan" whose subtle messages will be aimed at the various parts of society that will be involved in Helter Skelter.[3][7]Revolution 9
This is the White Album piece Manson spoke about the most,[37] the one he deemed most significant.[3] An audio collage more than eight minutes long, it has no lyrics.Significance: Manson hears machine-gun fire, the oinking of pigs, and the word "Rise." The piece is audio representation of the coming conflict; the repeated utterance "Number 9" is reference to Chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation. Revolution 9 is prophecy, paralleling Revelation 9.[37] "Revolution 9" = Revelation 9.[13]"Rise" is "one of [Manson's] big words"; the black man is going to "rise" up against the white man.[1]:241–2 While playing "Revolution 9," Manson screams "Rise! Rise! Rise!"[36] (From 2:33 to 2:50 of the recording, a voice that could be that of John Lennon does, in fact, repeat what is possibly the word "Right," not "Rise."[38] About twenty-five seconds before that word is first heard, a voice says something that seems to include the words "lots of stab wounds";[37] but Bugliosi and Gentry, who mention this in Helter Skelter, do not indicate whether Manson or any of the Family members heard it.)Manson also hears the Beatles whispering: "Charlie, Charlie, send us a telegram."[36] (See Honey Pie, above.) At approximately 3:45 of the recording, a voice that could be that of George Harrison does, in fact, seem to be saying something about a telegram.[38]
In his autobiography, Tex Watson tied the prophecy to one more White Album song, Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey, though he changed monkey to monkeys, plural. While on LSD at a party in late March 1969, Watson explained, he and two Manson girls realized they themselves were "the monkeys,... just bright-eyed, free little animals, totally uninhibited." As they started "bouncing around the apartment, throwing food against the walls, and laughing hysterically," they were, in their own view (if not that of the others in attendance), "all love—spontaneous, childlike love." It would seem Watson took the song's "me and my monkey[s]" to signify Manson and the Family, though he doesn't say it that way; he doesn't indicate whether the interpretation was brought to Manson's attention.[39]
Manson himself invoked, too, "Yellow Submarine," a Beatles song that was released in 1966 and that inspired an animated movie of the same title. The movie was released in November 1968, within a week or so of The White Album. In the first months of 1969, after he had delivered the Helter Skelter prophecy around the New Year's Eve campfire near Death Valley, Manson applied the name "Yellow Submarine" to a canary-yellow, Canoga Park house to which the Family repaired at his instruction. There, as they would prepare for Helter Skelter, they would be "submerged beneath the awareness of the outside world."[6]
Book of Revelation, as interpreted by Manson[edit]
CHAPTER 7[40]
Verse 4: And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. One hundred forty-four thousand would be the membership of the Family when, in Helter Skelter's aftermath, it would emerge from "the bottomless pit" to rule.[1]:246[41] "It would be our world then. There would be no one else, except for us and the black servants."[42]It is difficult to determine how the Family's number was to grow to one hundred forty-four thousand. In his autobiography, Charles Watson seems to think, with incredulity, that the growth was somehow simply to be a result of procreation;[3] the trial testimony of Paul Watkins, on the other hand, seems to indicate the increase was to result from the release of the Family's album, which would draw "the young love" to the group.[13] The Family would also acquire (rescue) babies made homeless in Helter Skelter.[6] Several decades were to pass before the Family would at last depart the Bottomless Pit; the group would live there in miniaturized form.[43]
CHAPTER 9:[44]
Verses 2–3: And he opened the bottomless pit.... And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. locusts = Beatles[45]as the scorpions of the earth have power = the power of scorpion, that is, Manson, a Scorpio, will prevail[18]bottomless pit = as noted above, the underground city in which the Family will ride out the ravages of Helter Skelter. The Family would be lowered into this by means of a gold rope;[46] accordingly, Manson bought expensive gold rope at a Santa Monica sporting-goods store.[47]Verses 7–8: ... [A]nd [the locusts'] faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women.... the Beatles are men with long hair[45]Verse 17: And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. breastplates of fire = the Beatles' electric guitarsfire and smoke and brimstone out of their mouths = the Beatles' powerful lyrics,[45] the power of their music to ignite Helter Skelter[3]Verse 7: And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle things that are shaped like unto horses prepared unto battle = the dune buggies the Family will be riding during Helter Skelter[45]In Manson's view, dune buggies were the ideal vehicles of the apocalypse; they would enable the Family to outrun police in the Bottomless Pit and were light enough that a few of the girls could carry them. During the war, the Family would be making forays from the Bottomless Pit. Accordingly, the dune buggies the Family acquired, licitly and otherwise, were fitted, on Manson's inspiration, with machine gun mounts; while the men would drive, the girls would operate the guns.[6][48]Fitted next to the steering wheel of Manson's personal buggy was a metal scabbard. It held a sword with which, in July 1969, Manson slashed the ear of Family acquaintance Gary Hinman.[1]:102[49] On the buggy's front was a winch that Manson envisioned using to evade police, apparently in Helter Skelter. He would fling the winch's rope up into a tree and then winch himself up out of sight as pursuing officers would drive haplessly by.[50]In an article published in Los Angeles magazine in July 2009, as the fortieth anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders approached, former Manson associate Catherine Share was quoted as follows: Charlie talked about Helter Skelter every night. … [W]e’d learn to live off the land. We’d live in the desert and come in on dune buggies and rescue the orphaned white babies. We’d be the saviors.[51]Verse 15: And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men the four angels = The Beatles,[45] prophets who are preparing the way for Jesus Christ, Manson, to lead the chosen people away to safety[3]slay the third part of men = destroy the white race, that is (it would seem), one of the three races[45]Verse 16: And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. two hundred thousand thousand horsemen = motorcycle gang-members Manson is attempting to recruit into the Family, in advance of Helter Skelter[3][45]The motorcyclists, whose attention Manson began cultivating when the Family moved to the Yellow Submarine, were to be the Family's "needed military wing."[52] They and the Family would cruise through Helter Skelter in the manner of a flock of birds, all turning in one direction or another without even a sound from their leader.[18] If the cyclists were to be worthy of surviving Helter Skelter alongside the Family, it was, of course, necessary they attain the Family's level of hippie enlightenment. Toward this end, Manson unleashed his girls as seductresses, to wean the gang members from predisposition to marriage as well as materialism and concern with time of day (the latter horrors jointly embodied in the wearing of wristwatches); with a passing exception or two, the cyclists remained bourgeois.[1]:101[53]Verse 4: And it was commanded [that the locusts] should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree = only humans, not nature, will be destroyed in Helter Skelter[18]seal of God in their foreheads = a mark that would indicate whether someone was on Manson's side or not;[45] in Helter Skelter, those without it would perish[3] (Manson never described the mark, but he left no doubt he would be able to recognize it.)[3][45]Verse 20: And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.... worship of idols of gold and silver and brass = the establishment's worship of automobiles, houses, and money[45]Verse 1: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. the fifth angel = according to Gregg Jakobson, who arranged a recording session for Manson: Stu Sutcliffe, one of the original five, not four, Beatlesaccording to Family members such as Tex Watson and Paul Watkins: Manson[3][18][45]
CHAPTER 10:[54]
Verses 1 and 2: And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.... For about two weeks after their departure from the "Yellow Submarine," Family members moved into—or broke into—an unoccupied mansion that had recently been vacated by the rock group Iron Butterfly. Overlooking the sea from the Mulholland Hills, the house met Manson's demand that "[the Family] have access to the sea and to the desert and that the two roads be joined."[55]With the help of three hundred dollars' worth of topographical maps, the Family laid out a complete and continuous Helter Skelter escape route that ran from Malibu beach (near this Iron Butterfly mansion), past the Family's headquarters at Spahn Ranch, and to Golar Wash, site of the Family's desert ranches near Death Valley. From Spahn, Manson, peering toward the heart of Los Angeles, really could have his right foot upon (toward) the sea and his left foot upon the earth. It was even rumored that Manson or a Family member stole and maybe ruined a half-track supposedly used to clear a Spahn-area portion of the route.[18][56]The escape route was marked with locations for supply-caches, command posts, campsites. The Family's topographical maps were found buried in Death Valley.[18][56]
CHAPTER 16:[57]
Verses 14 and 16: For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.... And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. In his autobiography, Watson seems to indicate that Manson spoke of Helter Skelter as Armageddon, a term that has come to stand for apocalyptic war.[3][58] In Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, Bugliosi seems to confirm this.[37]
CHAPTER 21:[59]
Verses 10 and 18: And [an angel] carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God... and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.Verse 21: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.Verse 23: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. The Family's Helter Skelter sanctuary under Death Valley would be a city of gold where there would be no sun and no moon.[13]
CHAPTER 22:[60]
Verse 2: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.... The city underneath Death Valley would have a tree that would bear twelve different kinds of fruit, a different kind each month.[13] (The city was also expected to have chocolate fountains; but in that detail, it seems to have departed from the Biblical scheme.)[61]
Synthesis[edit]
To Manson, the synthesis of Beatles and Bible was hardly to be questioned:
Look at [the Beatles'] songs: songs sung all over the world by the young love; it ain’t nothin’ new.... It’s written in... Revelation, all about the four angels programming the holocaust…the four angels looking for the fifth angel to lead the people into the pit of fire…right out to Death Valley. ... It’s all in black and white, in The White Album — white, so there ain’t no mistakin’ the color....[18]
Abbey Road epilogue[edit]
If Manson's interest in and references to Magical Mystery Tour constituted a prologue to his focus on the White Album, there was also a kind of epilogue in the form of Family references to Abbey Road, the Beatle album that came after the White Album.
Abbey Road was released in the United Kingdom in late September 1969,[62][63][64] after the murders. By that time, most of the Family was at the group's camp in the Death Valley area, searching for the Bottomless Pit.[1]:233 Around October 1 (the U.S. release date),[65] three Family members arrived at the camp with an advance copy of the album, which the group played on a battery-operated machine.[66]
In the second week of October, the desert redoubts were raided by law officers who found the Family with stolen vehicles, including dune buggies; Manson and several others were arrested.[1]:126–8 By mid-November, when Manson had become a suspect in the Tate-LaBianca murders, Family members who had been released from jail had made their way back to Spahn Ranch.[67] There, on November 25, 1969, LAPD confiscated a door on which someone had written "Helter Scelter [sic] is coming down fast."[1]:294
A photograph shows the confiscated door was also inscribed with "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 — ALL GOOD CHILDREN (Go to Heaven?)" [sic].[68] This children's rhyme is heard in "You Never Give Me Your Money," a song that appears on Abbey Road. In October 1970, the prosecution offered testimony about the door during Manson's trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders; but only the "Helter Skelter" inscription seems to have been noted.[1]:376
In late September or early October 1969,[69] before the arrests, Tex Watson had left the desert camp and gone on to separate himself from the Family. Late in the separation, he, too, bought a cassette recording of Abbey Road. Walking for miles across the desert to rejoin the Family in late October, he played his tape continuously to see what The Beatles might have to tell him. When, at the last moment, he turned back, an old prospector informed him the arrests had taken place. Watson returned to his native Texas, where his own arrest, for the Tate-LaBianca murders, occurred a month later.[70]
In late July 1970, while Manson was on trial, three persons were hacked, two fatally, on the beach near Santa Barbara, California. One of the Manson girls spoke of this incident as "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," an Abbey Road song that plainly is about homicidal madness.[71]
Timeline[edit]
1967[edit]
March 21: Charles Manson, aged 32, is released from Terminal Island, San Pedro, California, after seven years' imprisonment for attempting to cash a forged government check. He is granted permission to move to San Francisco.[1]:146
Summer: Manson and the first members of what will come to be known as his Family leave the San Francisco area in an old school bus they modified in hippie style.[72] (In an alternate account, some months of Manson travels and acquisition of Family members precede the group's departure from San Francisco in the school bus, around November 10.)[73]
November 27: The Beatles' album Magical Mystery Tour is released in the United States.[74] The Family will come to call its geographical and psychological movement in the school bus "the Magical Mystery Tour."[27]
1968[edit]
April 4: Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Late spring: Having ended up in the Los Angeles area after months of roaming through the West Coast and the Southwest,[1]:174 Manson and the Family become associated with The Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson after Wilson picks up two female Family members hitchhiking in Malibu. Several Family members begin living in Wilson's Pacific Palisades home while, by midsummer,[75] others will be living at the Spahn Ranch in (or near) Chatsworth.[1]:250 During the spring/summer of 1968, Dennis Wilson also introduces Manson to his friend Terry Melcher, a record producer who has worked not only with the Beach Boys, but also with The Byrds, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Mamas & The Papas, & many other L.A. based musical acts.
August 9: Gregg Jakobson, another music industry friend of Dennis Wilson, pays for studio time to record songs written and performed by Manson.[1]:214
August: Three weeks before his lease on his house is to run out, Dennis Wilson has his manager evict the Family members from it.[1]:251
October 31: Having been consolidated at the Spahn Ranch since the eviction from Dennis Wilson's house, the Family members set out in a new school bus (purchased September 1)[76] toward Death Valley to set up an alternate base.[77]
November 1: The Family members arrive at the Death Valley area's Golar Wash, maybe one hundred twenty miles north of Los Angeles and ninety miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada. They load themselves into the unused Myers Ranch, which is owned by the grandmother of a new Family member.[77]
November 3: When Manson and Family member Paul Watkins take a short trip from Golar Wash to visit "Ma Barker," owner of another unused (or little-used) ranch,[78] not far from Myers, Manson presents himself and Watkins to her as musicians in need of a residence congenial to their work. When she agrees to let them stay at the ranch if they'll fix what needs fixing, Manson honors her with one of The Beach Boys' gold records, several of which he'd been given by Dennis Wilson. On the way back to Golar Wash, Watkins, who has seen a newspaper while they've been on their trek, mentions a police shooting of a young black in San Francisco; Manson replies that a black revolt has been building up for years. He says the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr., is a "heavy number."[77]
November 13: Animated movie Yellow Submarine, based on the song of the same name by The Beatles, is released in the United States.[79]
November 25: Release of the Beatles' White Album (formal name, The Beatles) in the United States.[80] (Release in the United Kingdom was November 22.)[80][81][82]
Mid-December: Family member Paul Watkins and two female Family members go to Los Angeles for a few days. While they're there, they see Yellow Submarine.[6]
Before the end of December: While back at Spahn Ranch, Manson and Charles "Tex" Watson visit an acquaintance in nearby Topanga Canyon. When, in response to a question from the acquaintance, they tell him they haven't heard the new Beatles album, he plays it for them.[83]
New Year's Eve: Around a campfire on a bitter cold night at the Myers Ranch, the Family members listen as Manson lays out the prophecy of Helter Skelter.[84]
1969[edit]
~January 10: Word comes from Manson, who is in Los Angeles, that the Family is to move from the desert to a house he's found in Canoga Park. Because the canary-yellow house is a place where the Family, preparing for Helter Skelter, will be "submerged beneath the awareness of the outside world," Manson dubs it the Yellow Submarine.[6]
Mid-February: While riding in a car with Paul Watkins, Manson sees a white woman and a black man holding hands on the street. He explains to Watkins that that's why black men have not yet risen up in rebellion against whites: they're pacified by access to white women.[6][10]
Before mid-March: In preparation for a visit they are for some reason expecting from Dennis Wilson's friend Terry Melcher, owner of a record company, Family members clean the Canoga Park house, set up their instruments, and prepare vegetables, lasagna, salad, French bread, freshly baked cookies, and marijuana. They are hoping Melcher will agree to record the music they've been preparing to trigger Helter Skelter; Melcher doesn't arrive.[3][18]
March 23: Entering uninvited upon 10050 Cielo Drive, which he has known as the residence of Terry Melcher, Manson gets a cool reception from a male friend of Sharon Tate, who, with her husband, Roman Polanski, is the new lessee; Tate looks on. Manson, who possibly knows Melcher no longer lives at the place, has come calling for someone and is told to check the guest house; after briefly going back to the guest house, he leaves. In the evening, when he enters the property again, Manson is received with an equal lack of enthusiasm, at the guest house, by landlord Rudi Altobelli, an entertainment-industry figure who had met him the previous summer through Dennis Wilson. Though Manson asks for Melcher, he prolongs the conversation with Altobelli and attempts to establish a connection with him. Altobelli, who will be going to Europe the next day, lies that he will be out of the United States for a year; he gives Manson incomplete information about Melcher's new location. In learning that Manson had been directed to the guest house by persons at the main house, Altobelli expresses his wish that Manson not disturb his tenants. Manson leaves; Tate later asks Altobelli whether "that creepy-looking guy" showed up at the guest house.[1]:226, 228–31
~April 1: The Family starts settling back into the Spahn Ranch, which they had quit after owner George Spahn, under pressure from police, had shut down an unlicensed nightclub they'd set up at the ranch to raise money for their preparations for Helter Skelter. They will not concern themselves with Spahn's objections; during Helter Skelter, they must be at Spahn, from which they'll have a "clear escape route to the desert."[39][55]
Mid-June: While Manson and Family member Paul Watkins are discussing Helter Skelter, Manson tells Watkins "it looks like we're gonna have to show blackie how to do it."[20]
July 27: In a dispute over money, Family member Bobby Beausoleil acts on Manson's instruction to murder Family acquaintance Gary Hinman. After stabbing Hinman to death, Beausoleil writes "Political piggy" on a wall in Hinman's blood.[1]:33, 102–3
August 6: Beausoleil is arrested after he is caught driving Hinman's car; the knife he used to stab Hinman is found in the car's tire well.[1]:33
August 8: In the afternoon, Manson tells the Family members, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter."[85]
August 9: After midnight, acting on Manson's instruction, three Family members including Tex Watson murder Sharon Tate and four other persons on the premises of 10050 Cielo Drive. Susan Atkins, one of the killers, writes "Pig" on the house's front door, in Sharon Tate's blood. When the killers and a fourth Family member, who accompanied them, return to Spahn Ranch, Watson assures Manson it was Helter Skelter.[86]
August 10: After midnight, three Family members acting on Manson's instruction murder Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at their Los Feliz home, next door to a house at which Manson and Family members had attended a party the previous year.[1]:182, 207 Using LaBianca blood, one of the killers writes "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the living room walls. She writes "Healter [sic] Skelter" on the refrigerator.[1]:39[87]
Impact[edit]
Manson entranced youths of the 1960s and at first, he and his Family represented a peaceful, harmonious, and loving revolution to strive for a better world than they inherited. To Tex Watson Manson had exactly the type of love that he needed [5]. Through this convincing love that Manson put out, he was able to create murderers for his plan to start a race war. [88]
Tex Watson, who, as noted above, was with Manson when Manson first heard the White Album, took part in both the Tate murders and the LaBianca murders. Indeed, in his own recounting of the crimes, he is the only killer to participate directly in every one of the seven homicides and is the sole killer of at least three of the victims.[86][87] While awaiting trial, he told other Family members, “It seemed like I had to do everything.”[89]
On the late 1968 day he and Manson first heard the album, Watson separated himself from the Family,[78] which he did not rejoin until the following March (1969). By that time, Manson’s prophecy had captured the group’s imagination; but Watson would be a while in grasping its details. In his 1978 autobiography (as told to Ray Hoekstra), he wrote as follows:
Although I got it in bits and pieces, some from the women and some from Manson himself, it turned out to be a remarkably complicated yet consistent thing that he [Manson] had discovered and developed in the three months we'd been apart....It was exciting, amazing stuff Charlie was teaching, and we'd sit around him for hours as he told us about the land of milk and honey we'd find underneath the desert and enjoy while the world above us was soaked in blood.[3]
Manson's testimony[edit]
At his 1970 trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders, Manson was permitted to testify, after the attorneys for the other defendants and him had attempted to rest their case, without calling a single witness. Lest he violate the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Aranda by implicating his co-defendants, the jury was removed from the courtroom.[1]:388 He spoke for over an hour.[1]:388 As for Helter Skelter, he said the following:
It means confusion, literally. It doesn't mean any war with anyone. It doesn't mean that some people are going to kill other people ... Helter Skelter is confusion. Confusion is coming down around you fast. If you can't see the confusion coming down around you fast, you can call it what you wish.[1]:390–1
As to there having been a conspiracy, of which he was alleged to have been a part, to commit the murders, Manson said this:
Is it a conspiracy that the music is telling the youth to rise up against the establishment because the establishment is rapidly destroying things? Is that a conspiracy?The music speaks to you every day, but you are too deaf, dumb, and blind to even listen to the music ...It is not my conspiracy. It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says 'Rise,' it says 'Kill.'Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music.[1]:391
In various press and parole board interviews, Manson has dismissed the Helter Skelter conspiracy as an invention by the trial prosecutor to tie him to the murders. At about the one-fifth point of his 1992 parole hearing, Manson said the following:
[A]s far as lining up someone for some kind of helter skelter trip, you know, that's the District Attorney's motive. That's the only thing he could find for a motive to throw up on top of all that confusion he had. There was no such thing in my mind as helter skelter.[90]
Primary sources[edit]
More detail about Helter Skelter is found in the following:
Prosecution's closing argument in trial of Charles Manson and others for the Tate-LaBianca murders. This includes references to and excerpts from testimony of Paul Watkins.
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry
Will You Die for Me? by Charles Watson as told to Ray Hoekstra
My Life with Charles Manson by Paul Watkins and Guillermo Soledad
As has been noted, Bugliosi led the prosecution in the Tate-LaBianca trials; at the time of the trials, he was a Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney.[1]:xiv, 117 Charles Watson is the above-mentioned Family member who took part in the murders. Watkins was an above-mentioned Family member who was not involved in the murders.
Another source is The Family by Ed Sanders (Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, 2002. ISBN 1-56025-396-7). Sanders covered Manson's trial for the Los Angeles Free Press;[91] during the trial and in the period that led up to it, he spent time in the company of Family members.[92] His book avoids much detail of the Beatle and Bible references, but it enables the reader to grasp Manson's vision of the Family as marauders wheeling through Helter Skelter's chaos. (When originally published, in 1971, the book was entitled The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion.[93])
See also the trial testimony of Gregg Jakobson, who met Manson at the home of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson in May or early summer of 1968 and who arranged a recording session for Manson in August of that year.[1]:155, 214 Jakobson indicated that Manson and he had talked about Manson’s "philosophy on life" in various settings "innumerable times" – "Maybe 100."[1]:223[94]
Footnotes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Bugliosi, Vincent; Gentry, Curt (1994). Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (25th Anniversary ed.). W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-08700-X.
2.Jump up ^ Decision in appeal by Charles Manson and others from conviction for Tate-LaBianca murdersPeople v. Manson, 61 Cal. App. 3d 102 (California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division One, August 13, 1976). Retrieved June 19, 2007. The court's characterization of Helter Skelter as a "chimerical vision" appears in the third paragraph from the end of the decision's section headed "The Conspiratorial Relationship."
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Watson, Charles as told to Hoekstra, Ray, Will You Die for Me?, Chapter 11 Watson website. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Bugliosi 1994, 244.
5.Jump up ^ Watkins, Paul and Soledad, Guillermo, My Life with Charles Manson, Chapter 12.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Watkins, Ch. 12
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Bugliosi 1994, 241.
8.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 11
9.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument. Page 30 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Bugliosi 1994, 247.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Prosecution's closing argument Page 28 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
12.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 6 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Testimony of Paul Watkins in the Charles Manson Trial University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
14.Jump up ^ In trial testimony, Manson associate Paul Watkins indicated the militants would be "the Black Muslims." In his autobiography (as told to Ray Hoekstra), Manson associate Tex Watson said Manson sometimes indicated the Black Muslims, sometimes the Black Panthers. On page 246 of the 1994 edition of Bugliosi and Gentry's Helter Skelter is a similar statement, apparently based on statements made to Bugliosi by Paul Watkins. In Chapter 10 of the Watkins autobiography, My Life with Charles Manson (written with Guillermo Soledad), Manson is quoted as follows: "The heavy dudes, though, are the [Black] Muslims. I’ve seen those cats in jail. They sit back real stoic like and watch and stay cool, you know. But they’ll be the ones who bring the shit down. Yeah, it’s gonna come down hard... a full-on war." The statement predates Manson's formulation of Helter Skelter.
15.Jump up ^ Witness Paul Watkins, quoted in prosecution's closing argument 2Violent.com. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
16.Jump up ^ In an interview, Family member Tex Watson has indicated he and Manson first heard the White Album on December 1, 1968;[1] but this does not appear to match recollections in Watson’s autobiography, in which, among other things, Watson seems to indicate he and Manson first heard the album on a Saturday (which December 1 was not).[2] In an autobiography of his own, Paul Watkins, another Family member, seemed to think Manson first heard the album near December’s end. This is not the only chronological mismatch between the recollections of Watkins and Watson.
17.Jump up ^ Manson 2009 documentary by Cineflix Productions et al.
18.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Watkins, Ch. 13
19.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 12 Retrieved 28 April 2007.
20.^ Jump up to: a b c Watkins, Ch. 15
21.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 13 Retrieved 28 April 2007.
22.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 14 Retrieved 28 April 2007
23.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 15 Retrieve 28 April 2007.
24.Jump up ^ Susan Atkins’ Story of 2 Nights of Murder Los Angeles Times, Sunday, December 14, 1969. mansonfamilytoday.info. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
25.Jump up ^ Sanders, Ed (2002). The Family. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 11. ISBN 1-56025-396-7.
26.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Bugliosi 1994, 240.
27.^ Jump up to: a b Sanders 2002, 27.
28.Jump up ^ "Blue Jay Way" review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
29.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 6
30.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 7 Oddly, the song seemed to continue to be about Atkins, even after the murders. When David Dalton and David Felton, in their 1970 Rolling Stone story about Manson, wrote that "Sexy Sadie laid it down for all to see," they were referring not to Atkins's sexual frankness but to her crime account as published within a week of the Tate-LaBianca indictments. Running nearly three pages when it appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, December 14, 1969, the said account was based mainly on a tape-recorded interview of Atkins by her attorney at his office on December 1; it detailed the "2 Nights of Murder" of the Tate-LaBianca crimes. (See Bugliosi 1994, pages 160 and 193.)
31.Jump up ^ "If Christ Came Back as a Con Man" by David Dalton, Gadfly, October 1998. gadflyonline.com. Retrieved 17 September 2007.
32.^ Jump up to: a b c Bugliosi 1994, 242.
33.Jump up ^ helter skelter, defined in Compact Oxford English Dictionary Retrieved June 19, 2007.
34.Jump up ^ helter-skelter, defined in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
35.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 12. As Watkins tells it, Manson said, "Are you hep to what the Beatles are saying?... Dig it, they’re telling it like it is. They know what’s happening in the city; blackie is getting ready. They put the revolution to music... it’s 'Helter-Skelter.' Helter-Skelter is coming down."
36.^ Jump up to: a b c Sanders 2002, 106.
37.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Bugliosi 1994, 243.
38.^ Jump up to: a b Revolution 9: Minute by Minute David J. Coyle. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
39.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 12
40.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 7:
41.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument. Page 30 multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
42.Jump up ^ Paul Watkins (relating Manson's vision), quoted in Bugliosi 1994, page 246.
43.Jump up ^ 1992 parole hearing
44.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 9:
45.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Bugliosi 1994, 239.
46.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 114.
47.Jump up ^ Transcript of Charles Manson's 1992 parole hearing University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
48.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 109–10.
49.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 127.
50.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 138.
51.Jump up ^ Oral history of the Manson murders, Steve Oney, Los Angeles magazine, July 2009, page 152.
52.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 107.
53.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002,107-8.
54.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 10:
55.^ Jump up to: a b Watkins, Ch. 14
56.^ Jump up to: a b Sanders 2002, 111.
57.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 16:
58.Jump up ^ Book of Revelation, Chapter 16, King James Version Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
59.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 21:
60.Jump up ^ CHAPTER 22:
61.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 87.
62.Jump up ^ Abbey Road review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
63.Jump up ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1990). The Beatles Day by Day: A Chronology 1962–1969. New York: Harmony Books. p. 123. ISBN 0-517-57750-X.
64.Jump up ^ Schultheiss, Tom, ed. (1980). A Day in the Life, The Beatles Day-by-Day 1960–1970. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Pierian Press. p. 266. ISBN 0-87650-120-X.
65.Jump up ^ Schultheiss, 268.
66.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 288.
67.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 23
68.Jump up ^ Photograph of Spahn Ranch door University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved April 29, 2007.
69.Jump up ^ In Chapter 3 of his 1978 autobiography, Watson indicated he left the desert camp on October 2, 1969. In a letter of April 1, 2008, to CNN, he revised this and indicated he had left around September 25.
70.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 16
71.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 93, 393.
72.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, 164 and 174.
73.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 13–20.
74.Jump up ^ Magical Mystery Tour review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
75.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 2 of multi-page transcript, 2Violent.com. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
76.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 8
77.^ Jump up to: a b c Watkins, Ch. 10
78.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 9
79.Jump up ^ The Yellow Submarine at the Internet Movie Database
80.^ Jump up to: a b Schultheiss, 226.
81.Jump up ^ White Album review and information allmusic.com. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
82.Jump up ^ Lewisohn, 110.
83.Jump up ^ In an interview, Tex Watson has indicated he and Manson first heard the album on December 1, 1968;[3] but this does not appear to match recollections in Watson’s autobiography, in which, among other things, Watson seems to indicate he and Manson first heard the album on a Saturday (which December 1 was not).[4] In an autobiography of his own, Family member Paul Watkins seemed to think Manson first heard the album near December’s end. This is not the only chronological mismatch between the recollections of Watkins and Watson.
84.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 12
85.Jump up ^ Watson, Ch. 13
86.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 14
87.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 15
88.Jump up ^ Atchison, Heide pg 23
89.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 25
90.Jump up ^ Transcript of Charles Manson's 1992 parole hearing Retrieved 2 February 2012.
91.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 330–1.
92.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 341, 346, 349–52, 354–5, 368–9, 376–8, 384–5, 393, 395, 402–3, 427–8, 440, 459.
93.Jump up ^ The Family, first edition amazon.com. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
94.Jump up ^ Also Jakobson’s trial testimony.
External links[edit]
Prosecution's closing argument in trial of Charles Manson 2Violent.com. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Prosecution's closing argument in trial of Charles Manson Trial Watch. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Testimony of Paul Watkins in the Charles Manson Trial Trial Watch. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Book of Revelation, Chapter 9, King James Version Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
Will You Die for Me? Charles Watson autobiography as told to Ray Hoekstra, 1978. Watson Website. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
Testimony of Gregg Jakobson in the Charles Manson trial truthontatelabianca.com. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
Charles Manson and the Family: The Application of Sociological Theories to Multiple Murder Retrieved October 13, 2014.


