![“The ‘Helter Skelter’ that the D.A. put on me was not the ‘Helter Skelter’ I was— it’s not the same. In other words, the D.A. took words from anyone who would tell and pieced them together with his own imagination. […]
They try and put me at the top and I wasn’t at the top. Them kids were the ones I followed. But I knew everything. I always knew everything. I knew what the kids were doing but listen to me: it is not my profession to tell people what to do and to tell the law what they have done. […]
Tex owed me. Watson would come for a week then leave for a month and come back with all these people after him and wants me to hide him. I’d have to go through his changes and fight his problems. In other words, Tex needed money and he did what he did [to Lotsapoppa] and I got a call so I was involved. I told him that the money he took was mine because I had to fight his problem. […]
All of them kids did what they did for their own problems. If Tex went to the top of the hill to get money that’s not my affair.
Susie did just like Tex. She’d always leave and come back with some asshole on her ass that I’d have to cut off of her.”
— Charles Manson, 2010
(Source: 2010 conversation)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/d48dae9d0813b02d2903f4d3f923a10d/tumblr_mmz7fqUPxh1qfqe2oo1_1280.jpg)
“The ‘Helter Skelter’ that the D.A. put on me was not the ‘Helter Skelter’ I was— it’s not the same. In other words, the D.A. took words from anyone who would tell and pieced them together with his own imagination. […]
They try and put me at the top and I wasn’t at the top. Them kids were the ones I followed. But I knew everything. I always knew everything. I knew what the kids were doing but listen to me: it is not my profession to tell people what to do and to tell the law what they have done. […]
Tex owed me. Watson would come for a week then leave for a month and come back with all these people after him and wants me to hide him. I’d have to go through his changes and fight his problems. In other words, Tex needed money and he did what he did [to Lotsapoppa] and I got a call so I was involved. I told him that the money he took was mine because I had to fight his problem. […]
All of them kids did what they did for their own problems. If Tex went to the top of the hill to get money that’s not my affair.
Susie did just like Tex. She’d always leave and come back with some asshole on her ass that I’d have to cut off of her.”
— Charles Manson, 2010
- (Source: 2010 conversation)
Here are some chosen excerpts from Susan Atkins’ final book The Myth of Helter Skelter. In these excerpts she explains why the real killings came down and had nothing to do with ‘Helter Skelter’ as prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi used as the motive.
This began what might be called the hunt for the Magic Motive. That is to say ‘the hunt for anything that would convince a jury that Charles Manson, and Charles Manson alone, was the beneficiary of these murders.’
But he didn’t find out that the murder of Gary Hinman was connected to Bernard Crowe until well after the Grand Jury. How could he possibly uncover the real motive for the murders of those at the Cielo and LaBianca homes without understanding the real reason for Gary Hinman’s death?
He couldn’t.
It wasn’t until the trial started that Vincent Bugliosi finally found out about the suspected murder of Bernard Crowe. This suspected murder would have an incredible effect on the actions of Charles Manson, but by the time Vincent Bugliosi discovered it he was already selling Helter Skelter to a jury. To have tried to change the purported motive at that point would have cost him his credibility in a case in which he was already stretching his credibility to the limit.
Bernard Crowe was a black drug dealer in the San Fernando Valley. What apparently happened, though none of us were privy to this at the time, was that in response to Manson’s pressure Charles Watson had orchestrated a drug deal with Bernard Crowe. Apparently Watson convinced Crowe to give him the drugs, leaving his fiancé behind as security. Watson apparently told Crowe he would sell the drugs to a waiting buyer and then return immediately with the money.
But this isn’t what happened.
Another thing worth noting is that the girl wasn’t really his fiancé. He’d only just met her and apparently he decided to abandon her and run off with the drugs. Unfortunately the girl had heard Watson call some people earlier and she remembered the phone number. When Watson didn’t come back and Bernard Crowe began pressuring the girl, she called the number she’d seen Watson call and she asked for “Charles.” But Charles Watson was known as “Tex” at Spahn’s Ranch. There was only one “Charles,” and that was Charles Manson. When Manson answered the phone Crowe told him he was a Black Panther and he knew where Manson was and if Manson didn’t come down and give him his money, he and all his Black Panther buddies were going to make a raid at Spahn’s Ranch and kill everyone there.
To Charles Manson this was no small problem. There was no way he could run from the police, the bikers, and the Panthers… he was broke. So he had to deal with Bernard Crowe one way or another. If he couldn’t con Bernard Crowe, Charles Manson believed the only way to prevent the Panthers from getting his name and where-abouts was to eliminate the source – Bernard Crowe. If something happened to Crowe no one would be around to tell the Panthers anything. But either way, it had to be done quick.
when Manson got to Bernard Crowe’s apartment there were several of his friends there. Manson tried to smooth-talk him, but when that didn’t work and an altercation became inevitable Manson signaled T.J. to pull the gun. But T.J.’s better sense prevailed and he refused to pull the gun out of the back of Manson’s pants. This left Manson standing all alone in the middle of Bernard Crowe’s living room, in a predominantly black neighborhood, facing several Black Panthers and one angry dope-dealer who’d just been ripped off.
Manson was forced to pull the gun himself. He shot Bernard Crowe right in the chest. Crowe fell to the ground and lay still. Manson and T. J. ran.
Believing he had murdered Bernard Crowe, Charles Manson became frantic. He had, through his undying self-centeredness and an incredible underestimation of T.J.’s integrity, put himself in a position where he had dirtied his own hands. Immediately he had two huge additional problems. The first was that many of the people in and around Spahn’s Ranch knew he had gone to see Crowe. That meant there were possibly a dozen people who could corroborate any accusation against him. It was an incredible blunder for a boastful career criminal. Even among his loyal Family he must have felt as though a rope was coiling around his neck. And so he came up with a plan to protect himself from the very people he claimed he was willing to give his life for.
