The Manson

Myth
Debunking Helter Skelter
and Exposing Lies
Jackson Howard, Wendy A. Hall,
Craig Kline, and J. Cook.
Published by FastPencil
Copyright 2013 No Copyright
Published by FastPencil
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Printed in the United States of America.
First Edition
This book is dedicated to all of the victims, their families and friends, and all of the
people who have researched this case and wasnt afraid to speak out against the unfair
trial of Charles Manson.

Acknowledgments
Thanks to all of the contributors who helped us put this together. Thank
you to J. Cook for editing this monstrosity and putting together the photos.
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Chapter 1 I have Xed Myself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2 What is Helter Skelter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3 Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Chapter 4 The Drug Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Chapter 5 The Bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 6 Pictures: Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 7 Who is Charles Watson? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 8 Demystifying Susan Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter 9 Stupid Cupid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 10 Bruce McGregor Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Chapter 11 Pictures: Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Chapter 12 False Witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 13 Pictures: Part III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 14 The Real Race War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Chapter 15 This Holy Swastika . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Chapter 16 Charles Will is Mans Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Chapter 17 The Dictator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Chapter 18 Deeper Than the Devils Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Chapter 19 Just Follow the Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 20 Krishna Venta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Chapter 21 Pictures: Part IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Chapter 22 Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Preface
The name Charles Manson has
become synonymous with evil and
over the past 40-something years
the name still strikes fear and
repulsion in the minds of many. It
comes to no surprise that he has
been tagged killer, but more pre-
cisely the serial killer who killed
actress Sharon Tate.
In reality, Charles Manson was
never actually convicted of physi-
cally taking any life.In fact,he was
never proven to be at the scene of
any of the murders when they were
happening. There has been specu-
lation that he was indeed at the murder of Shorty Shea, and this is probably
true. However, according to parole hearing testimonies of both Steve
Clem Grogan and Bruce M. Davis, he arrived long after Charles Tex
Watson had stabbed Donald Shea to death.
The murders at 10050 Cielo Drive on August 9, 1969 and 3301 Waverly
Drive on August 10, 1969 have been forever linked to a man who wasnt
even there. The fear that surrounded the name Charles Manson, and the
demon the media made him out to be, clouded the minds of the general
public to the point where they did not care who actually committed these
murders just as long as Charles Manson was put away. With all of this con-
Charles Mansons 2013 DOC photo.
fusion surrounding the case, a lot of unanswered questions surround the
case; mostly who actually killed who.
How did this happen? This essay will go inside of the motives as well of
the myth of Charles Manson, which was partially created by scorned
Family member Paul Watkins who wasnt even a part of the Family at
the time of the murders. In fact, Paul Watkins himself has admitted that he
did not find out about them until months later.
Then we have Paul Watkins close buddies Brooks Poston and
Paul Crockett, who added fuel to that fire. Brooks Poston was long gone
from the Family and long before Paul Watkins. They both met Paul
Crockett in Death Valley where he supposedly deprogrammed them while
using them as slaves to carry ore from local mines.
Prosecuting attorney Vincent Bugliosi took that story from Paul Wat-
kins and forced the defendantsmostly Charles Mansonto fit the motive
he wanted: Helter Skelter. This essay will use the words of the people who
participated in the murders, state witnesses, defendants, people in the
Family, and other people involved with the Family through inter-
views, parole hearings, articles, and other first-word accounts to prove my
theory and to disprove the Helter Skelter motive. And to support the fact
that the murders were most likely committed as copycat murders of the Gary
Hinman slaying to create reasonable doubt to free Family friend
Bobby Beausoleil.
Charles Manson has never admitted that he ordered the murders, but he
has said things such as, I take responsibility for influencing them kids, but I
did not direct traffic. I did not tell nobody to go kill for me. The only
people who have stated that Charles Manson did indeed order the murders
were the prosecutions witnesses during the trial; who were all given incen-
tives to testify. Charles Mansons co-defendants all stood firm, as well,
claiming he did not order the murders. It wasnt until 1972 when they
started to deviate from their prior testimonies. What is even more inter-
esting is that Charles Mansons co-defendants; Charles Watson, Patricia
Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, and Susan Atkins have all admitted alterna-
tive motives to the killings.
In 1972, the death penalty was abolished giving Charles Manson, Bobby
Beausoleil, Charles Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie
The Manson Myth
Van Houten a shot at parole. That is when their stories turned and all of the
culpability went to Charles Manson. The difference is that Susan Atkins still
maintained that the murders were copycat murders to free Bobby Beauso-
leil.
Facts are that these people had absolutely no shot at parole unless they
admitted the Helter Skelter theory, admitted Charles Manson ordered the
murders, and of course showed that they were reformed and they knew
this. Theres no doubt in my mind that this is why they changed their sto-
ries.
Murder conspirator-turned-witness, Linda Kasabian, turned out to be
one of the most important witnesses in the case. Without her testimony
Charles Manson may have never been convicted. Vincent Bugliosi con-
tended that she was the lesser of the evil defendants, which is why he chose
her to testify on his behalf. He told the jury that she had no clue that the
gang went out to murder,when in fact she held the knives on the way to
the Cielo Drive home. She also took Stephen Parents wallet and distracted
Wojciech Frykowski as he was butchered by Charles Watson. She also
helped plan the murders and may have suggested the murders for some
sort of revenge as told by several Family members.
This essay will attempt to explain and make sense of it all.
Preface
1
I have Xed Myself
1
Charles Manson protests the guilty verdict by carving an X onto his forehead.
November 19, 1970 Charles Mansons defense team rests their
case without even calling one of the seventeen subpoenaed wit-
2 The Manson Myth
nesses, putting on one second of a defense or even saying a word
on the defendants behalf.
Charles Manson begged to be able to get on the stand and defend him-
self and after hesitation, the court allowed him to take the stand. The court
room was asked to vacate and the jurors asked to leave. He spoke to an
empty courtroom, but here is what he had to say.
The Court: Do you have anything to say?
Defendant Manson: Yes, I do.
There has been a lot of charges and a lot of things said about me and
brought against me and brought against the co-defendants in this case, of
which a lot could be cleared up and clarified to where everyone could
understand exactly what the family was supposed to have been, what the
philosophies in regards to the families were, and whether or not there was
any conspiracy to commit murder, to commit crimes, and to explain to you
who think with your minds.
It is hard for you to conceive of a philosophy of someone that may not
think.
I have spent my life in jail, and without parents.
I have looked up to the strongest father-figure, and I have always looked
to the people in the free world as being the good people, and the people in
the inside of the jail as being the bad people.
I never went to school, so I never growed up in the respect to learn to
read and write so good, so I have stayed in jail and I have stayed stupid, I
have stayed a child while I have watched your world grow up, and then I
look at the things that you do and I dont understand.
I dont understand the courts, and I dont understand a lot of things that
are brought against me.
Your write things about my mother in the newspaper that hasnt got any-
thing to do with anything in particular.
You invent stories, and everybody thinks what they do, and then they
project it from the witness stand on the defendant as if that is what he did.
For example, with Danny DeCarlos testimony. He said that I hate black
men, and he said that we thought alike, that him and I was a lot alike in our
thinking.
I have Xed Myself 3
But actually all I ever did with Danny DeCarlo or any other human being
was reflect himself back at himself.
If he said he did not like the black man, I would say, Okay. I had better
sense than tell him I did not dislike the black man. I just listened to him and
I would react to his statement.
So consequently he would drink another beer and walk off and pat me on
the back and he would say to himself, Charlie thinks like I do.
But actually he does not know how Charlie thinks because Charlie has
never projected himself.
But maybe the girls and women in your world outside Being by your-
self for such a long time when you do get out you appreciate things that
people dont even see, you walk over them every day.
Like in jail you have a whole new attitude or a whole different way of
thinking.
I dont think like you people. You people put importance on your lives.
Well, my life has never been important to anyone, not even in the under-
standing of the way you fear the things that you fear, and the things you do.
I know that the only person I can judge is me.
I judge what I have done and I judge what I do and I look and live with
myself every day.
I am content with myself.
If you put me in the penitentiary, that means nothing because you kicked
me out of the last one. I didnt ask to get released. I liked it in there because I
like myself.
I like being with myself.
But in your world its hard because your understanding and your values
are different.
These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You
taught them. I didnt teach them. I just tried to help them stand up.
Most of the people at the ranch that you call The Family were just people
that you did not want, people that were alongside the road, that their
parents had kicked them out or they did not want to go to Juvenile Hall, so I
did the best I could and I took them up on my garbage dump and I told
them this that in love there is no wrong.
4 The Manson Myth
I dont care. I have one law and I learned it when I was a kid in reform
school. Its dont snitch. And I have never snitched, And I told them that
anything they do for their brothers and sisters is good, if they do it with a
good thought.
It is not my responsibility. It is your responsibility. It is the responsibility
you have towards your own children who you are neglecting, and then you
want to put the blame on me again and again and again.
Over and over you put me in your penitentiary. I did not build the peni-
tentiary. I would not lock one of you up. I could not see locking another
human being up.
You eat meat with your teeth and you kill things that are better than you
are, and in the same respect you say how bad and even killers that your chil-
dren are. You make your children what they are. I am just a reflection of
every one of you.
I have never learned anything wrong. In the penitentiary, I have never
found a bad man. Every man in the penitentiary has always showed me his
good side, and circumstances put him where he was. He would not be there,
he is good, human, just like the policeman that arrested him is a good
human.
I have nothing against none of you. I cant judge any of you. But I think it
is high time that you all started looking at yourselves, and judging the lie
that you live in.
I sit and I watch you from nowhere, and I have nothing in my mind, no
malice against you and no ribbons for you.
But you stand and you play the game of money. As long as you can sell a
newspaper, some sensationalism, and you can laugh at someone and joke at
someone and look down at someone, you know.
You just sell those newspapers for public opinion, just like you are all
hung on public opinion, and none of you have any idea what you are doing.
You are just doing what you are doing for the money, for a little bit of
attention from someone.
I cant dislike you, but I will say this to you. You havent got long before
you are all going to kill yourselves because you are all crazy.
And you can project it back at me, and you can say that its me that
cannot communicate, and you can say that its me that dont have any
I have Xed Myself 5
understanding, and you can say that when I am dead your world will be
better, and you can lock me up in your penitentiary and you can forget
about me.
But Im only what lives inside of you, each and every one of you. These
children, they take a lot of narcotics because you tell them not to. Any child
you put in a room and you tell them, Dont go through that door, he never
thought of going through that door until you told him to go through the
door. You go to the high schools and you show them pills and you show
them what not to take, how else would they know what it was unless you tell
them?
And then you tell them what you dont want them to do in the hopes
they will go out and do it and then you can play your game with them and
then you can give attention to them because you dont give them any of
your love.
You only give them your frustration; you only give them your anger; you
only give them the bad part of you rather than give them the good part of
you.
You should all turn around and face your children and start following
them and listening to them.
The music speaks to you every day, but you are too deaf, dumb, and
blind to even listen to the music. You are too deaf, dumb and blind to stop
what you are doing. You point and you ridicule.
But its okay, its all okay. It doesnt really make any difference because
we are all going to the same place anyway. Its all perfect. There is a God. He
sits right over here beside me. That is your God. This is your God.
But let me tell you something; there is another Father and he has much
more might than you imagine.
If I could get angry at you I would try to kill every one of you. If thats
guilt, I accept it.
These children, everything they have done, they done for love of their
brother. Had you not arrested Robert Beausoleil for something he did not
do.
I have killed no one and I have ordered no one to be killed.
6 The Manson Myth
I may have implied on several occasions to several different people that I
may have been Jesus Christ, but I havent decided yet what I am or who I
am.
I was given a name and a number and I was put in a cell, and I have lived
in a cell with a name and a number.
I dont know who I am.
I am whoever you make me, but what you want is a fiend; you want a
sadistic fiend because that is what you are.
You only reflect on me what you are inside of yourselves, because I dont
care anything about any of you and I dont care what you do.
I can stand here in front of this court and smile at you, and you can do
anything you want to do with me, but you cannot touch me because I am
only my love, and it is all for me, and I give it to myself for me, because I
look out for me first and I like me, and you can live with yourselves and your
opinion of yourselves. I know what I have done.
If I showed someone that I would do anything for my brother, include
give my life for my brother in the battlefield, or give where else that I may
want to do that, then he picks his banner up and he goes off and does what
he does. .
That is not my responsibility. I dont tell people what to do.
If we enter into an agreement to build a house, I will help you build the
house and I will offer suggestions for that house, but I wont put myself on
you because that is what made you weak, because your parents have offered
themselves on you.
You are not you, you are just reflections, you are reflections of everything
that you think that you know, everything that you have been taught.
Your parents have told you what you are. They made you before you
were six years old, and when you stood in school and you crossed your heart
and pledged allegiance to the flag, they trapped you a in truth because at
that age you didnt know any lie until that lie was reflected on you.
No, I am not responsible for you. Your karma is not mine.
My father is the jail house. My father is your system, and each one of you,
each one of you are just a reflection of each one of you, and you all live by
yourselves, no matter how crowded you may think that you are in a room
I have Xed Myself 7
full of people, you are still by yourself, and you have to live with that self
forever and ever and ever and ever.
To some people this would be hell; to some people it would be heaven.
I have mine, and each one of you will have to work out yours, and you
cannot work it out by pointing your fingers at people.
I have ate out of your garbage cans to stay out of jail.
I have wore your second-hand clothes.
I have accepted things and given them away the next second.
I have done my best to get along in your world and now you want to kill
me, and I look at you and I look how incompetent you all are, and then I say
to myself, You want to kill me, ha, Im already dead, have been all my life!
Ive lived in your tomb that you built.
I did seven years for a thirty-seven dollar check. I did twelve years
because I didnt have any parents, and how many other sons do you think
you have in there? You have many sons in there, many, many sons in there,
most of them are black and they are angry. They are mad, and they are mad
at me.
I look and I say, Why are you mad at me?
He said, I am mad at you because of what your father did.
And I look at him and I say, Well, and I look at my fathers, and I say, If
there was ever a devil on the face of this earth I am him.
And hes got my head anytime he wants it, as all of you do too, anytime
you want it.
Sometimes I think about giving it to you. Sometimes Im thinking about
just jumping on you and let you shoot me. Sometimes I think it would be
easier than sitting here and facing you in the contempt that you have for
yourself, the hate that you have for yourself, its only the anger you reflect at
me, the anger that you have got for you.
I do not dislike you, I cannot dislike you. I am you. you are blood. You
are my brother. That is why I cant fight you.
If I could I would jerk this microphone out and beat your brains out with
it because that is what you deserve, that is what you deserve.
Every morning you eat that meat with your teeth. Youre all killers, you
kill things better than you. And what can I say to you that you dont already
know? And I have known that there is nothing I can say to you. There is
8 The Manson Myth
nothing I can say to any of you. It is you that has to say it to you, and that is
my whole philosophy; you say it to you and I will say it to me.
I live in my world, and I am my own king in my world, whether it be a
garbage dump or if it be in the desert or wherever it be. I am my own human
being. You may restrain my body and you may tear my guts out, do any-
thing you wish, but I am still me and you cant take that.
You can kill the ego, you can kill the pride, you can kill the want, the
desire of a human being.
You can lock him in a cell and you can knock his teeth out and smash his
brain, but you cannot kill the soul.
You never could kill the soul. Its always there, the beginning and the
end. you cannot stop it, its bigger than me. Im just looking into it and it
frightens me sometimes.
The truth is now; the truth is right here: the truth is this minute, and this
minute we exist.
Yesterday you cannot prove yesterday happened today, it would take you
all day and then it would be tomorrow, and you cant prove last week hap-
pened. You cant prove anything except to yourself.
My reality is my reality, and I stand within myself on my reality.
Yours is yours and I dont care what it is. Whatever you do is up to you
and its the same thing with anyone in my family. and anybody in my family
is a white human being, because my family is of the white family.
There is the black family, a yellow family, the red family, a cow family and
a mule family. There is all kinds of different families.
We have to find ourselves first, God second, and kind, k-i-n-d, come next.
And that is all I was doing. I was working on cleaning up my house, some-
thing Nixon should have been doing. He should have been on the side of
the road picking up his children. But he wasnt. He was in the White House
sending them off to war.
I dont know the different people that have got on the stand; one friend
said I put a knife to his throat. I did. I put a knife to his throat. And he said I
was responsible for all of these killings.
I have done the best I know how, and I have given all I can give and I
havent got any guilt about anything because I have never been able to say
any wrong.
I have Xed Myself 9
I never found any wrong.
I looked at wrong, and it is all relative.
Wrong is if you havent got any money.
Wrong is if your car payment is overdue.
Wrong is if the TV breaks.
Wrong is if President Kennedy gets killed.
Wrong is, wrong is, wrong is you keep on, you pile it in your mind. you
become belabored with it, and in your confusion.
I make up my own mind. I think for myself. I look at you and I say,
Okay, you make up your own mind, you think for yourself, then you see
your mothers and your fathers and your teachers and your preachers and
your politicians and your presidents, and you lay in your brain with your
opinions, considerations, conclusions. And I look at you and I say, Okay,
if you are real to you its okay with me but you dont look real to me. you
only look like a composite of what someone told you you are. You live for
each others opinion and you have pain on your face and you are not sure
what you like, and you wonder if you look okay.
And I look at you and I say, Well, you look alright to me, you know,
and you look at me and you say, Well, you dont look alright to me,
Well I dont care what I look like to you. I dont care what you think
about me and I dont care what you do with me. I have always been yours
anyway. I have always been in your cell.
When you were out riding your bicycles I was sitting in your cell looking
out the window and looking at pictures in magazines and wishing I could go
to high school and go to the proms, wishing I could go to the things you
could do, but oh so glad, oh so glad, brothers and sisters, that I am what I
am.
Because when it does come down around your ears and none of you
know what you are doing, you better believe I will be on top of my thought.
I will know what I am doing. I will know exactly what I am doing. If you
ever let me go before you kill me. And then I dont really particularly care
anyway, because I still will be there and I will still know what I am doing.
In my mind I live forever.
In my mind I live forever, and in my mind I have always lived forever.
I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you.
10 The Manson Myth
I have done everything I have always been told. I have mopped the floor
when I was supposed to mop the floor. And I have swept when I was sup-
posed to sweep.
I was smart enough to stay out of jail and too dumb to learn anything. I
was too little to get a job there, and too big do to something over here.
I have just been sitting in jail thinking nothing. Nothing to think about.
Everybody used to come in and tell me about their past and their lives
and what they did. But I could never tell anybody about my past or what my
life was or what I did because I have always been sitting in that room with a
bed, a locker, and a table. So, then it moves on to awareness: how many
cracks can you count in the wall? It moves to where the mice live and what
the mice are thinking, and see how clever mice are.
And then, when you get on the outside, you look into peoples heads.
You take Linda Kasabian and you put her on the witness stand and she testi-
fies against her father. She never has liked her father, and she has always pro-
jected her wrong off to the man-figure. So, consequently, it is the mans fault
again, and the woman turns around and she blames it on the man. The man
made her do it. The man put her up to it.
The man works for her, the man slaves for her, the man does everything
for her, and she lays around the house and she tells him what he should do,
because, generally, she is an extension of his mother. His mother told him
what to do and she trained him for twenty years and passed him on to the
wife. Then the woman takes him and tells him what to wear, when to get up,
when to go to work.
Then when she gets on the stand and she says when she looked in that
mans eyes that was dying, she knew it was my fault.
She knew that it was my fault because she couldnt face death. And if she
cannot face death, that is not my fault. Why should she blame it on me? I
can face death. I have all the time.
In the penitentiary you live with it, with constant fear of death, because it
is a violent world in there, and you have to be on your toes constantly.
So, it is not without violence that I live. It is not without pain that I live.
I look at the projection that comes from this witness stand often to the
defendants. It isnt what we said, it is what someone thought we said. A
word is changed: in there to up there, off of that to on top. The
I have Xed Myself 11
semantics get into a word game in the courtroom to prove something that is
gone in the past. It is gone in the past, and when it is gone, it is gone, sisters.
It is gone, brother.
You cant bring the past back up and postulate or mock up a picture of
something that happened a hundred years ago, or 1970 years ago, as far as
that goes. you can only live in the now, for what is real is now.
The words go in circles.
You can say everything is the same, but it is always different. It is the
same, but it is always different. You can but it to death. You can say, You
are right, but, but, but.
You sat here for nineteen days questioning that girl.
She got immunity on seven counts of murder.
She got. I dont know how much money she is going to make in maga-
zines and things. You set her up to be a hero, and that is your woman. That
is the thing that you worship.
You have lost sight of God. You sing your songs to woman. You put
woman in front of man. Woman is not God. Woman is but a reflection of
her man, supposedly. But a lot of times man is a reflection of his woman.
And if a man cant rise above a womans thought, then that is his problem, it
is not my problem. But you give me this problem when you set this woman
against me.
You set this woman up here to testify against me. And she tells you a sad
story. How she has only taken every narcotic that is possible to take. How
she has only stolen, lied, cheated and done everything that you have got
there in that book.
But it is okay. she is telling the truth now. She wouldnt have any ulterior
motive like immunity for seven counts of murder.
And then comical as it may seem, you look at me, and you say, You
threatened to kill a person if they snitch.
Well, that is the law where I am from. Where I am from, if you snitch, you
leave yourself open to be killed.
I could never snitch because I wouldnt want someone to kill me.
So, I have always abided by that law. It is the only law that I know of, and
it is the law that I have always abided by.
12 The Manson Myth
But she will come up here and you enshrine her, you put her above you,
and you strive to be as good as something below you.
It is circles that just dont make any sense in my reality. But of course
again that is my reality and it has nothing to do with you, because you have
got your reality and you have to live with what you believe in.
But this woman has got here and she has testified. She said she wasnt
sure, but maybe.
Then the magical mystery tour wouldnt be able to be explained to you.
A magical mystery tour is when you pick up somebody else and play a
part. you may pick up a cowboy today, and you go around all day and play
like a cowboy. You put on a hat and you ride a horse.
This is all we have done. We have played like mom and dad. We have
loved each other. We have done everything we could to stay outside the
frame of the law, the shakedowns. Nothing has been stolen. I have got better
sense than to break the law. I give to the law what it has coming. It is his law.
If I break his law, he puts me back in the grave again.
I havent broken his law yet but it seems as if somebody lays around and
somebody needs to fulfill a spot, they snatch it up and say, This will do. We
will put this over here, we can hang this on him. Or we can do this to that.
Then the words go into another meaning and another level of under-
standing.
Why a woman would stand up and project herself into a man and say,
Actually he never told me anything, but I knew it all came from him.
Her assumption.
Am I to be found guilty on her assumption?
You assume what you would do in my position, but that doesnt mean
that is what I did in my position. It doesnt mean that my philosophy is
valid. Its only valid to me. Your philosophies, they are whatever you think
they are and I dont particularly care what you think they are.
But I know this: that in your own hearts and your own souls, you are as
much responsible for the Vietnam War as I am for killing these people.
I knew a guy that used to work in the stockyards and he used to kill cows
all day long with a big sledgehammer, and then go home at night and eat
dinner with his children and eat the meat that he slaughtered. Then he
would go to church and read the bible, and he would say, That is not
I have Xed Myself 13
killing. And I look at him and I say, That doesnt make any sense, what
you are talking about?
Then I look at the beast, and I say, Who is the beast?
I am the beast.
I am the beast.
I am the biggest beast walking the face of the earth. I kill everything that
moves. As a man, as a human, I take responsibility for that. As a human, it
wont be long, and God will ask you to take responsibility for it. It is your
creation. You live in your creation. I never created your world, you created
it.
You create it when you pay taxes, you create it when you go to work, then
you create it when you foster a thing like this trial.
Only for vicarious thrills do you sell a newspaper and do you kow-tow to
public opinion. Just to sell your newspapers. You dont care about the truth.
You take another Alka-Seltzer and another aspirin and hope that you dont
have to think of the truth and you hope that you dont have to look at your-
self with a hangover as you go to a Helter Skelter party and make fun of
something that you dont understand.
The Court: Please stick to the issues of this case.
Defendant Manson: The issues in this case?! The issues in this case?!
The issues are that Mr. Younger is Attorney General, and I imagine he is
a good man and does a good job. I dont know him. I cant judge him. But I
know he has got me here. He set me in this seat.
Mr. Bugliosi is doing his job for a paycheck. That is an issue. He is doing
whatever he is doing. Whether he thinks it is right or not, I couldnt say.
That is up to him.
The only way that I have been able to live on that side of the road was
outside the law. I have always lived outside the law. When you live outside
the law it is pretty hard, you cant call the man for protection. You have got
to pretty much protect your own.
You cant live within the law and protect yourself. You cant knock the
guy down when he comes over and starts to rape one of the girls, or starts to
bring some speed or dope up there. You cant enforce your will over
someone inside the law.
14 The Manson Myth
I gave everything I could think of to that old man and that ranch for per-
mission to stay there, and I have given the people that stayed on that ranch
my all. When no one wanted to go out in front and fight, I would go out and
fight. When no one else wanted to clean the toilets, I would go and clean
them.
People would see me and they would see what I do and see the example
that I set. They see, when I am cleaning out a cesspool, that I am happy and
smiling and making a game of it. Like I was on a chain gang somewhere
once upon a time and they come and pass the water. I make a game out of it,
or I make a pleasure out of a job. We turn it into a magical mystery tour.
We speed down the highway in a 1958 automobile that wont go but
fifty, and an XKE Jaguar goes by, and I state to Clem, Catch him Clem, and
well rob him or steal all of his money, you know. And he says, What shall
we do? I say, Hit him on the head with a hammer. We magical mystery
tour it.
Then Linda Kasabian gets on the stand and says: They were going to
kill a man, they were going to kill a man in an automobile.
To you, it seems serious. But like Larry Kramer and I would get on a
horse and we would ride over to Wichita, Kansas, and act like cowboys. We
make it a game on the ranch.
Like, Helter Skelter is a nightclub. Helter Skelter means confusion. Liter-
ally. It doesnt mean any war with anyone. It doesnt mean that those people
are going to kill other people. It only means what it means. Helter Skelter is
confusion.
Confusion is coming down fast. If you dont see the confusion coming
down fast around you, you can call it what you wish.
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 didnt write the music. I am
not the person who projected it into your social consciousness, that sanity
that you projected into your social consciousness, today. You put so much
into the newspaper and then you expect people to believe what is going on.
I say back to the facts again.
How many witnesses have you got up here and projected only what they
believe in. What I believe in is right now. I dont believe in anything past
now. I speak to you from now.
I have Xed Myself 15
Because there is nothing here to worry about, nothing here to think
about, nothing here to be confused over. My house is not divided. My house
is one with me, myself.
Then I look at the facts that you have brought in front of this court and I
look at the twelve facts that are looking at me and judging me. If I were to
judge them, what scale would that balance? Would the scale balance if I was
to turn and judge you? How would you feel if I were to judge you? Could I
judge you? I can only judge you if you try to judge me. That is the fact.
Mr. Bugliosi is a hard-driving prosecutor, with a polished education.
Semantics, words. He is a genius. He has got everything that every lawyer
would want to have except one thing: a case. He doesnt have a case.
Were I allowed to defend myself, I could have proven this to you. I could
have called witnesses and showed you how these things lay, and I could
have presented my picture.
You are dealing with facts and positive evidence. If you are dealing with
things that are relative to the issues at hand, then you look at the facts. What
else do you look at? Oh, the leather thong.
How many people have ever worn moccasins with a leather thong in it?
So you have placed me on the desert with leather clothes on and you took a
leather thong from my shoe.
How many people could we take leather thongs from? That is an issue.
Then you move on and you say I had one around my neck. I always tie
one around my head when my hair is long. It keeps it out of my eyes. And
you pull it down on your neck. And I imagine a lot of long-haired people do.
There are so many aspects to this case that could be dug into and a lot of
truth could be brought up, a lot of understanding could be reached.
It is a pretty hideous thing to look at seven bodies, one hundred and two
stab wounds.
The prosecutor, or the doctor, gets up and he shows how all the different
stab wounds are one way, and then how all the different stab wounds are
another way; but they are the same stab wounds in another direction.
They put the hideous bodies on display and they say: If he gets out see
what will happen to you. Implying it. I am not saying he did this. This is
implied. A lot of diagrams are actually in my opinion senseless to the case.
16 The Manson Myth
Then there is Paul Watkins testimony. Paul Watkins was a young man
who ran away from his parents and wouldnt go home. you could ask him to
go home and he would say no. He would say, I dont got no place to live.
can I live here? And Id say, Sure. So, he looks for a father image. I offer
no father image. I say, To be a man, boy, you have got to stand up and be
your own father. And he still hungers for a father image. So he goes off to
the desert and finds a father image.
When he gets on the stand, I forget what he said, whether it had any rela-
tive value, oh, I was supposed to have said to go get a knife and kill the
Sheriff of Shoshone. Go get a knife and kill the Sheriff of Shoshone? I dont
know the Sheriff of Shoshone. I dont think I have been there but once.
I am not saying that I didnt say it, but if I said it, at that time I may have
thought it was a good idea. Whether I said it in jest and whether I said it in
joking, I cant recall and reach back into my memory. I could say either way.
I could say, Oh, I was just joking. Or I could say I was curious. But to be
honest with you I dont ever recall saying Get a knife and change of clothes
and go do what Tex said. Or I dont recall saying, Get a knife and go kill
the sheriff.
I dont recall saying to anyone Go get a knife and kill anyone or any-
thing. In fact it makes me mad when someone kills snakes or dogs or cats
or horses. I dont even like to eat meat because that is how much I am
against killing.
So you have got the guy who is against killing on the witness stand, and
you are all asking him to kill you. you are asking him to judge you. Because
with my words, each of your opinions or diagrams, your thoughts, are dying.
What you thought was true is dying. What you thought was real is dying.
Because you all know, and I know you know, and you known that I know
you know. So, lets make that circle.
You say, Where do we start from there? Back to the facts again. You say
that the facts are elusive in my mind. Actually, they just dont mean any-
thing. The District Attorney can call them facts. They are facts. You are
facts.
But the facts of the case arent even relative, in my mind. They are rela-
tive to the Thirteenth Century. They are relative to the Eighth Century.
They are relative to how old you are or what kind of watch you wear on
I have Xed Myself 17
your arm. I have never lived in time. A bell rings, I get up. A bell rings and I
go out. A bell rings, and I live my life with bells. I get up when a bell rings
and I do what a bell says. I have never lived in time. When your mind is not
in time, the whole thought is different. You look at time as being man-made.
And you say time is only relative to what you think it is. If you want to think
me guilty then you can think me guilty and it is okay with me. I dont dislike
any of you for it. If you want to think me not guilty it is okay with me.
I know what I know and nothing and no one can take that from me.
You can jump up and scream, Guilty! and you can say what a no good
guy I am, and what a devil, fiend, eeky-sneaky slimy devil I am. It is your
reflection and youre right, because that is what I am. I am whatever you
make me.
You see, it is what happens inside the now that the words just lose
meaning. A motion is more real than a word. The Indians spoke with it.
They could explain to you with motions what they felt. This is what I
intended to do if I could represent myself. Explain to you what is inside of
me, how I feel about things.
Because words are your words. You invented the words, and you made a
dictionary and you gave me the dictionary and you said, These are what
the words mean. Well, this is what they mean to you, but to someone else,
they have got a different dictionary. And things mean different things to dif-
ferent people, and to match the symbols up as you talk back and forward.
Then you put a witness up here to say what you said.
I could never say what someone else said. I could only say what I said.
You tell me something and, tomorrow, I try to repeat it, if I didnt write it
down, I couldnt tell you what you said. Let alone a year ago, let alone eight
months ago, let alone a week ago. I am forgetful. I forget one day to the next.
I forget what day it is or what month it is or what year it is. I dont particu-
larly care because all that is real to me is right now.
But then, the case is real to me, and I say, What do I have to do to make
you people let me go back to the desert with my children?
You have your world. You are going to do whatever you do with it. I have
got nothing to do with it. I dont have the schooling in it. I dont believe in
your church. I dont believe in anything you do. I am not saying you are
18 The Manson Myth
wrong, and I hope that you say I am not wrong for believing what I believe
in.
Murder? Murder is another question. It is a move. It is a motion. You
take anothers life. Boom! and theyre gone. You say, Where did they go?
They are dead. You say, Well, that person could have made the motion.
He could have taken my life just as well as I took his.
If a soldier goes off to the battlefield, he goes off with his life in front. He
is giving his life. Does that not give him permission to take one? No.
Because then we bring our soldiers back and try them in court for doing the
same thing we sent them to do. We train them to kill, and they go over and
kill, and we prosecute them and put them in jail because they kill. If you can
understand it, then I bow to your understanding. But in my understanding I
wouldnt get involved with it.
My peace is in the desert or in the jail cell, and had I not seen the sun-
shine in the desert I would be satisfied with the jail cell much more over
your society, much more over your reality, and much more over your confu-
sion, and much more over your world, and your word games that you play.
And each witness got up here and only testified for what was best for
them, they did not testify for what was best for me. They testified for what
was best for them, their own benefit. So you say, Okay, and then what else
did she say? She said, You only see in me what you want to see in me. you
only see in her what you put in her, because when you take LSD enough
times you reach a stage of nothing. You reach a stage of no thought.
An example of this: if you were to be standing in a room with someone
and you were loaded on LSD and the guy says, Do you like my sports
coat? And you would probably not pay any attention to him. About two or
three minutes later the guy loaded on LSD will turn around and say, My,
you have a beautiful sports coat because he is only reacting. He is only
reacting to the individual terminology, the person that he has in the room.
As you would put two people in a cell, so would they reflect and flow on
each other like as if water would seek a level.
I have been in a cell with a guy eighty years old and I listened to every-
thing he said. What did you do then? And he explains to me his whole life
and I sat there and listened, and I experienced vicariously his whole being,
I have Xed Myself 19
his whole life, and I look at him and he is one of my fathers. But he is also
another one of your societys rejects.
Where does the garbage go, as we have tin cans and garbage alongside
the road, and oil slicks in your water, so you have people, and I am one of
your garbage people. I am one of your motorcycle people. I am one of what
you want to call hippies. I never thought about being a hippie. I dont know
what a hippie is.
A hippie is generally a guy thats pretty nice. He will give you a shirt and a
flower, and he will give you a smile, and he walks down the road. But dont
try to tell him nothing. He aint listening to nobody. He got his own
thoughts. You try to tell him something, and he will say, Well, if thats your
bag.
He is finding himself. You, those children there were finding themselves.
Whatever they did, if they did whatever they did, is up to them. They will
have to explain to you that. Im just explaining to you what I am explaining
to you. Everything is simple to me. It is what it is because that is what it is. It
doesnt go any farther.
What? That is all there is. Why?
Why?
Why comes from your mother. Your mother teaches you why, why, why.
you go around asking your mother why and she keeps telling you, Because,
because and she laces your little brain with because and: Because.
Why? because. Why? And you dont know any different. If you had
two mothers, one to tell you one thing and one to tell you another, then
your mind might be left where mine was. If you had a dozen parents that
you went around with and couldnt believe anything you were told and then
you couldnt disbelieve anything you were told. And its the same thing with
this court. I dont believe what these witnesses get up here and say but I
dont disbelieve them either. I wont challenge them. If the guy says, Youre
no good, I say, Okay. If thats what you want me to believe its okay with
me.
I dont care what you believe. I know what I am. You care what I think of
you? Do you care what I think of you? Do you care what my opinion is? No,
I hardly think so. I dont think that any of you care about anything other
20 The Manson Myth
than yourselves because when you find yourself, you find that everyone is
out for themselves anyway.
It looks that way to me here, the money that has been made, the things
that I cannot talk about, and I know I cant talk about, I wont talk about and
I will keep quiet about these things. How much all money has passed over
this case? How sensational do you think that you have made this case?
I never made it sensational. I was hiding in the desert. You come and got
me. Remember? Or could you prove that? What could you prove?
The only thing you can prove is what you can prove to yourselves, and
you can sit here and build a lot in that jurys mind, and they are still going to
interject their personalities on you. They are going to interject their inade-
quate feelings; they are going to interject what they think. I look at the jury
and they wont look at me. So I wonder why they wont look at me. They are
afraid of me. And do you know why they are afraid of me? Because of the
newspapers.
You projected fear. you projected fear. You made me a monster and I
have to live with that the rest of my life because I cannot fight this case. If I
could fight this case and I could present this case, I would take that monster
back and I would take that fear back. Then you could find something else to
put your fear on, because its all your fear.
You look for something to project it on and you pick a little old scroungy
nobody who eats out of a garbage can, that nobody wants, that was kicked
out of the penitentiary, that has been dragged through every hellhole you
can think of, and you drag him up and put him into a courtroom.
You expect to break me? Impossible! you broke me years ago. You killed
me years ago. I sat in a cell and the guy opened the door and he said, You
want out?
I looked at him and I said, Do you want out? You are in jail, all of you,
and your whole procedure. The procedure that is on you is worse than the
procedure that is on me. I like it in there.
I like it in there - its peaceful. I just dont like coming to the courtroom. I
would like to get this over with as soon as possible. And Im sure everyone
else would like to get it over with too.
Without being able to prepare a case, without being able to confront the
witnesses and to bring out the emotions, and to bring out the reasons why
I have Xed Myself 21
witnesses say what they say, and why this hideous thing has developed into
the trauma that its moved into, would take a bigger courtroom, and it
would take a bigger public, a bigger press, because you all, as big as you are,
know what you are as I know what you are, and, I like you anyway. I dont
want to keep rehashing the same things over, There are so many things that
you can get into, Your Honor, that I have no thoughts on. It is hard to think
when you really dont care too much one way or the other.
(Interruption.)
I was released from the penitentiary and I learned one lesson in the peni-
tentiary, you dont tell nobody nothing. You listen. When you are little you
keep your mouth shut, and when someone says, Sit down, you sit down
unless you know you can whip him, and if you know you can whip you
stand up and whip and you tell him to sit down.
Well, I pretty much sat down. l have learned to sit down because I have
been whipped plenty of times for not sitting down and I have learned not to
tell people something they dont agree with. If a guy comes up to me and he
says, The Yankees are the best ball team, I am not going to argue with that
man. If he wants the Yankees to be the best ball team, its okay with me, so I
look at him and I say, Yeah, the Yankees are a good ball club. And some-
body else says, The Dodgers are good. I will agree with that; I will agree
with anything they tell me. That is all I have done since I have been out of
the penitentiary. I agreed with every one of you. I did the best I could to get
along with you, and I have not directed one of you to do anything other
than what you wanted to do.
I have always said this: You do what your love tells you and I do what my
love tells me. Now if my love tells me to stand up there and fight I will stand
up there and fight if I have to. But if there is any way that my personality can
get around it, I try my best to get around any kind of thing that is going to
disturb my peace, because all I want is to be just at peace, whatever that
takes. Now in death you might find peace, and soon I may start looking in
death to find my peace.
I have reflected your society in yourselves, right back at yourselves, and
each one of these young girls was without a home. Each one of these young
boys was without a home. I showed them the best I could what I would do
as a father, as a human being, so they would be responsible to themselves
22 The Manson Myth
and not to be weak and not to lean on me. And I have told them many
times, I dont want no weak people around me. If you are not strong enough
to stand on your own, dont come and ask me what to do. You know what to
do, This is one of the philosophies that everyone is mad at me for, because
of the children. I always let the children go. You cant let the children go
down there by themselves. I said, Let the children go down. If he falls, that
is how he learns, you become strong by falling. They said, You are not
supposed to let the children do that. you are supposed to guide them.
I said, Guide them into what? Guide them into what you have got them
guided into? Guide them into dope? Guide them into armies? I said, No,
let the children loose and follow them. That is what I did on the desert.
That is what I was doing, following your children, the ones you didnt want,
each and every one of them. I never asked them to come with methey
asked me.
(Recessed)
Theres been a lot of tank about a bottomless pit. I found a hole in the
desert that goes down to a river that runs North underground, and I call it a
bottomless pit, because where could a river be going North underground?
You could even put a boat on it. So I covered it up and I hid it and I called it
The Devils Hole and we all laugh and we joke about it. You could call it a
Family joke about the bottomless pit. How many people could you hide
down in this hole?
Again you have a magical mystery tour that most of the time theres forty
or fifty people at the ranch playing magical mystery tour. Randy Starr
thought he was a Hollywood stunt man. He had a car all painted up and like
never done any stunts. Another guy was a movie star, but he had never been
in any movies, and everybody was just playing a part, you know, like most
people get stuck in one part, but like we were just playing different parts
every day. One day you put on a cowboy hat and say, Shoot somebody, or
the next you might have a knife fighter, or go off in the woods for a month
or two to be an Indian, or just like a bunch of little kids playing. Then you
establish a reality within that reality of play acting.
And then you get to conspiracy. The power of suggestion is stronger
than any conspiracy that you could ever enter into. The powers of the brain
are so vast, its beyond understanding. Its beyond thinking. Its beyond
I have Xed Myself 23
comprehension. So to offer a conspiracy might be to sit in your car and
think bad thoughts about someone and watch them have an accident in
front of you. Or would it be a conspiracy for your wife to mention to you
twenty times a day, You know, youre going blind, George, you know how
your eyes are, youre just going blind; we pray to God and youre going
blind, and youre going blind. And she keeps telling the old man hes going
blind until he goes blind.
Is that a conspiracy?
Is it a conspiracy that the music is telling youth to rise against the estab-
lishment because the establishment is rapidly destroying things? Is that a
conspiracy? Where does conspiracy come in? Does it come in that?
I have showed people how I think by what I do. It is not as much what I
say as what I do that counts, and they look at what I do and they try to do it
also, and sometimes they are made weak by their parents and cannot stand
up. But is that my fault? Is it my fault that your children do what they do?
Now the girls were talking about testifying. If the girls come up here to
testify and they said anything good about me, you would have to reverse it
and say that it was bad. you would have to say, Well, he put the girls up to
saying that. He put the girls up to not telling the truth. Then you say the
truth is as I am saying it, but then when it is gone, tomorrow it is gone, it
changes, its another day and its a now truth, as it constantly moves thou-
sands of miles an hour through space.
Hippie cult leader; actually, hippie cult leader, that is your words. I am a
dumb country boy who never grew up. I went to jail when I was eight years
old and I got out when I was thirty-two. I have never adjusted to your free
world. I am still that stupid, corn-picking country boy that I always have
been.
If you tend to compliment a contradiction about yourself, you can live in
that confusion. To me its all simple, right here, right now; and each of us
knew what we did and I know what I did, and I know what Im going to do
and what you do is up to you. I dont recognize the courtroom, I recognize
the press and I recognize the people.
The Court: Have you completed your statement, Mr. Manson?
Defendant Manson: You could go on forever. You can just talk endless
words. It dont a mean anything. I dont know that it means anything. I can
24 The Manson Myth
talk to the witnesses and ask them what they think about things, and I can l
bring the truth out of other people because I know what the truth is, but I
cannot sit here and tell you anything because like basically all I want to do is
try to explain to you what you are doing to your children.
You see, you can send me to the penitentiary, its not a big thing. Ive
been there all my life anyway. What about your children? These are just a
few, there is many, many more coming right at you.
The Court: Anything further?
Defendant Manson: No.
Were all our own prisons, we are each all our own wardens and we do
our own time. I cant judge anyone else. What other people do is not really
my affair unless they approach me with it.
Prisons in your mind Cant you see Im free?
Prosecutor Bugliosi: You say you are already dead, is that right,
Charlie?
Defendant Manson: Dead in your mind or dead in my mind?
Prosecutor Bugliosi: Define it any way you want to.
Defendant Manson: As any child will tell you, dead is when you are no
more. It is just when you are not there. If you werent there, you would be
dead.
Prosecutor Bugliosi: How long have you been dead? To be precise
about it, you think you have been dead for close to 2,000 years, dont you?
Defendant Manson: Mr. Bugliosi, 2,000 years is relative to the second
we live in.
Prosecutor Bugliosi: Suffice it to say, Department 104 is a long way
from Calvary, isnt that true?
Defendant Manson: Are you trying to goad me into saying something?

[Attorney Kanarek objects]
I have Xed Myself 25
2
What is Helter Skelter?
Before I get into the essay itself, I
want to first explain briefly what
Helter Skelter means, according
to the prosecuting attorney Vin-
cent Bugliosi.
According to the motive that the
prosecution applied to the murders,
Charles Manson was released from Ter-
minal Island Penitentiary with years of
anger and hatred for society. He built
up a gang of misused, derelict, abused,
and delinquent youths and held them
captive while he fed them drugs and put them in sexual situations to drag
down their morals and then fed their heads with his philosophies on life,
death, and hatred for the privileged.
Over the next two years, Charles Manson was in an endeavor to sell his
music, but failed. This filled his head with a lot of resentment to the people
who have had success in the entertainment industry and especially Terry
Melcher, who had rejected him.
A doctored mugshot of Charles Manson: notice the
scotch tape holding on the ruler.
27
This was Vincent Bugliosis reasoning for the Sharon Tate home on
Cielo Drive being chosen. 10050 Cielo Drive was once inhabited by Terry
Melcher and Charles Manson knew this and picked this house after deliv-
ering threats to Terry Melcher and Dennis Wilson. The murders were sup-
posed to send a strong message to them.
Vincent Bugliosis theory was that Charles Manson picked out that home
himself, as well as the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca on Waverly
Drive. He then sent in a group of his now brainwashed soldiers to kill
everyone in the homes and scrawl racist terms used by the Black Panthers
on the walls with the victims blood. This would lead Whitey to believe
that Blackie went on a murder rampage, killing all of these model rich-
white humans and it would anger the white establishment so much that they
would then attack the blacks causing a huge race war.
Vincent Bugliosi said that the vision of Charles Manson was that during
this time the so-called Manson Family, of 144,000, would make an exodus
to their Barker Ranch hideout in Death Valley where they would all crawl
into their bottomless pit and wait 40 years for the war to end; a war in which
Blackie would be victorious.
How would this help Charles Manson and his Family? Vin-
cent Bugliosi stated that Charles Manson felt since Blackie had never lead
anything, they would be too inexperienced and would be forced to hand the
world over to him the only white man alive. All of this, of course, was laid
out in the Beatles 1968 White Album, prophesied to Charles Manson as
Gods words and backed up in Revelation 9. However, this was merely a
recycled vision from Krishna Venta (see chapter: Krishna Venta) who
preached this same race war and nearly verbatim (sans the Beatles) of Vin-
cent Bugliosis theory.
Sound far-fetched? Sound humorous? Sound absolutely insane? Well
believe this: there are millions of people who believed this theory. Surely,
since the prosecution proved this motive, it had to be right. But did the
prosecution prove it? This essay will also explain how the prosecution won
this motive by forfeit and there was absolutely no evidence to support the
theory aside from second and third-hand hearsay. In fact, most of the
people who testified against Charles Manson and the other defendants did
28 The Manson Myth
it for some sort of incentive and personal gain whether it is for money, for
immunity to crimes, or some other lucrative and selfish deal.
In my mind, a case cannot be proved unless the defense actually puts on
a case; puts forward evidence, testimony, and witnesses for their clients.
Since this never happened during the trial, everything the prosecution put
forward on Charles Mansonno matter how absurdbecame fact by for-
feit, by the guilty verdict.
This essay does not condone murder, nor does it defend the actions of
any of the people who were convicted for these crimes. The point is to
finally bring out the truth that the victims and the victims families deserve
and to expose those who lied.
Hopefully one day true justice will be served.

Helter Skelter means confusion. Literally. It doesnt mean any war
with anyone. It doesnt mean that those people are going to kill other
people. It only means what it means. Helter Skelter is confusion. Con-
fusion is coming down fast. - Charles Manson
A staged photo by the media.
What is Helter Skelter? 29
3
Why Helter Skelter Doesnt
Fit
November 16, 1970 was the
day that the prosecution
rested their case against
Charles Manson and the
three defendants; Leslie Van
Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel
and Susan Atkins. Three days
later, on November 19, 1970,
the prosecution stunned
everyone including the pros-
ecution, jury, and defendants
when they concluded their
defense and rested without putting on a second of defense and
without calling any witness, or submitting any evidence to sub-
stantiate their case. Charles Manson was easily convicted with a
conspiracy theory.
Charles Mansons day in court was to an empty courtroom
and jury box. No one heard his testimony.
31
According to Family member Lynette Squeaky Fromme, she helped
secure at least seventeen witnesses to testify on his behalf. None of these
people who were subpoenaed to testify ever got the chance to testify. Could
have this made the defenses case? If anything, it could have helped chal-
lenge testimony from key witnesses for the prosecution. Some of these
people could have testified as a character witness to disrepute the prosecu-
tions theory that Charles Manson was a dictator-like ruler of the so-called
Manson Family. This theory not only stated that he kept tabs on
everyone, but they simply did nothing unless he knew about it and directed
their moves. This notion is not only absurd, but downright wrong and not
to mention impossible.
For example, according to Susan Atkins, she was pushed out of the
Family a couple times including a stint where she and other people from
the group moved upstate in an attempt start their own commune. Here is an
excerpt from Susan Atkins book, Child of Satan, Child of God, where she
speaks of this.
Charlie, for reasons unclear to me, decided we should split up. I never under-
stood Charlies reasoning in this. He seemed to feel the Family concept would
never work, that we were just getting on each others nerves, or we just needed a
change of scene.
Mary, Pat, Ella, Stephanie, and I headed North in the old black school bus.
We rented a house in the little town of Philo and launched a female duplicate of
life at Spahns. It seemed that I was in charge although others may have dis-
puted this. It was outstanding even to me now how I could control people.
The spookiest thing about it, however, was that I seemed to have the same sort
of mind control over the girls. I found that I could actually read peoples
thoughts. I knew what the other girls were thinking and could manipulate con-
trol over them.
We were using drugs as much as we had been at Spahns, perhaps even more
so.
Susan Atkins has never admitted to the Helter Skelter theory, in fact
from day one she has stated that the killingsto her understandingwere
an attempt to free Bobby Beausoleil.
Charles Watson has said similar, however he says the Free Bobby
theory or the Love of Brother theory was only partial reason for the kill-
32 The Manson Myth
ings. He goes on to say that, Beyond getting money and bringing down
Helter Skelter, there was a third, less important purpose: to clear Bobby
Beausoleil of the Hinman slaying by committing a similar crime while he
was in jail.
Susan Atkins also testified to this during her December, 1969 Grand Jury
testimony, stating that during the killings no mention of blacks or pinning
the murders on blacks ever happened. Surely, if these murders were in any
way to try and start a race war by making it seem like hits from black gangs,
there would have been some mention of it.
Vincent Bugliosi: As you were watching the television news coverage at the
Spahn Ranch did anyone say anything inside the trailer?
Susan Atkins: The Soul sure did pick a lulu, but the Soul did a good job,
or something to do with the Soul, not meaning Charlie Manson picked a good
one, meaning infinite Soul.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did you say anything else when you learned who those
four people were?
Susan Atkins: Something to the effect that it served its purpose.
Vincent Bugliosi: Do you say why this had been done?
Susan Atkins: To instill fear into the establishment.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did you say anything about black people at that time?
Susan Atkins: Not at that time, no.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did you ever say anything about black people with
respect to what took place at the Tate residence?
Susan Atkins: No.
So, both Susan Atkins and Charles Watson state the Bobby Beausoleil
connection. This of course doesnt make the Love of Brother motive the
key reason behind the murders, but it does add validity to the claims of key
Family members who claim the Love of Brother motive. Bobby Beauso-
leil himself has also admitted this connection in the interview with Truman
Capote.
Truman Capote: The truth is, the LaBiancas and Sharon Tate and her
friends were killed to protect you. Their deaths were directly linked to the Gary
Hinman murder.
Bobby BeauSoleil: I hear you. I hear where youre coming from.
Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit 33
Truman Capote: Those were all imitations of the Hinman murder-to prove
that you couldnt have killed Hinman. And thereby get you out of jail.
Bobby BeauSoleil: To get me out of jail. (He nods, smiles, sighs-compli-
mented) None of that came out at any of the trials. The girls got on the stand
and tried to really tell how it all came down, but nobody would listen. People
couldnt believe anything except what the media said. The media had them pro-
grammed to believe it all happened because we were out to start a race war. That
it was mean niggers going around hurting all these good white folk. Only-it was
like you say. The media, they called us a family. And it was the only true thing
they said. We were a family. We were mother, father, brother, sister, daughter,
son. If a member of our family was in jeopardy, we didnt abandon that person.
And so for the love of a brother, a brother who was in jail on a murder rap, all
those killings came down.
If this motive is unfitting, what does he have to gain by lying? He has
nothing to gain and everything to lose. Its obvious that he wants out of
prison. He has communicated this desire from his first interviews. Going
against the prosecutions theory only hurts his parole chances and until he
admits to the prosecutions theory he probably will never be paroled. But to
this day, he denies any connection to the Family as a member, and only as
a friend. He also claims that the murders of Sharon Tate, Wojciech Fry-
kowski, Abigail Folger, Stephen Parent, Jay Sebring, Rosemary LaBianca
and Leno LaBianca were merely copycats of the Gary Hinman murder, in
which he was the slayer.
The link between the Tate and LaBianca murders and the Gary Hinman
murder, to the prosecution, was merely the blood inscriptions on the wall.
The prosecution also concluded that Charles Manson wanted Gary
Hinman dead in a hope to claim the $20,000 jackpot that Gary Hinman had
on his person. But no money was ever found at the residence. This makes
no sense. If Gary Hinman had a large sum of money, hed have something of
value on him from a recent purchase or perhaps a few hundred dollars
spending cash on him. He was, in fact, so broke that he had to sign over
his cars to Bobby Beausoleil as payment for the bad drugs.
Sandra Good has been one of the most vocal supporters
for Charles Manson since he was convicted in 1970. In the 1990s, she began
a campaign to make the real motive for the murders known, which in a way
34 The Manson Myth
did nothing but go unnoticed; it did put Charles Manson back in the media
spotlight. This was a double-edge sword; the media regularly
begged Charles Manson for interviews and didnt hesitate to edit them out
of context to make him seem scarier than he really was. However, it did put
the Charles Manson case back out there for a new generation of people to
research it worldwide.
Germany produced a documentary in the mid 1990s titled: Menschen-
sohn, or translated as Mans Son. In this documentary Sandra Good spoke
out in defense for the convicted in what a lot of people would consider a
very cold statement as she tells the reason for the murders, discounting the
Helter Skelter theory.
The main reason, the main catalyst for those killings, Sandra Good
said, were to get a brother, Bobby Beausoleil, out of jail. Hed been arrested
for killing Gary Hinman. Tex and Susan Atkins owed Charlie favors.
She went on to day that Charles Manson had put his life on the line a
number of times for Susan Atkins and Charles Watson. She said that they
both offered their services to the proverbial cause without any true direction
from Charles Manson.
When Bobby got arrested for the Hinman murder, everybody wanted to get
Bobby out. Charlies strong thought, coming from years in prison, means you
stand by friends; you stand by your brother. He was raised by war veterans,
World War II, World War I. Brotherhood. Brotherhood goes deep. There is a
time to kill, believe it or not, its called war. When those young people went out to
do what they did for Bobby, there were other reasons for killing also which I can
speak of because I was complicit and I can explain to you our war on the system.
In that same documentary, Charles Manson tells the interviewers that
the participants in the killings killed for their own reasons and most defi-
nitely not under his direction, repeating what he has been saying for 20
years like a broken record. Of course we are all tired of hearing him deny
that he ever ordered the murders. But I will add that from the start, his story
has remained consistent as the others involved have told different stories
that change with every interview. What does that tell you?
Charles Manson: Now these other kids, they say they wanna stop the
Vietnam War and they wanna do this and they wanna do that, and they got
these thoughts. What can I do about it? Im supposed to stop everything? Im not
Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit 35
a policeman, what am I supposed to say, Youre wrong? How can I sit down
and tell the generation of children that theyre wrong because theyre fighting for
what they believe in? They believed in what they picked up, even when they
didnt understand it and it all fell back down on em, what did they do, they
grabbed for me. It was all my fault, I was responsible. Why [do] I got to be
responsible? Because they THINK they were doing it for me?
I wasnt in the job of influencing, I dont care if people are influenced or not,
you know. I ride a motorcycle, guy, you know, Im not in business.
Interviewer: Maybe you didnt want to but they were still influenced.
Charles Manson: Alright, well thats not my fault, what do you want me to
do, Im spending the rest of my life in jail because people like me? You know, Im
trying my best not to be liked anymore so that maybe, you know, maybe they
wont punish me as much. Bobby saved my life and I owed Bobby one life back.
So I said to Tex, You go pay Bobby what you owe me. He said, Well how do I I
said, I dont wanna know nothing, man. I dont want any part of no conspiracy,
Im not breaking no law, I dont wanna go back to jail. You know what to do, do
what you do, dont come to me with it. Just get the brother out of jail. Thats all
there is to that. He said, Whoa whoa, I said, No whoa whoa to it. I said,
Susie! she said yeah, You remember those dudes I fought for you when they
were gonna rape you and take you off? She says yeah, I said, Go with him and
do what he says.
Bobby Beausoleil even told Oui Magazine in 1981 why he murdered
Gary Hinman and of course he did not implicate Charles Manson as the
man who gave the orders. He also says the $20,000 motive is incorrect.
A. Bardach: Who actually wrote Political Piggy on the wall in Hinmans
blood?
Bobby Beausoleil: I didnt, but I had it written. Well, it was my idea to do
it. Susan Atkins was on that wall. The whole thing was to take the heat off the
trail. Gary Hinman was into his revolutionary communism. His whole living
room was a library of Communist literature. I figured Id make it look like one of
his cohorts, you know.
A. Bardach: Make it look like a Black Panther killing?
Bobby Beausoleil: I wasnt thinking about blacks necessarily.
A. Bardach: That was Mansons trip?
36 The Manson Myth
Bobby Beausoleil: Its never really been his trip. I mean, hes from the
South. West Virginia. Since hes been in, he gets along with blacks better than
anybody.
I didnt go there with the intention of killing Gary. If I was going to kill him, I
wouldnt have taken the girls. I was going there for one purpose only, which was
to collect $1000 that I had already turned over to him, that didnt belong to me.
A. Bardach: When had you given him the $1000?
Bobby Beausoleil: The night before.
A. Bardach: You paid Hinman $1000 for 1000 tabs of mescaline and then
returned to the Spahn Ranch?
Bobby Beausoleil: The whole transaction with the Straight Satans motor-
cycle club took place at Spahns Ranch. There were a few Satan Slavers hanging
out there as well. The Straight Satans took the mescaline back to the motorcycle
club at Venice where they were intending to party, they were really mad about it.
A. Bardach: Alright. You arrive at Hinmans and asked for your money
back?
Bobby Beausoleil: I demanded it. I wasnt going to take no for an answer. I
had a motorcycle band on my back.
A. Bardach: And Hinman refused to return the money?
Bobby Beausoleil: Right. I was carrying a knife in a sheath at the time,
more for utility than anything else.
A. Bardach: Who gave you the gun?
Bobby Beausoleil: I gave the gun to Susan Atkins. We were sitting at the
kitchen table. I was looking for something worth $1000 that I could take back to
these people. If he moves, I said, shoot him. She wasnt going to shoot him. I was
right about that. But he decided to be a hero and dove at the gun.
A. Bardach: Both prosecutor/author Vincent Bugliosi and Ed Sanders
maintained that Charlie Manson came to Hinmans during the night and
slashed off Hinmans ear with his knife.
Bobby Beausoleil: Yeah, yeah. That was the prosecutions theory because
they wanted to get Manson into the act (laughs). They tried every trick in the
book and Ill tell you why. You see the Sheriffs Homicide Department wanted to
get Manson involved in my case, which was very difficult because Manson was
not involved.
A. Bardach: When did you decide to kill Hinman and why?
Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit 37
Bobby Beausoleil: Gary Hinman would not have died if he had not told
me that he was going to blow the whistle as soon as I was gone.
This story is noticeably a lot different than the story Vincent Bugliosi
presented to the jury during the trial. What does this mean? This means one
of them is lying. When we ask which one is lying, we have to wonder who
has the most to gain from this lie.
Most of the people who have testified to the $20,000 motive were not
directly related to the murder. Most of it was based on I heard someone
say and I was told. It was second-hand hearsay presented as a first-hand
account.
On Vincent Bugliosis side, putting Charles Manson at the top of this
murder secures a conviction. Charles Manson had already been convicted
for the Tate and LaBianca murders and theres no way a jury would not con-
vict him of the Gary Hinman murder. Linking Bobby Beausoleil
to Charles Manson would also secure his conviction. Bobby Beausoleils
first trial ended with a hung jury, but his second trial was a circus and in the
end he was convicted rather easy. He blamed Charles Manson for the con-
viction and held a grudge; because of the Charles Manson link, he was sen-
tenced to death.
It is common practice for an attorney prosecuting a case to pick the
motive that he or she feels is the most likely to convict the person or persons
who they feel is accountable for the crime. This motive is not always the
right motive.
Do I feel that Vincent Bugliosi believes Charles Manson is to blame? I
unquestionably believe that. However, I also believe that he doesnt neces-
sarily believe that the murders were committed for the reason that he says.
In fact in a Manson: 40
th
Anniversary documentary for the I.D. Channel, he
spoke to Bill Curtis and he sort of let it slip out that he didnt believe
that Charles Manson believed in all aspects in Helter Skelter.
Bill Curtis: Do you think Manson actually believed all that [Helter Skelter
race war]?
Vincent Bugliosi: [laughs] Thats a very good question, Bill; very good
question. In fact people dont ask me that question. [laughs] Um, I dont believe
that he, himself, believed in all aspects of Helter Skelter. My view is that
38 The Manson Myth
everyone that did it, they already had murder to a certain degree coursing
through their veins.
Bill Curtis: Really?
Vincent Bugliosi: But I also believe they wouldnt have committed these
murders if they didnt already have something inside of them a deep hostility
towards society, their parents, et cetera. I think they defendantsWatson and
the otherssincerely are sorry for what they did.
Another fascinating thing that Vincent Bugliosi stated in this interview
was that he felt that the killersLeslie Van Houten, Charles Watson, Susan
Atkins, Patricia Krewnwinkel, Bobby Beausoleil, Bruce Davis and Steve
Groganalready had murder coursing through their veins. This chal-
lenges his theory that Charles Manson broke down their morals and inhibi-
tions to program them to kill.
Having murder inside of them responsible for their own actions and not
someone over top of them pulling their proverbial puppet strings. Some-
thing that Charles Manson was regularly accused of doing and was con-
victed of doing.
My opinion on the motive may not be popular opinion, but I am in good
company as many high profile individuals also believe in the Love of
Brother motive, or simply that Charles Manson did not order the murders.
I would rather not name these people to protect them, but I mention Iggy
Pop and Hank Williams III. Two people who have verbally sup-
ported Charles Manson.
Doris Tate, the late mother of Sharon Tate, has also stated that she does
not feel Vincent Bugliosis Helter Skelter theory is accurate. In the book
Restless Souls she mentions it.
Though Im grateful for Vincent Bugliosis helter-skelter motive and the
convictions it brought, I dont buy into it for a second. Theres something
more, some deeper motive for the killings. Doris Tate said, Even though
Manson talks in riddles, he seldom lies. So I watch and wait for that morsel
of truth that might slip from his lips, revealing the true motive.
During the Ronald Reagan Jr. Show in 1991, Doris Tate also stated that
she felt that the true killers have made Charles Manson a scapegoat. I am
not saying that Doris Tate in any way supports Manson she does not and
has been more than vocal on her belief that he is at fault.
Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit 39
This man was not guilty of murdering my daughter. Of all of the seven mur-
ders, he did not commit none of them. I feel he has taken the blame for all of
them. And the ones that should be blamed should be Tex Watson, Patricia Kren-
winkel, Susan Atkins
Reality is created by the court room, whether I want it to be reality or
not, Charles Manson stated on a previous Ronald Reagan Jr. Show. The
District Attorney is responsible for Helter Skelter. The District Attorney
created Helter Skelter, I didnt.
Throughout the entire trial the defendants were struggling to tell the real
motive. Charles Mansons supporters on the outside were also trying to tell
the real motive, but no one would listen. Every time an alternative motive
was spoken, it was quickly nay-sayed. If the motive didnt include the words
Helter Skelter, the media refused to cover it or believe it; or simply sneer
at anyone who denied the Helter Skelter theory as someone simply pro-
grammed to parrot Charles Mansons words.
Wrapping this chapter up, here is a quick Q&A session between Lau-
rence Merrick, the producer of the 1973 documentary Manson, and some of
the Manson Girls. This was printed in the book Death to Pigs by Robert
Hendrickson.
Sandra Good: Actually Linda suggested the Tate house, because she had
been there, and she got in the car and she drove to the Tate house.
Laurence Merrick: Linda who?
Sandra Good: Kasabian, which that was not allowed to come out (in court)
either.
Brenda McCann: She got burned on a dope deal there. And another girl
wrote us a letter and told us about a contract that was out on some of the people
in the Tate house, because they were selling some bad dope, that may have
caused a couple people to die.
Laurence Merrick: Who sold bad dope?
Brenda McCann: Somebody outta that house.
Sandra Good: In fact it wasnt planned, it was just done.
Laurence Merrick: Some of you knew about the, before the murder?
Sandra Good: It wasnt planned, as things were moving, some people could
feel it was going to happen. We knew wed do anything to get Bobby outta jail.
40 The Manson Myth
Susan Atkins went to her grave saying that the Helter Skelter motive
was incorrect and that the murders were to free Bobby Beausoleil. She did
say that it was Charles Manson who suggested the copy-cat murders to free
Bobby Beausoleil in fear that he may snitch on him for shooting Bernard
Crowe and provoking the Gary Hinman murder. Susan Atkins also wrote a
book titled The Myth of Helter Skelter, that was never published except on
her website SusanAtkins.org. That book breaks down the true motive and
contradicts the motive of Helter Skelter.
The book Charles Manson Now, by Marlin Marynick, stated that before
Susan Atkins death, Charles Manson tried contacting her on numerous
occasions, begging her to tell the truth before she dies.
In 1970, before the trial started, Aaron Stovitz, who was the first prose-
cutor on the Manson caseand was pulled off the casemade a statement
to the newspapers that coincided with this theory.
Chief prosecution council Aaron Stovitz has since admitted he was inter-
viewed. In the interview the prosecutor was said to have claimed the Tate mur-
ders took place to throw police off the trail after Manson follower Robert Beauso-
leil (22), was arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman (34).
The prosecutor said he believed the reason for the Tate murders was to show
the police that Hinmans true murderer was still at large and was not Beauso-
leil.
Was he pulled off of the case by Vincent Bugliosi because of his dissimi-
larity of opinion on the true motive? The Official Tate/LaBianca Murders
Blog interviewed Aaron Stovitz in 2004, before his passing, and had a scan-
dalous statement.
Hey Son, your interest is grand, and you arent wrong about Manson being
wronged, at least legally, but before you go get too stressed, ask yourself- dont
you think hes happier now that Vince made him who he is?
Yes, Mr. Stovitz, Charles Manson is happy that Vincent Bugliosi made
the world believe he is a monster.