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family










































































































  


Categories: Manson Family
1969 in the United States
Racism in the United States
Apocalypticism
Book of Revelation







Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Deutsch
Edit links
This page was last modified on 20 June 2015, at 05:42.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(Manson_scenario)










Charles Manson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

"The Manson Family" redirects here. For the 2003 film, see The Manson Family (film).

Charles Manson
CharlesManson2014.jpg
Manson in 2014

Born
Charles Milles Maddox
 November 12, 1934 (age 80)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

Criminal charge
 Murder, conspiracy

Criminal penalty
 Death, reduced by abolition of death penalty to life in prison
Spouse(s)
Rosalie Jean Willis (1955–1958)
 Leona "Candy" Stevens (1959–1963)
Children
Charles Milles Manson, Jr., (mother Rosalie Willis)
 Charles Luther Manson (mother Leona Stevens)
 Valentine Michael "Pooh Bear" Manson (mother Mary Brunner)
Parent(s)
Kathleen Maddox (mother)
 Walker Scott (father)
 William Manson (stepfather)

Imprisoned at
Corcoran State Prison
Musical career
Genres
Contemporary folk, psychedelic folk, freak folk
Occupation(s)
Singer-songwriter
Instruments
Vocals, guitar
Years active
1968–1970
Labels
Awareness
Associated acts
Phil Kaufman
Charles Milles Manson (born Charles Milles Maddox, November 12, 1934) is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in the California desert in the late 1960s. In 1971 he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murders of seven people: actress Sharon Tate and four other people at Tate's home; and the next day, a married couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca; all carried out by members of the group at his instruction. He was convicted of the murders through the joint-responsibility rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes his fellow conspirators commit in furtherance of the conspiracy's objective.[1][2] His followers also murdered several other people at other times and locations, and Manson was also convicted for two of these other murders (of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea).
Manson believed in what he called "Helter Skelter", a term he took from the song of the same name by the Beatles. Manson believed Helter Skelter to be an impending apocalyptic race war, which he described in his own version of the lyrics to the Beatles' song. He believed the murders would help precipitate that war. From the beginning of his notoriety, a pop culture arose around him in which he ultimately became an emblem of insanity, violence and the macabre. The term "helter skelter" was later used by Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi as the title of a book that he wrote about the Manson murders.
At the time the Family began to form, Manson was an unemployed former convict, who had spent half of his life in correctional institutions for a variety of offenses. Before the murders, he was a singer-songwriter on the fringe of the Los Angeles music industry, chiefly through a chance association with Dennis Wilson, a founding member and the drummer of the Beach Boys. After Manson was charged with the crimes of which he was later convicted, recordings of songs written and performed by him were released commercially. Various musicians, including Guns N' Roses, White Zombie and Marilyn Manson, have covered some of his songs.
Manson's death sentence was automatically commuted to life imprisonment when a 1972 decision by the Supreme Court of California temporarily eliminated the state's death penalty.[3] California's eventual reinstatement of capital punishment did not affect Manson, who is currently incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison.


Contents  [hide]
1 Early life 1.1 Childhood
1.2 First offenses
1.3 First imprisonment
1.4 Second imprisonment
2 Manson Family 2.1 Manson's presentation of himself
2.2 Involvement with Wilson, Melcher, et al.
2.3 Spahn Ranch
2.4 Helter Skelter
2.5 Encounter with Tate
3 Family crimes 3.1 Crowe shooting
3.2 Hinman murder
3.3 Tate murders
3.4 LaBianca murders
4 Justice system 4.1 Investigation 4.1.1 Breakthrough
4.1.2 Apprehension
4.2 Trial 4.2.1 Ongoing disruptions
4.2.2 Defense rests
4.2.3 Conviction and penalty phase

5 Aftermath 5.1 Shea murder
5.2 Remaining in view 5.2.1 Interviews
5.3 Later events 5.3.1 Further developments
5.3.2 Parole hearings

6 Manson and culture 6.1 Recordings
6.2 Cultural reverberation
6.3 Documentaries
7 See also
8 References
9 Works cited
10 Further reading
11 External links

Early life
Childhood
Born to an unmarried 16-year-old named Kathleen Maddox (1918–1973),[4] in the General Hospital, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Manson was first named "no name Maddox".[5]:136–7[6][7] Within weeks, he was called Charles Milles Maddox.[5]:136–7[8][9] For a period after his birth, his mother was married to a laborer named William Manson (1910–?),[9] whose last name the boy was given. His biological father appears to have been Colonel Walker Scott (May 11, 1910 – December 30, 1954)[10] against whom Kathleen Maddox filed a paternity suit that resulted in an agreed judgment in 1937. Possibly, Charles Manson never really knew his biological father.[5]:136–7[7]
Several statements in Manson's 1951 case file from the seven months he would later spend at the National Training School for Boys in Washington, D.C., allude to the possibility that "Colonel Scott" was African-American.[5]:555 These include the first two sentences of his family background section, which read: "Father: unknown. He is alleged to have been an African American cook by the name of Scott, with whom Charles's mother had been promiscuous at the time of pregnancy."[5]:556 When asked about these official records by attorney Vincent Bugliosi in 1971, Manson emphatically denied that his biological father had African American ancestry.[5]:588 In addition, the 1920 and 1930 census list Colonel Scott and his father as white.
In the biography, Manson in His Own Words, Colonel Scott is said to have been "a young drugstore cowboy ... a transient laborer working on a nearby dam project." It is not clear what "nearby" means. The description is in a paragraph that indicates Kathleen Maddox gave birth to Manson "while living in Cincinnati", after she had run away from her own home, in Ashland, Kentucky.[11]
There is much about Manson's early life that is in dispute because of the variety of different stories he has offered to interviewers, many of which were untrue. Manson's mother was allegedly a heavy drinker.[5]:136–7 According to Manson, she once sold her son for a pitcher of beer to a childless waitress, from whom his uncle retrieved him some days later.[12]
When Manson's mother and her brother were sentenced to five years' imprisonment for robbing a Charleston, West Virginia, service station in 1939, Manson was placed in the home of an aunt and uncle in McMechen, West Virginia. Upon her 1942 parole, Manson's mother retrieved her son and lived with him in a series of run-down hotel rooms.[5]:136–7 Manson himself later characterized her physical embrace of him on the day she returned from prison as his sole happy childhood memory.[12] In 1947, Kathleen Maddox tried to have her son placed in a foster home but failed because no such home was available. The court placed Manson in Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana. After 10 months, he fled from there to his mother, who rejected him.[5]:136–7
First offenses
By burgling a grocery store, Manson obtained money that enabled him to rent a room.[5]:136–7 He committed a string of burglaries of other stores, including one from which he stole a bicycle, but was eventually caught in the act and sent to an Indianapolis juvenile center. He escaped after one day, but was recaptured and placed in Boys Town. Four days after his arrival there, he escaped with another boy. The pair committed two armed robberies on their way to the home of the other boy's uncle.[5]:137–146
Caught during the second of two subsequent break-ins of grocery stores, Manson was sent, at age 13, to the Indiana Boys School, where, he would later claim, he was brutalized sexually and otherwise.[12] After many failed attempts, he escaped with two other boys in 1951.[5]:137–146
In Utah, the three were caught driving to California in cars they had stolen. They had burgled several filling stations along the way. For the federal crime of taking a stolen car across a state line, Manson was sent to Washington, D.C.'s National Training School for Boys. Despite four years of schooling and an I.Q. of 109 (later tested at age 21),[5]:137–146 he was illiterate. A caseworker deemed him aggressively antisocial.[5]:137–146
First imprisonment
In October 1951, on a psychiatrist's recommendation, Manson was transferred to Natural Bridge Honor Camp, a minimum security institution. Less than a month before a scheduled February 1952 parole hearing, one of the boys there "took a razor blade and held it against another boy's throat while Manson sodomized him."[5]:137–146[12] Manson was transferred to the Federal Reformatory, Petersburg, Virginia, where he was considered "dangerous."[5]:137–146 In September 1952, a number of other serious disciplinary offenses resulted in his transfer to the Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio, a more secure institution.[5]:137–146 About a month after the transfer, he became almost a model resident. Good work habits and a rise in his educational level from the lower fourth to the upper seventh grade won him a May 1954 parole.[5]:137–146
After temporarily honoring a parole condition that he live with his aunt and uncle in West Virginia, Manson moved in with his mother in that same state. In January 1955, he married a hospital waitress named Rosalie Jean Willis, with whom, by his own account, he found genuine, if short-lived, marital happiness.[12] He supported their marriage via small-time jobs and auto theft.[5]:137–146
Around October, about three months after he and his pregnant wife arrived in Los Angeles in a car he had stolen in Ohio, Manson was again charged with a federal crime for taking the vehicle across state lines. After a psychiatric evaluation, he was given five years' probation. His subsequent failure to appear at a Los Angeles hearing on an identical charge filed in Florida resulted in his March 1956 arrest in Indianapolis. His probation was revoked; he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Terminal Island, San Pedro, California.[5]:137–146
While Manson was in prison, Rosalie gave birth to their son, Charles Manson, Jr. During his first year at Terminal Island, Manson received visits from Rosalie and his mother, who were now living together in Los Angeles. In March 1957, when the visits from his wife ceased, his mother informed him Rosalie was living with another man. Less than two weeks before a scheduled parole hearing, Manson tried to escape by stealing a car. He was subsequently given five years probation, and his parole was denied.[5]:137–146
Second imprisonment
Manson received five years' parole in September 1958, the same year in which Rosalie received a decree of divorce. By November, he was pimping a 16-year-old girl and was receiving additional support from a girl with wealthy parents. In September 1959, he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to cash a forged U.S. Treasury check. He received a 10-year suspended sentence and probation after a young woman with an arrest record for prostitution made a "tearful plea" before the court that she and Manson were "deeply in love ... and would marry if Charlie were freed."[5]:137–146 Before the year's end, the woman did marry Manson, possibly so testimony against him would not be required of her.[5]:137–146
The woman's name was Leona; as a prostitute, she had used the name Candy Stevens. After Manson took her and another woman from California to New Mexico for purposes of prostitution, he was held and questioned for violation of the Mann Act. Though he was released, he evidently suspected, rightly, that the investigation had not ended. When he disappeared, in violation of his probation, a bench warrant was issued; an April 1960 indictment for violation of the Mann Act followed.[5]:137–146 Arrested in Laredo, Texas, in June, when one of the women was arrested for prostitution, Manson was returned to Los Angeles. For violation of his probation on the check-cashing charge, he was ordered to serve his 10-year sentence.[5]:137–146
In July 1961, after a year spent unsuccessfully appealing the revocation of his probation, Manson was transferred from the Los Angeles County Jail to the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island. There, he took guitar lessons from Barker-Karpis gang leader Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, and obtained a contact name of someone at Universal Studios in Hollywood from another inmate, Phil Kaufman (who, after release, befriended Gram Parsons and after Parsons's death, hijacked the body and cremated it in the Joshua Tree desert).[13] According to Jeff Guinn's 2013 biography of Manson, Charlie's mother Kathleen moved from California to Washington state to be closer to him during his McNeil Island incarceration, working nearby as a waitress.[14]
Although the Mann Act charge had been dropped, the attempt to cash the Treasury check was still a federal offense. His September 1961 annual review noted he had a "tremendous drive to call attention to himself", an observation echoed in September 1964.[5]:137–146 In 1963, Leona was granted a divorce, in the pursuit of which she alleged that she and Manson had had a son, Charles Luther.[5]:137–146
In June 1966, Manson was sent, for the second time in his life, to Terminal Island, in preparation for early release. By March 21, 1967, his release day, he had spent more than half of his 32 years in prisons and other institutions.[5]:137–146 Telling the authorities that prison had become his home, he requested permission to stay,[5]:137–146 a fact touched on in a 1981 television interview with Tom Snyder.[15]
Manson Family
On his release day Manson received permission to move to San Francisco, where, with the help of a prison acquaintance, he moved into an apartment in Berkeley. In prison, bank robber Alvin Karpis had taught him to play the steel guitar.[5]:137–146[12][16] Now, living mostly by panhandling, he soon got to know Mary Brunner, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Brunner was working as a library assistant at University of California, Berkeley, and Manson moved in with her. According to a second-hand account, he overcame her resistance to his bringing other women in to live with them. Before long, they were sharing Brunner's residence with 18 other women.[5]:163–174
Manson established himself as a guru in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, which during 1967's "Summer of Love", was emerging as the signature hippie locale. Bugliosi said in his book Helter Skelter that Manson appeared to have borrowed philosophically from the Process Church, whose members believed Satan would become reconciled to Christ, and they would come together at the end of the world to judge humanity. Expounding a philosophy that included some of the Scientology he had studied in prison,[5]:163–164 he soon had the first of his groups of followers, which have been called the Manson Family, most of them female.[5]:137–146 Upon a staff evaluation of Manson when he entered prison in July 1961 at the U.S. penitentiary in McNeil Island, Washington, Manson entered "Scientologist" as his religion.[5]:143–144
Before the summer ended, Manson and eight or nine of his enthusiasts piled into an old school bus they had re-wrought in hippie style, with colored rugs and pillows in place of the many seats they had removed. They roamed as far north as Washington state, then southward through Los Angeles, Mexico, and the southwest. Returning to the Los Angeles area, they lived in Topanga Canyon, Malibu, and Venice—western parts of the city and county.[5]:163–174
In 1967, Brunner became pregnant by Manson and on April 15, 1968, gave birth to a son she named Valentine Michael (nicknamed "Pooh Bear")[17] in a condemned house in Topanga Canyon and was assisted during the birth by several of the young women from the Family. Brunner (like most members of the group) acquired a number of aliases and nicknames, including: "Marioche", "Och", "Mother Mary", "Mary Manson", "Linda Dee Manson" and "Christine Marie Euchts".[18] It was November when the school bus set out from San Francisco with the enlarged group.[19]
Manson's presentation of himself
Actor Al Lewis, who had Manson babysit his children on a couple of occasions, described him as 'A nice guy when I knew him'.[20] Through Phil Kaufman, Manson got an introduction to young Universal Studios producer, Gary Stromberg, then working on a film adaptation of the life of Jesus set in modern America with a black Jesus and southern redneck 'Romans'. Stromberg thought Manson made interesting suggestions about what Jesus might do in a situation, seeming strangely attuned to the role; to illustrate the place of women he had one of his women kiss his feet, but then kissed hers in return. At the beach one day, Stromberg watched while Manson preached against a materialistic outlook only to be questioned about his well-furnished bus. Nonchalant, he tossed the bus keys to the doubter who promptly drove it away, while Manson watched apparently unconcerned.[21] According to Stromberg, Manson had a dynamic personality with an ability to read a person's weakness and 'play' them.[20] Trying to co-opt an influential individual from a motorcycle gang by granting him access to 'Family' women, Manson claimed to be sexually pathetic, and convinced the biker that his outsized endowment was all that kept the 'Family' females at Spahn ranch.[22] On one occasion, the enraged father of a runaway girl, who had joined the 'Family', pointed a shotgun at Manson and told him he was about to die. Manson quietly invited him to shoot before talking to the man about love and, with the aid of LSD, persuaded him to accept the situation.[23]
Involvement with Wilson, Melcher, et al.
The events that would culminate in the murders were set in motion in late spring 1968, when (by some accounts) Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys picked up two hitchhiking Manson women, Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey,[24] and brought them to his Pacific Palisades house for a few hours. Returning home in the early hours of the following morning from a night recording session, Wilson was greeted in the driveway of his own residence by Manson, who emerged from the house. Uncomfortable, Wilson asked the stranger whether he intended to hurt him. Assuring him he had no such intent, Manson began kissing Wilson's feet.[5]:250–253[25]
Inside the house, Wilson discovered 12 strangers, mostly women.[5]:250–253[25] Over the next few months, as their number doubled, the Family members who had made themselves part of Wilson's Sunset Boulevard household cost him approximately $100,000. This included a large medical bill for treatment of their gonorrhea and $21,000 for the accidental destruction of his uninsured car, which they borrowed.[26] Wilson would sing and talk with Manson, while the women were treated as servants to them both.[5]:250–253
Wilson paid for studio time to record songs written and performed by Manson, and he introduced Manson to acquaintances of his with roles in the entertainment business. These included Gregg Jakobson, Terry Melcher, and Rudi Altobelli (the last of whom owned a house he would soon rent to actress Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski).[5]:250–253 Jakobson, who was impressed by "the whole Charlie Manson package" of artist/lifestylist/philosopher, also paid to record Manson material.[5]:155–161, 185–188, 214–219[27]
The account given in Manson in His Own Words is that Manson first met Wilson at a friend's San Francisco house where Manson had gone to obtain cannabis. The drummer supposedly gave Manson his Sunset Boulevard address and invited him to stop by when he would be in Los Angeles.[12]
Spahn Ranch
Manson established a base for the group at Spahn's Movie Ranch, not far from Topanga Canyon Boulevard, in August 1968 after Wilson's manager told the Family to move out of Wilson's home.[28][29] The entire Family then relocated to the ranch.[5]:250–253
The ranch had been a television and movie set for Western productions. However, by the late 1960s, the buildings had deteriorated and the ranch was earning money primarily by selling horseback rides.
Family members did helpful work around the grounds. Also, Manson ordered the Family's women, including Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, to occasionally have sex with the nearly blind, 80-year-old owner, George Spahn. The women also acted as seeing-eye guides for Spahn. In exchange, Spahn allowed Manson and his group to live at the ranch for free.[5]:99–113[30] Squeaky acquired her nickname because she often squeaked when Spahn pinched her thigh.[5]:163–174[26]
Charles Watson soon joined the group at Spahn's ranch. Watson, a small-town Texan who had quit college and moved to California,[31] met Manson at Dennis Wilson's house. Watson gave Wilson a ride while Wilson was hitchhiking after his cars had been wrecked.[28]
Spahn nicknamed Watson "Tex" because of his pronounced Texan drawl.[29]
Helter Skelter
Main article: Helter Skelter (Manson scenario)
In the first days of November 1968, Manson established the Family at alternative headquarters in Death Valley's environs, where they occupied two unused or little-used ranches, Myers and Barker.[27][32] The former, to which the group had initially headed, was owned by the grandmother of a new woman in the Family. The latter was owned by an elderly, local woman to whom Manson presented himself and a male Family member as musicians in need of a place congenial to their work. When the woman agreed to let them stay there if they'd fix up things, Manson honored her with one of the Beach Boys' gold records,[32] several of which he had been given by Dennis Wilson.[33]
While back at Spahn Ranch, no later than December, Manson and Watson visited a Topanga Canyon acquaintance who played them the Beatles' White Album, then recently released.[27][34][35] Manson became obsessed with the group.[36] At McNeil, he had told fellow inmates, including Alvin Karpis, that he could surpass the group in fame;[5]:200–202, 265[37] to the Family, he spoke of the group as "the soul" and "part of 'the hole in the infinite'. "[35]
For some time, Manson had been saying that racial tension between blacks and whites was growing and that blacks would soon rise up in rebellion in America's cities.[38][39] He had emphasized Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, which had taken place on April 4, 1968.[32] On a bitterly cold New Year's Eve at Myers Ranch, the Family members gathered outside around a large fire, listened as Manson explained that the social turmoil he had been predicting had also been predicted by the Beatles.[35] The White Album songs, he declared, told it all, although in code. In fact, he maintained (or would soon maintain), the album was directed at the Family itself, an elect group that was being instructed to preserve the worthy from the impending disaster.[38][39]
In early January 1969, the Family escaped the desert's cold and positioned itself to monitor L.A.'s supposed tensions by moving to a canary-yellow home in Canoga Park, not far from the Spahn Ranch.[5]:244–247[35][40] Because this locale would allow the group to remain "submerged beneath the awareness of the outside world",[5]:244–247[41] Manson called it the Yellow Submarine, another Beatles reference. There, Family members prepared for the impending apocalypse,[42][43] which around the campfire, Manson had termed "Helter Skelter", after the song of that name.
By February, Manson's vision was complete. The Family would create an album whose songs, as subtle as those of the Beatles, would trigger the predicted chaos. Ghastly murders of whites by blacks would be met with retaliation, and a split between racist and non-racist whites would yield whites' self-annihilation. Blacks' triumph, as it were, would merely precede their being ruled by the Family, which would ride out the conflict in "the bottomless pit", a secret city beneath Death Valley.[39] At the Canoga Park house, while Family members worked on vehicles and pored over maps to prepare for their desert escape, they also worked on songs for their world-changing album. When they were told Terry Melcher was to come to the house to hear the material, the women prepared a meal and cleaned the place; but Melcher never arrived.[38][42]
Encounter with Tate
On March 23, 1969,[5]:228–233 Manson, uninvited, entered 10050 Cielo Drive, which he had known as Melcher's residence.[5]:155–161 This was Rudi Altobelli's property; Melcher was no longer the tenant. As of that February,[5]:28–38 the tenants were Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski.
Manson was met by Shahrokh Hatami, a photographer and Tate's friend. Hatami was there to photograph Tate in advance of her departure for Rome the next day. Having seen Manson through a window as Manson approached the main house, Hatami had gone onto the front porch to ask him what he wanted.[5]:228–233
When Manson told Hatami he was looking for someone whose name Hatami did not recognize, Hatami informed him the place was the Polanski residence. Hatami advised him to try "the back alley", by which he meant the path to the guest house, beyond the main house.[5]:228–233 Concerned about the stranger on the property, Hatami went down to the front walk, to confront Manson. Appearing behind Hatami, in the house's front door, Tate asked him who was calling. Hatami said a man was looking for someone. Hatami and Tate maintained their positions while Manson, without a word, went back to the guest house, returned a minute or two later, and left.[5]:228–233
That evening, Manson returned to the property and again went back to the guest house. Presuming to enter the enclosed porch, he spoke with Rudi Altobelli, who was just coming out of the shower. Although Manson asked for Melcher, Altobelli felt Manson had come looking for him.[5]:226 This is consistent with prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's later discovery that Manson had apparently been to the place on earlier occasions after Melcher's departure from it.[5]:228–233, 369–377
Speaking through the inner screen door, Altobelli told Manson that Melcher had moved to Malibu. He lied that he did not know Melcher's new address. In response to a question from Manson, Altobelli said he himself was in the entertainment business, although, having met Manson the previous year, at Dennis Wilson's home, he was sure Manson already knew that. At Wilson's, Altobelli had complimented Manson lukewarmly on some of his musical recordings that Wilson had been playing.[5]:228–233
When Altobelli informed Manson he was going out of the country the next day, Manson said he'd like to speak with him upon his return; Altobelli lied that he would be gone for more than a year. In response to a direct question from Altobelli, Manson explained that he had been directed to the guest house by the persons in the main house; Altobelli expressed the wish that Manson not disturb his tenants.[5]:228–233
Manson left. As Altobelli flew with Tate to Rome the next day, Tate asked him whether "that creepy-looking guy" had gone back to the guest house the day before.[5]:228–233
Family crimes
Crowe shooting
On May 18, 1969, Terry Melcher visited Spahn Ranch to hear Manson and the women sing. Melcher arranged a subsequent visit, not long thereafter, on which he brought a friend who possessed a mobile recording unit; but he himself did not record the group.[5]:156,185[44]
By June, Manson was telling the Family they might have to show blacks how to start "Helter Skelter".[5]:244–247[43][45] When Manson tasked Watson with obtaining money supposedly intended to help the Family prepare for the conflict, Watson defrauded a black drug dealer named Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe. Crowe responded with a threat to wipe out everyone at Spahn Ranch. Manson countered on July 1, 1969, by shooting Crowe at his Hollywood apartment.[5]:99–113[5]:91–96[46][47]
Manson's mistaken belief that he had killed Crowe was seemingly confirmed by a news report of the discovery of the dumped body of a Black Panther in Los Angeles. Although Crowe was not a member of the Black Panthers, Manson concluded he had been and expected retaliation from the Panthers. He turned Spahn Ranch into a defensive camp, with night patrols of armed guards.[46][48] "If we'd needed any more proof that Helter Skelter was coming down very soon, this was it," Tex Watson would later write, "[B]lackie was trying to get at the chosen ones."[46]
Hinman murder
On July 25, 1969, Manson sent sometime Family member Bobby Beausoleil along with Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins to the house of acquaintance Gary Hinman, to persuade him to turn over money Manson thought Hinman had inherited.[5]:75–77[46][49] The three held the uncooperative Hinman hostage for two days, during which Manson showed up with a sword to slash his ear. After that, Beausoleil stabbed Hinman to death, ostensibly on Manson's instruction. Before leaving the Topanga Canyon residence, Beausoleil, or one of the women, used Hinman's blood to write "Political piggy" on the wall and to draw a panther paw, a Black Panther symbol.[5]:33, 91–96, 99–113[50]
In magazine interviews of 1981 and 1998–99,[51][52] Beausoleil would say he went to Hinman's to recover money paid to Hinman for drugs that had supposedly been bad; he added that Brunner and Atkins, unaware of his intent, went along idly, merely to visit Hinman. On the other hand, Atkins, in her 1977 autobiography, wrote that Manson directly told Beausoleil, Brunner, and her to go to Hinman's and get the supposed inheritance—$21,000. She said Manson had told her privately, two days earlier, that, if she wanted to "do something important", she could kill Hinman and get his money.[49] Beausoleil was arrested on August 6, 1969, after he had been caught driving Hinman's car. Police found the murder weapon in the tire well.[5]:28–38 Two days later, Manson told Family members at Spahn Ranch, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter."[5]:258–269[46][53]
Tate murders


