It was an orgy of murder. Vincent Bugliosi
They were average American kids. And that’s what was so shocking. You would never dream that these people would be mass murderers. So it shocked the entire country. Only Manson had a motive for these murders. And that motive was Helter Skelter. To ignite a war between blacks and whites. Vincent Bugliosi
Good evening, you are about to see a dramatisation of actual facts. In which some of the names have been changed ... For it surely one of the most bizarre chapters in the history of crime. Helter Skelter 1976 starring George DiCenzo & Steve Railsback & Nancy Wolfe & Marilyn Burns & Christina Hart & Cathey Paine et al, director Tom Gries; viz also novel Vincent Bugliosi
The foothills and canyons above Beverley Hills California in the early morning hours of Saturday August 9 1979. It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in the cocktail shakers in the houses down the canyon. ibid. prologue
Charles Manson and his so-called Family would become the most infamous killers of the twentieth century, committing a series of brutal and seemingly senseless crimes that would spell the end of the 1960s hippy dream. But what made Manson the man he was? How did so many young people fall under his spell? And were Manson and his followers born to kill? Born to Kill? The Manson Family, Channel 5 2012
Three months after the murders, detectives got word that a young Californian girl had made an extraordinary jailhouse confession. ibid.
These seemingly all-American kids had become unrecognisable to the families. Controlled by an unlikely but powerful puppet-master. ibid.
The name Charles Manson would become synonymous with evil. ibid.
From the mid-1940s onwards a raft of thefts and armed robberies would see the young Manson pass through several institutions where he was said to be sexually brutalised. ibid.
The 32-year-old guitar-playing ex-con headed to the eye of the storm – San Francisco, California. ibid.
Manson hoped to get a major recording contract and introduce his songs to the world. ibid.
As a child Manson had been rejected by his mother. Now the LA music industry would do the same. ibid.
An Armageddon gospel he [Manson] called Helter Skelter. ibid.
In July 1969 Manson and his followers attempted to extort money and property from Hinman; when he refused to cooperate, a Manson Family associate Bobby Beausoleil took action. ibid.
Headed to the former home of record produced Terry Melcher, now being rented by director Roman Polanski and his actress wife Sharon Tate. ibid.
Those eventually chosen to die were 44-year-old supermarket executive Leno Labianca and his 38-year-old wife Rosemary. ibid.
Among words written in the victims’ blood was the phrase Helter Skelter [sic]. ibid.
Manson’s followers had taken the lives of seven unsuspecting victims seemingly without conscience. ibid.
By 1971 Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Charles Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houtoen and Bobby Beausoleil had all been sentenced to death for their crimes. The sentences were later reduced to life imprisonment. ibid. caption
I don’t believe that Linda Kasabian should have been exonerated for her actions and participation. Deborah Tate, Sharon’s sister
‘I don’t know how it happened. How it all came to this. Something we could no longer control. A month ago this place was paradise. We were family. The ranch was all about love.’ Manson’s Lost Girls, opening commentary, CI 2016
‘Charlie saved us from our parents and gave us back to ourselves.’ ibid. round the campfire
‘A family that loved me. I wanted it to last for ever.’ ibid.
It was the crime of the century committed by the girls next door. A two-day killing spree left seven people dead. Manson’s Lost Girls: Beyond the Headlines, CI 2017
But one Manson girl turned star witness and helped bring them to justice. ibid.
Watson, Krenwinkel and Atkins look for a way inside … ‘a grotesque symphony in blood.’ ibid.
The next evening another grisly crime scene awaits police. ibid.
Whatever is necessary to do we do it. When somebody needs to be killed there is no wrong, we do it. Manson, 1973, family member with gun
This case received more publicity than any other trial in American history … costing the county of Los Angeles one million dollars. ibid. prosecutor
169 stab wounds, 7 gun shots. ibid.
There were many other seemingly unrelated murders. ibid.
They recorded on the vest their customs, ceremonies, killings and numerous births. ibid.
Snitches will be taken care of. ibid. Fromme
Game, hiking, drugs and orgies was their lifestyle: an adolescent’s paradise … loved together, killed together. ibid. commentary
He is God. ibid. Fromme
To Manson, Death Valley was a Utopia. ibid.
A monster, a madman, a mastermind of one of the most horrific killing sprees in US history. Charles Manson transformed a group of young women into vicious killers. Face of Evil: The Charles Manson Murders, CNN 2015
In the days after the murders Charlie seemed dangerous and unhinged. ibid.
Two different investigative teams were assigned. ibid.
Much of the Tate crime scene had been contaminated. ibid.
Manson transformed himself from a two-bit criminal into a self-styled spiritual guru. ibid.
Charles Manson: cult leader, master manipulator and the evil architect behind the killings of seven innocent people in what would be the most gruesome murders in American history in the summer of 1969. But some claim these infamous murders weren’t Manson’s only victims. Manson Speaks: Inside the Mind of a Madman I, History 2017
One gruesome unsolved case: a 19 year old girl butchered and left on a hillside in the Hollywood hills on November 16th 1969: Reet Jurvetson. ibid.
26 hours of phone calls spanning 10 years. ibid.
‘If somebody wants drugs, give ’em drugs.’ ibid. Manson
‘I did the will of God.’ ibid.
A Manson Family associate was found dead just ten days before Reet was found stabbed. ibid.
‘I left some dead people on the beach.’ ibid.
‘Always leave the bodies for the bugs.’ ibid.
‘Every time you don’t pay me what you owe me I wanna kill you in every way that you ever dreamed about. I wanna get you in ways you never even thought existed.’ Manson Speaks: Inside the Mind of a Madman II, Manson
There is one name that continues to appear: Bruce Davis, Manson’s number two. ibid.
‘More Kool-Aid for everyone.’ ibid. Manson
‘I didn’t break no law. I’m smarter than that.’ ibid.