Its obvious they have the right people. It was the motive for the
crimes that was absurd. - Charles Manson
Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit 41
4
The Drug Connection
Before I get into this chapter,
I will start off by saying that I
do not believe the Tate and
LaBianca murders were over
drugs or to secure drugs.
However, I do feel that the
victims were selected because
they were known names in the
drug circle that Charles
Watson, Linda Kasabian and
Susan Atkins ran in. I also
believe that they may have been selected due to some sort of
botched drug transaction between these three and at least one
of the victims on a prior date. All logic points towards the fact
that they knew that this home was a known drug den whether it
be by hearsay or first-hand accounts. Absolutely nothing backs
up the prosecutions theory that the house was chosen because
to Charles Mansonit represented elegance and success.
Charles Watsons drug supplier and Black Panther Bernard
Lotsapoppa Crowe.
43
When these murders are spoken about in any capacity it is rarely noted
that drugs were indeed found on the premises. Not only were drugs found,
but Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger and Jay Sebring were all tied to
drugs both as dealers and habitual consumers. In fact, the very night of
the murders Jay Sebring and Wojciech Frykowski had drugs delivered to
10050 Cielo Drive by an individual named Joel Rostau. Here are some
excerpts from the homicide report from the murders at 10050 Cielo Drive,
also known as the Tate Murders. Joel Rostau was later murdered in an
unrelated case. This was also posted in various newspapers.
On 9-8-69, investigators received information from Karlene Ann McCaffrey,
receptionist for Sebring, Inc., that Joel J. Rostau, residing at 840 North Larabee
Street, apartment 119, had delivered narcotics to the Tate residence on the night
of the homicide. Rostau informed McCaffrey that he had delivered cocaine and
mescaline to the house but that Frykowski and Sebring wanted some additional
narcotics and that he had gone back down the hill but was unable to locate the
other narcotics they requested and therefore he did not return to the Tate resi-
dence. McCaffrey stated that on August 7, 1969, she had talked to Sebring and
he had informed her that he had been burnt on $2,000 worth of bad cocaine.
McCaffrey stated that in her opinion Sebring would do almost anything to get
back at the person who had burnt him.
McCaffrey was arrested on 4-13-69, along with Rostau after two armed men
had entered Rostaus apartment at approximately 0600 and tied both Rostau
and McCaffrey up and subsequently shot Rostau in the foot.
When Sheriffs investigators arrived at Rostaus apartment, they conducted a
search and found a quantity of marijuana, cocaine and hashish. The District
Attorney refused to file on McCaffrey, but did file Possession of Narcotics for Sale
against Rostau. Rostau is presently out on $5,000 bail awaiting trial in Beverly
Hills.
On 9-16-69, investigators Bachhelder and Lee interviewed Rostau at which
time he stated he had only met Jay Sebring once or twice, but he was on friendly
terms with Frykowski.
The follow up to the Tate Homicide Report was the progress report, in
which each of the victims was investigated in an endeavor to find out more
about them. Hopefully this investigation would give an insight on potential
44 The Manson Myth
suspects. This investigation also provided a lot of drug activity
between Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger and Jay Sebring.
Thomas John Sebring , 9810 Easton Drive, Los Angeles, male Caucasian, 35
years of age, 5-6, 120 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. The victim was a hair
stylist and had a corporation known as Sebring International with a statewide
distributorship featuring male cosmetics, hair sprays, etc. He was unmarried and
had been engaged to the previous victim, Sharon (Tate) Polanski. He was con-
sidered a ladys man and took numerous women to his residence in the Holly-
wood Hills. He would tie the women up with a small sash cord and if they
agreed, would whip them, after which he would undress them and have sexual
relations. He was a well-known user of cocaine, staying high on the drug most of
the time. Sebring put on a big front, living in a large house with a butler, an
expensive foreign car and at times hosting expensive parties. It is believed that all
of these actions were to impress potential backers of his corporation in his finan-
cial worth, while in fact his capital resources were very limited.
Abigail Anne Folger, female Caucasian, 25,5-5, 120, hazel eyes, brown hair,
residence since the first of April, 10050 Cielo Drive. Prior to that she lived at
2774 Woodstock Road.
She is an heiress to the Folger coffee fortune and has a financial statement of
somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000. She has been living in a common-
law relationship with another of the victims, Wojiciech Frykowski, for the past
two years.
Folger supported Frykowski, paying for the rent at the Woodstock address
and supplying him with money for his drug habit, which included marijuana,
hashish, mescaline, MDA and cocaine. Folger also used these drugs in large
quantities. Folger saw her psychiatrist, Marvin Flicker, M.D., for one hour a day,
five days a week. Her standing appointment was 1630 each day. She discussed
her use of drugs and her disappointment with Frykowski. Doctor Flicker stated
that he thought she was almost ready to leave Frykowski. She was building up
enough nerve in her own mind to go it alone. This, of course, is Doctor Flickers
opinion..
Wojiciech Frykowski, male Caucasian, 32, 5-10, 165, blond hair, blue eyes.
Frykowski was a writer; however, he has been unable to sell any of his work in
the past years. He has been living in a common-law relationship with Abigail
Folger at both 2774 Woodstock Road, prior to April of 1969, and since April of
The Drug Connection 45
1969, at 10050 Cielo Drive. Frykowski was a native of Poland and had lived in
England, France, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He met Abigail
Folger in New York and accompanied her to San Francisco and then to Los
Angeles. He had no means of support and lived off of Folgers fortune. He used
cocaine, mescaline, LSD, marijuana, hashish and MDA in large amounts. He
was an extrovert and gave invitations to almost everyone he met to come visit
him at his residence. Narcotic parties were the order of the day, and the parties
continued on into the early morning hours.
According to the LAPD, Roman Polanski not only allowed, but invited
drug dealers and addicts to live with his pregnant wife. Theres no way in
the world that he did not know what kind of people they were. Obviously,
its safe to say that he was very much a part of that lifestyle and allowed it in
his home. Seventy-seven grams of marijuana was hidden in the night stand
near the sofa where Wojciech Frykowski was asleep. That is nearly 3
ounces.
In Paul Krassners book, Confessions of a Raving Unconfined Nut, he talks
about Jay Sebring getting burned on $2,000 worth of cocaine and says
that he sought vengeance on the burner by tying him to a chair and sodo-
mizing him. According to him, Wojciech Frykowski also participated and
the incident was recorded and reviewed by the LAPD after the murders.
This story was also brought up in the book Sharon Tate and the Manson
Murders. Joel Rostau, according to the investigation report, was found bat-
tered tied to a chair. The Official Tate Murder Investigation Report also stated
that Joel Rostau was found tied to a chair. Kinky.
Oddly enough, in the book Charles Manson Now, by Marlin Marynick, it
was written that Charles Manson had been in the car of Abigail Folger prior
to the murders in a drug-related sale. It was written that he even identified
razor cut marks in her glove compartment, verifying he had knowledge of
that. However, the source of that information was sketchy and this may or
may not be true.
In that same book it was also printed that Roman Polanski did know of
the drug exploits of Wojciech Frykowski; he even knew he may have had
mob hits against him and feared that those hits may occur while he was
living at his residence. So if this is true, I again ask: Why did he allow that
element into the home of his pregnant wife?
46 The Manson Myth
Heres another question: Why did William Garretson, the individual
living in the guest home at 10050 Cielo Drive, tell the investigators that he
heard nothing and saw nothing on the night of the murders? But in 1999, he
appeared on an E! documentary where he not only disclosed he heard gun
shots that sounded like firecrackers, but he heard Abigail Folger
screaming, Stop, I am already dead. He also said that he saw Patricia Kren-
winkel turn the door knob in an attempt to enter the guest home, but hastily
turned around and ran away. William Garretson also let out a bombshell;
he went hitchhiking up Benedict Canyon to get cigarettes and on his way
back he was picked up by a man who cautioned him not to go back to the
Cielo Drive home. If this is true, this is huge regarding motive. It not only
blows the doors off of the prosecutions theory, but puts someone else in
the know and a suspect at the home long before the murders happened. Per-
haps someone scoping the home?
Charles Manson has never disclosed that he gave the orders for the mur-
ders. He has admitted knowing about them. His excuse for not going to the
police was simple: He doesnt snitch. With someone like Charles Manson,
who lived his life in prison and lives by prison law, this is completely under-
standable. It may not be right morally, but to someone who is institutional-
ized, it is purely survival law.
The motive Charles Manson gives for the murders seem to change often.
One interview he will say they were trying to stop a war. While in other
interviews he states the murders were to free Bobby Beausoliel. But he has
never admitted anything that even resembled the Helter Skelter motive.
Even Northeastern University criminologist Jack Levin believes he is telling
the truth when he says he did not order the murders. Jack Levin has studied
killers for decades and I think his opinion is more than valid.
BBCs Bill Murphy has also researched the motive extensively, and
according to him drugs were involved in the murders. His version
includes Charles Manson returning to the Cielo Drive home to clean it up. I
personally believe that Charles Manson did, or he sent people to clean it up.
Witnesses have stated that voices arguing from the home were heard around
4am. This was long after the murders were committed. So someone did
return.
The Drug Connection 47
It was also written by Neil MacKay in the article Charles Manson vs. The
Mafia in 1999 that, Bill Scanlon Murphy says he has proof that Tex, and
other family members had been at the Polanski house on at least one pre-
vious occasion in connection with drugs.
The article told a pretty descriptive story of connections between the vic-
tims and the Family. This version included Charles Manson being a part
of the planning and hoping that they would succeed in taking whatever was
at the home; whether it was money or drugs. However, it does state that he
was expecting a robbery and not a murder spree when the robbery went
amiss.
They knew on the night of the murders that Jay Sebring had $40,000 worth
of mob drugs on him and they, more precisely Tex, went to rip him off. Manson
did not go to the house or take part in the killings, but he was aware of the plan
and keen for it to succeed.
The robbery blew up in the gangs face when Sharon, Sebring and the coffee
heiress Abigail Folger and her lover Wojciech Frykowski tried to bolt. They were
shot and stabbed to death by Watson, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkle. A
fourth member, Linda Kasabian, remained as a look-out outside.
When they told Charlie what happened, he freaked, says Murphy. He
started swearing, saying Im just out of the fucking can and you are gonna put
me right back inside, you assholes.
One of the most staggering new claims made by Bill Murphy is
that Charles Manson effectively admitted that he returned to the Polanski house
more than an hour after the killings to tamper with the murder scene. Until now,
it has been believed that Charles Manson had never so much as set foot in the
Polanski house.
Mansons close friend, Bobby Beausoleil, had killed Gary Hinman in a
wrangle over drugs. To cover his tracks Beausoleil daubed the words Political
Piggie in Hinmans own blood on the walls of his house. Hinman was known to
associate with members of the Black Panthers and hoped the slogan would
attach blame to the black movement. With that in mind Manson rearranged the
Polanski house bodies to put the Panthers in the frame.
Hes never going to get out, he knows that, says Murphy. Why should he
throw away the only thing that makes him feel alive. And, anyway. Hes so inca-
48 The Manson Myth
pable of rational thought, he wouldnt be able to even attempt to express the
truth.
After hours of interviews, Manson finally said to Murphy, Im not an enter-
tainer, Im not a cult leader, Im a thug. But all Ive got left is my rap, if you take
that away from me, Im nothing.
My take on this is that Susan Atkins left her knife at the Tate residence
which probably happened when Kasabian dropped itand returned to
Spahn Ranch. When they told Charles Manson of what happened and the
fact that evidence was left, he freaked out and went back to the residence to
help clean it up and plant false evidence. It is a fact that a pair of horn-
rimmed eye glasses were left at the scene. None of the victims wore those
glasses and it had to be from the killers. In the book, Manson In His Own
Words, it was stated that he planted it to throw off the investigation.
In the 1988 interview with Geraldo Rivera, Charles Manson speaks
about the confrontation with Susan Atkins after the murders and it is sim-
ilar. He doesnt make a remark about going back to the Cielo Drive home,
but his version is very close to Bill Murphys version.
Geraldo Rivera: Susan Atkins comes home to you with bloody fingers. She
says, Charlie, look what I did for you.
Charles Manson: Yeah. I give you the world. I just killed myself and I give
you the world.
Geraldo Rivera: So, howd you react?
Charles Manson: I says, You dumb fucking cunt, I already had the world,
you just put me back in jail again. And thats what she did, she put me right
back in jail.
Its not any secret that the so-called Manson Family used drugs and
used them a lot. But it is a fact that their drug use was mainly limited to nat-
ural hallucinogens like mushrooms, LSD, peyote, belladonna and jimsum.
Charles Manson forbade drugs like speed, which Charles Watson abused
along with Susan Atkins, Bruce Davis and Patricia Krenwinkel. Strangely
enough, these four were involved in the murders. Charles Watson lays it all
out in his book, Will You Die for Me? in great detail, many times throughout
the book.
Charlie, for all his use of acid, was absolutely against speed. He believed it
was bad for your body. But when a young guy from one of the neighboring
The Drug Connection 49
ranches began sneaking it over, Susan-Sadie, and Bruce Davis, and I started car-
rying it around in the bottom of a cigarette package. Later we hid it in a Gerbers
baby-food jar under the porch of one of the buildings. Even after the murders,
when I was up in the desert, I tried to get Bruce to find our little baby-food jar of
speed, but somehow it had disappeared. I was willing to kill for Manson, but I
wasnt willing to give up my speed.
Sadie, Katie, and Linda, I reeled over to the porch where Sadie and I kept our
Gerbers jar of speed hidden. Despite all wed been taught, I was spinning inside,
trembling. I took a couple of deep snorts of speed and went to get the clothes and
rope and bolt cutters.
On my first try, the speed Id sniffed before we left threw my balance off and I
ended up tumbling down to the pavement.
One of the many effects of speed is to make the intention or thought of an
action and that action itself almost inseparable, as if you leap ahead in time and
experience your next move before you actually make it.
I slept very late Saturday, then spent part of the afternoon working on dune
buggies and snorting speed with Bruce Davis.
Charlie gave me a light tab of acid. While people were getting things together,
Sadie and I took the opportunity to hit our speed bottle and I gave myself three
good snorts in each nostril.
So, heres my question to Charles Watsons statement: How were you
brainwashed enough to blindly kill for a man, but you were not brainwashed
enough to listen to him when he demanded no speed be at the ranch? That
makes no sense at all. The story goes on in the book Charles Manson Now,
by Marlin Marynick where Vickie sated something similar.
Tex Watson got into drug dealing after he left the ranch and went to LA.
Apparently Tex owned a wig store. He fell in love with a woman named Luella
(editors note: I am assuming Luella and Rosina Kroner are one in the same,
so I will refer to her as Luella) and she got pregnant, but Luella went to Mexico
and had an abortion. Tex became angry with Luella for terminating the preg-
nancy and at the same time he grew upset over one too many drug deals gone
wrong. So, he relocated back to the ranch, a move Vicki described as a huge mis-
take for everyone there. Vicki said that Charlie eventually moved Tex and Susan
Atkins out of the main part of Spahn Ranch because they were going out and
50 The Manson Myth
starting there own little drug ring, and they would bring speed all this other stuff
to the ranch, which Charlie didnt like.
Vicki told me that the drug ring was the beginning of the end. She assured
me that judging by the extensive interactions she witnessed at the ranch, Manson
never tried to manipulate anyones mind.
Even in Charles Watsons book, Will You Die for Me?, he fondly speaks of
selling drugs as if it were a glamorous lifestyle. After a brief stay at Spahn
Ranch, he left for Hollywood where he dated a girl named Luella and
quickly started a drug sales ring, in which he even mentions that an indi-
vidual from the mafia supplying him drugs.
The first time I hitchhiked over to her apartment I ended up moving in.
Luella was like a lot of good-looking, hip (but not hippie) women living in Holly-
wood at that time. She didnt have a real job; she kept herself going by dealing a
little grass and LSD among her friends-nothing big time but enough to get by.
She had an old Hollywood-Spanish apartment with eucalyptus trees all around
and a patio that overlooked the driveway to an exclusive private club for profes-
sional magicians and entertainment stars. Sometimes wed sunbathe on the deck,
drinking beer and smoking grass while we watched all the big limousines drive up
for parties, dumping out beautiful people whom we could never quite recognize.
It was an easy life that Luella and I fell into. Combining her contacts with
mine, we found we could sell a lot more dope than shed been doing on her own.
We charged $15 a lid on grass that we bought from our vending-machine friend
in $95 kilos (2.2 lbs.) and then broke up into 36 lids. We discovered affluence: a
new stereo system and records (one of the first albums we bought was the Beatles
White Album, and we played it over and over until I knew it by heart), expensive
clothes, clubs and restaurants where you laid down five bucks just for a beer. I
even had my hair cut and started getting it styled by a friend Id known back in
my wig-shop days. And there were parties. As our dealing got more extensive, I
ended up keeping different batches of grass in numbered olive jars, since each kilo
had its own distinct taste and high, and when people came over to party wed
give them a choice, eventually all the way from number one to number eight.
Notice in this excerpt that he mentions listening to the Beatles White
Album over and over. This was something that was put on Charles
Manson. Charles Watson also references having his hair styled by an old
friend. Was this hair stylist Jay Sebring a fellow drug dealer and hair
The Drug Connection 51
stylist? I will also add that Charles Manson refers to Leno LaBianca as the
Mafioso. Was this the same Mafioso that supplied Charles Watsons
drugs? We all are aware that Nikolas Schreck has also written extensively
about the mafia ties to the Family. Again, not a coincidence.
Charles Watsons book quickly mentions this era of his life and then
skips to his return to Spahn Ranch in March of 1969. He fails to mention
the real motives behind the Bernard Crowe incident or why his relationship
with Luella failed. In many theories relating to the Bernard Crowe drug
burn it has been noted that it may have been Charles Manson who set up
this burn and that may also be true. But as far as I am concerned all evidence
and logic points towards Charles Watson.
For the ones who may not know, the Charles Watson/Luella situation
lead the the Bernard Crowe shooting, which was a drug deal that he set up
to rip off Luella and Bernard Crowe for $2,400 (Bernard Crowe later admits
that the $2,400which would be about $13,000 todaywas a downpay-
ment for a $20,000 total). One thing lead to another and Bernard Crowe
called Spahn Ranch looking for Charlie, in which Charles Manson
answeredand by proxyassumed responsibility for Charles Watsons
drug burn. Charles Manson ended up shooting Bernard Crowe in the
stomach to protect Luella or so he claims. This lead to Charles Manson
thinking that he had died, and with all of the rumors that he was a Black
Panther, he feared retaliation by the Black Panthers. That sounds like a log-
ical fear to me.
During 1969 Charles Mansons bus was regularly seen parked on Loyal
Trail, which was a short and narrow no-outlet road that ran directly behind
the mansion of Bernard Crowe who lived at 7008 Woodrow Wilson Drive.
During this time Loyal Trail was known for hardcore drug deals by black
gangs. In fact, Bernard Crowes home had been complained about to the
police numerous times for excessive loudness and drug dealing.
Theres no doubt in my mind that Charles Manson was very close to Ber-
nard Crowe during this time. Diane Lake even stated that Bernard Crowe
was the negro member of the Manson Family.
Woodrow Wilson Drive was notorious for Hollywood drugs. Mama Cass
Elliot lived just down the road at 7708 Woodrow Wilson drive. Her home
was notorious for drug parties and some of the people who were killed at
52 The Manson Myth
10050 Cielo Drive would frequent the parties. It is also a fact that the pri-
mary suspect for the Cielo Drive murdersPic Dawsonwas not only a
friend of Cass Elliot, but frequented her drug parties and the drug parties
thrown at 10050 Cielo Drive. When he was asked to leave a party, he threat-
ened to kill Wojciech Frykowski.
Nuel Emmons wrote in his book, Manson in His Own Words, about
Charles Mansons thoughts on the Watson/Atkins situation.
Those twoSadie and Texwho screamed the loudest and cried the
hardest that I influenced their lives and actions, where themselves instrumental
in what I feel was the biggest blow to the life of love we were living and led to
murder and chaos.
Here is what www.KCI.org [http://www.kci.org/] has to say about the
abuse of meth, something that Charles Watson, Susan Atkins and Bruce
Davis had admitted to abusing. This may explain the psychotic actions of
the aforementioned.
The drug literally changes the brain in fundamental and long-lasting ways.
It kills by causing heart failure (myocardial infarction), brain damage, and
stroke and it induces extreme, acute psychiatric and psychological symptoms that
may lead to suicide or murder. Symptoms of prolonged meth abuse can resemble
those of schizophrenia and are characterized by anger, panic, paranoia, auditory
and visual hallucinations, repetitive behavior patterns, and formication (delu-
sions of parasites or insects on the skin). Methamphetamine-induced paranoia
can result in homicidal or suicidal thoughts.
But I digress.
Since Vincent Bugliosis theory was that Charles Manson kept them
sober for their murder spreeso they could be keen, crafty and thorough
this contradiction was never introduced as evidence. If you remember what
I wrote in the chapter: Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit, no evidence at all
was introduced by Charles Mansons defense team. In Ed Georges
book, Taming The Beast, he wrote that in 1976, Charles Manson gave his
versions of the crimes and here was his motive behind the Gary Hinman
murder.
That [Hinman murder] was another drug deal gone bad. Some bikers said
Bobby [BeauSoleil] sold them some bad shit and they wanted their money back.
When Bobby went to the supplier, Hinman, he refused to make good, leaving
The Drug Connection 53
Bobbys life on the line. They argued, and Bobby and some of the girls ended up
killing the guy. They even wrote a message on the wall in Hinmans blood, some-
thing like Political Piggy. That Beatles album writing stuff was not me. That
was kids idea all along; I wasnt even around.

My total sellout to LSD, marijuana, and hashish, and to sex with
virtually any attractive man, landed me in the hospital for four months.
I was half dead from gonorrhea and a complete physical breakdown. -
Susan Atkins, 1967
A UPI report on narcotics being found at the Cielo Drive murder site.
54 The Manson Myth
5
The Bug
Anyone familiar with the Manson case knows
the name Vincent Bugliosi; to the masses he
is the man who put away Satan. He cracked
the Tate/LaBianca murder cases and uncov-
ered a sick, deranged hippie cult and its
leader Charles Manson. This is the generic and ridiculous story
that we have all seen plastered over newspaper article, maga-
zines, tabloids and television shows.
His theory was that Charles Manson took a gang of disturbed and
impressionable youth and indoctrinated them with his racist views on the
establishment and fed them with hatred through the use of drugs and used
them to commit a string of heinous murders in hopes to spark a race war
dubbed Helter Skelter. (See the chapter: What is Helter Skelter?)
On the other hand, to a lot of others Vincent Bugliosi is nothing but a
crooked attorney who bent and fabricated evidence, coerced, extorted, and
used anyone and everyone who would talk to testify on his behalf. He didnt
care about the credibility of the witness or their ulterior motives of testifying
for some incentive. In fact, he made the evidence fit Charles Manson and
not Charles Manson fit the evidence.
The LA Times article about
Vincent Bugliosi being sued for
libel for the second time.
55
But why would he do this? Well, I do believe that he believed Charles
Manson was guilty of conspiracy to murder and should be put away. I do
not think he believes in most of the motives that he presented in the trial as
well. He did what he had to do to convict Charles Manson, who was now on
the front of publications all over the world before his trial even started.
He knew that if he convicted Charles Manson that he too would have a lot
to gain. The election for Attorney General was right around the corner.
There is no doubt in my mind that he took this case with personal gain in
mind. This was a case he simply could not lose. Losing this case would not
only break his perfect record as a prosecutor, but hurt him politically.
But sadly when it comes to the Manson case, Vincent Bugliosi is the go-
to guy. It seems that whenever there is any Charles Manson-related event,
the news shows scurry to interview him to once again regurgitate his
weak, tired theory. In any debate, there is no way that the media personali-
ties will listen to anyone who disputes him, either. Its like he has the public
brainwashed with his theory on Charles Manson; look at the publics gen-
eral perception of the case. Anyone who knows the name Charles Manson
will tell you that he brainwashed a bunch of girls to kill a movie star.
Nothing could be further from reality.
I have seen time and time again, that whenever websites reference the
crimes, it will quote Vincent Bugliosis book Helter Skelter like it was a bible
with citations as if some reverend was quoting a bible verse. The main
source for information for manWikipediais one of the most notable for
using that book as its main source of information.
As stated in the chapters; Why Helter Skelter Doesnt Fit, False Wit-
ness, Who is Charles Watson?, and Demystifying Susan Atkins, you
will get an idea of the tactics that he used to secure his conviction. And
hopefully it will open some eyes as to the character of this man, because he
is nothing more than what he has accused Charles Manson of being: a con
artist, a manipulator, and a man who used the lives of others to make a sub-
stantial amount of money blood money.
It is a fact that he was sued at least twicethat I know offor printing
defamatory or libelous information in his book Helter Skelter. So my theory
of that book being full of sensationalistic, embellished misinformation, isnt
all that far off.
56 The Manson Myth
In 1974, a newspaper ran a headline about him lying at the Manson Trial.
Transcripts indicate Bugliosi Lied in Manson Case
This was the start of a long string of lies and criminal activity exposed by
Attorney George V. Denney III, which started during the Manson Trial in
1969.
While Vincent Bugliosi was preparing to prosecute Charles Manson, he
was using his powers in office to unmercifully stalk and harass a man named
Herb Weisel, whom he alleged had sex with his wife and fathered his child.
This incident resulted in harassment, criminal activity, lies, cover-ups, extor-
tion and pay-offs. He used his power in office to commit crimes against
people in which he had personal problems.
May 7, 1974, George V. Denney III went public with the dirt he
unearthed on Vincent Bugliosi and it wasnt pretty.
News Release: George V. Denny III, attorney in two Bugliosi cases, charges
Attorney General candidate with committing perjury, fabricating false evidence
for and lying to police investigators, and making hush money cover-up payments.
Vincent T. Bugliosi, who is now seeking to become Attorney General of Cali-
fornia, has lied to you ladies and gentlemen of the press, has lied to the people of
this State, has lied to officers of the Santa Monica Police Department in the
course of their investigation of a charge involving Bugliosi himself; and has con-
spired to fabricate false evidence to further thwart that investigation.
In addition, Mr. Bugliosi has committed willful and deliberate perjury in a
deposition which I personally took of him in connection with the civil action
which arose out of slanderous statements he made about a plain citizen of this
State at the close of Bugliosis campaign for District Attorney of Los Angeles
County in 1972.
I am here today to document these charges for the news media and for the
voters. My wife has joined me here because in laying ALL of the facts before you,
I subject usmy whole familyto a potential liability of $15,000. The liability is
real enough if Mr. Bugliosi wishes to avail himself of the hush money contract he
insisted be signed before making a cash pay-off to keep the press and public from
learning the truth.
When I came before some of you reporters on the last day of the D.A.s race
here to announce my filing of a slander action on behalf of Herb and Rose Weisel
against Bugliosi, I told you that it was not a campaign trick or publicity gim-
The Bug 57
mick. I told you that the suit would not be dropped after the election but would
go forward until Mr. Weisel was vindicated. Well, it wasnt dropped and it did
go forward, and Mr. Weisel has been vindicated.
Mr. Bugliosi had harassed Mr. and Mrs. Weisel unmercifully over a three
month period in 1969, using his position as deputy district attorney to get their
unlisted phone number and to locate Herb Weisels place of employment.
Bugliosi had apparently become obsessed with the idea that Mr. Weisel might
have fathered Bugliosis son during the few months when Mr. Weisel was
employed as a milkman at Arden Dairy.
When Bugliosi discovered that the Weisels would hold a press conference four
days before the D.A.s election, he didnt wait to hear what they were going to say
about that period of harassment. He jumped the gun the night before the Weisel
press conference and gave two reporters a phony story. The public was supposed
to believe that Mr. Weisel was the suspect in a purported $300 theft from
Bugliosis home. A theft which was never reported to the police and which if it
occurred while Mr. Weisel was a milkman between October, 1964 and January,
1965 was well past the three year statute of limitations when Bugliosi started
harassing the Weisels four to four and a half years later in March, 1969.
Well, the Weisels had guts enough to stand up and be counted back in 1972.
They filed their action against Bugliosi, and even though unfortunately it was
literally election eve, some of you reporters observed that what they said in their
suit was important enough to tell the voters about.
Today, May 7th, isnt election eve. And today I want to tell you all the conclu-
sion of the milkman case. The complete story is given in the Bugliosi Fact Sheet
which has been given to all of you along with supporting materials. But briefly, in
the course of his deposition Mr. Bugliosi perjured himself not just once but many
times. Willful, deliberate perjury on material matters concerning admissions of
his harassment of the Weisels; admissions made in the presence of two attorneys
and Bugliosis own distraught wife.
But Mr. Bugliosi has sought to cover himself and to cover his tracks. He set-
tled the Weisel case. But he did so in a way that should earn him the title of a
one man mini-Watergate. He insisted that he get all of the court reporters
steno-tapes of the nine un-transcribed depositions I had taken. He required all
parties and attorneys to sign the Liquidated Damage Agreement requiring a
58 The Manson Myth
$15,000 payment from anyone who disclosed its terms or even its existence. And
when he paid to keep everyone quiet, his payments were all cash $100 bills.
I know because I am the attorney who received $12,500.00 in cash for the
Weisels from Vincent T. Bugliosi so that he could try to sweep under the rug the
misuse of his office as a deputy D.A., his slander of an innocent citizen, his lies to
you of the press corps, his own ignoble perjury, and his final cash capitulation.
And now I lay down a challenge to Mr. Bugliosi through whatever medium he
hears or reads these words:
IF ANYTHING I HAVE STATED OR WILL STATE IN THIS NEWS
CONFERENCE ABOUT YOU IS NOT TRUE, THEN SUE ME FORTH-
WITHIMMEDIATELYFOR LIBEL AND SLANDER. YOU HAVE A
READY-MADE FORM IN THE PLEADINGS FILED AGAINST YOU IN
THE WEISEL CASE. BUT DO IT NOW, VINCE, WELL BEFORE THE
ELECTION, SO THAT I CAN PLACE YOU UNDER OATH IN A CIVIL
DEPOSITION, A DEPOSITION THAT WILL BE TYPED UP AND FILED
IN COURT, NOT SECRETED OR DESTROYED BY YOU.
After this, what could Vincent Bugliosi say? In the chapter Demystifying
Susan Atkins, I ran down how much money her public defender Richard
Caballero made off of her confession. This was small beans compared to
what Vincent Bugliosi has made off of the Manson case. His book sold
nearly 10 million copies, which also had a movie deal and then decades of
paid appearances.
Charles Manson spoke about Vincent Bugliosis swindling in a 1985
interview with High Society Magazine.
Let me ask you the same question: Do you people think you got an unfair
deal? You got a guy up there representing the people, and he picked off your
whole generation. I am talking about the district attorney [Bugliosi]. I put an ad
in Free Press for defense funds, I got $14.93. Some woman put an ad in the
paper for a dog with a broken leg, and she got something like $8,000. Its partly
the publics fault, and partly the systems fault, because they cover up the truth.
You say to the lawyer, Let me tell you like it is, and the lawyer says, Oh no, we
cant sell it that way. When the district attorney can make himself millions of
dollars on a defendant, what does that do to the initiative?
Vincent Bugliosi apparently found it easier to sell a case that was full of
sex, drugs, murder, manipulation, brainwashing and chaos than it was to sell
The Bug 59
a simple case of copycat killings. If the motive of the murders being com-
mitted in an effort to free Bobby Beausoleil was the motive, do you think
Charles Manson would have been on the cover of LIFE Magazine, Rolling
Stone, and Time Magazine? No way.
It is quite obvious that he used this case as a catapult himself into the seat
of Attorney General. After the Manson case was over he retired as Deputy
District Attorney and started his campaign for Attorney General. The
release of his book Helter Skelter, as well as a movie deal, coincided with the
start of his campaign.
But the allegations from George V. Denney III put a serious hurting on
his campaign, especially when George Denney let loose of a revolting claim
that he had beat a pregnant lady who he believed was pregnant with his
child for not getting an abortion. In typical Vincent Bugliosi fashion, he
paid her off and fabricated evidence to wipe the crime out of the system.
Here is an excerpt from that police report.
On 6-25-73 at 1900 hours, Officer Rahm was detailed to 2220 Ocean Park
Blvd. #A regarding an assault and battery. Upon arrival, contacted the victim,
Virginia Cardwell who related the following.
She stated that at approximately 1600 on this date, she was in the bedroom
of her apartment when her boyfriend, Vincent T. Bugliosi, (The former Assistant
District Attorney of Los Angeles County) entered her apartment through the
rear door. He came into her bedroom and began to beat her. She stated that he
threw her onto the bed, jumped on top of her and began pulling her hair and
choking her. He then struck her in the face several times with his fists, then threw
her to the floor and pulling her off the floor by her hair. He then grabbed her
throat and choked her approximately three more times.
Approximately 1 weeks ago, she told him that she believed she was preg-
nant. Upon hearing this, Bugliosi became very angry and threatened to kill her if
she had the baby. He then gave her $448.00 in cash for an abortion. Cardwell
told him that she did not believe in abortions and be again became very angry
and threatened to kill her. She was in fear for her safety, so she told Bugliosi on
Friday, June 22, that she did have an abortion. She stated that she have him the
name of a doctor which she picked out of the phone book.
When he came to her apartment this afternoon and began beating her, she
stated that he accused her of being a liar and told her that he checked with the
60 The Manson Myth
doctors office and with the hospital and had learned that she had not been
treated there. Cardwell could not remember the name of the doctor that she gave
to Bugliosi.
While beating her, he stated such things as Ill break every bone in your body
this will ruin my career. He also demanded that she tell him the truth as to
whether she had had an abortion, stating that she would not leave the apartment
alive if she lied to him. She described him as being extremely angry and upset.
After remaining in the apartment for a few minutes, he then left. Cardwell
was insistent that a police report be filed, stating that she wished to press charges
for the assault and battery because she fears he will attempt to harm her again.
She also gave a description of his vehicle a 1973 Buick silver/black with possible
California license 327 HEY.
Notice the part: While beating her, he stated such things as Ill break
every bone in your body this will ruin my career. Yikes.
He certainly only cared about his career or more accurately, how
much money he was set to make or lose. He was only concerned with the
publics opinion on him and not the welfare of anyone else. This is obvious
in his self-serving book Helter Skelter as well as how he prosecuted the case.
I do believe that his book is accurate when it comes to the depiction of
the trial and the investigation. However, his motive and theory is nothing
but a modern day witch hunt. His history on Charles Manson is weak,
biased, and clearly an attempt to make him look so horrifying and evil, so
that in the end of the book Vincent Bugliosi emerges as a superhero.
He was so concerned about the publics opinion on him because until
this report came out he was sure he was a shoe-in for Attorney General. It is
sufficient to say that after the Denney Report that he would not win that cov-
eted Attorney General spot and he didnt; he was killed in the elections
and didnt even come close.
It was probably what George Denney wrote about the Virginia Caldwell
incident that shut the doors on his campaign.
Mrs. Virginia Cardwell, a young divorced medical assistant who lived with
her young son in a small apartment in Santa Monica. I am not here today to leer
over Mr. Bugliosis adulterous affair. It is important, however, because of his
response in mid-June to her announcement that she thought she was pregnant.
The Bug 61
Again, the particulars are laid out in the Fact Sheet, provided you. The situa-
tion exploded when Bugliosi discovered that Mrs. Cardwell had not gotten an
abortion which he had paid for and had insisted she get. On Monday afternoon,
June 25, 1973, Bugliosi burst into Mrs. Cardwells apartment, enraged at his dis-
covery, and beat her up and choked her. Whether by accident or design he only
left marks on her in two places, her left eye and right arm. (These 8 X 10 photos
show them several days later.)
Once again, being a criminal defense attorney, I well understand such lovers
quarrels, and such exercises may not necessarily disqualify one from holding high
office. It is what followed that makes Vincent T. Bugliosi unfit for Attorney Gen-
eral or any other office in this State.
The story of his assault on Mrs. Cardwell hit the press and the airwaves; so
next morning, using his secretary to gain entry, Mr. Bugliosi accosted Mrs. Card-
well in her apartment. Using his not inconsiderable persuasive talents, he worked
on her for almost four solid hours to recant her report of his assault and present a
totally false story to the Santa Monica detectives waiting to question her.
Overborne by his threats and pleasas well as feelings she still retained
toward him despite the beatingshe agreed to follow his scenario. According to
the new Bugliosi script, their relationship was purely that of attorney-client
which it had never been. Supposedly they had never seen each other socially, and
the reason she had made up the whole assault and battery complaint was that
he had refused to refund to her $100 she had supposedly paid when she purport-
edly consulted with him on June 14th to get delinquent child support.
Not satisfied with concocting this false story for Mrs. Cardwell to tell
thereby subjecting her to criminal charges based on her original complaint Mr.
Bugliosi and his secretary conspired to fabricate a false receipt for the non-exis-
tent $100 payment of June 14th. The secretary did, in fact, prepare such a receipt
there in the apartment using plain bond paper and Mrs. Cardwells old portable
typewriter for the job. That was supposed to be good enough to fool the detec-
tives.
Well, Mrs. Cardwell went and told the new Bugliosi version to the police. And
so did Vincent T. Bugliosi almost word for word the same as they appear in the
follow up police report.
And the City Attorney came within a hair of filing false report charges against
Mrs. Cardwell. But he dropped those plans at the urgent pleading of Mr. Bugliosi
62 The Manson Myth
when Bugliosi discovered that his compliant girlfriend wasnt going to be repre-
sented by a lawyer chosen and paid for by him, a lawyer who would quietly plead
her guilty, pay her fine (with money provided by Bugliosi) and then let the whole
matter quietly disappear.
He begged the City Attorney to drop any charges and forget the whole thing
when I informed him that I would be representing Mrs. Cardwell and that I
would be cross-examining him when he took the stand as the prosecutions star
witness in a really contested jury trial on such a false report prosecution.
But again, thats not the end. After the criminal aspect of the case had disap-
peared, Mrs. Cardwell acquired a civil attorney who contacted Mr. Bugliosis
attorney concerning a projected civil damage action for the assault and battery.
To make what is now a very long story shorter, suffice to say that Mr. Bugliosis
penchant for pay-off cover-ups once more came to the fore.
According to what Mrs. Cardwell told me before anything was ever signed or
any money paid, the old Liquidated Damages Agreement was trotted out again
this time with a $50,000 stinger for anyone who divulged the settlement. And
the rather considerable sum of $5,000 cash plus retention of the still unspent
$450 abortion money was offered by Bugliosi and accepted by Mrs. Cardwell.
Was the Liquidated Damages Agreement signed? Well, I have never seen the
Agreement, but Mrs. Cardwell just wont discuss with me anything about the
case any more.
Was the $5,000 in cash paid? Well, on December 11, 1973, I received a check
for $713 from the trust account of Mrs. Cardwells civil attorney, and I was only
to get that reimbursement of costs from a settlement or judgment against Mr.
Bugliosi. And I know too that any time I have mentioned the Bugliosi case to
Mrs. Cardwell since the first of the year her smile reveals over $1,000 worth of
dental work that she suddenly could afford at just the time I received my reim-
bursement check.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bugliosis attempts to cover up his attack on Mrs.
Cardwell, his own lies and his fabrication of phony stories and phony evidence
may bind others to silence, but his payment of hush money to Mrs. Cardwell
doesnt bind me.
The people of this State deserve to know about Mr. Bugliosi all about Mr.
Bugliosi.
The Bug 63
I am no politician. What I have said today may be too blunt for some people.
I have used words like liar and perjurer and fabricator of false evidence. I
have used those words because they fit Mr. Bugliosi. And because they do fit
himand fit so horrifyingly wellVincent T. Bugliosi is UNFIT for the post he
now seeks.
Unfortunately these incidents are all but forgotten. For a while these
accusations certainly most certainly hurt him, but he had made so much
money off of the Manson case that he really didnt need that Attorney Gen-
eral seat the sales of his book Helter Skelter and the following movie set
him for life.
So what am I getting at? Why did I feel the need to relay all of this? Well,
it was my way of showing that if he was caught fabricating evidence,
coercing witnesses into testifying what he paid out, paying off people who
cooperate, and used violent force on a witnessthings
that Charles Manson and other Family members accused him of
doing during the Manson Trialthen what makes him above doing the
same thing in a more substantial case? A case that would not only earn him a
large sum of money, but put his name in the history books eternally
known. But at what cost? The publics opinion on Vincent Bugliosi may be
positive, but according to The Vincent Bugliosi Story, by George V. Denney
III, his wife Gail Bugliosi was at the end of her patience with her husbands
actions; stalking their ex-milkman and then the Virginia Caldwell incident.
I told her [Gail] that he [Vincent] should be seeing a psychiatrist. She said
that she had been after him for a long time to do it, but he wouldnt go. She said,
I know hes sick. Hes got a mental problem. She apologized for all of the
humiliation her husband [Bugliosi] has caused us.
She then cried and pleaded that they not go public with her husbands
actions. They not only went public with the stalking case, but she then
denied even talking about her husband and testified under oath to that.
Two peas in the pod.
With all of this being said, I am hoping to open the eyes on Vincent
Bugliosi and what he was capable of. This is just a small portion, feel free to
find The Bugliosi Story by Attorney George V. Denney III and read for your-
self. Theres also a website up that covers these facts simply named
www. BewareOfBugliosi.com.
64 The Manson Myth
Charles Manson has never quit defending himself against Vincent
Bugliosis words, casually dismissing his book as a ploy to make a lot of
money.
In a 1981 interview with Tom Snyder he said, I am not the guy you try
to make out of me. Thats not me. Thats some guy in someones imagina-
tion who wanted to make a couple hundred million dollars for himself. He
got rich. He had a good game going he had a better game going than I
did.
For people who know this case very well; even the people who are anti-
Manson mostly agree that Vincent Bugliosis theory was partly fabrication.
But people accept his Helter Skelter theory as a necessary evil. Heck, even
people who testified against Charles Manson have since admitted this. I
posted in the chapter False Witness how Paul Crockett stated that Vin-
cent Bugliosi really didnt care about the real story at all.
Below is part of a recorded phone call between a woman named Judy
and Harold True. Harold True was the Charles Manson confidant who
lived next door to the LaBiancas and eventually testified against him. Vin-
cent Bugliosi goaded him into testifying by having him arrested for murder.
Harold True: See, youre reading shit into it; just like everybodys read
everything under Charlie Mansons case that could be read into it. Especially
that scum-of-the-earth Bugliosi. The way he wheeled and dealed and connived
and did anything to push his career and he didnt give a fuck at whose expense.
He fucking put me; threw my ass in jail for murder. How is this an airtight alibi
I was in Ethiopia and he told me that dont mean a fuck. Because I knew
about it and conspired with them.
Judy: How did you get out?
Harold True: I got a good fucking lawyer, thats how I got out; told him to
shove it up his ass.
Its not hard to see that like other attorneys in this case, Vincent Bugliosi
has used it as a business venture a way to make money. He was out for
himself and he saw Charles Manson as an easy target. With the media frenzy
that surrounded this case it was a golden ticket to the Attorney General seat
that he was eyeballing. In a case like this where the defendants are obviously
guilty, it was a no-brainer. It was an easy win. However, Vincent Bugliosi
used the strangest, most out-there motive because he knew that it would
The Bug 65
feed the media and make him a celebrity attorney a perfect candidate for
Attorney General.

Bugliosi looks in the mirror every morning when he shaves, thats
the only person in Bugliosis world. Just him. Ask his wife, she knows
it. He had the dates right and the names right, but he had a million illu-
sions that had nothing to do with my reality. - Charles Manson, 1985
The LA Times article about Vincent Bugliosis perjury during the Manson Trial.
66 The Manson Myth
6
Pictures: Part I
Charles Manson and most of his associates.
67
Steve Clem Grogan, singer of The Family Jams, during a happier moment.
68 The Manson Myth
Country Sue Bartell (left) and Sandra Good (right) with Charles Mansons album LIE.
Pictures: Part I 69
Catherine Gypsy Share at a very neat and tidy Barker Ranch.
70 The Manson Myth
7
Who is Charles Watson?
Who is Charles Watson? This
is a serious question, because
quite frankly the name
Charles Watson is rarely
murmured in context to the
Tate and LaBianca slayings.
This is disquieting because
he is the confessed slayer of
all seven victims; he admitted
in his book, Will You Die for Me?, that he physically took the
lives of all seven victims when Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan
Atkins couldnt. He often speaks about being the lead of these
murders when it suits his need, almost bragging about them.
However, when he is in front of the parole board he cries victim.
Conspiracy theorist Mae Brussell may have some very out there theories,
but in 1971 she spoke on her radio show about Charles Watson and the lack
of media attention on his trial. The Manson Trial was a media frenzy and it
seemed like once he was convicted and sentenced, no one longer cared.
Charles Watsons 1970 LAPD mugshot.
71
Meanwhile Charles Watson was on trial alone for his part in the murders
and was tried separately and he should have been tried first since he was the
lead killer.
I call it the Manson trial because nobody talks about it being Charles
Watsons massacre, Mae Brussell said. Thats the boy who killed seven
people, but the news media associates the name Charles Manson [with the
killings]. He made the picture on the cover of Life; He is the man that
you associate with killing Sharon Tate. Many people dont even know
the name CharlesWatson, because youre not supposed to know it.
Mae Brussell seemed to think that Charles Watson was at fault
and Charles Manson was a scapegoat. I kind of agree with her theory.
Whether or not Charles Manson is morally liable for the murdersor at
least accessory after the factit seems that people rarely men-
tion Charles Watson.
Right now theres a hung jury in Los Angeles on the decision of whether
Charles Watson is guilty of murdering seven people. He was in the home. He did
the stabbing forty times. He wrote death to the pigs on the door. The jury cant
decide if he was guilty.
In fact on blogs when the Tate and LaBianca murders are mentioned,
95% of the time the post is tagged #Charles Manson and not #Charles
Watson. How can this be? How did the name Charles Manson become so
powerful that the name Charles Watson is commonly ignored? Its all about
media attention.
In Paul Watkins book, My Life with Charles Manson, he mentions
speaking with Charles Watson after he testified. His description of him was
pretty scary; as if he was describing one of the most notorious serial killers
in American history. Maybe he was?
If I have ever seen a specimen of death, it was Tex. When we asked him what
really happened at the murder scenes, he told us. He didnt explain, he just nar-
rated the events in a monotone as they happened. The bodies of the Tate and
LaBianca victims had a total of 159 stab wounds; most of them inflicted by him.
I just killed them that is what I had to do. I heard Sadie cry, Help me, and I
helped her. Then Katie needed help and I helped her. It seemed like I had to do
everything.
72 The Manson Myth
It almost sounds like even back then Charles Watson was bragging about
his deeds. Like most sociopaths who murder, they want credit for their
deeds. According to Diane Snake Lake, as written in Tex Watson: The
Man, The Madness, The Manipulation by Bill Nelson, he was quite proud of
his deeds and felt the need to boast about them. This was his time in
Olancha, California when he was staying alone with Diane Lake.
Charles Watson was now back in California, ready to face the charges
against him. He boasted to Family members at Spahn Ranch, confessed to
Diane Lake in the desert showing her the newspaper article about Sharon Tate,
even said it was fun to trash the Tate house at Barker Ranch, and confessed to
his Texas attorney Bill Boyd, who told him to keep quiet.
Before his capture in Texas, the girl he was perusing as a love interest,
Jeanne Mallett, testified that he seemed normal. That there was no sign that
he had actually murdered seven people. She dated him from 1966 to 1967
and then met him again in November of 1969; this was after the Barker
Ranch raids and Charles Manson was in jail. Here is part of her testimony at
his trial.
Vincent Bugliosi: How did he look to you in November of 1969?
Jeanne Mallett: He looked great, you know; he looked just like he had
always looked. He was a little thinner, but thats all.
Vincent Bugliosi: You say he looked great?
Jeanne Mallett: Yes.
Vincent Bugliosi: What about his personality?
Jeanne Mallet: Well, he seemed pretty well the same; he had a lot of new
ideas and things, but other than that he seemed, you know, he seemed pretty
much the same.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did he seem to be happy?
Jeanne Mallett: Yes, some of the time.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did had fun with him?
Jeanne Mallett: Yes.
How can someonewho isnt a sociopathmurder seven people, then
go back to life like nothing has happened? This was of course before he was
arrested and extradited back to Los Angeles. That is when his story turned;
he became insane and suicidal. This excerpt is also from the Bill Nelson
Who is Charles Watson? 73
book, Tex Watson: The Man, The Madness, The Manipulation explaining just
why he had this change.
His new attorney, a public defender for Los Angeles, instructed Watson to
keep quiet. Now in California, he seems demented, strange, quiet, losing weight.
It was nothing more than his manipulation of the system. He did whatever was
necessary to achieve a goal.
In Bill Nelsons other book, Manson: Behind The Scenes, he states that
Catherine Gillies told him in 1990 that Charles Watson once threatened to
slit her throat. This shows his psychotic tendencies and it also showed that
he had rage. It also shows that he was not programmed
by Charles Manson. Charles Manson loved Catherine Gillies and surely
would not want him to slit her throat. A similar example was written in the
John Gilmore book, The Garbage People. Much like Bill Nelson, John Gil-
more was not convinced with his act.
Tex, finally extradited to California, was to lose fifty pounds vegetating in a
solitary cell. While the others were being tried, he was being force-fed with tubes
through the nostrils. Described by medical examiners as catatonic and in an
acute psychotic state, he was sent to Atascadero State Mental Hospital. He saw
himself getting off scott-free, beating it, getting out free. He once joked about
the gun busting while he beat one of his victims in the head. He said something
about his fist being more powerful than the way the gun was made. But he
believed in killing, and killing with a knife was the way to do it. Not kicking in
heads, though he felt a lot of joy in that too.
But he still would not fess up to his crimes. He fought extradition for
many months in an attempt to miss the Manson Trial in hopes the media
coverage would die down and it did. This was advice given to him by his
attorney and it was purely a legal tactic.
While he was awaiting extradition, he mentions in his book, Will You Die
for Me?, that he asked to have every Beatles album sent to his cell a cell in
the jailhouse ran by his uncle, the Sheriff. Not only did he eat very wellas
his mother sent him food dailybut he had the music of his favorite band:
The Beatles.
Nuel Emmons wrote in his book, Manson in His Own Words, how
Charles Manson felt about Charles Watson and how the media had ignored
him.
74 The Manson Myth
Most reports on Tex Watson overlook his activities in California before he
became associated with me the two years he spent using drugs and pushing
dope, burning everyone he came into contact with is forgotten. What has mostly
been established is that prior to meeting me he was the pride of Capeville, Texas
and I corrupted him. Not true. He was such a freeloader that even the big-
hearted Dennis Wilson sent him packing.
Charles Manson met him at the home of Beach Boys drummer Dennis
Wilson, but he joined the gang at Spahns Ranch much later after
Dennis Wilson had asked him to leave his home, and after his relationship
with Luella failed. Story goes that he traded his pickup truck
to Charles Manson for rent to stay at the ranch.
Throughout his time at the ranch, Charles Watson had a history of
burning people in drug deals and being a sketchy individual fixated with
money. His LAPD arrest reports listed his aliases as Mad Charlie and
Crazy Charlie. How would one acquire such nicknames? One could only
imagine what he did to get called Mad and Crazy.
Could it have been from his overdose on belladonna root in 1968?
According to Family lore as written in the Ed Sanders book, The Family,
Nancy Pitman (alias Brenda McCann) acquired belladonna root from a
local kid and began to cook it in the saloon at Spahns Movie Ranch. To
cook it indoors is a big no-no, and it turns out the vapors from the cooking
root poisoned Nancy Pitman for days. But this didnt stop Charles Watson
from grabbing a whole root and devouring it. He proceeded to jump on a
motorcycle and take it for a ride. He was found tripping on the side of the
road near Van Nuys High School, crawling. He was arrested and booked.
Later in the yearas the story goeshe decided to earn some extra
money selling drugs. He brought his partner in crime Luella into the drug
scene and with Black Panther Bernard Crowe on Woodrow Wilson Drive,
right outside of Hollywood. Later on, he had Bernard Crowe front him
some money to acquire drugs or sell drugs the story changes. In the end,
he burned Bernard Crowe and Luella for $2,400 and fled, leaving her
behind. Later in the day Bernard Crowe called Spahn Ranch asking for
Charlie, and of course Charlie Manson answered. He assumed that he
had Charlie Watson on the phone and told him if he doesnt return his
money, that he was going to fuck Luella to death. According
Who is Charles Watson? 75
to Charles Manson, he told him that he has nothing to do with that; that he
has the wrong guy and hung up.
According to a 1994 interview with Bill Murphy, Charles Manson said
that Bernard Crowe called back again and threatened to burn down Spahn
Ranch unless he got his money back. At this time Charles Watson had taken
the money and absconded, leaving him to deal with his problems. Feeling
cornered, he asked Danny DeCarlo to come along, and he stated that, All
of a sudden, DeCarlo was too busy shoveling shit to help me out.
Tom Walleman ended up with the task of going with him to the Franklin
Avenue residence in an attempt to fix the problem. They grabbed Danny
DeCarlos .22 caliber revolver and left.
According to the Ed Sanders book, The Family, while Charles Manson
was en route to Franklin Avenue, Charles Watson made it back to Spahns
Ranch. He then bragged about his burn to Danny DeCarlo, fanning the
$2,400 loot in his face. Charles Watson didnt stick around much longer.
Once Charles Manson made it to the Franklin Avenue apartment, Ber-
nard Crowe would not give up Luella and one thing lead to another and
he was shot. Charles Manson, Luella, and T.J. Walleman fled thinking that
he was dead. This created a lot of panic and paranoia, but I will get to this in
a later chapter.
Why did he decide to burn Luella and subsequently, Bernard Crowe?
Was it because she had an abortion? He seemed pretty displeased with her
over her abortion in his book, Will You Die For Me?. Or was she just a casu-
alty in the Bernard Crowe burn? Was this just a money move and he didnt
care who he hurt?
Except for improving her drug business, it seemed that I was pretty much
bad news for Luella. After wed been together for a while she had to go to Mexico
for an abortion that was messed up so badly she ended up spending a week at the
U.C.L.A. Medical Center. Then, when I decided to show her a special good time,
just for the two of us, and took her on a trip down through Mexico and back up
to Palm Springs, we got caught in a dust storm in the desert and I smashed her
VW into the back of a truck. The car was totaled and she got a bad gash on her
head.
When it came to money, it seemed like no matter what, he was there to
take it.
76 The Manson Myth
Theres Bill Murphys theory that Charles Watson chose the Cielo
Drive home because Jay Sebring was there with $40,000 of mob drugs. Its
also commonly reported that Linda Kasabian stole $5,000 from her ex-hus-
band and gave it to Charles Manson and it is often stated that he conned
her out of the money. Not only is this false, but it was
actually Charles Watson who conned her out of the money and in the style
that its regularly reported that Charles Manson had conned her.
Here is a portion of Linda Kasabians testimony on July 31, 1970. What
she says about Charles Watson sounds a lot like what they have put
on Charles Manson.
Linda Kasabian: Okay. I met Tex, and Tex took me into a dark shed,
shack, whatever you want to call it, and he made love to me, which was an expe-
rience that I had never had before.
Paul Fitzgerald: You had never had sexual intercourse before?
Linda Kasabian: No. I am saying that the experience I had in making love
with Tex was a total experience, it was different.
Paul Fitzgerald: In what respect?
Linda Kasabian: That my hands were clenched when it was all over and I
had absolutely no will power to open my own hands, and I was very much afraid,
I didnt understand it. And I questioned Gypsy about it later and she told me it
was my ego that was dying. And I told him that I was on my way to South
America, and we had all this money, and we were going to do these things.
Paul Fitzgerald: You had all what money?
Linda Kasabian: We had some money that Charlie Melton had inherited.
Vincent Bugliosi: The way it developed is that apparently Tex told her to
go steal $5,000, whereupon she did go and steal the $5,000, and gave it to Leslie,
I believe. She didnt keep it for herself. She is about to testify to this. And I think
the defense is now bringing in through the back door what the court indicated it
could not do.
Judge Older: I dont see it that way. She is now relating a conversation that
she had with Tex, one of the defendants in this case. I think it is permissible.
Paul Fitzgerald: Would you continue with the conversation you had with
Tex Watson?
Linda Kasabian: Yes. I told him that we and these people were going to go to
South America by boat and sail around the world. And we had this money, and
Who is Charles Watson? 77
it seemed to me as soon as I mentioned money he started going on this trip, and
telling me that it wasnt their money; that it was everybodys money and it was
just there to take, and that there was no right and wrong. It was just theirs, ours.
I said, Hey He told me, you know, that I should go and take this money. I
said, Hey, I cant do that, hes my brother. He said, But there is no wrong.
And he just kept going on and on. And I accepted it and that was about the con-
versation.
While I am on the motive of money, I would also like to point out
what Charles Watson said in his book, Will You Die for Me? about money
and the Cielo Drive murders. When mentioned alone, it seems insignificant,
however, when grouped with these situations where he worked dirty to get
money, it sort of makes sense and comes together. He was a con man; why
would he want their money if these murders were to incite a race war?
I want all the money youve got here, I barked, and Abigail took Sadie into
her bedroom and gave her the money in her wallet. When they came back with
only seventy dollars, I shouted: You mean thats all youve got? How much do
you want? Frykowski asked. We want thousands!
When all of this is put together, in my mind it points directly to him. He
admitted in his book, Will You Die for Me? That he chose the Cielo
Drive home because hed been in it before. The prosecution contended that
Charles Manson selected it because of a previous altercation with property
owner Rudy Altobelli, in which he noticed Sharon Tate. The prosecution
stated that the Cielo Drive home to Charles Manson symbolized the estab-
lishment and reminded him of his failures in the music industry. Now if
this were true, why wouldnt he have killed Terry Melcher or Dennis Wilson
instead?
I also want to point out that it is probably a fact that when Susan Atkins
made her jailhouse confession to her Sybal Brand Institute sisters, the
Charlie she was referring to was probably Charles Watson. The prosecu-
tion has discredited this claim by saying that There was only one Charlie:
Charlie Manson. Not true at all. There were several other Charlies
including Charles Lovett and Charles Beard whose AKAs were actually
Charles Manson and Tex. Weird.
Charles Manson giving the nickname Tex is also untrue. It was actually
George Spahn who gave him that nickname and he actually gave most of the
78 The Manson Myth
Family the nicknames that they ended up being known by, not Charles
Manson.
So, turn the clocks almost a year forward when the Family was on the
run in Death Valleyin a state of panic and paranoiawaiting for an
impending retaliation for the Bernard Crowe shooting as well as expecting
the Feds to come in any minute to bust them for the Tate, LaBi-
anca, Hinman and Shea murders.
During this time the prosecution stated that Charles Manson begun
teaching everyone how to murder and armed everyone with knives and
guns. It may be true that hewith help from Danny DeCarlodid arm
everyone. He was expecting some sort of retaliation from shooting Bernard
Crowe. This was also one of the reasons he made the exodus to Death
Valley. However, when everyone started speaking to the presses, the prose-
cution took notice and put them on the stand.
Barbara Hoyt told the jury that it was actually Charles Watson who ran a
school for murder. And on August 6, 1971, the newspapers reported it.
Charles Tex Watson conducted a school for murder for female members of
the Charles Manson Cult shortly after the seven Tate-LaBianca slayings, a state
witness testified Wednesday.
Watsons instruction on how to use a knife were not to stab straight to
turn it to the side and move it around to cut up more stuff, said Barbara Hoyt.
She said stabbing instructions followed a discussion of how to kill if it came
down to it.
Watson said when using a knife, its either them or us.
Since the Manson Trial had no defense portion, contradictory evidence
like this was not put forth. This revelation is huge as it proves that he was a
violent, psychotic individual who prided himself on murder and mayhem.
He absolutely loved the outlaw lifestyle.
Barbara Hoyt also testified a similar story that Diane Lake had. She said
that Charles Watson kept buying newspapers, and she thought it was
weird because we were trying to get away from everything. She added that
there was little money to buy food because he was spending it on newspa-
pers.
Why would Watson be buying so many newspapers? Simple: he was
proud of his work and he loved to read about it. Something that is unchar-
Who is Charles Watson? 79
acteristic of the mindless robot he claimed to be from the works of
Charles Manson.
Vincent Bugliosi told the jury that Charles Manson knew Sharon Tate
lived at 10050 Cielo Drive and that he sent his robot, Charles Watson, to
murder her and anyone else who stood in the way. He said that he saw
Sharon Tate as an elegant symbol of the establishment. Truth is, he knew
a lot more famous people than Sharon Tate who wasnt that famous.
Certainly not as famous as others he knew or had met like; The Beach Boys,
Neil Young, Jane Fonda, Yul Brenner, Michael Caine, Deanna Martin and
Deidra Lansbury. If he wanted to make a statement to Hollywood, he would
have ordered one of their deaths.
July 12, 1971, Charles Watson went under psychiatric evaluation. During
this evaluation he not only blamed everything on the girls, but completely
minimized his role in the murders stating that Linda Kasabian drove, and
they ordered him what to do. Here is an excerpt from his evaluation as well
as an excerpt from his book, Will You Die for Me? that proves Vinent
Bugliosis theory wrong.
Interviewer: Had you actually been in the house before?
Charles Watson: Id been in the house before. Id been in the front room.
From Will You Die for Me?:
I told the girls we were going to the house where Terry Melcher used to live
because I knew the place, the layout, and that when we got there we were going to
kill everyone we found and get their money. I had Linda wrap up the knives and
gun in a rag on the floor and hide them at her feet. If we were stopped by the
police on the way, I told her, she was to throw the whole bundle out the window.
Not only does that prove Vincent Bugliosis theory incorrect, but it also
puts Linda Kasabian in as a major co-conspirator of the murders. That is
something that she had denied on the stand and stated that she had no pre-
vious knowledge that the murders were going to happen.
She also stated that it was Charles Manson who tied up the LaBiancas,
which was something that she would have absolutely no knowledge of since
she never went into the LaBiancas home. This fact was probably coached
via the prosecution. In fact a lot of the things she testified were incorrect. I
will get to that in a later chapter.
80 The Manson Myth
Vincent Bugliosis theory included the explanation that Linda Kasabian
drove because she had the only valid license and was included strictly for
that reason, but this is not true. Charles Manson actually had a license
issued to him in 1967 and was valid until November, 1969. Various other
Family members also had licenses as well as fake licenses. What is even
more perplexing is that Vincents Bugliosis theory that Linda Kasabian
drove is false. Charles Watson admitted in his book, Will You Die for Me?,
that he was the one who actually drove.
During Susan Atkins December, 1969 Grand Jury testimony, she too
pinpointed him as the one who chose the home because he knew it. She also
stated that he was the one who drove, not Linda Kasabian.
Vincent Bugliosi: Who drove the car?
Susan Atkins: Tex.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Tex tell you where you were going to go?
Susan Atkins: He told us that we were going to a house up on the hill that
used to belong to Terry Melcher, and the only reason why we were going to that
house was because Tex knew the outline of the house.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Tex tell you that he knew the interior of the house?
Susan Atkins: Yes, he described it to us as we were traveling.
Vincent Bugliosi: How did Tex describe the interior of the house to you?
Without going into detail, did he describe where the rooms were located in rela-
tion to each other?
Susan Atkins: Yes.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Charlie Manson ever tell you that he had been to
Terry Melchers former residence?
Susan Atkins: No, not to my recall.
Vincent Bugliosi: What did you discuss in the car, Susan, as you drove to
Terry Melchers former residence? Who said what?
Susan Atkins: Tex did most of the talking. In fact, to my recall, he did all of
the talking.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Tex tell you why he and you three girls were going to
Terry Melchers former residence?
Susan Atkins: To get all of their money and to kill whoever was there.
The prosecution disregarded that information, and chose to go with a
different scenario.
Who is Charles Watson? 81
April 14, 1971, Charles Watson had a court-appointed medical evalua-
tion with Dr. R.D. Walter. As he spoke to Dr. Walter, he actually laughed
when talking about how he mangled the body of Wojciech Frykowski. He
also referred to the victims as running around like chickens with their
heads cut off. Its interesting to say the least, but it is also pathetic how he
blamed everything on the girls. Poor Charlie Watson the girls blamed
everything on innocent little Tex. Notice that when he tries and
blame Charles Manson, the doctor doesnt buy it.
Charles Watson: I had a gun and a knife in my hand. The car stopped and
I just pulled the triggerabout ten days later I couldnt believe Id done it
there was no hesitation, she said get him, and I got him no thought I
could just feel my body get sucked in like a monkey. No feeling at all.
Dr. R.D. Walter: So?
Charles Watson: The next thing I knew, I was walking into the door of the
house and there Sadie was. Nothing happened for a little while.then all of a
sudden people started coming into the other rooms to the effect a man was
coming after me I looked I had the gun in my hand I shot around or at
the person and he fell on the floor no more shells.
Dr. R.D. Walter: How did you feel then?
Charles Watson: I had no feeling. Sadie would kick me to get me going.
Then I saw Katie stabbing and stabbing this guy and I had a knife in my
hand and I did the same thing the guy was all messed up. (defendant
laughing at this point)
All of a sudden Sadie hollered again the second guy was real big and she
was stabbing him all over and blood was spurting everywhere and she was hol-
lering for me and I came over and he fell outside of the house I got over and
the body was totally messed up so I decided to hit him again and again in the
head until his head cracked open.
Dr. R.D. Walter: So?
Charles Watson: All of a sudden Katie was outside and had the woman on
the lawn and she was already dead but I stabbed her anyway. The girls told
me to and when someone tells me to do something I do it. Charlie told me over
and over to make sure everybody was dead.
Dr. R.D. Walter: Why are you denying everything?
82 The Manson Myth
Examiners note: At this point the defendant is angry and raises his
voice.
Charles Watson: Im not denying, Im telling the truth.
Dr. R.D. Walter: How do you feel about what you did?
Charles Watson: It was fun tearing up the Tate house, OK.
Dr. R.D. Walter: It was fun?
Charles Watson: You should have seen it, people were running around like
chickens with their heads cut off. (Defendant is laughing)
Dr. R.D. Walter: What do you feel who are the victims of this situation
you are in.
Charles Watson: Myself.
Classic sociopathic thinking; he feels no remorse for the victims and feels
as if he is the victim. He certainly is the definition of sociopath. He found
comedy in the death of the victims; joked about it, pushed all of the blame
off on the girls and Charles Manson, and thinks he is the victim. It is just as
scary that other people actually believe he is a victim. I wonder if the faceless
blobs that he murderedas he called themthinks he is a victim?
Dr. R.D. Walters summation of Charles Watson included the diagnosis
that he was in fact in a psychotic state as well as a walking time bomb.
Watson has a large amount of suppressed hostility and anger and is consid-
ered to be a walking time bomb. He can be a dangerous individual under certain
circumstances and his violence potential is above average.
During this time Charles Watson intentionally starved himself in a part
of an insanity act and was checked into a mental home, he was deemed
medically insane and then pleaded innocent on the grounds of insanity. He
then began an elaborate hoax that he remembered nothing that every-
thing was a blur. This may actually be true since he admitted that he was on
speed during the murders; everything may have been a blur to him. Ironi-
cally, when he wrote his book he remembered every tiny, bloody detail. Was
this because he actually remembered, or did he just regurgitate the prosecu-
tions case against him and the others?
He definitely wasted no time blaming everyone but himself. He was on
trial alone, and the Manson Trial ended abruptly when no evidence was put
to support Charles Mansons claim that he did not order the murders. This
Who is Charles Watson? 83
meant that there was no information from that trial that could be used
against him.
During the Manson Trial the prosecution put forth the theory that Susan
Atkins murdered Sharon Tate. So at his trial, Charles Watson went with
that at as well as various other errors the prosecution put forth including
putting Leslie Van Houten as Rosemary LaBiancas killer.
Within Susan Atkins December, 1969 Grand Jury testimony she stated it
was he who had murdered Sharon Tate. Something he later admitted. She
also said he was the one in charge and gave the orders.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Tex do anything to Sharon Tate at that point?
Susan Atkins: Tex told me to kill her.
Vincent Bugliosi: To kill Sharon?
Susan Atkins: Yes, and I couldnt. I just in order to make a diversion so
that Tex couldnt see that I couldnt kill her I grabbed her hand and held her
arms and then I saw Tex stab her in the heart area around the chest.
Vincent Bugliosi: You saw Tex stab Sharon in the heart area?
Susan Atkins: Yes.
Vincent Bugliosi: You saw Tex stab Abigail three or four times?
Susan Atkins: Yes. While he was doing that, Katie and I were looking for
Linda because she wasnt anywhere around. In fact, we started calling for her.
We didnt want to call too loud, and then Tex walked over to Frykowski and
kicked him in the head.
Vincent Bugliosi: He was lying down when Tex kicked him in the head?
Susan Atkins: Yes, and the body didnt move very much. I believe it was
dead at that time.
Vincent Bugliosi: What happened next?
Susan Atkins: Then Tex told me to go back into the house and write some-
thing on the door in one of the victims blood.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did he tell you what to write?
Susan Atkins: He said, Write something that would shock the world.
Something to that effect. I had previously been involved in something similar to
this where I saw political piggy written on the wall so that stuck very heavily in
my mind.
This following text will be various excerpts from Charles Watsons trial,
and then a contradiction printed in his book, Will You Die for Me?
84 The Manson Myth

I am the Devil
Frykowski stirred at the sound of my voice and mumbled something like:
What time is it? I kicked him in the head. As he struggled up in confusion,
mumbling: Who are you? What do you want? I answered, Im the devil and
Im here to do the devils business. (from the book: Will You Die for Me?)
Interviewer: Do you remember where you got the line I am the devil and I
am here to do the devils business?
Charles Watson: I didnt say anything like that. (from a 1971 psychiatric
evaluation)

Do you feel remorse?

I told him (Manson) what had happened-it had been messy, like he wanted,
lots of panic, everybody dead. Sadie told him my line about the devil, and he
grinned, pleased. When he asked why we didnt go to any other houses I just
shrugged. Then he looked each of us in the eye solemnly. Do you have any
remorse? he demanded. No, we each replied. (from the book: Will You Die
for Me?)
However, Charles Watson tells a drastically different story in front of a
jury during cross-examination of his trial.
Vincent Bugliosi: According to record, you told Mr. Manson that there was
a lot of panic, that it was very messy.
Charles Watson: I didnt tell him that.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did the four of you say no when Mr. Manson asked
you if any of you had remorse?
Charles Watson: I dont remember him asking that question, or not.

Leave something witchy.

Leslie went out of the room and got Tex and he came back in and we left the
room And he, on the way out, he told me to do something witchy. (from Pat-
ricia Krenwinkels 1993 parole hearing)
So, this sounds like Charles Watson inculcated the girls to leave some-
thing witchy? Oddly enough, in his July 9, 1971 psychiatric evaluation, he
was asked if Charles Manson gave him any explicit orders prior to the mur-
ders and he said, He told me to go with the girls. The girls know everything
to do.
Who is Charles Watson? 85
And when the interviewer asked if he saw Charles Manson that night he
responded, Yes, but I didnt talk to him.
The scary thing is that for some odd reason, the general consensus on the
killings is that the girls did mostif not allof the killing. Mostly, he is reg-
ularly overlooked as a participant. In the German Menschensohn documen-
tary, Charles Manson tells them flat-out of Charles Watsons participa-
tion, correcting the interviewer.
Let me tell you something and heres the truth: the girls didnt kill anyone.
Im telling you, the girls didnt kill anyone. Tex killed em. Tex went stone crazy
and killed anybody in his path.

Who tied up the LaBiancas?

The prosecution used Linda Kasabian to put Charles Manson as the man
who tied up the LaBiancas. Here is Charles Watsons versions of this event.
Charlie pulled off a leather thong that had been looped around his neck and
had me tie LaBiancas hands with it. I must have cinched him up pretty firmly,
because he immediately protested that it was too tight, especially when we turned
him onto his back again with the weight of his body pressing down on his wrists.
(from the book Will You Die For Me?)
He admits in his book that he was the one who tied up the LaBiancas.
However, when questioned during cross-examination at his trial, he denies
it.
Vincent Bugliosi: Do you remember what he [Manson] told you [when he
returned to the car]?
Charles Watson: He said that he tied up the people inside the house. To go
in and do what we did last night.
Truth is that he went in first with Charles Manson, and he tied them up.
Does this make Charles Manson blameless of any charges related to these
murders? Not at all, but it does count as a yet one more strike against the
prosecutions theory. It also puts Charles Watson as an active, willing partic-
ipant and not a robot.
During his trial and his 1971 evaluation he had stated that it was Susan
Atkins who had killed Sharon Tate. However, it seems now he takes full
responsibility for that murder. In fact, Susan Atkins had never confessed to
killing Sharon Tate, contrary to popular belief. She had told her cellmate
86 The Manson Myth
that she did kill her in a long elaborate story in which she said she made up
to scare the inmates in an attempt to create fear, so they wouldnt mess
with her. Charles Watson seems to almost brag about killing Sharon Tate
almost every opportunity that he gets. In his book, Will You Die for Me? he
admits that Vincent Bugliosi got it wrong.
Later, Prosecutor Bugliosi-because of some things Susan-Sadie bragged
about in jail in one of her attempts to get attention-was convinced that it was she
who killed Sharon Tate, but his suspicion was not true. It was my hand that
struck out, over and over, until the cries of Mother, mother stopped. Sud-
denly it seemed very quiet. It was over.
In 1978, Charles Watson spoke with the LA Times and again admitted
that he was Sharon Tates slayer, as if he was very proud.
She was pleading to me and pleading to me, but I didnt even have a moment
of hesitation. I took a knife and just slit a big slit across her face. And I just kept
cutting her and carving on the body and started stabbing her in the chest Id
say maybe 15 cuts and stabs. She was crying and saying, Oh mother, oh
mother. She said, Just let my baby live. You can kill me, but let my baby live. I
was actually the executioner.
Later in 1978, Headquarters Detective ran a story on Charles Watson and
his upcoming parole hearing date. This article featured an interview with his
ex-cellmate named Chet, who made some very unsettling claims.
A lot of guys in the prison think theyre bad. Some of them are, but when it
comes to being bad in every sense of the word, I have been bad before and I can
play the role pretty good. When I killed those people, they didnt exactly stand
there and not do anything. I stabbed that guy [Frykowski] fifty-one times in the
chest. I stabbed him so many times in the chest that my hand was sinking into it
up to my elbow. I stabbed him so hard that the handle of the knife broke off.
These people dont know what bad is. I wrote the book on bad and I did it more
than once.
Chet stated that he went on and bragged how he forced Leslie Van
Houten to stab an already deceased Rosemary LaBianca, and how he let her
take the fall for committing the murder. Leslie Van Houten was granted a
retrial in 1977, which ended in a hung jury. She had a third trial in 1978, in
which she was re-convicted with second-hand hearsay testimony from Bar-
bara Hoyt, Paul Watkins and Linda Kasabian.
Who is Charles Watson? 87
Charles Watson could have testified the truth on her behalf since he was
an active participant in the murders, but his reasoning why he did not was
purely selfish and sociopathic.
Charles Watson: She should be allowed to go free. She didnt kill anyone. I
was standing over this woman and I noticed Leslie down on the floor. She was
terrified! I saw her knife lying beside her and there wasnt a drop of blood on it.
But I was dripping blood all over the place and some got on the handle of her
knife. I didnt want to leave without everyone having at least stuck a knife in the
body of one of the victims. I told her to do her part. She was like a wet rag. I
pushed her towards this lady sprawled out face down on the floor. The lady was
dead. I pushed Leslie down beside her. She shook her head. I turned her face up
towards me. I had blood all the way up my arms and I had a knife in my hand.
She was one scared girl.
HQM: If she didnt kill anyone, I said, arent you going to help her out?
Charles Watson: What! If I brought that kind of attention down on me, Id
never get out. No way am I going to blow my chance to get out just to testify in
Leslie Van Houtens behalf.
He repeated something similar in his book, Will You Die for Me?. He also
stated in that book that he was the one who carved WAR on Leno LaBi-
anca, not Patricia Krenwinkel as the prosecution had said. Patricia Kren-
winkel claimed to not recollect if she did or did not that she just went
with what the prosecution said happened and not what she remembers.
Theres also more than enough evidence to link Charles Watson to the
LaBianca home, a home that the prosecution stated was picked out of
random. Not only did Linda Kasabian live with Harold True for a short
time, right next door to the LaBiancas, but he also lived very closeless
than 200 feetto their daughter Suzanne Struthers. This was another link
to the LaBianca home.
To add even more coincidence to this situation, after the murders, she
stated that he should go free and even defended him publicly on the televi-
sion show The 700 Club as well at his 1985 parole hearing. Suzanne
Struthers is said to have inherited as much as $2 million from her mothers
death. Could this have been murder for hire? Charles Watson sure loved
money and wasnt against killing anybody to get it. What great plots; to kill,
get paid, and then push it off on the Gary Hinman murder.
88 The Manson Myth
Suzanne Struthers was also linked to a biker named Joe Dorgan,
who Charles Manson has claimed to have known. Joe Dorgan may have
been a part of the Straight Satans or the Satans Slaves, who both frequented
Spahn Ranch.
This link has never been proven, but backed with all of the other coinci-
dences it stands pretty strong. Here is an excerpt from the Bill Nelson book,
Tex Watson: The Man, The Madness, The Manipulation.
Suzanne, the daughter of Rosemary LaBianca. At the time of the murders,
she was a rebellious youth. She was known to keep company with motorcycle
members, some believe to be the same group that ran with the Manson Family.
She lived with Joe Dorgan, her live-in lover rode with the Straight Satans club, a
few doors down from Charles Watson. She went with Joe Dorgan to the [LaBi-
anca] house. She entered the house through the kitchen. Joe and young [brother]
Frank saw Lenos body badly butchered by [Charles] Watson.
Two days later, without consent, she emptied the contents of the house with a
moving truck. Suzanne became the executor of the estate of Rosemary [LaBi-
anca]. The 2.6 million dollars that was written about in Helter Skelter was not
really hers. Rosemary was wealthy, but she did not get it through conventional
means.
Suzanne began writing Charles Watson in 1990 and was at his parole
hearing. She says that she forgives Watson, and that 21 years is long enough,
Charles has changed. He should be free.
Suzanne expresses forgiveness, but only to Tex [Watson.] No communication
with the other killers. Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay told her after the
hearing, Suzanne, you disgraced your mother today.
Her character appeared in the made-for-TV-movie Forgiven: The Charles
Tex Watson story. She also appeared on The 700 Club in 1991 defending
him. Even the movie, Forgiven: The Charles Tex Watson Story, was partially
based on her efforts to get him out of prison.
Strangely enough, days before the murder of her mother, Bill Nelson
believes that Family members Catherine Share and Steve Grogan were
inside of her home.
Even more odd, after the murders were committed someone went back
into the home and arranged the fireplace logs in an odd sequence in front of
the fireplace and put a door knob in the refrigerator.
Who is Charles Watson? 89
According to author Bill Nelson, Suzanne Struthers is the prime suspect
of doing this since she was into odd black-magic type rit-
uals. Remember that she was also made the executor of her mother Rose-
mary LaBiancas estate inheriting as much as $2 million. Bill Nelson also
claimed that she and Charles Watson and lived in the same apartment com-
plex at the same time prior to the murders.
Additionally, Charles Watson has said the primary motive for these mur-
ders were for money to bail Mary Brunner and Sandra Good from jail. He
was a burn artist who had burned at least one man for money, so in his
world money talked. A murder-for-hire job would not be out of line.
Someday I will be famous, Suzanne Struthers once remarked. And I
dont care what I have to do to get there. Maybe she was not famous, but
she did get a good amount of media attention.
Doris Tate has always had a bad feeling about the relationship
between the two. According to Doris Tates journal, she said that, I
couldnt put my finger on it, but there was more going on than mere forgive-
ness. She has been very vocal about not believing the Helter Skelter
motive as the reason for her daughters murder. I honestly believe that she
believes that Charles Watsons connection to both victims homes is more
than damning. I am not alone with this assumption. In fact it seems like
everyone but Vincent Bugliosi thinks that this connection explains why the
LaBianca home was targeted.
Vincent Bugliosis the LaBianca home was chosen out of random
theory is incorrect. We have already learned that the home was not a
random hit.
February 25, 2012, the New York Post ran an article written by Suzannah
Chalanwho after reading the Alisa Statman book Restless Soulsalso
strongly believes theres more to the Watson/Struthers relationship. In fact
the article mentions Charles Watson using Suzanne Struthers as his Trump
Card as a ticket out of jail, and even bragged about it to his a fellow inmate,
much like Chet in 1978. The journalist refers to Suzanne Struthers by her
married last name LaBerge.
But none of this stopped LaBerge from writing to Watson, after she discov-
ered that he had, like she had, found God. She reached out to Watson through
his mail-order ministry, called Abounding Love Ministries.
90 The Manson Myth
She wrote to Watson for a year anonymously, until 1987, when she visited the
killer and told him that she was Rosemary LaBiancas daughter. They con-
tinued speaking for three more hours, and she followed up with several more
visits and regular correspondence.
Patti Tate had no inkling of this when, in 1990, she met LaBerge at her
daughters middle school, where LaBerge had coincidentally (or not) sent her
own daughter.
They began to chat and Patti revealed the name of her sister, Sharon.
Suzans (si c) eyes grew wide; Youre never going to guess who I am. Rose-
mary LaBianca is my mother! LaBerge said.
Patti was taken by the coincidence and felt comfortable with another victim.
So she let her daughter stay the day at LaBerges house, which was just two miles
from her own.
Meanwhile, Suzan (si c) shared the news with Watsons wife, who relayed
the message to him in prison. He thought this was the key to getting his parole
date set.
Suzan (si c) LaBerge, ne LaBianca, is my ace in the hole, Watson boasted
to another inmate. The Tate kid is playing in Suzans yard as we speak.
Patti learned about the connection only a few hours later and ran to
LaBerges house to collect her daughter.
It was just horrifying. Possibly the most horrifying experience of her life,
Statman told The Post.
Later that year, LaBerge did testify on Watsons behalf, but the Tate family
was also there to speak out against parole.
LaBerge went on about Watsons loving side as Doris, Sharons mother,
looked on in disgust. LaBerge proved not to be an ace his parole was denied
(and continued to be a total of 14 times).
And according to Statman, no one believes the story of the prison meeting,
especially when they likely knew each other long before. That maybe the
random targeting of the LaBianca house wasnt so random.
Suzan (si c) and Tex lived an estimated 200 feet apart in nearby apartments
in Los Angeles for six months prior to Watsons move into Mansons home base,
Spahn Ranch. Suzans (sic) then-boyfriend was a member of the motorcycle
gang Straight Satans that often frequented Spahn Ranch.
Who is Charles Watson? 91
Theres lot of speculation that they knew each other. And take that where you
will you can only imagine what that might mean, Statman said.
When author Bill Nelson learned that Vincent Bugliosi was going to do a
20th year anniversary revised edition of his book Helter Skelter, he jumped
at the chance to aid him in the revisions with the extensive amount of new
facts and contradictions to the errors of the book including the informa-
tion on Charles Watson and Suzanne Struthers. He claimed that Vin-
cent Bugliosi snubbed the majority of the newly discovered information,
aside from information and contacts with certain Family members.
When he turned down his offer, Bill Nelson ranted on his now defunct
website Manson Family Murders.
I contributed greatly to the up dated edition receiving calls often from
Bugliosi to learn the location of different Manson family members. The only
criticism I have of the up date is the publisher and prosecutor/author missed a
golden opportunity to put to rest many of the statements in the original book.
Mr. Bugliosi now knows that neither the Tate house nor the LaBianca house
were random selections. Bugliosi also knows that Tex Watson lived in the
immediate area of the LaBianca house, and that Watson knew the boyfriend of
Rosemarys daughter and indeed Suzanne Struthers! (Rosemary LaBiancas
daughter) Struthers dated Joe Dorgan, member of Satans Slaves, who was
deeply involved with Manson and others. Manson has admitted I rode with
Dorgan and this information is accurate. Manson still has ties to the lake where
Leno and Rosemary spent their last day alive.
They also learned, during the research for the update, that Gypsy confirmed
that she and Susan Atkins had been swimming in the Tate pool. Gypsy also con-
firmed, and Bugliosi knew it, that the Manson family had creepy crawled the
LaBianca house within two weeks of the murders of Leno and Rosemary. When
Nelson asked Bugliosi about some of these changes, he indicated it would mess up
the galleys. Well, It sure could have been included in the up-dated portion!
Many people had negative opinions on Bill Nelson, as do I, but its hard
to deny that he had a lot of information on the Family due to many years
of extensive research and stalking. Sadly, the true information he had
acquired made the opinion in Vincent Bugliosis coveted book Helter Skelter
fall down like a house of cards regarding the motive: Helter Skelter.
92 The Manson Myth
In Charles Watsons book, Will You Die for Me?, he disclosed that he did
lie during the trial, as well as any interview he gave during that time. He cas-
ually dismisses the lies as him trying to protect himself. However, he
has stood firmly on the notion that he was indeed a mindless robot pro-
grammed by Charles Manson. Here was his conclusion to the lies as printed
in his book.
Self-preservation won out in court and I admitted only what I felt I had to,
what the prosecution already knew. I admitted shooting or stabbing everyone at
the Tate house except Sharon. I denied killing her since Bugliosi and a previous
jury was convinced Susan Atkins had done it. I claimed that Linda had driven to
10050 Cielo Drive, and tried to lay all the evidence of premeditation on Charlie
or one of the girls. Also, since all the other witnesses to the events outside the
LaBianca house had said that Charlie went in alone to tie up the victims, I went
along with that story, figuring it made me look that much less responsible.
At the end of his trial, the jury was hung on whether or not he was guilty
on seven murder charges. He was never indicted on an eighth charge for the
murder of movie stuntman and Spahn Ranch hand Donald Shea.
During Bruce Davis 1994 parole hearing he had stated
that Charles Watson was there and he stabbed Donald
Shea. Charles Watson has never mentioned that murder a murder that
he was never charged in participating. He is smart enough to know that
there is no statute of limitations for murder. Being indicted on new murder
charges could mean the death penalty a fate he escaped from in 1972
when the death penalty was temporarily abolished in California.
Charles Watson still dismisses his active, viable role in the murders and
puts it off as either possession of demons or programming
by Charles Manson. In 1978, the Ellensburg Daily Record printed this
account by him, again pushing blame off of himself.
I feel Manson was possessed by demons and I think I was possessed by the
same spirit that Charles Manson was possessed by. The psychiatrists called it
shared madness. That is, we were all in one devil and we did what the devil said
do. I am not blaming what I did on him, or evil spirits. I yielded myself to it, so I
take the blame.
Who is Charles Watson? 93
However, in that statement he did say, I am not blaming what I did on
him. But quite recently, he posted an interview on his website Abounding
Love, which he was asked something similar.
Question: Do you think you were possessed by the devil?
Charles Watson: Possessed? I dont know, but I was definitely influenced by
the power of sorcery. Im not saying the devil made me do it, or that Manson
made me do it; but there were powerful demonic influences that I had given
myself to. I was totally out of control.
Again, he states that the devil made him do it and not Charles Manson.
But of course, not being able to keep his bullshit in line, he changed his
story again on his website, Abounding Love.
Manson was a sorcerer, Charles Watson accused. A false prophet. He
was a charismatic leader who used magic, rituals and drugs.
After the Manson Trial had concluded, Vincent Bugliosis theory was
that Charles Manson indeed programmed Charles Watson and the other
defendants; Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel, to
kill for him and he used the same theory during Charles Watsons trial.
However, in his book, Helter Skelter, he either in accident or simply to
make Charles Watson look worse admitted the opposite.
By the time Id finished [cross-examining Watson], it was obvious to the jury
that he was in complete command of his mental faculties and always had been. I
tore to shreds his story that he was simply an unthinking zombie programmed by
Charles Manson.
So, his decision was that Charles Watson was not programmed by
Charles Manson.; that he was not controlled by Charles Manson and
that he acted out from his own will, and killed because he wanted to kill.
Which means he did not kill because he was forced to kill, or brainwashed
into killing. This, Mister Bugliosi, makes the Helter Skelter theory null
and void since Charles Watson was an admitted lead of the rampage.
If you remember what I wrote in the chapter: Why Helter Skelter
Doesnt Fit, you will recall that in 2009, Vincent Bugliosi said that he
doesnt believe that Charles Manson believed in all aspects of Helter
Skelter. To convict him for trying to create an apocalyptic race
war, Charles Manson would most definitely have had to believe in all
aspects.
94 The Manson Myth
In 1988, Geraldo Rivera asked Charles Manson about Charles Watson
and he dismissed him as a man who tried to emulate him, and did not do it
successfully referring to the Bernard Crowe/Luella drug burn.
What did Tex do?, Charles Manson asked. Tex went crazy, man. He
tried to stand up and walk where I was walking. He tried to be a man in a
womans body and it didnt work to well. And he, he went out of his mind.
Charles Manson further explained, Tex went to pay the brother back.
He went to pay the brother back to get Bobby out of jail.
Charles Manson has always stated that Charles Watson participated in
the Tate and LaBianca slayings to pay Bobby Beausoleil back. It makes
sense since the people who partook in the Tate and LaBianca murders were
all linked toBobby Beausoleil in some way, and even Charles Watson.

Susan Atkins: Was at the Gary Hinman slaying, involved

with Charles Watsons drug ring and even swam in the 10050 Cielo
Drive pool.

Patricial Krenwinkel: Involved with Watsons drug ring, may have

known Cielo Drive guest house resident William Garretson.

Leslie Van Houten: She was one of Bobby Beausoleils girls.

Linda Kasabian: She was infatuated with Charles Watson, involved with
his drug ring and admitted that she knew the Tate and LaBianca homes.
Facts are that if Charles Manson sent people to murder, he would have
sent people he trusted and knew could do the job; people he knew well. He
barely knew Linda Kasabian and Leslie Van Houten, so why would he send
them? In my opinion, if he wanted people dead, he would have sent Bruce
Davis, Steve Grogan, Nancy Pitman, Catherine Gillies, and Catherine
Share.
Secondly, if Charles Watson was willing to not only burn Luella for
money and/or drugs and leave her for dead, it clearly shows that he lacks
conscience.
Whatever it may be, theres a lot more to this story and a lot of unan-
swered questions. Charles Watson has stood on the story that it was Charles
Manson who brainwashed him into committing at least 7 murders. This
excuse is more than convenient as it takes a lot of the blame off of him;
makes Charles Manson to blame and makes him a victim.
Who is Charles Watson? 95
The amazing thing about this is that it is widely believed as fact. It is not
coincidence that when he came to live at Spahn Ranch is when everything
started to turn to death and murder. He introduced hard drugs like speed to
the ranch and brought a lot of baggage baggage that lead to the Bernard
Crowe shooting, extreme paranoia, and subsequently the Tate and LaBi-
anca murders.
THE OTHER MURDERS LINKED TO WATSON
In 1968 a couple murders were committed in close proximity to Charles
Watson that are still unsolved. Marina Habedaughter of actress Eloise
Hart and writer Hans Habewas murdered December 29, 1968, and left
on Mulholland Drive, near Beaumont Drive. This is in very close proximity
of Beverly Hills, right on the other side of Runyon and Benedict Canyons
where Cielo Drive is located. Oddly enough, Woodrow Wilson Drive
where Bernard Crowe livedruns into Mulholland Drive, as does Franklin
Boulevard where Charles Watson lived and Bernard Crowe was shot.
According to many sources and rumors, Charles Watson may have met
Marina Habe while she was in Hawaii. This may or may not be true, but
there certainly isnt any evidence to back up that claim. Her autopsy said
that her last meal was a vegetarian meal, characteristic of meals at Spahn
Ranch. The Wikipedia page for Marina Habe also references that a Manson
Family member stated that she was friends with one of them and may have
been slain by one of the them.
Other rumors say that Charles Watsons Hollywood apartment may have
been close to her apartment. I am assuming they are referring to her home
where she lived with her family. It is true that she did live a few miles from
Franklin Avenue in West Hollywood. It is also a fact that Charles Watsons
wig shop was very close to where she lived with as well. Theres no indica-
tion that she had lived alone.
She was also murdered by multiple stab wounds, much like the ones he
inflicted onto many of his other victims. Some reports say she was raped,
others say she was not.
Here is an excerpt from the Mansons Day in Court blog, where the
Marina Habe case was studied.
96 The Manson Myth
Marina Habe was beator at least she had contusions in the eye area
and had her throat slashed as well as stabs to the heart. Some books stated that
she was raped, but the LAPD has stated that the autopsy found that to be
untrue. Her body was found mostly naked. Her purse and clothes were found
about 50 yards from her body. Her purse was missing her ID and credit cards.
We all know how the Manson Family loved to hoard up on the IDs and stolen
credit cards!
[She] lived at 8962 Cynthia Street in West Hollywood, which was about 5
miles from where Watson was living at 6933 Frankin Avenue in Hollywood. Her
body was found not far away on Mulholland Drive where it meets Bowmont
Avenue. Watson could have driven from Franklin to Cynthia Street and to where
her body was found in under 40 minutes.
Charles Watson left Spahn Ranch in early December when Charles
Manson asked for his help to build a cabin off of a creek near Spahn
Ranch. He was away from Charles Manson and the Family during the
time of Marina Habes murder and returned to Spahn Ranch in early 1969.
This isnt the only murder that happened in close proximity to Charles
Watson. Earlier that year, on November 15, 1968, an elderly man named
Karl Stubbs was murdered in Olancha, California. Olancha is a small town
on the outskirts of Death Valley in close proximity to Barker Ranch. In fact,
Olancha is on the other side of the Panamint Range from Ballarat, where
Barker Ranch is located. Its also a known fact that he stayed in Olancha in
1969 with Diane Lake. Olancha is nothing but a gas station, a store, a cafe,
and homes. Its not a large town by any means. He knew the area well.
What does that mean? Well, if he was responsible for this murder, it
means that he had killed before Charles Manson and without any manipula-
tion by him. Sadly, the link was quickly investigated and excused despite an
eye witness putting Charles Watson at Stubbs home. Acording to at least
one person, they saw Charles Watson in Olancha at the time of the murder.
Let that sink in for a second, then proceed.
Why wasnt this link properly investigated? Probably because it went
against the Helter Skelter motive and would have created a lot of reason-
able doubt as to the notion that the Tate and LaBianca killers were seem-
ingly normal teenagers who fell victim to the mind of Charles Manson. If
Who is Charles Watson? 97
this is the case, Karl Stubbs may never rest in peace due to legal tactics.
Below is the verbatim report from a police officer from Olancha, California.
I spoke to the witness that lived behind Karl. She told me that Karl crawled
to her trailer and told her husband that there was a boy and two girls that came
in his house demanding money. Every time the boy would kick him in the head
the girls would laugh. The witness said that Karl was totally lucid but he could
not see. He died hours later. A year later, Tex Watson confessed the Tate/LaBi-
anca murders to Diane Lake while there were in Olancha. Olancha is the
gateway to the Barker Ranch via Hwy 190.
The case was investigated by the California Department of Justice. Tom inter-
viewed the investigator who said that the investigation fell through the cracks. It
was not until Tex was finally extradited from Texas, after everyone else was
tried, that the clerk at the store recognized Tex on TV as one of the kids that
followed Karl home from the store. It is unknown if this was ever reported to Law
Enforcement.
The local Olancha newspaper, The Journal, ran a story about Karl Stubbs
murder and it made some creepy parallels to the Tate and LaBianca mur-
ders and especially Charles Watson.
82-year-old Olancha Man Dead of Nov. 12 Beating Attackers
Laughed
The article proved to be very interesting, backed up with an eye witness
who claimed he saw Charles Watson enter his home.
Before he died, Stubbs told deputies that the two young men and women who
assaulted him were laughing and giggling as they ransacked his house and stole
between $40 and $50.
Money. He was murdered over money. With his history of taking money;
burning Bernard Crowe, weaseling Linda Kasabian out of $5,000, and of
course telling Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger that he needed thou-
sands after she offered him $70, I can see him beating a man for money
even if it is $50. When you are stuck in Death Valley and desparate, I reckon
$50 goes a long way.
Obviously, whoever assaulted Karl Stubbs may not have intended to kill
him, but he did die and it is a murder. If this is indeed Charles Watsons
murder, it may not prove that he is a cold-blooded killer, but it does prove
that he was an ostensibly angry, violent man.
98 The Manson Myth
Who were the laughing girls, laughing as the assailant beat Karl Stubbs?
Was it Susan Atkins? Patricia Krenwinkel? Nancy Pitman? It wasnt Linda
Kasabian or Leslie Van Houten, because this was long before they attached
themselves to the group. This was 1968 and before all of the paranioa
started. Charles Watson was out on his own freelancing, if you will.
Another link with the Family and Olancha is that during the Barker
Ranch days one of their own had a homestead in a guy by the name of
David Hannum, who helped a lot with their exodus from Los Angles to
Death Valley.
Maybe Karl Stubbs murder is not Family related, but the fact that the
murder was so poorly investigated is a tragic error in my opinion. Its true
that the murder did happen before the Family was in Death Valley in
1969. But it is also true that Charles Manson, Paul Watkins, Brooks Poston,
Susan Atkins, and many others, left for Death Valley around Halloween of
1968.
Then if you go to 1969, while he was in Death Valley, a mysterious death
happened in a small town not too far away from Olancha, called Bishop. In
Bishop a man was found dead in a hotel on Main Street from an apparent
gunshot wound to the head. The death was ruled a suicide and nothing
much was said about it. The deceased was a man named Felippo Tenerelli
(spelling of his named varies by source) from Culver City, Cali-
fornia. Culver City, oddly enough, is in Los Angeles and not too far away
from Charles Watsons old stomping grounds in West Hollywood where he
dealt drugs and lived.
Debra Tate once said that she was told by a Family member that
Felippo Tenerelli was indeed linked to the Family as a drug supplier. I per-
sonally dont believe a word that she says, but it still may be a rare fact that
has come from her mouth. We all remember her words during a television
interview where she stated that Charles Watsons attorney Bill Boyd person-
ally told her that the Tex Tapes included recorded confessions of addi-
tional murders. But then it is revealed by the LAPD that the tapes contained
nothing useful. Charles Watson being the prick as he is, snidely commented
on his website that I told you so.
In the Ed Sanders book, The Family, he connected Felippo Tenerellior
Dagoto the Family through the Gypsy Jokers. I do believe that he was
Who is Charles Watson? 99
probably connected to the Family somehow, but as it turns out it wasnt
through the Gypsy Jokers.
The Evil Liz Blog researched the murder and found Phil Ross, the club
photographer-turned-author who wrote the book Gypsy Joker to a Hells
Angel. He not only dismissed any allegation of Felippo Tenerelli being a
Gypsy Joker but also shot down Ed Sanders allegation that Felippo Tener-
ellis alias was Dago. This wasnt the first time that content within The
Family was proven to be false.
Dagos name was Donald Ragante, and there was no Gypsy Joker named
Filippo Tenerelli.
One other thing you might post is that Ed Sanders statement that the Gypsy
Jokers were heavily into the occult is complete bullshit.
With all of that being out of the way, the Felippo Tenerelli death was re-
opened as a homicide. Authorities found his 1969 Volkswagen bus driven
over Father Crowley Vista outside of Panamint Springs and right before the
turnoff that leads to Ballarat. Inside the bus was the blood of Felippo Tener-
elli.
The estimated time of death was October 2, 1969 and Charles Watson
fled Barker Ranch October 3, 1969. Bishop is right outside of Olancha
where he spent some time. Father Crowley Vista isnt very far from Ballarat
and he chose to take the Ballarat way out of Goler Wash, which tells me that
he was familiar with that route. The Family generally accessed Barker
Ranch, not through Goler Wash, but through Warm Springs via Mengel
Pass and onto Badwater Road. These are the things that do add up. Charles
Watson had a thing for fleeing right after he had killed someone.
If Felippo Tenerelli was indeed suicidal and committed suicide, I dont
see any reason for him to drive 4 hours to Death Valley to do it. What in the
world was he doing way out there? He really had a lot to live for he had a
good job as a machinist, a loving family, and was just granted American citi-
zenship. He was most definitely murdered and if he was murdered, his
murder was an attempted cover up. Someone tried hard to make it look like
a suicide.
Much like Bruce Davis, it seemed like wherever Charles Watson went,
death followed. There were other murders in his vicinitylike Mark Walts
that I wont get into due to lack of information. But if you read
100 The Manson Myth
the chapter Bruce McGregor Davis, you will read about the murders of
Doreen Gaul and James Sharp. A theory that was floating around was that
there is a chance that he may have helped Bruce Davis with those kill-
ings. Certain authors claim that they have evidence to back those claims up.
I personally feel that those claims are absurd.

Tex took the witness stand, and this is record, and he said I dont
know whether I am Charlie Manson or my mother. Tex didnt have his
own mind one way or the other. - Charles Manson, 1981

UPI article on Charles Watson being found insane.
Who is Charles Watson? 101
8
Demystifying Susan Atkins
When Susan Atkins passed away in 2009,
she took a lot of secrets to the grave, as well
as the public opinion that she was the
worst of the Manson girls. She has also
been dubbed as an insane character that
stabbed the pregnant Sharon Tate to death.
So, is societys image of Susan Atkins accu-
rate? And if it isnt, is it at least fair?
I am not justifying her actions, nor am I saying
that she did not deserve prison time. She actively
participated in the killings and she was at the Gary Hinman slaying and she
was at the Cielo Drive massacre. But when she made her jailhouse confes-
sion, stating she not only murdered Sharon Tate, but drank her blood, that
engraved the worlds impression of her. The problem with her confession, is
that it was not a confession. It was a story to entertain and scare her fellow
inmates.
It seems like no matter how many times Charles Watson confessed that
he was indeed the killer of Sharon Tate, the media, the prosecution and
everyone else still blames her. In a way it is justice because she did hold
Sharon Tate down, allowing Charles Watson to murder her. However the
Susan Atkins testifies to the Grand
Jury on December 5, 1969.
103
person who actually killed her (as laid out in the chapter Who is Charles
Watson?) seems to escape all blame. He allowed her to take 100% of the
heat until he decided to come clean when he wrote his book, Will You Die
For Me?, in 1978. He called it self preservation.
In the 1973 documentary, Manson, case informant and former Sybil
Brand Institute inmate Ronnie Howard spilled the beans to the media and
prosecution on Susan Atkins. The story she told was disgusting, violent and
almost unbelievable. She stated that Susan Atkins told her that she had mur-
dered Gary Hinman and balled John Philip Haught when he shot himself.
She also stated that Susa Atkins had told her that she licked up the blood.
This testimony, supplemented with the confession that she had stabbed
Sharon Tate to death after murmuring, Look bitch, I have no remorse for
you, was used to convict her and make her one of the most hated females in
American history. In fact its probably the most known quote attributed to
Susan Atkins.
Susan Atkins said, on SusanAtkins.org, that she only told that story to
scare her cellmates. She stated that at one time Charles Manson told them
that, If they get arrested and are in jail, they have to exaggerate to make
themselves look tough so they dont get victimized. This is advice that he
gave most of the people in his gang and advice that he was given and lived
by in prison himself.
When Vincent Bugliosi caught wind of this confession, he instantly went
to her with a deal to testify for the prosecution to the Helter Skelter
theory. He also guaranteed immunity to the gas chamber. That prompted
her to testify in front of the Grand Jury where she stated that she stabbed
Wojciech Frykowski in the leg, but did not kill Sharon Tate and that the
murders were copycat killings and not to spark a race war. Vincent Bugliosi
did not like this and dropped the idea of giving her a deal to testify. When
she was alerted that her testimony would be used against her she said, I
understand this, and my life doesnt mean that much to me, I just want to
see what is taken care of.
So if she didnt kill Sharon Tate, how do we know Charles Watson did?
Well, in his book, Will You Die for Me?, he went in great detail and took
complete responsibility for it. When Susan Atkins wrote The Myth of Helter
Skelter, she also spoke about that and the fact that the knife she handed
104 The Manson Myth
Linda Kasabianher knife that she lost had no blood on it. But Vincent
Bugliosi conveniently dismissed that bit of evidence.
I told Mr. Bugliosi the truth. I hadnt killed Sharon Tate. Years later, when
he wrote his book about the crimes, Mr. Bugliosi stated he got the impression I
was lying to him about this that I had, in fact, killed Sharon Tate. Mr.
Bugliosi was wrong about a lot of things. And he was wrong about me killing
Sharon Tate. Even though hes wrong about a lot of things, Ive never caught Mr.
Bugliosi deliberately lying about anything.
I can also point to the fact that I said I hadnt killed Sharon Tate during my
Grand Jury testimony in 1969. This was the testimony I was told by the Prose-
cutor had to be true or I could be executed. Thats a strong incentive to tell the
truth.
Mr. Bugliosi, of course, believes I lied about that part of the crime in my
Grand Jury testimony. I am happy to point out that even Mr. Bugliosi admits my
rendition of the crimes as told to the Grand Jury was corroborated in every
instance by the version Linda Kasabian gave.
Charles Watson has stated I didnt kill Sharon Tate. In addition, the Prose-
cutor has since admitted the knife I was carrying the night Sharon Tate was
killed was actually found at the crime scene. It was tested for blood and it was
found to be clean. It had never struck anyone.
There is no dispute it was my knife, as Linda Kasabian was the one who
handed out the knives and she identified it. And there is no dispute there was no
blood on it. The Prosecutor has apparently insisted the fact my knife wasnt used
doesnt prove I didnt kill Sharon Tate at all claiming I could have borrowed
Charles Watsons knife.
Pretty much everyone who knew her has dismissed her as a liar, or more
precisely as a habitual liar. This extends to the media and the public.
Everyone feels that everything she says is a self-serving lie. I also believe that
she is a liar, but is being honest about this. All of the evidence backs her
claims up.
After her testimony to the Grand Jury, an attorney named Richard Cab-
allero wedged himself as a representing public defender on her behalf. He
convinced her to tell him the entire story and let him tape it. During those
sessions, she spoke about the murder of Tate.
Demystifying Susan Atkins 105
So I went over and put Sharon (Tate) in a headlock. Then she began beg-
ging to me to let her go so she could have her baby, and wow, I realized she was
pregnant. Sharon was so quiet. Tex came back in and said Kill her! Then Katie
(Patricia Krenwinkel) like an echo said Kill her! Then I said Tex, I cant kill
her. Youve got to do it. So, Tex stabbed her in the heart again and again.
Richard Caballero then somehow talked her into selling him the rights to
her words and life story. Here is a timeline breakdown of how he took
advantage of her and bled her dry, earning a significant amount of money in
a very short amount of time. This was taken from an article written by Ed
Sanders in the L.A. Free Press publication.

November 18, 1969: Susan Atkins cell mates spill the beans on her con-
versations with them.

November 26, 1969: Richard Caballero shows up to Susan Atkins

hearing in Malibu.

December 1, 1969: Richard Caballero takes Susan Atkins to his office in

the presence of Vincent Bugliosi and records her story.

December 4, 1969: Susan Atkins is taken to Richard Caballeros office for

another taping session. According to Susan Atkins, Caballero attempted to
touch her.

December 5, 1969: Susan Atkins testifies to the Grand Jury of the story she
told Richard Caballero.

December 7, 1969: Richard Caballero announces to the press that he is

afraid Charles Manson will conjure up a vision and hurt his client, Susan
Atkins.

December 8, 1969: Susan Atkins signs over rights to her story to Richard
Caballero including the writing and/or sales of the story of my life. 40% will
go to attorneys, and the rest will be split 40/60 between Caballero and
Atkins.

December 9, 1969: Richard Caballero publishes Atkins confession and

opens an escrow account.

December 10, 1969: Judge Keene issues a gag order on Susan Atkins,
despite presiding over and signing the court orders on her deal with Richard
Caballero. Richard Caballero is officially assigned as Susan Atkins attorney
as a public defender, using county money.
106 The Manson Myth

December 11/12/13, 1969: Time Magazine, Newsweek and LA Times

attempt to buy the rights to Susan Atkins story, but Caballero decides not to
sell it to them because he feels he can make more money selling it to a Euro-
pean publication.

December 14, 1969: Paul Caruso double-deals and sells his xeroxed copy
of Susan Atkins confession to the LA Times, never disclosing the amount.

December 18, 1969: Royalties start to come in to the escrow account cre-
ated by Caballero; $81,000 ($506,000 today) as of July, 1970.

January 22, 1970: Richard Caballero makes Susan Atkins sign over 50%
of her 60% for attorney fees despite being her public defender, paid by the
county.
Its quite obvious why he wanted to defend her and did a horrible
job at it. This conflict of interest would have entitled Susan Atkins to a re-
trial, but in doing so she would again face the death penalty. So she never
sought a new trial. She was caught between justice and the gas chamber.
When justice is 1960s anti-communist and anti-radical justice, I dont
blame her for choosing not to go with a new trial.
I will admit, though, that she was no angel and she was certainly
deserving of prison. But she was obviously a very mentally disturbed indi-
vidual who prided herself others believing she was evil. Then when the
entire world bought the media lies hook, line and sinker, she resented it.
Soon after she left the Grand Jury, her story was being fed to every news-
paper in the nation and they all ran the story.
During the trial itself, she was put back in the spotlight as the one who
confessed these murders to numerous people while in the Sybil Brand Insti-
tute. Ronnie Howard was one of them who testified a false story to the jury
against her. After the fact, she received a nice letter from Susan Atkins.
I am going to save my soul, the body my soul is housed in can be destroyed
for all I care. To live forever is all I want, and I really dont care about that.
When I first heard you were the informer I wanted to slit your throat. I snapped
that I was the real informer and it was my throat I wanted to cut. Well thats
over with now as I let the past die away from my mind. You know it will turn out
okay in the end anyway. M or no M, Sadie or no Sadie. Love will still run
forever. I am giving up me to become that love a little more every day.
Demystifying Susan Atkins 107
No matter what she said, no one believed her. No matter how much she
back-peddaled her story, no one would listen. Even Vincent Bugliosi
hopped on the bandwagon stating that it was Charles Manson who was
ordering her to change her story. Theres no doubt that she talked too much
and even lied. But in this case she was telling the truth and that truth would
not be substantiated until Charles Watson came forward in 1978 admitting
his part in murdering Sharon Tate.
Even in a 1981 interview with OUI Magazine, Bobby Beausoleil summed
her up with very few words: Susan Atkins has a motor mouth.
She did it to herself.
She was convicted of the LaBianca killings despite never even stepping
into the Waverly Drive home. The prosecution stated that she knew about
the murders, therefore she is responsible through the conspiracy law. But
also in that car that delivered the killers was Steve Grogan, who also knew
about the murders, but the prosecution said that he was too stupid to
prosecute for the murders. So stupid that he acted a death penalty convic-
tion, down to a parole date.
She also confessed to many people that she was the killer of Gary
Hinman, which is absolutely absurd. In her book, Child of Satan, Child of
God, she said Charles Manson ordered her to kill Gary Hinman and pro-
grammed her to do so.
Why dont you go kill Gary and get his money? His eyes stared hard into
my face. The tension between us was palpable. But within me, I could hear the
words, Ill show him. Ill show him I can be just as tough as he can. My body
was frozen. I knew I wasnt rational. Ill show him, I had said. I was out of con-
trol. I was a scared young woman. But somehow I sensed Charlie was a scared
little man.
It is a fact that Gary Hinmans slayer was Bobby Beausoleil and he stated
that the murder was over bad drugs, not a large sum of money that Charles
Manson wanted. It makes no sense why she chose to write this version of
events. The only reason that I can think of is that she has convinced herself
that this was the true story.
In the end she was roped into testifying in front of the Grand Jury. She
testified to a story that the prosecution disagreed with, and and subse-
quently they dropped the offer to be States witness. She was back to where
108 The Manson Myth
she started. She also sold her rights to her name and story and subse-
quently was bled dry by her own attorney. The entire world saw her as a
blood-drinking baby killer and she was the only one to blame.
Her Grand Jury testimony was used against her, and rightfully so. Vin-
cent Bugliosi stated in his book, Helter Skelter, that they needed her testi-
mony very badly.
Without Susan Atkins testimony on the Tate case, the evidence against two
out of the five defendants [Manson and Kasabian] is rather anemic. Without her
testimony on the LaBianca case, the evidence against five out of the six defend-
ants [everyone except Van Houten] is non-existent. That was it. Without
[Susan], we still didnt have a case.
She ended up being hated by her own Family, and it seemed that even
before then, they were already growing tired of her. She had a reputation for
having a big mouth and being completely untrustworthy, as Danny
DeCarlo once put it.
When it comes to the crimes, I personally believe that her memory is
cloudy. Her story of what happened after the murders differs from Charles
Watsons version (see chapter: Who is Charles Watson), and she seemed
to want to tell everyone about the murders. She most certainly was not
Charles Mansons favored girl as the media seems to report and the movies
love to portray. Its more accurate that she was so out of control and on
Charles Mansons last nerve that she decided to factionionalize with
Charles Watson and his speed circle, completely disregarding the words of
Charles Manson.
In the Ed Sanders book, The Family, he too painted a picture of the resi-
dents at Spahn Ranch disliking Atkins. July 28, 1968, Bobby Beausoleil and
Diane Lake overheard Susan Atkins telling Spahn Ranch hand Donald Shea
that, Charlie killed a black man and I dont know who else. That was obvi-
ously untrue. When Mary Brunner heard of her motor-mouth, she became
furious and told her that she is going to kill her if she doesnt keep her
mouth shut. She apparently slammed her head against the wall stating that
Shorty knew too much. At least one account of this event put Charles
Manson as the one who did that to Susan Atkins. That was false.
There was also a time when they were on the run after the murders. She,
Charles Manson, and a few others wanted to stay at the Fountain of the
Demystifying Susan Atkins 109
World Church on Box Canyon Road and she had them all kicked out by
running her mouth, calling the sisters the ugliest pigs I ever seen. Charles
Manson had some choice words for her after that.
Again it goes to show you that she was not liked very much at Spahn
Ranch, which explains why Charles Manson actually exiled her from the
Family. Even before that, he sent her, Mary Brunner, and Patricia Kren-
winkel to Mendocino to try and scope out a place to live. She was later
arrested up there for contributing to a minor. That arrest took her out of
Charles Mansons hair for a good 6-8 months. Sources also say he told her
to leave the ranch for using drugs while pregnant with Zeroes Zad-
frack Glutz.
Upon her return to Spahn Ranch, she came back with the Clap,
spreading it to most of the Family. It was written in Nuel Emmas
book, Manson in His Own Words, that She blamed it on Clem, but the girls
beat her up pretty bad for it.
It was said that Juan Flynn had it so bad that it took months to cure him.
Bobby Beausoleil stated that Susan Atkins had it so bad that her feet blis-
tered up and was not able to wear shoes. Yummy.
The fact that Charles Manson sort of exiled her probably made her want
to prove herself to him even more. It also probably drove her towards
Charles Watson and his drug ring. According to the Marlin Mary-
nick book, Charles Manson Now, Charles Manson asked her and Charles
Watson to leave the ranch because they were consuming speedsome-
thing he forbadeand told them to live on the side of the creek. This was
right before the Tate and LaBianca murders.
With all of this said, it doesnt make her look any better. I do hope it will
open peoples eyes and realize that what the media and judicial system
reports isnt always the truth. Susan Atkins is wrongfully branded the
worst so-called Manson girl. This completely ignores the fact that Patricia
Krenwinkel not only took control of the murders, but stabbed close to 100
times. Susa Atkins, she may have only stabbed Frykowskis leg and then
could not follow through, as per Charles Watson.
Even before she met Charles Manson she had the same issues with law
enforcement. She started her life of crime in drugs, armed robberies and
run-ins with the police long before she met Charles Manson and it extended
110 The Manson Myth
past him. Charles Manson did not create Atkins she created herself, the
media fed it.
In 1987 Manson spoke to LIFE Magazine and had this to say about her.
If they let Susie tomorrow, shes still going to be in jail. Shes imprisoned her-
self. Shes playing Jesus for parole. But I got nothing against Susie. I love her. But
I wouldnt want her around me.
Charles Manson also told me that he will forever be bonded to her. He
also has stated that she knew a lot more than she has ever revealed. In fact
before her death in 2009, he told author Marlin Marynick that he begged
her to reveal the truth. He said that she never responded, or perhaps never
even received the letters.
In 1999, author and comedian Paul Krassner wrote an article for Get-
tingIt.com as a part of a 30th anniversary remembrance. He was a good
friend of Lynette Fromme for some time and has researched the case. The
article he wrote mentioned an investigator named Hal Lipsett, and his find-
ings on Susan Atkins and her association with the victims.
When Hal Lipset, the renowned private investigator, informed me a few
years ago that the Los Angeles Police Department seized pornographic films and
videotapes found in Polanskis loft and, additionally, certain LAPD officers were
selling the tapes, that seemed like a clue. One police source told Lipset that there
was seven hours worth of Polanskis homemade porn, and that it was worth a
quarter of a million dollars.
Lipset gave me a litany of those private porn flicks. There was Greg Bautzer,
an attorney for Howard Hughes, with Jane Wyman, the ex-wife of then-Cali-
fornia Governor Ronald Reagan. There was Cass Elliot in an orgy
with Yule Brynner, Peter Sellers, and Warren Beatty. This trio, along with John
Phillips, had offered a $25,000 reward for the capture of the killers. There was
Sharon Tate with Dean Martin. There was Sharon with Steve McQueen. And
there she was with two black bisexual men
The cops werent too happy about that one, Lipset recalled.
I eventually tracked down a reporter who told me that when she was hanging
around with the LAPD, they showed her a porn video of Susan Atkins, one of
Charlies devils, with Voytek Frykowski, one of the victims. This contradicts the
official story, which is that the executioners and the victims had never met until
the night of the massacre.
Demystifying Susan Atkins 111
But apparently the reporter mentioned the wrong victim, because when I
wrote to Charlie and asked directly, Did Susan sleep with Frykowski? he
answered, You are ill advised and misled. Sebring [one of the victims] done
Susans hair and I think he sucked one or two of her dicks. Im not sure who she
was walking out from her stars and cages, that girl loves dick, you know what I
mean, hon. Yul Garretson Brynner, Peter Sellers.
This holds a lot of merit. It is true that videos were found in the
Polanski/Tate residence and even William Garretson, the lone survivor of
the Cielo Drive Massacre, had said he witnessed them making films when
he appeared on the E! Networks Manson special in 1999. The films were
explained by Roman Polanski as private videos of he and his wife. However
according to the Tate homicide report, it stated that victim Jay Sebring was
known for filming videos with girls he had just met. In a Truman Capote
interview with Bobby Beausoleil, he too mentioned these videos and told
Truman Capote to even ask the cops, not they theyd tell you the truth.
In 2009, after battling cancer, Susan Atkins passed away and took the
answers to all of these questions to the grave. I sincerely hope that she found
the peace in her afterlife that she could not find while being alive. She con-
tributed to a lot of horror and she had to do her time in prison. I do believe
that she found God and that she was honest about it. I am also sure she was
forgiven.
Charles Manson never hesitated to call Susan Atkins nasty names. Its
clear that he still held a grudge against her for lying in the first place and
causing them all to get busted. Her confession to Ronnie Howard was all
based-on-truth lies, so he sort of has a point. But he has always said that he
still loved her. In fact, when asked about her death by Crime Magazine in
2009, he said the same.
She believed that Jesus was coming on earth. She was preparing herself for
Jesus on earth. She left the hospital with Jesus. Susie dont die. Susie never dies.
You believe everything people tell you but you wont believe what I tell you. You
know, we go through changes and we change bodies. Susan Atkins is an angel.
Susan Atkins lives in eternity with God. If you believe, she still lives.
I think he is right. Susan Atkins was definitely no saint and I feel like she
had her share of mental issues, but she certainly was not this woman the
112 The Manson Myth
media made her to be. That persona was an image created by the media and
peoples imaginations.

I dont believe this claim that Susan is under a hypnotic spell of
Manson. I think she is just trying to talk her way out of it. Shes sick and
she needs help. I have tried for three years to get the courts to keep her
of the streets; had they done so, this might have never happened. -
Edward Atkins, Susans father
Susan Atkins Grand Jury testimony is sold to the media.
Demystifying Susan Atkins 113
9
Stupid Cupid
Charles Manson and the Family
met Bobby Beausoleil at some par-
ties probably at the now infamous
Spiral Staircase. He said in a 1981
interview with Oui Magazine that he
met him in Topanga Canyon,
around 66. However, this is not
true because Charles Manson was
still in prison in 1966. More accu-
rately, he met him in late 1967 or
1968 when he auditioned for
Mansons band The Milky Way.
I joined a band, The Milky Way, that Charlie was in. Thats how I met him.
He was a very talented songwriter, good musician lyrically, just excellent. He was
somebody with an incredibly intense, vivid expanded imagination because of all
the time hes done.
On his website Beasoleil.net he expanded further.
The best thing, though, was Charlie and his singing, and his kind of Dylan-
esque sounding lyrics. At that time I didnt listen to them too closely, but when I
Bobby Beausoleils retrial March, 1970.
115
did I liked them, I liked the songs. I wanted to work with him and get him into
the studio. He strummed a guitar and he strummed it well, I will say that. He
provided a good rhythmic foundation for his own music. He could have been a
really good drummer, had he gone that way.
He was also working on a film called Mondo Hollywood with Jay
Sebring, who was a victim of Charles Watson in the Cielo Drive massacre.
This may be purely coincidence, but also it may also prove what Manson
has said before; that we all ran in the same circle. Quite recently a man has
even come forward with an allegation that he owns a photo of Charles
Manson with Dennis Wilson, Elvis Presley, and Jay Sebring in the living
room of Presleys home. Think about that.
In the Nuel Emmons book, Manson in His Own Words, he said that when
he met Bobby Beausoleil that the girls just loved him and admired him. He
was an actor and musician with bands called Love, The Grass Roots, and
Orkustra and had sang backup for Frank Zappa. He had a bright future
ahead of him thats if he played his cards right.
He commented that his appeal to Charles Manson was his creativity, not
the girls. He mentions this in an Oui Magazine interview.
Charles Manson was lonely. He used his women to attract a man because he
liked having other men around to do men things with. What man couldnt be
attracted by having the opportunity to go to bed with several womento cater
to his every fantasywhatever? I didnt have that attraction to that group. I
didnt need it. His women could not attract me. He could attract me because I
admired his creativity.
Of course, this sort of breaks the myth that he was a true die-hard
Family member and proves that he was basically there for the girls and for
the companionship of Charles Manson and purely on a creative level.
In a 1970 trial testimony, Paul Watkins testified that his job was to
recruit girls to join the Family and recruited Leslie Van Houten as per
the theory the prosecution laid out. He was lying. Leslie Van Houten was
Bobby Beausoleils girl, and she only stayed with the Family after his
arrest for the Gary Hinman murder. However, she had spent time with
them off and on before then, but only as a guest with Bobby Beausoleil.
116 The Manson Myth
In a 1977 interview, Leslie Van Houten expanded that Charles Manson
respected the fact that she was Bobby Beausoleils girl, and would not speak
to her or touch her. So if this is true, then how did he program her?
When I first met Charlie, he was kind of upset that I was there because I had
been with a friend of hisBobby Beausoleiland he was frightened that my
being therestaying at the ranchwould come between he and this other
fellow.
Not only does this make her a prime candidate to help with the copycat
murders to free Bobby Beausoleil, but it backs up the things Charles
Manson has said pertaining to his respect for Bobby Beausoleil and barely
knowing her. It is a fact that Charles Manson did not even want her there.
He obviously dug Bobby Beausoleil way too much to ruin their friendship.
Charlie made a commitment that he would be willing to die for his family.
And when you make this commitment, its very easy to fall into the trap of: I
would be willing to kill for the Family.
The John Gilmore book, The Garbage People, had an entire chapter dedi-
cated to Bobby Beausoleil. In those pages it painted him as a man who truly
envied Charles Manson, and vise-versa.
According to the Ed Sanders book, The Family, Bobby Beausoleil fol-
lowed Charles Manson to Death Valley in 1968, but hitchhiked out of there
with Paul Watkins as his guidewhen he became bored of the scene.
Not only did he hike out of Goler Wash, but hiked down some unforgiving
terrain that spanned the 6 miles of Goler Wash and 18 miles of the long,
dusty and rocky Wingate Road. This was just to get to the ghost town Bal-
larat. He still had 25 miles to go to the nearest town of Trona. He must have
been very bored. Needless to say, if Charles Manson had any control of his
followers, this wouldnt have happened.
The book John Gilmore, The Garbage People, summed up Bobby Beau-
soleils opinion on the relationship between he and Charles Manson.
Our relationship right from the start was what you might call open-ended.
And right from the start I was sure something was going to be coming down. If
we merged the two personalities, I knew, and so did he with the way he knew
things, that wed indeed raise Hell on earth.
The book also mentioned him meeting Leslie Van Houten and it is
obvious that she was his girl.
Stupid Cupid 117
Leslie claims that Bobby had the most beautiful face on any man shed ever
seen. He was an angel, she says, and I told him I would love him forever. She
told Bobby, Ill go anywhere in the world with you.
He said, Would you come to hell with me? Take me, she said to him.
Although he has denied being a part of the group, in 1973, he actually
told Truman Capote something similar; contradicting his explanation that
he was not a Family member.
Everybody always wants to know how I got together with Manson. It was
through our music. He plays some, too. One night I was driving around with a
bunch of my ladies.
Well, we came to this old roadhouse [The Corral], beer place, with a lot of
cars outside. So we went inside, and there was Charlie with some of his ladies.
We all got to talking, played some together; the next day Charlie came to see me
in my van, and we all, his people and my people, ended up camping out together.
Brothers and sisters. A family.
A year later Leslie Van Houten participated in the LaBianca murders,
part of a string of murders the Family claimed were orchestrated in what
key Family members said was an attempt to make it look like Gary
Hinmans murderer was not Bobby Beausoleil and still at large, thus freeing
him. Leslie Van Houten was not a Manson girl, she was Bobby Beausoleils
girl. In fact she barely knew Charles Manson at the time of the Tate/LaBi-
anca murders. She admitted this in the excerpt of the 1977 interview that I
previously posted.
It is also a fact that Bobby Beausoleil went his separate ways from the
Family many times. He left Barker Ranch in late 1968 and returned to
Spahn Ranch in the Summer of 1969 and he sold the resident motorcycle
gang at Spahn Ranch some bad mescaline that he was supplied from his
friend Gary Hinman. He held Gary Hinman responsible plain and
simple.
In the 1981 Oui Magazine interview he lays it out.
A. Bardach:. Why did you go to Gary Hinmans home on July 25th, 1969?
Bobby Beausoleil: I didnt go there with the intention of killing Gary. If I
was going to kill him, I wouldnt have taken the girls. (Mary Brunner and Susan
Atkins). I was going there for one purpose only, which was to collect $1000 that I
had already turned over to him, that didnt belong to me.
118 The Manson Myth
A. Bardach: When had you given him the $1000?
Bobby Beausoleil: The night before.
A. Bardach: You paid Hinman $1000 for 1000 tabs of mescaline and then
returned to the Spahn Ranch?
Bobby Beausoleil: Right. The whole transaction with the Straight Satans
motorcycle club took place at Spahns Ranch. There were a few Satan Slavers
hanging out there as well. The Straight Satans took the mescaline back to the
motorcycle club at Venice where they were intending to party, they were really
mad about it.
A. Bardach. Why did you bring Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner to the
Hinman house?
Bobby Beausoleil: Because they were friends of Gary Hinman. Mary
Brunner was close to him because she stayed with him for a while. She was as
close as anybody could be with him. The girls didnt even know what was going
on. They just wanted to go and party and see him. No one was going there with
any intention of killing Gary Hinman.
A. Bardach: In neither of your trials, nor in Ed Sanders or Bugliosis books,
is there any mention of the Hinman murder stemming from a drug burn.
Bobby Beausoleil: I never testified about it. I never told anybody. I didnt
know how to deal with it. What happened to me that day was the culmination of
a whole lot of pressures that had been on me for several years.
A. Bardach: Alright. You arrive at Hinmans and asked for your money
back?
Bobby Beausoleil: I demanded it. I wasnt going to take no for an answer. I
had a motorcycle band on my back.
Needless to say, his version of the truth is very much different than the
prosecutions version and wholly contradicts that Charles Manson sent him
there to take $20,000 from Gary Hinman in the name of Helter Skelter.
But when he made it to Gary Hinmans residence, he refused to give him
his money back. Bobby Beausoleil told Oui Magazine that they got into a
scuffle and he beat him up pretty bad. Later on, Gary Hinman threatened to
call the cops, and instead he called Charles Manson for advice on how to
diffuse the situation.
Bobby Beausoleil: He told me that he was going to the police (and tell
them) that I had come and assaulted him to get money from him. I had my back
Stupid Cupid 119
against the wall. He said, Im going to tell the police what you did to me. Up until
that point I had assumed that everything was square between us. This guy is a
drug dealer. Hes playing the game. And if youre going to dance, youve got to
pay the fiddler. You burn somebody, thats the way it is.
A. Bardach: How did Gary Hinman die?
Bobby Beausoleil: Stabbed in the heart twice. He did immediately.
A. Bardach: Did Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner simply stand around and
watch you kill Hinman?
Bobby Beausoleil: Well, no one wanted to kill him. They had just come
along for the ride.
A. Bardach: What did the girls do?
Bobby Beausoleil: They didnt know what to do. He (Gary) was closer to
them than he was to me. Susan Atkins seemed to think, Oh what fun, how inter-
esting. Mary Brunner was just scared to death. Mary Brunner just faded into the
woodwork. She was a librarian. Susan Atkins is now a Jesus freak in jail. She
gave five different testimonies and in one of them, she claimed she killed Hinman.
(laughs.)
A. Bardach: Who actually wrote Political Piggy on the wall in Hinmans
blood?
Bobby Beausoleil : I didnt, but I had it written. Well, it was my idea to do
it. Susan Atkins was on that wall. The whole thing was to take the heat off the
trail. Gary Hinman was into his revolutionary communism. His living room was
a library of Communist literature. I figured Id make it look like one of his
cohorts, you know.
A. Bardach: Make it look like a Black Panther killing?
Bobby Beausoleil: I wasnt thinking about blacks necessarily.
A. Bardach: That was Mansons trip.
Bobby Beausoleil: Its never really been his trip. I mean, hes from the
South. West Virginia. Since hes been in (prison) he gets along with blacks better
than anybody.
As you can read, his first-hand account of the murder is a lot different
than the versions the prosecutions witnesses tell. They obviously testified
hearsay and second-hand information as fact or more accurately were
coerced/extorted/bribed.
120 The Manson Myth
He goes on with his theory in a 1981 interview with Seconds Maga-
zine speculating on how Danny DeCarlo knew about the crime and
claiming that he never talked to him about it.
Bobby Beausoleil: I called the Ranch and got Charlie on the phone and
said, Look, man, youve left me with this problem. You came and cut this guy,
there was no need for that. Its your problem. And he essentially told me, Well,
you know what to do as well as I do. He just kind of put it back in my court.
Seconds: And later that was alleged to be an order from Manson, telling
you to kill Gary.
Bobby Beausoleil: Yes, as in: You know what to do thats how it was
characterized.
Seconds: Which is completely meaningless, really.
Bobby Beausoleil: Similar words in a completely different context.
Seconds: Who testified that he had said this?
Bobby Beausoleil: I dont remember. It was probably Danny DeCarlo. He
was one of the star witnesses against me. The other star witness was Mary
Brunner.
Seconds: What was DeCarlos motivation in testifying?
Bobby Beausoleil: He stood to go to prison for a federal gun charge, and
grand theft auto. I think it was for a stolen motorcycle.
Seconds: He was just trying to save his ass on charges that were absolutely
unrelated to your whole situation.
Bobby Beausoleil: He admitted as much on the witness stand. He testified
that I told him, in a conversation after-the-fact, what had happened. He related,
Well, this is what Bobby told me at the trial, and of course that had never
happenedI never had any such conversation with him. But one of the girls that
had been with me, Susan Atkins, was his live-in girlfriend in his shack out at the
ranch. Now I assume what happened is that she had told him, and he later
changed it to Bobby told me
Seconds: Thats a fair assumption, given her predilection for telling every-
body everything, all the time.
Bobby Beausoleil: No doubt about itits completely in character for her.
Seconds: It seems like she would tell anybody anything they wanted to hear.
Bobby Beausoleil: Seems that way. Mary Brunner testified that she was
there, and that she saw me stab Gary the second time. I stabbed him twice in the
Stupid Cupid 121
chest. I had stabbed him once, and then she heard something and came running
into the room and saw me stab him again. She was threatened with the loss of
her child if she didnt testify. It was insane. Everything about my second trial was
absolutely incredible.
It is true, Mary Brunner testified to elude murder charges of her own in
connection with the Gary Hinman slaying. She also had her baby, Michael
Valentine Pooh Bear Manson, taken from her in an attempt for authorities
to gain leverage in having her turn prosecutions witness against him,
Charles Manson and Bruce Davis. She went with it and testified to what the
prosecution laid out for immunity to murder charges to get her son back.
During that trial she went public with her claims that she was
coerced when she gave Sandra Good her statement to read to the news
cameras.
Friday morning I testified as a witness to Bobby. What I said at that time
was true. Bobby did not stab Hinman and neither did Charlie, Bruce, Sadie or
me. I cant say who did it, but he was not a part of the Family. I would not say
who did it before, and when the police told me that Bobby was blaming it on me
and threatened me with parole violations, and murder charges, and the loss of
my kid, I was frightened and put it on Bobby. I only testified to thing things I said
in the original statement because I was told that I would be prosecuted if I didnt.
The affidavit I made in May is true. And I offered to Mr. Graves to take a lie
detector test, however the judge did not permit it. They said either I cooperate
with the investigators or I be arrested immediately for murder. Judge Keene
doesnt want the truth, he wants the conviction of Bobby and the only other man
he would accept as the killer was Charlie.
Additionally, Mary Brunner went on record in the 2006 documen-
tary, Inside The Manson Gang, with a claim that she was drugged and then
interrogated and threatened with the loss of her son to implicate Charles
Manson and/or Bobby Beausoleil. She also mentioned the fact that
Bobby Beausoleil tried to blame the murder on her.
The Detectives Whiteley and Gunther offered me some kind of drugI cant
remember whichand a couple drinks to get me less nervous. And then they
were seeing about getting my probation violated immediately behind my connec-
tion with the Family. Then they say, Sadies been telling us all about you. Sadie
122 The Manson Myth
said you helped kill Gary Hinman. But, then Bobby said you did all the killing of
Gary Hinman. You got a son, dont you? You got your son to think about.
It was easy to see that once he was connected to Charles Manson, that
Bobby Beausoleil will be easily convicted. When he was convicted,
according to newspapers, Mary Brunner stood up and shouted.
My lawyer told me to go along with you because you indicated Id be arrested
for murder! You are a corruption of the Constitution! I told you that Friday and
I would have stuck with that If you wouldnt have come up with your jackass
statements!
Obviously it was Bobby Beausoleil who killed Gary Hinman, but even he
stated that when all of the friction started, Mary Brunner disappeared off
into the woodwork. But who was the other man there? Was she lying, or
may it have been a Straight Satan who were burned on Gary Hinmans
drugs?
Recently the website BiblicallyIncorrect.com wrote an article on who this
other man may have been.
Bobby Beausoleil didnt kill Gary Hinman out of anger or rage. He didnt
kill him for love or money. In fact, Bobby Beausoleil didnt want to kill Gary
Hinman at all. He had absolutely not motive for killing Gary Hinman except
self-preservation.
Danny DeCarlo gave Bobby a gun and sent him to Gary Hinmans house for
the sole purpose of getting his money back. He told him to use that gun on Gary
Hinman if he didnt give him his money. He told Bobby to act like a man. Danny
scared the beJesus out of Bobby. Bobby knew that if he didnt get Dannys
$1,000 back from Gary Hinman that Danny and his motorcycle gang, the
Straight Satans, were going to be coming after Bobby.
Bobby was a 20 year-old kid in fear for his life when he went over to Gary
Hinmans. He wasnt afraid of Charlie Manson. He was afraid of Danny
DeCarlo and his motorcycle gang. He knew that if he failed in this mission, or
ran, that he was going to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. And,
one day this motorcycle gang would catch up with him and torture him to
death or worse yet they would go after his family.
In Danny DeCarlos testimony he put Charles Manson at the top as the
man who ordered Bobby Beausoleil to kill Gary Hinman. Bobby Beausoleil
vehemently denies this and aside from his trialwhere he actually blamed
Stupid Cupid 123
it all on Charles Manson, saying he killed Gary Hinmanhe has stuck to
this story for 40 years. His reason for blaming it on Charles Manson during
the trial was based on the fact that he had already been given the death pen-
alty for the Tate and LaBianca slayings, and he figured the Charles Manson-
made-me-do-it plea would get him off scott-free. He explains this on his
website Beausoleil.net in a small taste of his upcoming book Dead End.
I had rationalized that it would be better for my parents and siblings if they
believed that I hadnt killed anyone. My decision to create an elaborate deceit
would never rest easy with me. Even then, as I examined my face in the mirror,
my misgivings heckled me; the inner voice, unbidden, like a distant shout: liar!
Time and times innumerable that voice would be silenced. I insisted that I was
innocent (liar!), that it was really Charlie who had done that awful thing
(liar!). I lied to myself most of all, rationalizing that that rationalization was
valid (liar!), when deep down I knew that I had told the big lie because I was a
cowardbecause I lacked the courage to look my parents and my brothers and
sisters in the eyes and tell them the truth.
In the Nuel Emmons book, Manson in His Own Words, he tells a similar
story on why Gary Hinman was killed.
For several weeks, Bobby was moving Garys stuff off on a group of bikers,
without any problems. But one morning three of the bikers came riding into the
ranch and wanted to see Bobby. The bikers said the latest batch of stuff he had
sold them was bad, laced with poison. Some of their own group had gotten
deathly ill and some of the people they sold to were also sick. They wanted their
money back. Bobby told them to give him the unused mescaline and he would
return it to his connection and then give their money back. It was bad shit and
we dumped it. Just give us $2,000 back, said the leader. Man, I cant buy that,
my connection wont go for it, replied Bobby. The leader said, Tell us where
your connection is, well get our bread.
I spoke up, You guys know better than that. Well see our man, if he thinks
the shit could have been bad, hell make it good for you. Give us time to talk to
him. Three guys fired up their bikes and pulled out of the yard, saying they
wanted to hear from us the next day. Bobby and I discussed the validity of their
complaint. None of our group had gotten sick, but we werent sure if we had used
the same batch. The only thing to do was to go talk to Gary about it
124 The Manson Myth
So what happened to Gary Hinman after Charles Manson arrived?
He has stated that Charles Manson never gave the orders for Gary Hinman
to be killed, and the prosecutions reasoning behind the murder was wrong.
He did claim (see chapter: False Witness - Danny DeCarlo) that
Danny DeCarlo was the one who told him to go get his money and how to
do it. Danny DeCarlo was a part of the motorcycle gang The Straight
Satans, whom had been burned with the bad drugs. He also said the sword
Charles Manson used to cut Gary Hinman was given to him by The Straight
Satans. In 1998, he laid it out for Seconds Magazine.
Bobby Beausoleil: He had a couple of beat-up vehicles, however. A Fiat
with a Toyota engine and a VW bus with a smashed-in front. They were both
junkers, but I figured that between the two of them they might be worth a thou-
sand bucks, so I said, How about those two cars? and he signed over the pink
slips for the two wrecks. Im figuring the business is concluded, weve balanced the
score as well as we can and Ive got something at least which I can take back, and
hopefully it will be good enough. What I didnt know was that while Gary and I
had been wrestling over the gun, one of the girls had called the Ranch. They
didnt tell me afterward. Gary and I were in this tense situation, and I didnt
know that one of them had called the Ranch. Shortly after all this, while Im con-
cluding business with Gary and getting ready to leave, suddenly someone comes
to the door. At this point the gun was put away, and Gary was not being held
against his will. Hed got a couple of lumps on the top of his head from being hit
with the gun, but other than that he was unscathed. There was a bullet hole in
his kitchen sink, but we were both okay with walking away from it and letting it
go at that. He was not real happy about losing his vehicles, but he was writing
them off. Now suddenly there was someone at the door, and Gary answered it. It
turned out to be Manson, with Bruce Davis standing behind him. Now following
my previous line of conjecture, I would assume that Manson believed that Gary
was still in control of the situation, because Gary answered the door. Manson
didnt give him a chance to say anything more than Hi, Charlie before he struck
Gary across the face with a sword.
Seconds: Manson had brought a sword with him?
Bobby Beausoleil: Yes, it was a little, short sword that one of the Straight
Satans had given to him. It was something he affected at that time, and hed
brought it with him and slashed Gary across the face with it. He walked in and
Stupid Cupid 125
kind of blustered around for a few minutes. I assume he realized his mistake
fairly shortly thereafter.
Seconds: You had the situation resolved and then it suddenly erupts in a
whole other direction.
Bobby Beausoleil: Yes, and now Ive got a situation where Gary had a
severe slash across his face and a kind of nick where the sword had cut his ear. I
heard Manson say something to me like, Thats how you be a man. He called
this showing me how to be a man. Then he and Bruce left. Gary was bleeding
pretty badly from his face, and I didnt know what to do. The girls were still
there, but Manson had left. He was gone in five minutes or less. One of them,
either he or Bruce, drove one of Garys vehicles away. I dont remember how or
why this came about.
Seconds: Did Manson see what hed done as just an act of taking control of
the situation?
Bobby Beausoleil: I guess. Like I said, I can only assume that he thought
his girls were in jeopardy, and he had to come and save the day. He slashed Gary
across the face before hed given himself enough time to really assess what was
going on, because had he done that, he would have realized that Gary didnt
have the gun, and wasnt threatening anyone and there was no need to slash
anyone across the face. But what resulted from this was that now I had a severely
wounded guy on my hands who Im afraid is going to go to the cops. He wanted
to get medical treatment, understandably, and he wanted to go to the hospital. I
didnt want him to go to the hospital, because I knew if he did, that would bring
the cops in. I was in a panic, and the only thing I could think of to do was to try
to fix him up myself. Id had some experience sewing up my dog, Hocus. I wanted
to try to just cool him out. I was desperate. It was a desperate effort to try to
make things right with Gary so that he wouldnt go to the cops. He would seem
to cool out for awhile, he would chant for a while, and then he would decide, No,
this is isnt gonna workI need to get to the hospital.
Seconds: The situation had spiraled out beyond any point of salvaging it.
Bobby Beausoleil: So it seemed to me at the time. I didnt know what to do.
I drove back to the Spahn Ranch with the two girls in the VW bus. Now how all
this evolved into the theory that Manson ordered me to kill Gary .
Seconds: Which is what is claimed in Bugliosis book?
126 The Manson Myth
Bobby Beausoleil: Thats what was alleged at my trial. That was the sort
of framework that the prosecution was trying to establish as the explanation for
the so-called Manson Family Tate/LaBianca murders, that Manson was
directing everything and issuing orders, and that I was under his orders.
That being said, he lays it out as a drug burn that spiraled out of control.
Charles Manson tried to step inprobably in place Danny DeCarloand
save the day. He explained that one of the girls called Charles Manson at the
ranch, and in my opinion he may have thought it was the Bernard Crowe
(see chapter: Who is Charles Watson?) situation repeated. Sadly, Charles
Manson ended up taking the fall for masterminding the entire situation.
Bobby Beausoleil summed up his attitude during this point of his life as
being just a greasy kid in a greasy leather jacket and boots, with chips on
both shoulders the size of ammunition boxes. Charles Manson did not
make Bobby Beausoleil.
After his trial, he has tried to be as vocal as he could be defending the
fact that Charles Manson was not involved. He sums up the reason for the
prosecution getting Charles Manson into his case as merely a money
move. And I believe that to be true. Look at how much money one man
mad off of Susan Atkins (see chapter: Demystifying Susan Atkins) with
just a little pull.
In 1981, he explained it to Oui Magazine.
That was the prosecutions theory because they wanted to get Manson into
the act. They tried every trick in the book and Ill tell you why. The Tate/Labi-
anca Murder fell under jurisdiction under the Los Angeles Police Department.
However, Shorty Shea and Gary Hinmans murders both came into jurisdiction
of the Sheriffs Department/LASO and the Sheriffs department were in compe-
tition. Actually Hinmans ear was never cut off- never gone. It was more that his
cheek was sliced that intersected the edge of his ear and you can see it in his
autopsy report. That slash on his face occurred the night before he died. Bugliosi
told the jury Manson cut his ear off, but its there in the autopsy [report]. You see
the Sheriffs Homicide Department wanted to get Manson involved with my case,
which was very difficult because Manson was not involved.
What would he have to gain by this lie? He has everything to lose and it
makes absolutely no sense that he would lie to protect Charles Manson,
while hurting every chance he has for parole. And I do believe that he has a
Stupid Cupid 127
small chance for parole. While he doesnt blame Charles Manson, he has
said over the years that he is quite bitter towards the Family, including
Charles Manson.
His first trial ended with a hung jury and there was a good chance that
hed be acquitted. But once they connected him to Charles Manson, he was
convicted instantly. Its obvious that he resents that connection and that
connection, he believes, was the reason he was convicted and still in prison.
It is true.
During the trial for the Stockton Murders in 1973, he was asked to speak
as a character witness for the defendants which included some former
Manson Girls. Other character witnesses included other incarcerated
Family members namely Charles Manson. When he took the stand he
used his time to express his contempt with the system and the people he
was connected with.
Im at war with everybody in this courtroom. Its nothing personal, but you
better pray I never get out.
Simply put: he is not protecting anyone but himself and certainly not
Charles Manson. It was written on Beausoleil.net on how he really felt about
the fictitious Helter Skelter theory and discredited it as merely an attack
on the 60s hippie subculture, much like the Kent State shootings.
I guess because I know the truth, to me that explanation seems ridiculously
simplified. How can anybody not see through that? Murder by Beatles records
this is what happens if you listen to Beatles records and take LSD!? What
could be a more blatant attempt to discredit the youth movement of the 60s
than that? To use that theory as the basis of convicting these people stretches
credibility to the breaking point. All of those books that were written about those
eventsBugliosis, Ed Sanders, and othershave a certain thread of factual
truth, these collections of facts. I suppose these chronological recordings of events
that happened are reasonably accurate in terms of these facts, but the real truth
of it does not come through those books.
Thats happened at my parole hearings as well. On more than one occasion
Ive seen Vincent Bugliosis book, Helter Skelter, sitting right there on the table in
front of the D.A. attending the hearing, where you can be sure that everyone in
the hearing room is going to see it. And then, despite the fact that he wasnt even
working in the district attorneys office at the time when I was convicted, he
128 The Manson Myth
begins this account of what he believed my relationship with Manson to be, based
vaguely on something that is in this book not based on the facts of my crime
or the evidence that was presented at my trial. Its just conjecture, presented as
truth.
That wasnt brought about by any sort of death cult or any sort of Satan
worship or any of those things that were alleged. None of those things were hap-
pening. There were more guns around; there were more hard people around
the bikers and so forth. But that was because of the times and also the fact that
all communes, and any groups of mostly young people, were targeted by law
enforcement for harassment, at the very least. So there was a certain element of
desperation that was present with everyone involved in the youth movement, it
extended pretty much across the board. This was because of the backlash, this
threat from law enforcement and politics and all of that. The National Guard
went onto a college campus and shot four kids this is what was going on in
those times!
In 1981, he told Oui Magazine something similar.
A. Bardach: How accurate are the descriptions of Manson and the family in
Bugliosis Helter Skelter and Ed Sanders The Family?
Bobby Beausoleil: They are both so pathetic because neither one took the
proper approach to begin to understand what happened. Everything gets lost in
blood and guts, devil worship, all that stuff that never went on. This satanic crap
and brainwave master never went on. These things were taken out of light-
hearted conversations. There is truth in all these books. There are facts. Period.
A. Bardach: Where did the writers go wrong?
Bobby Beausoleil: They were never in a situation where they experienced
that kind of desperation.
A. Bardach: Describe that kind of desperation.
Bobby Beausoleil: The desperation which leads somebody to go out and
almost Yeah. Kill crazily. Just throw away their lives and murder people.
A. Bardach: What created this so-called desperation?
Bobby Beausoleil: They were a bunch of people with their backs against
the wall. This wasnt mere discontent. This was lunacy. At least in their minds,
they were at the end corner of the world. They couldnt travel any more together
without a caravan of law enforcement people behind them. The only place left to
go was the desert. They were at the end of the edge of the world and they were
Stupid Cupid 129
scared to death of being pushed off the edge. The desert is death. They wound up
in Death Valley trying to live off the bugs.
Upon his conviction, Judge Keene stated that he felt no remorse for Gary
Hinmans murder, in which he struck back with venom.
Youre right when you say I have no remorse. Because the definition of
remorse is a strong feeling of guilt and I have none. Let me quote my favorite
book: He who judges his brother, shall be judged. He who leads into captivity,
shall be lead into captivity.
When the bailiffs lead him out he shouted at Judge Keene, You cant
judge me. Only God can judge me and God is on my side!
Later when asked about this by Oui Magazine, he excused it by admitting
that it was pure cockiness.
My biggest mistake was simply in killing Gary Hinman. I told the judge that
I didnt feel any remorse, because I wouldnt give him that satisfaction. Thats
the only reason I told him that. As far as Im concerned, that man is a helluva lot
more diabolical than Charlie Manson ever was.
But the thing is Ive felt a great deal of remorse within me. Ive worshipped life
my whole life. Whats heartbreaking to me more than anything else is that
killing Gary Hinman has negated all of my creative efforts. The world doesnt
concentrate on anything other than that one mistake I made in my life. And it
was a big mistake. You cant give a life back.
After reading this chapter along with the chapters; Why Welter Skelter
Doesnt Fit, Who is Charles Manson?, and Demystifying Susan Atkins,
give it some good thought. If you still think that the murders were for what
the prosecution theorized (to spark a race war Manson dubbed Helter
Skelter) or a more simplified copycat string to mirror the murder of Gary
Hinman in hopes he would be freed from jail on the premise of reasonable
doubt. If the shoe fits, wear it. I find it humorous that people so quickly dis-
count this motive when it is the motive that Bobby Beausoleil, Charles
Manson, Susan Atkins and even Charles Watson have admitted. Even if
Helter Skelter was being discussed, it does not mean the killings were in
the name of Helter Skelter.
That excuse is just way too convenient.
As a bookend to this chapter I will explain some of the more obvious sim-
ilarities between the murders. Vincent Bugliosi told the jury that there no
130 The Manson Myth
similarities between the Gary Hinman and the Tate/LaBianca slayings.
Other than the physical evidence, its impossible to ignore the participants
and the fact that during the trial, Leslie Van Houten even claimed to have
been at the Gary Hinman murder. She even contradicted Susan Atkins tes-
timony that she was the one who stabbed Hinman because he fired a shot at
Charles Manson and feared for his life.
We all know that Susan Atkins did not kill Hinman. But was Leslie Van
Houten at the Gary Hinman murder? I say it is unlikely, but it should be
considered. Not all of the participants were named in the Donald Shea
murder and Steve Grogan was not mentioned in the LaBianca slayings.
It would make sense that she would have participated in the LaBianca
slayings because of her infatuation with Bobby Beausoleil. But it would
make even more sense if she was at the Gary Hinman slaying.
Hinman murder scene:

Victim has multiple stabs in chest

Gary Hinmans blood on wall Political Piggie

Gary Hinmans cheek is slashed

Pillow over Hinmans head

Gary Hinman dealt drugs

House was in disarray

Gary Hinman burned Bobby Beausoleil on drugs

Participants: Bobby Beausoleil, Susan Atkins, Mary Brunner

Tate/Labianca murder scenes:

Blood on walls, similar phrases

Chest stab wounds

Abigail Folgers cheek is slashed

Sharon Tate has a cut on her cheek

Pillow cases over victims heads

Wojciech Frykowski & Sebring were drug dealers

Rosemary LaBianca may have been a suspected dealer

Both homes were in a disarray

Bobby BeauSoleil hinted that Wojciech Frykowski burned them on

drugs
Stupid Cupid 131

Participants: Leslie Van Houten (Bobby Beausoleils girl), Susan Atkins,

Patricia Krenwinkle, Charles Watson (owed Bobby Beausloleil his life via
Charles Manson), Linda Kasabian (Charles Watsons girl)
Not only were these crimes similar, but probably the only fact they were
not connected was the fact that the Los Angeles investigators would not
cooperate with the Malibu investigators. Remember that the LASO would
not even link the LaBianca slayings with the Tate slayings. They blew them
off as coincidences or copycats. From day one, the investigators refused to
work with each other. But when the media became involved, and the case
had become world news, it seems like every county in California where the
Family had been were in a scurry to find unsolved cases to pull the publi-
city their way.
In the early 1990s, Charles Manson and other Family members spoke
with a German crew for a documentary called, ManSon: Menschesohn. In
that documentary Sandra Good explained in more detail than before exactly
why the murders were committed. She stated that the murders were indeed
to free Bobby Beausoleil, but were also as a statement that the Family as a
whole were at war with the system.
The main reason, the main catalyst for those killings was to get a brother,
Bobby Beausoleil, out of jail. Hed been arrested for killing Gary Hinman. Tex
and Susan Atkins owed Charlie favors. He had put his life on the line a number
of times for Susan Atkins, he had helped Tex out of a real sticky situation. When
Bobby got arrested for the Hinman murder, everybody wanted to get Bobby out.
Charlies strong thought, coming from years in prison, means you stand by
friends, you stand by your brother. He was raised by war veterans, World War
II, World War I. Brotherhood. Brotherhood goes deep. There is a time to kill,
believe it or not- its called war. When those young people went out to do what
they did for Bobby, there were other reasons for killing also which I can speak of
because I was complicit and I can explain to you our war on the system.
One more valid thing to point out is that it is a fact that the Family
was connected to Gary Hinman in early 1968, and through drugs. In the
arrest report for the May, 1968 arrest of Charles Manson, Sandra Good,
Susan Atkins, and many others, Sandra Good implicates Gary Hinman as
the man who sold them the capsules that were in their possession. Theres
132 The Manson Myth
no doubt in my minddespite what Hinmans family and the prosecu-
tion claimsthat he indeed sold drugs.
Isnt it kind of weird how most of these murders and shootings revolved
around a person or people who sold drugs? No coincidence at all. One
common thread in the entire Manson Gang saga is that there were enor-
mous amounts of drugs being bought, sold and consumed.

[Manson] had his people, I had mine. If anybody was influenced, it
was him. By me. - Bobby Beausoleil

Stupid Cupid 133
Slashed cheeks and blood writing werent the only things that linked Gary Hinmans murder to the Tate/LaBianca murders.
134 The Manson Myth
10
Bruce McGregor Davis
Bruce Davis first met Charles
Manson in 1967, while he was
heading to North California.
They both quickly realized that
they had a lot in common they
promised to meet again at a
later time.
Authors Howard Davis and Bill
Nelson both suspect that during this
time he was actively murdering and
terrorizing innocent people and pub-
licly bragged about it. The
media dubbed this killer The
Zodiac Killer. Both Howard Davis
and Bill Nelson believe that he may have had a hand in at least some of the
killings. In fact Howard Davis wrote a very compelling book about it called
The Manson/Zodiac Connection discussing the parallels with the Zodiac
Case with Bruce Davis and his activity with the Family.
Bruce Davis turns himself in on two murder counts on
December 2, 1970.
135
In 2010, Bruce Davis told me that he made it to California in about 1962
and by 1966 he was living in Anaheim, California. This was about the same
time a woman named Cheri Jo Bates was murdered a Zodiac killing.
Before his time in California, he grew up and lived in Tennessee. He left
Tennessee after he and his father had a falling out and did not get to see his
father until 1967 right before he passed away. Bruce Davis told me that it
was devastating and he began to medicate with hard drugs and acting out
violently much like his father. He was so well known in school that the
tag under his 1961 high school yearbook photo was Angry Young Man.
In 2011, he and I were discussing how pivotal parenting is in how a child
turns out. He agreed with me on that and while he did not blame his father
for the crimes that he committed, he stated that his fathers influence on
him did not help at all.
Grandaddy was a harsh and violent person and Daddy inherited it from
him. He was a hard drinker and a fighter. He met Mama in Mobile, Alabama in
1940. GrandmamaMamas momdied during the birth of my uncle and
Granddaddy fell apart. Mama was the eldest child and took it upon herself to
help support the kids. My sister was born ins 1941 and I in 1942. My parents
marriage was chaos from the start and didnt get much better until my father
passed away in 1968.
Daddy was mean when sober and worse when drunk. His example to me was,
Do whatever you want just dont get caught. When I visited Tennessee in
1967 with Manson, Daddy was very different. I was still hurt and angry. He
gave me the use of his Buick Riviera and credit card I knew something was
different, but I didnt care. The next year he died, he was only 55. I was still
angry and did not attend his funeral.
The Tate Family Legacy website wrote that Bruce Davis had not only
been molested by his uncle at age 12, but raped by his English teacher at age
13. This may have contributed to his approach on the lifestyle he sought,
and the lifestyle he lived at Spahn Ranch, however it does not excuse it.
He has admitted that his draw to the Family was indeed the girls,
motorcycles, guns and drugs. He also stated that he saw a father-figure in
Charles Manson, even though Charles Manson was only a few years older
than him. It was said at his 1994 parole hearing that in Charles Mansons
absence, he ran the Family. This is probably true. In fact, during Charles
136 The Manson Myth
Watsons 1971 trial, Charles Watson and Brooks Poston said the same
thing.
Charles Watson testified that, Bruce was always real loud, loud talking,
and he was just running around kind of trying to be Charlie all of the time
putting out all he would do is just go around preaching Charlies philos-
ophy all the time, you know. He was trying to be Charlie.
And later, when Brooks Poston was called as a witness against him, he
was asked about Bruce Davis and his response mirrored that of Charles
Watson.
It seemed to me that Bruce was competing with Charlie. He was trying to be
an equal with Charlie or even he was loud-mouthed.
But Bruce would interrupt Charlie when he was talking and he talked in a
real loud voice, and it seemed like that he like the power that he had when
Charlie wasnt around because he could have one of the girls run and fetch him
something.
Ironically, in the 2006 documentary, Inside the Manson Gang, film
director Robert Hendrickson spent time with the Family. During their
music jam and tripping session he remarked to Catherine Share how similar
Bruce Davis looked and talked compared to Charles Manson. She then
remarked back to him, I told you we were all going to be here tonight.
One of the times I spoke with Bruce Davis he told me that doesnt hate
or blame Charles Manson at all. He also shocked me with a statement he
made that completely contradicts what he tells his parole board when I
asked him if he would have turned himself in if he was never indicted on
murder charges. He tells his parole board that he is genuinely sorry for his
actions and I am positive that he is. But he told me in 2010, What would
I have done if I beat the murder case? Likely, I would have walked away
thinking I was pretty hip, slick and cool.
This may seem like an honest, simple statement. But to me, this sounds
like he is acknowledging that he was working on his own and not by the
program of Charles Manson, as he tells his parole board. To me he is
saying he would have gone on with how he was living his life prior.
One thing that I have always wondered, was if the Family using Bruce
Davis as a substitute for Charles Manson? It was said in the Ed Sanders
book, The Family, that he not only intentionally acted like Charles Manson
Bruce McGregor Davis 137
but could sing just like him and was an excellent musician. He would also
preach with the same mannerisms and wording. Basically he was Charles
Manson.
My opinion is that he was so envious of Charles Mansons life at Spahn
Ranch and his music, that he wanted to be Charles Manson. And when
Charles Manson was arrested in November of 1969 for the final
time, according to the book The Family, he stepped in to sort of lead and
direct the Family. This leadership didnt last long because in 1970, he was
indicted for the murders of Gary Hinman and Shorty Shea and this pushed
him into hiding.
At his 1994, parole hearing he stated that when the murders started hed
known Charles Manson about a year, but had only been with him 2 or 3
months all together. So whatever he had done, he did at his own will. He
had the ability to come and do when he pleased. He left and returned
because he wanted to. This guy was under no ones control.
In 2013, author Nikolas Schreck was interviewed by Star City Radio, and
he stated that during his decades of research on the case that Bruce Davis
was very actively travelling. That was something that Bruce Davis had also
told me and commented about how beautiful Africa was. Nikolas Schreck
also stated that, He (Bruce Davis) got involved with the IRA Irish Repub-
lican Army, he smuggled the drugs through Ireland, and got into Man-
chester.
For those unaware, the Irish Republican Party had formed in 1969 and
were responsible for violent acts such as bombings, robberies, murder, kid-
nappings, and drug smuggling.
I personally have never found any evidence to substantiate this claim, but
I am the first to admit that what I dont know about the case could fill Death
Valley.
It is widely known that he was a Scientologist and a lot of his philoso-
phies rubbed off on Charles Manson. Charles Manson also studied Scien-
tology a little bit while being in prison, but here was Bruce Davis a full-
fledged Scientologist who not only went to their churches, but traveled to
England to help the cause. Throughout 1967 and 1968 he would come and
go from the Family, doing Lord knows what. Author Howard Davis sus-
pects that he was masquerading as the Zodiac Killer during these hiatuses.
138 The Manson Myth
When he finally returned to Spahn Ranch, he claimed it was after the
Bernard Crowe shooting and the entire Ranch was in a panic waiting for a
retaliation. He subsequently helped the Family prepare for their exodus to
Death Valley, and was a part of the Gary Hinman murder. The gun
Bobby Beausoleil took was his and Bobby Beausoleil (see chapter: Stupid
Cupid) says he called him to come and get Gary Hinmans car(s). Bruce
Davis recalls it at his 1978 parole hearing.
Heres what happened: I did buy the gun. Bobby took the gun when he left
initially from the ranch. When I got to the house Bobby still had the gun. I may
have had the gun in my hand. He might have handed me the gun. I know I didnt
put it on the man while Charlie did whatever he was supposed to have done. I
wasnt even when that happened, I wasnt present. I was there but I didnt have a
gun on me.
I was in the kitchen looking at, there was other people in the house. And they
had a scuffle. Something was going on. I didnt see it. But when I got back Gary
had like a towel or something like this on his head. I dont know. But there
was you know, like he had been cut or something.
He has never denied his connection to the Gary Hinman or Donald Shea
murders; he also only admits he was at the Gary Hinman house prior to the
murder, which I believe is true. However, I dont believe he is being com-
pletely honest about the murder of Spahn Ranch hand Donald Shea.
In his 1977 psychiatric evaluation, he stated that, I didnt kill them, I am
not sure [Shorty] Shea is dead, which is pure bullshit. He knew Donald
Shea was dead. He was the one responsible for stashing the car owned by
Donald Shea.
And he again spoke about it at his 1993 parole hearing.
I was right there. I cut him on the shoulder after he was dead.
Again, he insinuates that he knew Donald Shea was dead in his 1994
parole hearing.
I stayed in the car for quite a while but then I went down the hill later on and
thats when I cut Shorty on the shoulder with the knife, after he was well, I
dont know I I dont know if he was dead or not. He didnt bleed when I cut
him on the shoulder.
It was mere days before the Family left Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth
and headed to Death Valley in a convoy of stolen trucks, dune buggies and
Bruce McGregor Davis 139
semi-trucks full of supplies. Bruce Davis joined them and lived in Death
Valley until their bust on October 12, 1969. He was arrested, booked and
released a few days later and boy was he active.
November 5, 1969, he was staying in Venice Beach with other Family
members Catherine Gillies, Madaline Cottage, Sue Bartell, Nancy Pitman
and John Phillip Haught (a.k.a. Christopher Zero Jesus) at Mark Ross
home. Mark Ross was director Robert Hendricksons connection to The
Family. He was an actor that was starring as Jesus Christ in the movie Well,
Here I am. He was often seen with the Family during the early days of the
trial and Charles Manson later entrusted the rights to his music to him. But
again, I digress.
John Phillip Haught had run with Charles Manson and the gang in Death
Valley prior to the arrests and according to sources, may have known too
much. On that day, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head
or so they told the police.
Madaline Cottage said that she had been lying in bed next to him when
he noticed the gun in the leather case, picked it up and removed the gun
from the case. She said that he had spun the cylinder and placed the gun
muzzle to his right temple and fired.
The others said, Cottage exclaimed that Zero had shot himself, just like
in the movies. They then called the police.
Bruce Davis told the officers that he had indeed picked up the gun. When
the gun was dusted later for prints, neither John Phillip Haught or his prints
were found. The leather case was also devoid of prints. It was obviously
wiped down probably to hide key evidence. So, I ask why?
Later a author and case researcher Bill Nelson would state that he was
told that Bruce Davis prints were actually found on the gun. Theres no
proof of this. The gun was found to have been fully loaded. The officers
were also not aware that Bruce Davis and the girls were members of the
Manson Family. So, no further investigation happened.
Almost a month later, they connected this suicide with the Family
and on December 3, 1969, the papers ran the story.
Suicide Youth Member of Hippie Cult
The youth was identified as Christopher Jesus, 20, shot himself in the head
while playing Russian Roulette with a fully-loaded revolver.
140 The Manson Myth
We have the death listed as a suicide, said a detective. The gun was fully
loaded; he would have to be blind to not have seen that.
November 21, 1969, two more murders happened. During the Manson
Trial, the newspapers ran articles trying to link the murders of Doreen Gaul
and James Sharp to the Family. They dubbed the murders The Scientology
Murders. The Manson/Zodiac Connection book had a lot of information
about the Gaul/Sharp murders and a lot of circumstantial evidence that
pointed towards Bruce Davis.
On November 21, 1969, the bodies of James Sharp, 15, and Doreen Gaul,
19, were found in an alley in downtown Los Angeles. The two had been killed
elsewhere then dumped there. Each had been stabbed over 50 times. Both James
Sharp and Doreen Gaul were Scientologists, the latter a Scientology clear who
had been residing in a Church of Scientology commune less than two miles from
the Labianca residence. According to several sources, Doreen Gaul was a former
girlfriend of Manson Family member Bruce Davis, who, like Manson himself,
was an ex-scientologist. [Davis] disappeared shortly after being questioned
[about another murder].
According to the book Helter Skelter, they were stabbed 50 times each,
and Doreen Gaul was beat with a motorcycle chain. There were motorcycle
parts found near the dump site of Marina Habe (see chapter: Who is
Charles Watson?) and she too was stabbed multiple times a trademark
of the Family murders. Bruce Davis denied knowing Doreen Gaul, but
admitted he dated several women from her boarding house.
Much later, when he was questioned about these murders and offered
immunity if he would confess, he retorted with a cocky statement, I am not
very impressed with your offer of immunity since I am serving a life sen-
tence for two murders. I will be the first to admit that this makes him sound
guilty, but I also think that people like Bill Nelson has over-analyzed that
statement.
It was also stated that he was also heard saying that he was going to get
Manson out of jail, or kill somebody around the time of the murders of
Doreen Gaul and James Sharp. There is also a possibility that Charles
Watson may have had something to do with them with or without Bruce
Davis.
Bruce McGregor Davis 141
Realistically the possibility that Bruce Davis killed them is pretty small,
but there is still that small chance that he did. There has been other suspects
in the murders and suspects that fit a little better than he does. But the facts
are that he does fit enough to have been a viable suspect.
I will say though, that there is a lot of evidence that points away from
Bruce Davis as the killer. But it doesnt help his case that a few days after the
murders, November 24, 1969, he again left for London to work at the Scien-
tology Headquarters; or was it to flee after a string of murders?
A week after he flees to London, December 2nd, 1969, Family member
Sandra Goods husband Joel Dean Pugh, 29, was found dead in a hotel
room at the Talgarth Hotel in West Kensington. His throat was slit twice,
his forehead was bruised, and there were slash marks on both wrists. Two
bloody razor blades were lying near the body a suicide.
Hotel Manager Joseph Falk said he found it unusual on the morning of
December 2nd, when the maid found his door locked. Joseph Falks seven
year old son would often visit Joel Dean Pugh and they would read comics
together and he never locked his door. This made it quite easy for an
intruder to enter without leaving any forced entry evidence.
Later that afternoon Joseph Falk unlocked his doorwhich was oddly
lockedwith his passkey, but could not fully open the door feeling a
weight on the other side. He saw blood on the walls and immediately called
the police.
According to the Pathologist Dr. Richard Pearce, there were no wounds
that could not have been self-inflicted. But there was no sign of struggle or
violence. The Coroner John Burton therefore concluded that he had taken
his own life. The constable did not try to find prints in the room or on the
window.
A letter from an unknown Family member, found in Sandra Goods
vacated motel room in Independence, California read, I would not want
what happened to Joel to happen to me.
Bruce Davis was in England at this time, and was back in Los Angeles
some time before February 24, 1970, when he was arrested in Bakersfield,
California in an attempt to buy firearms with a fake license.
He attached himself with the Family once again and appeared in the
1973 documentary, Manson, and regularly attended Charles Mansons hear-
142 The Manson Myth
ings at City Hall. During the filming of that documentary, a warrant for his
arrest was issued and with the help of the Family, he hid out presumably
in Death Valley and maybe even in the sewers of Los Angeles with Nancy
Pitman, who was wanted for forgery charges. When I asked him where he
actually was during that time, he never answered.
During this time, Charles Manson had become unhappy with one of the
defense attorneys, Ronald Hughes, and told him I never want to see you in
this courtroom again. He failed to appear when court resumed on
November 30th, 1970. This was not the first delay in the trial caused by
him, who was trying his first jury case. In his absence, the trial went on and
this was one of the key reasons that Leslie Van Houten being granted a re-
trial.
On December 2nd, 1970, Bruce Davis and Nancy Pitman turned them-
selves in to a media frenzy of newsmen at the Hall of Justice.
Missing Member of Manson Hippie Family Surrenders
The fugitive family member, barefoot, bearded Bruce Davis, 27, made a dra-
matic street corner surrender Wednesday amidst a crowd of newsman and gig-
gling Manson girl followers. He had been sought for nine months on murder
charges of the musician Gary Hinman.
His companion Brenda McCann, 18, also surrendered on an outstanding
warrant. She and Davis were reportedly married recently in Las Vegas, Nev.
Asked what relation his surrender might have to Mansons trial, Davis said,
He would do it for me. They want to kill bodies; theyre putting murder charges
on everybody. He later said without further explanation that some other people
were supposed to be cut loose as a result of his arrest.
After several days, Ronald Hughes failed to appear and search for him
was launched. His Volkswagen bus was found in the parking lot at Piedra
Blanca trailhead parking lot outside of Ojai, California near Sespe Hot
Springs. His Volkswaken had some of his trial transcripts in it, but suppos-
edly a psychiatric report on Leslie Van Houten was reported missing.
On March 23rd, 1971, an anonymous caller told Los Angeles County
officers that Hughes body was buried behind the barn at Barker Ranch, and
two Inyo County deputies spent four hours searching the ranch to no avail.
March 29th, 1971the day Charles Manson and his co-defendants were
found guiltyRonald Hughes body was found. Paul Fitzgerald viewed the
Bruce McGregor Davis 143
body in the Ventura County Morgue and said that he was firmly of the
opinion it was Hughes. The cause and nature of his death was ruled as
Undetermined. Later, Sandra Good said that he had been murdered; the
first of the retaliation murders.
In 1978, Headquarters Detective spoke to a Family insider who made
said he knew why attorney Ronald Hughes was murdered.
Apparently Ronald Hughes was trying to get Leslie Van Houten to spill the
beans on some of the unsolved murders surrounding the Family, and shortly after
he went missing. The day the guilty verdicts were read, his body was found in
Death Valley. Watson stated that Bruce Davis and Lynette Fromme were the
ones who would have benefited from Hughes death, being involved in those
other murders.
This article is a bit incorrect, because his body was found in the Sespe
River, which is nowhere close to Death Valley. I will admit that Ronald
Hughes didnt seem like the type to hike along a rough trail through the
Sespe Wilderness being a pretty big man and having to be back at the court-
house Monday morning.
However, this can lead someone to believe that perhaps Ronald Hughes
may have had some dirt on a Family memberperhaps Bruce Davis and
one (or more) of the many other murders that he was suspected of commit-
tingand using as ammunition for his client, Leslie Van Houten.
Maybe, Ronald Hughes got too close and coincidentally when Bruce
Davis was on the run, he was murdered and thrown into the Sespe River to
make it seem as if he was a victim of drowning. The Sespe River is known
for flash floods, but again, Ronald Hughes did not seem like the hiking type.
This hike is not an easy one. And some sources state that he was found dead
near Sespe Hot Springs, which is a 15 mile hike and is it only accessible by
foot.
Bruce Davis was known in Bakersfield, California, which is not that far
from the area. If he was indeed hiding out in the Sespe Wilderness, well this
makes four people dead in places that he was or recently had been; two
unsolved, two ruled suicide.
But could there be a more reasonable explanation of the death of
attorney Ronald Hughes? It wouldnt be impossible to fake a drowning to
disguise a murder in 1970. To make the death of Ronald Hughes even
144 The Manson Myth
more confusing, June 2012, Robert Hendrickson was interviewed by Ear-
CandyMag.com and they put yet one more twist on this case.
Ear Candy Mag: You mention [in Death to Pigs] that Leslie Van Houtens
lawyer Ronald Hughes was supposed to marry Nancy Pitman at Spahn in order
that she may become legally emancipated. Hughes disappeared on November
30th, 1970 and then on Dec 2nd Bruce Davis and Nancy Pitman turned them-
selves in to the police. Do you think Hughes might have been murdered for not
following through on this?
Robert Hendrickson: Of course he might have been? But, because he
knew too much! For the play to be performed as planned, ALL the defendants
attorneys had to be onboard.
What if this is true? What if Ronald Hughes was supposed to marry
Nancy Pitman? What if he decided not to? Would she actually kill himor
have him killedbecause of this? It is fact that she and Bruce Davis were in
hiding together and both turned themselves in after he went missing. When
they turned themselves in, a reporter even said to Bruce Davis, We heard
you got married.
One thing is certain, and that is we will probably never have an answer in
the death of Ronald Hughes. If his death was a murder, it was probably
because he was not cooperating with the other defendants and trying to
make his client Leslie Van Houten guilty by association, which makes the
co-defendants guilty by action of that defense. I personally feel that his
death was an accidental drowning by flash flood. There has been no evi-
dence to support any other claim that I know of aside from the occasional
accusations by Vincent Bugliosi.
One of the only known people who saw him at Sespe Hot Springs was a
man named James Forsher who gave him a ride. Debra of the Evil Liz
Manson Blog contacted him and he refused to answer any question about
that day. ooEEEoo
March 14, 1972, Bruce Davis was convicted of two counts of murder for
his participation in the Gary Hinman and Donald Shea slayings. Other than
being question, he was never indicted or charged in the murders of Doreen
Gaul, James Sharp, John Phillip Haught, Joel Pugh or Ronald Hughes.
Upon sentencing, Judge Choate remarked to the jury, Bruce Davis knew
what the intent of the Manson Family was and willingly engaged in their
Bruce McGregor Davis 145
activities. Basically stating that he was not under Charles Mansons pro-
gram, nor was he brainwashed, which is a common explanation for these
string of murders.
Judge Choate went on to really lay it into Bruce Davis.
These were vicious murders indicating a depraved state of mind on the part
of the defendant. I dont want to give the impression that he was at all a dupe or
the foil of Charles Manson. (Bruce) Davis is older than most of the youngsters
who were led by Manson. He is more intelligent and educated and capable of
independent reasoning. For reasons known only to him he did not exercise this
capability.
It wasnt over for him. In the mid-1990s, the aforementioned authors
Howard Davis and Bill Nelson started to link him to the string of unsolved
Zodiac killings. The mainstream media pushed this off as simply another
Zodiac conspiracy theory, but ex-Family confidant Larry White Rabbit
Melton was also claiming the same thing. He even claimed that it was
Sandra Good who made the infamous black Zodiac hooded outfit. He also
claimed that he received a personal letter from Charles Manson telling him
to shut up about the Zodiac.
In the 2000s, he went public with his claims that he knew were there
were bodies buried at Barkers Ranch and he had personally seen Charles
Manson shoot three hitchhikers and he personally help bury them. How-
ever, in 2008, after a long search for these graves, nothing turned up. As
Larry Melton pointed to where people were buried, and officials dug, no
bodies were found. He was a liar, probably out for attention like everyone
else.
Larry Melton claims to be a Manson supporter, and still regularly wears
an X on his forehead.
But as silly as the whole Manson/Zodiac thing may seem, Howard Davis
compiled a timeline in his book, The Manson/Zodiac Connection, with inter-
esting parallels between the Manson case and the Zodiac case. Howard
Davis theory is that key Family members aided Bruce Davis to carry out
some of the Zodiac crimes. In fact, it seems that anytime something sub-
stantial happened with the Family, it was then retaliated with a Zodiac
letter, a Zodiac attack/murder attempt, Zodiac phone call or a Zodiac
murder.
146 The Manson Myth

1966 Bruce Davis lives in Anaheim

10/30/66 Cheri Jo Bates murdered (Zodiac)

07/??/67 Bruce Davis meets Charles Manson

12/30/68 Marina Habe murdered (suspected Family murder)

12/??/68 Bruce Davis leaves for London

04/25/69 Bruce Davis returns from London

05/18/69 Rose Tashman murdered (Zodiac)

05/27/69 Darwin Scott murdered (suspected Family murder Mansons

uncle)

06/24/69 Virginia Smith murdered (Zodiac)

07/01/69 Bernard Crowe shot (Family)

07/04/69 Ferrin/Mageau attacked (Zodiac)

07/17/69 Mark Walts murdered (Family friend, Family suspect)

07/27/69 Gary Hinman murdered (Family)

07/29/69 Jane Doe of Santa Barbara murdered (Beausoleil suspect)

07/31/69 Hinmans body found

07/31/69 Three Zodiac letters sent to papers

08/05/69 Jane Doe of Santa Barbaras body found

08/07/69 Bobby BeauSoleil indicted for Hinman murder

08/07/69 Zodiac letter sent to paper

08/09/69 Tate murders (Family)

08/10/69 LaBianca Murders (Family)

08/27/69 Donald Shea murdered (Family)

09/27/69 Hartnell/Shephard attack (Zodiac)

10/01/69 Fellippo Tennerelli suicide (Family friend, Family suspect)

10/09/69 Manson, Vance and Davis go to L.A.

10/11/69 Paul Stine attack (Zodiac)

10/12/69 Barker Ranch raid

10/13/69 Zodiac letter sent to paper

10/22/69 Manson indicted for arson

10/22/69 Zodiac phone call to police

11/05/69 John Phillip Haught suicide (Family friend, Davis suspect)

11/08/69 Zodiac letter sent to paper

11/21/69 Sharp/Gaul murdered (Bruce Davis suspect)

11/24/69 Bruce Davis goes to London

Bruce McGregor Davis 147

12/01/69 Joel Pugh suicide in London (Family friend, Davis suspect)

12/01/69 Bruce Davis leaves London

12/10/69 Tex Watson court hearing

12/10/69 Zodiac postcard sent to paper

02/21/70 Hood/Garcia murder (Zodiac)

02/24/70 Bruce Davis arrested for firearms

03/15/70 Bruce Davis released from jail

03/21/70 Anstey murdered (Zodiac)

03/22/70 Kathleen Johns attacked (Zodiac, later identified Davis)

03/24/70 Paul Watkins almost burned to death (Family)

04/18/70 Pan Tan hanged (Zodiac?)

04/20/70 Zodiac letter sent to papers

11/27/70 Ronald Hughes found dead (Van Houtens attorney, Family sus-
pect)

12/02/70 Bruce Davis surrenders for murder

04/24/78 Final Zodiac letter sent to papers, same year Davis first parole
hearing
If you couple this list of case parallels with the actual police sketches of
the Zodiac Killerthat look striking similar to Bruce DavisI can defi-
nitely see why he would be a suspect. Do I actually believe that he is the
Zodiac? No, I dont. But I do believe that he may be responsible for some of
the murders on the aforementioned list; Mark Walts, Doreen Gaul, James
Sharp, Joel Pugh, and maybe Ronald Hughes. I do believe that Bruce Davis
was a serial killer.
During the height of the whole Manson/Zodiac craze, Bill Nelson wrote
Bruce Davis a letter with his claims a letter that he never responded to or
has mentioned since. If he has nothing to hide, wouldnt he have mentioned
it? Whether it be mentioned in jest, in humor, in anger, in denial or in
annoyance contradict it!
I was the one who introduced television cameras into your parole hearing.
You know that for a fact. I was the one who said on television prior to a parole
hearing that you should be the primary suspect in the unsolved Zodiac murders.
I have read the 1973 interview by Lt. Earl Deemer, retired-now deceased
regarding your knowledge of Doreen Gaul and her murder with James Sharp.
You retorted at the time I am not very impressed with your offer of immunity
148 The Manson Myth
since I am serving a life sentence for two murders. Now that you believe you are
near a parole date, I wonder if the authorities had enough insight and ability to
haul you in for another interview, if you might sing a different song.
You did know Doreen Gaul. You knew her intimately. She was in Scientology,
had achieved the Clear status the night of her murder. November 21, 1969
should be a date that lives in the recesses of your mind as you close your eyes at
night. There was a letter from the Zodiac found in her belongings after her
murder. My personal opinionnot that you asked for itis that you and Tex
did the dirty deed together, then left for Las Vegas where four days later you both
were bragging that you were going to raise some money to get Manson out of jail,
or start killing some people. You did not count on a snitch calling the LAPD
about that did you? That is how we know about it. You lived in the same Scien-
tology house as she did. She had been threatened prior to her murder, hit in the
head (September) like it was some kind of warning. Her father told me that she
was asking to come home and he replied that he would send a round trip ticket.
Doreen Gaul said to her father, No, Dad, I want to come home for good. This
Scientology is a bunch of crap. Witnesses heard her screaming in the alley Oh
no! Jimmy. Jimmy! Just like the case with the murder of Shorty, in the back of
the Spahn Ranch and not in the middle of the day driving down the Santa
Suzanna Pass, Barbara Hoyt was not supposed to hear his screams. but she
did!
You have been to Riverside, California but you have refused to admit it. I only
learned about it when I met your church going buddy from Morrow Bay, the tal-
ented Black former Kansas City Chiefs pro football player, Bruce told me he had
been to Riverside. Riverside is the scene of an unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates,
10-30-66, a young attractive future flight attendant, like Beth. Zodiac left a note
after that murder too. The language matches that of Doreen Gaul. But, you
knew that. Riverside PD has tried in vein to match DNA with their favorite
local boy, but are now silent that there is obviously no match with Bill Bennett.
The poor man has been drug through the mud for decades for her murder but he
did not do that one either.
You admitted in the recent parole hearing that you went to Tahoe. Bruce,
that is another unsolved scene from the Zodiac murders. Donna Laas. The sister
of Darlene Ferrin has identified you as the man seated in the white four-door
sedan, in Vallejo, CA that July 4, 1969 night at Terrys restaurant. Positive ID! I
Bruce McGregor Davis 149
have it on videotape. You are fortunate that the SFPD is not interested. Putting
her hand to her chest, she said, I never thought I would see that man again!
Remember Modesto, and the horror filled night ride for Kathleen Johns from
Riverside? The wheel that came off, the offer to give a ride, and the silence for
many minutes before she asked a question? Well Bruce, Kathleen gave a pretty
interesting response, hyperventilated, and had to catch her breath when I showed
her your photograph from the day you surrendered in Los Angeles, December,
1970.
If what Bill Nelson wrote in this letter was trueand he claims that is is
then what do you think? Do you think Bruce Davis may be the Zodiac, or
perhaps have killed some of the people that were later linked to the Zodiac?
I believe the latter.
When he surrendered December 2, 1970, reporters asked him if he was
aware he was going to be tried for two counts of murder, in which he
laughed and responded, Is that all?
In one of our conversations, he had told me that his wife begged him to
tell her about all of the bad things he has done. I wonder what he told her.
He also explained to me why he surrendered.
When I surrendered in December, 1970 it was the first albeit unconscious
step in my rehabilitation. I knew the charges were seriousmurder is the most
serious and that Manson and the others had already been convicted. So,
anyone associated with him could never be found not guilty. I knew I was going
to prison I couldnt imagine how long. That was 40 years ago this December.
I believe my 40 years in this desert are coming to an end.
In 2009, BruceDavis was suggested by parole a suggestion that was
overturned by then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was
again suggested for parole in 2013 with the same fate, this time by Governor
Jerry Brown. He is currently appealing that decision. He will be free from
prison in the near future.
In one of our last conversations, he was telling me about accepting his
parole denial and the analogy he made was a bit interesting and a bit like he
accepts his fate.
What if someone came at you with a sharp knife? Not good, right? But what
if that someone was a doctor who was going to cut something left inside, would
kill you? If you knew it was life or death youd try to hold still even without a
150 The Manson Myth
painkiller. Fear increases pain accepting it does not make it go away, just
easier to take.
I dont hold anything against Manson. I wasnt a kid that got
manipulated. I was just looking for sex, drugs and rock n roll and to
ride on a motorcycle. I was never a vicious person, but I was indif-
ferent. I wanted the immediate approval of the people I was with, and I
didnt care what they did. - Bruce McGregor Davis, 2010
Bruce Davis didnt only sing like Charles Manson, but he also sounded like him and looked like him.
Bruce McGregor Davis 151
11
Pictures: Part II
153
Family friend Harold True lived next to the LaBiancas.
154 The Manson Myth
Thomas T.J. The Terrible Walleman was present at the Bernard Crowe shooting.
Pictures: Part II 155
Bruce Davis (left) Steve Clem Grogan (right) on trial for the Donald Shorty Shea murder.
156 The Manson Myth
Bruce Davis (left) compared with Zodiac Killer sketches (right)
Pictures: Part II 157
12
False Witness
Throughout the Manson Trials
many people testified for the
prosecution. Many of them
could only testify to the facts of
the murders and what happened
inside the homes of the actual
murders. The others were direct
witnesses against Charles
Manson and the other defend-
ants or merely character wit-
nesses. Most of them just
repeated hearsay or things they
had read in the media and news-
papers. And some of them
downright fabricated their stories and some were given incen-
tives to testify.
This chapter will take a look at seven most devastating witnesses; Linda
Kasabian, Brooks Poston, Danny DeCarlo, Diane Snake Lake, Ronnie
Paul Watkins (left) and Brooks Poston (right);the
prosecutions main witnesses to the Helter Skelter
theory.
159
Howard, Virginia Graham and Paul Watkins. All of the witnesses testified
against Charles Manson and I will give you an insight as to why these people
were not honest, credible, or reliable and even caught in their own lies
sometimes on the stand. However, their testimonies were still used.
There are a lot more testimonies that I would like to have included in
this chapter, but I felt including them would have made this chapter a bit
too long-winded for my taste

The Los Angeles Herald Examiner reported on January 15, 1971
when the defense announced that they were not going to call any wit-
nesses and they rest (without defending Manson or the three girls) a
nineteen year old shapely blond named Juli Shapiro stood up and
asked to testify that she had proof that a key prosecution witness had
been coerced, bribed and threatened she was removed from the
court and the trial went on. - The Life and Times of Lynette Alice
Fromme
160 The Manson Myth
PAUL WATKINS, BROOKS POSTON & PAUL CROCKETT
I lump these three together because they
appeared together in various newspapers,
documentaries and testified against Charles
Manson together. Their stories about him
were also very similar and they were often
interviewed together.
Brooks Postons history proves that he
was a lost soul. Theres allegations that he
had met cultist Jim Jones sometimes in the
middle-late 60s. He eventually chose Beach
Boys drummer Dennis Wilson as his per-
sonal guru and lived in his Malibu home for
some time. He even met Charles Manson
there and followed him to Spahn Ranch. He was a misfit at Spahn Ranch
and never really participated with any sex with the girls, LSD parties, and
basically shoveled manure during his entire time at Spahn Ranch. When
Charles Manson and a handful of others visited Barker Ranch in Death
Valley in 1968, he was left there and began mining with a Scientologist-
prospector named Paul Crockett. He once remarked that he was terrified of
Charles Manson and his move to Death Valley was something he needed to
stay alive.
Even though he has said many times that he shoveled horse manure as
payment for room, food, and a pack a smokes a day for George Spahn, in an
interview in 1972, he blamed all of that on Charles Manson, too.
I was right on the point listening to all of Charlies words. He conned people
into all kinds of things. He conned me into working. He conned me into shov-
eling horse shit. I must have shoveled tons of it.
In my opinion, Brooks Poston was a disturbed individual. He not only
saw Charles Manson as God, but claimed that he had put in in a trance for
three days in which he died under his order to go die, when he was
unable to perform sexually during an orgy. He also claimed
that Charles Manson verbally assaulted him regularly and picked on him for
his lack of sexual prowess. I admit that was a dick move by Charles Manson,
but we have all done it.
Prospector-turned-guru Paul Crockett.
False Witness 161
Whether or not it was simple picking on, how does this constitute any
form of mind control? I personally dont think that Charles Manson did
this for the reason the prosecution had given to break Brooks Poston
down, to use it as a tool to program him. He did it to be a dick.
In a 1988 monologue by Paul Watkins, he stated that Brooks Postons
problems continued long after Charles Manson was put away.
Brooks wasnt able to function in a lot of cases, Watkins remembered.
Therefore he was seen as sort of a hanger on who couldnt do very much,
couldnt function sexually, or musically, or wasnt ever very assertive about
anything; generally screwed up. It got to be sadder and sadder. There was
something wrong, so I eventually just pulled away.
Oddly, in the Robert Hendrickson book, Death to Pigs, Brooks Poston
had nothing but good things to say about Manson almost protecting
him.
Laurence Merrick: Did he teach the girls to steal?
Brooks Poston: I dont know.
Laurence Merrick: How did they make money, how did he get the money?
Brooks Poston: Well, through panhandling hed have the girls go out
and panhandle the streets. Some of the girls had pretty rich dads and hed get the
girls to write home and ask for money, and out would come a check for $500.
Laurence Merrick: And who would they give money?
Brooks Poston: Theyd give it to Charlie.
Laurence Merrick: And what would he do with it?
Brooks Poston: Sometimes he gave it away, sometimes be bought candy
with it. Sometimes hed pay taxes with it, not his, George Spahns. He gave
$2,000 once, to pay Georges property tax.
Laurence Merrick: Why would George let him be at Spahn Ranch?
Brooks Poston: George pretty much liked the girls.
Laurence Merrick: George made love to the girls?
Brooks Poston: Not that I know of, but the girls were there constantly.
They were always paying attention to George and keeping him company. His
own family wouldnt come around often. And the people that worked there,
really didnt pay attention to him.
Laurence Merrick: George used Charlie and the Family as much as
Charlie used him?
162 The Manson Myth
Brooks Poston: Yeah.
Laurence Merrick: Did he ever steal a horse and sell it?
Brooks Poston: No, he got some of Georges cars running. He brought
George an old Studebaker once, fixed up some trucks; made sure the ranch had
food.
Not only did he shoot down a lot of the prosecutions theories in this
interview, but substantiated Charles Mansons story of how he helped
George Spahn pay his land bills. He did go on the stand and play victim,
(probably) as coached by Vincent Bugliosi.
In Charles Watsons book, Will You Die for Me? he stated that after the
freakout, which was essentially an LSD party gone bad with a batch of
LSD, that Brooks Poston was damaged and never recovered. All the same,
what was said this LSD party was early on in the game according to Paul
Watkins book, My Life with Charles Manson, and was in no way a tool
for Charles Manson to damage the participants. It was just a bad experience
even for Charles Manson who ended up running down Santa Susan Pass,
freaking out half-dressed and in a state of horror and panic while his beloved
Family were in a scurry to find the missing guru.
In the same interview, from Death to Pigs, Brooks Poston speaks about it
and you can get a really good idea of how damaged this guy really was even
after his deprogramming by Scientologist Paul Crockett.
Paul Crockett was interviewed in 2012, by Star City Radio, and he said
that Brooks Poston was nearly insane and spouting suicidal words like, I
will be dead before I am 19, and basically starving himself to death.
Obviously, he was in no way, shape or form a credible witness against
Charles Manson. In fact, he was in desperate need psychiatric help, not
some insane miner telling him to stare at a doorknob all day.
Brooks Poston: During the freakout there were a lotta people who took
large doses of acid. And people jumping in and out of the fireplace. Its a wood
fireplace and the people were laying in it with their hair in the fire. People were
flying through the windows, laying on the floor, hitting other people in the face.
Charlie wasnt even there at that time. Charlie done took off.
Laurence Merrick: Why didnt you fuck the girls?
Brooks Poston: I didnt fuck the girls, what all I did was die.
Laurence Merrick: Why?
False Witness 163
Brooks Poston: They didnt turn me on for one thing.
Laurence Merrick: Were they pretty?
Brooks Poston: I dont know, maybe Im weird.
Laurence Merrick: Why did Charlie tell you to go die?
Brooks Poston: Because I wouldnt fuck.
Laurence Merrick: Did you believe he was Christ?
Brooks Poston: Yeah, I believed he was Christ. Charlie, like the whole idea
of what Charlie was scared the shit out of me.
Laurence Merrick: What manifestation did he give you, that he was
Christ?
Brooks Poston: Mostly it happened when I was on acid. Like hed tell me
nothing means anything, to give up my thoughts. In my case its closer to a
miracle that Im alive, because when I was on acid Charlie was Christ and to me
if he told me to do something, Id do it. He told me that I should go die, and so I
tried every way that I could think of to die.
Laurence Merrick: Did he teach you to hate?
Brooks Poston: No, I learned that by myself.
Later on, Paul Watkins was sort of pushed out of the Family by Charles
Manson. Whether it is because he didnt like Paul Watkins and didnt trust
him, or just had bad feelings about him. He did send him off to Death
Valley. He claimed that this was to prepare for Helter Skelter.
When he left Spahn Ranch, he was reunited with Brooks Poston and was
introduced to Paul Crockett at Barker Ranch. Brooks Poston told him how
Paul Crockett deprogrammed him and now is free of the grips of Charles
Manson. After much persuasion, Paul Crockett also deprogrammed him
like a modern-day Jesus Christ curing people of Satanism.
One of the tasks in the deprogramming was making him stare at a door-
knob for days, as stated in Paul Watkins book, My Life with Charles Manson.
He then put them both to work in the nearby mines. In my mind, Paul
Crockett was a very intelligent man and he used these two as his personal
slave miners and filled their heads with fear probably so they would stay
by his side as his personal slaves.
A few months earlier, the three left Barker Ranch and hiked 20 miles to
Warm Springs. When Charles Manson pestered them at the Warm Springs
camp it forced them to take the 40 mile trek to Shoshone and started to
164 The Manson Myth
bunk in the Dublin Gulch caves. When they became tired of living in the
caves, they decided to go to the police and were responsible for final-
izing Shoshone Sheriff Don Wards campaign to capture the hippies cre-
ating havoc in Death Valley. They were way too familiar with those hip-
pies.
Sheriff Don Ward recorded their stories, and shockingly none of them
spoke about any murders. They all did implicate Charles Manson and the
Family in auto thefts and arson. In the interview Paul Crockett basically
poked fun at the fact that he had stolen Charles Mansons men to use for
physical labor.
I had already stolen Charlies, top man or one of his men. And so, he
didnt like this at all, Paul Crockett told Don Ward. I had stolen this Paul
Watkins because was supposed to be a good fucker, as the word was put
around.
He went on to boast about stealing Brooks Poston and Juan Flynn, as
well.
I had stolen Brooks Poston. And then later on, another one of the guys. And
so, by this time I had stolen from himin his mindthree of his men. And so he
was very angry with me. He had never seen me. He didnt know who I was. But I
must be some kind of big medicine because, people were leaving him, to go with
me more-or-less to speak.
And so I was using these men to pack ore off the mountain. And so his first
idea when he came to the top of, what is called Goler Wash, or to the Barker
Ranch. He told me that, did you know that I had planned to kill you? And I
said, Yes, I knew that you had planned to kill me, because of the way you acted.
And so, by this time I had figured that, I had best make myself valuable to this
man, or he would kill me.
Both Paul Crockett and Brooks Poston ended their interviews similarly
and implied that Charles Mansons only crimes were basically limited to
being a nuisance and a thief. Brooks Poston also told the Sheriff that if need
be, he will testify that he saw Charles Manson driving hot dune buggies.
He offered, If its necessary to testify as to the fact that hes driven a dune
buggy, that was, that is hot.
Paul Crockett had a lot more to say about Charles Manson, but still
nothing about murder.
False Witness 165
So the only way we can stop this man, is to be able to catch him in a vehicle,
that he is driving, that is hot. Or catch him in some situation to where he has
become deadly, or something like that, because he is a very clever man, and he
borders on genius. And yet, hes so idiotic, its ridiculous. But you cant overlook
the fact that he is doing what hes doing. And you guys should know best that he
is doing it. Because you trying to put the make on him.
After all of the arrests at Barker Ranch and Charles Manson was in jail,
the trio were living in Shoshone, California; starving and destitute they
became desperate. So they decided to sell their story to the presses and their
story that they sold was oddly full of murder and madness.
This was purely a move to make money and nothing more. Since day
one, Paul Watkins was a man who starved for the spotlight. He regularly
called himself Mansons second-in-command, and pushed himself in front
of the cameras.
In his book, My Life with Charles Manson, he told the story of Brooks
Postons three day death from the mind of Charles Manson. In that same
book he also gave a very interesting description of his new messiah Paul
Crockett when he met back up with Charles Manson at Spahn Ranch.
Theres this old prospector up therea far out old dudehe put a psychic
gate up across the canyon. No one can get in unless they have true love in their
hearts.
When Don Ward interviewed Paul Crockett, he casually poked fun at the
two for believing his psychic gate. I cant help but feel that he was doing
the very same thing to Brooks Poston and Paul Watkins that they have put
on Charles Manson: mind control and the use of fear to control.
I even implanted them with the idea that I had the power to keep
Charlie from coming back up there, Paul Crockett told Don Ward. And
so, they accepted this idea.
So was he protecting them or was he trying to keep them up there so
he could essentially use them as his slaves? Whatever the reason, he told
Sheriff Don Ward that his plan worked and it kept Charles Manson away
from Barker Ranch.
And so, poor ol Charlie later on, in his ventures, tried to come back. He
would try to come, and the truck would blow up and wouldnt go. Or the Police
would stop him and arrest him. And it was all my fault. That I was some kind of
166 The Manson Myth
a big deity, sitting up on the hill, that was trying to keep him from doing what he
had to do for all the people of the world. And that I was in his way.
In a very odd change of opinion, in 1988, Paul Watkins made a tape
where he mentions Paul Crockett with a very different opinion on him and
he largely dismissed him as a crazy man.
One of my theories was that he kept Paul Watkins and Brooks around
purely as slaves, feeding them with a bunch of psychological hogwash. What
Paul Watkins says about him sort of solidifies this theory.
I dont have something going with Crockett, I dont run to him all the time,
as a matter of fact I see him as quite destructive. For example: he would have
kept me there with this tumor growing on my neck, paying him a $100 a session,
telling me to think the tumor away. He told me to get rid of my wife because she
was causing it. Get rid of my children because they were causing it, divorce myself
from my life and come live near him and keep paying $100 a session until I was
cured. I probably would have died. The chances were very good and I probably
would have died had I not gone and gotten some help.
The scary thing is that at one time Paul Watkins truly believed his words
and combined with his own messed up mind, you kid a troubled kid with a
very active imagination that is very susceptible to influence. He was easily
influence by Charles Manson, Paul Crockett and eventually the District
Attorney.
In the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme, it
was written that it was actually Paul Watkins along with Lynette Fromme,
and Patricia Krenwinkel who first started to decipher Beatles lyrics. This
was something that was of course always attributed to Charles Manson.
On November 5, 1970, Paul Watkins testified against Charles Manson.
When asked about how Charles Manson programmed him, by Ronald
Hughes, he said something even more confusing.
Attorney Ron Hughes: Can you tell me about Charlies powers?
Paul Watkins: Its a maze of agreements and implied agreements.
What does that even mean? Charles Manson brainwashed people with
lies? This is something straight out of the mind of Paul Crockett. One of the
things Paul Crockett told him was that if he wanted to be free of Charles
Manson all he had to do was ask him if he would release him from all agree-
ments and voil, the spell would be broken.
False Witness 167
During this same testimony Paul Watkins stated something else that was
beyond belief. This was reported in the L.A. Free Press publication.
Clem, had his member bit off by a girl named Bo in the Spring of 1969
at the Gresham Street house in Conoga Park, and blood spurted in all direc-
tions, Paul Watkins stated. Manson, through magical healing powers, was
able to sew it together and heal the sutures, that even the scars were
removed.
Magic? Is he serious? This may have seemed to be a bit of comical relief
for the jury, but he was serious. On many occasions he mentioned
that Charles Manson was a High priest of Black Magic. How could he get
such an absurd thought?
December 5, 1969, the papers started to run that story that Paul Watkins,
Brooks Poston and Paul Crockett sold whilst living in the Dublin Gulch
caves of Shoshone. In these articles he again repeated these claims
that Charles Manson was simply a magician. They also made these out-
landish claims that somehow Charles Manson was crazy because he forbade
the consummation of meat.
Crocket (sic) and his young friends have been negotiating for big money,
Maybe hundreds of thousands, the miner says, for their version of life in Charles
Mansons netherworld in the desert.
Its got everything, Watkins said. Everything.
Yeah, said Poston. Sex, black magic and murder.
The whole thing, Watkins said. Was held together by black magic. You
dont believe it? Well, it really exists, and it is powerful. We could show you.
He [Manson], Poston said. Believes that heand all human beingsare
God and the Devil at the same time. He believes that all human beings are a part
of each other.
The three nodded in agreement, and Crocket laughed, But you cant kill a
bug, not an animal, not a snake. Nothing. There were snakes all over the desert.
They would get in the cabins. But you could never kill one. They picked up the
snakes in the house and carried them outside and turned them loose.
And you couldnt eat meat, Watkins said, Because you were killing an
animal. It was crazy. To this day two girls [Good and Fromme] who were a part
of the [Manson] family, living in Independence, wont eat meat.
168 The Manson Myth
Paul Watkins actually admitted in this article that they were out for
money. It was obvious that he only came forward because he saw an oppor-
tunity to make money. He not only loved the money, but he loved the spot-
light. In the 2006 documentary, Inside the Manson Gang, he stated that,
Wouldnt it be far out to have someone follow you around with a camera? I
always dreamed of being followed by cameras.
That statement sums him up perfectly.
Even after Paul Watkins and Co. went to the media, he somehow wedged
himself back into the Family in an attempt to take Charles Mansons
place. He lead the singing groupas seen in the 2006 documentary, Inside
the Manson Gangand Steve Grogan somehow got an idea that he was
acting as an informant for the prosecution. Before he knew it, he woke up
inside the van of actor Mark Ross burning alive. He narrowly escaped that
fire with his life.
And like clockwork, he went to the prosecution as a star witness against
Charles Manson to the Helter Skelter theory. Its a known fact that it was
Paul Watkins who was the man that brought the theory to the prosecutions
table. Scorned, marked for death, and without his beloved Family, he
went to the jury, telling his version of events.
But Paul Watkins was not a part of the Family during the time of the
murders. In fact, he did not even learn about them until many months later
as he heard about them from gossip, second-hand, third-hand, and bunk
information. He knew nothing about the murders, yet he became the star
witness against Charles Manson and the three defendants. Sounds a little
weird to me.
So keep in mind that in 2012, Paul Crockett spoke to Star City Radio,
and he completely denied Brooks Poston and Paul Watkins talking about
Helter Skelter. In fact, it is fact that they were the last to find out that the
Family were responsible for the Tate and LaBianca murders. But Paul
Crockett being Paul Crockett, he did imply that he foresaw the Family
being responsible for the Tate and LaBianca murders before he even met
Charles Manson.
Star City Radio: Were they telling you about Helter Skelter?
Paul Crockett: They never talked about that.
Star City Radio: No mention of the motive Helter Skelter?
False Witness 169
Paul Crockett: None.
Star City Radio: Interesting.
Paul Crockett: I was up there with these guys for eight months.
Star City Radio: They were just telling you what life was living with Charlie
Manson.
Paul Crockett: Saw news about the Tate murders on TV and I said You
reckon Charlie did that? and they said Oh, no Charlie would never do that.
He went on to answer, when asked about what he testified in court, that
he testified a bunch of crap. He went on further by saying that Vincent
Bugliosi wouldnt listen to him when he wanted to give the real motive for
the murders and that the story was never told.
During all of this second-hand, third-hand gossip Paul Watkins heard
about the murders and more accurately, the murder of movie stuntman and
Spahn Ranch hand Donald Shea, he developed his own story on what
actually happened. The story that he told the prosecution included Steve
Grogan beheading Shea and the rest of the Family cutting the rest of his
body up and buying their pieces separate.
In the 1973 documentary, Manson, Paul Watkins stated that it was Steve
Grogan who told him that he had stabbed Shorty over and over, and
Shorty wouldnt die, and that Steve Grogan, took a machete and lopped
his head off, and his head went bloop, bloop, bloop.
However, during his December 1970 testimony, he stated that it was
Charles Manson who had told that story. How did he confuse the two?
Well, he didnt confuse the story he made it up and made it fit his situa-
tions at the time as it was Charles Manson on trial and not Steve Grogan.
Though, he would also testify as Steve Grogans trial.
Now, I do believe that Steve Grogan may have bragged about the
murder. But the story he had supposedly bragged about was proved false.
In 1977, Steve Grogan lead authorities to the body of Donald Shea and
he was not only completely intact, but in one piece. Part of the story given
to the prosecution was that he was indeed cut into nine pieces.
October 21, 1971, newspapers reported that Steve Grogan would be
indicted for murder, partly based on Paul Watkins testimony at the Charles
Manson trial.
170 The Manson Myth
The State claimed that Grogan, 20, while following Mansons orders;
decapitated Donald Shorty Shea, 36, after the family tortured the dying man
with knives.
In Vincent Bugliosis book, Helter Skelter, the same thing was written, but
he went further saying that he had evidence.
Meanwhile Clem, t/n Steve Grogan, pleaded guilty to a grand theft auto
charge stemming from the Barker raid. Van Nuys judge Sterry Fagan heard the
case. He was aware of Grogans lengthy rap sheet. Aaron (Stovitz) also informed
the judge that Grogan was exceedingly dangerous; that he had not only been
along the night the LaBiancas were killed, but we also had evidence that he
beheaded Shorty Shea.
Since Donald Shea was found intact, this was incorrect. So, how did the
prosecution have evidence of this crime if it never happened? Was it based
off of Paul Watkins words? That is hardly evidence. But it does show how
Vincent Bugliosi used Paul Watkins as a parrot for his theory.
During the 1994 parole hearing of Bruce Davis, he not only implicated
Charles Tex Watson in the murder, but said he stabbed Donald Shea.
Why wasnt Charles Watson ever convicted for this murder? Why doesnt
he ever speak about it? But more importantly, why didnt Paul Watkins
know this or testify these facts being the star witness in the Donald Shea
murder? Its obviously because he knew nothing at all.
Bruce Davis also stated in his 1994 parole hearing that he took a machete
to Donald Sheas neck, not Steve Grogan. It is a fact that there was machete
marks on the back of his skull; Bruce Davis is being vague he hit Shea
with the machete, not Steve Grogan.
Steve Grogan did not murder Donald Shea, but he did help and was just
as guilty as anyone else. Paul Watkins lies put him at the top of the murder
and it also failed to involve three key players in the murder: Charles Watson,
Bill Vance, (Aliases: William VanSickle, David Lee Hamic. Real name: Wil-
liam Rex Cole), and Larry Bailey who were never question or tried for
this murder. All of this was backed up by Bruce Davis himself while
speaking to his parole board.
I was in the car when Steve Grogan hit Shorty with the pipe wrench. Charles
Watson stabbed him. I was in the backseat with with Grogan. They took Shorty
out. They had to go down the hill to a place. I stayed in the car for quite a while
False Witness 171
but what then I went down the hill later on and thats when I cut Shorty on the
shoulder with the knife, after he was, well, I dont know. I dont know if he was
dead or not. He didnt bleed when I cut him on the shoulder. When I showed up,
you know, he was incapacitated. I dont know if you asked if he was unconscious.
And I in fact I did touch Shorty Shea with a machete on the back of his neck,
didnt break the skin. I mean I just couldnt do it. And then I threw the knife and
he handed me a bayonet. I just reached over and. I dont know which side it was
on but I cut him right about here on the shoulder just with the tip of the blade.
Paul Watkins lies proved advantageous for the prosecution at Steve
Grogans trial (and Van Houtens retrial) to rightfully convict him, but his
lies took blame off of at least two killers who were never charged for the
crime. This is not justice, and the people only cared if Charles Manson was
found guilty for these crimes. No one seemed to actually care about the
truth. In the Nuel Emmons book, Manson in His Own Words, Charles
Manson also complains about the same thing. Of course, no one will listen
to his words, right? We all know he is such a liar.
Much later Bruce Davis, Clem Grogan and I were convicted for the slaying
of Shorty Shea. At the time of our conviction, Sheas body had not been discov-
ered. However, when Sheas body was found it was still intact. Testimony also
indicated that numerous members of our group participated in his slaying, but
somehow the prosecuting attorney saw fit to ignore that part of the evidence. The
D.A. was so caught up in his theory of Helter Skelter and obsessed with making
the world believe I was a satanic pied piper, looked over many participants.
Until Paul Watkins death in 1990, he stayed on his story and never
budged. Why would he have kept his lie? Well, he did get a book deal out of
it, and it was reported that prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi helped edit it. When
I say edit, I mean makes sure his book, My Life with Charles Manson sup-
ports his Helter Skelter theory. Paul Watkins also joined Vincent Bugliosi
on his Helter Skelter book-signing tour, again in his beloved spotlight. He
never admitted his lies or acknowledged that he may have been wrong or
simply put: out of his mind. Paul Watkins did record a monologue in 1988,
where he admitted that Bugliosi made some things up.
In a twist of ironic fate, when Steve Grogan was paroled in 1985a sen-
tence in which Paul Watkins testimony was key evidence, which turned
172 The Manson Myth
out to be pure speculation, conjecture and liesPaul Watkins gave him a
phone call.
Did he forget that Steve Grogan was the one who set Mark Ross van
ablaze with the intent to kill him? Did he call him because he felt bad that he
had put him in prison with lies? Whatever reason it may be, the conversion
was transcribed and posted on the now defunct Manson Family Today web-
site. Here it is abridged for length.
Steve Grogan: Is this Paul?
Paul Watkins: Yes.
Steve Grogan: So whats happening?
Paul Watkins: I thought Id call and see how you were doing.
Steve Grogan: Im ok. Its really surprising how expensive everything is now,
you know, after being in the joint 15 years.
Paul Watkins: Im living in a shack in the desert in Tecopa.
Steve Grogan: Are you nervous?
Paul Watkins: No.
Steve Grogan: Hey its cool, thats all over.
Paul Watkins: Well, Charlie always did have a way of knowing everything.
Steve Grogan: You know its against my parole to associate with anyone in
the Family.
Paul Watkins: Well, if its not cool, maybe I shouldnt be talking to you.
Steve Grogan: You know if I hadnt got put in the joint, I dont know how
far I would have gone. I sure was a crazy kid. Ive been working with kids who
are just like I was, there right into the same thing.
Paul Watkins: Yeah, will things ever change?
Steve Grogan: Hows Brooks doing?
Paul Watkins: Hes playing around a little hes really into his music. You
know how this is costing me a bit, maybe I should call you later. When are you
there?
Steve Grogan : Hows your father?
Paul Watkins: Oh, he died a few years ago.
Steve Grogan: Oh thats too bad, you know what I really found out? Your
parents are really important to you. Mine stuck with through this whole thing. Is
your Mom still out in Calabases?
False Witness 173
Paul Watkins: I havent kept in touch with her for years. After my dad died
she became reclusive.
Steve Grogan: You should go see her, go find her. Its important.
Steve Grogan went on to assume a new identitywhich I do not feel the
right to mentionand became a very well respected session musician vir-
tuoso of many stringed instruments in San Francisco.
Brooks Poston followed Paul Crockett to Washington State and is living
within a few miles of him.
One of the oddest things that I found while researching these three, was
that in the very early 1970s Paul Watkins and Brooks Poston recorded this
77 minute conversation where they mostly talked about their philosophies
that strongly mirrored those of Charles Manson.
However, they did mention Charles Manson as a guy we met a couple
thousand years ago. And Paul Watkins sort of spilled some truth, stating
that what they did with that guy [Manson] was, they took the words that
he said and they had this big vision, then they started this big revolution,
and they killed a whole bunch because of that!
Brooks Poston, using a very exaggerated southern draw, then responded,
No kidding? You mean they went around using his words and everything
and turned it around the words
I am pretty sure that they never believed that anyone interested in the
case would listen to this recording 40 years later. Believe it or not, this
recording was found in the attic of a desert home and nearly discarded.
174 The Manson Myth
DANNY DECARLO
Its only right to go onto Danny
DeCarlo, because in my opinion he was a
key player in the Gary Hinman and
Donald Shea slayings. Maybe he wasnt
directly involved, but most certainly indi-
rectly.
Danny DeCarlo came to Spahn Ranch
in late 1968 or very early 1969,
while Charles Manson was in Death
Valley. He later became sort of the
Ranchs defense contractor, supplying
the ranch with guns, ammo and drugs.
He was a player in the Straight Satans
Motorcycle Clubs Venice Beach chapter
and quickly became a key Family
member; or at this time they should be
called a gang.
His arsenal proved important after Charles Tex Watson had pulled his
drug burn, which lead to the shooting of Bernard Crowe. The following day,
T.J. Walleman had told Charles Manson that he heard that a high-ranking
Black Panther member had been killed, and they vowed to retaliate. T.J.
Walleman fled, saying that I aint into no snuffing.
This scared the hell out of Charles Manson and he was sure that the
Black Panthers would retaliate. It was a fact that Bernard Crowe was a Black
Panther member. It was in his L.A.P.D. arrest jacket, but the media and
prosecution downplayed this and said it was untrue. The Family album
compiled during the investigation by Sgt. E.G. Williams concluded as fol-
lows: Crowe, Bernard: Male Negro, LAPD# 838 344C, Member of Black
Panthers.
The prosecution and many witnesses had stated that it
was Charles Manson who had armed the Family, and taught them how to
shoot in preparation for Helter Skelter. However, Danny DeCarlo claims
that it was he who not only introduced guns to Spahn Ranch, but taught
them all to shoot including Charles Manson. Here is an excerpt of an
The always trustworthy 1% Straight Satan Danny
DeCarlo.
False Witness 175
interview conducted in the mid 1970s by a Canadian TV show The Fifth
Estate.
Reporter: You taught the girls how to shoot, how to clean a weapon and
how to break it down? All that stuff.
Danny DeCarlo: Yeah.
Reporter: Who was the best shot?
Danny DeCarlo: The best?
Reporter: Sadie?
Danny DeCarlo: Id say Sadie was; just on a machine gun firing a
machine gun.
Reporter: Did she get off on that?
Danny DeCarlo: Well, everybody did. I did too watching them.
Reporter: You made your own ammunition?
Danny DeCarlo: Yeah, we made everything. Itd take maybe an hour to
make 700 rounds and in a matter of minutes it was all gone.
Reporter: When did Charlie start to change? He didnt like your stolen
credit card racket, didnt like the weapons, didnt like the guns. Was it after you
started teaching the girls how to shoot?
Danny DeCarlo: It was a couple months, because at first he wasnt into it.
When I first went to the ranch I brought my whole arsenal up. He [Manson]
said what are we going to do with a machine gun? I said thats protection. He
said man, we dont need nothing like that. I show him how to use a gun. Then he
started getting into it. Then we brought him an M1 and hed just fire it into the
sky as long as he could hear a lot of noise and see dirt kick up, it made him feel
good. We had fun shooting guns.
Its quite obvious that he was pretty proud of his deeds and he definitely
took pride in his work. When Vincent Bugliosi put him on the stand, he
pretty much regurgitated anything the prosecution laid down for him in
exchange for immunity to felonies including aggravated assault, drug pos-
session, firearms and grand theft. He absolutely had every reason to lie,
especially since he now owned a gun shop in the Pacific Northwest and
was trying to go on the straight and narrow, however, that did not last long.
Other rumors were that DannyDeCarlo was given $5,000 to testify,
which probably is true. Another witness for the prosecutionRonnie
Howardsaid that she too was given money to testify ($25,000, sometimes
176 The Manson Myth
stated as less). Danny DeCarlo once confirmed that he was offered money,
but did not accept it.
With that being said, he had more than enough reason to lie and prob-
ably did lie. In fact, I believe it goes without saying that he did lie and
involve himself as little as possible so he could secure these plea deals.
In my opinion, he wanted Donald Shea dead as much as anyone else. If
they did believe Donald Shea snitched to the cops and had the ranch
busted, then he was a target to anyone who was impacted by the bust.
Danny DeCarlo was not only arrested during the Spahn Ranch raid on
August 16, 1969, but was publicly humiliated when his Straight Satans
jacket was shredded by L.A.P.D. on film. He also lost all of his guns
and ammunition, motorcycles, parts and anything else he had at the ranch
since everything there was confiscated by the police as evidence.
This was more than enough motive for a hardened biker in a 1% gang to
have a man murdered. In fact, this is a lot more motive than the reason the
prosecution gave for Charles Manson ordering the murder: Donald Shea
was once married to a black woman.
In the aforementioned 1970s interview on The Fifth Estate, Danny
DeCarlo recounted the Donald Shea murder with girlfriend and ex-
Manson girl Sherry Cooper, and actually broke out in laughter. To me, it
seemed like he was quite proud of it and made some unsettling comments.
Sherri Cooper: Yeah, Shorty was pretty stubborn, himself. He didnt like
Charlie, and he let him know. I cant say that I got along with him, or if I really
liked him as a person. I never hated him or nothing, but if I liked him or not
Reporter: You didnt want him in nine pieces, especially?
Sherri Cooper: I mean, no, I wouldnt care. [laughs] I mean I can have a
personality difference, but I dont care what they do as long as they aint doing it
to me.
Reporter: But Charlie didnt like people to talk back, and Shorty talked
back a lot?
Sherri Cooper: Well, I guess it was towards the end and Shorty was at the
wrong place at the wrong time.
Danny DeCarlo: [Laughing hysterically]
Sherri Cooper: He was off and on, he left, he just got off there at the wrong
time and the wrong place.
False Witness 177
Reporter: So, it was timing? Someone who happened to be at the wrong
place, the wrong time?
Danny DeCarlo: Thats it. He got dismembered. [Smiles] Yeah, he must
have felt bad about it.
Reporter: Who?
Danny DeCarlo: Shorty. Yeah, I mean nine parts? Not too much meat can
be in nine parts. [Claps hands and laughs]
Donald Shea was obviously not dismembered, but at this time the truth
had not been discovered yet. So, of course he will still go with what had
been proven, beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
He and Sherri Cooper conclude the interview with some more braggart,
cocky statements about how they loved the lifestyle with the Family.
Danny DeCarlo: It will never be again. It will be nothing but be talked
about. It will never be
Sherri Cooper: It was an experience. All it was was an experience.
Danny DeCarlo: And I would not want to
Sherri Cooper: I wouldnt trade it for nothing, either. But I think we have
been through a couple experiences since then that wouldnt you know.
Weve been through a couple experiences since then that were not going to talk
about. I mean, you do something. You do it. And its done. What can you do? Its
done. Snivel about it for years? What can you say? Im sorry, you know? Big deal.
Danny DeCarlo: We have no restrictions on life to what we want to do.
We just do it. [Snaps fingers]
What does this say to you? Would you trust Danny DeCarlo on the stand
in a case against someone he aided in a crime spree?
After he testified for the prosecution, he left town. A few years later, the
L.A. Free Press ran an article about L.A.P.D. Narcs wearing Straight Satans
jackets, which were seized in the Spahn Ranch raid:
Biker club warns about narcs wearing Straight Satans colors
Danny DeCarlo, had been living with the Charles Manson tribe at the time
of the Tate-LaBianca murders, and for that reason he was forced to appear in
court, although he could testify no more that he had been living with the Family
and that he knew the members.
The Man told Danny if he did not appear theyd off the Straight Satans.
178 The Manson Myth
He could testify no more than he had been living with the Family? Are
you kidding me? Danny DeCarlo basically substantiated 95% of the so-
called Helter Skelter theory, as suggested by the prosecution to the jury.
His testimony was just as, if not more damning than anyone elses. I will
give the Straight Satans the benefit of the doubt that they are not lying to
protect a snitch, but this is what Danny DeCarlo had told them to justify
him snitching.
When Charles Manson got his day in court November 20, 1970, right
before the jury deliberatedin which the jury had been removed from the
courtroom to avoid him brainwashing one or all of them into a not-guilty
verdicthe spoke about Danny DeCarlo. Of course it was all lies, right?
Since he never told the truth. In my opinion, he was spot-on with his
description of Danny DeCarlo.
With Danny DeCarlos testimony. He said that I hate black men, and he
said that we thought alike, that him and I was a lot alike in our thinking. But
actually all I ever did with Danny DeCarlo or any other human being was reflect
himself back at himself. If he said he did not like the black man, I would say,
Okay. I had better sense than tell him I did not dislike the black man. I just
listened to him and I would react to his statement.
So consequently he would drink another beer and walk off and pat me on the
back and he would say to himself, Charlie thinks like I do. But actually he does
not know how Charlie thinks because Charlie has never projected himself.
Lets not kid here, Danny DeCarlo had a lot to gain by lying and/or
reciting what the prosecution laid down. Not only had his gun been used in
the Bernard Crowe shooting, but it was the gun used in the Tate murders. It
was also a gun that was linked to Charles Manson, this is true. But it was the
same gun that was traded to movie stuntman Randy Starr for Danny
DeCarlos bread truck as laid out in the Ed Sanders book The Family.
With the way the prosecution was getting people left and right on con-
spiracy charges, this could have easily had him in prison with the rest of the
defendants. The prosecution convicted Susan Atkins on conspiracy charges
to the LaBianca slayings and she was not even there. They convicted her on
the fact that she simply knew about them.
False Witness 179
The gun backed with the fact that Danny DeCarlos sword was used in
the Gary Hinman slaying would almost guarantee that he would have been
a prime candidate for conspiracy-to-murder charges.
His motives for testifying against Charles Manson and even Bobby Beau-
soleil were purely selfish to avoid his own criminal charges. He had an
ongoing trial for smuggling drugs over the border and the prosecution made
that charge disappear.
He even told the papers that there were three federal charges pending
against him including illegal registration of a firearm. So, what was
the other charge? It was a charge he would rather not mention a rather
violent charge. According to a police report from March 24, 1969, Danny
DeCarlo was charged with Assault with intent to do great bodily harm on
his own wife Miriam DeCarlo.
According to the report, Miriam called the police on him after being
beaten when she tried to retrieve their son.
Officer Smith #12696, Unit #27633, LAPD Devonshire district, stated that
the above victim called from Topanga Canyon stating she had just been beaten
up by her husband while at the above location (Spahn Ranch). We then ques-
tion the victim, who stated that approximately 11:00pm, she arrived at the
Spahn Ranch and entered the main building where there were approximately 25
persons sitting about. She then confronted her husband (Suspect #1), and
requested that he return their 10 month old son to her or she would take him to
court. She stated that he stated that if she takes him to court, that he and the
Straight Satans would kill her.
The report goes on to include Charles Manson as one of the assaulters;
that he dragged her from the room by her hair. This was after Danny
DeCarlo kicked her all over the body with steel-toe engineer type boots.
Ouch.
Was Charles Manson just trying to get her out of there before Danny
DeCarlo killed her? Or was he, too, trying? Charges were dropped on him. I
wonder if Danny DeCarlo was serious when he threatened to kill her? Of
course he did not want to mention this case to the media or the jury. It
would have completely blown the false facade that he put up as a biker who
followed Charles Manson for the girls.
180 The Manson Myth
Subsequently, he told the media that he was hesitant about testifying,
that I dont dig it, man. Its bad news among bike people. A snitch gets
killed. He also said Charles Manson persuaded him to live at Spahn
Ranch. Bullshit. He was there before Charles Manson had returned from
his 1968 Death Valley excursion.
This does explain why he left Los Angeles. There are rumors that he was
put in some sort of witness protection. I personally have never seen any evi-
dence of this.
The truth is, Danny DeCarlo prided himself on being a gun expert. It was
the gun that was traded for his bread truck that shot Bernard Crowe and was
used at the Cielo Drive massacre. He could easily identify it. But at the trial
he identified it as Charles Mansons gun. Irving Kanarek retorted with the
accusation that Danny DeCarlo was no gun expert. The newspapers
stated that Danny DeCarlo turned his head, spit on the floor, uttered an
obscenity and proceeded to point the gun at Irving Kanarek and pulled the
trigger. This is fact. What a great witness for the prosecution.
Its also fact that his testimony was damning to Charles Manson; it was
planned to be that way. The prosecution found Danny DeCarloa man
who was heading to prisonand gave him a sweet deal of a clean record.
Much like they did to Linda Kasabian, Virginia Graham, Mary Brunner (see
the following chapter: Stupid Cupid), and now Danny DeCarlo. More often
than not, if you give someone immunity to crimes, they will talk. Its the self-
ishness everyone is born with. This selfishness carried on to the Beausoleil/
Hinman case.
The Ed Sanders book, The Family, reported that after the Gary Hinman
slaying, the Straight Satans took the sword used in the murder and
destroyed it. This proves the conspiracy to murder link at least in the
Gary Hinman case.
The Gary Hinman murder was essentially over bad drugs. The story goes
that he sold some bad mescaline to Bobby Beausoleil and the bad mescaline
was then sold to the Straight Satans. Bobby Beausoleil stated in an interview
with Seconds Magazine that it was Danny DeCarlo from the Straight Satans
who told him to go to Gary Hinmans and get his money backand how to
do itand not Charles Manson as the prosecution stated. He also explains
False Witness 181
that Danny DeCarlo lied and testified that it was he confessed the murder
to him.
It was something that I felt that I had to deal with. Gary said that he didnt
have the money. I reached desperation, and actually did what Danny DeCarlo
had suggested, which was to hit Gary with the gun, to make sure he knew that I
was serious. I hit him a couple of times on the head with the gun, which shocked
him. He said, Bobby, this isnt like you! And it wasnt.
He then explains how Danny DeCarlo lied to avoid prosecution for his
own felonies.
He testified that I told him, in a conversation after-the-fact, what had hap-
pened. He related, Well, this is what Bobby told me. at the trial, and of course
that had never happened I never had any such conversation with him. But
one of the girls that had been with me, Susan Atkins, was his live-in girlfriend in
his shack out at the ranch. Now I assume what happened is that she had told
him, and he later changed it to Bobby told me.
Truth is of this case was not involving Charles Manson, he could have
easily turned prosecutions witness against Danny DeCarlo with these facts,
but he didnt. His first trial ended in mistrial, then in his second trial
after Charles Manson was thrown into the acthe blamed it all on him.
Later, he said he did that in an attempt to avoid a murder charge
since Charles Manson had already been convicted of 7 other murders.
Much like the Donald Shea trial, these trials were mostly built up from
hearsay. For instance, Vincent Bugliosi had told the jury that Charles
Manson completely cut off Gary Hinmans ear. This was completely
false even the autopsy documents showed that Gary Hinmans cheek
was cut and his ear intact. He even admits that Charles Manson was not
responsible for him murdering Gary Hinman in a 1981 interview in OUI
Magazine.
That was the prosecutions theory because they wanted to get Manson into
the act. They tried every trick in the book. Actually Hinmans ear was never cut
off- never gone. It was more that his cheek was sliced that intersected the edge of
his ear and you can see it in his autopsy report. Bugliosi told the jury Manson cut
his ear off, but its there in the autopsy [report]. You see the Sheriffs Homi-
cide Department wanted to get Manson involved with my case, which was very
difficult because Manson was not involved.
182 The Manson Myth
Susan Atkins is now a Jesus freak in jail. She gave five different testimonies
and in one of them, she claimed that she killed Hinman.
Gary Hinman was into his revolutionary communism. His whole living
room was a library of Communist literature. I figured Id make it look like one of
his cohorts, you know. I wasnt thinking about blacks necessarily. Its never really
been his [Mansons] trip. I mean, hes from the South. West Virginia. Since hes
been in, he gets along with blacks better than anybody.
I didnt talk to anybody about it. But Susan Atkins has a motor mouth. She
was the one, not me, that Danny DeCarlo had the conversation with. The district
attorney and Danny DeCarlo were drinking buddies and that is how he
[DeCarlo] got the two felony charges and a federal gun charge dropped in return
for his testimony.
In 2010, Bobby Beausoleil updated his website BeauSoleil.net with the
news that he will be writing his book. In this update he posted a rough-draft
of the prefix of the book. In this he again admitted that Charles Manson
wasnt to blame, but he was to blame for the murder of Gary Hinman.
My decision to create an elaborate deceit would never rest easy with me. Even
then, as I examined my face in the mirror, my misgivings heckled me; the inner
voice, unbidden, like a distant shout: liar! Time and times innumerable that
voice would be silenced. I insisted that I was innocent, that it was really Charlie
who had done that awful thing. I lied to myself most of all, rationalizing that
that rationalization was valid, when deep down I knew that I had told the big lie
because I was a coward because I lacked the courage to look my parents and
my brothers and sisters in the eyes and tell them the truth.
In a 1994 BBC interview with Bill Murphy, Charles Manson had stated
that the only advice he gave Bobby Beausoleil was to go and get your
money. He has never denied cutting Gary Hinmans cheek, but his murder
happened three days later after he was long gone hundreds of miles away
in Big Sur.
In my opinion, Danny DeCarlo is as responsible as Charles Manson for
the Gary Hinman murder, if not more. Now I do agree that Charles Manson
should haveat the very leastbeen charged with aggravated assault for
cutting Gary Hinman, but not with murder charges or conspiracy-to-
murder charges since theres absolutely no proof he ordered the murder.
False Witness 183
Theres even versions of the story where Danny DeCarlo drove Bobby
Beausoleil, Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner to the Gary Hinman residence.
Regardless if it is true or not, Danny DeCarlos name is deeply embedded in
the case and it is just too convenient that Vincent Bugliosi never pur-
sued him for any criminal charge.


DIANE SNAKE LAKE
Diane Snake Lakes life before
Charles Manson was pretty similar
to her life with him. At a young age
she was on her own at a bikers
commune among derelicts,
vagrants, and a bunch of bad seeds.
She was there for most of 1968
and 1969 as well as the Familys
exodus to Death Valley. She also
lived with Gary Hinman for some
time before his murder. She came
to live with the Family off and on
and was part of the group that fled
Los Angeles to Death Valley in late
1969.
Her trial testimony was also a combination of coercion, trade for
immunity to crimes and her own lies. Most of the above was proven at the
trial, but her testimony still stood and was used against Charles Manson and
the other defendants. She was also asked to testify against Leslie Van
Houten in her 1977 retrial with a testimony that was merely second and
third-hand hearsay conveyed as fact.
November 5, 1970, while the Manson Trials were in full swing, the news-
papers reported that Lake had been caught in a lie that hurt her credibility.
The defense was prepared to show that the young woman had testified in
front of the Grand Jury that she was in Death Valley at the time of the slayings,
although she said at the trial that she was at Spahn Ranch
It was clear that Diane Snake Lake knew nothing about the
murders but chose to testify anyway.
184 The Manson Myth
Barker Ranch is about 5 hours away from Spahn Ranch, unless they
entered from the West, via Warm Springs which was their entrance of
choice. Entering from the west could easily take an extra 4 hours. Olancha is
a bit further, so this proves that she was not even around at the time of the
slayings. So her testimony should be treated as hearsay, not fact. Even
though she was charged with perjury, she was allowed to continue to testify.
Later on during her testimony she admitted that she had read the book
which was written based on the confession of Susan AtkinsThe
Killing of Sharon Tate prior to testifying.
Miss Lake said a technician at Patton State Hospital gave her a copy of the
book The Killing of Sharon Tate shortly after she was admitted. I asked her if I
could read it, and she said, Yes, but dont let anybody see it, said Miss Lake
You cant get any more blatant than that. My question to this would be
was it just a coincidence that the technician gave her the book, or did
someone from the prosecution ask the technician to give it to her? Of all
things, why would that book be in the hands of a technician?
A November 5, 1970 newspaper reported that she had actually dropped
the bombshell of reading that book. However, without the jury present, so
they could not factor that into her testimony. This is not only ridiculous,
but it pretty much makes it impossible for the jury to weigh any doubt
into credibility of her as a witness.
It gets better; the same newspaper reported that Lake had said she was
held at Patton State Hospital without anybody knowing, and that she
asked the psychiatrists why she was being held there and they told her,
Because of the Manson Trial. Mind control? This sounds like they were
trying to pump her head full of information to testify. Sound like an absurd
conspiracy theory? It may not be that far out of line.
We will never know the root of it because the judge cut off any cross-
examination of Diane Lake after she had stated that fact even after the
defense had evidence to prove that she was coerced into testifying. The evi-
dence was that she that she was given immunity to the previously stated per-
jury charge if she would continue to testify.
When cross-examination was ceased, Charles Manson yelled, Deaf,
dumb and blind. Of course, this was blown off as yet another Manson out-
burst.
False Witness 185
During Diane Lakes time at Patton State Hospital, she was at one time
diagnosed schizophrenic, but it was quickly changed to normal after she
began to figure out something was amiss. This too was reported in newspa-
pers on November 5, 1970. Newspapers on November 10, 1970 reported
that she officially admitted that she had lied on the stand.
Lake admitted that the prosecution had promised her immunity from prose-
cution if she agreed to testify at the trial of Manson and the three defendants.
So in short, the prosecution fed her head with lies and she in turn testi-
fied those lies, was caught and they charged her with perjury.
However, they promised shed walk on those charges if she would still
testify against him. Her new story was that she lied because she felt that she
would be killed by the Family if she told the truth. I wonder who fed her
with that! Sketchy.
November 11, 1970, the press ran more stories on her testimony, and
this one she was caught in even more lies. She had stated on the stand that
she told the technicians at Patton State Hospital that she feared for her
life. She also once again confessed that she was not at Spahn Ranch at the
time of the murders.
Later on in her testimony she said she possibly told a doctor that she
feared for her life. Even later on she changed this to that she has never told
anyone that Charles Manson threatened me.
During her statement she also implemented Sandra Good in the mur-
ders, and was questioned and re-question and on the named Sandra Good
many times.
Kanarek then reminded the young witness: Isnt it true that Sandra Good
was in jail at that time? Lake then summed up her entire testimony by saying
that her memory was bad, and that it was possible that she was mistaken
about the things she testified to Monday and Tuesday.
Even though she admitted that her memory was bad, her testimony was
kept. Not only was it kept, but the judge would not allow the defense to
cross-examine her. After she testified, she briefly re-joined the Family,
criticizing the prosecution.
You see, things that goes around comes around the same way. Youve decided
to kill Charlie, Sadie, and the others. So you see, theres twelve of us, and what
that means is that there were twelve who were standing beside Jesus long before
186 The Manson Myth
the Romans came up to do away with him and nailed him to the cross which
is what youre doing to Charlie; nailing him to the cross. It is your sins, not his.
See, what you have done in that courtroom has been an act of propaganda. You
have sentenced people to death for actually giving heart to life. You have taken
what is true, and turned it into a lie. That is how you live, how you all live.
After all of this, it is absolutely amazing that her testimony was not only
allowed at Leslie Van Houtens retrial, but also aided in helping re-prose-
cute her as it helped prosecute her in 1970.
Virtually everything Diane Lake testified was proven lies, opinion,
hearsay, conjecture and basically false. Her testimony was essentially what
you would get if you got three jigsaw puzzles, dumped out half of each box,
and mixed the remaining pieces together and tried to construct it. It
was considered legit and the defense had absolutely no way to prove other-
wise because the judged would not allow them to cross-examine her.

False Witness 187
VIRGINIA GRAHAM & RONNIE HOWARD
Again, I will be lumping two into
one because these two individuals
are one in the same. Not only did
they share a husband, but both had
absolutely no credibility. Both were
out for two things: immunity to
their jail charges and money.
Virginia Graham and Barbara
Howard were two of the inmates at
Sybil Brand Institute that Susan
Atkins had made a confession to
while she was being incarcerated for
the Gary Hinman slaying. When
they went to the police, their stories
basically broke the Tate/LaBianca
case wide open. While their story
had a lot of truth in themincluding the names of the actual killerstheir
stories were severely flawed and full of false facts. Facts that were
incredible and some that were comically absurd.
Before the Robert Hendrickson book, Death to Pigs, was finished, he
posted a little teaser on his website ExclusiveFilms.com. In this teaser, he
posted proof that Ronnie Howard admitted that she was paid off. She also
admitted that a lot of her testimony was based on Virginia Grahams lies.
Eventually in the interview, she refused to say anything on the record in
fear that her testimony would be exposed as lies and she would lose her
$25,000 award.
Ronnie Howard:Virginia and Danny DeCarlo stepping forward. But they
told me that the cops uh, have propositioned every one of us, including me, myself
They made a deal with me and told me that theyll cinch it, that Ill get the whole
twenty five grand.
Well, I didnt wanna I couldnt say anything against Virginia The other
star witness. And tell em that Virginia was lying, because then, goodness, that
wouldnt be too good for the prosecution, would it? Because they would say,
Well, if Virginia lied and theyre both friends, then Ronnie may have lied too.
Ronnie Howard added the missing pieces to the puzzle, but
admitted she was paid to testify things that were not-so-true.
188 The Manson Myth
Richard Lopez: Theyre all lyin!
Why wouldnt Robert Hendrickson and producer Laurence Merrick go
to the defense team with this revelation? It could easily be used to discredit
these key witnesses during the trial. Well, the reason why they didnt was
simply stated in the 2006 documentary, Inside the Manson Gang, by Lau-
rence Merrick, himself.
Without a conviction, we got no movie. In order to secure a conviction, cer-
tain deals have to be made nothing personal, just business.
This was a reference to the 1973 documentary, Manson. Laurence Mer-
rick was also the individual who gave Charles Manson the infamous
Nixon paper.
According to SusanAtkins.org, Susan Atkins admitted that the story she
told at Sybil Brand Institute was an attempt to strike fear into her cellmates,
which would lead to them respecting and even fearing her. This would
assure her safety while she was inside. However, this plan obviously back-
fired severely.
The story Susan Atkins told to her cellmates was indeed based on truth,
but saturated with lies and exaggerations to make herself seem scarier. Her
confession included an elaborate story of how she was balling John Phillip
Haught (a.k.a. Zero, Christopher Jesus) when he had committed suicide.
This was impossible since he died while she was locked up. Her confession
also put herself as Gary Hinmans slayer, and again this was untrue since it
was Bobby Beausoleil who killed him. And of course we all know that she
also confessed to killing Sharon Tate as well as a very detailed story of how
she did it. She did not kill Sharon Tate, and I will elaborate in a later
chapter: Demystifying Susan Atkins.
In the Robert Hendrickson book, Death to Pigs, in an interview con-
ducted in 1970 and lost in a film vault for nearly 40 years, Ronnie Howard
and Virginia Grahams ex-husband (and Howards new husband) Richard
Lopez admits that there was money involved in her testifying against
Charles Manson and the defendants, and the fact that Virginia Graham
admitted she was going to lie.
Laurence Merrick: Ronnie, when you were up for an award of $25,000,
who muscled in? Say it.
Ronnie Howard: You mean the about the deal the cops made with me?
False Witness 189
Laurence Merrick: How much?
Ronnie Howard: Five grand a piece.
Laurence Merrick: You afraid of them?
Ronnie Howard: Naw, Im not saying Im afraid of them, but I know they
could make it very rough for me.
Laurence Merrick: And you helped break the Tate-LaBianca case, how?
Ronnie Howard: Because I gave the cops the names of the people that did it.
And thats how Virginia (Graham) got into the act. The only trouble is Virginia
has a great tendency to exaggerate
Richard Lopez: The truth.
Ronnie Howard : With her lies. Anyway, Virginia told me, Steinberg
arranged for the press conference, thats when she added anything. She said
Well, theyre guilty anyway, she said, So why not add a few juicy facts, why
not make it juicer?
Laurence Merrick: You call it a lie, you enhance it. You know what Vir-
ginia says? Virginia said they She told them they were gonna kill Elizabeth
Taylor, Richard Burton, Tom Jones, Steve McQueen, The Pope, Elvis Presley. I
mean she made it so interesting.
Ronnie Howard: Im surprised she didnt add a few more.
Laurence Merrick: She added, she added.
Ronnie Howard: Well, I didnt wanna I couldnt say anything against
Virginia and tell them Virginia was lying, because then, goodness, that wouldnt
be good for the prosecution would it?
Richard Lopez: Theyre all lying.
Ronnie Howard: I just told it the way it was told to me.
Laurence Merrick: Yes, yes, built it up big!
She basically admits two things: She admits that the so-called celebrity
hit list that every news station reported, tabloids still report, and people
still believe existed, was a fabrication. That they simply spiced up the
story, because its obvious that they are guilty. She also admits that she
was indeed paid for her testimony. Apparently, the detectives also wanted a
portion of that money she received and in turn they would wipe her record
clean. She stated that they did not wipe her record clean and she went back
to jail.
190 The Manson Myth
Sadly, even though She has admitted that Virginia Grahams stories were
lies, Virginia Graham still speaks against Charles Manson and the defend-
ants. In fact, she testified against Susan Atkins at her 2009 compassionate
release hearings when she was dying of cancer.
Ronnie Howard was not available for contradiction because in
November of 1979, she returned to Los Angeles from Las Vegas with her
husband Richard Lopez and she was approached by a Gypsy Cab while her
husband went inside to retrieve their luggage and apparently got inside. She
was later found beaten to death.
Vincent Bugliosi said that it may have been a retaliation murder because,
Everywhere she went, she was known as the Manson snitch. Some people
also believe it could have been the detectives who she supposedly made
deals with. However, it is probably an unrelated, tragic mugging and
beating.
Another eerie coincidence was that almost two years prior in 1977, the
man who conducted the interviewLaurence Merrickwas murdered
outside of his Hollywood studio. Eye witnesses claimed they had seen a
man hanging around his studio, asking questions about Merrick and the
Manson film.
Around the same time, the director of that same film, Robert Hen-
drickson, was in the midst of suing Laurence Merrick over unfulfilled prom-
ises of earnings for that film. He claimed that he was owed $100,000 plus
fifty-percent of all earnings from the film.
In the 1973 documentary, Manson, Ronnie Howard concluded her inter-
view by saying, I should have just kept my mouth shut.
False Witness 191
LINDA KASABIAN
What can I say about Linda Kasa-
bian that hasnt been said before? Why
is it that all of the negative facts
regarding her are widely dismissed as
propaganda used to discredit a witness?
I mean her testimony did put Satan
away in prison for life. Poor Linda
Kasabian was an innocent bystander
who was a love-sharing hippie caught
up in the chaos that ensued on August
9
th
and 10
th
, 1969. Right?
Truth is Linda Kasabian was a
known troublemaker, a known drug
dealer, a known drug addict, and a
known liar. In fact during Charles
Watsons trial, his attorney, Sam
Bubrick, pointed the finger at Linda
Kasabian; saying she was the ringleader of the murders at Cielo Drive. Its
the same thing that the defendants at the Manson Trial, as well as plenty of
witnesses during the penalty phase of the trial, had also stated.
Sam Bubricks closing argument included some very defaming remarks
about Linda Kasabian.
When Watson was in high school back in Texas playing football, what was
Linda Kasabian doing? She was going from commune to commune, traveling
from man to man, living off boyfriends, shooting speed, selling drugs, living by
her wits.
I could literally write an entire book on Linda Kasabian alone, so I will try
and keep her section as short and to the point as I can.
Since there was no defense portion at the Manson Trial, there was no
contradiction to her testimony except during cross-examinations. So, much
like testimonies from other witnesses, whatever she said was accepted as
fact.
After the defendants were convicted, the court did give people the ability
to testify on Charles Mansons behalf, but this was only to spare him from
Linda Kasabian was clearly one of the masterminds of
the killings but was given immunity to 7 counts of
murder to switch sides.
192 The Manson Myth
the gas chamber and not to prove him not guilty. During these testimo-
nies many witnesses testified that it was Linda Kasabian who had wanted
these murders to go down. The prosecution defended these accusations
with the explanation that they were merely trying to discredit the one wit-
ness whose testimony was so valuable, that without it there was no case
against Charles Manson. That was of course, Linda Kasabian.
Over the years when more and more information leaks, a lot of these
accusations that she may have been the mastermind are becoming substan-
tiated. When Bill Nelson wrote his book, Manson: Behind the Scenes, he pro-
vided proof that she lived with her husband on Waverly Drive at the home
of Family confidant Harold True. Harold True lived next door to the
LaBiancas. Until this, the prosecutions theory was that the LaBiancas were
chosen at random something she substantiated on the stand.
Why would she lie? Was it to hide the fact that the LaBiancas were her
neighbors? Another odd fact is that before Harold True lived on Waverly
Drive, he lived on Chandler Drive with Paul Watkins, Sandra Good, Lynette
Fromme, Sue Bartell, and many other Family members.
As for the LaBianca murders, Vincent Bugliosi even said, Nobody
knows why the LaBiancas were chosen. during a 1970 interview.
In 1991, Charles Manson appeared on the television show Hard Copy
and he also admitted this link. He went a bit further and said they had
crashed in the LaBianca home when it was vacant, before the LaBiancas
moved in.
When attorney Irving Kanarek cross-examined Linda Kasabian after her
testimony, he asked her something interesting.
Irving Kanarek: Mrs. Kasabian, on the night, on the second night that you
left Spahn Ranch, did you know that you have participated with three other
people, who all together, you and the other people, had killed five people?
Linda Kasabian: No.
This was a lie because she obviously knew they killed the night prior
because she saw Wojciech Frykowski pleading for his life and distracted him
while Charles Watson stabbed him to death. She absolutely knew that they
killed because she saw Charles Watson also murder Stephen Parent. And
most importantly, she knew they killed becauseaccording to
Charles Watsonshe held the knives on the way to the Cielo Drive house.
False Witness 193
Irving Kanarek knew he had caught her in a lie, and her reason for the lie
is laughably absurd. The jury were obviously gullible enough to buy it.
Irving Kanarek: Directing your attention, Mrs. Kasabian, to the second
night and your state of mind, your thinking as you left Spahn Ranch on the
second night, did you know what you and three other people done the night
before, causing the death of five people?
Linda Kasabian: I dont understand the question.
Irving Kanarek: You dont understand that question?
Linda Kasabian: Right.
Irving Kanarek: What about the question do you not understand?
Linda Kasabian: Well, I dont know what the answer is.
Irving Kanarek: You mean you dont know the answer that Mr. Bugliosi
wants you to say?
He was on the right track. It was blatantly obvious that her testimony
regarding this night was coached. She was not at the murders, but just in the
car that delivered them. She never went into the LaBiancas home on the
night of the murders, but she somehow knew everything that the prosecu-
tion theorized went on. However that theory was proven incorrect by the
actual participants.
After the murders were committed, she had many opportunities to leave
and go to the police. She used the excuse that she feared for the life of her
child to explain why she did not leave Spahn Ranch. If this is so, then why is
it that after she fled Spahn Ranch with her child, did she not go to the
police? Was it because she knew she was as guilty as anyone else who were
inside of those homes on the nights of the murders?
In 1970, Laurence Merrick interviewed informant Ronnie Howard in for
the 1973 documentary, Manson. In this interview, she stated that Susan
Atkins told her that Linda Kasabian was a willing participant and knew what
her deed would be.
Kasabian got immunity, and she was just as guilty as the rest. Sadie told me
that when they left the ranch, everybody knew that they were out to slaughter
some pigs that night. Kasabian was one of them and she gets immunity and here
I am. I tell the police and I get a few more years added onto my parole for it.
Linda Kasabian joined the Family while Charles Manson was off on a
hiatus. He returned to Spahn Ranch to meet her. He said in the 1988 Ger-
194 The Manson Myth
aldo Rivera interview that he barely knew her and only spoke to her a few
times. This makes a lot of sense because in those days he was not at Spahn
Ranch a lot. He was actually kicked off of the ranch by George Spahn and
lived in Conoga Park at the house they dubbed The Yellow Submarine.
I only knew Linda Kasabian; I seen her three times in my life, maybe two
minutes of my life. She came up to the ranch for about a week! The biggest
thought was getting in her body. I wasnt thinking about sending her down to be
no troop.
If this is indeed true, then how did he program her to be his personal
robot as the prosecutions theory suggested? To make the Helter Skelter
theory true, she had to have been under his program. Or is it easier to
assume that she went on the murder spree at her own will? If she went on
her own will, what did she have to gain for it? Did she have ties to the occu-
pants at the Cielo Drive home?
When Susan Atkins took the stand during the penalty phase, she testified
that Linda Kasabian had ties to the Cielo Drive home and suggested that
home in the copy-cat killings to free Bobby Beausoleil.
Linda (Kasabian) overheard our conversation that Bobby (BeauSoleil) had
been arrested for the death of Gary (Hinman). I said, Id do anything to get my
brother out of jail. I know some people in Beverly Hills that burned me on a
drug buy, you can make it (Hinmans murder) look like somebody else did it if
you copycat the murders we can make more of the same. Theyll cut Bobby
loose.
Again, the prosecution discredited this testimony by telling the jury that
they were trying to protect Charles Manson. The jury bought that without
any doubt in their minds. Did she lie to protect Manson? That could be
true, but Catherine Gypsy Share took the stand and said something sim-
ilar.
Irving Kanarek: Did Miss Linda Kasabian ask you to go out to the Tate
residence?
Catherine Share: No, she didnt ask me to go out to the Tate residence. She
asked me to go out and do some killing.
Like a broken record, the prosecution discredited this statement with the
convenient excuse that, Manson made her say that.
False Witness 195
Irving Kanarek then put Linda Kasabians ex-roommate and friend June
Emmer on the stand August 3, 1970. Her words against Linda Kasabian
were harsh and she substantiated the claims that she had problems with
drugs, lying, and that she was bragging about staying in a $250,000 home
inhabited by movie stars. Could this be the Cielo Drive home? That homes
value was stated to be $250,000 in 1969.
Irving Kanarek: Now, while she stayed at your house did Linda Kasabian
discuss with you LSD?
June Emmer: Yes.
Irving Kanarek: Now, directing your attention to the matter of acid and
LSD, would you please tell us whether or not Linda Kasabian told you that she
had consumed acid or LSD?
June Emmer: Yes. She told me when she was carrying her baby, Tanya, she
took it, and for me not to believe everything I see in the papers about taking LSD
as far as having a child.
Irving Kanarek: What did she tell you concerning her stay in California?
June Emmer: She had a ball there and really enjoyed it.
Irving Kanarek: Did she tell you that she had been in a $250,000 house?
June Emmer: Yes.
Irving Kanarek: Mrs. Emmer, at one time while you were discussing a
$250,000 home with Mrs. Kasabian, did you ask her why she was at this house?
(Objection by Bugliosi; Requested an offer of proof as to the validity of the
question.)
Irving Kanarek: Well, I believe the Sharon Tate home, your Honor, is
worth about $250,000. And it is our belief that Linda Kasabian was in that
house, that Linda Kasabian had a participation in these murders that is far and
much greater than Linda Kasabian has testified to.
June Emmer: Yes.
Irving Kanarek: What did she tell you?
June Emmer: She told me she couldnt tell me. I said, Why not? I said,
What kind of people do you know with that kind of money? She said, I just
cannot tell you.
Irving Kanarek: Do you have an opinion, Mrs. Emmer, as to the truth, hon-
esty and integrity of Linda Kasabian?
June Emmer: I know she lies.
196 The Manson Myth
Aaron Stovitz: May that be stricken your Honor, as pure speculation, pure
conjecture, and pure malarkey?
Judge Older: It is non-responsive. The answer is stricken.
Irving Kanarek: Did her father tell you what his opinion was concerning
her reputation?
June Emmer: Yes.
Irving Kanarek: You had occasion to observe her, and among other people
besides yourself?
June Emmer: Yes.
Irving Kanarek: All right, would you tell us what, then, her reputation for
truth, honesty and integrity was in the fall of 1969 in the community in which
she lived in Miami?
June Emmer: She was a liar.
Irving Kanarek: What was her reputation was it good, bad?
June Emmer: All I can say is she just lied, that is all.
Irving Kanarek: Did she ever state to you-did she ever state to you anything
concerning the taking of any other drugs other than LSD or acid?
June Emmer: She told me she took them all.
What does this testimony prove? Well, it proves that even people close to
Linda Kasabianwho knew her prior to the Familysaid she had a bad
reputation and was a habitual drug user who took them all. Irving Kanarek
was trying to disrepute the prosecutions witness with fact not only fact,
but first-person accounts. Not second-hand and third-hand hearsay, which
the prosecution used against Charles Manson and the other defendants.
So, why would Linda Kasabian lie and whats to gain by lying? Immunity
to seven counts of murder, in which she was at first indicted. However, after
Susan Atkins refused to work with the prosecution during her Grand Jury
testimony, the prosecution dropped her as a witness and went on to
Linda Kasabian offering her a sweet deal of walking free of all charges.
Linda Kasabian fled LosAngeles after the murders and went to Utah and
then to New York. She only turned herself in when she had been told she
had been indicted on murder charges. She did not turn herself in for the
good of the case, thats for sure.
In Vincent Bugliosis book, Helter Skelter, he admitted that before she
turned prosecutions witness he went to the County Jail and made sure that
False Witness 197
she was not harassed the way Susan Atkins is being harassed. He was
buttering her up; showing her how easy it is when she cooperates.
In 1999, author and researcher Bill Nelson wrote an article on the now
defunct Manson Family Today website regarding his research of Linda Kasa-
bian for the past thirty years. Heres what he found and not only did it coin-
cide to what June Emmer had said, but various Family members including
Susan Atkins and Catherine Share.
Linda Kasabian was the states star witness during the Manson family
murder trials for the Tate/LaBianca murders. She had only been with the
Manson family a brief time and had arrived from a commune in New Mexico
with her husband Bob. None other than Tex Watson seduced Linda the first day
she arrived and upon learning that Linda had some $5,000 in her truck, Watson
conned her out of it. Watson believed this act of theft would endear him even
more to his quasi-Jesus Christ figure, Charles Manson.
Kasabian had the only valid drivers license in the Manson family and that
has always been the reason given as why she was chosen to go along with the
killers. Do not think for one moment that other Mansonites ceased driving just
because there was no legal license in their wallet or purse. The Manson family
lived off stolen credit cards. They mostly all had fake IDs and licenses as well.
Charles Manson also had a valid drivers license.
Kasabian did not stay at the car as instructed by Tex, and she walked back
up the long drive to the Tate property. She witnessed the murder of Voytek and
asked Susan to make it stop. Kasabian said she would never forget the eyes of the
pained victim as he slumped on the porch and then on the front lawn. Atkins
reportedly responded that it was too late. Its hard to believe that she asked for
it to stop, she knew what was going to happen. Kasabian could have ran and
asked for help, but she chose not to.
Kasabian drove the car the second night of murder. She left with Manson,
Grogan, and Atkins before the murders of Leno and Rosemary. Thus, Kasabian
became an eyewitness to both nights and could testify for the prosecution. The
prosecution would rather have her in prison with the rest of them but they
granted her immunity when indecisive Sadie backed out of her Grand Jury agree-
ment to turn star witness.
After the trials Kasabian has chosen a life of crime. No, not murder. But
drugs, drug abuse, weapons caches and is a derelict in society. The daughter she
198 The Manson Myth
had at Spahn Ranch became known as Lady Dangerous and is a felon. Kasa-
bians son was arrested more than 22 times.
Why did I think it important to run this story? Because the former star wit-
ness who helped put away the Manson family has continued a life of crime. She,
and her daughter, have participated in the drug business. Drugs which destroy
the lives of everyone they come in contact with. Tanya, just a young child at the
Spahn Ranch, is currently known as Lady Dangerous by Washington state
authorities. To even consider that Linda would allow drugs in the home of the
grandchildren is inconceivable.
It is without a doubt, a fact that Linda Kasabian was tied to the Cielo
Drive and Waverly Drive homes. August 10
th
, 1969 it was stated that she,
Susan Atkins, and Steve Grogan were sent to Venice Beach to the apart-
ment of actor Saladin Nader to murder him, but the plan was conveniently
aborted when Linda Kasabian knocked on the wrong door. Ironically,
she was also associated to Saladin Nader. She and Sandra Good had met
him days prior and had sex with him. Three for three.
According to the prosecution, Linda Kasabian had stated that
Charles Manson told her to do whatever Tex says. But Charles Watson
had stated that he had told him the girls know what to do. So, which is it?
Of course, since the defense team for Charles Manson and the other
defendants never had a chance to put on a defense and state their case, her
version became fact by forfeit.
Susan Atkins book, The Myth of Helter Skelter, summed up Linda Kasa-
bian in an attempt to prove that her only motive for testifying was to evade
seven charges of murder. And doing so she would testify anything that was
laid out by the prosecution. Not only that, but she was also used to testify
against Leslie Van Houten during her 1977 retrial. Linda Kasabian never
went inside the Waverly Drive home, so how would she know what went on
inside?
First off, she claims that Charles Manson went into the LaBianca home
himself and tied up Leno and Rosemary. However, she said she did not
enter the home herself. She later states that she had been to the area before,
next door in fact. She knew the area very well because she recognized it right
off the bat. So was it a coincidence or maybe she picked the house out her-
self? Who knows, but the house was familiar.
False Witness 199
Charles Watson said in his book, Will You Die for Me?, that he and
Charles Manson entered the house together, discrediting what she said
under oath. He also goes on to say that Charles Manson told the LaBiancas
that they are just there for money and no one will be hurt. He went on to
say that the murders were more for moneyto bail Mary Brunnerthan
anything else. But he also said the murders were to free Bobby Beausoleil
and of course that silly Helter Skelter thing.
He even says that it was he who tied up the LaBiancas and
then Charles Manson left with a wallet. When the girls entered the home, he
asked Patricia Krenwinkle, Did he say kill them? and she said yes. This is
also inconsistent with Linda Kasabians testimony that he told the girls to
do whatever Tex says. According to the prosecution, Linda Kasabian had
no clue that any murders were going to happen that she thought these
were going to be robberies. Bullshit.
Susan Atkins went on to say in The Myth of Helter Skelter that:

Linda had carried a knife that night.

Linda stood lookout at the Cielo house.

Linda had collected the weapons and bloody clothing after the crimes at the
Cielo home.

Linda discarded the weapons and bloody clothing after the Cielo crimes.

Linda had gone out the next night knowing what would happen.

Linda did not go to the police after she left Spahns Ranch.

Linda did not go to the police even after she got her daughter back.

Linda did not go to police even after she went back to New York.

Linda only offered to make a deal with the District Attorney after she had
been indicted on murder charges.

Linda only offered to make a deal with the District Attorney if she would be
given immunity to all counts of murder.
The problem with her book is that nobody believes her. She is still seen
as a remorseless baby killeras laid out by the prosecution
despite Charles Watson admitted that she killed no one; that he was Sharon
Tates slayer.
200 The Manson Myth
No one will believe anything except what the media reports and that is
always that Susan Atkins is a cold-blooded killer of an 8 month pregnant
Sharon Tate. And that makes everything she says a lie.
When Charles Manson was finally able to testifyin front of an empty
jury boxhe spoke about Linda Kasabian.
You sat here for nineteen days questioning that girl. She got immunity on
seven counts of murder. You set her up to be a hero, and that is your woman. You
set this woman up here to testify against me. And she tells you a sad story. How
she has only taken every narcotic that is possible to take. How she has only stolen,
lied, cheated and done everything that you have got there in that book. But it is
okay. She is telling the truth now. She wouldnt have any ulterior motive like
immunity for seven counts of murder.

False Witness 201
BARBARA HOYT
The first question that I want to ask is
why would Barbara Hoyt want to testify
erroneous information? The answer is
that she, too, was scorned and feared for
her life. When the Family heard that
she may have overheard a conversation
about the murder of Sharon Tate and
was subpoenaed to tell that story to the
jury, some of the Family asked her
along on an all-expenses paid trip to
Hawaii. I am not too sure why she
agreed to go, but while she was there a
few of the girls slipped ten tabs of LSD
into her cheeseburger and left her.
While she was freaking out, fearing for
her life, they hopped a plane back to Los
Angeles.
She eventually collapsed and woke up in a hospital and was convinced
that the so-called cheeseburger caper was anticipated to kill her. When the
Los Angeles District Attorneys office heard about it, Ruth Ann Moore-
house, Lynette Fromme and Catherine Share were arrested on attempted
murder charges. They insisted that it was merely an attempt to scare her
into not testifying and eventually the charges went from conspiracy to
commit murder to conspiracy to dissuade a witness from testifying and con-
spiracy to bribe a witness.
Barbara Hoyt had every right to fear for her life. I can almost guarantee
you that Catherine Share was just itching to kill someone. Susan Atkins
stated in her book, Child of Satan, Child of God, that she once threatened
her, Susan, if you blow my scene, I will kill you. Even after she severed ties
with the Family, she hooked up with violant radical groups that were asso-
ciated with Symbionese Liberation Army.
Even though Barbara Hoyt knew very little about the murders at Cielo
Drive, other than what she had heard, she held nothing back when she told
the prosecution.
Prosecutors Vincent Bugliosi (right) and Stephen Kay
(background) with star witness to the Donald
Shorty Shea murder.
202 The Manson Myth
Her testimony included facts that have since been factually contradicted
or in better words, proven lies. While at Barker Ranch in Death Valley,
she said she heard Susan Atkins confess the Sharon Tate murder to Ruth
Ann Moorehouse. Skipping back to the chapter Who is Charles Watson?,
you will remember that it is a fact that Susan Atkins did not kill Sharon
Tate.
So, this was either Susan Atkins pumping herself up and making herself
seem hard to Ruth Ann Moorehousemuch like her Sybil Brand Insti-
tute confessionor it was a lie that was coached from the prosecution.
Either way, her testimony was nothing but hearsay and conclusions that she
built in her own head.
Almost verbatim to what the prosecution had alleged happened after the
murders, Barbara Hoyts testimony stated that she became suspicious after
the Family members watched television reports about the Tate murders
with delight. This was also put in the Helter Skelter 2004 movie, in which
the Family cheered at the television.
Upon watching the movie, Charles Watson wrote a review on Aboundin-
gLove.org of the movie stating that, After the crime, we reported to Manson
in the bunk house, very low-key with him not happy, and there was no cele-
bration by the family in front of a television.
Two things in this statement stand out; his version was that there were
no celebrations: discredit Barbara Hoyts testimony, and that Manson was
not happy. Why wasnt he happy? Was it for the reason Charles Manson
had said; that he was pissed at the crew when they told him they had mur-
dered the people they were supposed to rob?
Her testimony also included facts, such as that they made Sharon Tate
die last so she could watch the others die. This was an obvious attempt to
corroborate the prosecutions claim that Sharon Tate was the target.
Her claim was that after she overheard this confession, she and Sherri
Cooper fled Barker Ranch and that Charles Manson caught up with them in
Warm Springs. And after she and Sherri Cooper expressed that they wanted
to leave, Charles Manson gave them money for tickets to Los Angeles and
left. Of course, the prosecution had to add that he was planning to send
someone to Los Angeles to kill them.
False Witness 203
Back in the Danny DeCarlo section; notice that his girlfriend who was
laughing and bragging about the murder of Donald Shea was Sherri Cooper.
Ironically, her testimony also included the murder Donald Shea, and her
testimony was the key piece to the puzzle which convicted Charles Manson,
Steve Grogan and Bruce Davis for the murder and completely missing
Charles Watson, Larry Bailey and Bill Vance.
Newspapers reported her testimony included statements
like Charles Manson told her that Shorty committed suicide with his help,
and that on the night of the murders she heard blood-curdling screams
from Shea. She said the screams were coming from a nearby creek bed and
that they were prolonged and painful like a horror movie, only worse.
She later claimed that Charles Manson told her that Shea had been mur-
dered and buried on the side of the stream. She also confirmed the testi-
mony of Paul Watkins when she stated that Shorty was cut into nine pieces
by the family. All were untrue, but believed without any questions.
This testimony, backed with the testimony of Paul Watkins, nailed the
coffin for all of the defendants, however, both testimonies were completely
incorrect. How did two different people repeat the same misinformation?
During the 1994 parole hearing of Bruce Davis, he told a very different
story. Why would he lie? His lie would serve absolutely no purpose, in fact
going against the prosecutions theory and stating the truth would do more
harm. Lets just admit that he was being honest.
When he told the story of Donald Sheas murder, he stated that it was
early morning. He also stated that Donald Shea was not buried at that
time. Steve Grogan did say at one of his parole hearings that he was the one
who buried him, and lead the authorities to his grave which was down a
ravine beside a train track about 2 miles from Spahn Ranch. The stories
both of them give are nearly identical and both contradict Barbara Hoyt and
Paul Watkins.
From the October 19, 1978 parole hearing of Bruce Davis:
Presiding Officer White: Can we move into the Shorty Shea case?
Mr. Bakes: Tell me what happened: Tell your particular version of it.
Bruce Davis: We were going down the road toward San Fernando Valley,
and Tex stabbed Shorty. He said, Pull over here, and we pulled over and they
pulled him out of the car, and pulled him down the bank.
204 The Manson Myth
Mr. Bakes: Who said pull over?
Bruce Davis: Tex told Shorty, who was driving, to pull over.
Mr. Bakes: Did he stab him before he pulled him out of the car?
Bruce Davis: Well, yes. I didnt actually see that. I was the back seat was
between us. I would assume he must have.
From the October 20, 1981 parole hearing of Steve Grogan:
Presiding Member Roos: So Charles Manson was in the back seat with
you?
Steve Grogan: No.
Mr. Robinson: Tex was sitting in the front seat and you were sitting where?
Steve Grogan: Then we pulled off the road. Tex got out. The car was still in
gear. I think he just had his foot on the break, and they got out and they looked
around the bushes like he was looking for some parts. And Tex was urging me,
you know, come on hit this guy. I kept hesitating. He pulled out a knife that he
had. I guess thats what finally, you know, put me over the edge. I just hit the guy.
I wasnt really there was no accurate shot or nothing like that.
Presiding Member Roos: Who did that?
Steve Grogan: I imagine Tex did. I didnt actually see him stab him. My
head was turned, you know. The car had left. My peripheral vision, I didnt catch
what was going on. Came out of the car and he was laying on the ground and
semi unconscious state. He was already going or something. And at that point
Manson arrived on the scene with another person.
Presiding Member Roos: Did Manson stab him too?
Steve Grogan: I dont know. He might have slashed him. I dont recall if he
stabbed him.
Presiding Member Roos: So you stabbed him and Tex stabbed him. Any-
body else stab him?
Steve Grogan: I think Bruce might have stabbed him in the arm
Barbara Hoyt and Paul Watkins testimony that Donald Shea was buried
on Spahn Ranch land lead to an extensive grave search, which obviously
yielded nothing. Not only were the stories that they told lies, but they also
wasted a lot of time and resources.
The story that Donald Shea was beheaded was purely lore. Probably
something Steve Grogan made up for the same reasons Susan Atkins fabri-
cated her stories to sound hard. Barbara Hoyt had witnessed nothing,
False Witness 205
she merely heard someone bragging and exaggerating and she repeated it.
Later, at Steve Grogans 1981 parole hearing he did say that he was told to
tell people that he dismembered Donald Shea.
Board Member Tong: I think you indicated that at the time of the killing,
correct me if Im incorrect, that Manson said to mutilate the body and that you
surmised that it was a means of bringing the group more under his control,
because the group was beginning to shift away from him; is that correct?
Steve Grogan: Yeah. At the time it wasnt really at the time of the mur-
ders. It was after the murder, sometime after. The murder that he told me that,
you know, calculate that story if anybody asks.
Mr. Robinson: Just for clarification, he didnt tell you to mutilate the body?
Steve Grogan: No, he told me to say that we had mutilated the body.
Why would Charles Manson want them to lie? Why would Steve Grogan
lie and why would he take so long to tell the truth? Heres an excerpt from
book The Garbage People that explains why. He basically just wanted out of
prison and knew that the whereabouts of Donald Sheas body would be the
ticket out of prison and it was.
Grogans tier-mate and fellow Family member Bobby Beausoleil told him
to just fess up and tell them where Shea was buried. That will surely prove he is
telling the truth. Grogan did just that in 1977 and Donald Shorty Sheas body
was dug up, all in one piece minus a hand which was removed by an animal.
The autopsy report not only proved what he was saying to be true, but
verified testimonies from Barbara Hoyt and Paul Watkins were a lie. This
should have resulted in a re-trial, but it did not. it remains a mystery why
both Charles Manson and Steve Grogan testified in court that they decapi-
tated Donald Shea. It was a lie that basically sealed their fate in this case.
The papers even reported on October 29, 1971 that The State claimed
that Grogan, 20, while following Mansons orders; decapitated Donald
Shorty Shea, 36, after the family tortured the dying man with knives.
They were wrong. I have proved they were wrong and it wasnt that hard.
Sadly the key witness to this murder remains to be Barbara Hoyt. Here are
the problems with the Donald Shea case; Barbara Hoyts lies caused and
questions that still are not answered.
206 The Manson Myth

The jury was not sequestered, so they heard all of the (later proven) false
stories from Barbara Hoyt published in the media of Grogan beheading
Shea, as well as the rumor that he was manually masturbated as he died.

When Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi filed for the indictment, he stated I

have proof that Steve Grogan beheaded Donald Shea. However, he
could not produce this proof since he was working on the words of Bar-
bara Hoyt and Paul Watkins, and not legitimate proof.

The time of death that the actual killers have stated is different than the
time of death Barbara Hoyt states.

Charles Manson was convicted of murder for stabbing Donald Shea.

However, the real Charlie who stabbed himCharles Watson
evaded conviction. Two other named participants in the murder; Bill
Vance and Larry Bailey remain at large because the stories Barbara Hoyt
and Paul Watkins produced did not tell the real facts, and the real partici-
pants.

Prosecution listed Charles Manson in the car that took Donald Shea to
his death. Ruby Pearl said she saw Charles Manson, Charles Watson,
Bruce Davis, Steve Grogan and others force him into the car. The people
who murdered Donald Shea were hardened criminals. They would not
have murdered him when Ruby Pearl was a witness, they would have
waited to be clear of any witnesses. He was not murdered then.

If Bruce Davis, Steve Grogan, Charles Watson, Bill Vance and Larry
Bailey were all in the car with Donald Shea, there would be no room for
Charles Manson.

Prosecution said that Charles Manson wanted Donald Shea dead

because he caused the Spahn Ranch raid and married a black woman.
Donald Shea was once married to a black woman, but long before he met
Charles Manson. He was separated from her at the time of his murder.

Charles Manson filed for an appeal when Donald Sheas body was found.
The court would not even read it. It was pr-oven that he was convicted
by perjured testimony. He also later asked for a new trial for the murder,
and the court would not even hear it.
In my opinion, people really dont care about the real story of Donald
Sheas murder because he was not as significant as the victims at the Cielo
Drive and Waverly Drive homes. He was not a movie star, nor was he rich.
False Witness 207
He was an out-of-work stuntman who was destitute and living at a horse
farm, shoveling manure for his room and board.
Sadly, a lot of books, documentaries, and movies completely skip over his
murder as if he doesnt even matter. The prosecution used his murder as
one more notch in the gun of Vincent Bugliosi, one more reason hed surely
be a shoe-in for Los Angeles District Attorney. His body was not even found
yet, and the entire trial was based on what they heard, what he said,
what we think happened. Not fact, nor anything backed by evidence.
The prosecutions theory was that Charles Manson stabbed Donald Shea
himself and neither of the participants testified that they had seen him do
so. Steve Grogan said that he was not even in the car. Bruce Davis stated
that he later came in a second car. However, so-called eye witnesses have
stated they saw Charles Manson get in the car with Donald Shea.
Someones lying.
Facts are that most of the people who testified in the Donald Shea trial
really did not know anything about the murder. They merely heard about
it and they recited what they heard, backed with their own opinion and
what they thought the person spilling the beans meant.
This extended to the Gary Hinman portion of the trial as well as the prior
Tate/LaBianca murder trial. The facts remain that the evidence used was
merely opinion stated as truth; assumptions stated as eye witness
accounts.
In the end, Charles Watson remains un-charged for this murder, yet he
was the ringleader spouting out commands and stabbing as he did in the
Tate and LaBianca slayings.
208 The Manson Myth
13
Pictures: Part III
209
Paul Watkins (left) and Vincent Bugliosi (right) go over the Helter Skelter theory.
210 The Manson Myth
Paul Crockett (left), Paul Watkins (middle) and Brooks Poston (right) testified that Charles Manson used magic to control
his followers.
Pictures: Part III 211
Steve Clem Grogan (second from left) and Bruce Davis (right) attend the trial. Both later have their own murder trials.
212 The Manson Myth
William Garretson was the lone survivor of the Tate Massacre. He testified that he heard and saw nothing. He later admits he
heard it all and even saw the killers.
Pictures: Part III 213
Richard Caballero (left) with his client Susan Atkins (right). Caballero convicted Atkins to sell her story and sign over most of
the profits to his escrow account.
214 The Manson Myth
Linda Kasabians roommate June Emmer testified that Kasabia was a known liar and drug abuser.
Pictures: Part III 215
14
The Real Race War
When Charles Manson was
convicted on January 25,
1971, the generic term
Helter Skelter became a
reality. When it became a
reality, so did the Black Pan-
thers vs. Rich White race war
that the prosecution laid out
inno pun intendedblack
and white for the entire
world to read.
Do I believe that the murders were to spark that race war? No. Charles
Manson was deathly afraid of retaliation by Bernard Crowe and the last
thing on his mind would be to provoke the Black Panthers. Why in the
world would he initiate it? He was so afraid that he permitted guns at the
ranch (see chapter: False Witness Danny DeCarlo), something that he
was completely against. In fact he told Charlie Rose in 1986 that he dis-
carded all of their guns long before then, that he didnt need them.
Sandra Good holing a Black Power sign.
217
When all of the Bernard Crowe paranoia started, the Family was armed
and set up as all night lookouts while the rest got everything together as they
intended to all head to Death Valley. This was not Helter Skelter.
The shooting of Bernard Crowe instigated a domino effect that created
extreme fear in Charles Manson and the Family. What was going down
was real and not one of Charles Mansons cons and certainly not one of his
delusions.
July 2, 1969, the day after the shooting, Charles Watson flees the
Family and takes the money from the Bernard Crowe burn and buys him-
self a dune buggy from Butlers Dune Buggy Shop. Two days later he meets
Linda Kasabian and cons her for the aforementioned (in the chapter: Who
is Charles Watson?) $5,000.
Around July 6, 1969, Charles Manson breaks the news of the shooting to
the Family and tells them that he fears that the Black Panthers are coming
for them. This obviously set off a wave panic and fear and probably a lot of
resentment towards Charles Manson. It was written in the Ed Sanders
book, The Family, that a few days after this news, the Family ate dinner for
the very first time without Charles Manson present. This was a first and
completely went against all they stood for. They always ate together. They
were pissed at his mistake.
July 10, 1969, he takes the pile of money that Charles Watson conned
out of Linda Kasabian to Butlers Dune Buggy Shop and buys a few. This
was the start of the so-called dune buggy assault team. This plan was devised
to get everyone out of Los Angeles so that the Black Panthers could not find
them.
Charles Manson had a lot of reason to worry, because on July 11, 1969, a
black man with a dog was spotted spying on the Family. The very next day
a car full of black men (8 of them) drive slowly through the ranch and check
out the dune buggies. Charles Manson quickly hides the children at the
back of the ranch and puts Danny DeCarlo on the ball to get some guns.
The very next day Danny DeCarlo and Bruce Davis acquire an arsenal of
firearms.
When some of the Family find a pile of food wrappers behind a bush in
eye sight of Spahn Ranch, it becomes obvious that someone spent a lot of
218 The Manson Myth
time watching them from the brush. This spooks the Family and they
pack up and set up camp in Devils Canyon.
Less than two weeks later Gary Hinman is murdered.
The members of the Family have widely stated that Charles Manson
never used that term except in its true meaning; chaos and confusion. This
time was most definitely full of chaos and confusion. The shooting of Ber-
nard Crowe was the spark that sent these people into panic and paranoia,
not Charles Manson personally.
In Paul Watkins book, My Life with Charles Manson, he went as far as
stating that Charles Manson basically prophesied the White Album by
quoting it before its release; interesting to say the least.
Truth isand this was repudiated by several members of the Family
that he was actually preaching racial acceptance for a long time. It was the
Bernard Crowe incident that made him become disenchanted with the
Black Panthers, who he blamed for all of the ensuing chaos after the
shooting. He personally had no beef with the black man in general. To boil
this entire episode down to racism is laughable.
In the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme, he
was quoted speaking a lot of anti-racist doctrine to his beloved group.
Wethe white mancame to this country. We ran the Indians out. Then
we show them a treaty and we say peace and they sign the treaty and we come
in and wipe them out. We bring the black people over here to work for us and
they are dumb because they are not allowed to live in love. We rape their women
and we kill them because they are nothing to us, you know? We have, as a race,
we have killed anything darker than us, or put it down, or put it away, or we
have controlled it.
In 1969, he was interviewed by Rolling Stone Magazine and he was also
quoted as saying, The black people were the first to have power.
Quite recently, the Order of ATWA blog posted a quote from him
explaining his views on race.
There is only one mind and it aint got no color. Thats why I told you
you gotta be reborn. You only got one people, man. I mean, there are differences
in nature a cocker spaniel is not a sheep dog and a sheep dog is not a pit bull
but you cant rightly judge one thing against another.
The Real Race War 219
Charles Watson even went a bit further in his writing, The Terrorist Con-
nection, by claiming that Charles Manson was in fact pro-black and anti-
white, which to me makes sense. I will write more about this in the next
chapter, Holy Swastika.
Today, Manson is believed by many to be a white supremacist. To the con-
trary, in the 60s he was anti-white. It has been falsely reported that Charles
Manson was driven by his hatred for the Jews. He has been compared to Hitler,
having carved a swastika upon his forehead. In reality, Manson hated society in
general; who he called whitey. He blamed society for all his failures. His plan
had nothing to do with the Jews specifically.
Charles Watson was not the only one making these claims. In fact, the
entire Family seemed to be spewing this exact thing. So how did this get
turned completely around by the media and prosecution? I dont deny that
during the paranoia of the feared Bernard Crowe retaliation, that the
Family may have become tired of blacks or more accurately the com-
munist Black Panther Party who they had blamed for all of the chaos that
ensued after the shooting. But the race war he spoke about was not Black
Panthers, it was Black Muslims.
In the 2006 documentary, Inside the Manson Gang, director Robert Hen-
drickson indicated that Charles Manson may have had an inside to the
Black Muslims and was linked to them from his days in Terminal Island
Penitentiary. He went on to say in a 2012 interview with Ear Candy Maga-
zine that Charles Mansons old prison buddy Phil Phillips said that he and
Charles Manson both had a relationship with the Black Muslims in Ter-
minal Island. Nuel Emmons book, Manson in His Own Words, confirmed
this.
In prison there is very kind of belief imaginable. Some are good, others are
bogus. What is good and right for one person isnt necessarily so for the other guy.
Though I wasnt black, I picked up on what the Black Muslims were practicing. I
found them solid in their beliefs so I watched them and began to appreciate their
rituals and traditions.
At the end of the 2006 documentary, Inside the Manson Gang, the text
read: In 1972, Black Muslims, mostly recruited from North California
prisons, tried to ignite an actual Black and White race war, to become
known as the Zebra Murders.
220 The Manson Myth
Was this just a strange coincidence, or did Charles Manson really know
about these planned attacks on white by Black Muslims? Could they have
informed him before he was paroled from Terminal Island?
Along with the aforementioned Phil Phillips, key prosecution witness
Paul Crockett also mentioned this fact when being interviewed by Sheriff
Don Ward in 1969 prior to Charles Mansons arrest.
All of these things he told me about being in jail, where the Black Muslims,
and this and that and the other. That he has heard through different cells,
speaking of having a case of grenades. Another man talked about having a
bazooka with three rounds that he was going to make his count. Other people
were talking about having Browning automatics, about all types of cellars with
cases of ammunition, piles and stores, and stores of all kinds of thing
Molotov cocktails.
Ive heard some of the weirdest stories. I thought it was all make believe to
start with. But Ive of the opinion now that if you could check jail records and
such as that, of when he was in jail, who were the black men that were in jail
with him. At the time all of this was taking place.
He talks to them that they know him. That they tell him these things. And,
all this is to meto this pointis hearsay. But the other things that have come in
to my consciousness since Ive met the man. Uh, not all of it is hearsay, because
things are happening.
My theory is that he was either told, warned, or overheard Black Muslims
speaking about these planned attacks and it was always something in the
back of his mind. When he began consuming hallucinogensnamely bella-
donnait consumed his mind. The race war that he warned his Family
about was nothing more than warnings and certainly not prophesied by the
Beatles. The Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme,
all but confirms this notion.
Throughout the trial, he and the Family spoke about the Black Mus-
lims. In fact, during Paul Watkins testimony, he was using the terms Black
Muslims, and not Black Panthers. When Vincent Bugliosi corrected him,
he said, No, the Black Muslims. It was obvious that Vincent Bugliosi was
so obsessed with getting his Black Panthers motive to stick, that he did not
care about the truth or at least where the lie Paul Watkins created had
originated from. Paul Watkins basically took Charles Mansons theory of
The Real Race War 221
the impending attacks and exaggerated them beyond belief. See the chapter,
False Witness Paul Watkins, BrooksPoston, Paul Crockett, for more on
that.
During Paul Watkins testimony, Vincent Bugliosi even used
the wording Black Muslims when questioning him.
Paul Watkins: Then the Black Muslims would come out of hiding and wipe
them all out.
Prosecutor Bugliosi: Wipe the white people out?
Paul Watkins: Yes. By sneaking around and slitting their throats.
Of course, their being whites.
It was no coincidence that around the same time, the girls were on the
sidewalk holding signs that read Black Power, sometimes surrounded by
minorities including Mexicans and Black men. Also, in the Robert Hen-
drickson book, Death To Pigs, Sandra Good spoke about the same thing.
Islam is on the rise and Christianity is goin down. Mostly, they keep quiet.
Theyre smart enough to not run off their mouths. They lie low, theyre like
snakes. They lie Low and they wait and they strike when the time is right and
nobody sees em.
So did the prosecution have it all wrong? Or was it Paul Watkins who
took this information that Charles Manson shared, created his own story
which he first sold to the media,and went to the prosecution with it as
revenge for his near-death experience with Steve Grogan? Whatever the
reason, the prosecution bought it hook, line and sinker. But in Vincent
Bugliosis defense, it was a very fascinating theory one that would gain
him a lot of attention. Something required if he wanted to win the seat as
Attorney General.
During the trial, Charles Manson also spoke about this upcoming attack
by the Black Muslims a lot.
The Black Muslims they know the way, theyre ahead of us. Fifty years
ahead. They are way ahead of the Black Panthers, dig. They know whats hap-
pening. And I turn them on because Im the only white guy in here that knows
Mohammed. They got things going on in the sewers that you wouldnt believe!
Sadly, even as silly as it seemed, people would not even consider any-
thing but the Black Panthers and the Rich White apocalyptic race war
dubbed Helter Skelter. The media and the prosecution had essentially
222 The Manson Myth
brainwashed the public. LIFE Magazine dubbed Manson a cult leader and
it stuck.
Something that never made sense to me was Vincent Bugliosis claim
that from the very minute Charles Manson was released from Terminal
Island in 1967, that he was full of hate. And his resolution was to head to
San Francisco and look for his targets to mould into mindless society-
hating robots. However, nothing that has surfaced about Charles Manson
(e.g. documents, words, audio) backs up this notion. First off, the first
Manson girl, Mary Brunner, actually collected him as did most of his so-
called followers. They followed him around; he did not force them or in
Vincent Bugliosis words program them to do so.
Pretty much everything that has surface about Charles Manson in these
early years (1967 - 1968) has depicted him as a very peaceful man full of
love. He is called a racist, yet there have been many quotes from these years
of him actually preaching anti-racism and defending the black race. Even his
so-called brainwashed minions were spouting out anti-racist quotes that
they no doubt repeated from him.
In an interview conducted with him at Universal Studios in 1967when
he was recording songs that would later appear on LIE and All The Way
Alivehe states he is anti-war. So if he was anti-war why would he be trying
to start a war? Truth is that the so-called race war was not aimed towards
Black Panthers, but a race war he heard about while in prison of a looming
attack between Black Muslims and Whites. This so-called race war actually
happened in 1972 and was dubbed The Zebra Murders.
Youd think if this man was so full of hate that his followers would have
been spouting out hatred, his songs would be full of hate, and his words
being quoted 1967 1969 would be full of hate. Truth is that his music is
about love, the desert, and anti-war. Most of his quotes from that era are all
anti-racist, anti-violent, anti-hate. It just doesnt add up.
Either something drastic and very ugly happened withinalmost instan-
taneously that turned him from this loving guy into a monster or its
all Vincent Bugliosis bullshit. Now even he admits that when Ber-
nard Crowe was shot, and it was discovered he was a Black Panther, that
paranoia swept over Spahn Ranch of a retaliation from the Black Panthers.
The Real Race War 223
That is quite understandable, but still doesnt back Vincent Bugliosis
theory.
June, 2012, EarCandyMag.com interviewed director of the films Manson
and Inside the Manson Gang Robert Hendrickson. In this interview, Hen-
drickson mentions Mansons ties with the Black Muslims. He even states
that Mansons prison buddy Phil Phillips witnesses Manson associating
with the Black Muslims.
Ear Candy Mag: I really like how you just present possible motives without
forcing them down your throat! But, there is a lot to process: the Muslim angle,
the Vietnam War angle, the strike against law enforcement angle, etc. Did all of
these become apparent to you when you were transcribing the film? Or did any of
these realizations occur when you were actually filming?
Robert Hendrickson: The Muslim connection did not become significantly
relevant to me until after 9/11, when in 2007, I was putting Inside the
MANSON Gang together and came across a copy of Clark Howards Zebra.
Then, in 2008-10, the transcribing process became a series of ah-ha moments. I
remembered Phil Phillips talking about his and Charlies relationship with Mus-
lims in prison, but it was certain dialogue in Zebra, combined with specific tran-
scriptions that really blew the Manson case wide open for me.
There are specific keywords, phrases and beliefs that Charles Manson could
only have picked-up from the Black Muslims in prison, which are also expressed
by the Black Muslims in Zebra. Thus, if Manson talked to Family members
about a Black and White race war, he got the idea from the Black Muslims in
prison. With regards to the Vietnam War, the Family and I discussed the issue at
length. As for law enforcement threats and harassment, back then the friction
was always apparent to me, but the issue of an actual violent conflict did not
come to a full realization until I understood the transcriptions, more clearly.
Ear Candy Mag: You infer that the murders might be devices to draw atten-
tion to the horrors of the Vietnam war. You have Katie talking about carving
war on Leno Labiancas stomach and saying, Heres one man who wont send
his son to war. Not referring to a black and white war, but the establishments
Vietnam. I know this is a stretch, but could it be considered a bizarre sort of per-
formance art?
Robert Hendrickson: Why would such a thought be considered a stretch?
Almost everything we Americans do takes some form of an acted out perform-
224 The Manson Myth
ance. Every society, culture and civilization that ever existed, since time began,
has practiced performance art in the form of human sacrifice before its public.
Even war is considered performance art. I know that, at the time, professional
performance art was enjoying a resurgence (IE: Andy Warhol works), but to
even think that the bizarre Manson Massacre was actually some form of per-
formance art is just downright plausible.
Now, heres two relevant questions for you! (1) Did you know that in 40-plus
years of dealing with this case, to my knowledge, nobody has ever associated the
Tate/LaBianca massacres with performance art? The fact is, no matter what or
which motive for the Manson murders you prefer to believe; the actual massacre
was and is considered an expression of performance art and the Crime/Trial of
the 20th Century is one big epic play/opera without a foreseeable end. (2)
Would Mitt Romneys 1960s physical assault on a young mans body, which
included the cutting of his hair, be considered a criminal expression of perform-
ance art today? Back then?
Ear Candy Mag: The biggest surprise to me was the possible influence of the
Black Muslims on Charlie. Throughout the book, the Black Muslim was talked
about by Paul Watson, Sandra Good, and Phil Phillips. Do you think that
Bugliosi recognized this? Or did he think that was even too far out compared to
the Helter Skelter motive?
Robert Hendrickson: At the time in the 1960s, nobody even knew what a
Black Muslim was, let alone an ordinary Muslim. First and foremost, Vincent
Bugliosi was an attorney/prosecutor, whose job was to get a jury to convict
Charles Manson. Thats it! All this BS we hear today about right/wrong, Con-
stitutionally correct, etc. is just that BS. That Bugliosi sold a Black and White
race war motive to a bunch of moon rocks, as the failed OJ prosecutor Marsha
Clark calls jurists, may not have required a judicial genius, but it sure didnt hurt
to have one on-board. That said, if Bugliosi played-up the issue of Black Mus-
lims, he would have had to explain the existence of Black Muslims organizing
and preaching against Whitey and Christians in California prisons.
Then, if the Black Muslims taught Charlie about the coming Black/White
Battle of Armageddon, why were they not also on trial as co-conspirators? Then
you have to explain why Muslims have it in for Christians and pretty soon you
need a jury made up of all college graduates with history degrees, just to compre-
hend an otherwise simple.
The Real Race War 225
Black/White race war. I doubt that Bugliosi was unaware of the delicate
Muslim/Christian conflict connected to his so-called Helter Skelter race war
motive, but simplicity SELLS. Complicated things do not. And when a prose-
cutor builds his case, that means precisely that. He carefully builds (puts
together) for the jury, ONLY the necessary information (evidence) needed to
accomplish HIS goal, which is to get a conviction.
Otherwise, Bugliosi never even had a meaningful conversation with Sandra
Good and Phil Phillips (Mansons best friend in prison) isnt even mentioned
in the prosecutors best-selling book. Paul Watkins introduced the Black Muslims
into his Helter Skelter analogy, but nobody even pressed such an important issue
further.
So, to me it seems like Bugliosi saw the writing Death To Pigs on the wall,
but got hungry and went to the refrigerator, where Healter Skelter was written
on the door, which caused HIM to have an ah-ha moment. If only we could ask
Merrick and his wife what Bugliosi actually thoughtthey all became close
friendsbut Merrick was murdered and his wife is in seclusion.
Here is a fact: after the trials were over, in 1972, the Black Muslims
started attacking whites at random. This lasted a few years and started in
San Francisco and branched throughout California. Only sixteen murders
could be proven, but the more truthful count was at least 71 in California
and 100 suspected related murders total.
All the same, Black Muslims attacking whites at random. These attacks
were dubbed The Zebra Killings and were largely covered up and ignored by
the country afterward. But, its hard to ignore that Charles Manson had
mentioned Black Muslims, the attacks, and the murders starting in San
Francisco. He also disclosed that he befriended Black Muslims in prison.
The so-called Zebra Killers were largely recruited from prisons.
So is it possible that when he spoke to his Family about these Black
Muslims that he met in prison talking about this attack, that he was being
serious? Is it possible that he knew this was happening soon? Somehow,
somewhere, in some way, he definitely knew about these upcoming attacks.
The words were spoken; you cant erase that. Its really hard to dismiss it as
coincidence when there were a lot of Family members screaming it on the
sidewalk during the trials.
226 The Manson Myth
Do I think the Family wanted these attacks to happen? Yes, but not
while they were in Los Angeles, but while they were in Death Valley.
Charles Manson himself, spoke at ease about the Black Muslims but refused
to acknowledgeand still does the race war against the Black Panthers.
During the trial he admitted that he believed the Black Muslims would
indeed attack the whites because of what they had done to them.
The sword of Mohammad will swing back and chop off the heads of the
whites, because the Whites have done it to the Mohammedans, which was a love
civilization.
Does a statement like this make him a racist? For some reason the prose-
cution made it seem like it did and they made the jury believe the same. In
1971 when Lynette Squeaky Fromme spoke to the papers, she explained
that Charles Manson was indeed friends with Black Muslims in prison and
that he was at One with the Negros. I believe this without a doubt.
We understand what Negroes have been through. Charlie had total under-
standing of them. Hes been close to them in the penitentiaries and understands
what they been through. He loves them. Hes his father, the black man is
Charlies father.
On www.ATWA.com Sandra Good later said something similar to
Lynette Fromme and again mentioned Muslims in context to the war the
Family was responding.
Manson grew up with black people. He spent twenty-two years in prison
before we even met him. Hes spent a total of forty- seven years in prisons. Hes
lived with them, so he sees. He sees what is. He sees how they see us. He sees their
awareness. He knows whats in their mind. He knows them collectively. During
the sixties the Muslims were speaking things. They were talking about simply
killing whitey.
After research I strongly believe that it is quite possible that Charles
Manson has some sort of inside knowledge on these murders carried out by
the Black Muslims. Its shocking to me that this link has rarely been dis-
cussed other than by people who were close with Charles Manson and a few
researchers here and there.
Director and author Robert Hendricksonwho spent time with the
Family for a few years in the early 70shas always believed in the Muslim
The Real Race War 227
theory for the killings. He claims to have heard them speak about the
Muslim attacks numerous times.
Islam is on the rise and Christianity is going down. Mostly, they
keep quiet. Theyre smart enough to not run off their mouths. They lie
low, theyre like snakes. They lie low and they wait and they strike
when the time is right and nobody sees them. - Sandra Good
An article about the Zebra Killings.
228 The Manson Myth
15
This Holy Swastika
In a weird way the swastika
has become Charles
Mansons trademark, so to
speak. It is easily the most
identifiable characteristic
about his likeness. Whether
we like it or not, take any
photo and draw a swastika on
its forehead and immedi-
ately: Charles Manson.
Most people just accept it as a
sign of hatred and a sign of the
Nazis, so it comes to no surprise
that those two things are associ-
ated with him. He is considered to be a racist-Nazi-Hitler worshiper, but if
you read the chapter: The Real Race War, you will read a first-hand
account from a Family memberCharles Watsonwho said that
Charles Manson was actually anti-White.
Charles Manson wrote me asking for a copy of this photo of a
Native American basketball team wearing the swastika.
229
When I spoke to Charles Manson in 2011, I asked him to explain why he
put the swastika on his head and was it for shock value. What he told me
mirrored that he has said many times before.
When I was in prisonI was in prison for a long time. There was this
IndianNative Americanthat called Walks on Top. He was in this all
Indian cell with a red lock on the door. The red lock was a warning to the guards
that the inmate inside was a fighter and Walksontop was a fighter. He would
cuss and fuss at the guard and make them come into his cell and hed beat them
up. They would always chain him to the wall and let whites beat him up.
Walksontop hated whites he stole a pig and brought it to his reservation to
feed his family. They beat him up and put him in prison. He beat the people up
in that prison and they put him in a tougher prison. I was the only white man he
let into his cell. We played cards a lot.
He had a swastika on his head and I asked him, Why you got that for?and
Walksontop said, Protection from White Man. Protection up here.
I ran with some Yaquis in Mexico before I got busted and they called it a
turning log. So, when I was busted and the D.A. put me in the gas chamber, I put
that sign on me. It made a lot of people mad and cause a lot of confusion that
was for me.
Later in 2013, Manson confirmed that a man named George Walk-
sontop, or Harry as they called him, actually tattooed the swastika on his
forehead. I researched George Walksontop and I found news articles about
a Native American incarcerated for shooting law officers and petty thefts
like Grand Theft Auto. I found out that George Walksontop has been incar-
cerated in some of the prisons that Charles Manson had been in, so his story
is at least plausible. I also read that George Walksontop spent time in Alca-
traz, which he mentions in a 1992 interview with Michal ben Horin.
In 1971, when he was convicted for the Tate and LaBianca murders, he
carved an X on his forehead and explained it to the media.
I am not allowed to be a man in your society. I am considered inadequate
and incompetent to speak or defend myself in your court. I have Xed myself from
your world. The lie you live in is falling and I am not part of it. You have mur-
dered the world in the name of Jesus Christ. I stand with my X, with my life, with
my God and by myself. My faith in me is stronger than all your armies, govern-
ments, gas chambers or anything you may want to do to me. Love is my judge. I
230 The Manson Myth
have my own constitution; its inside me. I am not allowed to speak with words
so I have spoken with the mark I will be wearing on my forehead.
When he was sentenced to death, he branded a left-facing swastika on his
forehead. The reason he gave me appears valid. In fact, here is an excerpt
from a newspaper article from 1971, where he is trying to clarify it to the
Judge but he doesnt buy it.
The Judge suggested that swastikas were not suitable for the courtroom
because it might offend Jewish jurors. Manson replied that he was wearing
Indian symbols and not Nazi signs. A juror of Jewish background was asked if
hed be prejudiced by the swastika, despite Mansons explanation that they were
Indian symbols. He said he would.
So the popular retort to his current explanation of his swastika is that the
Native American excuse was something he recently came up with. How-
ever, this proves that as far back as his trial he was saying this. In my mind if
he was brash enough to put a swastika on his forehead for racist reasons, he
would be brash enough to admit its true meaning.
In the past years a photo of Linda Kasabian sitting against a wall with a
swastika in an observable Native American pattern has surfaced. She is sur-
rounded by people that have been cropped out and one man has a guitar.
Was that Charles Manson? If so, this is another piece of evidence that
proves the Native American association with the swastika.
In the aforementioned 1992 interview with Michal ben Horin, he also
tells her the reason for his swastika was an inspiration by Walksontop. He
also dismisses the Hitler link as laughable.
Michal ben Horin: When you put that X on, did you associate it with
Hitler?
Charles Manson: You make Hitler into a big person because he was your
fear and you were afraid of him. Your mother was afraid of him. Im not afraid
of Hitler. Hitler was a little teardrop that fell from the prisons eye.
Michal ben Horin: What does the X mean?
Charles Manson: You know what it is? It is an Alcatraz Indian. Its an
Indian called Walksontop.
He also told Geraldo Rivera in 1988, when he suggested that it was to
represent his association with the Nazi party that. And he basically gets
pretty annoyed with the accusations.
This Holy Swastika 231
Geraldo Rivera: You a Nazi, Charlie?
Charles Manson: No. No, I cant even spell the word.
Geraldo Rivera: I bet you could.
Charles Manson: See what Im saying? Now see what Im saying. When
you think I lie, then thats because you got a lie in your heart. And then you come
back and you say youve got heart, but youve got no heart without, with lie. A lie
beats, your heart beats in truth, man, you see what Im saying? In other words, if
youre lying, youre not lying to nobody but yourself. Nobody else cares.
In 1987 when Penny Daniels interviewed him, she constantly asked him
about it and he evidently wanted to talk about other things like his ATWA
organization. But, she pressed him and he basically told her that it was for
shock value to get people to notice him and listen.
How do you communicate to a whole group of people? You take the worst
fear symbol and you say there, now I got your fear!, and your fear is your power
and your power is your control. I dont care what church you go to, or what race
you are, what color you are, or what boogliblababa or any of that nickel and
dime self-important trash.
His spirituality has been a mystery, but as he talks he lets go tidbits of
information regarding it and in my opinion he does take a lot of Native
American philosophy mixed with a lot of Eastern religion. He has voiced his
beliefand based a lot of his ATWA philosophyon the Sun and the Sun
God in a 1998 correspondence with the All The Way Alive website.
Theres only one soul; theres little bits and pieces of it. Theres only one Sun.
We all come from the Sun; all the energy, every molecule, every element, every-
thing weve got comes from the Sun. The Suns god. Thats why the swastika was
always on the Sun.
This theory reflected onto his art as well, drawing swastikas in the sun.
Most of this puts down the theory that he wears it as a Nazi. He was never
really tied to the Nazis or Aryan Brotherhood aside from his early days in
prison; they attached themselves to him and he admitted that he used them
for protection. Between 1973 1975 he did set up a half-way house for the
Aryans when they were paroled. A house maintained by Sandra Good and
Lynette Fromme.
According to the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice
Fromme, when he realized that the Aryans were taking advantage of the girls
232 The Manson Myth
and using them for drugs, sex and to commit crimes, he put a stop to it. Sub-
sequentlyaccording to the Ed George book, Taming the Beast,a hit was
put on him by the Aryans. Coincidentally, around this same time other
former Family members were attacked and stabbed in prison in race-
related incidents.
Another event that sort of disproved the fact that he is a racist and a con-
nection with a Black Panther was printed in Geronimo Pratts autobiog-
raphy, The Triumph and Tragedy of Geronimo Pratt.
Geronimo Pratt is an ex-Black Panther member who was framed and
convicted of murder by the same Hall Of Justice as Charles Manson and at
roughly the same time. His public defender was Charles Holepeter, the
attorney that was forced on Charles Manson (and he eventually fired). Evi-
dence was withheld, fabricated and witnesses coerced into lying on behalf of
the prosecution sound familiar? See the chapter: The Bug.
The only difference is that 26 years later, Geronimo Pratt was released
from prison and Charles Manson is still incarcerated.
He heard a chirpy voice cry, Geronimo! Charles Mansons hairy face
peeked from cell no.1. Pratt nodded. He was glad to see a familiar face. Theyd
been held together in the Los Angeles County jail.
Manson set an outcry of other yells and shrieks: Hey! They got Geronimo in
here! Its the man! Home boy! He began to chant Geronimo! Geronimo!
Geronimo! Geronimo!
In March 1974, after Geronimo Pratt was given the wrong pills and
nearly overdosed, he received a kite from Charles Manson saying youve
been set up, stay out of yard today, possibly saving his life. It was some-
thing that Charles Manson did not have to do and I am sure that he did not
win over any whites over doing this.
Charles Manson saved the life of a Black Panther. Why would a racist do
something like that? Ed George also mentions in his book, Taming the Beast,
that Charles Manson and Geronimo Pratt at the least knew each other.
One thing that Charles Watson has been vocal aboutthat works for
Charles Mansons caseis that Charles Manson was not a white suprema-
cist, nor did he preach Hitler as the prosecution proposed during the trial.
On Charles Watsons website AboundingLove.org, he did a review on Helter
Skelter and he too contradicted the theory.
This Holy Swastika 233
Strange as it may seem, I never heard Manson mention Nietzsche or Hitler. I
do remember in the book, Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi had a shocking par-
allel between Hitler and Manson. He wrote that both men were influenced
by Nietzsche, had similar statures and wounded pasts, and were illegitimate chil-
dren. With their charismatic and hypnotic eyes, Hitler and Manson could easily
influence others. I find it hard to believe that Manson was emulating Hitler
without my knowing it.
But, there were Nazi magazines found at the ranch upon the bust.
Whose were they? It may have belonged to the Straight Satans. They were
an admitted racist organization, and Danny DeCarlo admitted that he was
racist. Charles Watson stated that he vaguely remembers those magazines.
I will put this out there: the initials for the Straight Satans are S.S., and to me
that says it all.
It is also fact that Charles Manson has a connection with World War II.
Hes stated many times that, I am locked in the second world war
meaning that he has been locked up since 1944, during WWII. Hes also
connected through his father who fought in WWII. He also defends the SS
Waffen guards who fought in WWII, and were then executed by the United
States for following orders. While this opinion may not be a positive one,
he has a good point as stated in a 1992 interview with Bill Murphy.
When you go to war, and youre a soldier, and you fight for your God and
your Country, thats not criminal. Thats honorable. Thats what you must do to
be a man. If you dont fight for your God and your Country, youre not worth
anything. If you have no honor, then youre not worth Pattys pig.
Decrees of the war were written in Switzerland, in Geneva, the conferences
that were made, by the men at the tables, clearly stated that anyone in uniform
would be given the respect of their rank and their uniforms. Then, when the
United States won the war, and got all the Germans in handcuffs, they started
breaking their own rules. And theyve been breaking their own rules ever since.
Youve got to overturn that decision that hung six thousand men by the neck.
You killed six thousand soldiers for obeying orders. Thats wrong, and the world
has got to accept theyre wrong.
This in no way is saying that he supports the Nazis, but of course people
take it this way. He has said that he believes in procedures and ranks. I
too believe that when soldiers are given an order, they obey it. Soldiers are
234 The Manson Myth
in no way out there to do what is morally right, they are out there to take
orders and fulfill those orders.
Quite frankly, whatever Charles Manson says is taken negatively. Even
when he says something encouraging, it is nay-sayed and dissected with an
explanation that he only said it as a tool to somehow manipulate the situa-
tion. He has become the personification of evil, despite rarely saying any-
thing publicly that could be taken as evil. When he is interviewed it seems
that the interviewer relentlessly tries and provoke him to do so, but always
fail.
Lynette Fromme summed it up perfectly.
Everyone has wanted to make Charlie small, yet a monster. Stupid. With
hypnotic powers. A fascist and a Commie. And prejudiced nigger-lover. A macho
punk. Both Christ and the Devil, or on the opposite side of everything.
In an odd coincidence he has admitted that he did sort of idolize Irwin
Rommel, who fought for the Germans in WWII taking the name Desert
Fox from him. The interesting thing about this is that Irwin Rommel was
not only anti-Hitler, but he plotted to assassinate him. Hitler became con-
scious of the plot, and called for his execution. He turned himself in to pro-
tect his family and was executed. He was also against the murder of any Jew;
he was a hero. But Charles Manson loved the photos of Irwin Rommel in
his dune buggies running across the African desert. Perhaps those afore-
mentioned Nazi publications were merely depictions of Irwin Rommel?
In one of my conversations with Manson in 2011, he told me straight up
that if you are in prison that, you roll with your own race or you become a
target. He expanded stating that people who dont stick to their own race
on the yard, have nobody no protection. They walk alone on the yard
and get called snitches and get stuck. Prison is a concentration camp and we
all have to stay with our own race. But he has also admitted that he asso-
ciates with a lot of Mexicans in prison. He defended that by saying that is
why I am in PC, which is protective custody.
He has also told me that he isnt racist because I dont care what fucking
color you are, but he doesnt think we should mix races because that is
what killed off the Indians and any race inferior to whites.
He now wears a tattooed swastika that is right facing. He had it tattooed
on in 1985 after an attack by inmate Jan Holstrom, who doused him with
This Holy Swastika 235
paint thinner and set him on fire burning his face and hands. Throughout
the 70s and 80s he sported a left-facing swastika that looked like it was
lightly tattooed in over his brand scar from 1971. The fire all but erased it as
seen in the photos in a 1985 High Society Magazine. The tattoo was appa-
rently meant to replace the one that had been burnt off.
In the following years, he has stated that he wanted it back to represent
that he never got his rights in the courtroom. He has also stated thats my
father. I think that it had become his symbol and trademark. It was what he
was known for sort of like Alfalfas hair on the Little Rascals.
In the 1990s, Sandra Good ran a Charles Manson website and wrote an
essay on the meaning of the swastika in an attempt to change the misinter-
pretation.
The Swastika or Fylfot, a.k.a. gamma cross, croix cramponee, croix gamme,
and so on, is found early in Sanskrit, interpreted as equivalent to So be it or
Amen. Recorded 10,000 B.C., it has been found on artifacts and structures in
Greece, Rome, India, Japan, China, Persia, Libya, Northern Europe, and the
Americas.
Interpretations of the meaning in the direction of the arms of the swas-
tika masculine/feminine, outer world/inner world, war/peace, sun/moon,
and various opposites - lend to a general notion of turns of behavior, of rule, of
culture all interpretation. The four arms have been used to signify the four
winds of the four directions, the four elements, the four that add up to one. The
cross marks the center, which everyone knows is the center of themselves and the
center of the physical world.
The Runic Swastika comes from Scandinavia, said to have signified recy-
cling, regeneration, a return to Mother Earth, Mother Sea, themes familiar to
any pagan or Druid. The Crux Dissimulata and the Gammadion are varia-
tions used by Christians as well. If what I read is true, the Cross did not become
the principal symbol of the Christians until the ninth century.
No ones ever going to believe anything but what the prosecution
proved at the trial. As far as I knowand I have researched this case
extensivelyI have never heart a first-hand account of Charles Manson
making a racist statement other than petty shock-value responses like
Hitler was misunderstood, or I was impressed with the 6,000 Germans
who were hung for not signing the paper I havent either. Then when he
236 The Manson Myth
states Hitler was a monster and you cant rule a nation with fear it is
ignored.
Paul Watkins theory that he brought to the prosecution put Charles
Manson as a man who hated all minority races and often degraded blacks,
Jews, Mexicans, etc. Even Charles Watson has denied those accusations.
Its also quite surprising that the Family consisted of some Jewish
people; Catherine Share, Barbara Rogenberg, Mark Ross, etc. There were
also Latinos; Juan Flynn, Christopher Jesus, Juanita Wildbush, etc. And
there were other minorities that came and went in the circle. This makes no
sense if he was a hardcore racist. He often spoke negatively about the white
mans oppression of minorities and Native Americans.
In fact, the ATWA organization included a correspondence with Charles
Manson where he answered a subtly racist piece of mail from someone
writing to him asking, What do you think of the United States now having
a black president?
This question obviously annoyed him because he replied with a long,
very detailed letter something he rarely does. Here is an abridged
response from him.
You cannot color people in the reals real what makes a person man
woman is all colors. You can tag people, but you cant color TRUTH, LOVE,
compassion. Black is not a person, you can call a person black and if you did that
would be an African person if a African person was born in France, he
wouldnt be an African person hed be French. To me thats just tags. Your
media has lied to you and you are DISTORTED, TWISTED, WARPED, off
track and out of line. To disrespect anyone or anything is FOOLS play on the
self and thats what I did. I disrespected myself for even responding to this crap
letter.
He was obviously defending Barack Obama, despite being vocal as
someone who doesnt support him at all. When Charles Manson blog Man-
sonAtwar.com, reposted this the post received over 4500 notes and most of
them were negative. This was a great lesson to me that people want him to
be racist. They want him to be bitter. If he defends anyone who is a
minority, it really gets under peoples skin. The average response was basi-
cally, How can he defend Obama, he has a swastika on his forehead.
This Holy Swastika 237
This quote was printed in the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of
Lynette Alice Fromme, again it shows that he relates to minorities being in
a down position all of his life.
We have, as a race, we have killed anything darker than us, or put it down,
or put it away, or we have controlled it.
During his trial he spoke to the news reporters and a reporter asked him
if he is guilty of murder.
He responded, Ill plead guilty to the Indians.
It seems humans will believe anything that is printed. I hope that this
chapter opens your mind to Charles Mansons usage of the ancient symbol
that we call the swastika, which means all things good. It has been a posi-
tive symbol for 6,000 years and was tainted in the late 1930s by Nazi Ger-
many.
Until around 1940when we ceased using itAmerica used it vastly in
our advertisements, food logos, post cards, architecture and Arizona road
signs even had swastikas emblazoned on them.
It has been a very important sign for Native Americans for centuries,
often referred to as whirling logs. They etched swastikas on arrows for good
luck, painted them on loin cloths as a sign of fertility and painted them on
their headdresses as a sign of mental strength.
Charles Manson claims he picked the symbol up from the bottom when
it was broken and unwanted like me. I took it from the last cell at the
bottom. I believe it is a symbol of honor.
The website AllTheWayAlive.com, has a few quotes from him regarding
the swastika. Here are some.
You say its me thats prejudiced and its not that way. I am a reflection.
Bottom line is not to prejudge is almost impossible because its nature to be for
self first and look out for number one your own life, and if thats not what
you look out for, youre prey and food for who is eating you.
This swastika to me is four Lsa wheel, a sun circle, a teepee polea
symbol for the complete all, forever. Dad, chief, knowing, truth, peace, wisdom.
Im not trying to lead or follow or do nothing but have peace on earth. And
thats what that thing on my forehead is; its a peace symbol. One world.
He goes on to state that, People put it on Hitler, but Hitler put it on
himself.
238 The Manson Myth
It may never be known exactly what provoked Charles Manson to don
the swastika on his forehead, but I personally believe that it definitely was
influenced by the Native American culture that he followed very closely.
Even today, he credits the Natives for helping him form his philosophies on
life, Earth, and ATWA.

The swastika is a Sun God symbol, symbol as the sun as God, not a
dead man on a stick. - Charles Manson
Charles Manson (left) with his Vacaville buddy who he called Running Water (right).
This Holy Swastika 239
16
Charles Will is Mans Son
The prosecutions theory of
Helter Skelter incorporated
the fact that Charles Manson
called himself Jesus Christ as
well as The Devil. The theory
stated that he lead his fol-
lowers to believe that was
indeed Jesus Christ. One of
the key pieces of evidence to back up this theory was Charles
Mansons drivers license. His name printed on it was Charles
Willis Manson. Vincent Bugliosi stated that he chose that name
as an alias because it simply read Charles Will is Mans Son,
signifying his claim to be the son of man, or Jesus Christ.
Charles Manson laughed at that idea, discrediting it as trash. His justifi-
cation for the alias made a lot more sense; it was an alias he used on his
license because he planned on driving around, which was against my
parole. He stated that he took the name from his ex-wife Rosalie Willis,
who he married in 1955. This alias was one of the nearly dozen that he used
including other plays on his factual name, Charles Milles Manson, such as;
Charles Mansons California Drivers License.
241
Charlie Deer, Charles Miller, Charles Miller Manson, Charles Mills,
Charles Miller Benson, and Charles Mills Manson.
When Family members are asked about this, half of them laugh at the
idea that he called himself God. It seems like the only ones who agree that
he did were the ones who testified against him (see chapter: False Wit-
ness). Lynette Fromme made a statement on the now defunct website
SqueakyFromme.org, laughing at the idea od calling him God.
He didnt ask me to call him God. We thought that was really funny. You
think wed be with somebody we had to call God?
So, how did that get started? Some people were clearly under the impres-
sion that he was calling himself Jesus Christ and that license has abso-
lutely no evidence supporting this. That was just a piece of evidence that
the prosecution forced to fit as evidence. Truth be told, Susan Atkins
admitted how this rumor started and of course she was the one behind it
she started it. In her book, Child of Satan, Child of God she made
numerous references to it.
I longed to see Charlie. I walked out of the bus. Charlie was there, alone. He
was wearing a long white robe. I knew immediately that he could be God himself,
if not, it was something close to it.
And later on in the same chapter, she spoke more about this Jesus man
she had just met.
The men were clustered around him. I counted: there were twelve men. With
his long hair and beard, his eyes staring from face to face, he seemed to Jesus
speaking to his twelve apostles. The thought struck me while and touched me.
Thats when I felt he might be Jesus Christ.
As stated in the chapter: Demystifying Susan Atkins, she was obviously
a bit off-kilter. She acknowledged that she had great problems both emo-
tionally and conceptuallybefore she met Charles Mansonin 1966 to
1967. Its more than obvious that she was searching too hard for a Christ-
like figure and accepted anyone as that.
Paul Watkins wrote in the book My Life with Charles Manson, that
Charles Manson would actually become annoyed with her claims that he
was Jesus Christ; that she was telling everyone that he was indeed Jesus
Christ. But Paul Watkins did say that Charles Manson started to go with
the idea and when someone would ask him if he was Jesus Christ, he would
242 The Manson Myth
just smile or wink at them. I do agree that this was a dick move on his part,
but we have all done similar things in our lives.
During Susan Atkins Grand Jury testimony she was asked if Charles
Manson ever told her that he was evil. She said no.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Charlie show you how to become a real woman?
Susan Atkins: He didnt show me, he gave me my in other words, I gave
myself up to him and in return for that he gave me back to myself. He gave me
the faith in myself to be able to know that I am a woman.
Vincent Bugliosi: During this one to one-and-a-half year period on the bus
were all of you girls Charlies girls, so to speak?
Susan Atkins: We were called Charlies girls, but Charlie often, in fact every
day he told us, You people do not belong to me, you belong to yourself.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Charlie ever tell you that he was evil?
Susan Atkins: To my knowledge, no.
If he never told her that he was evil, which means he did not tell her
that he was The Devil. And he never told him that he was Jesus Christ. So,
how did this get so out of hand?
During one of my many conversations with Charles Manson, he
explained one of the reasons this story got out of hand.
I always told them kids that everyone is God, and everyone was the Devil.
Everyone has good and bad. That turned into Charlie thinks he is God and the
Devil by the DA, and I went with it. They reflected that on me and I reflected it
back.
In 1991, he spoke with Ronald Reagan, Jr. Show, and said the same thing.
He was clearly being honest with me and had no reason to beat around the
bush. It was he who had brought it up.
The devils inside you, man. Each guys got his own little devil, and thats the
doubt and fear that youve got inside yourself.
However, he later said that, If I knew that 40 years later Id still be
fighting it, Id never have said that. I think if he had hindsight in 1968, he
would have filtered a lot of the things that he had said.
In 1987 the NBC network got their hands on Charles Manson for an
interview. The entire time he was battling erroneous information and a
young interviewer who was trying to ask edgy questions ones that
Manson will get every interview. Early in the interview, he became annoyed
Charles Will is Mans Son 243
with her and said a lot of pretty mean things. She constantly asked him if he
was Jesus Christ, and his answer was a little more than she wanted.
I think the public is full of it. Theyre a bunch of ants that want to eat me up.
And they feed on fear and things they are insecure about. They want to blame
someone else like a bunch of chickens pecking on each other. Well, I fell under
that pecking order and I was convicted for being the father of this country. I was
convicted of being Jesus Christ and the Devil. Now if that makes any sense to
your reality, public, theres something missing in your world.
He does admit that while he and the Family would play Magical Mys-
tery Tour, they all recreated the crucifixion of Christ, but it was never a
ritual. He later explained that he respected Krishna Venta, a man who called
himself the second-coming of Jesus Christ and ironically led a cult in the
same vicinity of Spahn Ranch just two miles away on Box Canyon Road. It
was he who staged crucifixion recreations, not Charles Manson. (See
chapter: Krishna Venta)
What is even more interesting that virtually the entire Family has said
this very same thing observably other than the ones who testified against
him.
In 1970, Catherine Share stated in the LA Free Press publication that the
Feds busted into Barker Ranch and asked for Jesus Christ specifically.
Wheres Jesus Christ? Were here to crucify him! Then they put it on the
Inyo transcript Charles Manson AKA Jesus Christ. They put it on him. He
never deemed himself a holy man, nor anything else.
Charles Manson has a better explanation on how he became called Jesus
Christ in 1985 on a KALX radio show.
I used to run with this man named Christopher Jess (get it Jesus Christ?)
who spelled his name J-E-S-U-S and we called him Zero. And the cops had this
list of whos who and they come up to me and asked if I was Jesus. (asking
about Christopher Jess). I said, No, my name is Manson. And they said Yes,
youre him. Manson, son of man, youre him. So when they booked me in jail
they booked me as Jesus Christ.
If you search down his booking sheet after the Barker Raids, you will see
that someone later hand-wrote in Jesus Christ over a typed report.
Also, Christopher Jesus was suspected Bruce Davis murder victim, see
chapter: Bruce McGregor Davis.
244 The Manson Myth
I personally think that he may have said things that led some of the
Family think he called himself Jesus Christ. Family members like Steve
Grogan stated in the Marlin Marynick book, Charles Manson Now, that he
thought Charles Manson was Jesus Christ because he saw him breathe on a
bird and bring him back to life.
Brooks Poston stated that, Charlie never said he was Christ, but he rep-
resented Christ to me. He said that Charles Manson only said things like
they crucified me and I was on that cross. Nevertheless, Charles
Manson still talks like that and says similar things, perhaps in metaphor
which he speaks a lot of.
With much coincidence, in the LA Free Press, Nancy Pitman gave the
same story as Catherine Share regarding the police giving Charles Manson
his Jesus Christ moniker. This story was widely repeated by other
Family members, so I believe it to be true.
I was sleeping in the sun with my shirt off they threw a rock at my back to
wake me up. And when they had us all lying on the ground together and Charley
wasnt there, one of them asked, real rough-like, Wheres Jesus Christ? We want
to crucify him! Then they put on his Inyo transcript Charles Manson, AKA
Jesus Christ. They put it on him. We never deemed himself a holyman, nor any-
thing else.
In another newspaper in 1971, Nancy Pitman went on to tell a similar
story to what Steve Grogan had told Marlin Marynick.
One time we were out in the desert and there was this little bird that had
died and Charlie just picked it up in his hand and breathed on it and it flew
away. And I never considered it until the police came asking, Wheres Jesus
Christ? We want to crucify him!
In an attempt for Paul Watkins to justify why he coalesced with Charles
Manson and the Family, he explained it in his book, My Life with Charles
Manson, why he personally saw him as a Jesus Christ-like man.
People would ask me how a man like Charles Manson could ever be consid-
ered Christlike and the answer is simple: he listened to each of them. He concen-
trated on what they said. He sympathized with their problems, knew their idio-
syncrasies. He allowed them to express their fears, hopes, aspirations. He didnt
judge, he merely listened and focused all of his attention on them. He became
Charles Will is Mans Son 245
friend, brother, lover and father. He taught the girls not only to love their minds,
but love their bodies.
So, his evil was simply being a good man to them? Paul Watkins also
mentioned that Charles Manson using brainwashing tactics for laughs. In
the same book, he remarked how Charles Manson had Diane Lake so para-
noid that she believed that there were satellites in space taking pictures of
her. She was so paranoid that she was actually hiding from them. And she
became really afraid and hid all day in a bush, much to Charles Mansons
hilarity. Yes this is an asshole move, but it doesnt prove what Paul Watkins
tried to imply and that was the fact Charles Manson was using this to pro-
gram Diane Lake.
Another event was a time at Spahn Ranch when Charles Manson had
become annoyed with Paul Watkins. He told him to walk to Box Canyon
and get on the cross at The Fountain of the World and hang there. He got up
and started to walk in the direction of Box Canyon Road and he was called
back, undoubtedly wondering how someone could be so simple minded.
People are just so quick to believe anything said in the presses against
Charles Manson. In fact, another perfect example would be when a satyr
website called GlossyNews.com ran an article about him and his run-in with
prison officials when he was caught with a cell phone. People actually
believed it was actually his words explaining his situation.
When I got back to my cell, I started punching a bunch of sixes into the thing,
you know, like 666 and stuff and then I heard some guy yelling hello, hello.
Jesus Christ, said Manson.
Most of the comments were of those who thought this really happened!
What is scary is that he will forever be known as Jesus Christ and a man
who has hypnotic eyes and the ability to make people who what he wants.
Its accepted that he brainwashed people to kill for him. That is an accepted
theory as laid out by the prosecution and won albeit by forfeit. But it was
won and it is regurgitated in virtually every book on the case, websites, ency-
clopedias, documentary and news shows.
He has also accepted his fate as the figurehead of evil and embraces it
with more of a cynical approach. But, nevertheless, he knows his role in his-
tory as the ultimate bad guy and he plays that bad guy well.
246 The Manson Myth
Im God, Im the devil, Im every kind of thing you can think of but at the
same time Im nobody. Im a maniac, Im keen, Im clever, Im sharp, Im insane.
Im everything, but at the same time when I say something, they say no, you
cant say anything.
But, if Im everything why cant I defend myself in court? If Im so smart to
overtake the world I must be some kind of genius. Yet, Im so inadequate that I
cant even walk into a courtroom to put on a defense.
Come on! If I had any real power, like theyve said, I wouldnt be here, would
I? Id put everyone under my spell and just walk out of this shit hole. But every
time I believe the stories and try to do that, some dumb-ass guard slams a door in
my face!
On February 16, 1970, before his trial had begunand he was repre-
senting himself he filed a writ to the judge for two things; a change of
venue and a public opinion poll. He stated that he thinks the publicwhich
his jury would be selected fromactually believed all of the propaganda
that had been printed in the presses and it concerned him.
He once said, They had me on the front of LIFE Magazine and con-
victed before I ever stepped a foot in the courtroom.
The judge shot down both notions.
I think its not anywheres like anything we have ever done in this country.
You know it is getting so far out of proportion that actually to me it is a joke, but
actually the joke might cost me my life. It might be a joke to a lot of people, and a
lot of people have made a lot of money, but I think it is very serious. I think a
hearing should be called so we could get these very same people who wrote these
articles and find out from them where they get their information to write the
articles, who feeds them the information to write the articles. The media is used
by the District Attorney to try a man before, trial.
Dont be fooled, he will talk a lot about the concept of God. He goes in
and out of rhetoric and its really hard to understand if he believes in God,
or doesnt. He has said that he does believe in good as stated in a 1991 Hard
Copy interview where he said, Im so dumb, I still believe in God. Man, you
have to be stupid to believe in God.
In a 1987 interview with Penny Daniels, he even stated that he disagrees
with the Christian interpretation of Jesus Christ on the cross, as it repre-
sented something negative.
Charles Will is Mans Son 247
Life is God. All life; bugs, birds, trees, everything that is alive is God. The sun
is God. But, weve got God over here on a cross. We got a dying man on a cross,
were all kneeling down, and hoping if we die theres a better place somewhere
else. You got a whole bunch of people hoping that they die creates a hell of a big
energy. And I call it a death wish; its mothers death wish.
His philosophy definitely isnt simple; it puts all humans as a part of a
complete all. An all that includes good, evil, God, Satan, Air, Trees, Water,
Animals, the sun and stars. To him, this makes everyone One and
everyone is God, as well as Satan.
He spoke to Nuel Emmons in 1985 and had this to say, once again refer-
encing the holy crucifix.
Jesus on that cross: we know hes there. Is the cross there? I know the cross is
there. You dont have to put me on the cross to witness the cross. I can see the
cross. In the will of the child. The child has a will. You tell a child to come here
and the child will walk over. You tell the child to sit down, he will sit down. Hes
just in the will of the child. God and his children are in the will of the child. Its
just as simple as the Bible said you must believe the little children before you get
into the Kingdom of Heaven. If the Christians had believed in the Bible, then we
wouldnt have all this conflict. Evidently, the only ones that are in conflict now
are the Christians. They dont seem to believe in their own God for some reason.
Someone asked me if I was Christian. I said what else could I be? Like it or
not; I was born in a Christian hospital, I walk on Christian streets, we are Chris-
tian armies, Christian governments. Everything here in America is Christian, so
how could I be anything else? This is your religious freedom.
Needless to say Charles Mansons philosophy is complex, but people still
flock to him and treat him as the prosecution stated that he symbolized
himself to his Family, and that is a some kind of prophet. In my opinion,
all of these websites who call him a messiah, or a prophet or put him on
a holy pedestal, are only hurting his cause. In reality, they are endorsing the
theory that the prosecution put on him. A lot of them are fighting tooth and
nail to discredit it, while subliminally confirming it.
He even told a terrified Geraldo Rivera in 1988 that I am Jesus Christ,
whether you want to admit it or not its a thought. Hes right; people
think it and in turn it is.
248 The Manson Myth
Its obvious that his spirituality transcends father than organized religion
as he allies himself with a lot of Native American spirits. Its known that he
has a lot of beliefs that coincide with Native American philosophies (see
chapter: This Holy Swastika) as he explained to Charlie Rose in 1986.
Im spiritually allied with the scorpion and the wolf. Spiritualism scares you
people because you got this little stereotype church that youre buying and selling
and youre trying to put God in a building. God is much bigger than that little
church. Spiritualism is a lot more than they put in libraries and books. Im allied
with certain awarenesses of the desert.
At times it also seems that he has quite distaste for Christianity. Hes
been more than vocal on that as of late, but this has gone far back. I person-
ally believe Charles Manson has a love-hate relationship with Christianity,
and blends Christian philosophy with other religions and spiritualties to
sort of form a belief that he is contented with.
He explained it on the Ronald Reagan, Jr. Show in 1991.
If you go behind the church and look at the preacher; theyre playing with
the boyscouts in the dark. And theyre as nasty as anybody in the streets and
theyre without conscience and without morals. And then you pass into the
church, through the doors and its Aw, theres so much love, and we love you and
youre so wonderful!
Im God to my friends, the Devil to my enemies, to my own and my Family I
am the warrior.
In 1994, Diane Sawyer from ABC News asked him straight out and he
answered her straight out.
Diane Sawyer: You had them thinking you were Jesus Christ; how did you
do that?
Charles Manson: Just being myself. All men are Jesus Christ.
Diane Sawyer: They are?
Charles Manson: Sure. Thats basic Christian philosophy.
Id like to share something he said to me in late 2011, right before he
started his 15 month sentence in solitary; I dont believe in death, man. I
believe that when I die I will wake up the next day and have to deal with the
world that I have created.
When it is all said and done, its hard to know what exactly Charles
Manson told his Family in 1967, 1968, and 1969, but it also isnt hard to
Charles Will is Mans Son 249
see that the things that were said about him during the trials of 1970 and
1971 were greatly exaggerated.
I will never deny that Charles Manson may have told people that he was
Jesus Christ, because I am sure once they started to call him that, he went
with it. In theory, there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing that. But it is
in very bad taste. Charles Manson has never been one to follow societys
interpretation of right and wrong, anyways.
I will say, though, that there is a big difference between saying you are
Jesus Christ and actually believing that you are. Then you can even go fur-
ther and say that it can be a scary thing when a person feels as if Christ is
speaking through them. Just take a look at all of those late-night TV evan-
gelists. All of them say that Jesus Christ is speaking through them and they
all want your money.
Charlie used to sign his name Charles Willis Manson, which read:
Charles Will Is Mans Son. - Vincent Bugliosi
A clip from Charles Mansons Inyo County arrest file where someone wrote in Jesus Christ.
250 The Manson Myth
17
The Dictator
Part of the prosecutions
theory that Charles Manson
ran Spahn Ranch and Barker
Ranch like a Hitlerian dic-
tator. This part of the prose-
cutions case is huge, because
Charles Manson had to be
put at the top as a man who
reigned his Family with an
iron fist. Vincent Bugliosi
stated that he kept such close
tabs on all of his Family that
he knew what they were
doing at all times. He contended that since Charles Manson ran
his Family that way, he had to of known where they were at on
the nights of August 9
th
and 10
th
, 1969. In fact, he said that the
Family did nothing unless it was so ordered by Charles
Manson.
Charles Manson handcuffed during the Spahn Ranch raid.
251
The prosecution also introduced the notion that food was rationed and
there was a certain pecking order of who ate; first it was Charles Manson,
then the guys, then the kids, then the dogs, then the girls. They also stated
that Charles Manson took everyones IDs and credit cards as a way to hold
them captive. As Lynette Fromme once stated that the ID holding was a
way for George Spahn to know who all was at the ranch, and that she was
the one who took them, not Charles Manson. She was one of the girls who
helped Geore Spahn run the ranch and keep everything in order.
Not only were the prosecutions claims completely unfounded, but they
were straight from the his imagination of Vincent Buglioi, proposed as
opinion and displayed as fact. This was one more theory the defensive team
never even attempted to contradict. Instead they rested without even put-
ting one word up in defense and absurd theories like this became fact.
Charles Watson has not only contradicted most of the prosecutions
theory on Charles Mansons so-called dictatorship, but Charles Watson has
dismissed a lot of it on his website AboundingLove.org when he reviewed the
2004 movie Helter Skelter.
The movie did tell the story, but roles were overplayed, especially Susan
Atkins, and there were factual errors. For instance: IDs were not all put in one
box. Dogs did not eat before the family did. There were no girls kissing one
another, and there were no orgies as depicted. I dont remember Manson ever
physically abusing the girls.
Even though that is a review for a movie, it is huge because the movie was
based on the prosecutions theory almost verbatim.
Most of the Family have long expressed that there were no leaders. In
the 1973 documentary, Manson, Nancy Pitman stated that Charlie wasnt
our leader, he followed us around.
During the penalty phase of the Manson Trial, Lynette Fromme had a
chance to take the stand and testify.
Lynette Fromme: Periodically, a lot of people would come.
Paul Fitzgerald: Many would come, but in a sense few were chosen?
Lynette Fromme: Oh, we did not choose anybody. They would choose
themselves.
Paul Fitzgerald: But you stayed for a long time.
Lynette Fromme: Forever.
252 The Manson Myth
Paul Fitzgerald: When you arrived at Spahn Ranch, was Manson your
leader?
Lynette Fromme: Manson was never our leader in the first place.
Even Susan Atkins has said that, Charlie told us that we belong to our-
selves, during to her Grand Jury testimony.
Vincent Bugliosi: Did Charlie show you how to become a real woman?
Susan Atkins: He didnt show me, he gave me my in other words, I gave
myself up to him and in return for that he gave me back to myself. He gave me
the faith in myself to be able to know that I am a woman.
Vincent Bugliosi: During this one to one-and-a-half year period on the bus
were all of you girls Charlies girls, so to speak?
Susan Atkins: We were called Charlies girls, but Charlie often, in fact every
day he told us, You people do not belong to me, you belong to yourself.
This was repeated many different Family in many books including My
Life With Charles Manson, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme,
Manson in His Own Words, and Taming the Beast.
In order for the prosecution to get a guilty verdict, they had to put
Charles Manson at the top. In order to do this, they had to make him the
leader. Its obvious that he was the eldest of the bunch (aside fro part-timers
like William Rex Cole and Deane Morehouse) and in like most hippie
communes, theres always a sort of capricious leader who makes sure every-
thing is flowing right and the go-to person whenever there is a problem.
The so-called Manson Family was nothing more than a commune, not a
cult. The Family fit no criteria to be a cult. The word cult was put on
them by the media and it stuck.
During 1968 and 1969 several people came to the group and left the
group. If this group was a cult, this would not have happened so easily. In
fact, so many people came and wentestimated to be over 100 people
that no exact figure could be put on the amount of people that came to
Spahn Ranch. Even Phil Kaufman once said that when he visited the
Family, that everyone did what they wanted and that it was nothing but
chaos.
This is an excerpt from a 1985 High Society Magazine where Charles
Manson explains the Family concept.
The Dictator 253
High Society: How did the family get started? How did you gather this
group of people?
Charles Manson: Whoa, now thats another false premise. I didnt gather
no group of people. This gathered a group of people [he gestures towards his
crotch]. If I lay down, and I fuck it, it generally follows me around and it
does the washing, and it does the cleaning.
High Society: I read that you beat the women.
Charles Manson: I dont have to hit a woman, man. I throw rocks at them
and run them off. If you want to hang around, behave yourself. If you dont, go
somewhere else.
High Society: What was the intent of this group of people, this commune?
Charles Manson: I didnt have a commune. I had a motorcycle, a sleeping
bag, and a guitar I used to do this [he mocks guitar strumming]. The broads
would come and say, Could I be with you?
High Society: What about the Family?
Charles Manson: The D.A. had to have a family in order to win the convic-
tion. He put the Family on me to win.
That was one of the things that the prosecution put on him that he
used fear to control the group. That he would regularly beat the girls to sort
of keep them in line. With this fear, he broke down their morals and then
injected his warped philosophies with the use of LSD. To me, this sounds
like a bunch of fantasy. But the scary thing is that a lot of people accept this
as fact. Other people truly believe that Charles Manson has this way that
he can con anyone to do anything and this was how he kept all of his fol-
lowers with him.
In the Paul Watkins book, My Life with Charles Manson, he claimed that
Charles Manson was so good at it that he walked up to a random home and
talked the man into giving him his car. If this is true, I will definitely admit
that he must be a good talker. This wasnt the only account of his amazing
ability; he also had a woman give him a brand new 1968 Mustang, in which
he later gave to a young boy. Then there was Paul Watkins friend, Juanita
Wildbush, who gave her RV and $15,000 to him.
These people barely even knew Charles Manson and it goes without
saying that he did not program these people, nor did he brainwash them.
The easiest clarification was that in the 1960s, it was common practice for
254 The Manson Myth
people to disassociate themselves with their belongings. Much like Dennis
Wilson of the Beach Boys; he gave him most of his belongings. Here
Charles Manson speaks to Penny Daniels about that ability in 1987.
Penny Daniels: Charlie, people have said that you have powers that you
can make people do what you want them to do.
Charles Manson: Why, certainly.
Penny Daniels : How so?
Charles Manson: By making them do what I want them to do.
Penny Daniels: How do you do it?
Charles Manson: See these two guys here with that stick? He has power
with that stick to do what he tells me to do. Ive been under that stick for 43
years.
Penny Daniels: Whats your stick?
Charles Manson: Turn it around and give it back to you.
Penny Daniels: Are you saying you use violence?
Charles Manson: No, I dont deal in violence. I aint a violent person.
I am not saying that I dont believe that he became violent. I do believe
that after the Family left for Death Valley in 1969, that he indeed became
very violent and paranoid. The fact that he has admitted to me that he was
using belladonna root a lot during this period, combined with lack of sleep
and the exhaustive paranoia of the Bernard Crowe, Gary Hinman, Sharon
Tate and LaBianca happenings on his mind, he became an emotional
wreck.
In 2011, Charles Manson himself told me that one night he was so
deprived of sleep and loaded on belladonna that he saw blue demons rise
out of the dirt and chase him. He stated that he jumped in his dune buggy
and tore out and when I looked to my right, I saw the demon running
beside me. He went on to say that this was a day or so before they came
and got me, meaning a few days before he was arrested in the Barker Ranch
raid.
In 1970, Ruby Pearlwho was the caretaker of Spahn Ranch and friend
of George Spahnwas interviewed and she too said nothing but positive
things about the Family. Now if he was running the ranch like a com-
pound, I am sure she would have seen.
The Dictator 255
Ruby Pearl: They were actually wonderful people. They were artists and
musicians, they were singers and they had wonderful personalities. Each and
every one of them. They never quarreled and never caused or caused any trouble.
They did everything we asked them to do. They did the dishes, the cooking and
they took care of our cowboy clothes. They did the washing and little chores all
around the ranch. They even helped with the horses.
R eporter: What about Charles Manson, himself?
Ruby Pearl: Well, Charles came later. He was introduced to us as their idol
and leader. And he was always interested in music. That was the sole interest of
Charlie Manson. He sat on the rock and played guitar, hed get up and walk
around. Hed get a pen and paper and go write music. Everywhere he went some
of the girls would try and follow him and laugh and talk and sang.
Reporter: You painted a very poetic picture of this community. How do you
relate this to the fact that some of them have now been accused of being involved
in one of Americas bizarre murders?
Ruby Pearl: The only thing that I can say to that is that after their music fell
through they became morbid and started thinking about other lines.
Reporter: Were they taking drugs, do you know?
Ruby Pearl: We could never prove it, but off and on we heard they were. The
only thing that could have cracked their minds.
Reporter: Did you witness a change in the attitude or behavior after the
events of the Tate estate?
Ruby Pearl: No no.
A few things about this interview stick out; she says Charles Manson was
introduced as their leader, which sort of disproves the Familys theory
that there were no leaders. She also states that Manson came later. This
was because he was not allowed at Spahn Ranch in the beginning and he
was forced out. He went to Death Valley and then had a place on Gresham
Street in Canoga Park. With this fact, I find it impossible for him to keep
tabs on everyone and rule Spahn Ranch like a Hitler-esque dictator as the
prosecution suggested.
Spahn Ranch was also not a large space. The area where the buildings
were at was smaller than a supermarket parking lot. Contrary to popular
belief, Spahn Ranch was also not secluded, but right on Santa Susana Pass
which connects with a high-traffic Topanga Canyon Boulevard about 1.5
256 The Manson Myth
miles away. Topanga Canyon Boulevard is right off the 5 interstate. The
place was on the outskirts of Los Angeles in Chatsworth which is a small
area. But the neighboring neighborhoods Reseda, Northridge and Canoga
Park are highly populated areas.
After getting repeated requests for interviewswhich he took advantage
ofhe lashed out at the media in 1980, with the accusation that they are
creating a problem by doing these interviews and making him a pseudo-
celebrity.
I feel that it is pitiful. Pitiful that society has created such a situation. First of
all, I aint got a family. There never was a family. Thats just a product of the
prosecuting attorneys fabrication.
Second, its pitiful that the parents arent closer with their children, so their
kids wont be looking outside their homes for something to join, or someone to
follow.
Let me tell you something. I have been in prison all my life. I didnt produce
those kids, they are a product of their parents and the society of the 60s.
I did not recruit them. It was the other way around. In 1967, I came out of
prison a child. It was me looking for guidance and a way of living. It was the kids
who took me in. Through them I learned how to maneuver and live in the streets
without starving
At some point I may have become some pivotal person for them, someone to
revolve around, a source of entertainment and good times, some place to return
to. But from the beginning, my advice was dont do anything that will cause us
to end up in jail.
Its hard to disagree with him. The media did create the Charles
Manson character. Once, in a joking manner, he even said to me, You
know in 50 years kids wont even know I was alive. They play-act me on TV
so much that Im going to be like Dracula. Kids now dont even know Dra-
cula was a real man.
Between 1970 1980, there were about a dozen movies that were based
on the so-called Manson Murders. Some of the movies just took the idea
of a brainwashing hippie and murderous girls, and some told the story com-
pletely. All of them took the Manson Myth and exaggerated the crimes.
Now when people of this generation are interested in the Manson case, they
watch these movies and take them as fact.
The Dictator 257
Life in Death Valley was no easy time for any of the Family. Between
the scorching heat, the lack of water, dwindling cache of food, and paranoia,
some of the Family wanted out. In fact of all of the people who were at
Spahn Ranch, only about a dozen decided to make the move to Death
Valley. Again this disproves the prosecutions theory that Charles Manson
wouldnt let anyone out of the Family, and that these people were brain-
washed. If they were indeed brainwashed, they would have followed their
guru, also known as Jesus Christ, to the desert.
Most of Mansons actions during the time in Death Valley has stuck with
him and has become what he was known for. Even Barbara Hoyt stated that
she was not afraid of Manson until he went to the desert, He got meaner
when he went to the desert.
This was well after the murders, and only lasted as couple months as they
were busted in October of 1969. He admits that he became very controlling
and wouldnt let anyone walk about in fear that they would be picked up by
police and park rangers. There have been many publications that has stated
that he also starved the Family in Death Valley and this wasnt true. It is
fact that there was food found at Barker Ranch, as stated in the Bob Murphy
book, Desert Shadows. He was one of the men who busted the Family.
Here is the list of food found during the Barker Ranch raids October 10
and 12, 1969. This does not include the food found in a car delivering more
goods to Barker Ranch, or the food found at Myers Ranch where some of
the girls and the kids stayed.

14 cartons of candy bars

8 large rolls of cheese

4 gallons of peanut butter

3 gallons of honey

5 half-gallon jars of jam

2 half-gallon jars of jelly

5 huge boxes of crackers

3 boxes of graham crackers

2 cases of canned milk

40 gallons of wheat germ, corn meal, and flour

258 The Manson Myth
And there was absolutely no way that the people at Spahn Ranch were
starved. Not only was the Family fed well, but the food extended to
George Spahn, himself as well as all of the ranch hands and the transients
who frequented the ranch.
In 1970, Sandra Good spoke to the LA Free Press and told them why they
felt they were being starved. Simply put: they didnt eat meat.
They said we were emaciated and malnourished because we didnt have
meat up there, and weve dropped a lot of the load that city people carry around.
Anyway the man came in full force and busted us. Three girls were in the
bunker on a mattress, and it was another dawn raid, and the cops shot through
the roof of the bunker and barely missed a girls head.
Manson was also known to run people away from the ranches who he felt
were bad news. Sandra Good mentioned it in the 1990s on her now
defunct ATWA.be site.
This fact is well documented by the statements of even such pro-prosecution
people as Paul Watkins. Manson was known to run people off who abused drugs.
Tex Watson and Susan Atkins have both stated in their books that their use of
speed was hidden from the other people at the ranch. No substantial amount of
any kind of drug was ever seized during any of the numerous police raids on
Manson and his associates.
If he was running a cult, a cult that he ran like a dictator, he would not
have done this. No way, no how would he have let anyone leave. Truth is
many people left. Many people came and went. Susan Atkins said in her
book, Child of Satan, Child of God, that she left many times. Charles Watson
stated in his book, Will You Die for Me?, that he too left a few times.
Everyone came and went as they pleased and that is documented fact.
Charles Manson regularly traveled around and left the ranch. He lived in
various places around Los Angeles; places where many Family members
also stayed. When he went to Death Valley in 1968, he left most of the
Family. This would make it impossible to be the man the prosecution said
he was. No debates.
If anyone felt threatened, they could have easily left during one of these
opportunities. This was not a Jim Jones cult where the members were taken
to a different country.
The Dictator 259
According to the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice
Fromme, it was written that it was actually Nancy Pitman who gave the
group the label Family. It was later applied to their music group, which
they called The Family Jams. Dennis Wilson and Gregg Jakobson have
also claimed to have given the moniker, The Family. Either way, it was not
Charles Manson who gave them that label as so many sources claim. No
one referred to the group as The Manson Family until all of the busts hap-
pened and the media applied that label.
Charles Manson told Tom Snyder in 1981 that, All of that stuff they
pushed off on me wasnt me. They said I had this great family and there was
these followers and leaders. There was no followers and leaders.
Paul Watkins also attested to this in his book, My Life with Charles
Manson, in a first-hand account of Charles Mansons words.
Here, we have no leaders. Im not the leader; how can I be the leader when I
have to wipe your asses and get you a blanket? The leader is the slowest one
among us; because we always have to wait for him. He sets the pace. Pooh Bear
and Zezos are the leaders, dig, cause they got us waiting for them and thats the
way it should be, cause they can teach us not to think and to do what we feel and
be on point of what love is.
Its also well documented that he absolutely hated when people referred
to the group as his people, or Charlies girls, and often reminded them
that you belong to no one.
Some allegations were that Manson held the Family together with
Satanism, witchcraft, magic, and other rituals (see chapter: False Witness
Paul Watkins, Brooks Poston & Paul Crockett). The Ed Sanders book, The
Family, actually made the Family dog-sacrificing, blood-drinking, cape-
wearing Satan worshipers. This is one of the most outrageous claims I have
ever heard. First off, Charles Manson forbad the killing of any animal
including dogs, snakes, and birds. Second, Ed Sanders got this notion from a
comment Susan Atkinsthe proven habitual liar made that she once
drank dog blood. This false claim was not the only proven error in that
book.
Bobby Beausoleil stated on his website, Beausoleil.net, that there was
absolutely no devil worship going on.
260 The Manson Myth
T hat wasnt brought about by any sort of death cult or any sort of Satan
worship or any of those things that were alleged. None of those things were hap-
pening. There were more guns around, there were more hard people around
the bikers and so forth.
In Paul Watkins book, My Life with Charles Manson, he went as far as to
say that Charles Manson actually used his music to program his followers.
He even went into great detail, breaking down songs and explaining what
the true meanings were. I will say that I am a big fan of his music from 1967
1969, and most of the songs preach peace, love, acceptance, living off the
land, and living in the desert as well as giving up your ego. If he was using
those words to program his followers, that wouldnt be such a bad thing. I
think more people need to be programmed with peaceful thoughts.
When Charles Manson was accused of brainwashing his followers by
Geraldo Rivera in 1988, he snidely replied, How the hell did I brainwash
35 girls in less than a year? Thats impossible. Youre making me out to do
the impossible. You dont understand you are making me a legend.
Even prosecutions witness and one of Charles Mansons one-time confi-
dants, Harold True, defended him regarding the notion that he was ruling
over the Family, All Charlie Manson ever told those people at anytime is:
Do what you think is right.
In fact the days leading up to the murders he left the Family, as Lynette
Fromme explained, Because he just needed a break from us. The reason
he left after the Gary Hinman incident was probably out of paranoia and
disgust on how the situation spiraled out of control. Here is the timetable of
his absence.

August 3: Manson left Los Angeles for Big Sur.

August 4: Manson meets new girlfriend Stephanie Schram, buys gas in

Lucia, California.

August 5: Manson auditions at the Esalen Institure in Big Sur, California.

August 6: Manson and Schram return to Spahn Ranch.

August 6: Bobby BeauSoleil arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman.

August 7: Manson and Stephanie Schram go to San Diego to visit her sister.

August 8: Manson and Schram return to Spahn Ranch. Manson learns

about Bobby BeauSoleils arrest. Mary Brunner and Sandra good arrested.
The girls tell Manson of their plan to get Bobby out of jail.
The Dictator 261

August 9: The Tate Murders happened.

In my opinion, this timeline is troubling for the prosecutions theory
because if he was planning to spark Helter Skelter, then why would he
have left the Family before the murders were to start? On the same note,
why would they have happened the very night of his return? I admit that it is
an unfortunate coincidence that the murders happened the night he had
returned.
According to the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice
Fromme, this is what happened when he left the Family on August 3
rd
,
1969 and returned on August 8
th
, 1969.
With all the troubles, the ranch didnt seem like a good place for contempla-
tion. Charlie went up to Big Sur, leaving Lyn to keep things moving at the ranch.
When he saw Charlie had gone, Bobby also decided he needed time to reflect. He
headed up the coast in Garys [Hinman] Fiat. On August 6, 1969, the Fiat
broke down and Bobby fell asleep in the car. An officer found out the car was
wanted in a murder investigation and he busted Bobby. Bobby called the Spahn
Ranch to explain what had happened.
The girls were upset. They would, some of the girls said, do anything for love
of brother, and Bobby was a brother and more to them. What would make the
cops let Bobby out? If they knew they had the wrong man, theyd have no choice.
If people kept getting murdered in the same way Gary did, it would be
obvious the killer was still at large.
Charlie returned, finally, on August 8, with a new girl. Charlie was told about
Bobbys arrest. He got upset. Charlie said to his followers, Im getting my shit
together right now, loading it in my truck and getting the fuck out of here. I am
not going back to prison because a bunch of kids cant handle their own prob-
lems.
Lyn went to him, No, you cant go, love is one! she said. We are one! If one
goes, we go together. Sadie and all the others seconded Lyn.
Up until this time Charles Manson had been arrested a half a dozen
times and all arrests violated his parole. If this is so, then why wasnt he sent
back to prison for a parole violation to finish his ten-year sentence? Was it a
coincidence that a raid happened right after the Tate and LaBianca murders
for unrelated crimes? He was arrested twice after the murder spree and both
times he was cut loose either on technicalities or by lack of evidence.
262 The Manson Myth
According to Preston Guilloryas printed on CounterPunch.orga
former Malibu policeman, (it was the Malibu force who helped on the
Spahn Ranch raid and ironically, Charles Manson had been arrested in
Malibu at least twice) stated the reason why, and that he was their target.
He said they were under surveillance for a long time, which means the
detectives witnessed the Tate and LaBianca murders and did nothing about
it.
We had been briefed for a few weeks prior to the actual raiding of Spahn
Ranch. We had a sheaf of memos on Manson, that they had automatic weapons
at the ranch, that citizens had complained about hearing machine-guns fired at
night, that firemen from the local fire station had been accosted by armed mem-
bers of Mansons band and told to get out of the area, all sorts of complaints like
this.
We had been advised to put anything relating to Manson on a memo sub-
mitted to the station, because they were supposedly gathering information for the
raid we were going to make. Deputies at the station of course started asking,
Why arent we going to make the raid sooner? I mean, Mansons a parole vio-
lator, machine-guns have been heard, we know theres narcotics and we know
theres booze. Hes living at the Spahn Ranch with a bunch of minor girls in
complete violation of his parole.
Deputies at the station quite frankly became very annoyed that no action was
being taken about Manson. My contention is thisthe reason Manson was left on
the street was because our department thought that he was going to attack the
Black Panthers. We were getting intelligence briefings that Manson was anti-
black and he had supposedly killed a Black Panther, the body of which could not
be found, and the department thought that he was going to launch an attack on
the Black Panthers.
I believe this. COINTELPRO admitted during the Geronimo Pratt trial
for his release that they were out to stop the Black Panthers in any way pos-
sible; and that Pratts framing for murder was just a part of this. I believe
that the law enforcement would be willing to stand by and allow someone
like Charles Manson to attack the Black Panthers. Perhaps this is the reason
why he was never arrested for the shooting of Black Panther Bernard
Crowe. Bernard Crowe may have gone to the police, and perhaps the police
The Dictator 263
did nothing about it in hopes a full-scale war between the Black Panthers
and the Manson gang would ensue.
Preston Guillory went on to explain the law enforcements surprise when
Mansons gang did not attack the Black Panthers, but indeed attacked the
rich white.
Sheriffs Department suddenly wondering, Jesus Christ, what are we gonna
do about this? We cant cover this up. Well, maybe we can.
I bet those memos are no longer in existence. The memos about what Manson
was doing. Citizens complaints. All those things Im sure have disappeared by
now. It shows the police were conscious of the fact that he had these weapons in
violation of his parole. Youve got at least involvement here on the part of
Mansons parole officer, on the part of the Sheriffs Department, probably the
sheriff himself, and whoever gave him his orders. Manson should have been
[imprisoned] long before the killings, because he was on parole, period. He was
living at the Spahn Ranch with an outlaw motorcycle gang. I feel that, to say the
least, the sheriff of Los Angeles County is an accessory to murder.
The raid was a week after the Sharon Tate thing, and the intelligence infor-
mation was coming in for about three weeks prior to the raid. They just didnt
want any arrests made. It was obvious they wanted the intelligence information
we were gathering for some other reason. Three days after they were arrested, 72
hours later, they were all released lack of evidence after this mammoth
raid.
It appeared to me that the raid was more or less staged as an afterthought. It
was like a scenario that we were going through. There was some kind of a grand
plan that we were participating in, but I never had the feeling the raid was neces-
sary or that it required so many personnel. Now, if you were a police official and
you were planning a raid on the Spahn Ranch, utilizing 102 deputies and heli-
copters and all that, one would think that with all the information coming out a
month prior to the raid, wouldnt you have them under fairly close surveillance?
If you did have them under fairly close surveillance, wouldnt you see them leave
the Spahn Ranch to go over and kill seven people and then come back?
So the hypothesis I put forward is, either we didnt have them under surveil-
lance for grand-theft-auto because it was a big farce, or else they were under sur-
veillance by somebody much higher than the Sheriffs Department, and they did
go through this scenario of killing at the Tate house and then come back, and
264 The Manson Myth
then we went through the motions to do our raid. Either they were under surveil-
lance at the time, which means somebody must have seen them go to the Tate
house and commit the killings, or else they werent under surveillance.
You have to remember that Charlie was on federal parole all this time
from 67 to 69. Do you realize all the shit he was getting away with while he was
on parole? Now heres the kicker. Before the Tate killings, he had been arrested
at Malibu twice for statutory rape. Never got [imprisoned for parole violation].
During the Tate killings and the Spahn Ranch raid, Mansons parole officer was
on vacation, so he had no knowledge of Manson being incarcerated, so naturally
Manson was released, but why wasnt a parole hold put on him?
Prior to the Spahn Ranch raid, there was a memo it was verbal, I would
have loved to Xerox some things but there wasnt anything to Xerox that we
werent to arrest Manson or any of his followers prior to the raid. It was inti-
mated to us that we were going to make a raid on the Spahn ranch, but the cap-
tain came out briefly and said, No action is to be taken on anybody at the Spahn
ranch. I want memos submitted directly to me with a cover sheet so nobody else
can read them.
Charles Manson has always admitted that he knew that the murders were
going to happen, but they were not his business and that all he did was hid
the killers after the fact. Of course, this makes him guilty of accessory after
the fact and harboring, but this collection of words is more or less to dis-
prove the Helter Skelter theory, not to adjudge him innocent or guilty.
he told reporters in 1983 that he knew that people were going to be
killed but he didnt know who.
Did I know it was going to happen? Yeah, I knew it was going to happen. To
who? No. To when? No. To how? No. But I knew it was going to happen.
A few years later in 1986, he also told Charlie Rose this very thing.
I was raised up that you dont get involved in other peoples business. If they
are doing something thats them. They got to ride that beef. Theres a jail-
house law: ride your own beef, do your own time. And Ive done it all my life. If
Tex goes off and he kills eight or ten people and Bobby comes back and says I
killed him, I say Man dont tell me about it. I dont want to hear it. Its not my
affair.
There are obviously laws stating that if you know about a murder that
you must act on it and notify authorities. No one said Charles Manson was a
The Dictator 265
model citizen or someone who was law-abiding. He, himself has admitted
that he is nothing more than a criminal as he told Vanity Fair in 2009.
Im mal hombre. Nasty. Im in the bull-ring. I run in the bulls with the heart
of the world. I dont play, I shoot people. Im bad, Im a mean guy. Im an
outlaw, Im a criminal. Im everything bad. You must know what to do. Thats
what Tex told in his book. He said that he didnt tell me what to do, I knew what
he wanted me to do and I did what he wanted me to do. Do you understand
that?
Paul Watkins stated in his book, My Life with Charles Manson, that
Charles Manson and the Family was one no leaders. This of course was
before the murders and before the exodus to Death Valley when everything
changed.
Throughout my experience with the Family, we often acted out roles,
becoming parents, brothers, sisters, and friends for one another. Some of the
scenes were devastating, but we got through them. We all took part in these
scenes and a strong kinship resulted. Acid only intensified it, made it more indel-
ible. Charlie directed it, but he could not control it. It was something no one
could control.
The public has always known Charles Manson as a murderer. They did not
meet him, as I did, on that evening on March 1968 in Topanga Canyon. When I
met him, there was no violence in the Family, no talk of Helter Skelter; in fact, it
was the complete opposite.
Charlies love was real. It had some integrity. But the public met Charlie
through the media only after the murders; by then, the whole story was already
tainted with blood.
In the end, most of the negative accounts of Charles Manson come from
the Familys time in Death Valley after the murders. This was when the
dynamic of the Family had changed, and everything was based on para-
noia, fear, and arming themselves to be protected against retaliation. Gone
were the days of love, music, kinship, and enjoying life. Instead allowing
people into the Family circle like Charles Watson and Danny DeCarlo
started a downward dissent into the chaos that Charles Manson and the
Family are known for.
In the Ed George book, Taming the Beast, he explains his theory on why
things went bad.
266 The Manson Myth
The group was too large. Too large to control. The one thing the girls prom-
ised me wouldnt happen, happened. They not only included me, I became this
fucking all-powerful, godlike ringleader. A guy who could stop watches and spin
clocks with a glance. The demonic leader of Charlies Angels, only those girls
were no angels.
Despite the allegations by the parole board, the media and the prosecu-
tion, he has taken some responsibility for his part in the murders. His part
may not coincide with what the prosecution has put forth, but he has not
denied everything as people believe. In 1985 he told High Society Maga-
zine that he feels responsible.
I influenced all kinds of people, doing all kinds of things. My attitudes were
like waves that went through their minds, but I never realized how people were
looking up to me, because I never had anyone look up to me before. I have been in
jail since I was nine years old. I have only been out six months here, three months
there, so when I finally did get out for a couple of years, and people gathered
around me and said, You do that good, or, We like you, youre a nice guy, Id
say, Who me? So I played good guy for them, and as long as they were good to
me, Im good back to them. They were good to me all the way, and truthful.
In that 1999 article on CounterPunch.org, Paul Krassners description of
the so-called Manson Family, seemed pretty accurate. It wasnt a cult or a
hippie commune; Spahn Ranch was a hub for a gang of misfits the
Manson Family was a gang.
Charles Manson was never a hippie. His real family included con artists,
pimps, drug dealers, thieves, muggers, rapists and murderers. He had known only
power relationships in an army of control junkies. Manson was Americas Frank-
enstein monster, a logical product of the prison system.
In 1970 he told Rolling Stone Magazine what kind of leader he really was.
Everyone wanted to call him a leader, so he admitted that he was the leader
as someone who took care of things.
People said I was a leader. Heres the kind of leader I was. I made sure toilets
were clean. I made sure the animals were fed. Any sores on the horses? Id heal
them. Anything need fixing? Id fix it. I was always the one to do everything
nobody wanted to do. Cats need feeding? Id feed them. When it was cold, I was
always the last one to get a blanket.
The Dictator 267
With hundreds of people coming and going, spending months with
Charles Manson and the Family and then leaving, its quite obvious that
he had no hold on anyone and everyone was free to come and go when they
pleased.
Just take a look at the people who was with him at Spahn Ranch and then
the people who he was with at Barker Ranch. It was basically two entirely
different groups aside from the obvious people within the circle that fol-
lowed him out to Death Valley.
With the hundreds of people who attached themselves to the group, no
one has yet come forward to substantiate the allegations against him except
for the people who testified in court and his co-defendants trying to push
blame over to him. That says everything.
If Charles Manson was this evil Hitlerian ruler, surely one of those
people would have substantiated the prosecutions theories. Instead the
prosecution had to pay off witnesses to testify or give them some sort of
incentive like immunity to crimes they have committed. None of them testi-
fied for nothing. They all had something to gain.
They say he beat the girls at the ranch. He never beat them girls.
Thats all in the cops heads. - Phil Kaufman
268 The Manson Myth
An aerial shot of Spahns Ranch and the close proximity to a main road (Santa Susana Pass).
The Dictator 269
18
Deeper Than the Devils
Hole
Anyone who has read Vin-
cent Bugliosis Helter Skelter
will be very familiar with the
bottomless pit that he men-
tioned in the book countless
times. His theory of Helter
Skelter included this bot-
tomless pit and Charles
Mansons visions of hiding
his family at the bottom of
this pit. He wrote that
Charles Manson saw this pit
as a place that he and his
Family could hide and wait out the impending race war for 40
years. The bottomless pit was supposed to be a place of rivers
of milk and honey and trees that bear 12 kinds of fruit.
The Devils Hole in the Amargosa Valley, Nevada.
271
Vincent Bugliosi wrote in Helter Skelter that Charles Mansons vision of
Helter Skelter included Charles Manson and his followers escaping
Helter Skelter by going to the desert and living in a bottomless pit, a
place Manson derived from Revelation 9, a chapter in the last book of the
New Testament. This was also part of his opening argument at the Tate and
LaBianca murder trial.
I will give Vincent Bugliosi credit; reading this paints Charles Manson to
be quite delusional. I personally believe that Charles Manson did speak of a
so-called bottomless pit. This pit was called The Devils Hole, and did exist.
It was not a figment of his imagination as Vincent Bugliosi insisted.
Charles Manson spoke about this hole during his trial testimony on
November 19, 1970.
Theres been a lot of tank about a bottomless pit. I found a hole in the desert
that goes down to a river that runs North underground, and I call it a bottomless
pit, because where could a river be going North underground? You could even
put a boat on it. So I covered it up and I hid it and I called it The Devils Hole
and we all laugh and we joke about it. You could call it a Family joke about the
bottomless pit. How many people could you hide down in this hole?
So, we cant deny that there was a bottomless pit that he spoke about
and seemed very interested in. Over the years I have read many explana-
tions on this hole and where it exists. I believe that Nikolas Schreck stated in
the documentary Charles Manson Superstar that it was a hole somewheres
out behind Barker Ranch in Death Valley and that the hole was of Hopi
Indian lore.
Theres merit to this claim. Not too far from Barker Ranch on Wingate
Pass in the small town of Trona, there were many tales of a hole in the
ground where an alien-like civilization lived. According to Weirdus.com,
these tales mostly came from a Native American named Tom Wilson who
said that he had met these people.
Wilson said that when he was a boy, his grandfather told him that he had
found a tunnel that extended for miles beneath the valley. Walking its length, the
man ended up in an underground chamber where a race of fair-skinned people
dwelt. Welcomed by these subterranean humanoids, Wilsons grandfather lived
with them for a while. The people spoke a strange foreign language, wore clothes
272 The Manson Myth
made of a leather-like substance, and illuminated their home with a pale
greenish-yellow light of unknown origin.
At one point Wilson teamed up with a prospector named White, who claimed
that he too had found strange underground dwellings in Death Valley. White
had been exploring an abandoned mine in Wingate Pass when he fell into a
hidden tunnel that led to a series of rooms. The rooms were filled with leather-
clad human mummies. Gold bars and other fabulous treasures were stacked in
piles around them. There was a passageway leading beyond the rooms as well, lit
by an eerie greenish-yellow light. But White dared not explore any further,
fearful of what might lie beyond.
Tom Wilson passed away in 1968 and there may have been a chance that
he had met Charles Manson. But even if he had not met him, theres also a
better explanation that his tales may have become local legend. I will also
point out that when Charles Manson finally made it out to Death Valley he
was also leather-clad. Was this intentional? Makes you think.
If this tunnel system really exists will be forever unknown as it now
resides within the walls of the China Ranch Naval Weapons Center. If the
bottomless pit that is now trapped inside the government walls is simply
lore and tall tales, then where else could this pit be?
Charles Manson spoke a lot about Native Americans in the Death Valley
region and the great impact that they had on him. Most sources of this bot-
tomless pit is said to have originated from Native Americans in the region.
He has always called this bottomless pit The Devils Hole, however Vincent
Bugliosis book, Helter Skelter, has absolutely no mention of The Devils
Hole, but instead uses the term the bottomless pit. He used this term for
a reason. Keeping the hole known as the bottomless pit removes any validity
of it existing and keeps the reader believing that this was simply a delusion
of Charles Manson.
When author Ed Sanders interviewed Paul Watkins for his book, The
Family, he pointed out the exact location of The Devils Hole. Paul Watkins
pointed to a small mountain in the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
in the Amargosa Valley. He then sneered at the notion that they believed
the were supposed to live in this hole saying You cant just jump in a hole
and be shat out in a different universe.
Paul Watkins was right on point there.
Deeper Than the Devils Hole 273
And inside Ash Meadows, which is located in the Death Valley National
Monument, there is a protected hole called The Devils Hole. It is indeed a
hole in the ground exposing water from the Amargosa River where it flows
underground. In 1967, several divers have even attempted to find the
bottom of the hole and never surfaced. Stories even mention Charles
Manson meditating at this hole for several days.
Ash Meadows is also a preserve where Native Americans lived for many
thousand years. To this day theres artifacts and mortar holes scattered all
over the preserve left by Natives.
During the 1960s there was also a fight about pumping water out of the
spring, which lead to a near annihilation of an entire species of pupfish.
During this era there was also great concern of the roads being carved
through the area. Charles Manson took notice of this and his explana-
tion for burning the Michigan Loader tractor was that he did not like the
fact that they were killing wildlife by building roads through the desert.
The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge website stated that During the
1960s and early 1970s in particular, irrigated row crops, grazing, and devel-
opment took a heavy toll on the areas natural resources. Plants, fish, and
wildlife declined as pumping and diversion of spring channels, development
of roads, large scale earth moving.
In a 1985 interview with KALX Radio, Charles Manson told Kevin Ken-
nedy about the devilish things that he did while in Death Valley.
We were burning up road equipment that was tearing up the land. They
were destroying the water and destroying the animals in the deserts. So what I
did was I would go around and burn up all these things that were tearing up the
earth. And I would sneak around and do devilish little things to slow their pro-
gress down. Because when you see two or three hundred thousand animals dying
because somebody wants to put a fence up across the desert for no particular
reason except making money and selling something to the public for a new road
production, and all that madness that they play in. And Id tear the fences down,
and tear the water, and put the water back into the land where the animals
would have a game to play.
Coincidentally, these acts is what eventually lead to Charles Mansons
capture and put an end to his freedom. He and his gang would regularly
drive hundreds of miles through the Death Valley canyons and washes. The
274 The Manson Myth
burning of the Michigan Loader tractor happened near Hunter Mountain,
which was over 3 hours away if you had a car and was driving on designated
roads. They were on dune buggies and probably used West Side Road
through Galena Valley, which is a pretty rough ride.
The Devils Hole in Ash Meadows can easily be accessed by backroads,
canyons, and washes and is only a little further than Hunter Mountain and
on the same route. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that they visited
The Devils Hole and knew about the Native American myths and lore of
the hole.

Faster than the wind in the night. Its darker than dark shadows in
bright light. Much deeper than the Devils Hole. One quick glance and
you know its so. The fires are burning as the hearts of all the men. The
world keeps turning, calling come on in. - The Family Jams Loves
Death
The Devils Hole entrance to the underground Amargosa River.
Deeper Than the Devils Hole 275
19
Just Follow the Music
In a way, I think Charles
Manson is as known for his
musical endeavors as much
as he is known for the 1969
murder spree involving mem-
bers of the Manson Gang.
Ironically, his music has been
blamed for programming his
so-called followers by
people like Paul Watkins and
Vincent Bugliosi.
Paul Watkins claim was that his
music had hidden and subliminal messages that helped program the
Family to kill. As absurd and ridiculous as this sounds, it is a theory that is
believed by a lot of people.
Charles Mansons mother Kathleen Maddox was interviewed in 1971,
and she told the reporters how talented he was musically. She also stated
that he was conceited, and thats when she pulled the plug on his early
Charles Manson playing music at Spahns Ranch to a small
audience.
277
musical lessons. I think this was one of the reasons he was so set on proving
himself musically if not to others, surely himself.
Charlie was real musical and had a really nice voice, so I gave him singing
lessons. But then he got conceited about his music and I made him stop the les-
sons, but he still sang special solos in church and people always talked about how
good he sang.
He has been called everything from a brilliant songwriter to a failed musi-
cian and everything in between. Most theories for the so-called Manson
Murders are that the killings were a retaliation for being shunned and
ignored musically. I dont believe this for one second since his music was
going to be released. And according to the Beach Boys Mike Love, they had
more than one of his songs recorded and set to be released at a future date.
Those rumored releases were pulled after the infamous trial for obvious rea-
sons. Producer Terry Melcher was also seen at the Fountain of the World
speaking to Charles Manson after the 1969 murders. This to me proves that
he was still interested in his music and was long after he has claimed to have
cut ties with him.
In 1979 infamous mobster from the Ma Barker Gang, Alvin Creepy
Karpis, wrote a book called Public Enemy Number One, in which he men-
tions Charles Manson and his musical abilities. Charles Manson has men-
tioned him numerous times as the man who taught him a lot on the guitar
and someone who he considered a friend.
This kid approaches me to request music lessons. He wants to learn guitar
and become a music star. Little Charlie is so lazy and shiftless, I doubt if hell
put in the time required to learn. The youngster has been in institutions all of his
life first orphanages, then reformatories, and finally federal prison. His
mother, a prostitute, was never around to look after him. I decide its time
someone did something for him, and to my surprise, he learns quickly. He has a
pleasant voice and a pleasing personality, although hes unusually meek and
mild for a convict. He never has a harsh word to say and is never involved in even
an argument.
Later in prison he also met soon-to-be legendary band manager Phil
Kaufman, who was in Terminal Island Penitentiary for drug-related charges.
He took a liking to him and they struck up a relationship that would last
after both were paroled from prison. Phil Kaufman once said that when he
278 The Manson Myth
first heard Charles Manon sing on the prison yard that, I thought he was
quite good. Reminded me of a young Frankie Layne.
When Charles Manson finally paroled, Phil Kaufman gave him some
names of record producers that he knew in Los Angeles and set up his
recording relationship with Gary Stromberg and Corey Allen and Universal
Studios in September 1967. These sessions produced the record All The
Way Alive, which has also been released under the names The Psychedelic
Soul and Charles Manson Unplugged. Two of the songs also made it to his
first official release LIE.
During these sessions it was apparent that he was very nervous and took
this opportunity as is he was really recording an album, when in reality they
were merely audition tapes. Even though Corey Allen was very impressed
with him, unfortunately he never pursued his offers with Universal Studios.
In 2007, gossip columnist William Dakota corresponded with Charles
Manson and spoke to him about his music. In this correspondence, he men-
tioned his time at Universal Studios and calls himself a dumb ass for not
taking advantage of his opportunities with Universal Studios.
When I got out (prison.) I went to Universal Studios saw a producer
named Stromberg, a phony guy. He wanted me to cut a record with a South
African black, Hugh Maskella & big black trumpet & drummer for a movie. He
told me Jews control & Id never get any music over, unless I did it his way. He
was making a movie, he said, about the second coming of J.C. & he was to be a
black & police were to off him and the system would get the blame & they would
control the movie minds and take power. I said no. They did it anyway. (George)
Jackson was killed in San Quentin & Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin got big
power controls. I was a dumb ass.
History proves to be a very interesting thing sometimes, especially when
you think of how Bobby Beausoleil and Charles Manson crossed paths. In
the beginning, it was all about music his band The Milky Way. Bobby Beau-
soleil admitted that he was attracted to him for his music as he stated in a
1990s TV news clip that, My interest in Manson at the time was to get him
in a studio I thought he had talent. He did have talent.
Later, he expanded further on his website BeauSoleil.net.
Just Follow the Music 279
I had these notices put up advertising myself as a guitar player for hire and I
got a call from a band called The Milky Way. It turned out to be a little band
that Manson was in. Charlie Manson was the lead singer.
The best thing, though, was Charlie and his singing, and his kind of Dylan-
esque sounding lyrics. At that time I didnt listen to them too closely, but when I
did I liked them, I liked the songs. I wanted to work with him and get him into
the studio. He strummed a guitar and he strummed it well, I will say that. He
provided a good rhythmic foundation for his own music. He could have been a
really good drummer, had he gone that way.
Its quite obvious that early on Charles Mansons focus was getting his
music released. I think his Family was a huge push for him; being sur-
rounded by a lot of musical talent. Having a large group of people, including
Bobby Beausoleil, telling him how great he was musically, also did not hurt
his ego. He has never shied away from admitting that his so-called Family
was his main drive musically.
The musicians that Charles Manson crossed paths with generally loved
his music and had nothing but great things to say about him. According to
Neil Young, when he met him in Malibu, he was so taken by him that he
offered him his motorcycle and put his name out to Mo Osten of Warner
Bothers calling Charles Manson unbelievable.
Neil Young went on to say, Charlie remembers me too, huh? Every-
body else ripped him off. I gave him a motorcycle. I turn out to be a good
guy. We just hung out. He played some songs for me, sittin in Will Rogerss
old house, on Sunset Blvd.
In Neil Youngs book, Waging Heavy Peace, he even compared Charles
Manson to Bob Dylan in probably one of the most flattering compliments I
have heard a big-time musician pay him.
After a while, a guy showed up, picked up my guitar, and started playing a
lot of songs on it, Young writes. His name was Charlie. Kind of like Dylan, but
different because it was hard to glimpse a true message in them, but the songs
were fascinating. He was quite good.
In the book The Life of Cass Elliott, he again mentioned Charles Manson.
A lot of pretty well known musicians around L.A. knew Manson, though
theyd probably deny it now. The girls were always around too. Theyd be right
there on the couch with me, singing a song.
280 The Manson Myth
In the Nuel Emmons book, Manson in His Own Words, it was written that
Charles Manson spoke very fondly of his musical group, The Family Jams.
He was not only super proud of his group, but really felt like they had some-
thing when they first started to sing as a group during their 1968 visit to
Death Valley.
The music was often so good it gave me goosebumps. Without microphones
or amplifiers there was a pure, earthy element to our instruments and voices. We
were a bunch of kids sitting around an open bonfire in one of the most primitive
areas in the nation. God, there was so much talent there. One of my strongest
regrets is the world didnt get to hear our music.
Until these jam sessions, Charles Manson was primarily a solo artist. It
took these jams in the middle of Death Valley to really appreciate what they
had as a group. When he returned to Los Angeles, he tried feverishly to sell
it and this started a long string of broken promises from many different indi-
viduals. Before this time interest in Charles Manson and The Family Jams
was primarily from musicians that he crossed paths with. Even Beach Boys
drummer Dennis Wilson, in a 1968 interview with Record Mirror, men-
tioned The Family Jams.
I live in the woods in California near Death Valley with 17 girls. Theyre
space ladies and theyd make a great group. I am thinking of launching them as
The Family Jams.
Charles Manson met big-time producer Terry Melcher through Dennis
Wilson and began to approach him to release his music. Terry Melcher all
but denied any interest in his music, but people around him has contra-
dicted that saying that Terry Melcher just felt that Charles Mansons music
was simply not marketable under his name, since he was primarily a rock
and roll music producer. Terry Melcher went on to refer to his music as
Indian music.
According to man sources, Charles Mansons main reason for wanting to
sell his music was that after he had returned from Death Valley in 1968, he
had visions of buying Barker Ranch and using his newly-found riches from
music to build a self-sustained community in the desert. His main problem
was that he wanted his music career to take off in an instant, and not
working towards fame like most musicians do with years of hard work
and sacrifice.
Just Follow the Music 281
When all of the later chaos ensued, this pushed him to want to sell his
music even quicker. When it was not working at the speed that he had
wished, he began to threaten the people who were giving him the opportu-
nities and burning bridges. It did not help when those people, in turn,
started breaking their promises.
In Robert Hendricksons book, Death to Pigs, prosecutions witnesses
Brooks Poston and Paul Watkins also spoke of Terry Melcher and
Gregg Jakobsons interest in Charles Mansons music.
Brooks Poston: Melcher was at a taping session at the ranch and they were
stoned and he (Melcher) got down on his knees in front of Charlie and said,
Youre gonna kill me. And Charlie said, No man, you cant program me to do
that. Melcher kept saying it and finally Charlie ran him off with a knife.
Paul Watkins: Gregg Jakobson (Melchers associate) called up the Gresham
Street house when we were all living there making music like crazy, and he called
up and says, Terry will be here tonight to hear you play. So we got out, put up
all the tapestries and we got candy and rolled all the joints and got all ready for
Terry to come. We waited and waited and waited and Terry didnt come when
Gregg said he would come and that pissed Charlie off.
Brooks Poston: Gregg pulled the same one though, a couple of times. Gregg
said hed show up, but he didnt.
When Gregg Jakobson realized that Terry Melcher was not so interested
in Charles Manson anymore, he jumped right on him. Gregg Jakobson not
only dug Charles Mansons music, but wanted to get him on film.
According to the Ed Sanders book, The Family, he felt that he was a natural
and should be caught on film.
When Charlie danced, everyone left the floor. He was like fire, a raw explo-
sion, a mechanical toy that suddenly went crazy.
The relationship between Charles Manson and Gregg Jakobson con-
tinued for some time and the two struck up a close friendship. When the
Bernard Crowe shooting happened in August 1969, a man named Bryan
Lukashevsky was present. Bryan Lukashevsky not only knew Charles
Manson and Bernard Crowe, but he also knew Terry Melcher, Dennis
Wilson and Gregg Jakobson. When he told the trio about the shooting, they
all severed ties with Charles Manson and essentially ended any opportunity
that he had to record with their faction.
282 The Manson Myth
At this point, he had already become irate with Dennis Wilson over the
recording of the song Never Learn Not To Love, in which Dennis Wilson
had completely rearranged his song into something that was unrecogniz-
able and even penned his own name as the writer of the song. Any hope of
Charles Manson having his name on a major album was all but gone, as was
any royalty that he was counting on to help with his move to Death Valley.
In 1992, Gregg Jakobson told Esquire Magazine that Charles Manson
had once put a gun to his head and asked him what would happen if he
pulled the trigger. He replied that he said, Well, I guess Id die. He really
liked that, and just put it back in his belt. He went on to speak fondly of his
time with Charles Manson and it to me seemed like there absolutely was no
bad blood between them.
If Charlie had come up twenty years later, with MTV, he would have been a
natural. He was a magic man, and in those days magic was allowed. Hanging
out with him was an event, though you could only take so much of him, because
he was always on, always on the move .
Hed bend down, pick up a handful of rocks, and throw them in the air.
Theyd all come back to him, and hed look at you and say, Throw it all away,
and itll come back to you. See, there wasnt a thing Charlie wouldnt interpret
for you. One time, he was telling me about the end of everything, and I was
saying, Youre full of shit, but we oughta film you and make some music. He
took me for a ride up to that end of the Valley where they were building three
hundred new houses. We drove up, new homes,new streets, new lights, not a soul
there. And he stopped. Silence. He says, Where are we at? What does this make
you think of? It was like a graveyard. He said, Exactly, thats where were
heading. This is the future.
See, Charlie really believed what he believed in, he never faked it. His reality
was bizarre, but so is prison and thats where Charlie came from. He was true to
his conditioning: Observe from a distance, through a glass wall, above barbed
wire, and what comes out is strong ideology. []
And one thing is for sure: Wherever you have a Mother Teresa, youll also
have a Charles Manson. I love them both. She brings tears to my eyes, and
strange as it sounds, I loved Charlie for pointing that gun at my head.
In a way, Charles Manson accomplished more in his two years of
freedom musically than a lot of artists accomplish in a lifetime. Still, this was
Just Follow the Music 283
not enough for him. In those two years, he recorded for a a famous rock and
roll group, recorded at Universal Studios, recorded at the legendary Sound
City Studios in Van Nuys, and had a chance to befriend and play for legen-
dary musicians like Neil Young, The Beach Boys, Terry Melcher and Phil
Kaufman.
Nevertheless, he is still considered a failed musician. Forty-five years
later, his music is still being played and he is still releasing new albums.
Several musicians within The Family Jams also went on to have brilliant
recording careers. Bobby Beausoleil is still recording and releasing music
and Steve Grogan has become one of the most sought after jazz guitarists in
the San Francisco bay area. Brooks Poston and Paul Watkins had a very suc-
cessful group in Shoshone, California called Desert Sun. The band fizzled
when Paul Watkins decided to sever ties with Paul Crockett, who was
Desert Suns manager. Paul Crockett eventually moved out of the desert to
live in Burnington, Washington bringing Desert Suns Brooks Poston and
Jane Boltinhouse with him. Desert Sun became Northern Lights ad toured
extensively during the 80s.
He had this kind of music that nobody else was doing. I thought he
really had something crazy, something great. He was like a living poet.
- Neil Young

284 The Manson Myth
The Family Jams music group lead by Steve Clem Grogan in the hills behind Spahns Ranch.
Just Follow the Music 285
20
Krishna Venta
I will admit that my knowl-
edge on Krishna Venta and
the Fountain of the World
is vague at best. I have done
quite a bit research on him
and his beloved Fountain,
but since resources on him
are very hard to come by and
all state the same facts and
some facts are not at all
legitimate. I had to use what I
found to formulate my
opinion.
In the past few years of research, I came across many conflicting stories
on him. By far the most accurate source came from Fountain of the World
historian Shawn Sutherland. In 2008, he provided information to the Inter-
national Cult Studies of America on KrishnaVenta and the Fountain of the
World and his synopsis on Krishna Venta was alarmingly similar to that of
Charles Manson. Here is his profile on him abridged for length.
Krishna Venta on a cross atop of Skull Rock in Box Canyon for
an Easter crucifixion recreation.
287
Born Francis Pencovic in the San Francisco of 1911, Venta was an inter-
esting candidate for messiah. Pencovics body (or so he claimed) became the host
vessel for the Christ Everlasting, an eternal spirit being who had died on the
cross at Calvary 2,000 years earlier. This time around, his Earthly mission was
to gather the 144,000 Elect foretold in Revelation and deliver them from an
apocalypse heretofore unseen by mankind.
Armageddon, prophesied Venta, would begin as an armed race war in the
streets of America. If Ventas vision of the future sounds oddly reminiscent of
Helter Skelter, it must be noted that strong debate exists regarding whether
Charles Manson, who periodically lodged at the Fountain of the World circa
1968 and 1969, was privy to the teachings of the dead cult leader during his res-
pites there. In this conflict, Communist Russia, with its nuclear weaponry, would
render military aid to African-Americans. But the Soviets would eventually
reveal their true stripes, insisted Venta, by enslaving their African-American
allies and terminating religious freedom worldwide. Still, fear was unnecessary,
for Venta was actively gathering the 144,000, and knew of a hidden North
American valley in which his Elect could hide during the bloodshed until the
ordained day came for them to exit their secret refuge en masse, cast out the
Soviet empire, free the enslaved, and restore religious freedom to mankind.
Anyone who has followed Charles Mansons life knows he has spoken a
lot about Krishna Venta and the Fountain of the World. Its quite obvious
that the time that he spent here made a huge impact on him and his philoso-
phies. When the old Krishna-Venta.org site was still up, the moderator men-
tioned meeting Charles Manson and the fact that he observed some of the
Fountain brothers rituals. He als mentioned them teaching him many reli-
gious practices including feet washing something that he was known to
do even after his days at the Fountain of the World.
Author and former Fountain of the World member Jon Fisher published
a book titled, The Spiritual Teachings & Biography of Master Krishna, and
within that book he too mentions Charles Manson and the Family.
In the summer of 1968 Charles Manson joined the cult. My stepfather, who
served in World War 2 as a tail gunner in bombers over Japan, tolerated
Brother Charles until it was discovered that the lunatic was giving drugs to
some of the kids. The family was allowed to stay in the cult until they found
other housing, but Charles was required to stay in his bus on the upper parking
288 The Manson Myth
lot. This experience had a traumatic effect on the entire Manson family, and the
rest is history.
Krishna Venta had tremendous influence on Brother Isaiah of Alaska,
Charles Manson in 1968 and even Jimmy Jones. Charles Manson lived at the
Fountain for a few months and learned a great deal from myself, my step-father,
and other Fountain members.
During some of the times that I spoke to Charles Manson, he talked a lot
about the Fountain. He told me that he loved it there, but the girls always
felt really out of place and would end up arguing back and forth with the
brothers and sisters of the Fountain causing a lot of friction.
Paul Watkins (see chapter: False Witness: Paul Watkins, Brooks Poston
& Paul Crockett) seems to be the only Family member who loved to
speak about the Fountain of the World. Sadly, most of his words have been
proven lies including his words on the Fountain and Charles Mansons ties
to it. The problem with his words is mostly due to the fact that he liked to
greatly exaggerate his stories.
While I was researching Krishna Venta, I ran into the blog, My Search for
Krishna Venta, and read a lot on Paul Watkins. The blogs author took great
objection to his testimony on many events that he reported happened. He
testified in court that Charles Manson would hang on the cross on the top
of Skull Rock above the Fountain of the World. He also testified that while
under Charles Mansons program that he ordered him to hang from the
cross. It was also written in the George Bishop book, Witness to Evil.
Watkins testified on direct examination that Charlie asked [Watkins] if he
would consent to be crucified on a cross at the Fountain of the World, a minor
religious sect with headquarters not far from the Spahn Ranch. Watkins allowed
as how he was quite willing to be crucified if Charlie wanted it that way. Fitz-
gerald asked him how he planned to go about being crucified. Well, Watkins
replied cheerfully, I didnt know how I was going to get up on that there cross. I
just figured Charlie would take care of it.
Do you want to know why he had no idea how he was going to do it? Its
because he made this up. Why do I think he made it up? Well, Shawn
Sutherlandthe go-to guy for Krishna Ventareplied to this fact on his
blog, My Search for Krishna Venta, and what he said was real fact. His exten-
sive research on Krishna Venta led him to the conclusion that Paul Watkins
Krishna Venta 289
was lying. He also made the case that I have stated in this book many times
he contended that Ed Sanders took what he wanted to hear, and he
printed it as absolute fact.
The only problem with this testimony is that, as is the case with Ed Sanders
The Family and Paul Watkins My Life with Charles Manson, not one single
remaining Fountain member recalls the cross to which Sanders or Watkins were
referring.
Again, there was the cross constructed as a publicity vehicle for Krishna Venta
in the 1950s, but no one from the Fountain can recall what had become of it by
the latter 1960s. On this note, some have suggested to this author that the cross
appearing in the book 5 to Die was actually erected after Mansons conviction
and not even on the Fountain property line.
Sadly, even I believed that the Family did re-enact crucifixions on the
Fountains cross. But the fact is that the cross only stood up until Ventas
assassination and was re-erected after Mansons conviction. This means
when Charles Manson was a part of the Fountain in 1968, there was no
cross on the top of Skull Rock.
In Ed Sanders book, The Family, he too mentioned the cross atop Skull
Rock. His version pretty much regurgitated other stories and added his per-
sonal summation something he seemed very good at doing.
There was a large rock at the Fountain of the World that looked remarkably
like a huge skull. At the top of the skull was a wooden upright cross. Fountain
members, so one is told, were wont to strap themselves up on the cross for peni-
tential mediation sessions.
Shawn Sutherland again shot back discounting Ed Sanders conjecture,
opinion and gossip written as fact; he is right. This has been done countless
times in both cases. It seems like people will only believe the more sensa-
tional story, rather than the truth.
Not a single Fountain member whom Ive interviewed can place any cross
matching this description. The Fountain did construct a cross in the 1950s to be
used in Passion Plays at Easter in order to generate publicity. However, no one
who lived at the Fountain in the latter 1960s can account for its whereabouts
during that period. As well, the bit about Fountain members strapping them-
selves up on the cross for penitential mediation sessions has been slammed by all
Fountain members. The terminology used to describe it is better left unpublished.
290 The Manson Myth
Sanders admission of so one is told says much about the research he con-
ducted in generating this portion of The Family, i.e., another example of a
writer incorporating gossip into his text and presenting it as fact.
So did Charles Manson crucify himself? If he did, where did he do this? It
is fact that the alleged cross that he tied himself to does not even exist. And
there is no evidence of any cross being erected at Spahn Ranch, Devils
Canyon, Barker Ranch, or in the Malibu areas that the Family frequented.
It is my opinion that it was Paul Watkins who was the culprit for all of
this misinformation regarding Krishna Venta and the Fountain of the
World. He has a lot to say about it in his book, My Life with Charles Manson,
again stating that there was indeed a cross at the Fountain. Of course, like
many infamous Family events, he put himself in the middle of it as the
focal point.
Charlie told me what he knew about it as we wound our way up Santa Sus-
anna Pass to Box Canyon and turned left. It might be a good place to hang
out you know, hide under the cross when the shit comes down at Spahns.
And the way Shortys been running at the mouth, it might be anytime.
We got there around ten a.m. and parked the truck on a hill, then trudged
down the path to the auditorium. The place was about half full, and one of the
brothers was already into his rap. He acknowledged us with a smile as we sat
down. After a long uninspired spiel proclaiming the virtues of moderation and
human compassion, the speakertall, stoop-shouldered, and clad in a full-
length robetold the history of the Fountain and Krishna Venta, its founder,
had undergone a rigorous purification process, part of which included hanging
on the cross for three days.
Charlie sat beside me fingering the beads around his neck, his hair long and
uncombed down his back. He sniggered to himself as the speaker raised his arms
to symbolize the crucifixion.
For three days the honorable Krishna Venta remained pinioned to the cross
you see there on the hillside. He gestured toward a window which fronted on the
ravine.
For three long days
Charlie couldnt contain himself. Hey, brother, that aint nothin, he blurted
out smiling.
Krishna Venta 291
Thats nothinthree days aint nothin. Paul here could hang on the cross
for a week. No problemright, Paul?
Sure, I grunted. Sure, I could do that.
Come on! Charlie urged, getting to his feet. Lets go on out there. Paul, so
you can hang. Come on.
Charles Manson has referenced a cross many times; coming down off a
cross, and a lot of other statements that made me believe Paul Watkins
stories of hanging on the cross. After reading various posts on the My
Search for Krishna Venta blog, my mind changed quickly.
It was literally impossible for anyone in the Family to have hung on the
cross at the Fountain. There was no cross, so this never happened. The
cross was long gone by 1968 1969. Someone isnt telling the truth. Lets
just conclude this by me reiterating a previous chapter by again pointing out
how unreliable of a source Paul Watkins really was.
After reading the majority of the Jon Fisher book, The Spiritual Teachings
& Biography of Master Krishna Venta, I noticed a lot of similarities between
Pul Watkins stories of Helter Skelter as preached by Charles Manson. It is
fact that he was the one who brought the Helter Skelter theory to prose-
cutor Vincent Bugliosi and was a star witness to the motive.
Was Paul Watkins too enamored by Krishna Venta that he took his
teachings and applied them to Charles Manson? Or was Charles Manson
the one who believes Krishna Ventas theories and believed them so much
that he applied them to his own visions?
While Charles Mansons history on Krishna Venta is at best incorrect, he
still looks up to him as a positive influence on his philosophies and outlook
on life. But thats not where it ends. In the Jon Fisher book, The Spiritual
Teachings & Biography of Master Krishna Venta, there are some very striking
similarities with Krishna Ventas teachings and what was later put
on Charles Manson. Charles Manson has always said that they put that cult
[The Fountain] on me.
Krishna Ventas teachings included that he believed that there was an
impending race war coming to America. In 1965, there will be a racial war
in America a racial war of Blacks against Whites. We do not like this, but
it is coming, he warned.
292 The Manson Myth
Obviously, in 1965 he was long gone and while there were some race
wars around that time like the Watts Riots, his prophecy was inaccurate. So,
did Charles Manson hear this and apply this theory with his fears of Black
Muslims attacking whites as told to him while at Terminal Island Peniten-
tiary?
Krishna Ventas teachings also included his followers of the chosen
would total 144,000 as laid out in Revelations. Sound familiar?
The true mission of Master Krishna Venta at this time is the gathering of
144,000, by the Elect of God, as recorded in Revelations. For a period of forty
years, while destructive and devastating forces of evil encircle the Earth.
Vincent Bugliosis theory of Helter Skelter included the Family
making their exodus to Death Valley to hide from this race war for forty
years. Oddly enough, but most likely not at all related, Krishna Ventas
teachings are that most of his people, from Planet Neoprates, landed in the
deserts of India when they came over on a rocket ship.
I can definitely understand how his story would capture the imaginations
of many including Charles Manson and Paul Watkins and even I at one
time believed all of the misinformation. Charles Mansons account of
Krishna Venta has been ever-changing over the years. Sometimes he says he
blew himself up and other times he says he was blown up during a sex
orgy.
In the 1996 CD, Charles Manson Speaks, he tells an incorrect story on the
demise, which to me sounds like he is trying to apply Krishna Ventas ideals
and teachings to coincide with his own.
Krishna Venta blew himself up in the Fountain of the World in Box Canyon,
California. Krishna had a cult and they were based on the water and there was
the Feather River project that just started. And Krishna seen it because he had a
big fountain in his cult area and when it dried up it stopped, and he said, well,
you cant buy and sell the water.
There is not a fountain that I know about at the Fountain of the World.
However, there is a close by Chatsworth Lake which is relatively close and
behind the Fountain area.
Even in the Nikolas Schreck 1989 documentary, Charles Manson Super-
star, which is generally regarded as a very factual documentarythis mis-
information is spewed as fact.
Krishna Venta 293
Krishna Venta built his Fountain of the World commune in the Santa Sus-
anna Mountains, not far from the Spahn Ranch where Manson and his Family
would settle over a decade later. Krishna Venta was killed in 1958 in a dynamite
blast ignited by a jealous husband who disapproved of the gurus sexual teach-
ings, but his legend lingered in the area to inspire Manson to attempt to take over
the cult years later. Atop this skull-like rock formation at Fountain of the World,
Manson held crucifixion rituals that culminated in Family orgies.
In 2010, in a recorded phone call by World Order Media, Charles
Manson again talks about Krishna Venta and his story was different than
Nikolas Schrecks. He went from one motive of an assassination to a suicide
in later years.
A long time ago, like in 1948, they had a guy called Krishna Venta who had
a cult called Fountain of the World over in a place called Box Canyon. And his
fountain turned off, and he got all his girls together and put dynamite under-
neath the house and he blew the whole thing up in protest about the water. We
stood around the site where he blew himself up.
During my conversations with him, I asked him about Krishna Venta and
explained to him that his history on him was incorrect. He admitted that he
really did not know much about Krishna Venta other than what I
heard about him, and what people told me he did. He concluded that,
Krishna Venta died like Christ and I always thought that was far out. He
did later admit that he believed that Box Canyon was a beautiful place and
that they (The Fountain of the World) werent using the land to its full
potential.
Oddly, in 1969, Charles Manson wrote a song called Going to the Church
House which has the lines where he references getting blown up, dying and
going to a church. A lot of people assumed that this song was inspired by his
days at the Fountain of the World. I asked him if the song was about their
experiences at the Fountain he simply replied, No, we did that song in the
desert in front of a fire. It should also be noted that the song is a re-working
of an old CCC song. I digress.
Paul Watkins stories of the Fountain of the World and Charles Manson
were even testified at the trial for the murder of Donald Shea. Paul Watkins
theory was that Donald Shea was murdered because he was keen to Charles
Mansons plot to take over the Fountain of the World. This motive was a
294 The Manson Myth
complete opposite to the theory the prosecution and Vincent Bugliosi sur-
mised which was Donald Shea was murdered because Charles Manson
thought he was behind the Spahn Ranch raid and that he disliked the fact
that Donald Shea was once married to a black woman.
Paul Watkins stated in the 1973 documentary, Manson, that Charles
Mansons intention was to overtake the Fountain of the World and use it as
a headquarters to bring children to program them to go to the desert.
Well, Charlie was trying to take over this religious organization called the
Fountain of the World. And Shorty had lived at the Fountain of the World. And,
so, he knew what Charlie was doing at the Fountain. Charlie wanted to use the
Fountain as a base of headquarters to go out and kidnap kids, bring them there,
tune them in or program them, or take them out to the desert.
In the end, its quite obvious that Krishna Venta was a huge influence on
Charles Manson and his Family, but how did it all get blown so far out
of proportion? Was it Paul Watkins who was starved for a father-like Christ
character that he was the one obsessed with Krishna Venta? Why did he
invent so many incorrect stories surrounding the Fountain of the World and
Krishna Venta?
Jon Fisher wrote in his book, The Spiritual Teachings & Biography of
Master Krishna Venta, that he believed that Charles Mansons experience
[a the Fountain of the World] had a traumatic effect on the entire Manson
family, and the rest is history.
Looking back at Krishna Ventas teachings, and mentioning 144,000 fol-
lowers hiding from an impending Black vs. White race war in an under-
ground cavern for forty years leads me to believe that it was he who
invented what Vincent Bugliosi later called Helter Skelter, not Charles
Manson.
Other than their philosophies and their beliefs on where their former
leader Krishna Venta came from, the Fountain of the World seemed like a
very humanitarian, peaceful, and loving group of people. At the time that
Charles Manson attached himself to the Fountain of the World, he was still
a peaceful man. This was before everything went to hell.
It is a fact that Charles Manson gave the Fountain a $2,000 donation
which was part of a gift from Juanita Wildbush. He also gave them an old
pickup truck as a payment to allow some of the girls stay there. However, it
Krishna Venta 295
was no secret that Charles Manson himself was not a hit at the Fountain of
the World and wore out his welcome quick.
In 1988, Charles Manson told Geraldo Rivera his take on how he
became known as Jesus Christ and he mentioned Krishna Venta.
I didnt evoke any name, they put that on me. The spirit laid that over on my
track. They said I was Krishna Venta. Krishna Venta died in Box Canyon in
1949. And they put that cult over on me. That was the cult that was in Box
Canyon in 1949 when I was in reform school. Twenty years before I even grew
up. They put that guy on me and said I called myself , and I stood up on the cross
and I did, I didnt do all that. That wasnt me.
Charles Manson has stated many times that Krishna Venta died in 1949
(and sometimes 1948), but he actually died in 1958. I am assuming that he
is probably mistaking the 1948 plane crash in the Simi Hills of a passenger
plane en route to the Burbank airport. This is a major event in in the Foun-
tain of the Worlds history, which they saved 15 people from certain death.
It is my opinion that Charles Manson took Krishna Ventas teachings
and prophecy of an impending race war, and applied it to what the Black
Muslims told him in prison about their plans on attacking whites and this
the so-called Helter Skelter theory was born.
Do I believe he preached Helter Skelter in the way Vincent Bugliosi
had suggested? Not at all, but I do believe Krishna Ventas theory was cer-
tainly discussed. My main reason for adding him to this essay was to prove
that this theory was not from the twisted mind of Charles Manson, as Vin-
cent Bugliosi has stated time and time again.
I know for a fact that Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel were both at
the Fountain of the World, as were many other members of Charles
Mansons group. It is also a fact that all of the members of the Fountain of
the World still saw Krishna Venta as a leader and a God. They were surely
still preaching and believing his words.
This does not put the blame on the Fountain of the World, but it does
shed some light on how this theory and motive may have been born. A great
deal of ex-members of the group remember Charles Manson and the group.
While they dont have many great things to say about him, they all admit
that they taught him a lot of things that he incorporated into his spirituality
and philosophies.
296 The Manson Myth
His time that he spent at the Fountain of the World is another event in
his life that is rarely talked about and never mentioned when the Helter
Skelter theory is discussed.
Charlie told me what he knew about it as we wound our way up
Santa Susanna Pass to Box Canyon and turned left. It might be a good
place to hang out, you know, hide under the cross when the shit comes
down at Spahns. - Paul Watkins
Fountain of the World in Box Canyon, California.
Krishna Venta 297
21
Pictures: Part IV
299
Death Valley prospector Emmet Harder (right) and his son displaying the Beach Boys gold record given to them by Charles
Manson.
300 The Manson Myth
Bernard Lotsapoppa Crowes mansion in the Hollywood Hills on Woodrow Wilson Drive.
Pictures: Part IV 301
The Yellow Submarine in Conoga Park, California. Charles Manson lived here for some time in 1969 when George Spahn
asked him to leave Spahn Ranch.
302 The Manson Myth
Charles Mansons mugshot for possession of marijuana in August of 1969. This was right before he left for Death Valley.
Pictures: Part IV 303
22
Final Thoughts
Throughout this entire essay
I have interjected my opin-
ions as explanations of cer-
tain events. These are obvi-
ously my takes on the situa-
tions from my vast research
on this case. I have read over
fifty pieces of literature on
this case and continue to do
so. What shocks me the most
is how some books com-
pletely contradict the last. Some books deviate from the truth so
much that it becomes a work of fiction. Some books are merely
recitals of the Vincent Bugliosi book Helter Skelter.
I came to this case believing everything I have heard and read from var-
ious news outlets and books. I was sure that even though the case against
Charles Manson wasnt 100% correct, that there was a lot of truth to it. I
then began to read more obscure books on the case, self-published litera-
Charles Manson during his pre-trial hearings in late 1969.
305
ture, parole hearings, interviews, psychiatric reports and trial transcripts and
my opinion started to slowly change.
A recurring element that I found in the case was that one persons
account of the crimes would completely contradict the next. Then they
would contradict their version of the events each time they were asked
about it. I also realized that the people who participated in the killings had a
very different explanation than the prosecution and the prosecutions wit-
nesses.
Over the years as new transcripts and interviews emerged, more contra-
dictions and more errors in the case came to light. This provoked me to
really start researching each person who was involved in the case. Most of
those peoples testimonies landed at dead-end streets, but the errors I found
came from the testimonies of key witnesses.
Another recurring element to the Family, and that is that they were a
peace-loving group whose purpose was to live communally and enjoy each
others love. This element remained until sometime in late 1968 when
Charles Manson returned to Spahn Ranch after a hiatus.
What was so different at the ranch? Apparently in his absence, outlaw
bikers have infiltrated and settled camp. One of the outlaw bikers was a man
named Danny DeCarlo.
Not long after, Charles Watson left the scene and moved to Hollywood
with his girlfriend Luella and started a drug-dealing scene, this lead to the
drug burn and the Bernard Crowe shooting. Within the guilt that Charles
Manson had for the shootingas he was preaching to his so-called fol-
lowers that they dont need guns came the fear that Bernard Crowe was a
Black Panther and the they were sure to retaliate for the shooting.
Upon Danny DeCarlos own admission, he armed the Family and
taught them to shoot including Charles Manson. After this, the Family
made lookout posts and Spahn Ranch became a fortress. Charles Watson
returned to all of this talk of a war, which was merely a response to the
Bernard Crowe shooting that Charles Watson caused, himself.
Charles Manson and the Family feverishly searched for ways to get
money to move to Death Valley; this included theft and robberies. My
opinion was that some of the Family did not want to go back to Death
Valley and Charles Manson may have used the war Charles Watson may
306 The Manson Myth
have created with the Black Panthers as leverage to scare them. I have never
denied that he spoke about a race war. My opinion is that the killings had
absolutely nothing to do with that theory.
Charles Manson may have also used the words he learned at the Foun-
tain of the World combined what he had heard from the Black Muslims in
prison and created fear not to incite a race war, but to scare them to
Death Valley with him.
Dennis Wilson refused to pay up for recording Charles Mansons
tune, Never Learn Not To Love, and Terry Melcher shunned him when he
heard about the shooting, and Charles Manson became desperate.
According to an article from December, 1969 about the Fountain of the
World, Terry Melcher was seen speaking to Charles Manson. This was after
he supposedly severed ties with Charles Manson. What were they talking
about?
Charles Manson did say in Ed Georges book, Taming the Beast, that the
door was never shut between he and Terry Melcher, but he feels the publi-
city simply scared him away.
This need for money may have led to the Gary Hinman murder, as well.
Bobby Beausoleil claimed that Gary Hinman supplied him with drugs, in
which he sold to those outlaw bikers and Danny DeCarlo. Was this sale an
attempt to put some money into the Death Valley Fund?
I do believe that Charles Manson went to the Gary Hinman residence
because he was in fear of another Bernard Crowe incident. In fact Bobby
Beausoleil claims that Charles Manson charged in the home and cut Gary
Hinman because he felt that Mary Brunner may have been in trouble. What-
ever the reason was, he has stated on many occasions that Charles Manson
never gave him the order to kill.
Charles Manson was obviously scared off after this and headed up north
to Big Sur. In the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette Alice
Fromme, it states that he even told his beloved Family that he was done
and may never come back. It states that Lynette Fromme then begged him
to stay, and that everything will work out.
While Charles Manson was away, Bobby Beausoleil was arrested and
charged with the Gary Hinman murder. Subsequently, when Charles
Manson was in Big Sur, he visited the Esalen Institute right around the time
Final Thoughts 307
that Sharon Tate may have been there. Theres been no true evidence to
this, but if it is true then what happened? Did they have a run-in that had a
negative turnout?
When he decided to return to Spahn Ranch after a brief stint in San
Diegowhere he met his then girlfriend Stephanie Schramand heard
about Bobby Beausoleils arrest. Virtually every account of this event has
Charles Manson freaking out. This bad news obviously upset him. From
this time on the stories become plentiful of what actually happened.
What is fact, is that Charles Manson sent Sandra Good and Mary
Brunner to Sears with some stolen credit cards to buy the Family some
things to boost their morale. During their shopping spree, the were also
arrested. I would also like to point out that Susan Atkins version includes
Charles Manson sending them to Sears to buy rope and things to break
Bobby out of jail. When the news of their arrest got back to the ranch, this
is when Vincent Bugliosi claims Charles Manson said, Now is the time for
Helter Skelter.
Did he actually say this? Some accounts say he did, while others never
mention it. According to the Jess Bravin book, The Life and Times of Lynette
Alice Fromme, it was written that Charles Manson was approached by the
girls with a plan to free Bobby Beausoleil, which was simply put, Lets do
copycat killings.
The Nuel Emmons book, Manson in His Own Words, stated that Charles
Manson was so upset over the three arrests and bitter towards how chaotic
the Family had become that he said, Okay. It also states that the girls
wanted him to do the killing, but he said, No way and appointed Charles
Watson because he owed him big; Charles Manson mentions this in the
1988 Geraldo Rivera interview.
I said, go pay the brother what you owe me.
Is this how it happened? Does this make him guilty? I personally think
that Charles Manson knew what was about to happen, but since it was not
his plan, he didnt care either way. I do not think that he brainwashed hos
so-called followers and ordered the killings in an attempt to spark a race
war.
308 The Manson Myth
Charles Manson does admit his influence and has never denied that.
Hes never once admitted that he ordered the murders. In his 1992 parole
hearing he states this.
I influenced a lot of people, unbeknown to my own understanding of it. I
didnt understand the fears of the people outside. I didnt understand the insecur-
ities of people outside. I didnt understand people outside. And a lot of things that
I said and did affected a lot of people in a lot of different directions. It wasnt
intentional and it definitely wasnt with malice or aforethought.
In my mind, I think the murders were indeed an attempt to free
Bobby Beausoleil, but the victims were chosen because of previous run-ins
with Charles Watson and perhaps Linda Kasabian. Both have admitted ties
with the home before the murders. I believe that partial reason was an
attempt to get money for Sandra Good and Mary Brunners bail, as well for
money to add to their Death Valley Fund. At the end of the day, the girls
have admitted that Charles Manson has never told them to kill, that it was
Charles Watson who laid the plans out.
I have never once believed any of the participants were under any sort of
mind control. This notion is laughable because it would exonerate the par-
ticipants from any culpability. If you are not in your right mind, you surely
did not commit crimes with malice and forethought.
Charles Manson has never ceased to shoot this theory down. An angry
Charles Manson lashed out at Hard Copy reporters in 1994, when they did
an episode dedicated to his so-called mind control ability.
You wanna blame me for what they did, for mind control? Its kinda stupid,
actually. They did what they did, its not my responsibility.
There certainly is a difference between influence and control, and even
then the person who commits the crimes is responsible. Theres no away
around this logic. The fact that the media has essentially brainwashed the
public into thinking he has this great power to control, is what drives this
theory of mind control.
Charles Manson also addresses this in the German documentary, Men-
schensohn, and hes rode this since day one. Anyone who doesnt agree with
it are probably disagreeing because they have this already-conceived
opinion on him.
Final Thoughts 309
Charles Manson: I wasnt in the job of influencing, I dont care if people are
influenced or not, you know. I ride a motorcycle, guy, you know, Im not in busi-
ness.
Interviewer: Maybe you didnt want to but they were still influenced.
Charles Manson: Alright, well thats not my fault, what do you want me to
do, Im spending the rest of my life in jail because people like me? You know, Im
trying my best not to be liked anymore so that maybe, you know, maybe they
wont punish me as much.
But all of this doesnt explain the LaBianca murders. Why did they
happen? Were they really randomly chosen as Vincent Bugliosis theory
suggests? All evidence points towards yet another house chosen due to a
prior conflict. Linda Kasabian lived next door with Harold True and
Charles Watson lived very close to Rosemary LaBiancas daughter like
within a stone throw. These are not coincidences.
So, why did Charles Manson go along? Was it really because he felt the
Tate murders were too messy? How would he know exactly how messy they
were? The prosecutions theory was that he tied up the LaBiancas, but we all
know Charles Watson did according his confession.
On many occasions Charles Manson has stated that he went there to get
a black book that controlled the music. What if this was tied into the fact
that Terry Melcher was meeting with Charles Manson after the murders at
the Fountain of the World? Maybe it was a favor for him? Charles Manson
has stated more than once, that the mob controlled the Beach Boys. Nikolas
Schrecks book, The Manson File, goes into great depth on the mob ties to
the victims, the music, and Charles Manson.
So, did he go to the LaBianca home, not to make sure things were done
right, but to make sure this black book was obtained? Susan Atkins did
forget her knife at the Cielo Drive home. Was this the reason she did not go
to the Waverly Drive home?
The generic theory of Helter Skelter leaves way too many holes open.
Its focus is to use fear to convict. This theory has way too many whys. Sad
thing is that so many people accept the Helter Skelter theory, even though
it was never proven, nor was it ever substantiated. Susan Atkins has always
maintained that the murders were not for Helter Skelter, and Patricia
310 The Manson Myth
Krenwinkel has said, I think and It seems an awful lot with no solid
confirmation: Yes, this is why it happened.
Vincent Bugliosi has been caught fabricating evidence and a lot of other
sketchy tactics to get his way in the courtroom. Theres no doubt in my
mind that he did this with the Charles Manson case as well. It would take a
blind man to not see it. In 1992, Charles Manson told a very understanding
Ronald Reagan Jr. about the things Vincent Bugliosi did to him.
Its all been covered up by a district attorney who wanted to make money
and make movies and write books. And everything that the public knows is basi-
cally a spin-off of the books and the lies that have been used to cover the reality of
what you call the Manson Family.
You get back what you put out, is that right or wrong? If you dont believe in
god, you believe in the balance of karma, the balance of your own will. The bal-
ance of what you know to be truth, you know. Whatever you do is on you. You
got to be judged by your god. Dont judge me, man, behind what Tex did.
I make no excuses for he and his so-called followers were convicted of
doing. I do think that Charles Manson was set up to be a media commodity.
He was on the front of LIFE Magazine, convicted by the media and public,
dubbed a Cult Leader and murderer, six months before his trial even
started. This was the same thing the media did to people like the West
Memphis Three and Edward Humphreys, the man who was being set up for
a frame-job before Danny Rolling confessed to the Gainesville slayings.
The only killing that I think Charles Manson should have been convicted
for was the one the media generally overlooks: the murder of Donald Shea.
I think Donald Shea was killed because his snitching lead to the loss of
dune buggies, money, guns, ammo, and the humiliation of Danny DeCarlo.
I personally feel that Danny DeCarlo wanted him dead, and Charles
Manson wanted Danny DeCarlo in his gang so badly that he made sure his
wishes were granted.
I also believe that the hatred for Donald Shea started with the scuffle
between Charles Manson, William Rex Cole and Donald Shea over the Lee
Saunooke incident. There was certainly a lot of bad blood after that hap-
pened.
The entire Donald Shea case was bungled and the trial was a farce.
People involved in the murder were overlooked, the incorrect motive was
Final Thoughts 311
proven at the trial, and the false story that he was beheaded became fact
due to a couple false witnesses (Barbara Hoyt and Paul Watkins). When
Charles Manson was included in the Donald Shea murder, there was no way
that he would not be convicted for it.
Charles Manson has never claimed to be a saint and sticks to the fact that
he lives by prison law. This law states dont snitch. He justifies the
murder, but has never admitted participating in it. According to the parole
hearings of Steve Grogan and Bruce Davis, they say Charles Manson was
there but they are not sure if he participated. People who were there say
they arent sure, but people who were not there said they were sure. Which
side do you think has more merit?
Charles Manson told his 1992 parole board that he is not a good person.
That he never pretended to be one, but he also doesnt lie. I am more
inclined to believe him than I am inclined to believe someone with ulterior
motives to get out of trouble with the law.
Im real with you. I dont pretend. Im not bringing you a bunch of phony
garbage. Im not trying to tell you that Im a good guy. Im just myself, whatever
that is.
When its all said and done, his story of the murders has never changed
while the other participants stories change with every parole hearing or
interview. What does this say? I was always told if someones lying that their
stories will change each time they are asked while someone who is honest
will have a similar story. Its easier to remember fact than to try and
remember what you said.
My reason for compiling this essay was to explain the real Charles
Manson by using the words of others. He is a very misunderstood man and
a lot of the negativity associated with his name is largely because of his inter-
view antics of the 80s and 90s. He has never shied away from the cameras
and shocking tabloid TV viewers with his actions on screen. But I will say,
most of these antics was nothing but acting as he admitted in the 1987 inter-
view with Penny Daniels.
This essay was also meant to show how unfair the trial was. The trial was
based on fear and trying to make the evidence and motive fit Charles
Manson. The trial was meant to make him seem so outrageous and evil,
that hed be considered Satan and the public would look at Vincent
312 The Manson Myth
Bugliosi as the Man who put this Satan character away. This would be
used as a tool to put Vincent Bugliosi in the Attorney General seat as
explained in the chapter: The Bug.
The trial was a media circus and would make it impossible for anyone
involved to get a fair trial. But that was ignored, and Charles Mansons
attempts to get a change of venue were denied by the judge. His face was
used by the media for profit and he had no say in it. The courts refused to
protect him from it. The prosecutorsVincent Bugliosi and Aaron Stovitz
both were caught funneling information to that same media, but why?
Was it to ensure the publics opinion on Charles Manson was so negative
that there would be no way he wouldnt be convicted?
I stand strong on the fact that Charles Manson deserves a retrial. It will
never happen because the public wouldnt stand for it. Hypothetically, if he
was ever released from prison; hed have to go into hiding. He is more rec-
ognized than our Vice President Biden. Even so, he has expressed that he
does want a retrial and even asked for the help of Attorney Giovanni Di Ste-
fano in asking for one.
It wasnt shocking when this attempt failed, but it shows that even after
43 years, Charles Manson just wants a new trial. He doesnt want out. He
doesnt want sympathy. He just wants to be heard, even if he remains in
prison as a result. In 1992, he told Michal ben Horin this same thing.
Michal ben Horin: Do you really think, Charlie, that if you had a retrial
you would have won?
Charles Manson: It didnt matter. It wouldnt matter if I win or lose; its
that I got my rights. I didnt break the law. I know that and god knows that. I
know what happened, nobody else knows what happened
In 1988, Charles Manson also told Geraldo Rivera that I dont care
about your society. The publics a bunch of assholes. When it comes down
to it, theyre for sale.
I will end this essay by referring back to a teenager named Edward Hum-
phreys who was not only wrongfully accused of the five Gainesville, Florida
slayings, but was in the middle of a frame-up by the district attorney.
Edward Humphreys not only made it to the cover of Newsweek with the
taglines Psychopath and Murderer, along with his photo, but the local
law enforcement gave the media his name and address to facilitate this. Why
Final Thoughts 313
would they do this? So the media would plaster his face and name every-
where, thus convicting him through public opinion. It worked.
When the papers ran a story that the hairs of Edward Humphreys was
found in at least two murder scenes, it basically made him the killer to about
99% of the people who read that story. I know, I lived in Gainesville at the
time of these murders and I too was sure he was behind it. The media sold
me.
People suspected Edward Humphreys of the murders, not because they
had real evidence, but because he was weird, and the law enforcement
forced the evidence to fit him. He wound up in jail and served 21 months in
solitary confinement before the real killer, Danny Rolling, was found and
eventually confessed to the murders.
Later evidence found at all of the scenes linked Danny Rolling without
any doubt. Edward Humphreys was released from jailafter serving nearly
two years in solitary confinementand blamed the media. His words were
very similar to what Charles Manson has been saying since 1969.
I feel 100 percent sure that the media is the main reason our country is the
way it is. I mean, people watch too much TV five, six hours a day. Well, theyre
influenced so much by what they watch and they think, Oh yeah, I saw they got
the suspect. Glad they caught him. They dont even think about what the word
suspect means. They just think, Well, he probably did it because there he is on
TV. And then, as far as newspapers go, half the things that [they] deal with are
just negative things about people. When I got out of jail and got a job, when I got
good grades in school, they werent calling me. What are they going to say when I
get off probation?
So why did I bring up Edward Humphreys? Well, just as a little side note
to prove that if the prosecution wants you in prison, they can easily manipu-
late the system to make sure you are convicted. Look at what happened with
the West Memphis Three.
We didnt get a trial; we didnt get our rights. We didnt get anything. We
were tried by the news media, we werent tried by the court room. The news
media was selling it. It was making money, they was buying and selling it. And
when its making money, theyre gonna sell it. They dont care whos got to pay
the price for it, but we had to pay the price for it.
314 The Manson Myth
I would like to end this chapter with an excerpt from the Michael White
book, Crucified: The Railroading of Charles Manson:
Charles Manson did not kill anyone. Charles Manson did not and does not
possess any supernatural powers. Charles Manson was guilty of being the elder
statesman of a group [of] societys misfits. His so-called power was merely the
wisdom that accompanies life experiences. He had answers to youthful questions.
He offered self-worth to rejected, insecure kids. Their weaknesses suggested his
strength. The common denominator of this group, or alleged family, was not
Charles Manson. Hedonism was the fiber that held this group together. The
hippie lifestyle of the sixties. Drugs, sex, rock n roll and no job nor authority
impositions were the overwhelming attraction.



A map of Spahns Ranch drawn by Charles Tex Watson showing its close proximity to Los Angeles freeways.
Final Thoughts 315
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318 The Manson Myth
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SqueakyFromme.org
ExclusiveFilms.com
SusanAtkins.org
AboundingLove.org
MansonFamilyMurders.com
MansonFamilyToday.info
ZodiacMansonConnection.com
CharlieManson.com
LosAngelesFreePress.com
CrimeMagazine.com
ATWA.be
ICSAHome.com
CounterPunch.org
ATWAATWAR.com
Tate LaBianca Radio on StarRadio.com
Conversations with Charles Manson 2010-2013
Conversations with Bruce Davis 2009-2011
Correspondence with Charles Watson 2008-2012
Michael Channels
DiRT
The Colonel
Evil Liz
Greywolf
John from Tecopa
Ed Sanders
The Walksontop kids
Doc from Death Valley Junction
Star
Scabboy
320 The Manson Myth
McKloskey
A.C. Fisher Aldag
George W.
Cabocki
Laurel Canyon Rider

The residents of Topanga Canyon, Chatsworth, Ballarat, Olancha,
Bishop, Shoshone, Tecopa, Box Canyon, Sespe Hot Springs, and Death
Valley for allowing me into their towns to take photographs.
Sources 321