 It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article titled Tate murders. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2015.
On the night of August 8, 1969, Manson directed Watson to take Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to "that house where Melcher used to live" and "totally destroy everyone in [it], as gruesome as you can."[5]:463–468[54] He told the women to do as Watson would instruct them.[5]:176–184, 258–269 Krenwinkel was one of the early Family members and one of the hitchhikers who had allegedly been picked up by Dennis Wilson.[5]:250–253 The current occupants of the house at 10050 Cielo Drive, all of whom were strangers to the Manson followers, were movie actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski and eight and a half months pregnant; her friend and former lover Jay Sebring, a noted hairstylist; Polanski's friend and aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski; and Frykowski's lover Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune.[5]:28–38 Tate's husband, Polanski, was in London working on a film project; Tate had been visiting with him and had returned to the United States only three weeks earlier.[citation needed]
When the murder team arrived at the entrance to the Cielo Drive property, Watson, who had been to the house on at least one other occasion, climbed a telephone pole near the gate and cut the phone line.[27] It was now after midnight, August 9, 1969.
Backing their car to the bottom of the hill that led up to the estate, the group parked there and walked back up to the house. Thinking the gate might be electrified or rigged with an alarm,[5]:176–184 they climbed a brushy embankment at its right and dropped onto the grounds.
Just then, headlights came their way from farther within the angled property. Watson ordered the women to lie in the bushes. He then stepped out and ordered the approaching driver, 18-year-old student and hi-fi enthusiast Steven Parent, to halt. As Watson leveled a 22-caliber revolver at Parent, the frightened youth begged Watson not to hurt him, claiming that he wouldn't say anything. Watson first lunged at Parent with a knife, giving him a defensive slash wound on the palm of his hand (severing tendons and tearing the boy's watch off his wrist), then shot him four times in the chest and abdomen. Watson then ordered the women to help push the car further up the driveway[5]:22–25[54]
After traversing the front lawn and having Kasabian search for an open window of the main house, Watson cut the screen of a window. Watson told Kasabian to keep watch down by the gate; she walked over to Steven Parent's Rambler and waited.[5]:258–269[5]:176–184[54] He then removed the screen, entered through the window, and let Atkins and Krenwinkel in through the front door.[5]:176–184
As Watson whispered to Atkins, Frykowski awoke on the living-room couch; Watson kicked him in the head.[54] When Frykowski asked him who he was and what he was doing there, Watson replied, "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business."[5]:176–184[54]
On Watson's direction, Atkins found the house's three other occupants and, with Krenwinkel's help,[5]:176–184, 297–300 brought them to the living room. Watson began to tie Tate and Sebring together by their necks with rope he'd brought and slung up over a beam. Sebring's protest – his second – of rough treatment of the pregnant Tate prompted Watson to shoot him. Folger was taken momentarily back to her bedroom for her purse, out of which she gave the intruders $70. After that, Watson stabbed the groaning Sebring seven times.[5]:28–38[54]
Frykowski's hands had been bound with a towel. Freeing himself, Frykowski began struggling with Atkins, who stabbed at his legs with the knife with which she had been guarding him.[54] As he fought his way toward and out the front door, onto the porch, Watson joined in against him. Watson struck him over the head with the gun multiple times, stabbed him repeatedly, and shot him twice.[54] Watson broke the gun's right grip in the process.
Around this time, Kasabian was drawn up from the driveway by "horrifying sounds". She arrived outside the door. In a vain effort to halt the massacre, she told Atkins falsely that someone was coming.[5]:258–269[54]
Inside the house, Folger had escaped from Krenwinkel and fled out a bedroom door to the pool area.[5]:341–344, 356–361 Folger was pursued to the front lawn by Krenwinkel, who stabbed – and finally, tackled – her. She was dispatched by Watson; her two assailants had stabbed her 28 times.[5]:28–38[54] As Frykowski struggled across the lawn, Watson murdered him with a final flurry of stabbing. Frykowski was stabbed a total of 51 times.[5]:28–38, 258–269[54]
Back in the house, Tate pleaded to be allowed to live long enough to have her baby, and even offered herself as a hostage in an attempt to save the life of her unborn child; her killers would have none of it, as either Atkins, Watson, or both killed Tate, who was stabbed 16 times.[5]:28–38 Watson later wrote that Tate cried, "Mother ... mother ..." as she was being killed.[54]
Earlier, as the four Family members were heading out from Spahn Ranch, Manson told the women to "leave a sign ... something witchy".[54] Using the towel that had bound Frykowski's hands, Atkins wrote "pig" on the house's front door, in Tate's blood. En route home, the killers changed out of bloody clothes, which were ditched in the hills, along with their weapons.[5]:84–90, 176–184[54]
In initial confessions to cellmates of hers at Sybil Brand Institute, Atkins would say she killed Tate.[5]:84–90 In later statements to her attorney, to prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, and before a grand jury, Atkins indicated Tate had been stabbed by Tex Watson.[5]:163–174, 176–184 In his 1978 autobiography, Watson said that he stabbed Tate and that Atkins never touched her.[54] Since he was aware that the prosecutor, Bugliosi, and the jury that had tried the other Tate-LaBianca defendants were convinced Atkins had stabbed Tate, he falsely testified that he did not stab her.[55]
LaBianca murders
The next night, six Family members—Leslie Van Houten, Steve "Clem" Grogan, and the four from the previous night—rode out on Manson's orders. Displeased by the panic of the victims at Cielo Drive, Manson accompanied the six, "to show [them] how to do it."[5]:176–184, 258–269[56] After a few hours' ride, in which he considered a number of murders and even attempted one of them,[5]:258–269[56] Manson gave Kasabian directions that brought the group to 3301 Waverly Drive. This was the home of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, a dress shop co-owner.[5]:22–25, 42–48 Located in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, it was next door to a house at which Manson and Family members had attended a party the previous year.[5]:176–184, 204–210
According to Atkins and Kasabian, Manson disappeared up the driveway and returned to say he had tied up the house's occupants. He then sent Watson up with Krenwinkel and Van Houten.[5]:176–184, 258–269 In his autobiography, Watson stated that having gone up alone, Manson returned to take him up to the house with him. After Manson pointed out a sleeping man through a window, the two of them entered through the unlocked back door.[56] Watson added at trial, he "went along with" the women's account, which he figured made him "look that much less responsible."[55]
As Watson related it, Manson roused the sleeping Leno LaBianca from the couch at gunpoint and had Watson bind his hands with a leather thong. After Rosemary was brought briefly into the living room from the bedroom, Watson followed Manson's instructions to cover the couple's heads with pillowcases. He bound these in place with lamp cords. Manson left, sending Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten into the house with instructions that the couple be killed.[5]:176–184, 258–269[56]
Before leaving Spahn Ranch, Watson had complained to Manson of the inadequacy of the previous night's weapons.[5]:258–269 Now, sending the women from the kitchen to the bedroom, to which Rosemary LaBianca had been returned, he went to the living room and began stabbing Leno LaBianca with a chrome-plated bayonet. The first thrust went into the man's throat.[56]
Sounds of a scuffle in the bedroom drew Watson there to discover Mrs. LaBianca keeping the women at bay by swinging the lamp tied to her neck. After subduing her with several stabs of the bayonet, he returned to the living room and resumed attacking Leno, whom he stabbed a total of 12 times with the bayonet. When he had finished, Watson carved "WAR" on the man's exposed abdomen. He stated this in his autobiography.[56] In an unclear portion of her eventual grand jury testimony, Atkins, who did not enter the LaBianca house, said she believed Krenwinkel had carved the word.[5]:176–184[57] In a ghost-written newspaper account based on a statement she had made earlier to her attorney,[5]:160,193 she said Watson carved it.[58]
Returning to the bedroom, Watson found Krenwinkel stabbing Rosemary LaBianca with a knife from the LaBianca kitchen. Heeding Manson's instruction to make sure each of the women played a part, Watson told Van Houten to stab Mrs. LaBianca too.[56] She did, stabbing her approximately 16 times in the back and the exposed buttocks.[5]:204–210, 297–300, 341–344 At trial, Van Houten would claim, uncertainly,[5]:433 that Rosemary LaBianca was dead when she stabbed her. Evidence showed that many of Mrs. LaBianca's 41 stab wounds had, in fact, been inflicted post-mortem.[5]:44, 206, 297, 341–42, 380, 404, 406–07, 433
While Watson cleaned off the bayonet and showered, Krenwinkel wrote "Rise" and "Death to pigs" on the walls and "Healter [sic] Skelter" on the refrigerator door, all in LaBianca blood. She gave Leno LaBianca 14 puncture wounds with an ivory-handled, two-tined carving fork, which she left jutting out of his stomach. She also planted a steak knife in his throat.[5]:176–184, 258–269[56]
Meanwhile, hoping for a double crime, Manson had gone on to direct Kasabian to drive to the Venice home of an actor acquaintance of hers, another "piggy". Depositing the second trio of Family members at the man's apartment building, he drove back to Spahn Ranch, leaving them and the LaBianca killers to hitchhike home.[5]:176–184, 258–269 Kasabian thwarted this murder by deliberately knocking on the wrong apartment door and waking a stranger. As the group abandoned the murder plan and left, Susan Atkins defecated in the stairwell.[5]:270–273
Justice system
Investigation
The Tate murders had become news on August 9, 1969. The Polanskis' housekeeper, Winifred Chapman, had arrived for work that morning and discovered the murder scene.[5]:5–6, 11–15 On August 10, detectives of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which had jurisdiction in the Hinman case, informed Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detectives assigned to the Tate case of the bloody writing at the Hinman house. Thinking the Tate murders were a consequence of a drug transaction, the Tate team ignored this and the crimes' other similarities.[5]:28–38[59] The Tate autopsies were under way and the LaBianca bodies were yet to be discovered.
Steven Parent, the shooting victim in the Tate driveway, was determined to have been an acquaintance of William Garretson, who lived in the guest house. Garretson was a young man hired by Rudi Altobelli to take care of the property while Altobelli himself was away.[5]:28–38 As the killers arrived, Parent had been leaving Cielo Drive, after a visit to Garretson.[5]:28–38
Held briefly as a Tate suspect, Garretson told police he had neither seen nor heard anything on the murder night. He was released on August 11, 1969, after undergoing a polygraph examination that indicated he had not been involved in the crimes.[5]:28–38, 42–48 Interviewed decades later, he stated he had, in fact, witnessed a portion of the murders, as the examination suggested. (See "Later events", below.)[60]
The LaBianca crime scene was discovered at about 10:30 pm on August 10, approximately 19 hours after the murders were committed. Fifteen-year-old Frank Struthers—Rosemary's son from a prior marriage and Leno's stepson—returned from a camping trip and was disturbed by seeing all of the window shades of his home drawn, and by the fact that his stepfather's speedboat was still attached to the family car, which was parked in the driveway. He called his older sister and her boyfriend. The boyfriend, Joe Dorgan, accompanied the younger Struthers into the home and discovered Leno's body. Rosemary's body was found by investigating police officers.[5]:38
On August 12, 1969, the LAPD told the press it had ruled out any connection between the Tate and LaBianca homicides.[5]:42–48 On August 16, the sheriff's office raided Spahn Ranch and arrested Manson and 25 others, as "suspects in a major auto theft ring" that had been stealing Volkswagens and converting them into dune buggies. Weapons were seized, but because the warrant had been misdated the group was released a few days later.[5]:56
In a report at the end of August when virtually all leads had gone nowhere, the LaBianca detectives noted a possible connection between the bloody writings at the LaBianca house and "the singing group the Beatles' most recent album."[5]:65
Breakthrough
Still working separately from the Tate team, the LaBianca team checked with the sheriff's office in mid-October about possible similar crimes. They learned of the Hinman case. They also learned that the Hinman detectives had spoken with Beausoleil's girlfriend, Kitty Lutesinger. She had been arrested a few days earlier with members of "the Manson Family".[5]:75–77
The arrests had taken place at the desert ranches, to which the Family had moved and whence, unknown to authorities, its members had been searching Death Valley for a hole in the ground—access to the Bottomless Pit.[5]:228–233[61][62] A joint force of National Park rangers and officers from the California Highway Patrol and the Inyo County Sheriff's Office—federal, state, and county personnel—had raided both the Myers Ranch and Barker Ranch after following clues unwittingly left when Family members burned an earthmover owned by Death Valley National Monument.[5]:125–127[63][64] The raiders had found stolen dune buggies and other vehicles and had arrested two dozen people, including Manson. A Highway Patrol officer found Manson hiding in a cabinet beneath Barker's bathroom sink.[5]:75–77, 125–127
Following up leads a month after they had spoken with Lutesinger, LaBianca detectives contacted members of a motorcycle gang Manson tried to enlist as his bodyguards while the Family was at Spahn Ranch.[5]:75–77 While the gang members were providing information that suggested a link between Manson and the murders,[5]:84–90, 99–113 a dormitory mate of Susan Atkins informed LAPD of the Family's involvement in the crimes.[5]:99–113 As one of those arrested at Barker, Atkins had been booked for the Hinman murder after she'd confirmed to the sheriff's detectives that she'd been involved in it, as Lutesinger had said.[5]:75–77[65] Transferred to Sybil Brand Institute, a detention center in Los Angeles, she had begun talking to bunkmates Ronnie Howard and Virginia Graham, to whom she gave accounts of the events in which she had been involved.[5]:91–96
Apprehension
On 1 December 1969, acting on the information from these sources, LAPD announced warrants for the arrest of Watson, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian in the Tate case; the suspects' involvement in the LaBianca murders was noted. Manson and Atkins, already in custody, were not mentioned; the connection between the LaBianca case and Van Houten, who was also among those arrested near Death Valley, had not yet been recognized.[5]:125–127, 155–161, 176–184
Watson and Krenwinkel were already under arrest, with authorities in McKinney, Texas, and Mobile, Alabama, having picked them up on notice from LAPD.[5]:155–161 Informed that a warrant was out for her arrest, Kasabian voluntarily surrendered to authorities in Concord, New Hampshire, on December 2.[5]:155–161
Before long, physical evidence such as Krenwinkel's and Watson's fingerprints, which had been collected by LAPD at Cielo Drive,[5]:15, 156, 273, and photographs between 340–41 was augmented by evidence recovered by the public. On September 1, 1969, the distinctive .22-caliber Hi Standard "Buntline Special" revolver Watson used on Parent, Sebring, and Frykowski had been found and given to the police by Steven Weiss, a 10-year-old who lived near the Tate residence.[5]:66 In mid-December, when the Los Angeles Times published a crime account based on information Susan Atkins had given her attorney,[5]:160,193 Weiss' father made several phone calls which finally prompted LAPD to locate the gun in its evidence file and connect it with the murders via ballistics tests.[5]:198–199