The true irony of this moment can only be appreciated if one understands the real reason all the killings began – to get money so that Manson could run away from the police and the Black Panthers, who he was sure were coming after him for killing Bernard Crowe.
At this one moment it must have all became obvious to Charles Manson. Bernard Crowe wasn’t dead. Manson hadn’t killed anyone that day. What’s worse was that it was also obvious that Bernard Crowe must have never mentioned the shooting to the police. And none of Crowe’s friends had either. And no Panthers had ever come up to wipe out Spahn Ranch.
That was the moment when the true horror and tragedy of all those murders should have come to Manson. That was the moment when it was obvious that when Charles Manson had ordered the murder of Gary Hinman, no one, not the police or the Panthers, was pursuing him. There had been no need for desperation. There had been no need for money to flee. And there had been no need for Gary Hinman to die.
So, Charles Manson’s fears about Crowe led to the completely unnecessary murder of Gary Hinman. Bobby Beausoliel’s arrest for the murder of Gary led to the horrific murders at the Cielo residence and the LaBianca residence. The murders at the Cielo and LaBianca residences led, ultimately, to the murder of Shorty Shea. And all of it was for nothing!
Seeing Bernard Crowe alive and in police custody should have sent a sickening chill through Charles Manson. The horror of nine innocent people dead should have filled him.
But I don’t know if it did. What I really think troubled him was the thought that Crowe might press charges or put a hit out on him.
On a personal note, I have often wished that I could have been there when this exchange took place. To see the look on Charles Manson’s face at the moment when he realized nine people had died and eight more were on their way to death row for nothing. All for nothing.
I would have liked to have seen if even a flicker of recognition of that horror showed on his face for even a second - some sign that for one moment in his life he actually cared about those people, both for those victims he hadn’t even known and for those young people who had trusted him.
And the heavens must have cried.
- (Excerpts from: The Helter Skelter Myth)
How it came down.
- April 23, 1969: Charles ”Tex” Watson arrested for drugs
- May 1, 1969: Bruce Davis arrives at Spahn Ranch
- May 20, 1969: Steve “Clem” Grogan arrested
- May 27, 1969: Darwin Scott, Manson’s uncle, murdered
- June 3, 1969: Record producers Terry Melcher and Gregg Jakobson visit Manson at Spahn ranch with a “starlet” named Sharon, or “Shara”
- June 4, 1969: Manson arrested for statutory rape
- June 11, 1969: Steve “Clem” Grogan arrested for molestation
- June, 25-ish, 1969: Tate guest house resident William Garretson kicks “Patty Montgomery” (Patricia Krenwinkel) out of his house
- July 1, 1969: Charles Manson shoots Black Panther Bernard “Lotsapoppa” Crowe over Watson’s burned drug deal
- July 4, 1969: Linda Kasabian introduced to Charles ”Tex” Watson, and tells Watson about her boyfriend’s inheritance, Watson suggests they steal it
- July 5, 1969: Linda Kasabian introduced to Charles Manson, steals her boyfriend’s money and gives it to Watson
- July 18, 1969: Spahn Ranch “friend” Mark Walts found murdered
- July 19, 1969: Steve “Clem” Grogan escapes from mental home
- July 21, 1969: Police question Manson and Spahn Ranch residents about the murder of Mark Walts
- July 27, 1969: Bobby BeauSoleil murders Gary Hinman over bad mescaline
- July 28, 1969: Gary Hinman’s Fiat found at Spahn Ranch
- July 30, 1969: Sharon Tate places call to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur
- July 31, 1969: Gary Hinman’s body discovered
- August 1, 1969: Police helicopters flew over Spahn Ranch
- August 1-2, 1969: Sharon Tate and Abigail Folger visit the Esalen Institute, Manson tells family he is going away to Big Sur
- August 5, 1969: Manson arrives at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur
- August 6, 1969: Bobby BeauSoleil arrested for the Hinman murder
- August 7 or 8, 1969: Joel Rostau delivers drugs to the Tate residence for Frykowski and Sebring, shorts them on $2,000 of cocaine
- August 8, 1969: Manson returns to Spahn Ranch when he hears of BeauSoleil’s arrest
- August 9, 1969: Tate murders
- August 10, 1969: LaBianca murders
- August 15, 1969: The Straight Satans visit Spahn Ranch to retrieve their weapon that had been used in the Hinman murder
- August 16, 1969: Spahn Ranch raid
- August 26, 1969: Grogan, Davis, Watson, Vance, and Bailey murder Donald “Shorty” Shea
- September 1, 1969: Manson relocates to Death Valley
“Today, Manson is believed by many to be a white supremacist. To the contrary, 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.
Supposedly, Manson studied Nietzsche, and like Hitler, he believed in a master white race. Maybe he thought the family would become the master race after coming up from the bottomless pit. Others have said Manson felt Hitler was a tuned-in guy who had leveled the karma of the Jews. I don’t know. I never heard him say that.
I do remember in the book, Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi had a shocking parallel between Hitler and Manson. He wrote that both men were influenced by Nietsche, had similar statures and wounded pasts, and were illegitimate children. Also, he stated that they were racist, both having a hatred for society, using slaves to commit their murders for them. They used repetitive programming and fear to their full advantage. 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. If he was, I was just blind to it.
