This was the first death in Charles Manson’s master plan that was supposed to lead to race riots and the overthrow of the American way of life. ibid.
The killers revelled in their success. ibid.
In 1969 LA was far from peaceful. ibid.
There were two separate investigations. ibid.
An unbelievable tale of murder and manipulation ... Helter Skelter. ibid.
Inside the courtroom Manson held centre stage. ibid.
Tex Watson was also found guilty. ibid.
Lynette Squeaky Fromme was sentenced to life imprisonment for trying to kill the president. ibid.
The late 1960s were years of unprecedented emergence for American youth. A time of freedom and awareness. A Summer of Love and a call to action. The birth of group consciousness and the sharing of a vision. By 1969 the burgeoning youth movement was at its zenith. Yet sociologists agree that it took but one man – in fact one image – to bring the free-spirited psychedelic era to its knees. Charles Manson: Then and Now, 1992
Suddenly he was thrust into a world of pills and peyote. ibid.
Manson’s dispensing of honest hobo logic and his unfettered lifestyle would prove remarkably enticing to the many young girls he would encounter in his travels. ibid.
Drug experiments and open sexuality became the chief entertainments of the group. Hence, many births would occur in the months that followed including yet another son for Manson himself by way of Sandra Good. Manson took exceptional pride in his rag-tag band of outcasts. ibid.
Sharon [Tate] would soon marry the film’s eccentric Polish director Roman Polanski who had created an cinematic sensation with his eerie satanic film Rosemary’s Baby. ibid.
Upon arriving they gave Manson a full report of the night’s activities, and all retired to a sound sleep. All except Manson, the haunted Manson, who thought this was a too sloppy mission to suit the purposes. ibid.
Manson would now put their hearty pioneer spirits to the ultimate test and move them to the hostile barren environment of the Death Valley desert. ibid.
Kasabian who had acted as a lookout on the night of the Tate slayings was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony against her former associates. ibid.
In 1975 in Sacramento Fromme would capture national attention by pointing a hand-gun at President Gerald Ford. ibid.
Linda Kasabian was the lookout on the night of the Sharon Tate murders. She has been in hiding for forty years. For the first time she tells her full story. Her identity has been obscured to maintain her anonymity. Manson, Cineflix 2009
Spahn Ranch was a former movie set owned by 71 year old George Spahn. In the summer of 1969, 32 adults and 7 children lived here. ibid.
Bobby Beausoleil was arrested driving Gary Hinman’s car. Police discovered a knife in the car and blood on Beausoleil’s clothes. ibid.
While the LaBiancas were being murdered, Manson was searching for another victim. ibid.
Linda fled to New Mexico and went into hiding. She left her daughter Tanya with The Family. ibid.
A week after the murders, Police raided Spahn Ranch in connection with auto theft and illegal weapons. ibid.
Linda returned to Los Angeles. She reclaimed her daughter and went back into hiding. ibid.
Two months after the murders Susan Atkins was arrested in connection with the Hinman murder. In November 1969 she bragged to a cellmate that the Family had committed the Tate/LaBianca murders. This information broke the case. On December 1st 1969 the LAPD issued arrest warrants for Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie van Houten, Tex Watson, Charles Manson and Linda Kasabian. The Manson trial began on July 15th 1970. Vincent Bugliosi was the Chief Prosecutor. Linda Kasabian agreed to testify against the Family. ibid.
Manson and four Family members were convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder. Tex Watson age 21 – Life in Prison; Susan Atkins age 20 - Life in Prison; Patricia Krenwinkel age 21 – Life in Prison; Leslie van Houten age 20 – Life in Prison; Charles Manson age 33 – Life in Prison. In return for her testimony Linda Kasabian was given immunity. ibid.
They were murders that shocked the world. Four months after the brutal killings Evil had a new face. And Charles Manson became one of the most infamous killers in history. He’s been called a monster, a cult leader, even the most evil man alive. But when seven people were brutally killed over two nights in Los Angeles Charles Manson wasn’t there. Did Charles Manson brainwash his followers to kill? Manson: Kill for Me
The killers stabbed their victims more than one hundred times. The word Pig was daubed on the front door. ibid.
In the days after their arrest they were branded as members of a religious cult with Charles Manson as their spiritual leader. ibid.
According to Dr David Smith there were more than a hundred communes outside the Los Angeles area in the late 60s, each with their own philosophy and leadership. ibid.
Did Manson order his people to kill, or were these depraved acts the work of alienated young people desperate to belong? ibid.
Manson and his followers were convinced a bloody race war was imminent. ibid.
Manson and his followers fled to the Death Valley hideout to prepare for war. ibid.
The longest and most costly trial of its time. ibid.
When I left [my husband] I was searching for love and freedom. I was searching for God. Linda Kasabian
We were like his children. We were his children. Linda Kasabian
Everybody was like one. There was a harmony amongst all of us. It was actually beautiful. Linda Kasabian
For me having sex on LSD was actually a very spiritual feeling. Linda Kasabian
When we arrived at the Tate residence there were lights on outside. The driveway was lit up ... I felt like an empty shell; my body was there but I wasn’t. The screams that I heard coming from the house were blood-curdling, chilling screams, screaming for your life. And I couldn’t tell if they were male of female; they were just screams ... And I saw a man and he had blood all over his face, and he looked into my eyes. And he was dying. [sobs] Linda Kasabian
And I remember thinking in my head, what does remorse mean? What’s the word remorse? Linda Kasabian
It was wrong. And it hurt a lot of people. Still now today always and for ever. Linda Kasabian
Sometimes he exuded all this love from his face. Catherine Share aka Gypsy
When The Beatles’ White album came out Charlie listened to it over and over and over and over again. He was quite certain The Beatles had tapped into his spirit, the truth. Catherine Share
It wasn’t peace and love and hippies any more. It was almost like an army. Catherine Share
Charlie was kicking me, and I rolled over in a ball trying to protect my body. I didn’t know why he beat me. He instilled terror towards the end there in every single person around him to have total control over them. The main reason why we all stayed was a deep-seated belief that what Charlie was saying was true: that the cities were going to burn, people were going to shoot each other, and the only way to survive was to band together with this group of people. The music was not happening any more. Everyone knew we needed money to survive. Catherine Share
I’m the devil. And I’m here to do the devil’s business. Tex Watson to victim
The more you do it, the more you like it. Susan Atkins on murder
This was a definition of Helter Skelter that Charlie gave. Now this is the the White album; it’s a Beatle’s album ... There’s also a song called Piggies. Rozzers’ press conference
The homicides are not connected. We’ve had many cases before when the suspect wrote in blood or lipstick or things of that nature. Rozzers’ press conference
Charles Manson was born in Cincinnati Ohio November 1934 and he took to a life of crime very early ... Seventeen of those thirty-two years were spent in reformatories and prisons. Vincent Bugliosi, prosecutor Tate/Labianca murders
When Manson gets out of prison in 67 it was the height of the Summer of Love. And he ends up in San Francisco. Vincent Bugliosi
It was a timeless existence in an isolated setting. Manson had all the sex he wanted, food and music. He became a whole guru up there. Vincent Bugliosi
The subversion of sexuality was one way he [Charles Manson] broke down the ego. He realised that they would do whatever he wanted them to do if they had no ego. Manson got them to creep into people’s homes at night and rearrange the furniture ... He had this phenomenal ability to gain control over other people. To get them to do terrible things. Eventually, he convinced them that he was the second coming of Christ and the devil all wrapped up in the same person. Vincent Bugliosi