 County Sheriff mugshot of Manson in 1971
Acting on that same newspaper account, a local ABC television crew quickly located and recovered the bloody clothing discarded by the Tate killers.[5]:197–198 The knives discarded en route from the Tate residence were never recovered, despite a search by some of the same crewmen and months later by LAPD.[5]:198, 273 A knife found behind the cushion of a chair in the Tate living room was apparently that of Susan Atkins, who lost her knife in the course of the attack.[5]:17, 180, 262[66]
Trial
The trial began June 15, 1970.[5]:297–300 The prosecution's main witness was Kasabian, who, along with Manson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel, had been charged with seven counts of murder and one of conspiracy.[5]:185–188 Since Kasabian, by all accounts, had not participated in the killings, she was granted immunity in exchange for testimony that detailed the nights of the crimes.[5]:214–219, 250–253, 330–332 Originally, a deal had been made with Atkins in which the prosecution agreed not to seek the death penalty against her in exchange for her grand jury testimony on which the indictments were secured; once Atkins repudiated that testimony, the deal was withdrawn.[5]:169, 173–184, 188, 292 Because Van Houten had only participated in the LaBianca killings, she was charged with two counts of murder and one of conspiracy.
Originally, Judge William Keene had reluctantly granted Manson permission to act as his own attorney. Because of Manson's conduct, including violations of a gag order and submission of "outlandish" and "nonsensical" pretrial motions, the permission was withdrawn before the trial's start.[5]:200–202, 265 Manson filed an affidavit of prejudice against Keene, who was replaced by Judge Charles H. Older.[5]:290 On Friday, July 24, the first day of testimony, Manson appeared in court with an X carved into his forehead. He issued a statement that he was "considered inadequate and incompetent to speak or defend [him]self" – and had "X'd [him]self from [the establishment's] world."[5]:310[67] Over the following weekend, the female defendants duplicated the mark on their own foreheads, as did most Family members within another day or so.[5]:316 (Years later, Manson carved the X into a swastika. See "Remaining in view", below.)
The prosecution argued the triggering of "Helter Skelter" was Manson's main motive.[68] The crime scene's bloody White Album references (pig, rise, helter skelter) were correlated with testimony about Manson predictions that the murders blacks would commit at the outset of Helter Skelter would involve the writing of "pigs" on walls in victims' blood.[5]:244–247, 450–457
Testimony that Manson had said "now is the time for Helter Skelter" was supplemented with Kasabian's testimony that, on the night of the LaBianca murders, Manson considered discarding Rosemary LaBianca's wallet on the street of a black neighborhood.[5]:258–269 Having obtained the wallet in the LaBianca house, he "wanted a black person to pick it up and use the credit cards so that the people, the establishment, would think it was some sort of an organized group that killed these people."[69] On his direction, Kasabian had hidden it in the women's restroom of a service station near a black area.[5]:176–184, 190–191, 258–269, 369–377 "I want to show blackie how to do it," Manson had said as the Family members had driven along after the departure from the LaBianca house.[69]
Ongoing disruptions
During the trial, Family members loitered near the entrances and corridors of the courthouse. To keep them out of the courtroom itself, the prosecution subpoenaed them as prospective witnesses, who would not be able to enter while others were testifying.[5]:309 When the group established itself in vigil on the sidewalk, some members wore a sheathed hunting knife[citation needed] that, although in plain view, was carried legally. Each of them was also identifiable by the X on his or her forehead.[5]:339
Some Family members attempted to dissuade witnesses from testifying. Prosecution witnesses Paul Watkins and Juan Flynn were both threatened;[5]:280, 332–335 Watkins was badly burned in a suspicious fire in his van.[5]:280 Former Family member Barbara Hoyt, who had overheard Susan Atkins describing the Tate murders to Family member Ruth Ann Moorehouse, agreed to accompany the latter to Hawaii. There, Moorehouse allegedly gave her a hamburger spiked with several doses of LSD. Found sprawled on a Honolulu curb in a drugged semi-stupor, Hoyt was taken to the hospital, where she did her best to identify herself as a witness in the Tate-LaBianca murder trial. Before the incident, Hoyt had been a reluctant witness; after the attempt to silence her, her reticence disappeared.[5]:348–350, 361
On August 4, despite precautions taken by the court, Manson flashed the jury a Los Angeles Times front page whose headline was "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares". This was a reference to a statement made the previous day when U.S. President Richard Nixon had decried what he saw as the media's glamorization of Manson. Voir dired by Judge Older, the jurors contended that the headline had not influenced them. The next day, the female defendants stood up and said in unison that, in light of Nixon's remark, there was no point in going on with the trial.[5]:323–238
On October 5, Manson was denied the court's permission to question a prosecution witness whom the defense attorneys had declined to cross-examine. Leaping over the defense table, Manson attempted to attack the judge. Wrestled to the ground by bailiffs, he was removed from the courtroom with the female defendants, who had subsequently risen and begun chanting in Latin.[5]:369–377 Thereafter, Older allegedly began wearing a revolver under his robes.[5]:369–377
Defense rests
On November 16, the prosecution rested its case. Three days later, after arguing standard dismissal motions, the defense stunned the court by resting as well, without calling a single witness. Shouting their disapproval, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten demanded their right to testify.[5]:382–388
In chambers, the women's lawyers told the judge their clients wanted to testify that they had planned and committed the crimes and that Manson had not been involved.[5]:382–388 By resting their case, the defense lawyers had tried to stop this; Van Houten's attorney, Ronald Hughes, vehemently stated that he would not "push a client out the window". In the prosecutor's view, it was Manson who was advising the women to testify in this way as a means of saving himself.[5]:382–388 Speaking about the trial in a 1987 documentary, Krenwinkel said, "The entire proceedings were scripted – by Charlie."[70]
The next day, Manson testified. Lest Manson's address violate the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Aranda by making statements implicating his co-defendants, the jury was removed from the courtroom.[5]:134 Speaking for more than an hour, Manson said, among other things, that "the music is telling the youth to rise up against the establishment." He said, "Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music." "To be honest with you," Manson also stated, "I don't recall ever saying 'Get a knife and a change of clothes and go do what Tex says.'"[5]:388–392
As the body of the trial concluded and with the closing arguments impending, attorney Ronald Hughes disappeared during a weekend trip.[5]:393–398 When Maxwell Keith was appointed to represent Van Houten in Hughes' absence, a delay of more than two weeks was required to permit Keith to familiarize himself with the voluminous trial transcripts.[5]:393–398 No sooner had the trial resumed, just before Christmas, than disruptions of the prosecution's closing argument by the defendants led Older to ban the four defendants from the courtroom for the remainder of the guilt phase. This may have occurred because the defendants were acting in collusion with each other and were simply putting on a performance, which Older said was becoming obvious.[5]:399–407
Conviction and penalty phase
On January 25, 1971, guilty verdicts were returned against the four defendants on each of the 27 separate counts against them.[5]:411–419 Not far into the trial's penalty phase, the jurors saw, at last, the defense that Manson—in the prosecution's view—had planned to present.[5]:455 Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten testified the murders had been conceived as "copycat" versions of the Hinman murder, for which Atkins now took credit. The killings, they said, were intended to draw suspicion away from Bobby Beausoleil, by resembling the crime for which he had been jailed. This plan had supposedly been the work of, and carried out under the guidance of, not Manson, but someone allegedly in love with Beausoleil—Linda Kasabian.[5]:424–433 Among the narrative's weak points was the inability of Atkins to explain why, as she was maintaining, she had written "political piggy" at the Hinman house in the first place.[5]:424–433, 450–457
Midway through the penalty phase, Manson shaved his head and trimmed his beard to a fork; he told the press, "I am the Devil, and the Devil always has a bald head."[5]:439 In what the prosecution regarded as belated recognition on their part that imitation of Manson only proved his domination, the female defendants refrained from shaving their heads until the jurors retired to weigh the state's request for the death penalty.[5]:439, 455
The effort to exonerate Manson via the "copycat" scenario failed. On March 29, 1971, the jury returned verdicts of death against all four defendants on all counts.[5]:450–457 On April 19, 1971, Judge Older sentenced the four to death.[5]:458–459
Aftermath
On the day the verdicts recommending the death penalty were returned, news came that the badly decomposed body of Ronald Hughes had been found wedged between two boulders in Ventura County.[5]:457 It was rumored, although never proven, that Hughes was murdered by the Family, possibly because he had stood up to Manson and refused to allow Van Houten to take the stand and absolve Manson of the crimes.[5]:387, 394, 481 Though he might have perished in flooding,[5]:393–394, 481[71] Family member Sandra Good stated that Hughes was "the first of the retaliation murders".[5]:481–482, 625
Protracted proceedings to extradite Watson from his native Texas,[5]:204–210, 356–361[72] where he had resettled a month before his arrest,[73] resulted in his being tried separately. The trial commenced in August 1971; by October, he, too, had been found guilty on seven counts of murder and one of conspiracy. Unlike the others, Watson had presented a psychiatric defense; prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi made short work of Watson's insanity claims. Like his co-conspirators, Watson was sentenced to death.[5]:463–468
In February 1972, the death sentences of all five parties were automatically reduced to life in prison by California v. Anderson, 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (Cal. 1972), in which the California Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in that state.[5]:488–491 After his return to prison, Manson's rhetoric and hippie speeches held little sway. Though he found temporary acceptance from the Aryan Brotherhood, his role was submissive to a sexually aggressive member of the group, at San Quentin.[74]
Before the conclusion of Manson's Tate/LaBianca trial, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times tracked down Manson's mother, remarried and living in the Pacific Northwest. The former Kathleen Maddox claimed that, in childhood, her son had suffered no neglect; he had even been "pampered by all the women who surrounded him."[7]
On November 8, 1972, the body of 26-year-old Vietnam Marine combat veteran James L. T. Willett was found by a hiker near Guerneville, California.[75] Months earlier, he had been forced to dig his own grave, and then was shot and poorly buried; his body was found with the one hand protruding from the grave and the head and other hand missing (likely because of scavenging animals). His station wagon was found outside a house in Stockton where several Manson followers were living, including Priscilla Cooper, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and Nancy Pitman. Police forced their way into the house and arrested several of the people there, along with Fromme who called the house after they had arrived. The body of James Willett's 19-year-old wife Lauren "Reni" Chavelle[76] Olmstead Willett was found buried in the basement.[75] She had been killed very recently by a gunshot to the head, in what the Family members initially claimed was an accident. It was later suggested that she was killed out of fear that she would reveal who killed her husband, as the discovery of his body had become prominent news. The Willetts' infant daughter was found alive in the house. Michael Monfort pled guilty to murdering Reni Willett, and Priscilla Cooper, James Craig, and Nancy Pitman pled guilty as accessories after the fact. Monfort and William Goucher later pled guilty to the murder of James Willett, and James Craig pled guilty as an accessory after the fact. The group had been living in the house with the Willetts while committing various robberies. Shortly after killing Willett, Monfort had used Willett's identification papers to pose as Willett after being arrested in an armed robbery of a liquor store.[76] News reports suggested that James Willett was not involved in the robberies[77] and wanted to move away, and was killed out of fear that he would talk to police. After leaving the Marines following two tours in Vietnam, Willett had been an ESL teacher for immigrant children.
Shea murder
In a 1971 trial that took place after his Tate/LaBianca convictions, Manson was found guilty of the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea and was given a life sentence. Shea was a Spahn Ranch stuntman and horse wrangler who had been killed approximately 10 days after the August 16, 1969, sheriff's raid on the ranch. Manson, who suspected that Shea helped set up the raid, had apparently believed Shea was trying to get Spahn to run the Family off the ranch. Manson may have considered it a "sin" that the white Shea had married a black woman; and there was the possibility that Shea knew about the Tate/LaBianca killings.[5]:99–113[78] In separate trials, Family members Bruce Davis and Steve "Clem" Grogan were also found guilty of Shea's murder.[5]:99–113, 463–468[79]
In 1977, authorities learned the precise location of the remains of Shorty Shea and, contrary to Family claims, Shea had not been dismembered and buried in several places. Contacting the prosecutor in his case, Steve Grogan told him Shea's corpse had been buried in one piece; he drew a map that pinpointed the location of the body, which was recovered. Of those convicted of Manson-ordered murders, Grogan would become, in 1985, the first— and, as of 2015, the only one—to be paroled.[5]:509
Remaining in view



 The Folsom State Prison, one of the facilities where Manson has been held
On September 5, 1975, the Family rocketed back to national attention when Squeaky Fromme attempted to assassinate US President Gerald Ford.[5]:502–511 The attempt took place in Sacramento, to which she and Manson follower Sandra Good had moved to be near Manson while he was incarcerated at Folsom State Prison. A subsequent search of the apartment shared by Fromme, Good, and a Family recruit turned up evidence that, coupled with later actions on the part of Good, resulted in Good's conviction for conspiring to send threatening communications through the United States mail and transmitting death threats by way of interstate commerce. The threats involved corporate executives and US government officials vis-à-vis supposed environmental dereliction on their part.[5]:502–511 Fromme was sentenced to 15 years to life, becoming the first person sentenced under United States Code Title 18, chapter 84 (1965),[80] which made it a Federal crime to attempt to assassinate the President of the United States.
Interviews
In the 1980s, Manson gave four notable interviews. The first, recorded at California Medical Facility and aired June 13, 1981, was by Tom Snyder for NBC's The Tomorrow Show. The second, recorded at San Quentin Prison and aired March 7, 1986, was by Charlie Rose for CBS News Nightwatch; it won the national news Emmy Award for "Best Interview" in 1987.[81] The last, with Geraldo Rivera in 1988, was part of that journalist's prime-time special on Satanism.[82] At least as early as the Snyder interview, Manson's forehead bore a swastika, in the spot where the X carved during his trial had been.[83]
In 1989, Nikolas Schreck conducted an interview of Manson, cutting the interview up for material in his documentary Charles Manson Superstar. Schreck concluded that Manson was not insane, but merely acting that way out of frustration.[84][85]
On September 25, 1984, while imprisoned at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, Manson was severely burned by a fellow inmate who poured paint thinner on him and set him alight. The other prisoner, Jan Holmstrom, explained that Manson had objected to his Hare Krishna chants and had verbally threatened him. Despite suffering second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body, Manson recovered from his injuries.[5]:497
In December 1987, Fromme, serving a life sentence for the assassination attempt, escaped briefly from Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. She was trying to reach Manson, whom she had heard had testicular cancer; she was apprehended within days.[5]:502–511 She was released on parole from Federal Medical Center, Carswell on August 14, 2009.[86]
Later events
In a 1994 conversation with Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, Catherine Share, a one-time Manson-follower, stated that her testimony in the penalty phase of Manson's trial had been a fabrication intended to save Manson from the gas chamber and had been given on Manson's explicit direction.[5]:502–511 Share's testimony had introduced the copycat-motive story, which the testimony of the three female defendants echoed and according to which the Tate-LaBianca murders had been Linda Kasabian's idea.[5]:424–433 In a 1997 segment of the tabloid television program Hard Copy, Share implied that her testimony had been given under a Manson threat of physical harm.[87] In August 1971, after Manson's trial and sentencing, Share had participated in a violent California retail store robbery, the object of which was the acquisition of weapons to help free Manson.[5]:463–468
In January 1996, a Manson website was established by latter-day Manson follower George Stimson, who was helped by Sandra Good. Good had been released from prison in 1985, after serving 10 years of her 15-year sentence for the death threats.[5]:502–511[88]
In June 1997, Manson was found to have been trafficking in drugs by a prison disciplinary committee.[89] That August, he was moved from Corcoran State Prison to Pelican Bay State Prison.[89]
In a 1998–99 interview in Seconds magazine, Bobby Beausoleil rejected the view that Manson ordered him to kill Gary Hinman.[52] He stated Manson did come to Hinman's house and slash Hinman with a sword. In a 1981 interview with Oui magazine, he denied this. Beausoleil stated that when he read about the Tate murders in the newspaper, "I wasn't even sure at that point – really, I had no idea who had done it until Manson's group were actually arrested for it. It had only crossed my mind and I had a premonition, perhaps. There was some little tickle in my mind that the killings might be connected with them ..." In the Oui magazine interview, he had stated, "When [the Tate-LaBianca murders] happened, I knew who had done it. I was fairly certain."[51]
William Garretson, once the young caretaker at Cielo Drive, indicated in a program broadcast in July 1999 on E!, that he had, in fact, seen and heard a portion of the Tate murders from his location in the property's guest house. This comported with the unofficial results of the polygraph examination that had been given to Garretson on August 10, 1969, and that had effectively eliminated him as a suspect.[90] The LAPD officer who conducted the examination had concluded Garretson was "clean" on participation in the crimes but "muddy" as to his having heard anything.[5]:28–38 Garretson did not explain why he had withheld his knowledge of the events.[60]
It was announced in early 2008 that Susan Atkins was suffering from brain cancer.[91] An application for compassionate release, based on her health status, was denied in July 2008,[91] and she was denied parole for the 18th and final time on September 2, 2009.[92] Atkins died of natural causes 22 days later, on September 24, 2009, at the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla.[93][94]
Further developments



 Manson at age 76 in June 2011
On September 5, 2007, MSNBC aired The Mind of Manson, a complete version of a 1987 interview at California's San Quentin State Prison. The footage of the "unshackled, unapologetic, and unruly" Manson had been considered "so unbelievable" that only seven minutes of it had originally been broadcast on The Today Show, for which it had been recorded.[95]
In a January 2008 segment of the Discovery Channel's Most Evil, Barbara Hoyt said that the impression that she had accompanied Ruth Ann Moorehouse to Hawaii just to avoid testifying at Manson's trial was erroneous. Hoyt said she had cooperated with the Family because she was "trying to keep them from killing my family." She stated that, at the time of the trial, she was "constantly being threatened: 'Your family's gonna die. [The murders] could be repeated at your house.'"[96]
On March 15, 2008, the Associated Press reported that forensic investigators had conducted a search for human remains at Barker Ranch the previous month. Following up on longstanding rumors that the Family had killed hitchhikers and runaways who had come into its orbit during its time at Barker, the investigators identified "two likely clandestine grave sites ... and one additional site that merits further investigation."[97] Though they recommended digging, CNN reported on March 28 that the Inyo County sheriff, who questioned the methods they employed with search dogs, had ordered additional tests before any excavation.[98] On May 9, after a delay caused by damage to test equipment,[99] the sheriff announced that test results had been inconclusive and that "exploratory excavation" would begin on May 20.[100] In the meantime, Tex Watson had commented publicly that "no one was killed" at the desert camp during the month-and-a-half he was there, after the Tate-LaBianca murders.[101][102] On May 21, after two days of work, the sheriff brought the search to an end; four potential gravesites had been dug up and had been found to hold no human remains.[103][104] In March 2009, a photograph taken of a 74-year old Manson, showing a receding hairline, grizzled gray beard and hair and the swastika tattoo still prominent on his forehead, was released to the public by California corrections officials.[105]
In September 2009, The History Channel broadcast a docudrama covering the Family's activities and the murders as part of its coverage on the 40th anniversary of the killings.[106] The program included an in-depth interview with Linda Kasabian, who spoke publicly for the first time since a 1989 appearance on A Current Affair, an American television news magazine.[106] Also included in the History Channel program were interviews with Vincent Bugliosi, Catherine Share, and Debra Tate, sister of Sharon.[107]
As the 40th anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders approached, in July 2009, Los Angeles magazine published an "oral history", in which former Family members, law-enforcement officers, and others involved with Manson, the arrests, and the trials offered their recollections of—and observations on—the events that made Manson notorious. In the article, Juan Flynn, a Spahn Ranch worker who had become associated with Manson and the Family, said, "Charles Manson got away with everything. People will say, 'He's in jail.' But Charlie is exactly where he wants to be."[108]
In November 2009, a Los Angeles DJ and songwriter named Matthew Roberts released correspondence and other evidence indicating he had been biologically fathered by Manson. Roberts' biological mother claims to have been a member of the Manson Family who left in the summer of 1967 after being raped by Manson; she returned to her parents' home to complete the pregnancy, gave birth on March 22, 1968, and subsequently put Roberts up for adoption. Manson himself has stated that he "could" be the father, acknowledging the biological mother and a sexual relationship with her during 1967; this was nearly two years before the Family began its murderous phase.[109][110]
In 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that Manson was caught with a cell phone in 2009, and had contacted people in California, New Jersey, Florida and British Columbia. A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections stated that it was not known if Manson had used the phone for criminal purposes.[111]
On October 4, 2012, Bruce Davis, who had been convicted of the murder of Shorty Shea and the attempted robbery by Manson Family members of a Hawthorne gun shop in 1971, was recommended for parole by the California Department of Corrections at his 27th parole hearing. In 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had reversed the board's previous finding in favor of Davis, denying him parole for two more years.[112] On March 1, 2013, and again on August 8, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown also denied parole for Davis.[113]
On November 17, 2014, it was announced that Manson was engaged to 26-year-old Afton Elaine "Star" Burton while still in prison, and had obtained a marriage license on November 7.[114] Burton had been visiting Manson in prison for at least nine years, and maintained several websites that claimed his innocence.[115] The wedding license expired on February 5, 2015, without a marriage ceremony taking place.[116] It was later reported that according to a journalist Daniel Simone, the wedding was cancelled after it was discovered that Burton only wanted to marry Manson so she and a friend Craig "Gray Wolf" Hammond could use his corpse as a tourist attraction after he dies.[116][117] According to Simone, Manson believes he will never die, and may just be using the possibility of marriage as a way to encourage Burton and Hammond to continue visiting him and bringing him gifts.[116] Together with a co-author Heidi Jordan Ley and with the assistance of some of Manson's fellow prisoners, Simone has written a book about Manson and is seeking a publisher for it.[116] Burton said on her web site that the reason the marriage did not take place is merely logistical – that Manson is suffering from an infection and has been in a prison medical facility for two months, and cannot receive visitors.[116] She said she still hoped the marriage license will be renewed and the marriage will take place.[116]
Parole hearings
A footnote to the conclusion of California v. Anderson, the 1972 decision that neutralized California's death sentences, stated, "[A]ny prisoner now under a sentence of death … may file a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the superior court inviting that court to modify its judgment to provide for the appropriate alternative punishment of life imprisonment or life imprisonment without possibility of parole specified by statute for the crime for which he was sentenced to death."[118]
This made Manson eligible to apply for parole after seven years' incarceration.[5]:488 His first parole hearing took place on November 16, 1978, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.[5]:498[119]
Manson was denied parole for the 12th time on April 11, 2012. Manson did not attend the hearing where prison officials argued that Manson had a history of controlling behavior and mental health issues including schizophrenia and paranoid delusional disorder[120] and was too great a danger to be released.[121] It was determined that Manson would not be reconsidered for parole for another 15 years,[122] at which time he would be 92 years old.[123]
His California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate number at Corcoran State Prison is B33920.[124][125]
Manson and culture
Recordings
Main article: Charles Manson discography
On March 6, 1970, the day the court vacated Manson's status as his own attorney,[5]:258–269 LIE, an album of Manson music, was released.[126][127][128] This included "Cease to Exist", a Manson composition the Beach Boys had recorded with modified lyrics and the title "Never Learn Not to Love".[129][130] Over the next couple of months, only about 300 of the album's 2,000 copies sold.[131]
Since that time, there have been several releases of Manson recordings—both musical and spoken.[132] The Family Jams includes two compact discs of Manson's songs recorded by the Family in 1970, after Manson and the others had been arrested. Guitar and lead vocals are supplied by Steve Grogan;[5]:125–127 additional vocals are supplied by Lynette Fromme, Sandra Good, Catherine Share, and others.[132][133] One Mind, an album of music, poetry, and spoken word, new at the time of its release, in April 2005,[132] was put out under a Creative Commons license.[134][135]
American rock band Guns N' Roses recorded Manson's "Look at Your Game, Girl", included as an unlisted 13th track on their 1993 album "The Spaghetti Incident?"[5]:488–491[136][137] "My Monkey", which appears on Portrait of an American Family by Marilyn Manson (no relation, as is explained below), includes the lyrics "I had a little monkey / I sent him to the country and I fed him on gingerbread / Along came a choo-choo / Knocked my monkey cuckoo / And now my monkey's dead."[138] These lyrics are from Manson's "Mechanical Man",[139] which is heard on LIE. Crispin Glover covered "Never Say 'Never' To Always" on his album The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be released in 1989.
Several of Manson's songs, including "I'm Scratching Peace Symbols on Your Tombstone" (a.k.a. "First They Made Me Sleep in the Closet"), "Garbage Dump", and "I Can't Remember When", are featured in the soundtrack of the 1976 TV-movie Helter Skelter, where they are performed by Steve Railsback, who portrays Manson.[140]
According to a popular urban legend, Manson unsuccessfully auditioned for the Monkees in late 1965; this is refuted by the fact that Manson was still incarcerated at McNeil Island at that time.[141]
Cultural reverberation
Beginning in January 1970, Manson was embraced by the underground newspapers Los Angeles Free Press and Tuesday's Child, with the latter proclaiming him "Man of the Year".[142] In June 1970, he was the subject of a Rolling Stone cover story, "Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive".[142] When a Rolling Stone writer visited the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in preparing that story,[143] he was shocked by a photograph of the bloody "Healter [sic] Skelter" that would bind Manson to popular culture.[144]
Despite the Weathermen's views of themselves as "white pig babies"[145] and their determination to plug themselves into the black revolution (whether the black revolution wanted them or not), Bernardine Dohrn, who assumed leadership of the group after it went underground and became more aggressive, said about the Tate murders: "Dig it, first they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into a victim's stomach. Wild!".[145]
Manson has been a presence in fashion,[146][147] graphics,[148][149] music,[150] and movies, as well as on television and the stage. In an afterword composed for the 1994 edition of the non-fiction book Helter Skelter, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi quoted a BBC employee's assertion that a "neo-Manson cult" existing then in Europe was represented by, among other things, approximately 70 rock bands playing songs by Manson and "songs in support of him".[5]:488–491
Manson has even influenced the names of musical performers such as Kasabian, Spahn Ranch, and Marilyn Manson, the last a stage name assembled from "Charles Manson" and "Marilyn Monroe".[151] The story of the Family's activities inspired John Moran's opera The Manson Family and Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins, the latter of which has Lynette Fromme as a character.[152][153] The tale has been the subject of several movies such as the 1984 film Manson Family Movies,[154] including two television dramatizations of Helter Skelter.[155][156] In the South Park episode "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson", Manson is a comic character whose inmate number is 06660, an apparent reference to 666, the Biblical "number of the beast".[157][158]
The 2002 novel The Dead Circus by John Kaye includes the activities of the Manson Family as a major plot point.[159]
Documentaries
Manson (1973), directed by Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick[160]
Charles Manson Superstar (1989), directed by Nikolas Schreck[161]
See also
Doomsday cult
Helter Skelter (Manson scenario)
List of United States death row inmates


Flag of California.svgCalifornia portal
 P vip.svgBiography portal
 Scale of justice 2.svgCrime portal
 