Manson’s deceptive “Helter Skelter” philosophy depicted his true motive for the crime, not his anger towards Terry Melcher, Doris Day’s son, who would not give Charlie a recording contract. In the “Helter Skelter ” 1 chapter of my book, Will You Die For Me?, I share other motives, those being: a copycat murder to free Bobby Beausoleil from jail, a connection the prosecution failed to acknowledge at first; and to obtain money to finance “Helter Skelter” and to pay Mary Brunner’s bail. These were the motives.”
— Charles ”Tex’ Watson on Charles Manson
- (Source: AboundingLove.org)
![“When I got out of prison, I went up in the mountains and I looked around and I sat down and I seen the water all polluted. I seen the trees being cut down. I seen this concrete maze that man has made and it’s like I had come from another place that’s not the same place that you guys— that that world lives in. And I thought, ‘Whose responsible for this? Whose job is this to make sure that we got air here to breathe? Because we’re gonna run out of air here. This whole planet’s gonna run out of air. And I look at the water and I look at the way they’re misusing the resources and the water and how they use tons and tons and tons and tons of paper. You got 200 million people shoveling paper all day long. You think, something has to be done here, you know, to reach a balance to where we can have life on this planet. […]
Then I say the life they are killing is mine. And then I go out, and they’re cutting down a great big old tree down. And I say, ‘Oh, I feel that! I feel— what are you doing You are cutting me down here!’ And I say, ‘Stop cutting me down or I will shoot you.’ You know, if you keep cutting the trees down, I’m gonna cut you down. He says, ‘Well look, I got a wife and kids and I need the money. I have a job and I don’t know anything else.’ And I say, ‘Well, I can’t blame you. Who’s your boss?’ So, I go to the boss and the boss says, ‘I worked 20 years to be foreman here.’ And he says, ‘This is my way of life and my kids are going to college and I need the money.’ And I say, ‘Well, it ain’t your fault.’ And then I say, ‘Who’s your boss?’ And he says, ‘Ace and Ace Lumber company.’ So, I go to the Ace Lumber company and they are a subsidiary to a Rabiscapp company and 40% of that stock is owned by Reverend Sun Myung Moon; let me say Korea. Then another 20% is owned by Bolivia. And somebody else owns 10%. Then Margaret of Malibu own 10%. And I go check Margaret out and she died 5 years ago and she willed all of her assets to the cats. So, she’s got 300 cats living at a 10 bedroom mansion with a butler and a chauffeur and everybody’s provided for life as long as they take care of the cats. And the cats are reproducing themselves, so we got a legal lock on the trees. And so the cats are walking around cutting all the trees down.”
— Charles Manson, KALX 1985](http://24.media.tumblr.com/8ed2f47f56ec8dc3492219a0c52f2125/tumblr_mmcr7wVS5A1qfqe2oo1_1280.jpg)
“When I got out of prison, I went up in the mountains and I looked around and I sat down and I seen the water all polluted. I seen the trees being cut down. I seen this concrete maze that man has made and it’s like I had come from another place that’s not the same place that you guys— that that world lives in. And I thought, ‘Whose responsible for this? Whose job is this to make sure that we got air here to breathe? Because we’re gonna run out of air here. This whole planet’s gonna run out of air. And I look at the water and I look at the way they’re misusing the resources and the water and how they use tons and tons and tons and tons of paper. You got 200 million people shoveling paper all day long. You think, something has to be done here, you know, to reach a balance to where we can have life on this planet. […]
Then I say the life they are killing is mine. And then I go out, and they’re cutting down a great big old tree down. And I say, ‘Oh, I feel that! I feel— what are you doing You are cutting me down here!’ And I say, ‘Stop cutting me down or I will shoot you.’ You know, if you keep cutting the trees down, I’m gonna cut you down. He says, ‘Well look, I got a wife and kids and I need the money. I have a job and I don’t know anything else.’ And I say, ‘Well, I can’t blame you. Who’s your boss?’ So, I go to the boss and the boss says, ‘I worked 20 years to be foreman here.’ And he says, ‘This is my way of life and my kids are going to college and I need the money.’ And I say, ‘Well, it ain’t your fault.’ And then I say, ‘Who’s your boss?’ And he says, ‘Ace and Ace Lumber company.’ So, I go to the Ace Lumber company and they are a subsidiary to a Rabiscapp company and 40% of that stock is owned by Reverend Sun Myung Moon; let me say Korea. Then another 20% is owned by Bolivia. And somebody else owns 10%. Then Margaret of Malibu own 10%. And I go check Margaret out and she died 5 years ago and she willed all of her assets to the cats. So, she’s got 300 cats living at a 10 bedroom mansion with a butler and a chauffeur and everybody’s provided for life as long as they take care of the cats. And the cats are reproducing themselves, so we got a legal lock on the trees. And so the cats are walking around cutting all the trees down.”
— Charles Manson, KALX 1985
Dr. Michal ben Horin: What actions did you take to stop the world from destroying itself?
Manson: Change is the mind when the mind comes into change, it comes in through you. It comes in through you, it creates you. Creation makes news things happen.
When you get on your motorcycle and you ride your motorcycle and you go and smack somebody in the head and say, “Hey how you doing” They don’t realize that you took their mind and you put it in your hand. And tell them, “Look, I’m gonna let you live.” And the dude says, “You gonna let me live” I says, “I’m gonna let you live, but you gonna help me quit cutting those trees down now, right?” He says, “Yeah!” I says, “Yeah, let me buy you some ice cream!”
And I buy him some ice cream. And I let him go on down the road. And he don’t know that I let him live. He thinks I was joking. Because he don’t think I would kill him. Just like you don’t think I would kill you.