References
1.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 1 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
2.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 37 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
3.Jump up ^ History of California's Death Penalty deathpenalty.org. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
4.Jump up ^ "''Internet Accuracy Project: Charles Manson'', a websited dedicated to providing accurate information on the web". Accuracyproject.org. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq dr ds dt du dv dw dx dy dz ea eb ec ed ee ef eg eh ei ej ek el em en eo ep eq er es et eu ev ew ex ey ez fa fb fc fd fe ff fg fh fi fj fk fl fm fn fo fp fq fr fs ft fu fv fw fx fy fz ga gb gc gd ge gf Bugliosi, Vincent with Gentry, Curt. Helter Skelter — The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-393-08700-X.
6.Jump up ^ Emmons, Nuel. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, New York; 1988. ISBN 0-8021-3024-0, p. 28. (If link does not go directly to page 28, scroll to it; "no name Maddox" is highlighted.)
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Smith, Dave. Mother Tells Life of Manson as Boy. 1971 article; retrieved June 5, 2007.
8.Jump up ^ Reitwiesner, William Addams. Provisional ancestry of Charles Manson; retrieved April 26, 2007.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Photocopy of Manson birth certificate MansonDirect.com; retrieved April 26, 2007.[dead link]
10.Jump up ^ "''Internet Accuracy Project: Charles Manson''". Accuracyproject.org. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
11.Jump up ^ Emmons, Nuel. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, New York (1988); ISBN 0-8021-3024-0, pp. 28–29.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Emmons, Nuel. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, New York (1988); ISBN 0-8021-3024-0
13.Jump up ^ "Short Bits 2 – Charles Manson and the Beach Boys". Lost in the Grooves. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Rule, Ann (August 18, 2013). "There Will Be Blood". The New York Times Book Review (August 18, 2013): 14.
15.Jump up ^ 1981 Tom Snyder interview with Charles Manson[dead link]. Transcribed by Aaron Bredlau. CharlieManson.com. Retrieved April 26, 2007.
16.Jump up ^ Karpis, Alvin, with Robert Livesey. On the Rock: Twenty-five Years at Alcatraz, 1980
17.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, Vincent: Helter Skelter, 1994. pg. 513
18.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, Vincent: Helter Skelter, 1974. pg. xv.
19.Jump up ^ Sanders, Ed (2002). The Family. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-396-7. Pages 13–20.
20.^ Jump up to: a b Charles Manson By Simon Wells
21.Jump up ^ Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson By Jeff Guinn p. 124
22.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, Vincent; Gentry, Curt (1974). Helter Skelter. Arrow Books Limited. ISBN 0-09-997500-9. p136
23.Jump up ^ Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson By Jeff Guinn p111
24.Jump up ^ "The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter", 2009 Documentary
25.^ Jump up to: a b Sanders 2002, p. 34.
26.^ Jump up to: a b Watkins, Paul with Soledad, Guillermo (1979). My Life with Charles Manson, Bantam. ISBN 0-553-12788-8. Chapter 4.
27.^ Jump up to: a b c d Watson, Charles as told to Ray Hoekstra. "Will You Die for Me?". aboundinglove.org. Retrieved 3 May 2007.
28.^ Jump up to: a b "Watson, Ch. 6". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
29.^ Jump up to: a b "Watson, Ch. 7". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
30.Jump up ^ Watkins, pages 34 & 40.
31.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 4". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
32.^ Jump up to: a b c Watkins, Ch. 10.
33.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 11
34.Jump up ^ "1". Manson. aboundinglove.org (Manson's Right-Hand Man Speaks Out!). ISBN 0-9678519-1-2. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
35.^ Jump up to: a b c d Watkins, Ch. 12
36.Jump up ^ "Larry King Interview with Paul Watkins". CNN Larry King Live: Interview with Paul Watkins. Manson's obsession with the Beatles is discussed at the interview's very end.
37.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 11.
38.^ Jump up to: a b c "Watson, Ch. 11". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
39.^ Jump up to: a b c The Influence of the Beatles on Charles Manson. UMKC Law. Retrieved April 7, 2006.
40.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 99–100.
41.Jump up ^ Watkins, p. 137.
42.^ Jump up to: a b Watkins, Ch. 13
43.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 12.
44.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 133–36.
45.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 15
46.^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Watson, Ch. 13". Aboundinglove.org. August 8, 1969. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
47.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 147–49.
48.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 151.
49.^ Jump up to: a b Atkins, Susan, with Slosser, Bob (1977). Child of Satan, Child of God. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International. pp. 94–120. ISBN 0-88270-276-9.
50.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, page 184.
51.^ Jump up to: a b "Beausoleil Oui interview". charliemanson.com.[dead link]
52.^ Jump up to: a b "Beausoleil Seconds interviews". beausoleil.net.
53.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 6 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com.
54.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Watson, Ch. 14". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
55.^ Jump up to: a b "Watson, Ch. 19". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
56.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "Watson, Ch. 15". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
57.Jump up ^ "Atkinson grand jury testimony". Afternoon grand-jury testimony of Susan Atkins, Los Angeles, California, December 5, 1969. The statement comes in a moment of confusion on the part of Atkins; it's possible she's saying she believes Krenwinkel is the person who told her about the carving of "War".
58.Jump up ^ "Susan Atkins' Story of 2 Nights of Murder". Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1969.
59.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 243–44.
60.^ Jump up to: a b Transcript and synopsis of William Garretson comments.[dead link] "The Last Days of Sharon Tate", The E! True Hollywood Story. CharlieManson.com. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
61.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 21.
62.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 2". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
63.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 282–83.
64.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 22
65.Jump up ^ Report on questioning of Katherine Lutesinger and Susan Atkins October 13, 1969, by Los Angeles Sheriff's officers Paul Whiteley and Charles Guenther.
66.Jump up ^ Atkins 1977, 141.
67.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 388.
68.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 29 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com.
69.^ Jump up to: a b Prosecution's closing argument Pages 22–23 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com.
70.Jump up ^ Biography – "Charles Manson." A&E Network.
71.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 436–38.
72.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 18". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
73.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 16". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
74.Jump up ^ George, Edward; Dary Matera (1999). Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars. Macmillan. pp. 42–45. ISBN 978-0-312-20970-4.
75.^ Jump up to: a b Manson Family Suspect in Killing, The Times Standard, November 14, 1972.
76.^ Jump up to: a b "Two men and three women charged with murder of 19-year-old girl", Reuters News Service, 1972.
77.Jump up ^ "Ex-cons, Manson Girls Charged", The Billings Gazette, November 15, 1972.
78.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 271–2.
79.Jump up ^ Transcript of Charles Manson's 1992 parole hearing University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
80.Jump up ^ "18 U.S.C. § 1751". .law.cornell.edu. June 28, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
81.Jump up ^ Joynt, Carol. Diary of a Mad Saloon Owner. April–May 2005.
82.Jump up ^ "Rivera's 'Devil Worship' was TV at its Worst". Review by Tom Shales. San Jose Mercury News, October 31, 1988.
83.Jump up ^ Itzkoff, Dave (July 31, 2007). "Hearts and Souls Dissected, in 12 Minutes or Less". New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2009. "Appraisal of Tom Snyder, upon his death. Includes photograph of Manson with swastika on forehead during 1981 interview."
84.Jump up ^ Charles Manson Superstar, 1989
85.Jump up ^ Interano Radio "Interview with Nikolas Schreck" August, 1988.
86.Jump up ^ "Would-Be Assassin 'Squeaky' Fromme Released from Prison". ABC. August 14, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
87.Jump up ^ Catherine Share with Vincent Bugliosi, Hard Copy, 1997 youtube.com. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
88.Jump up ^ "Manson's Family Affair Living in Cyberspace". Wired, April 16, 1997. Retrieved May 29, 2007.
89.^ Jump up to: a b "Manson moved to a tougher prison after drug charge". Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine). AP. August 22, 1997. p. 7A. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
90.Jump up ^ Transcript of William Garretson polygraph exam.[dead link] CharlieManson.com. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
91.^ Jump up to: a b "Ailing Manson follower denied release from prison" CNN, July 15, 2008.
92.Jump up ^ Netter, Sarah; Lindsay Goldwert (September 2, 2009). "Dying Manson Murderer Denied Release". ABC News. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
93.Jump up ^ Fox, Margalit (September 26, 2009). "Susan Atkins, Manson Follower, Dies at 61". New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
94.Jump up ^ Blankstein, Andrew (September 25, 2009). "Manson follower Susan Atkins dies at 61". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2009.[dead link]
95.Jump up ^ Transcript, MSNBC Live. September 5, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
96.Jump up ^ "Charles Manson Murders". Most Evil. Season 3. Episode 1. 2008-01-31. Discovery Channel.
97.Jump up ^ "AP Exclusive: On Manson's trail, forensic testing suggests possible new grave sites". Associated Press, posted at International Herald Tribune. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
98.Jump up ^ More tests at Manson ranch for buried bodies. CNN.com. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
99.Jump up ^ Authorities delay decision on digging at Manson ranch Associated Press report, mercurynews.com. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
100.Jump up ^ Authorities to dig at old Manson family ranch cnn.com. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
101.Jump up ^ Letter from Manson lieutenant. CNN. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
102.Jump up ^ Monthly View – May 2008. Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
103.Jump up ^ Four holes dug, no bodies found ... iht.com. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
104.Jump up ^ Dig turns up no bodies at Manson ranch site CNN.com, May 21, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
105.Jump up ^ "New prison photo of Charles Manson released". CNN. March 20, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2009.
106.^ Jump up to: a b "Manson Family member interviewed for special". Reuters. July 28, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
107.Jump up ^ "Manson, About the Show". History Channel. Retrieved October 27, 2009.[dead link]
108.Jump up ^ Steve Oney (July 1, 2009). "Manson Web Extra: LAST WORDS" (HTML). Los Angeles magazine (in English). Retrieved July 8, 2009.
109.Jump up ^ "Man Finds His Long-Lost Dad Is Charles Manson" by Huw Borland, Sky News Online, November 23, 2009
110.Jump up ^ "I traced my dad ... and discovered he is Charles Manson" by Peter Samson, The Sun, November 23, 2009
111.Jump up ^ Wilson, Greg (2010-12-03). ""Cell" Phone: Charles Manson Busted with a Mobile". Nbclosangeles.com. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
112.Jump up ^ "Bruce Davis, Manson Follower, Gets Cleared For Release By California Parole Board". Huffingtonpost.com. October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
113.Jump up ^ "Governor denies parole to ex-Manson follower". seattlepi. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
114.Jump up ^ 5 Things to Know About the 26-Year-Old Woman Charles Manson Might Marry time.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
115.Jump up ^ Deutsch, Linda. "Charles Manson Gets Marriage License". ABC News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 1, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
116.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Sanderson, Bill (February 8, 2015). "Charles Manson's fiancee wanted to marry him for his corpse: Source". The New York Post. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
117.Jump up ^ Hooton, Christopher (February 9, 2015). "Charles Manson wedding off after it emerges that fiancee Afton Elaine Burton 'just wanted his corpse for display'". The Independent. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
118.Jump up ^ People v. Anderson, 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (Cal. 1972), footnote (45) to final sentence of majority opinion. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
119.Jump up ^ "Charles Manson Family and Sharon Tate-Labianca Murders - Cielodrive.com". Retrieved 24 April 2012.
120.Jump up ^ Michael Martinez (2012-04-11). "Charles Manson denied parole". Articles.cnn.com. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
121.Jump up ^ "Charles Manson Quickly Denied Parole". LA Times. April 11, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
122.Jump up ^ Jones, Kiki (2012-04-11). "Murderer Charles Manson Denied Parole – Central Coast News KION/KCBA". Kionrightnow.com. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
123.Jump up ^ http://wordswithmeaning.org/charles-manson-denied-parole-again/
124.Jump up ^ "Life Prisoner Parole Consideration Hearings May 7, 2007 – June 2, 2007" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2007.. Board of Parole Hearings, Calif. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. P. 3. Retrieved May 2, 2007.
125.Jump up ^ "Inmate Search." California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved on October 15, 2010. "Name: MANSON, CHARLES CDCR#: B33920 Age: 75 Admission Date: April 22, 1971 Current Location: Corcoran"
126.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 336.
127.Jump up ^ Lie: The Love And Terror Cult[dead link]. ASIN: B000005X1J. Amazon.com. Access date: November 23, 2007.
128.Jump up ^ Syndicated column re LIE release Mike Jahn, August 1970.
129.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 64–65.
130.Jump up ^ Dennis Wilson interview Circus magazine, October 26, 1976. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
131.Jump up ^ Rolling Stone story on Manson, June 1970[dead link] CharlieManson.com. Retrieved May 2, 2007.
132.^ Jump up to: a b c List of Manson recordings mansondirect.com. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
133.Jump up ^ The Family Jams. ASIN: B0002UXM2Q. 2004. Amazon.com.
134.Jump up ^ Charles Manson Issues Album under Creative Commons pcmag.com. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
135.Jump up ^ Yes it's CC![dead link] Photo verifying Creative Commons license of One Mind. blog.limewire.com. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
136.Jump up ^ Review of The Spaghetti Incident? allmusic.com. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
137.Jump up ^ Guns N' Roses biography[dead link] rollingstone.com. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
138.Jump up ^ "Manson related music."[dead link]charliemanson.com. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
139.Jump up ^ Lyrics of "Mechanical Man"[dead link] charliemanson.com. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
140.Jump up ^ Soundtrack, Helter Skelter (1976) Section of Steve Railsback entry, imdb.com. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
141.Jump up ^ "The Music Manson." snopes.com. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
142.^ Jump up to: a b Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive rollingstone.com. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
143.Jump up ^ Manson on cover of Rolling Stone rollingstone.com. Retrieved May 2, 2007.
144.Jump up ^ Dalton, David. If Christ Came Back as a Con Man. gadflyonline.com. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
145.^ Jump up to: a b "The Seeds of Terror". The New York Times. November 22, 1981. p. 5. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
146.Jump up ^ "Bant Shirts Manson T-shirt". Bant-shirts.com. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
147.Jump up ^ "Prank Place Manson T-shirt". Prankplace.com. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
148.Jump up ^ "No Name Maddox" Manson portrait in marijuana seeds. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
149.Jump up ^ Poster of Manson on cover of Rolling Stone[dead link]
150.Jump up ^ Manson-related music[dead link] charliemanson.com. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
151.Jump up ^ Biography for Marilyn Manson imdb.com. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
152.Jump up ^ "Will the Manson Story Play as Myth, Operatically at That?" New York Times. July 17, 1990. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
153.Jump up ^ "''Assassins''". Sondheim.com. November 22, 1963. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
154.Jump up ^ David Kerekes, David Slater (1996). Killing for Culture. Creation Books. pp. 222–223, 225, 268. ISBN 1871592208.
155.Jump up ^ Helter Skelter (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
156.Jump up ^ Helter Skelter (1976) at the Internet Movie Database
157.Jump up ^ Merry Christmas Charlie Manson Video clips at southpark.comedycentral.com
158.Jump up ^ Beast Number WolframMathWorld. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
159.Jump up ^ Stephanie Zacharek (August 18, 2002). "Bad Vibrations". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
160.Jump up ^ Manson at the Internet Movie Database
161.Jump up ^ Charles Manson Superstar at the Internet Movie Database
Works cited
Atkins, Susan with Bob Slosser. Child of Satan, Child of God. Logos International; Plainfield, New Jersey; 1977. ISBN 0-88270-276-9.
Bugliosi, Vincent with Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. (Norton, 1974; Arrow books, 1992 edition, ISBN 0-09-997500-9; W. W. Norton & Company, 2001, ISBN 0-393-32223-8)
Emmons, Nuel, as told to. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8021-3024-0.
Sanders, Ed The Family. Thunder's Mouth Press. rev. update edition 2002. ISBN 1-56025-396-7.
Watkins, Paul with Guillermo Soledad. My Life with Charles Manson. Bantam, 1979. ISBN 0-553-12788-8.
Watson, Charles. Will you die for me?. F. H. Revell, 1978. ISBN 0-8007-0912-8.
Further reading
George, Edward and Dary Matera. Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars. St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-20970-3.
Emmons, Nuel. Manson in his Own Words. Grove Press. 1994. ISBN 0-8021-3024-0
Gilmore, John. Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family. Amok Books, 2000. ISBN 1-878923-13-7.
Gilmore, John. The Garbage People. Omega Press, 1971.
LeBlanc, Jerry and Ivor Davis. 5 to Die. Holloway House Publishing, 1971. ISBN 0-87067-306-8.
Pellowski, Michael J. The Charles Manson Murder Trial: A Headline Court Case. Enslow Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-7660-2167-X.
Schreck, Nikolas. The Manson File Amok Press. 1988. ISBN 0-941693-04-X.
Schreck, Nikolas. The Manson File, Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman World Operations. 2011. ISBN 978-3-8442-1094-1
Udo, Tommy. Charles Manson: Music, Mayhem, Murder. Sanctuary Records, 2002. ISBN 1-86074-388-9.
External links

Find more about
Charles Manson
 at Wikipedia's sister projects

Search Wiktionary Definitions from Wiktionary
Search Commons Media from Commons
Search Wikinews News stories from Wikinews
Search Wikiquote Quotations from Wikiquote
Search Wikisource Source texts from Wikisource
Search Wikibooks Textbooks from Wikibooks
Search Wikiversity Learning resources from Wikiversity
Bardsley, Marilyn. Crime Library – Charles Manson. Crime Library. Courtroom Television Network, LLC. April 7, 2006.
Dalton, David. If Christ Came Back as a Con Man. 1998 article by coauthor of 1970 Rolling Stone story on Manson. gadflyonline.com. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
Linder, Douglas. Famous Trials – The Trial of Charles Manson. University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School. 2002. April 7, 2007.
Noe, Denise. "The Manson Myth" CrimeMagazine.com December 12, 2004
FBI file on Charles Manson
Decision in appeal by Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten from Tate-LaBianca convictionsPeople v. Manson, 61 Cal. App. 3d 102 (California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division One, August 13, 1976). Retrieved June 19, 2007.
Decision in appeal by Manson from Hinman-Shea conviction People v. Manson, 71 Cal. App. 3d 1 (California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division One, June 23, 1977).
Horrific past haunts former cult members San Francisco Chronicle August 12, 2009


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family












































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
People associated with The Beach Boys

















































































































Authority control
WorldCat ·
 VIAF: 113072501 ·
 LCCN: n79115986 ·
 ISNI: 0000 0001 1497 1770 ·
 GND: 11857728X ·
 SUDOC: 067637957 ·
 MusicBrainz: db3d7002-d9e8-4803-82c4-d85dad3f29bb ·
 NDL: 00471010 ·
 NKC: jn20000701140
 

  


Categories: 1934 births
Living people
20th-century American criminals
American people convicted of murder
American prisoners and detainees
American prisoners sentenced to death
American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Apocalypticists
Criminals from California
Criminals from Ohio
Former Scientologists
History of Los Angeles, California
Manson Family
Outsider musicians
People convicted of murder by California
People from Cincinnati, Ohio
Prisoners sentenced to death by California
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by California
People with antisocial personality disorder
People with schizophrenia
Self-declared messiahs




























Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

View source

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
العربية
বাংলা
Български
Català
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Føroyskt
Français
Gaeilge
Galego
한국어
Հայերեն
Bahasa Indonesia
Italiano
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
ქართული
Latviešu
Lietuvių
Magyar
Malti
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Occitan
Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча
Polski
Português
Русский
Shqip
Simple English
Slovenčina
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 16 June 2015, at 08:16.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson










Charles Manson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

"The Manson Family" redirects here. For the 2003 film, see The Manson Family (film).

Charles Manson
CharlesManson2014.jpg
Manson in 2014

Born
Charles Milles Maddox
 November 12, 1934 (age 80)
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

Criminal charge
 Murder, conspiracy

Criminal penalty
 Death, reduced by abolition of death penalty to life in prison
Spouse(s)
Rosalie Jean Willis (1955–1958)
 Leona "Candy" Stevens (1959–1963)
Children
Charles Milles Manson, Jr., (mother Rosalie Willis)
 Charles Luther Manson (mother Leona Stevens)
 Valentine Michael "Pooh Bear" Manson (mother Mary Brunner)
Parent(s)
Kathleen Maddox (mother)
 Walker Scott (father)
 William Manson (stepfather)

Imprisoned at
Corcoran State Prison
Musical career
Genres
Contemporary folk, psychedelic folk, freak folk
Occupation(s)
Singer-songwriter
Instruments
Vocals, guitar
Years active
1968–1970
Labels
Awareness
Associated acts
Phil Kaufman
Charles Milles Manson (born Charles Milles Maddox, November 12, 1934) is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in the California desert in the late 1960s. In 1971 he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murders of seven people: actress Sharon Tate and four other people at Tate's home; and the next day, a married couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca; all carried out by members of the group at his instruction. He was convicted of the murders through the joint-responsibility rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes his fellow conspirators commit in furtherance of the conspiracy's objective.[1][2] His followers also murdered several other people at other times and locations, and Manson was also convicted for two of these other murders (of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea).
Manson believed in what he called "Helter Skelter", a term he took from the song of the same name by the Beatles. Manson believed Helter Skelter to be an impending apocalyptic race war, which he described in his own version of the lyrics to the Beatles' song. He believed the murders would help precipitate that war. From the beginning of his notoriety, a pop culture arose around him in which he ultimately became an emblem of insanity, violence and the macabre. The term "helter skelter" was later used by Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi as the title of a book that he wrote about the Manson murders.
At the time the Family began to form, Manson was an unemployed former convict, who had spent half of his life in correctional institutions for a variety of offenses. Before the murders, he was a singer-songwriter on the fringe of the Los Angeles music industry, chiefly through a chance association with Dennis Wilson, a founding member and the drummer of the Beach Boys. After Manson was charged with the crimes of which he was later convicted, recordings of songs written and performed by him were released commercially. Various musicians, including Guns N' Roses, White Zombie and Marilyn Manson, have covered some of his songs.
Manson's death sentence was automatically commuted to life imprisonment when a 1972 decision by the Supreme Court of California temporarily eliminated the state's death penalty.[3] California's eventual reinstatement of capital punishment did not affect Manson, who is currently incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison.


Contents  [hide]
1 Early life 1.1 Childhood
1.2 First offenses
1.3 First imprisonment
1.4 Second imprisonment
2 Manson Family 2.1 Manson's presentation of himself
2.2 Involvement with Wilson, Melcher, et al.
2.3 Spahn Ranch
2.4 Helter Skelter
2.5 Encounter with Tate
3 Family crimes 3.1 Crowe shooting
3.2 Hinman murder
3.3 Tate murders
3.4 LaBianca murders
4 Justice system 4.1 Investigation 4.1.1 Breakthrough
4.1.2 Apprehension
4.2 Trial 4.2.1 Ongoing disruptions
4.2.2 Defense rests
4.2.3 Conviction and penalty phase

5 Aftermath 5.1 Shea murder
5.2 Remaining in view 5.2.1 Interviews
5.3 Later events 5.3.1 Further developments
5.3.2 Parole hearings

6 Manson and culture 6.1 Recordings
6.2 Cultural reverberation
6.3 Documentaries
7 See also
8 References
9 Works cited
10 Further reading
11 External links