Dr. Michal ben Horin: Well, I don’t think you can.
Manson: Okay.
Dr. Michal ben Horin: What?
Manson: I tell you what. Just ask any one of them girls that I got arrested with, if I’m not up in there. They got Xs on their foreheads.
Dr. Michal ben Horin: I know.
Manson: Yeah. I went all the way through it. All the way through it. All the way to the other side. I yell up and say, “Anybody there?” They say, “No, only you lord.” Only me? Nobody can get over there? They say, “No.”
Dr Michal ben Horin: What do the Xs mean?
Manson: Assalamu Alaikum. It means we’re under the lizard. We’re under the lizard, man. We’re in the desert and under the lizard. We’re putting; we got hoes. We’re planting things. We’re planting things. We got little seedlings and sunflower trees and we’re bringing the water up.
Dr. Michal ben Horin: When you put that X on you, you didn’t associate it with Hitler or anything like that?
Manson: Let me tell you this: You make Hitler into a big person, because he was your fear and you were afraid of him. Your mother was afraid of him. Wait a minute; I’m not afraid of Hitler. Hitler was a little teardrop that fell from the prison’s eye. Hitler was only one little person.
Dr. Michal ben Horin: What does the X mean?
Manson: You know what it is— it is an Alcatraz Indian; its an Indian called “Walksontop.”
An amazing documentary. If any Family of Love followers are in LA, highly recommend you check out this rare screening.
Manson (trailer) (by Cinefamily)
Thanks for the headsup. I have the DVD set but would love to see this on the big screen.
![“I smoke grass and I’ve lived around drugs all my life. I lived around booze all my life. I’m not against anything. I’m against the misuse. You can misuse anything. […] Why are we fighting drugs? Why are we spending millions and millions of dollars fighting drugs when you can sell it in a drug store and it wouldn’t be a problem? It don’t make any sense. The whole thing is silly. It’s not the drugs that are bad, and it’s not the people that are bad. It’s all the mess that you got created around the misunderstanding of the drugs. There’s nothing wrong with drugs. If you’re sick in the hospital, and they come and give you a shot to take away the pain, you appreciate the drugs. I think God put everything there for us to use. if we misuse it, that’s our fault. One way we’re misusing it is we’re fighting against a power we’re not going to overcome. We got to flow with the flow of those drugs.”
— Charles Manson, 1985
(Source: KALX)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/47259d3a0eb4534639118ad6fda1c35b/tumblr_mm9axwshEt1qfqe2oo1_1280.jpg)
“I smoke grass and I’ve lived around drugs all my life. I lived around booze all my life. I’m not against anything. I’m against the misuse. You can misuse anything. […] Why are we fighting drugs? Why are we spending millions and millions of dollars fighting drugs when you can sell it in a drug store and it wouldn’t be a problem? It don’t make any sense. The whole thing is silly. It’s not the drugs that are bad, and it’s not the people that are bad. It’s all the mess that you got created around the misunderstanding of the drugs. There’s nothing wrong with drugs. If you’re sick in the hospital, and they come and give you a shot to take away the pain, you appreciate the drugs. I think God put everything there for us to use. if we misuse it, that’s our fault. One way we’re misusing it is we’re fighting against a power we’re not going to overcome. We got to flow with the flow of those drugs.”
— Charles Manson, 1985
- (Source: KALX)
October 30, 1970: Defense attorney Inrving Kanarek questions Manson Family member Juan Flynn about his supposed wisdom of harles Manson confessing to the murders. Flynn pretends to act confused when asked specific questions and then irate when Kanarek asks again. Kanarek said he felt like Flynn and other witnesses were told what to say by Prosecutor Bugliosi and that Flynn was not telling the truth.
September 1, 1970: Kanarek continues to question Flynn with the same results. He asks Flynn if it is true that he only pretends to be confused when the Defense asks him any questions that may throw some doubt on Charles Manson’s guilt and proceeds to argue with Flynn.
Prosecutor Bugliosi shouts, “Stop arguing, Flynn, keep quiet!”
There had been a similar outburst a few weeks prior when Kanarek was questioning Linda Kasabian and she started to act confused when questioned. This time the judge says, “I’ve had it to here, I am not taking this anymore.”
Bugliosi was held in contempt of court.
![By Michael Hannon; January 30, 1970
Getting in to see Charles Manson is a little less difficult than getting in to see the Pope, but not much. In response to a request relayed through friends that Manson wanted to talk to a lawyer about things raised in last week’s article in the L.A. Free Press, I went to jail to visit him.
At the attorney window I filled out all of the usual forms and then had to give a lot of additional identification. After giving my driver’s license, recording my home address, my business address, my signature and business card in a special file, a sheriff’s sergeant came out and took my photograph with a Polaroid and put that in the file also.
They then went through a cautionary instruction. I was not to touch him, shake is hands, or give him anything to look at without first showing it to the deputy. They told me that although attorneys can give up to one dollar for cigarette money, no such was to be given to Manson.
After these preliminaries I was let into the attorney-interview room where I saw for the first time a rather slight man with shoulder-length hair standing against the back wall. After all of the newspaper photographs I had seen of a glowering, wild-eyed scowler, I didn’t even recognize this man at first. The eyes then, and throughout the interview, had a gentle cast. Even when he became quite emphatic as he did later on. His facial expressions varied from a kind of set attitude of resigned endurance to a very pleasant and gentle smile. I kept coming back to the word “gentle” because it is the major impression the man left on me.