Early life
Childhood
Born to an unmarried 16-year-old named Kathleen Maddox (1918–1973),[4] in the General Hospital, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Manson was first named "no name Maddox".[5]:136–7[6][7] Within weeks, he was called Charles Milles Maddox.[5]:136–7[8][9] For a period after his birth, his mother was married to a laborer named William Manson (1910–?),[9] whose last name the boy was given. His biological father appears to have been Colonel Walker Scott (May 11, 1910 – December 30, 1954)[10] against whom Kathleen Maddox filed a paternity suit that resulted in an agreed judgment in 1937. Possibly, Charles Manson never really knew his biological father.[5]:136–7[7]
Several statements in Manson's 1951 case file from the seven months he would later spend at the National Training School for Boys in Washington, D.C., allude to the possibility that "Colonel Scott" was African-American.[5]:555 These include the first two sentences of his family background section, which read: "Father: unknown. He is alleged to have been an African American cook by the name of Scott, with whom Charles's mother had been promiscuous at the time of pregnancy."[5]:556 When asked about these official records by attorney Vincent Bugliosi in 1971, Manson emphatically denied that his biological father had African American ancestry.[5]:588 In addition, the 1920 and 1930 census list Colonel Scott and his father as white.
In the biography, Manson in His Own Words, Colonel Scott is said to have been "a young drugstore cowboy ... a transient laborer working on a nearby dam project." It is not clear what "nearby" means. The description is in a paragraph that indicates Kathleen Maddox gave birth to Manson "while living in Cincinnati", after she had run away from her own home, in Ashland, Kentucky.[11]
There is much about Manson's early life that is in dispute because of the variety of different stories he has offered to interviewers, many of which were untrue. Manson's mother was allegedly a heavy drinker.[5]:136–7 According to Manson, she once sold her son for a pitcher of beer to a childless waitress, from whom his uncle retrieved him some days later.[12]
When Manson's mother and her brother were sentenced to five years' imprisonment for robbing a Charleston, West Virginia, service station in 1939, Manson was placed in the home of an aunt and uncle in McMechen, West Virginia. Upon her 1942 parole, Manson's mother retrieved her son and lived with him in a series of run-down hotel rooms.[5]:136–7 Manson himself later characterized her physical embrace of him on the day she returned from prison as his sole happy childhood memory.[12] In 1947, Kathleen Maddox tried to have her son placed in a foster home but failed because no such home was available. The court placed Manson in Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana. After 10 months, he fled from there to his mother, who rejected him.[5]:136–7
First offenses
By burgling a grocery store, Manson obtained money that enabled him to rent a room.[5]:136–7 He committed a string of burglaries of other stores, including one from which he stole a bicycle, but was eventually caught in the act and sent to an Indianapolis juvenile center. He escaped after one day, but was recaptured and placed in Boys Town. Four days after his arrival there, he escaped with another boy. The pair committed two armed robberies on their way to the home of the other boy's uncle.[5]:137–146
Caught during the second of two subsequent break-ins of grocery stores, Manson was sent, at age 13, to the Indiana Boys School, where, he would later claim, he was brutalized sexually and otherwise.[12] After many failed attempts, he escaped with two other boys in 1951.[5]:137–146
In Utah, the three were caught driving to California in cars they had stolen. They had burgled several filling stations along the way. For the federal crime of taking a stolen car across a state line, Manson was sent to Washington, D.C.'s National Training School for Boys. Despite four years of schooling and an I.Q. of 109 (later tested at age 21),[5]:137–146 he was illiterate. A caseworker deemed him aggressively antisocial.[5]:137–146
First imprisonment
In October 1951, on a psychiatrist's recommendation, Manson was transferred to Natural Bridge Honor Camp, a minimum security institution. Less than a month before a scheduled February 1952 parole hearing, one of the boys there "took a razor blade and held it against another boy's throat while Manson sodomized him."[5]:137–146[12] Manson was transferred to the Federal Reformatory, Petersburg, Virginia, where he was considered "dangerous."[5]:137–146 In September 1952, a number of other serious disciplinary offenses resulted in his transfer to the Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio, a more secure institution.[5]:137–146 About a month after the transfer, he became almost a model resident. Good work habits and a rise in his educational level from the lower fourth to the upper seventh grade won him a May 1954 parole.[5]:137–146
After temporarily honoring a parole condition that he live with his aunt and uncle in West Virginia, Manson moved in with his mother in that same state. In January 1955, he married a hospital waitress named Rosalie Jean Willis, with whom, by his own account, he found genuine, if short-lived, marital happiness.[12] He supported their marriage via small-time jobs and auto theft.[5]:137–146
Around October, about three months after he and his pregnant wife arrived in Los Angeles in a car he had stolen in Ohio, Manson was again charged with a federal crime for taking the vehicle across state lines. After a psychiatric evaluation, he was given five years' probation. His subsequent failure to appear at a Los Angeles hearing on an identical charge filed in Florida resulted in his March 1956 arrest in Indianapolis. His probation was revoked; he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Terminal Island, San Pedro, California.[5]:137–146
While Manson was in prison, Rosalie gave birth to their son, Charles Manson, Jr. During his first year at Terminal Island, Manson received visits from Rosalie and his mother, who were now living together in Los Angeles. In March 1957, when the visits from his wife ceased, his mother informed him Rosalie was living with another man. Less than two weeks before a scheduled parole hearing, Manson tried to escape by stealing a car. He was subsequently given five years probation, and his parole was denied.[5]:137–146
Second imprisonment
Manson received five years' parole in September 1958, the same year in which Rosalie received a decree of divorce. By November, he was pimping a 16-year-old girl and was receiving additional support from a girl with wealthy parents. In September 1959, he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to cash a forged U.S. Treasury check. He received a 10-year suspended sentence and probation after a young woman with an arrest record for prostitution made a "tearful plea" before the court that she and Manson were "deeply in love ... and would marry if Charlie were freed."[5]:137–146 Before the year's end, the woman did marry Manson, possibly so testimony against him would not be required of her.[5]:137–146
The woman's name was Leona; as a prostitute, she had used the name Candy Stevens. After Manson took her and another woman from California to New Mexico for purposes of prostitution, he was held and questioned for violation of the Mann Act. Though he was released, he evidently suspected, rightly, that the investigation had not ended. When he disappeared, in violation of his probation, a bench warrant was issued; an April 1960 indictment for violation of the Mann Act followed.[5]:137–146 Arrested in Laredo, Texas, in June, when one of the women was arrested for prostitution, Manson was returned to Los Angeles. For violation of his probation on the check-cashing charge, he was ordered to serve his 10-year sentence.[5]:137–146
In July 1961, after a year spent unsuccessfully appealing the revocation of his probation, Manson was transferred from the Los Angeles County Jail to the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island. There, he took guitar lessons from Barker-Karpis gang leader Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, and obtained a contact name of someone at Universal Studios in Hollywood from another inmate, Phil Kaufman (who, after release, befriended Gram Parsons and after Parsons's death, hijacked the body and cremated it in the Joshua Tree desert).[13] According to Jeff Guinn's 2013 biography of Manson, Charlie's mother Kathleen moved from California to Washington state to be closer to him during his McNeil Island incarceration, working nearby as a waitress.[14]
Although the Mann Act charge had been dropped, the attempt to cash the Treasury check was still a federal offense. His September 1961 annual review noted he had a "tremendous drive to call attention to himself", an observation echoed in September 1964.[5]:137–146 In 1963, Leona was granted a divorce, in the pursuit of which she alleged that she and Manson had had a son, Charles Luther.[5]:137–146
In June 1966, Manson was sent, for the second time in his life, to Terminal Island, in preparation for early release. By March 21, 1967, his release day, he had spent more than half of his 32 years in prisons and other institutions.[5]:137–146 Telling the authorities that prison had become his home, he requested permission to stay,[5]:137–146 a fact touched on in a 1981 television interview with Tom Snyder.[15]
Manson Family
On his release day Manson received permission to move to San Francisco, where, with the help of a prison acquaintance, he moved into an apartment in Berkeley. In prison, bank robber Alvin Karpis had taught him to play the steel guitar.[5]:137–146[12][16] Now, living mostly by panhandling, he soon got to know Mary Brunner, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Brunner was working as a library assistant at University of California, Berkeley, and Manson moved in with her. According to a second-hand account, he overcame her resistance to his bringing other women in to live with them. Before long, they were sharing Brunner's residence with 18 other women.[5]:163–174
Manson established himself as a guru in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, which during 1967's "Summer of Love", was emerging as the signature hippie locale. Bugliosi said in his book Helter Skelter that Manson appeared to have borrowed philosophically from the Process Church, whose members believed Satan would become reconciled to Christ, and they would come together at the end of the world to judge humanity. Expounding a philosophy that included some of the Scientology he had studied in prison,[5]:163–164 he soon had the first of his groups of followers, which have been called the Manson Family, most of them female.[5]:137–146 Upon a staff evaluation of Manson when he entered prison in July 1961 at the U.S. penitentiary in McNeil Island, Washington, Manson entered "Scientologist" as his religion.[5]:143–144
Before the summer ended, Manson and eight or nine of his enthusiasts piled into an old school bus they had re-wrought in hippie style, with colored rugs and pillows in place of the many seats they had removed. They roamed as far north as Washington state, then southward through Los Angeles, Mexico, and the southwest. Returning to the Los Angeles area, they lived in Topanga Canyon, Malibu, and Venice—western parts of the city and county.[5]:163–174
In 1967, Brunner became pregnant by Manson and on April 15, 1968, gave birth to a son she named Valentine Michael (nicknamed "Pooh Bear")[17] in a condemned house in Topanga Canyon and was assisted during the birth by several of the young women from the Family. Brunner (like most members of the group) acquired a number of aliases and nicknames, including: "Marioche", "Och", "Mother Mary", "Mary Manson", "Linda Dee Manson" and "Christine Marie Euchts".[18] It was November when the school bus set out from San Francisco with the enlarged group.[19]
Manson's presentation of himself
Actor Al Lewis, who had Manson babysit his children on a couple of occasions, described him as 'A nice guy when I knew him'.[20] Through Phil Kaufman, Manson got an introduction to young Universal Studios producer, Gary Stromberg, then working on a film adaptation of the life of Jesus set in modern America with a black Jesus and southern redneck 'Romans'. Stromberg thought Manson made interesting suggestions about what Jesus might do in a situation, seeming strangely attuned to the role; to illustrate the place of women he had one of his women kiss his feet, but then kissed hers in return. At the beach one day, Stromberg watched while Manson preached against a materialistic outlook only to be questioned about his well-furnished bus. Nonchalant, he tossed the bus keys to the doubter who promptly drove it away, while Manson watched apparently unconcerned.[21] According to Stromberg, Manson had a dynamic personality with an ability to read a person's weakness and 'play' them.[20] Trying to co-opt an influential individual from a motorcycle gang by granting him access to 'Family' women, Manson claimed to be sexually pathetic, and convinced the biker that his outsized endowment was all that kept the 'Family' females at Spahn ranch.[22] On one occasion, the enraged father of a runaway girl, who had joined the 'Family', pointed a shotgun at Manson and told him he was about to die. Manson quietly invited him to shoot before talking to the man about love and, with the aid of LSD, persuaded him to accept the situation.[23]
Involvement with Wilson, Melcher, et al.
The events that would culminate in the murders were set in motion in late spring 1968, when (by some accounts) Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys picked up two hitchhiking Manson women, Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey,[24] and brought them to his Pacific Palisades house for a few hours. Returning home in the early hours of the following morning from a night recording session, Wilson was greeted in the driveway of his own residence by Manson, who emerged from the house. Uncomfortable, Wilson asked the stranger whether he intended to hurt him. Assuring him he had no such intent, Manson began kissing Wilson's feet.[5]:250–253[25]
Inside the house, Wilson discovered 12 strangers, mostly women.[5]:250–253[25] Over the next few months, as their number doubled, the Family members who had made themselves part of Wilson's Sunset Boulevard household cost him approximately $100,000. This included a large medical bill for treatment of their gonorrhea and $21,000 for the accidental destruction of his uninsured car, which they borrowed.[26] Wilson would sing and talk with Manson, while the women were treated as servants to them both.[5]:250–253
Wilson paid for studio time to record songs written and performed by Manson, and he introduced Manson to acquaintances of his with roles in the entertainment business. These included Gregg Jakobson, Terry Melcher, and Rudi Altobelli (the last of whom owned a house he would soon rent to actress Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski).[5]:250–253 Jakobson, who was impressed by "the whole Charlie Manson package" of artist/lifestylist/philosopher, also paid to record Manson material.[5]:155–161, 185–188, 214–219[27]
The account given in Manson in His Own Words is that Manson first met Wilson at a friend's San Francisco house where Manson had gone to obtain cannabis. The drummer supposedly gave Manson his Sunset Boulevard address and invited him to stop by when he would be in Los Angeles.[12]
Spahn Ranch
Manson established a base for the group at Spahn's Movie Ranch, not far from Topanga Canyon Boulevard, in August 1968 after Wilson's manager told the Family to move out of Wilson's home.[28][29] The entire Family then relocated to the ranch.[5]:250–253
The ranch had been a television and movie set for Western productions. However, by the late 1960s, the buildings had deteriorated and the ranch was earning money primarily by selling horseback rides.
Family members did helpful work around the grounds. Also, Manson ordered the Family's women, including Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, to occasionally have sex with the nearly blind, 80-year-old owner, George Spahn. The women also acted as seeing-eye guides for Spahn. In exchange, Spahn allowed Manson and his group to live at the ranch for free.[5]:99–113[30] Squeaky acquired her nickname because she often squeaked when Spahn pinched her thigh.[5]:163–174[26]
Charles Watson soon joined the group at Spahn's ranch. Watson, a small-town Texan who had quit college and moved to California,[31] met Manson at Dennis Wilson's house. Watson gave Wilson a ride while Wilson was hitchhiking after his cars had been wrecked.[28]
Spahn nicknamed Watson "Tex" because of his pronounced Texan drawl.[29]
Helter Skelter
Main article: Helter Skelter (Manson scenario)
In the first days of November 1968, Manson established the Family at alternative headquarters in Death Valley's environs, where they occupied two unused or little-used ranches, Myers and Barker.[27][32] The former, to which the group had initially headed, was owned by the grandmother of a new woman in the Family. The latter was owned by an elderly, local woman to whom Manson presented himself and a male Family member as musicians in need of a place congenial to their work. When the woman agreed to let them stay there if they'd fix up things, Manson honored her with one of the Beach Boys' gold records,[32] several of which he had been given by Dennis Wilson.[33]
While back at Spahn Ranch, no later than December, Manson and Watson visited a Topanga Canyon acquaintance who played them the Beatles' White Album, then recently released.[27][34][35] Manson became obsessed with the group.[36] At McNeil, he had told fellow inmates, including Alvin Karpis, that he could surpass the group in fame;[5]:200–202, 265[37] to the Family, he spoke of the group as "the soul" and "part of 'the hole in the infinite'. "[35]
For some time, Manson had been saying that racial tension between blacks and whites was growing and that blacks would soon rise up in rebellion in America's cities.[38][39] He had emphasized Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, which had taken place on April 4, 1968.[32] On a bitterly cold New Year's Eve at Myers Ranch, the Family members gathered outside around a large fire, listened as Manson explained that the social turmoil he had been predicting had also been predicted by the Beatles.[35] The White Album songs, he declared, told it all, although in code. In fact, he maintained (or would soon maintain), the album was directed at the Family itself, an elect group that was being instructed to preserve the worthy from the impending disaster.[38][39]
In early January 1969, the Family escaped the desert's cold and positioned itself to monitor L.A.'s supposed tensions by moving to a canary-yellow home in Canoga Park, not far from the Spahn Ranch.[5]:244–247[35][40] Because this locale would allow the group to remain "submerged beneath the awareness of the outside world",[5]:244–247[41] Manson called it the Yellow Submarine, another Beatles reference. There, Family members prepared for the impending apocalypse,[42][43] which around the campfire, Manson had termed "Helter Skelter", after the song of that name.
By February, Manson's vision was complete. The Family would create an album whose songs, as subtle as those of the Beatles, would trigger the predicted chaos. Ghastly murders of whites by blacks would be met with retaliation, and a split between racist and non-racist whites would yield whites' self-annihilation. Blacks' triumph, as it were, would merely precede their being ruled by the Family, which would ride out the conflict in "the bottomless pit", a secret city beneath Death Valley.[39] At the Canoga Park house, while Family members worked on vehicles and pored over maps to prepare for their desert escape, they also worked on songs for their world-changing album. When they were told Terry Melcher was to come to the house to hear the material, the women prepared a meal and cleaned the place; but Melcher never arrived.[38][42]
Encounter with Tate
On March 23, 1969,[5]:228–233 Manson, uninvited, entered 10050 Cielo Drive, which he had known as Melcher's residence.[5]:155–161 This was Rudi Altobelli's property; Melcher was no longer the tenant. As of that February,[5]:28–38 the tenants were Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski.
Manson was met by Shahrokh Hatami, a photographer and Tate's friend. Hatami was there to photograph Tate in advance of her departure for Rome the next day. Having seen Manson through a window as Manson approached the main house, Hatami had gone onto the front porch to ask him what he wanted.[5]:228–233
When Manson told Hatami he was looking for someone whose name Hatami did not recognize, Hatami informed him the place was the Polanski residence. Hatami advised him to try "the back alley", by which he meant the path to the guest house, beyond the main house.[5]:228–233 Concerned about the stranger on the property, Hatami went down to the front walk, to confront Manson. Appearing behind Hatami, in the house's front door, Tate asked him who was calling. Hatami said a man was looking for someone. Hatami and Tate maintained their positions while Manson, without a word, went back to the guest house, returned a minute or two later, and left.[5]:228–233
That evening, Manson returned to the property and again went back to the guest house. Presuming to enter the enclosed porch, he spoke with Rudi Altobelli, who was just coming out of the shower. Although Manson asked for Melcher, Altobelli felt Manson had come looking for him.[5]:226 This is consistent with prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's later discovery that Manson had apparently been to the place on earlier occasions after Melcher's departure from it.[5]:228–233, 369–377
Speaking through the inner screen door, Altobelli told Manson that Melcher had moved to Malibu. He lied that he did not know Melcher's new address. In response to a question from Manson, Altobelli said he himself was in the entertainment business, although, having met Manson the previous year, at Dennis Wilson's home, he was sure Manson already knew that. At Wilson's, Altobelli had complimented Manson lukewarmly on some of his musical recordings that Wilson had been playing.[5]:228–233
When Altobelli informed Manson he was going out of the country the next day, Manson said he'd like to speak with him upon his return; Altobelli lied that he would be gone for more than a year. In response to a direct question from Altobelli, Manson explained that he had been directed to the guest house by the persons in the main house; Altobelli expressed the wish that Manson not disturb his tenants.[5]:228–233
Manson left. As Altobelli flew with Tate to Rome the next day, Tate asked him whether "that creepy-looking guy" had gone back to the guest house the day before.[5]:228–233
Family crimes
Crowe shooting
On May 18, 1969, Terry Melcher visited Spahn Ranch to hear Manson and the women sing. Melcher arranged a subsequent visit, not long thereafter, on which he brought a friend who possessed a mobile recording unit; but he himself did not record the group.[5]:156,185[44]
By June, Manson was telling the Family they might have to show blacks how to start "Helter Skelter".[5]:244–247[43][45] When Manson tasked Watson with obtaining money supposedly intended to help the Family prepare for the conflict, Watson defrauded a black drug dealer named Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe. Crowe responded with a threat to wipe out everyone at Spahn Ranch. Manson countered on July 1, 1969, by shooting Crowe at his Hollywood apartment.[5]:99–113[5]:91–96[46][47]
Manson's mistaken belief that he had killed Crowe was seemingly confirmed by a news report of the discovery of the dumped body of a Black Panther in Los Angeles. Although Crowe was not a member of the Black Panthers, Manson concluded he had been and expected retaliation from the Panthers. He turned Spahn Ranch into a defensive camp, with night patrols of armed guards.[46][48] "If we'd needed any more proof that Helter Skelter was coming down very soon, this was it," Tex Watson would later write, "[B]lackie was trying to get at the chosen ones."[46]
Hinman murder
On July 25, 1969, Manson sent sometime Family member Bobby Beausoleil along with Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins to the house of acquaintance Gary Hinman, to persuade him to turn over money Manson thought Hinman had inherited.[5]:75–77[46][49] The three held the uncooperative Hinman hostage for two days, during which Manson showed up with a sword to slash his ear. After that, Beausoleil stabbed Hinman to death, ostensibly on Manson's instruction. Before leaving the Topanga Canyon residence, Beausoleil, or one of the women, used Hinman's blood to write "Political piggy" on the wall and to draw a panther paw, a Black Panther symbol.[5]:33, 91–96, 99–113[50]
In magazine interviews of 1981 and 1998–99,[51][52] Beausoleil would say he went to Hinman's to recover money paid to Hinman for drugs that had supposedly been bad; he added that Brunner and Atkins, unaware of his intent, went along idly, merely to visit Hinman. On the other hand, Atkins, in her 1977 autobiography, wrote that Manson directly told Beausoleil, Brunner, and her to go to Hinman's and get the supposed inheritance—$21,000. She said Manson had told her privately, two days earlier, that, if she wanted to "do something important", she could kill Hinman and get his money.[49] Beausoleil was arrested on August 6, 1969, after he had been caught driving Hinman's car. Police found the murder weapon in the tire well.[5]:28–38 Two days later, Manson told Family members at Spahn Ranch, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter."[5]:258–269[46][53]
Tate murders


 It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article titled Tate murders. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2015.
On the night of August 8, 1969, Manson directed Watson to take Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to "that house where Melcher used to live" and "totally destroy everyone in [it], as gruesome as you can."[5]:463–468[54] He told the women to do as Watson would instruct them.[5]:176–184, 258–269 Krenwinkel was one of the early Family members and one of the hitchhikers who had allegedly been picked up by Dennis Wilson.[5]:250–253 The current occupants of the house at 10050 Cielo Drive, all of whom were strangers to the Manson followers, were movie actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski and eight and a half months pregnant; her friend and former lover Jay Sebring, a noted hairstylist; Polanski's friend and aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski; and Frykowski's lover Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune.[5]:28–38 Tate's husband, Polanski, was in London working on a film project; Tate had been visiting with him and had returned to the United States only three weeks earlier.[citation needed]
When the murder team arrived at the entrance to the Cielo Drive property, Watson, who had been to the house on at least one other occasion, climbed a telephone pole near the gate and cut the phone line.[27] It was now after midnight, August 9, 1969.
Backing their car to the bottom of the hill that led up to the estate, the group parked there and walked back up to the house. Thinking the gate might be electrified or rigged with an alarm,[5]:176–184 they climbed a brushy embankment at its right and dropped onto the grounds.
Just then, headlights came their way from farther within the angled property. Watson ordered the women to lie in the bushes. He then stepped out and ordered the approaching driver, 18-year-old student and hi-fi enthusiast Steven Parent, to halt. As Watson leveled a 22-caliber revolver at Parent, the frightened youth begged Watson not to hurt him, claiming that he wouldn't say anything. Watson first lunged at Parent with a knife, giving him a defensive slash wound on the palm of his hand (severing tendons and tearing the boy's watch off his wrist), then shot him four times in the chest and abdomen. Watson then ordered the women to help push the car further up the driveway[5]:22–25[54]
After traversing the front lawn and having Kasabian search for an open window of the main house, Watson cut the screen of a window. Watson told Kasabian to keep watch down by the gate; she walked over to Steven Parent's Rambler and waited.[5]:258–269[5]:176–184[54] He then removed the screen, entered through the window, and let Atkins and Krenwinkel in through the front door.[5]:176–184
As Watson whispered to Atkins, Frykowski awoke on the living-room couch; Watson kicked him in the head.[54] When Frykowski asked him who he was and what he was doing there, Watson replied, "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business."[5]:176–184[54]
On Watson's direction, Atkins found the house's three other occupants and, with Krenwinkel's help,[5]:176–184, 297–300 brought them to the living room. Watson began to tie Tate and Sebring together by their necks with rope he'd brought and slung up over a beam. Sebring's protest – his second – of rough treatment of the pregnant Tate prompted Watson to shoot him. Folger was taken momentarily back to her bedroom for her purse, out of which she gave the intruders $70. After that, Watson stabbed the groaning Sebring seven times.[5]:28–38[54]
Frykowski's hands had been bound with a towel. Freeing himself, Frykowski began struggling with Atkins, who stabbed at his legs with the knife with which she had been guarding him.[54] As he fought his way toward and out the front door, onto the porch, Watson joined in against him. Watson struck him over the head with the gun multiple times, stabbed him repeatedly, and shot him twice.[54] Watson broke the gun's right grip in the process.
Around this time, Kasabian was drawn up from the driveway by "horrifying sounds". She arrived outside the door. In a vain effort to halt the massacre, she told Atkins falsely that someone was coming.[5]:258–269[54]
Inside the house, Folger had escaped from Krenwinkel and fled out a bedroom door to the pool area.[5]:341–344, 356–361 Folger was pursued to the front lawn by Krenwinkel, who stabbed – and finally, tackled – her. She was dispatched by Watson; her two assailants had stabbed her 28 times.[5]:28–38[54] As Frykowski struggled across the lawn, Watson murdered him with a final flurry of stabbing. Frykowski was stabbed a total of 51 times.[5]:28–38, 258–269[54]
Back in the house, Tate pleaded to be allowed to live long enough to have her baby, and even offered herself as a hostage in an attempt to save the life of her unborn child; her killers would have none of it, as either Atkins, Watson, or both killed Tate, who was stabbed 16 times.[5]:28–38 Watson later wrote that Tate cried, "Mother ... mother ..." as she was being killed.[54]
Earlier, as the four Family members were heading out from Spahn Ranch, Manson told the women to "leave a sign ... something witchy".[54] Using the towel that had bound Frykowski's hands, Atkins wrote "pig" on the house's front door, in Tate's blood. En route home, the killers changed out of bloody clothes, which were ditched in the hills, along with their weapons.[5]:84–90, 176–184[54]
In initial confessions to cellmates of hers at Sybil Brand Institute, Atkins would say she killed Tate.[5]:84–90 In later statements to her attorney, to prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, and before a grand jury, Atkins indicated Tate had been stabbed by Tex Watson.[5]:163–174, 176–184 In his 1978 autobiography, Watson said that he stabbed Tate and that Atkins never touched her.[54] Since he was aware that the prosecutor, Bugliosi, and the jury that had tried the other Tate-LaBianca defendants were convinced Atkins had stabbed Tate, he falsely testified that he did not stab her.[55]
LaBianca murders
The next night, six Family members—Leslie Van Houten, Steve "Clem" Grogan, and the four from the previous night—rode out on Manson's orders. Displeased by the panic of the victims at Cielo Drive, Manson accompanied the six, "to show [them] how to do it."[5]:176–184, 258–269[56] After a few hours' ride, in which he considered a number of murders and even attempted one of them,[5]:258–269[56] Manson gave Kasabian directions that brought the group to 3301 Waverly Drive. This was the home of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, a dress shop co-owner.[5]:22–25, 42–48 Located in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, it was next door to a house at which Manson and Family members had attended a party the previous year.[5]:176–184, 204–210
According to Atkins and Kasabian, Manson disappeared up the driveway and returned to say he had tied up the house's occupants. He then sent Watson up with Krenwinkel and Van Houten.[5]:176–184, 258–269 In his autobiography, Watson stated that having gone up alone, Manson returned to take him up to the house with him. After Manson pointed out a sleeping man through a window, the two of them entered through the unlocked back door.[56] Watson added at trial, he "went along with" the women's account, which he figured made him "look that much less responsible."[55]
As Watson related it, Manson roused the sleeping Leno LaBianca from the couch at gunpoint and had Watson bind his hands with a leather thong. After Rosemary was brought briefly into the living room from the bedroom, Watson followed Manson's instructions to cover the couple's heads with pillowcases. He bound these in place with lamp cords. Manson left, sending Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten into the house with instructions that the couple be killed.[5]:176–184, 258–269[56]
Before leaving Spahn Ranch, Watson had complained to Manson of the inadequacy of the previous night's weapons.[5]:258–269 Now, sending the women from the kitchen to the bedroom, to which Rosemary LaBianca had been returned, he went to the living room and began stabbing Leno LaBianca with a chrome-plated bayonet. The first thrust went into the man's throat.[56]
Sounds of a scuffle in the bedroom drew Watson there to discover Mrs. LaBianca keeping the women at bay by swinging the lamp tied to her neck. After subduing her with several stabs of the bayonet, he returned to the living room and resumed attacking Leno, whom he stabbed a total of 12 times with the bayonet. When he had finished, Watson carved "WAR" on the man's exposed abdomen. He stated this in his autobiography.[56] In an unclear portion of her eventual grand jury testimony, Atkins, who did not enter the LaBianca house, said she believed Krenwinkel had carved the word.[5]:176–184[57] In a ghost-written newspaper account based on a statement she had made earlier to her attorney,[5]:160,193 she said Watson carved it.[58]
Returning to the bedroom, Watson found Krenwinkel stabbing Rosemary LaBianca with a knife from the LaBianca kitchen. Heeding Manson's instruction to make sure each of the women played a part, Watson told Van Houten to stab Mrs. LaBianca too.[56] She did, stabbing her approximately 16 times in the back and the exposed buttocks.[5]:204–210, 297–300, 341–344 At trial, Van Houten would claim, uncertainly,[5]:433 that Rosemary LaBianca was dead when she stabbed her. Evidence showed that many of Mrs. LaBianca's 41 stab wounds had, in fact, been inflicted post-mortem.[5]:44, 206, 297, 341–42, 380, 404, 406–07, 433
While Watson cleaned off the bayonet and showered, Krenwinkel wrote "Rise" and "Death to pigs" on the walls and "Healter [sic] Skelter" on the refrigerator door, all in LaBianca blood. She gave Leno LaBianca 14 puncture wounds with an ivory-handled, two-tined carving fork, which she left jutting out of his stomach. She also planted a steak knife in his throat.[5]:176–184, 258–269[56]
Meanwhile, hoping for a double crime, Manson had gone on to direct Kasabian to drive to the Venice home of an actor acquaintance of hers, another "piggy". Depositing the second trio of Family members at the man's apartment building, he drove back to Spahn Ranch, leaving them and the LaBianca killers to hitchhike home.[5]:176–184, 258–269 Kasabian thwarted this murder by deliberately knocking on the wrong apartment door and waking a stranger. As the group abandoned the murder plan and left, Susan Atkins defecated in the stairwell.[5]:270–273
Justice system
Investigation
The Tate murders had become news on August 9, 1969. The Polanskis' housekeeper, Winifred Chapman, had arrived for work that morning and discovered the murder scene.[5]:5–6, 11–15 On August 10, detectives of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which had jurisdiction in the Hinman case, informed Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detectives assigned to the Tate case of the bloody writing at the Hinman house. Thinking the Tate murders were a consequence of a drug transaction, the Tate team ignored this and the crimes' other similarities.[5]:28–38[59] The Tate autopsies were under way and the LaBianca bodies were yet to be discovered.
Steven Parent, the shooting victim in the Tate driveway, was determined to have been an acquaintance of William Garretson, who lived in the guest house. Garretson was a young man hired by Rudi Altobelli to take care of the property while Altobelli himself was away.[5]:28–38 As the killers arrived, Parent had been leaving Cielo Drive, after a visit to Garretson.[5]:28–38
Held briefly as a Tate suspect, Garretson told police he had neither seen nor heard anything on the murder night. He was released on August 11, 1969, after undergoing a polygraph examination that indicated he had not been involved in the crimes.[5]:28–38, 42–48 Interviewed decades later, he stated he had, in fact, witnessed a portion of the murders, as the examination suggested. (See "Later events", below.)[60]
The LaBianca crime scene was discovered at about 10:30 pm on August 10, approximately 19 hours after the murders were committed. Fifteen-year-old Frank Struthers—Rosemary's son from a prior marriage and Leno's stepson—returned from a camping trip and was disturbed by seeing all of the window shades of his home drawn, and by the fact that his stepfather's speedboat was still attached to the family car, which was parked in the driveway. He called his older sister and her boyfriend. The boyfriend, Joe Dorgan, accompanied the younger Struthers into the home and discovered Leno's body. Rosemary's body was found by investigating police officers.[5]:38
On August 12, 1969, the LAPD told the press it had ruled out any connection between the Tate and LaBianca homicides.[5]:42–48 On August 16, the sheriff's office raided Spahn Ranch and arrested Manson and 25 others, as "suspects in a major auto theft ring" that had been stealing Volkswagens and converting them into dune buggies. Weapons were seized, but because the warrant had been misdated the group was released a few days later.[5]:56
In a report at the end of August when virtually all leads had gone nowhere, the LaBianca detectives noted a possible connection between the bloody writings at the LaBianca house and "the singing group the Beatles' most recent album."[5]:65
Breakthrough
Still working separately from the Tate team, the LaBianca team checked with the sheriff's office in mid-October about possible similar crimes. They learned of the Hinman case. They also learned that the Hinman detectives had spoken with Beausoleil's girlfriend, Kitty Lutesinger. She had been arrested a few days earlier with members of "the Manson Family".[5]:75–77
The arrests had taken place at the desert ranches, to which the Family had moved and whence, unknown to authorities, its members had been searching Death Valley for a hole in the ground—access to the Bottomless Pit.[5]:228–233[61][62] A joint force of National Park rangers and officers from the California Highway Patrol and the Inyo County Sheriff's Office—federal, state, and county personnel—had raided both the Myers Ranch and Barker Ranch after following clues unwittingly left when Family members burned an earthmover owned by Death Valley National Monument.[5]:125–127[63][64] The raiders had found stolen dune buggies and other vehicles and had arrested two dozen people, including Manson. A Highway Patrol officer found Manson hiding in a cabinet beneath Barker's bathroom sink.[5]:75–77, 125–127
Following up leads a month after they had spoken with Lutesinger, LaBianca detectives contacted members of a motorcycle gang Manson tried to enlist as his bodyguards while the Family was at Spahn Ranch.[5]:75–77 While the gang members were providing information that suggested a link between Manson and the murders,[5]:84–90, 99–113 a dormitory mate of Susan Atkins informed LAPD of the Family's involvement in the crimes.[5]:99–113 As one of those arrested at Barker, Atkins had been booked for the Hinman murder after she'd confirmed to the sheriff's detectives that she'd been involved in it, as Lutesinger had said.[5]:75–77[65] Transferred to Sybil Brand Institute, a detention center in Los Angeles, she had begun talking to bunkmates Ronnie Howard and Virginia Graham, to whom she gave accounts of the events in which she had been involved.[5]:91–96
Apprehension
On 1 December 1969, acting on the information from these sources, LAPD announced warrants for the arrest of Watson, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian in the Tate case; the suspects' involvement in the LaBianca murders was noted. Manson and Atkins, already in custody, were not mentioned; the connection between the LaBianca case and Van Houten, who was also among those arrested near Death Valley, had not yet been recognized.[5]:125–127, 155–161, 176–184
Watson and Krenwinkel were already under arrest, with authorities in McKinney, Texas, and Mobile, Alabama, having picked them up on notice from LAPD.[5]:155–161 Informed that a warrant was out for her arrest, Kasabian voluntarily surrendered to authorities in Concord, New Hampshire, on December 2.[5]:155–161
Before long, physical evidence such as Krenwinkel's and Watson's fingerprints, which had been collected by LAPD at Cielo Drive,[5]:15, 156, 273, and photographs between 340–41 was augmented by evidence recovered by the public. On September 1, 1969, the distinctive .22-caliber Hi Standard "Buntline Special" revolver Watson used on Parent, Sebring, and Frykowski had been found and given to the police by Steven Weiss, a 10-year-old who lived near the Tate residence.[5]:66 In mid-December, when the Los Angeles Times published a crime account based on information Susan Atkins had given her attorney,[5]:160,193 Weiss' father made several phone calls which finally prompted LAPD to locate the gun in its evidence file and connect it with the murders via ballistics tests.[5]:198–199



 County Sheriff mugshot of Manson in 1971
Acting on that same newspaper account, a local ABC television crew quickly located and recovered the bloody clothing discarded by the Tate killers.[5]:197–198 The knives discarded en route from the Tate residence were never recovered, despite a search by some of the same crewmen and months later by LAPD.[5]:198, 273 A knife found behind the cushion of a chair in the Tate living room was apparently that of Susan Atkins, who lost her knife in the course of the attack.[5]:17, 180, 262[66]
Trial
The trial began June 15, 1970.[5]:297–300 The prosecution's main witness was Kasabian, who, along with Manson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel, had been charged with seven counts of murder and one of conspiracy.[5]:185–188 Since Kasabian, by all accounts, had not participated in the killings, she was granted immunity in exchange for testimony that detailed the nights of the crimes.[5]:214–219, 250–253, 330–332 Originally, a deal had been made with Atkins in which the prosecution agreed not to seek the death penalty against her in exchange for her grand jury testimony on which the indictments were secured; once Atkins repudiated that testimony, the deal was withdrawn.[5]:169, 173–184, 188, 292 Because Van Houten had only participated in the LaBianca killings, she was charged with two counts of murder and one of conspiracy.
Originally, Judge William Keene had reluctantly granted Manson permission to act as his own attorney. Because of Manson's conduct, including violations of a gag order and submission of "outlandish" and "nonsensical" pretrial motions, the permission was withdrawn before the trial's start.[5]:200–202, 265 Manson filed an affidavit of prejudice against Keene, who was replaced by Judge Charles H. Older.[5]:290 On Friday, July 24, the first day of testimony, Manson appeared in court with an X carved into his forehead. He issued a statement that he was "considered inadequate and incompetent to speak or defend [him]self" – and had "X'd [him]self from [the establishment's] world."[5]:310[67] Over the following weekend, the female defendants duplicated the mark on their own foreheads, as did most Family members within another day or so.[5]:316 (Years later, Manson carved the X into a swastika. See "Remaining in view", below.)
The prosecution argued the triggering of "Helter Skelter" was Manson's main motive.[68] The crime scene's bloody White Album references (pig, rise, helter skelter) were correlated with testimony about Manson predictions that the murders blacks would commit at the outset of Helter Skelter would involve the writing of "pigs" on walls in victims' blood.[5]:244–247, 450–457
Testimony that Manson had said "now is the time for Helter Skelter" was supplemented with Kasabian's testimony that, on the night of the LaBianca murders, Manson considered discarding Rosemary LaBianca's wallet on the street of a black neighborhood.[5]:258–269 Having obtained the wallet in the LaBianca house, he "wanted a black person to pick it up and use the credit cards so that the people, the establishment, would think it was some sort of an organized group that killed these people."[69] On his direction, Kasabian had hidden it in the women's restroom of a service station near a black area.[5]:176–184, 190–191, 258–269, 369–377 "I want to show blackie how to do it," Manson had said as the Family members had driven along after the departure from the LaBianca house.[69]
Ongoing disruptions
During the trial, Family members loitered near the entrances and corridors of the courthouse. To keep them out of the courtroom itself, the prosecution subpoenaed them as prospective witnesses, who would not be able to enter while others were testifying.[5]:309 When the group established itself in vigil on the sidewalk, some members wore a sheathed hunting knife[citation needed] that, although in plain view, was carried legally. Each of them was also identifiable by the X on his or her forehead.[5]:339
Some Family members attempted to dissuade witnesses from testifying. Prosecution witnesses Paul Watkins and Juan Flynn were both threatened;[5]:280, 332–335 Watkins was badly burned in a suspicious fire in his van.[5]:280 Former Family member Barbara Hoyt, who had overheard Susan Atkins describing the Tate murders to Family member Ruth Ann Moorehouse, agreed to accompany the latter to Hawaii. There, Moorehouse allegedly gave her a hamburger spiked with several doses of LSD. Found sprawled on a Honolulu curb in a drugged semi-stupor, Hoyt was taken to the hospital, where she did her best to identify herself as a witness in the Tate-LaBianca murder trial. Before the incident, Hoyt had been a reluctant witness; after the attempt to silence her, her reticence disappeared.[5]:348–350, 361
On August 4, despite precautions taken by the court, Manson flashed the jury a Los Angeles Times front page whose headline was "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares". This was a reference to a statement made the previous day when U.S. President Richard Nixon had decried what he saw as the media's glamorization of Manson. Voir dired by Judge Older, the jurors contended that the headline had not influenced them. The next day, the female defendants stood up and said in unison that, in light of Nixon's remark, there was no point in going on with the trial.[5]:323–238
On October 5, Manson was denied the court's permission to question a prosecution witness whom the defense attorneys had declined to cross-examine. Leaping over the defense table, Manson attempted to attack the judge. Wrestled to the ground by bailiffs, he was removed from the courtroom with the female defendants, who had subsequently risen and begun chanting in Latin.[5]:369–377 Thereafter, Older allegedly began wearing a revolver under his robes.[5]:369–377
Defense rests
On November 16, the prosecution rested its case. Three days later, after arguing standard dismissal motions, the defense stunned the court by resting as well, without calling a single witness. Shouting their disapproval, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten demanded their right to testify.[5]:382–388
In chambers, the women's lawyers told the judge their clients wanted to testify that they had planned and committed the crimes and that Manson had not been involved.[5]:382–388 By resting their case, the defense lawyers had tried to stop this; Van Houten's attorney, Ronald Hughes, vehemently stated that he would not "push a client out the window". In the prosecutor's view, it was Manson who was advising the women to testify in this way as a means of saving himself.[5]:382–388 Speaking about the trial in a 1987 documentary, Krenwinkel said, "The entire proceedings were scripted – by Charlie."[70]
The next day, Manson testified. Lest Manson's address violate the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Aranda by making statements implicating his co-defendants, the jury was removed from the courtroom.[5]:134 Speaking for more than an hour, Manson said, among other things, that "the music is telling the youth to rise up against the establishment." He said, "Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music." "To be honest with you," Manson also stated, "I don't recall ever saying 'Get a knife and a change of clothes and go do what Tex says.'"[5]:388–392
As the body of the trial concluded and with the closing arguments impending, attorney Ronald Hughes disappeared during a weekend trip.[5]:393–398 When Maxwell Keith was appointed to represent Van Houten in Hughes' absence, a delay of more than two weeks was required to permit Keith to familiarize himself with the voluminous trial transcripts.[5]:393–398 No sooner had the trial resumed, just before Christmas, than disruptions of the prosecution's closing argument by the defendants led Older to ban the four defendants from the courtroom for the remainder of the guilt phase. This may have occurred because the defendants were acting in collusion with each other and were simply putting on a performance, which Older said was becoming obvious.[5]:399–407
Conviction and penalty phase
On January 25, 1971, guilty verdicts were returned against the four defendants on each of the 27 separate counts against them.[5]:411–419 Not far into the trial's penalty phase, the jurors saw, at last, the defense that Manson—in the prosecution's view—had planned to present.[5]:455 Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten testified the murders had been conceived as "copycat" versions of the Hinman murder, for which Atkins now took credit. The killings, they said, were intended to draw suspicion away from Bobby Beausoleil, by resembling the crime for which he had been jailed. This plan had supposedly been the work of, and carried out under the guidance of, not Manson, but someone allegedly in love with Beausoleil—Linda Kasabian.[5]:424–433 Among the narrative's weak points was the inability of Atkins to explain why, as she was maintaining, she had written "political piggy" at the Hinman house in the first place.[5]:424–433, 450–457
Midway through the penalty phase, Manson shaved his head and trimmed his beard to a fork; he told the press, "I am the Devil, and the Devil always has a bald head."[5]:439 In what the prosecution regarded as belated recognition on their part that imitation of Manson only proved his domination, the female defendants refrained from shaving their heads until the jurors retired to weigh the state's request for the death penalty.[5]:439, 455
The effort to exonerate Manson via the "copycat" scenario failed. On March 29, 1971, the jury returned verdicts of death against all four defendants on all counts.[5]:450–457 On April 19, 1971, Judge Older sentenced the four to death.[5]:458–459
Aftermath
On the day the verdicts recommending the death penalty were returned, news came that the badly decomposed body of Ronald Hughes had been found wedged between two boulders in Ventura County.[5]:457 It was rumored, although never proven, that Hughes was murdered by the Family, possibly because he had stood up to Manson and refused to allow Van Houten to take the stand and absolve Manson of the crimes.[5]:387, 394, 481 Though he might have perished in flooding,[5]:393–394, 481[71] Family member Sandra Good stated that Hughes was "the first of the retaliation murders".[5]:481–482, 625
Protracted proceedings to extradite Watson from his native Texas,[5]:204–210, 356–361[72] where he had resettled a month before his arrest,[73] resulted in his being tried separately. The trial commenced in August 1971; by October, he, too, had been found guilty on seven counts of murder and one of conspiracy. Unlike the others, Watson had presented a psychiatric defense; prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi made short work of Watson's insanity claims. Like his co-conspirators, Watson was sentenced to death.[5]:463–468
In February 1972, the death sentences of all five parties were automatically reduced to life in prison by California v. Anderson, 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (Cal. 1972), in which the California Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in that state.[5]:488–491 After his return to prison, Manson's rhetoric and hippie speeches held little sway. Though he found temporary acceptance from the Aryan Brotherhood, his role was submissive to a sexually aggressive member of the group, at San Quentin.[74]
Before the conclusion of Manson's Tate/LaBianca trial, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times tracked down Manson's mother, remarried and living in the Pacific Northwest. The former Kathleen Maddox claimed that, in childhood, her son had suffered no neglect; he had even been "pampered by all the women who surrounded him."[7]
On November 8, 1972, the body of 26-year-old Vietnam Marine combat veteran James L. T. Willett was found by a hiker near Guerneville, California.[75] Months earlier, he had been forced to dig his own grave, and then was shot and poorly buried; his body was found with the one hand protruding from the grave and the head and other hand missing (likely because of scavenging animals). His station wagon was found outside a house in Stockton where several Manson followers were living, including Priscilla Cooper, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and Nancy Pitman. Police forced their way into the house and arrested several of the people there, along with Fromme who called the house after they had arrived. The body of James Willett's 19-year-old wife Lauren "Reni" Chavelle[76] Olmstead Willett was found buried in the basement.[75] She had been killed very recently by a gunshot to the head, in what the Family members initially claimed was an accident. It was later suggested that she was killed out of fear that she would reveal who killed her husband, as the discovery of his body had become prominent news. The Willetts' infant daughter was found alive in the house. Michael Monfort pled guilty to murdering Reni Willett, and Priscilla Cooper, James Craig, and Nancy Pitman pled guilty as accessories after the fact. Monfort and William Goucher later pled guilty to the murder of James Willett, and James Craig pled guilty as an accessory after the fact. The group had been living in the house with the Willetts while committing various robberies. Shortly after killing Willett, Monfort had used Willett's identification papers to pose as Willett after being arrested in an armed robbery of a liquor store.[76] News reports suggested that James Willett was not involved in the robberies[77] and wanted to move away, and was killed out of fear that he would talk to police. After leaving the Marines following two tours in Vietnam, Willett had been an ESL teacher for immigrant children.
Shea murder
In a 1971 trial that took place after his Tate/LaBianca convictions, Manson was found guilty of the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea and was given a life sentence. Shea was a Spahn Ranch stuntman and horse wrangler who had been killed approximately 10 days after the August 16, 1969, sheriff's raid on the ranch. Manson, who suspected that Shea helped set up the raid, had apparently believed Shea was trying to get Spahn to run the Family off the ranch. Manson may have considered it a "sin" that the white Shea had married a black woman; and there was the possibility that Shea knew about the Tate/LaBianca killings.[5]:99–113[78] In separate trials, Family members Bruce Davis and Steve "Clem" Grogan were also found guilty of Shea's murder.[5]:99–113, 463–468[79]
In 1977, authorities learned the precise location of the remains of Shorty Shea and, contrary to Family claims, Shea had not been dismembered and buried in several places. Contacting the prosecutor in his case, Steve Grogan told him Shea's corpse had been buried in one piece; he drew a map that pinpointed the location of the body, which was recovered. Of those convicted of Manson-ordered murders, Grogan would become, in 1985, the first— and, as of 2015, the only one—to be paroled.[5]:509
Remaining in view



 The Folsom State Prison, one of the facilities where Manson has been held
On September 5, 1975, the Family rocketed back to national attention when Squeaky Fromme attempted to assassinate US President Gerald Ford.[5]:502–511 The attempt took place in Sacramento, to which she and Manson follower Sandra Good had moved to be near Manson while he was incarcerated at Folsom State Prison. A subsequent search of the apartment shared by Fromme, Good, and a Family recruit turned up evidence that, coupled with later actions on the part of Good, resulted in Good's conviction for conspiring to send threatening communications through the United States mail and transmitting death threats by way of interstate commerce. The threats involved corporate executives and US government officials vis-à-vis supposed environmental dereliction on their part.[5]:502–511 Fromme was sentenced to 15 years to life, becoming the first person sentenced under United States Code Title 18, chapter 84 (1965),[80] which made it a Federal crime to attempt to assassinate the President of the United States.
Interviews
In the 1980s, Manson gave four notable interviews. The first, recorded at California Medical Facility and aired June 13, 1981, was by Tom Snyder for NBC's The Tomorrow Show. The second, recorded at San Quentin Prison and aired March 7, 1986, was by Charlie Rose for CBS News Nightwatch; it won the national news Emmy Award for "Best Interview" in 1987.[81] The last, with Geraldo Rivera in 1988, was part of that journalist's prime-time special on Satanism.[82] At least as early as the Snyder interview, Manson's forehead bore a swastika, in the spot where the X carved during his trial had been.[83]
In 1989, Nikolas Schreck conducted an interview of Manson, cutting the interview up for material in his documentary Charles Manson Superstar. Schreck concluded that Manson was not insane, but merely acting that way out of frustration.[84][85]
On September 25, 1984, while imprisoned at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, Manson was severely burned by a fellow inmate who poured paint thinner on him and set him alight. The other prisoner, Jan Holmstrom, explained that Manson had objected to his Hare Krishna chants and had verbally threatened him. Despite suffering second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body, Manson recovered from his injuries.[5]:497
In December 1987, Fromme, serving a life sentence for the assassination attempt, escaped briefly from Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. She was trying to reach Manson, whom she had heard had testicular cancer; she was apprehended within days.[5]:502–511 She was released on parole from Federal Medical Center, Carswell on August 14, 2009.[86]
Later events
In a 1994 conversation with Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, Catherine Share, a one-time Manson-follower, stated that her testimony in the penalty phase of Manson's trial had been a fabrication intended to save Manson from the gas chamber and had been given on Manson's explicit direction.[5]:502–511 Share's testimony had introduced the copycat-motive story, which the testimony of the three female defendants echoed and according to which the Tate-LaBianca murders had been Linda Kasabian's idea.[5]:424–433 In a 1997 segment of the tabloid television program Hard Copy, Share implied that her testimony had been given under a Manson threat of physical harm.[87] In August 1971, after Manson's trial and sentencing, Share had participated in a violent California retail store robbery, the object of which was the acquisition of weapons to help free Manson.[5]:463–468
In January 1996, a Manson website was established by latter-day Manson follower George Stimson, who was helped by Sandra Good. Good had been released from prison in 1985, after serving 10 years of her 15-year sentence for the death threats.[5]:502–511[88]
In June 1997, Manson was found to have been trafficking in drugs by a prison disciplinary committee.[89] That August, he was moved from Corcoran State Prison to Pelican Bay State Prison.[89]
In a 1998–99 interview in Seconds magazine, Bobby Beausoleil rejected the view that Manson ordered him to kill Gary Hinman.[52] He stated Manson did come to Hinman's house and slash Hinman with a sword. In a 1981 interview with Oui magazine, he denied this. Beausoleil stated that when he read about the Tate murders in the newspaper, "I wasn't even sure at that point – really, I had no idea who had done it until Manson's group were actually arrested for it. It had only crossed my mind and I had a premonition, perhaps. There was some little tickle in my mind that the killings might be connected with them ..." In the Oui magazine interview, he had stated, "When [the Tate-LaBianca murders] happened, I knew who had done it. I was fairly certain."[51]
William Garretson, once the young caretaker at Cielo Drive, indicated in a program broadcast in July 1999 on E!, that he had, in fact, seen and heard a portion of the Tate murders from his location in the property's guest house. This comported with the unofficial results of the polygraph examination that had been given to Garretson on August 10, 1969, and that had effectively eliminated him as a suspect.[90] The LAPD officer who conducted the examination had concluded Garretson was "clean" on participation in the crimes but "muddy" as to his having heard anything.[5]:28–38 Garretson did not explain why he had withheld his knowledge of the events.[60]
It was announced in early 2008 that Susan Atkins was suffering from brain cancer.[91] An application for compassionate release, based on her health status, was denied in July 2008,[91] and she was denied parole for the 18th and final time on September 2, 2009.[92] Atkins died of natural causes 22 days later, on September 24, 2009, at the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla.[93][94]
Further developments