After preliminary instructions, I got down to business by telling him I had been informed that he wanted to talk about some legal questions raised in the Free Press article. I told him that I was willing to answer his questions but that in return I wanted his permission to write a story about the interview for the Free Press, excluding of course anything about the conduct of his defense which we might talk about.
Manson smiled his rather wry smile and, after observing that at least I was honest about it, began to talk.
“I want to retain my own voice that is why I am defending myself. The stories that have been appearing in the newspapers are a lot of bunk. They keep quoting me as saying things that I never said at all.”
I had to stop him to remind him that I did not take shorthand and to ask him to slow down. The talk then shifted to the book I had brought to give him, a copy of Charles Garry’s Minimizing Racism in Jury Trials, a National Lawyer’s Guild publication devoted mainly to uncovering hidden prejudice in prospective jurors. All I could do was show him the book because they refused to let me give him anything without a court order. I wrote the title down and gave that to the deputy to give to Manson. I hope he got it.
For a while we discussed juries and the problems of appearing without a lawyer. I told Manson that Garry’s book related to the voir dire questions used to pick jurors in the Huey Newton trial. Manson asked who Huey was. [Huey Newton is the head of the Black Panthers.]
I observed that for a person without legal training to defend himself was rather like getting into the ring with Joe Lewis. “Worse,” Manson replied and started to tell me why he doesn’t trust lawyers.
“You wouldn’t believe the things that go down behind this case,” Manson said. “The first lawyer that came in here offered me $130,000 to write my ‘story.’ We talked a little and he went away and wrote a story where he put all kind of words in my mouth I never said.”
“The second lawyer came in here and wanted to incorporate me. I haven’t got a nickel to buy a pack of cigarettes, and he wants to incorporate me. “
“Then the third lawyer comes in and wants handle my defense fund. That is all they ever talk about—money. They all think there is money here and they all want to get their fingers into it.”
“What about the music?” I asked him. “Isn’t there money coming from that? I thought there was some Sammy Glick character putting out an album.”
“Who is Sammy Glick,” Manson wanted to know, so I explained he was a character out of a Budd Shulberg novel and restated the question without the distraction.
“Let me tell you about the music.” Manson suddenly seemed to grow more intense. “The people involved with the music are trying to keep it from coming out. They are afraid of it because it tells the truth.”
“People keep coming in here with briefcases and want to do things about money. I just smile and say ‘yes’ and ‘okay’ and they go out again, and different ones come in with briefcases, and I say ‘yes’ and ‘okay’ to them too.
Manson smiled that wry smile at me again and said, “The attorneys too. Most of the attorneys just want the publicity of the trial. They don’t care about the man at all. If there was some kind of writ that could get me out of here tomorrow, they wouldn’t bring it, because they all want to go through the whole trial and wring every last drop of publicity out of the whole thing.”
“You are going to write about this for the Free Press?” he asked again, looking at me quizzically. “Okay, I’ll test you. I’ll give you a story and if you tell it straight, I’ll give you more.
Then we talked for a while about the advisability of my quoting him directly about the case and the danger that through my paraphrasing and the District Attorney’s malice his words may get twisted out of context and so misinterpreted, be used against him.
Because of that problem I have omitted that I believe might relate to his defense. With that additional warning that this is merely my memory of what Charley Manson told me at the central jail two hours ago, this is what he said:
“Ever since a week after the Tate murders they have been looking desperately for someone to pin it on. Two hundred deputies and three helicopters descended on the ranch where we were staying in Malibu and arrested us. Two uniformed deputy sheriffs, one six-three and the other six-six worked me over. One kneed me in the chest breaking three ribs. If they would let an independent civilian doctor look at me they could tell by the condition of my ribs that it is true. They kept me three days and released me. They re-arrested me again the next day and released me after three days. That time I decided to go to the mountains to get away from the harassment.”
At this point it is interesting to remember that former Deputy Sherriff Preston Gillory was hounded off the Sherriff’s Department because of his refusal to keep silent about the events of that raid on the Manson Family at Malibu by deputies of that substation. Gillory worked at Malibu before his termination.
“I decided to go to the mountains to talk to God, to apologize for 1900 years of this mess. That’s when they got me and brought me here. “
“You want to know about my philosophy? You want to know where my philosophy comes from, I will tell you. I’m not from your society. I have spent most of my life in a world of bars and solitary confinement. My philosophy comes from underneath the boots and sticks and clubs they beat people with who come from the wrong side of the tracks. People like me are society’s scapegoats. They keep getting away with is because no one will say anything.
I have been in jail twenty-two years,” Manson continued. “My body has been locked up but my mind is free. When I get outside on the street I see all kinds of people whose bodies are free, but their minds are all locked up.”
During this speech Manson begins to grow more intense again, and I could see how an unfriendly camera man could catch him at an angle where his features might have that wild cast they get in the newspaper photos. Face to face, however, they never lost the almost pleading look of someone straining to be understood, to communicate the feelings inside of him.
About then we were interrupted by the sheriff’s deputy who wanted more information about my background. I felt like telling him to get it out of the LAPD’s dossier, but I didn’t. I must have answered him a little testy because Manson said, “I don’t hate them. I really don’t. I pity them. I really don’t hate anybody.”
“You’re a more charitable man than I, Mr. Manson,” I told him and we parted.
I drove home thinking about two things.
First, I thought about what a mockery the so-called ‘presumption of innocence’ really is. Here is a man on trial for his life, and they are holding him in jail without bail and making all kinds of rules and restrictions that interfere with his access to people and materials that could possibly help in his defense.
No court yet has found this man guilty of the crime in which he is charged, so the only constitutionally permissible reason for keeping him in this jail at this time at all is to ensure his presence at the trial. Thus bail is not unreasonably denied on the theory that, guilty or innocent, a man facing so drastic a penalty might run away.
But by what right do they do more than merely keep him available for trial? By what twisted conception of justice do they arrogate to themselves the right to place restrictions the number and kind of visitors he can see or the telephone calls he can make or whether he can receive a law book to help preparation of his defense?
Despite the fact that Charles Manson has been tried and found guilty by the mass media based on police publicity handouts designed to make the Sheriff, the District Attorney, and the Police chief look good—despite that no court has yet convicted Charles Manson of this crime, and the possibility certainly remains that he may be in fact wrongfully accused.
Yes, it was a horrible murder, but no court has yet found that this man has anything to do with it. So why does the Sheriff have the right to surround him with rules and restrictions? Why is it that an attorney cannot even make him a present of a book on jury trial technique without a fantastic lot of red tape?
Secondly, I mused over the unfairness of the court system that makes a man choose between either representing himself entirely alone, pitting his inexperience against trained trial lawyers from the District Attorney’s office, or placing himself entirely in the hands of an attorney, a man whom he does not and cannot entirely know, and thereafter remain silent, deprived of the right to speak and act on his own behalf and forced to allow his life to hang entirely on the thread of another man’s skill and good faith.
That is a terrible choice and an unnecessary one. Sure, it is more convenient for the courts that way. But remember that anyone could become a defendant in the court—even you or I— and ask yourself whether courts exist for the benefit of people or whether people exist for the convenience of the courts.
I fear these are only a few of the really knotty problems raised by the Charles Manson case. When we were talking about difficulties of a propria persona defense, Manson finally observed, “You know they can’t do anything to me.”
“They can kill you,” I retorted. “That’s what they are trying to do.”
What can you say to a man who believes in God?
(Source: LA Free Press)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/36cd4c4910eafa362bf4038bf38dab50/tumblr_mljblkFavG1qfqe2oo1_1280.jpg)
By Michael Hannon; January 30, 1970
Getting in to see Charles Manson is a little less difficult than getting in to see the Pope, but not much. In response to a request relayed through friends that Manson wanted to talk to a lawyer about things raised in last week’s article in the L.A. Free Press, I went to jail to visit him.
At the attorney window I filled out all of the usual forms and then had to give a lot of additional identification. After giving my driver’s license, recording my home address, my business address, my signature and business card in a special file, a sheriff’s sergeant came out and took my photograph with a Polaroid and put that in the file also.
They then went through a cautionary instruction. I was not to touch him, shake is hands, or give him anything to look at without first showing it to the deputy. They told me that although attorneys can give up to one dollar for cigarette money, no such was to be given to Manson.
After these preliminaries I was let into the attorney-interview room where I saw for the first time a rather slight man with shoulder-length hair standing against the back wall. After all of the newspaper photographs I had seen of a glowering, wild-eyed scowler, I didn’t even recognize this man at first. The eyes then, and throughout the interview, had a gentle cast. Even when he became quite emphatic as he did later on. His facial expressions varied from a kind of set attitude of resigned endurance to a very pleasant and gentle smile. I kept coming back to the word “gentle” because it is the major impression the man left on me.
After preliminary instructions, I got down to business by telling him I had been informed that he wanted to talk about some legal questions raised in the Free Press article. I told him that I was willing to answer his questions but that in return I wanted his permission to write a story about the interview for the Free Press, excluding of course anything about the conduct of his defense which we might talk about.
Manson smiled his rather wry smile and, after observing that at least I was honest about it, began to talk.
“I want to retain my own voice that is why I am defending myself. The stories that have been appearing in the newspapers are a lot of bunk. They keep quoting me as saying things that I never said at all.”
I had to stop him to remind him that I did not take shorthand and to ask him to slow down. The talk then shifted to the book I had brought to give him, a copy of Charles Garry’s Minimizing Racism in Jury Trials, a National Lawyer’s Guild publication devoted mainly to uncovering hidden prejudice in prospective jurors. All I could do was show him the book because they refused to let me give him anything without a court order. I wrote the title down and gave that to the deputy to give to Manson. I hope he got it.
For a while we discussed juries and the problems of appearing without a lawyer. I told Manson that Garry’s book related to the voir dire questions used to pick jurors in the Huey Newton trial. Manson asked who Huey was. [Huey Newton is the head of the Black Panthers.]
I observed that for a person without legal training to defend himself was rather like getting into the ring with Joe Lewis. “Worse,” Manson replied and started to tell me why he doesn’t trust lawyers.
“You wouldn’t believe the things that go down behind this case,” Manson said. “The first lawyer that came in here offered me $130,000 to write my ‘story.’ We talked a little and he went away and wrote a story where he put all kind of words in my mouth I never said.”
“The second lawyer came in here and wanted to incorporate me. I haven’t got a nickel to buy a pack of cigarettes, and he wants to incorporate me. “
“Then the third lawyer comes in and wants handle my defense fund. That is all they ever talk about—money. They all think there is money here and they all want to get their fingers into it.”
“What about the music?” I asked him. “Isn’t there money coming from that? I thought there was some Sammy Glick character putting out an album.”
“Who is Sammy Glick,” Manson wanted to know, so I explained he was a character out of a Budd Shulberg novel and restated the question without the distraction.
“Let me tell you about the music.” Manson suddenly seemed to grow more intense. “The people involved with the music are trying to keep it from coming out. They are afraid of it because it tells the truth.”
“People keep coming in here with briefcases and want to do things about money. I just smile and say ‘yes’ and ‘okay’ and they go out again, and different ones come in with briefcases, and I say ‘yes’ and ‘okay’ to them too.
Manson smiled that wry smile at me again and said, “The attorneys too. Most of the attorneys just want the publicity of the trial. They don’t care about the man at all. If there was some kind of writ that could get me out of here tomorrow, they wouldn’t bring it, because they all want to go through the whole trial and wring every last drop of publicity out of the whole thing.”
“You are going to write about this for the Free Press?” he asked again, looking at me quizzically. “Okay, I’ll test you. I’ll give you a story and if you tell it straight, I’ll give you more.
Then we talked for a while about the advisability of my quoting him directly about the case and the danger that through my paraphrasing and the District Attorney’s malice his words may get twisted out of context and so misinterpreted, be used against him.
Because of that problem I have omitted that I believe might relate to his defense. With that additional warning that this is merely my memory of what Charley Manson told me at the central jail two hours ago, this is what he said:
“Ever since a week after the Tate murders they have been looking desperately for someone to pin it on. Two hundred deputies and three helicopters descended on the ranch where we were staying in Malibu and arrested us. Two uniformed deputy sheriffs, one six-three and the other six-six worked me over. One kneed me in the chest breaking three ribs. If they would let an independent civilian doctor look at me they could tell by the condition of my ribs that it is true. They kept me three days and released me. They re-arrested me again the next day and released me after three days. That time I decided to go to the mountains to get away from the harassment.”
At this point it is interesting to remember that former Deputy Sherriff Preston Gillory was hounded off the Sherriff’s Department because of his refusal to keep silent about the events of that raid on the Manson Family at Malibu by deputies of that substation. Gillory worked at Malibu before his termination.
“I decided to go to the mountains to talk to God, to apologize for 1900 years of this mess. That’s when they got me and brought me here. “
“You want to know about my philosophy? You want to know where my philosophy comes from, I will tell you. I’m not from your society. I have spent most of my life in a world of bars and solitary confinement. My philosophy comes from underneath the boots and sticks and clubs they beat people with who come from the wrong side of the tracks. People like me are society’s scapegoats. They keep getting away with is because no one will say anything.
I have been in jail twenty-two years,” Manson continued. “My body has been locked up but my mind is free. When I get outside on the street I see all kinds of people whose bodies are free, but their minds are all locked up.”
During this speech Manson begins to grow more intense again, and I could see how an unfriendly camera man could catch him at an angle where his features might have that wild cast they get in the newspaper photos. Face to face, however, they never lost the almost pleading look of someone straining to be understood, to communicate the feelings inside of him.
About then we were interrupted by the sheriff’s deputy who wanted more information about my background. I felt like telling him to get it out of the LAPD’s dossier, but I didn’t. I must have answered him a little testy because Manson said, “I don’t hate them. I really don’t. I pity them. I really don’t hate anybody.”
“You’re a more charitable man than I, Mr. Manson,” I told him and we parted.
I drove home thinking about two things.
First, I thought about what a mockery the so-called ‘presumption of innocence’ really is. Here is a man on trial for his life, and they are holding him in jail without bail and making all kinds of rules and restrictions that interfere with his access to people and materials that could possibly help in his defense.
No court yet has found this man guilty of the crime in which he is charged, so the only constitutionally permissible reason for keeping him in this jail at this time at all is to ensure his presence at the trial. Thus bail is not unreasonably denied on the theory that, guilty or innocent, a man facing so drastic a penalty might run away.
But by what right do they do more than merely keep him available for trial? By what twisted conception of justice do they arrogate to themselves the right to place restrictions the number and kind of visitors he can see or the telephone calls he can make or whether he can receive a law book to help preparation of his defense?
Despite the fact that Charles Manson has been tried and found guilty by the mass media based on police publicity handouts designed to make the Sheriff, the District Attorney, and the Police chief look good—despite that no court has yet convicted Charles Manson of this crime, and the possibility certainly remains that he may be in fact wrongfully accused.
Yes, it was a horrible murder, but no court has yet found that this man has anything to do with it. So why does the Sheriff have the right to surround him with rules and restrictions? Why is it that an attorney cannot even make him a present of a book on jury trial technique without a fantastic lot of red tape?
Secondly, I mused over the unfairness of the court system that makes a man choose between either representing himself entirely alone, pitting his inexperience against trained trial lawyers from the District Attorney’s office, or placing himself entirely in the hands of an attorney, a man whom he does not and cannot entirely know, and thereafter remain silent, deprived of the right to speak and act on his own behalf and forced to allow his life to hang entirely on the thread of another man’s skill and good faith.
That is a terrible choice and an unnecessary one. Sure, it is more convenient for the courts that way. But remember that anyone could become a defendant in the court—even you or I— and ask yourself whether courts exist for the benefit of people or whether people exist for the convenience of the courts.
I fear these are only a few of the really knotty problems raised by the Charles Manson case. When we were talking about difficulties of a propria persona defense, Manson finally observed, “You know they can’t do anything to me.”
“They can kill you,” I retorted. “That’s what they are trying to do.”
What can you say to a man who believes in God?
- (Source: LA Free Press)
“Ever since a week after the Tate murders they have been looking desperately for someone to pin it on. Two hundred deputies and three helicopters descended on the ranch where we were staying in Malibu and arrested us. Two uniformed deputy sheriffs, one six-three and the other six-six worked me over. One kneed me in the chest breaking three ribs. If they would let an independent civilian doctor look at me they could tell by the condition of my ribs that it is true. They kept me three days and released me. They re-arrested me again the next day and released me after three days. That time I decided to go to the mountains to get away from the harassment. I decided to go to the mountains to talk to God, to apologize for 1900 years of this mess. That’s when they got me and brought me here.
You want to know about my philosophy? You want to know where my philosophy comes from, I will tell you. I’m not from your society. I have spent most of my life in a world of bars and solitary confinement. My philosophy comes from underneath the boots and sticks and clubs they beat people with who come from the wrong side of the tracks. People like me are society’s scapegoats. They keep getting away with is because no one will say anything.
I have been in jail twenty-two years,” Manson continued. “My body has been locked up but my mind is free. When I get outside on the street I see all kinds of people whose bodies are free, but their minds are all locked up.”
During this speech Manson begins to grow more intense again, and I could see how an unfriendly camera man could catch him at an angle where his features might have that wild cast they get in the newspaper photos. Face to face, however, they never lost the almost pleading look of someone straining to be understood, to communicate the feelings inside of him.
About then we were interrupted by the sheriff’s deputy who wanted more information about my background. I felt like telling him to get it out of the LAPD’s dossier, but I didn’t. I must have answered him a little testy because Manson said, “I don’t hate them. I really don’t. I pity them. I really don’t hate anybody.”
- (Source: LA Free Press)
“People keep coming in here with briefcases and want to do things about money. I just smile and say ‘yes’ and ‘okay’ and they go out again, and different ones come in with briefcases, and I say ‘yes’ and ‘okay’ to them too.The attorneys too. Most of the attorneys just want the publicity of the trial. They don’t care about the man at all. If there was some kind of writ that could get me out of here tomorrow, they wouldn’t bring it, because they all want to go through the whole trial and wring every last drop of publicity out of the whole thing.”
— Charles Manson; Jan 30, 1970
- (Source: LA Free Press)
![“I remember the first time somebody took me to the Avalon Ballroom to hear the Grateful Dead, it was one of the first times that I had been high [on LSD]. I had never seen a strobe light before and the music was so loud! I just got frightened and I curled up in a corner in a prenatal position and felt like I wanted to go back to the pen.”
— Charles Manson; Feb 13, 1970
(Source: LA Free Press)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/c0e97f917a0380cce5471a44d9cdffe4/tumblr_ml9b0oQPsf1qfqe2oo1_1280.jpg)
“I remember the first time somebody took me to the Avalon Ballroom to hear the Grateful Dead, it was one of the first times that I had been high [on LSD]. I had never seen a strobe light before and the music was so loud! I just got frightened and I curled up in a corner in a prenatal position and felt like I wanted to go back to the pen.”
— Charles Manson; Feb 13, 1970
- (Source: LA Free Press)
“Guns are what people get killed with. Their fear is your strongest weapon. People who are afraid of dying carry guns because they are afraid to face death.”
— Charles Manson; Oct 9, 1970
- (Source: Letter to Timothy Leary)
![BOBBY BEAUSOLEIL: I killed a man by the name of Gary Hinman by stabbing him twice. That’s the bare bones facts of it. I didn’t have a very good reason. In fact, the reason that I had that seemed so important at the time was petty. It’s selfish.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: Now, at the time that you stabbed the victim, were you a member of a, I’ll use the word gang.
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: A member of a gang? No.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: Were you a member of a group of people that hung out together that committed crimes?
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: Well, you’re talking about the Manson Family? I had never considered myself a member. […]
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: So, what were you? Were you an associate of the group or were you —
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: I would say that that’s a fair assessment. I did associate with the group. I considered them friends. I was involved with Manson for during recordings of his music with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and a couple of other people who were involved in the music industry.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: Did you decide to kill the victim on your own?
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: Yes, I did.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: And why did you decide to kill the victim on your own? What was the reason, the motivation?
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: Because I felt that I needed to prove myself. To the people who I looked up to at that time, Manson being one of them, but also to the groups of bikers that were hanging out at Spahn Ranch. […] I had gotten into a situation with — by playing a as a go between between the, you know, the bike club, one of the bike clubs, the main bike club that was hanging out at Spahn Ranch. And I got myself into a bind. I went back to Hinman’s place to get money from him.
(Source: 2008 Parole Hearing)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/ca936a6a6717cb4a14535f6d76f739d2/tumblr_mjm6r8JkLX1qfqe2oo1_r1_1280.jpg)
BOBBY BEAUSOLEIL: I killed a man by the name of Gary Hinman by stabbing him twice. That’s the bare bones facts of it. I didn’t have a very good reason. In fact, the reason that I had that seemed so important at the time was petty. It’s selfish.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: Now, at the time that you stabbed the victim, were you a member of a, I’ll use the word gang.
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: A member of a gang? No.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: Were you a member of a group of people that hung out together that committed crimes?
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: Well, you’re talking about the Manson Family? I had never considered myself a member. […]
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: So, what were you? Were you an associate of the group or were you —
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: I would say that that’s a fair assessment. I did associate with the group. I considered them friends. I was involved with Manson for during recordings of his music with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and a couple of other people who were involved in the music industry.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: Did you decide to kill the victim on your own?
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: Yes, I did.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON: And why did you decide to kill the victim on your own? What was the reason, the motivation?
INMATE BEAUSOLEIL: Because I felt that I needed to prove myself. To the people who I looked up to at that time, Manson being one of them, but also to the groups of bikers that were hanging out at Spahn Ranch. […] I had gotten into a situation with — by playing a as a go between between the, you know, the bike club, one of the bike clubs, the main bike club that was hanging out at Spahn Ranch. And I got myself into a bind. I went back to Hinman’s place to get money from him.
- (Source: 2008 Parole Hearing)