 Manson at age 76 in June 2011
On September 5, 2007, MSNBC aired The Mind of Manson, a complete version of a 1987 interview at California's San Quentin State Prison. The footage of the "unshackled, unapologetic, and unruly" Manson had been considered "so unbelievable" that only seven minutes of it had originally been broadcast on The Today Show, for which it had been recorded.[95]
In a January 2008 segment of the Discovery Channel's Most Evil, Barbara Hoyt said that the impression that she had accompanied Ruth Ann Moorehouse to Hawaii just to avoid testifying at Manson's trial was erroneous. Hoyt said she had cooperated with the Family because she was "trying to keep them from killing my family." She stated that, at the time of the trial, she was "constantly being threatened: 'Your family's gonna die. [The murders] could be repeated at your house.'"[96]
On March 15, 2008, the Associated Press reported that forensic investigators had conducted a search for human remains at Barker Ranch the previous month. Following up on longstanding rumors that the Family had killed hitchhikers and runaways who had come into its orbit during its time at Barker, the investigators identified "two likely clandestine grave sites ... and one additional site that merits further investigation."[97] Though they recommended digging, CNN reported on March 28 that the Inyo County sheriff, who questioned the methods they employed with search dogs, had ordered additional tests before any excavation.[98] On May 9, after a delay caused by damage to test equipment,[99] the sheriff announced that test results had been inconclusive and that "exploratory excavation" would begin on May 20.[100] In the meantime, Tex Watson had commented publicly that "no one was killed" at the desert camp during the month-and-a-half he was there, after the Tate-LaBianca murders.[101][102] On May 21, after two days of work, the sheriff brought the search to an end; four potential gravesites had been dug up and had been found to hold no human remains.[103][104] In March 2009, a photograph taken of a 74-year old Manson, showing a receding hairline, grizzled gray beard and hair and the swastika tattoo still prominent on his forehead, was released to the public by California corrections officials.[105]
In September 2009, The History Channel broadcast a docudrama covering the Family's activities and the murders as part of its coverage on the 40th anniversary of the killings.[106] The program included an in-depth interview with Linda Kasabian, who spoke publicly for the first time since a 1989 appearance on A Current Affair, an American television news magazine.[106] Also included in the History Channel program were interviews with Vincent Bugliosi, Catherine Share, and Debra Tate, sister of Sharon.[107]
As the 40th anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders approached, in July 2009, Los Angeles magazine published an "oral history", in which former Family members, law-enforcement officers, and others involved with Manson, the arrests, and the trials offered their recollections of—and observations on—the events that made Manson notorious. In the article, Juan Flynn, a Spahn Ranch worker who had become associated with Manson and the Family, said, "Charles Manson got away with everything. People will say, 'He's in jail.' But Charlie is exactly where he wants to be."[108]
In November 2009, a Los Angeles DJ and songwriter named Matthew Roberts released correspondence and other evidence indicating he had been biologically fathered by Manson. Roberts' biological mother claims to have been a member of the Manson Family who left in the summer of 1967 after being raped by Manson; she returned to her parents' home to complete the pregnancy, gave birth on March 22, 1968, and subsequently put Roberts up for adoption. Manson himself has stated that he "could" be the father, acknowledging the biological mother and a sexual relationship with her during 1967; this was nearly two years before the Family began its murderous phase.[109][110]
In 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that Manson was caught with a cell phone in 2009, and had contacted people in California, New Jersey, Florida and British Columbia. A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections stated that it was not known if Manson had used the phone for criminal purposes.[111]
On October 4, 2012, Bruce Davis, who had been convicted of the murder of Shorty Shea and the attempted robbery by Manson Family members of a Hawthorne gun shop in 1971, was recommended for parole by the California Department of Corrections at his 27th parole hearing. In 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had reversed the board's previous finding in favor of Davis, denying him parole for two more years.[112] On March 1, 2013, and again on August 8, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown also denied parole for Davis.[113]
On November 17, 2014, it was announced that Manson was engaged to 26-year-old Afton Elaine "Star" Burton while still in prison, and had obtained a marriage license on November 7.[114] Burton had been visiting Manson in prison for at least nine years, and maintained several websites that claimed his innocence.[115] The wedding license expired on February 5, 2015, without a marriage ceremony taking place.[116] It was later reported that according to a journalist Daniel Simone, the wedding was cancelled after it was discovered that Burton only wanted to marry Manson so she and a friend Craig "Gray Wolf" Hammond could use his corpse as a tourist attraction after he dies.[116][117] According to Simone, Manson believes he will never die, and may just be using the possibility of marriage as a way to encourage Burton and Hammond to continue visiting him and bringing him gifts.[116] Together with a co-author Heidi Jordan Ley and with the assistance of some of Manson's fellow prisoners, Simone has written a book about Manson and is seeking a publisher for it.[116] Burton said on her web site that the reason the marriage did not take place is merely logistical – that Manson is suffering from an infection and has been in a prison medical facility for two months, and cannot receive visitors.[116] She said she still hoped the marriage license will be renewed and the marriage will take place.[116]
Parole hearings
A footnote to the conclusion of California v. Anderson, the 1972 decision that neutralized California's death sentences, stated, "[A]ny prisoner now under a sentence of death … may file a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the superior court inviting that court to modify its judgment to provide for the appropriate alternative punishment of life imprisonment or life imprisonment without possibility of parole specified by statute for the crime for which he was sentenced to death."[118]
This made Manson eligible to apply for parole after seven years' incarceration.[5]:488 His first parole hearing took place on November 16, 1978, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.[5]:498[119]
Manson was denied parole for the 12th time on April 11, 2012. Manson did not attend the hearing where prison officials argued that Manson had a history of controlling behavior and mental health issues including schizophrenia and paranoid delusional disorder[120] and was too great a danger to be released.[121] It was determined that Manson would not be reconsidered for parole for another 15 years,[122] at which time he would be 92 years old.[123]
His California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate number at Corcoran State Prison is B33920.[124][125]
Manson and culture
Recordings
Main article: Charles Manson discography
On March 6, 1970, the day the court vacated Manson's status as his own attorney,[5]:258–269 LIE, an album of Manson music, was released.[126][127][128] This included "Cease to Exist", a Manson composition the Beach Boys had recorded with modified lyrics and the title "Never Learn Not to Love".[129][130] Over the next couple of months, only about 300 of the album's 2,000 copies sold.[131]
Since that time, there have been several releases of Manson recordings—both musical and spoken.[132] The Family Jams includes two compact discs of Manson's songs recorded by the Family in 1970, after Manson and the others had been arrested. Guitar and lead vocals are supplied by Steve Grogan;[5]:125–127 additional vocals are supplied by Lynette Fromme, Sandra Good, Catherine Share, and others.[132][133] One Mind, an album of music, poetry, and spoken word, new at the time of its release, in April 2005,[132] was put out under a Creative Commons license.[134][135]
American rock band Guns N' Roses recorded Manson's "Look at Your Game, Girl", included as an unlisted 13th track on their 1993 album "The Spaghetti Incident?"[5]:488–491[136][137] "My Monkey", which appears on Portrait of an American Family by Marilyn Manson (no relation, as is explained below), includes the lyrics "I had a little monkey / I sent him to the country and I fed him on gingerbread / Along came a choo-choo / Knocked my monkey cuckoo / And now my monkey's dead."[138] These lyrics are from Manson's "Mechanical Man",[139] which is heard on LIE. Crispin Glover covered "Never Say 'Never' To Always" on his album The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be released in 1989.
Several of Manson's songs, including "I'm Scratching Peace Symbols on Your Tombstone" (a.k.a. "First They Made Me Sleep in the Closet"), "Garbage Dump", and "I Can't Remember When", are featured in the soundtrack of the 1976 TV-movie Helter Skelter, where they are performed by Steve Railsback, who portrays Manson.[140]
According to a popular urban legend, Manson unsuccessfully auditioned for the Monkees in late 1965; this is refuted by the fact that Manson was still incarcerated at McNeil Island at that time.[141]
Cultural reverberation
Beginning in January 1970, Manson was embraced by the underground newspapers Los Angeles Free Press and Tuesday's Child, with the latter proclaiming him "Man of the Year".[142] In June 1970, he was the subject of a Rolling Stone cover story, "Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive".[142] When a Rolling Stone writer visited the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in preparing that story,[143] he was shocked by a photograph of the bloody "Healter [sic] Skelter" that would bind Manson to popular culture.[144]
Despite the Weathermen's views of themselves as "white pig babies"[145] and their determination to plug themselves into the black revolution (whether the black revolution wanted them or not), Bernardine Dohrn, who assumed leadership of the group after it went underground and became more aggressive, said about the Tate murders: "Dig it, first they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into a victim's stomach. Wild!".[145]
Manson has been a presence in fashion,[146][147] graphics,[148][149] music,[150] and movies, as well as on television and the stage. In an afterword composed for the 1994 edition of the non-fiction book Helter Skelter, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi quoted a BBC employee's assertion that a "neo-Manson cult" existing then in Europe was represented by, among other things, approximately 70 rock bands playing songs by Manson and "songs in support of him".[5]:488–491
Manson has even influenced the names of musical performers such as Kasabian, Spahn Ranch, and Marilyn Manson, the last a stage name assembled from "Charles Manson" and "Marilyn Monroe".[151] The story of the Family's activities inspired John Moran's opera The Manson Family and Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins, the latter of which has Lynette Fromme as a character.[152][153] The tale has been the subject of several movies such as the 1984 film Manson Family Movies,[154] including two television dramatizations of Helter Skelter.[155][156] In the South Park episode "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson", Manson is a comic character whose inmate number is 06660, an apparent reference to 666, the Biblical "number of the beast".[157][158]
The 2002 novel The Dead Circus by John Kaye includes the activities of the Manson Family as a major plot point.[159]
Documentaries
Manson (1973), directed by Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick[160]
Charles Manson Superstar (1989), directed by Nikolas Schreck[161]
See also
Doomsday cult
Helter Skelter (Manson scenario)
List of United States death row inmates


Flag of California.svgCalifornia portal
 P vip.svgBiography portal
 Scale of justice 2.svgCrime portal
 

References
1.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 1 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
2.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 37 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
3.Jump up ^ History of California's Death Penalty deathpenalty.org. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
4.Jump up ^ "''Internet Accuracy Project: Charles Manson'', a websited dedicated to providing accurate information on the web". Accuracyproject.org. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq dr ds dt du dv dw dx dy dz ea eb ec ed ee ef eg eh ei ej ek el em en eo ep eq er es et eu ev ew ex ey ez fa fb fc fd fe ff fg fh fi fj fk fl fm fn fo fp fq fr fs ft fu fv fw fx fy fz ga gb gc gd ge gf Bugliosi, Vincent with Gentry, Curt. Helter Skelter — The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-393-08700-X.
6.Jump up ^ Emmons, Nuel. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, New York; 1988. ISBN 0-8021-3024-0, p. 28. (If link does not go directly to page 28, scroll to it; "no name Maddox" is highlighted.)
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Smith, Dave. Mother Tells Life of Manson as Boy. 1971 article; retrieved June 5, 2007.
8.Jump up ^ Reitwiesner, William Addams. Provisional ancestry of Charles Manson; retrieved April 26, 2007.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Photocopy of Manson birth certificate MansonDirect.com; retrieved April 26, 2007.[dead link]
10.Jump up ^ "''Internet Accuracy Project: Charles Manson''". Accuracyproject.org. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
11.Jump up ^ Emmons, Nuel. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, New York (1988); ISBN 0-8021-3024-0, pp. 28–29.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Emmons, Nuel. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, New York (1988); ISBN 0-8021-3024-0
13.Jump up ^ "Short Bits 2 – Charles Manson and the Beach Boys". Lost in the Grooves. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Rule, Ann (August 18, 2013). "There Will Be Blood". The New York Times Book Review (August 18, 2013): 14.
15.Jump up ^ 1981 Tom Snyder interview with Charles Manson[dead link]. Transcribed by Aaron Bredlau. CharlieManson.com. Retrieved April 26, 2007.
16.Jump up ^ Karpis, Alvin, with Robert Livesey. On the Rock: Twenty-five Years at Alcatraz, 1980
17.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, Vincent: Helter Skelter, 1994. pg. 513
18.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, Vincent: Helter Skelter, 1974. pg. xv.
19.Jump up ^ Sanders, Ed (2002). The Family. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-396-7. Pages 13–20.
20.^ Jump up to: a b Charles Manson By Simon Wells
21.Jump up ^ Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson By Jeff Guinn p. 124
22.Jump up ^ Bugliosi, Vincent; Gentry, Curt (1974). Helter Skelter. Arrow Books Limited. ISBN 0-09-997500-9. p136
23.Jump up ^ Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson By Jeff Guinn p111
24.Jump up ^ "The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter", 2009 Documentary
25.^ Jump up to: a b Sanders 2002, p. 34.
26.^ Jump up to: a b Watkins, Paul with Soledad, Guillermo (1979). My Life with Charles Manson, Bantam. ISBN 0-553-12788-8. Chapter 4.
27.^ Jump up to: a b c d Watson, Charles as told to Ray Hoekstra. "Will You Die for Me?". aboundinglove.org. Retrieved 3 May 2007.
28.^ Jump up to: a b "Watson, Ch. 6". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
29.^ Jump up to: a b "Watson, Ch. 7". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
30.Jump up ^ Watkins, pages 34 & 40.
31.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 4". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
32.^ Jump up to: a b c Watkins, Ch. 10.
33.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 11
34.Jump up ^ "1". Manson. aboundinglove.org (Manson's Right-Hand Man Speaks Out!). ISBN 0-9678519-1-2. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
35.^ Jump up to: a b c d Watkins, Ch. 12
36.Jump up ^ "Larry King Interview with Paul Watkins". CNN Larry King Live: Interview with Paul Watkins. Manson's obsession with the Beatles is discussed at the interview's very end.
37.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 11.
38.^ Jump up to: a b c "Watson, Ch. 11". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
39.^ Jump up to: a b c The Influence of the Beatles on Charles Manson. UMKC Law. Retrieved April 7, 2006.
40.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 99–100.
41.Jump up ^ Watkins, p. 137.
42.^ Jump up to: a b Watkins, Ch. 13
43.^ Jump up to: a b Watson, Ch. 12.
44.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 133–36.
45.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 15
46.^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Watson, Ch. 13". Aboundinglove.org. August 8, 1969. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
47.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 147–49.
48.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 151.
49.^ Jump up to: a b Atkins, Susan, with Slosser, Bob (1977). Child of Satan, Child of God. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International. pp. 94–120. ISBN 0-88270-276-9.
50.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, page 184.
51.^ Jump up to: a b "Beausoleil Oui interview". charliemanson.com.[dead link]
52.^ Jump up to: a b "Beausoleil Seconds interviews". beausoleil.net.
53.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 6 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com.
54.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Watson, Ch. 14". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
55.^ Jump up to: a b "Watson, Ch. 19". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
56.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "Watson, Ch. 15". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
57.Jump up ^ "Atkinson grand jury testimony". Afternoon grand-jury testimony of Susan Atkins, Los Angeles, California, December 5, 1969. The statement comes in a moment of confusion on the part of Atkins; it's possible she's saying she believes Krenwinkel is the person who told her about the carving of "War".
58.Jump up ^ "Susan Atkins' Story of 2 Nights of Murder". Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1969.
59.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 243–44.
60.^ Jump up to: a b Transcript and synopsis of William Garretson comments.[dead link] "The Last Days of Sharon Tate", The E! True Hollywood Story. CharlieManson.com. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
61.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 21.
62.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 2". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
63.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 282–83.
64.Jump up ^ Watkins, Ch. 22
65.Jump up ^ Report on questioning of Katherine Lutesinger and Susan Atkins October 13, 1969, by Los Angeles Sheriff's officers Paul Whiteley and Charles Guenther.
66.Jump up ^ Atkins 1977, 141.
67.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 388.
68.Jump up ^ Prosecution's closing argument Page 29 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com.
69.^ Jump up to: a b Prosecution's closing argument Pages 22–23 of multi-page transcript, 2violent.com.
70.Jump up ^ Biography – "Charles Manson." A&E Network.
71.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 436–38.
72.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 18". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
73.Jump up ^ "Watson, Ch. 16". Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
74.Jump up ^ George, Edward; Dary Matera (1999). Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars. Macmillan. pp. 42–45. ISBN 978-0-312-20970-4.
75.^ Jump up to: a b Manson Family Suspect in Killing, The Times Standard, November 14, 1972.
76.^ Jump up to: a b "Two men and three women charged with murder of 19-year-old girl", Reuters News Service, 1972.
77.Jump up ^ "Ex-cons, Manson Girls Charged", The Billings Gazette, November 15, 1972.
78.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 271–2.
79.Jump up ^ Transcript of Charles Manson's 1992 parole hearing University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
80.Jump up ^ "18 U.S.C. § 1751". .law.cornell.edu. June 28, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
81.Jump up ^ Joynt, Carol. Diary of a Mad Saloon Owner. April–May 2005.
82.Jump up ^ "Rivera's 'Devil Worship' was TV at its Worst". Review by Tom Shales. San Jose Mercury News, October 31, 1988.
83.Jump up ^ Itzkoff, Dave (July 31, 2007). "Hearts and Souls Dissected, in 12 Minutes or Less". New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2009. "Appraisal of Tom Snyder, upon his death. Includes photograph of Manson with swastika on forehead during 1981 interview."
84.Jump up ^ Charles Manson Superstar, 1989
85.Jump up ^ Interano Radio "Interview with Nikolas Schreck" August, 1988.
86.Jump up ^ "Would-Be Assassin 'Squeaky' Fromme Released from Prison". ABC. August 14, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
87.Jump up ^ Catherine Share with Vincent Bugliosi, Hard Copy, 1997 youtube.com. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
88.Jump up ^ "Manson's Family Affair Living in Cyberspace". Wired, April 16, 1997. Retrieved May 29, 2007.
89.^ Jump up to: a b "Manson moved to a tougher prison after drug charge". Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine). AP. August 22, 1997. p. 7A. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
90.Jump up ^ Transcript of William Garretson polygraph exam.[dead link] CharlieManson.com. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
91.^ Jump up to: a b "Ailing Manson follower denied release from prison" CNN, July 15, 2008.
92.Jump up ^ Netter, Sarah; Lindsay Goldwert (September 2, 2009). "Dying Manson Murderer Denied Release". ABC News. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
93.Jump up ^ Fox, Margalit (September 26, 2009). "Susan Atkins, Manson Follower, Dies at 61". New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
94.Jump up ^ Blankstein, Andrew (September 25, 2009). "Manson follower Susan Atkins dies at 61". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2009.[dead link]
95.Jump up ^ Transcript, MSNBC Live. September 5, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
96.Jump up ^ "Charles Manson Murders". Most Evil. Season 3. Episode 1. 2008-01-31. Discovery Channel.
97.Jump up ^ "AP Exclusive: On Manson's trail, forensic testing suggests possible new grave sites". Associated Press, posted at International Herald Tribune. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
98.Jump up ^ More tests at Manson ranch for buried bodies. CNN.com. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
99.Jump up ^ Authorities delay decision on digging at Manson ranch Associated Press report, mercurynews.com. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
100.Jump up ^ Authorities to dig at old Manson family ranch cnn.com. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
101.Jump up ^ Letter from Manson lieutenant. CNN. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
102.Jump up ^ Monthly View – May 2008. Aboundinglove.org. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
103.Jump up ^ Four holes dug, no bodies found ... iht.com. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
104.Jump up ^ Dig turns up no bodies at Manson ranch site CNN.com, May 21, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
105.Jump up ^ "New prison photo of Charles Manson released". CNN. March 20, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2009.
106.^ Jump up to: a b "Manson Family member interviewed for special". Reuters. July 28, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
107.Jump up ^ "Manson, About the Show". History Channel. Retrieved October 27, 2009.[dead link]
108.Jump up ^ Steve Oney (July 1, 2009). "Manson Web Extra: LAST WORDS" (HTML). Los Angeles magazine (in English). Retrieved July 8, 2009.
109.Jump up ^ "Man Finds His Long-Lost Dad Is Charles Manson" by Huw Borland, Sky News Online, November 23, 2009
110.Jump up ^ "I traced my dad ... and discovered he is Charles Manson" by Peter Samson, The Sun, November 23, 2009
111.Jump up ^ Wilson, Greg (2010-12-03). ""Cell" Phone: Charles Manson Busted with a Mobile". Nbclosangeles.com. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
112.Jump up ^ "Bruce Davis, Manson Follower, Gets Cleared For Release By California Parole Board". Huffingtonpost.com. October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
113.Jump up ^ "Governor denies parole to ex-Manson follower". seattlepi. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
114.Jump up ^ 5 Things to Know About the 26-Year-Old Woman Charles Manson Might Marry time.com. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
115.Jump up ^ Deutsch, Linda. "Charles Manson Gets Marriage License". ABC News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 1, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
116.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Sanderson, Bill (February 8, 2015). "Charles Manson's fiancee wanted to marry him for his corpse: Source". The New York Post. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
117.Jump up ^ Hooton, Christopher (February 9, 2015). "Charles Manson wedding off after it emerges that fiancee Afton Elaine Burton 'just wanted his corpse for display'". The Independent. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
118.Jump up ^ People v. Anderson, 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (Cal. 1972), footnote (45) to final sentence of majority opinion. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
119.Jump up ^ "Charles Manson Family and Sharon Tate-Labianca Murders - Cielodrive.com". Retrieved 24 April 2012.
120.Jump up ^ Michael Martinez (2012-04-11). "Charles Manson denied parole". Articles.cnn.com. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
121.Jump up ^ "Charles Manson Quickly Denied Parole". LA Times. April 11, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
122.Jump up ^ Jones, Kiki (2012-04-11). "Murderer Charles Manson Denied Parole – Central Coast News KION/KCBA". Kionrightnow.com. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
123.Jump up ^ http://wordswithmeaning.org/charles-manson-denied-parole-again/
124.Jump up ^ "Life Prisoner Parole Consideration Hearings May 7, 2007 – June 2, 2007" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2007.. Board of Parole Hearings, Calif. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. P. 3. Retrieved May 2, 2007.
125.Jump up ^ "Inmate Search." California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved on October 15, 2010. "Name: MANSON, CHARLES CDCR#: B33920 Age: 75 Admission Date: April 22, 1971 Current Location: Corcoran"
126.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 336.
127.Jump up ^ Lie: The Love And Terror Cult[dead link]. ASIN: B000005X1J. Amazon.com. Access date: November 23, 2007.
128.Jump up ^ Syndicated column re LIE release Mike Jahn, August 1970.
129.Jump up ^ Sanders 2002, 64–65.
130.Jump up ^ Dennis Wilson interview Circus magazine, October 26, 1976. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
131.Jump up ^ Rolling Stone story on Manson, June 1970[dead link] CharlieManson.com. Retrieved May 2, 2007.
132.^ Jump up to: a b c List of Manson recordings mansondirect.com. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
133.Jump up ^ The Family Jams. ASIN: B0002UXM2Q. 2004. Amazon.com.
134.Jump up ^ Charles Manson Issues Album under Creative Commons pcmag.com. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
135.Jump up ^ Yes it's CC![dead link] Photo verifying Creative Commons license of One Mind. blog.limewire.com. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
136.Jump up ^ Review of The Spaghetti Incident? allmusic.com. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
137.Jump up ^ Guns N' Roses biography[dead link] rollingstone.com. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
138.Jump up ^ "Manson related music."[dead link]charliemanson.com. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
139.Jump up ^ Lyrics of "Mechanical Man"[dead link] charliemanson.com. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
140.Jump up ^ Soundtrack, Helter Skelter (1976) Section of Steve Railsback entry, imdb.com. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
141.Jump up ^ "The Music Manson." snopes.com. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
142.^ Jump up to: a b Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive rollingstone.com. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
143.Jump up ^ Manson on cover of Rolling Stone rollingstone.com. Retrieved May 2, 2007.
144.Jump up ^ Dalton, David. If Christ Came Back as a Con Man. gadflyonline.com. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
145.^ Jump up to: a b "The Seeds of Terror". The New York Times. November 22, 1981. p. 5. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
146.Jump up ^ "Bant Shirts Manson T-shirt". Bant-shirts.com. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
147.Jump up ^ "Prank Place Manson T-shirt". Prankplace.com. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
148.Jump up ^ "No Name Maddox" Manson portrait in marijuana seeds. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
149.Jump up ^ Poster of Manson on cover of Rolling Stone[dead link]
150.Jump up ^ Manson-related music[dead link] charliemanson.com. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
151.Jump up ^ Biography for Marilyn Manson imdb.com. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
152.Jump up ^ "Will the Manson Story Play as Myth, Operatically at That?" New York Times. July 17, 1990. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
153.Jump up ^ "''Assassins''". Sondheim.com. November 22, 1963. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
154.Jump up ^ David Kerekes, David Slater (1996). Killing for Culture. Creation Books. pp. 222–223, 225, 268. ISBN 1871592208.
155.Jump up ^ Helter Skelter (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
156.Jump up ^ Helter Skelter (1976) at the Internet Movie Database
157.Jump up ^ Merry Christmas Charlie Manson Video clips at southpark.comedycentral.com
158.Jump up ^ Beast Number WolframMathWorld. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
159.Jump up ^ Stephanie Zacharek (August 18, 2002). "Bad Vibrations". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
160.Jump up ^ Manson at the Internet Movie Database
161.Jump up ^ Charles Manson Superstar at the Internet Movie Database
Works cited
Atkins, Susan with Bob Slosser. Child of Satan, Child of God. Logos International; Plainfield, New Jersey; 1977. ISBN 0-88270-276-9.
Bugliosi, Vincent with Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. (Norton, 1974; Arrow books, 1992 edition, ISBN 0-09-997500-9; W. W. Norton & Company, 2001, ISBN 0-393-32223-8)
Emmons, Nuel, as told to. Manson in His Own Words. Grove Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8021-3024-0.
Sanders, Ed The Family. Thunder's Mouth Press. rev. update edition 2002. ISBN 1-56025-396-7.
Watkins, Paul with Guillermo Soledad. My Life with Charles Manson. Bantam, 1979. ISBN 0-553-12788-8.
Watson, Charles. Will you die for me?. F. H. Revell, 1978. ISBN 0-8007-0912-8.
Further reading
George, Edward and Dary Matera. Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars. St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-20970-3.
Emmons, Nuel. Manson in his Own Words. Grove Press. 1994. ISBN 0-8021-3024-0
Gilmore, John. Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family. Amok Books, 2000. ISBN 1-878923-13-7.
Gilmore, John. The Garbage People. Omega Press, 1971.
LeBlanc, Jerry and Ivor Davis. 5 to Die. Holloway House Publishing, 1971. ISBN 0-87067-306-8.
Pellowski, Michael J. The Charles Manson Murder Trial: A Headline Court Case. Enslow Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-7660-2167-X.
Schreck, Nikolas. The Manson File Amok Press. 1988. ISBN 0-941693-04-X.
Schreck, Nikolas. The Manson File, Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman World Operations. 2011. ISBN 978-3-8442-1094-1
Udo, Tommy. Charles Manson: Music, Mayhem, Murder. Sanctuary Records, 2002. ISBN 1-86074-388-9.
External links

Find more about
Charles Manson
 at Wikipedia's sister projects

Search Wiktionary Definitions from Wiktionary
Search Commons Media from Commons
Search Wikinews News stories from Wikinews
Search Wikiquote Quotations from Wikiquote
Search Wikisource Source texts from Wikisource
Search Wikibooks Textbooks from Wikibooks
Search Wikiversity Learning resources from Wikiversity
Bardsley, Marilyn. Crime Library – Charles Manson. Crime Library. Courtroom Television Network, LLC. April 7, 2006.
Dalton, David. If Christ Came Back as a Con Man. 1998 article by coauthor of 1970 Rolling Stone story on Manson. gadflyonline.com. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
Linder, Douglas. Famous Trials – The Trial of Charles Manson. University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School. 2002. April 7, 2007.
Noe, Denise. "The Manson Myth" CrimeMagazine.com December 12, 2004
FBI file on Charles Manson
Decision in appeal by Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten from Tate-LaBianca convictionsPeople v. Manson, 61 Cal. App. 3d 102 (California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division One, August 13, 1976). Retrieved June 19, 2007.
Decision in appeal by Manson from Hinman-Shea conviction People v. Manson, 71 Cal. App. 3d 1 (California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division One, June 23, 1977).
Horrific past haunts former cult members San Francisco Chronicle August 12, 2009


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Manson Family












































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
People associated with The Beach Boys

















































































































Authority control
WorldCat ·
 VIAF: 113072501 ·
 LCCN: n79115986 ·
 ISNI: 0000 0001 1497 1770 ·
 GND: 11857728X ·
 SUDOC: 067637957 ·
 MusicBrainz: db3d7002-d9e8-4803-82c4-d85dad3f29bb ·
 NDL: 00471010 ·
 NKC: jn20000701140
 

  


Categories: 1934 births
Living people
20th-century American criminals
American people convicted of murder
American prisoners and detainees
American prisoners sentenced to death
American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Apocalypticists
Criminals from California
Criminals from Ohio
Former Scientologists
History of Los Angeles, California
Manson Family
Outsider musicians
People convicted of murder by California
People from Cincinnati, Ohio
Prisoners sentenced to death by California
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by California
People with antisocial personality disorder
People with schizophrenia
Self-declared messiahs




























Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

View source

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
العربية
বাংলা
Български
Català
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Føroyskt
Français
Gaeilge
Galego
한국어
Հայերեն
Bahasa Indonesia
Italiano
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
ქართული
Latviešu
Lietuvių
Magyar
Malti
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Occitan
Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча
Polski
Português
Русский
Shqip
Simple English
Slovenčina
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 16 June 2015, at 08:16.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
    
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson