Happy True Crime Thursday!
Today is Part 2 inside the crazy life of Charles Manson.
Today is Part 2 inside the crazy life of Charles Manson.
If you haven't read part 1 yet I would highly recommend it so you get a sense of who he was in the earlier years and how what happens in part 2 came to be!
What started off as an Innocent title for a song soon became something else entirely because of Charles Manson. Helter Skelter was the name of a Beatles song that Paul McCartney wrote, he stated "I was using the symbol of a helter skelter (a playground slide) as a ride from the top to the bottom" Charles in his twisted mind took the single as inspiration for a spree that ended in the murders of 9 individuals in the Summer of 1969.
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| Gary Hinman |
The first victim was a friend of the Manson family, 34 year old musician Gary Hinman. He worked in a music shop and taught the bagpipes, drums, piano and trombone. He also had the side gig of managing a Mescaline factory in his basement, Mescaline is a hallucinogenic drug that occurs naturally in certain cacti plants. A member of the Manson Family, Robert "Bobby" Beausoleil allegedly purchased 1,000 tabs of Mescaline from Gary. Bobby then turned around and sold those tabs to some customers, they came back to him and complained about the drugs, demanding their money back. Bobby went to Gary not only to ask for his drug money back, but Charles also ordered Bobby and family members Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner (who I mentioned in part 1) to try to get $20,000 by scaring him. Manson believed that Gary recently had inherited right around that amount. Bobby later stated that he wouldn't have brought the girls with him if he would have known what was going to happen, he only brought them to try and persuade Gary out of the money.
They asked for the money, but Gary was adamant he didn't have any and in fact the possessions he had weren't even his. He didn't own his house or his cars. Bobby thought he was lying, so he roughed him up. Soon he believed Gary was telling the truth, so he called Charles. Charles arrived with another family member Bruce Davis. Charles drew out a samurai sword he had brought with him and sliced Gary from ear to cheek. At this point Bobby panicked, Gary was his friend and this wasn't what he wanted to happen. He asked Charles why he did that, "to show you how to be a man" Charles replied. Charles and Bruce took off in one of Gary's cars. Leaving Bobby alone with the 2 girls and an injured Gary. They did what they could to get Gary cleaned up, Gary was in a daze and told everyone to leave and that he didn't believe in violence. Bobby became agitated by the situation, there was no way out of this without him ending up in prison. Bobby killed Gary. He wrote "political piggy" and drew a paw print on the wall in Gary's blood in an attempt to convince the police that the Black Panthers were involved, investigating the impending race war that Charles had preached about.
They asked for the money, but Gary was adamant he didn't have any and in fact the possessions he had weren't even his. He didn't own his house or his cars. Bobby thought he was lying, so he roughed him up. Soon he believed Gary was telling the truth, so he called Charles. Charles arrived with another family member Bruce Davis. Charles drew out a samurai sword he had brought with him and sliced Gary from ear to cheek. At this point Bobby panicked, Gary was his friend and this wasn't what he wanted to happen. He asked Charles why he did that, "to show you how to be a man" Charles replied. Charles and Bruce took off in one of Gary's cars. Leaving Bobby alone with the 2 girls and an injured Gary. They did what they could to get Gary cleaned up, Gary was in a daze and told everyone to leave and that he didn't believe in violence. Bobby became agitated by the situation, there was no way out of this without him ending up in prison. Bobby killed Gary. He wrote "political piggy" and drew a paw print on the wall in Gary's blood in an attempt to convince the police that the Black Panthers were involved, investigating the impending race war that Charles had preached about.
This was just the beginning.
A few weeks later on the night of August 8, 1969, four Manson family members (Tex Watson, Patricia Kenwinkel, Linda Kasabian and Susan again) drove to the home of well known director Roman Polanksi. This home was one that I mentioned in part one, prior to Roman living there producer Terry Melcher lived there. They drove to the home under orders from Charles, he told them to go there and kill whoever they found.
Roman wasn't home, but his wife, actress Sharon Tate was, alongside her friends Jay Sebring who was a celebrity hairstylist, Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress and her boyfriend Voytek Frykowski. Before breaking in Tex made sure to cut the phone line to the house and park their car at the bottom of the hill. While they were working their way into the home they saw headlights approaching from the driveway within the property, Tex ordered the girls to lie in the bushes. He stepped out in front of the vehicle, 18 year old Steven Parent had been visiting the caretaker of the property, William Garrestson and was on his way out when he was stopped. Tex took out his .22-caliber, Steven begged for his life saying he wouldn't tell anyone about them being there. Tex lunged at him with a knife, causing a slash wound on his hand, then he shot him 4 times, killing him.
Susan, Tex and Patricia broke into the home while Linda stood outside to keep watch. First they approached Voytek who was sleeping on the living room couch. Tex kicked him in the head, when Voytek asked who he was and what he was doing there Tex replied back "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business." He bound his hands with a towel.
Tex told Susan and Patricia to find any other occupants in the home, they found Sharon, Jay and Abigail and forced them into the living room. Tex began to tie up Sharon and Jay by their necks with rope he had brought with him. Jay was growing upset with how Tex was handling Sharon...because at this time she was 8 months pregnant, Tex shot him. Jay laid on the floor groaning while they took Abigail to get money out of her purse, when they came back into the room Tex stabbed Jay 7 times.
At this point Voytek was able to free himself and started to struggle with Susan, she stabbed at his legs with a knife. He was able to fight her off and make his way to the front porch, but Tex caught up with him, struck him in the head with the gun, stabbed him repeatedly and then shot him twice.
Abigail escaped from Patricia and fled outside to the pool area, but Patricia caught up to her and tackled her to the ground. Tex came around and stabbed her 28 times in the front lawn. Voytek was still alive at this point! He was struggling across the yard, when Tex came up and stabbed him again several times, killing him. Voytek was stabbed 51 times. This next part is tough. Inside the house was the only person remaining, Sharon Tate. She pleaded with them to at least keep her as a hostage until she was able to give birth, to save the life inside her. It's unclear whether it was Susan or Tex or both that ended up stabbing Sharon 16 times, killing her and her unborn child.
They wrote "pig" on the front door in Sharon's blood. They left the house, and on the way back to the ranch they dumped their bloody clothes and the weapons.
On August 10th, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were in bed not knowing they soon would be meeting the same fate. Rosemary had heard the news about the murders that occurred and was especially disturbed about it, especially due to some events that had been happening in their own home. The LaBianca's had reported some bizarre happenings to the police. Objects in the home had been moved around and they would find their dogs outside when they had left them inside. What happened to them that night still remains a mystery as to whether it was premeditated and also why they were chosen.
Charles and Tex were the first ones to enter the home, they went into the bedroom and subdued the couple, promising no one would get hurt, they were only there to rob them. Rosemary was left in the bedroom while they moved Leno into the living room. Charles then left the home, and instructed Patricia and Leslie who were waiting in the car to go inside...and murder the people in there. While the ladies went to find Rosemary Tex noticed Leno was starting to struggle so he stabbed him in the neck with a bayonet. In the bedroom Rosemary could hear her husband struggling, so she started to fight the women and this angered Leslie. She went to the kitchen and brought back knives, Rosemary pleaded with them to take whatever they wanted and to not hurt her. This didn't work, Leslie got on top of her and stabbed her in the neck. Later she stated "we started stabbing and cutting up the lady." The knife bent, they panicked and up came Tex to help. He stabbed her in the lower torso...she was stabbed 41 times.
Patricia wrote the words war on Leno's chest, put a fork in his stomach and wrote "Rise," "Death to Pigs," and misspelled "Healter Skelter" with the victims blood. They showered, pet the dogs and left. Charles handed Rosemary's wallet to Linda who was the driver and told her to drop it onto the sidewalk when they arrived in a black neighborhood.
The 9th murder was that of Donald "Shorty" Shea. he was a horse wrangler at the ranch. He was killed in August of 1969 after the other murders had occurred. It is believed that the Manson family killed him because they feared he was a police informant. His body wasn't discovered until 8 years later.
Manson and his family were arrested within the same year, but at the time it was not for the murders, it was simply for the belief that they had vandalized a portion of the Death Valley National Park. They had no idea that they had murder suspects in custody.
It was Susan Atkins who ended up confessing to the murder of Gary Hinman, this lead police to the involvement of Manson and his followers in the killings.
Various motivations were brought up during the trial, the most feasible was Manson's pathological ego and his diagnosis of schizophrenia and paranoid delusional disorder that led him to leave behind a trail of destruction.
In true Manson style he released an album in an effort to raise money for his defense. He loved the media attention and one day during court proceedings he showed up with an x carved into his forehead. Some of his lovely female followers then decided to copy the act. That x was gradually modified until it turned into a swastika.
On January 25th, 1971, Charles Manson was convicted of first degree murder for directing the deaths of the Tate-LaBianca victims. He was sentenced to death, but in 1972 California's Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences, so it turned to a life sentence. He was denied parole 12 times. He died in 2017.
Throughout his trial the killers would often giggle and exchange looks with Charles, they showed no remorse for the crimes they had commited.
In court, Leslie (only 19 when she took part in the LaBianca murders) said that Charles took advantage of her vulnerability and the dislike of her mother, although she believed that he was a man of vision. During a parole board hearing 30 years later she said she was horrified with what she had done that night and desperately wanted to redeem herself. Her parole was denied.
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Susan admitted in an initial confession to her fellow inmates that if she would have had enough time she would have cut out Sharon Tate's unborn baby. That these murders wouldn't have been the end of their grisly acts, they had a list of other high-profile Hollywood stars to be killed. Why celebrities you may ask? She said they wanted to commit murders that would shock the world and make people take notice. She was sentenced to life in prison. She died in 2009.
Linda was the key witness for Manson's trial, she was given immunity for her testimony.
The man she once witnessed with love and understanding in his eyes, she now only saw hate. She sat in the courtroom spilling out everything and was extremely brave. Mason would glare at her and trace his finger across his neck.
Tex tried to enter a plea of insanity, but it didn't work out for him. His sentence was life in prison. He became a born again Christian and an ordained minister. He married and had 4 children before California banned conjugal visits, later divorcing in 2003. He claims to feel remorse for the crimes he committed, "I hate having to be the person that had committed a crime that's so hideous. I hate that" He's been denied parole 17 times.
Patricia Kenwinkel also is serving a life sentence and has been denied parole 14 times. While in the early years she had zero remorse she later stated that due to her father never leaving her side "unconditional love and acceptance were the beginnings of the foundation for me to stop and realize what I had beome...the monster I became."
Manson's explanation for the murders was as you probably would guess....bizarre. "It's the Beatles, the music they're putting out" "These kids listen to this music and pick up the message. It's subliminal...It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says 'Rise.' it says 'Kill." Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music."
Whew! This could have been easily a 20 part series, I highly encourage you guys if you haven't already to look up videos of Charles Manson to get a real feel for how out of this world he really was.
See you guys next week!!
A few weeks later on the night of August 8, 1969, four Manson family members (Tex Watson, Patricia Kenwinkel, Linda Kasabian and Susan again) drove to the home of well known director Roman Polanksi. This home was one that I mentioned in part one, prior to Roman living there producer Terry Melcher lived there. They drove to the home under orders from Charles, he told them to go there and kill whoever they found.
Roman wasn't home, but his wife, actress Sharon Tate was, alongside her friends Jay Sebring who was a celebrity hairstylist, Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress and her boyfriend Voytek Frykowski. Before breaking in Tex made sure to cut the phone line to the house and park their car at the bottom of the hill. While they were working their way into the home they saw headlights approaching from the driveway within the property, Tex ordered the girls to lie in the bushes. He stepped out in front of the vehicle, 18 year old Steven Parent had been visiting the caretaker of the property, William Garrestson and was on his way out when he was stopped. Tex took out his .22-caliber, Steven begged for his life saying he wouldn't tell anyone about them being there. Tex lunged at him with a knife, causing a slash wound on his hand, then he shot him 4 times, killing him.
Susan, Tex and Patricia broke into the home while Linda stood outside to keep watch. First they approached Voytek who was sleeping on the living room couch. Tex kicked him in the head, when Voytek asked who he was and what he was doing there Tex replied back "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business." He bound his hands with a towel.
Tex told Susan and Patricia to find any other occupants in the home, they found Sharon, Jay and Abigail and forced them into the living room. Tex began to tie up Sharon and Jay by their necks with rope he had brought with him. Jay was growing upset with how Tex was handling Sharon...because at this time she was 8 months pregnant, Tex shot him. Jay laid on the floor groaning while they took Abigail to get money out of her purse, when they came back into the room Tex stabbed Jay 7 times.
At this point Voytek was able to free himself and started to struggle with Susan, she stabbed at his legs with a knife. He was able to fight her off and make his way to the front porch, but Tex caught up with him, struck him in the head with the gun, stabbed him repeatedly and then shot him twice.
Abigail escaped from Patricia and fled outside to the pool area, but Patricia caught up to her and tackled her to the ground. Tex came around and stabbed her 28 times in the front lawn. Voytek was still alive at this point! He was struggling across the yard, when Tex came up and stabbed him again several times, killing him. Voytek was stabbed 51 times. This next part is tough. Inside the house was the only person remaining, Sharon Tate. She pleaded with them to at least keep her as a hostage until she was able to give birth, to save the life inside her. It's unclear whether it was Susan or Tex or both that ended up stabbing Sharon 16 times, killing her and her unborn child.
They wrote "pig" on the front door in Sharon's blood. They left the house, and on the way back to the ranch they dumped their bloody clothes and the weapons.
On August 10th, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were in bed not knowing they soon would be meeting the same fate. Rosemary had heard the news about the murders that occurred and was especially disturbed about it, especially due to some events that had been happening in their own home. The LaBianca's had reported some bizarre happenings to the police. Objects in the home had been moved around and they would find their dogs outside when they had left them inside. What happened to them that night still remains a mystery as to whether it was premeditated and also why they were chosen.
Charles and Tex were the first ones to enter the home, they went into the bedroom and subdued the couple, promising no one would get hurt, they were only there to rob them. Rosemary was left in the bedroom while they moved Leno into the living room. Charles then left the home, and instructed Patricia and Leslie who were waiting in the car to go inside...and murder the people in there. While the ladies went to find Rosemary Tex noticed Leno was starting to struggle so he stabbed him in the neck with a bayonet. In the bedroom Rosemary could hear her husband struggling, so she started to fight the women and this angered Leslie. She went to the kitchen and brought back knives, Rosemary pleaded with them to take whatever they wanted and to not hurt her. This didn't work, Leslie got on top of her and stabbed her in the neck. Later she stated "we started stabbing and cutting up the lady." The knife bent, they panicked and up came Tex to help. He stabbed her in the lower torso...she was stabbed 41 times.
Patricia wrote the words war on Leno's chest, put a fork in his stomach and wrote "Rise," "Death to Pigs," and misspelled "Healter Skelter" with the victims blood. They showered, pet the dogs and left. Charles handed Rosemary's wallet to Linda who was the driver and told her to drop it onto the sidewalk when they arrived in a black neighborhood.
The 9th murder was that of Donald "Shorty" Shea. he was a horse wrangler at the ranch. He was killed in August of 1969 after the other murders had occurred. It is believed that the Manson family killed him because they feared he was a police informant. His body wasn't discovered until 8 years later.
Manson and his family were arrested within the same year, but at the time it was not for the murders, it was simply for the belief that they had vandalized a portion of the Death Valley National Park. They had no idea that they had murder suspects in custody.
It was Susan Atkins who ended up confessing to the murder of Gary Hinman, this lead police to the involvement of Manson and his followers in the killings.
Various motivations were brought up during the trial, the most feasible was Manson's pathological ego and his diagnosis of schizophrenia and paranoid delusional disorder that led him to leave behind a trail of destruction.
In true Manson style he released an album in an effort to raise money for his defense. He loved the media attention and one day during court proceedings he showed up with an x carved into his forehead. Some of his lovely female followers then decided to copy the act. That x was gradually modified until it turned into a swastika.
On January 25th, 1971, Charles Manson was convicted of first degree murder for directing the deaths of the Tate-LaBianca victims. He was sentenced to death, but in 1972 California's Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences, so it turned to a life sentence. He was denied parole 12 times. He died in 2017. Throughout his trial the killers would often giggle and exchange looks with Charles, they showed no remorse for the crimes they had commited.
In court, Leslie (only 19 when she took part in the LaBianca murders) said that Charles took advantage of her vulnerability and the dislike of her mother, although she believed that he was a man of vision. During a parole board hearing 30 years later she said she was horrified with what she had done that night and desperately wanted to redeem herself. Her parole was denied. Susan admitted in an initial confession to her fellow inmates that if she would have had enough time she would have cut out Sharon Tate's unborn baby. That these murders wouldn't have been the end of their grisly acts, they had a list of other high-profile Hollywood stars to be killed. Why celebrities you may ask? She said they wanted to commit murders that would shock the world and make people take notice. She was sentenced to life in prison. She died in 2009.Linda was the key witness for Manson's trial, she was given immunity for her testimony. The man she once witnessed with love and understanding in his eyes, she now only saw hate. She sat in the courtroom spilling out everything and was extremely brave. Mason would glare at her and trace his finger across his neck.
Tex tried to enter a plea of insanity, but it didn't work out for him. His sentence was life in prison. He became a born again Christian and an ordained minister. He married and had 4 children before California banned conjugal visits, later divorcing in 2003. He claims to feel remorse for the crimes he committed, "I hate having to be the person that had committed a crime that's so hideous. I hate that" He's been denied parole 17 times. Patricia Kenwinkel also is serving a life sentence and has been denied parole 14 times. While in the early years she had zero remorse she later stated that due to her father never leaving her side "unconditional love and acceptance were the beginnings of the foundation for me to stop and realize what I had beome...the monster I became."Manson's explanation for the murders was as you probably would guess....bizarre. "It's the Beatles, the music they're putting out" "These kids listen to this music and pick up the message. It's subliminal...It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says 'Rise.' it says 'Kill." Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music."
Whew! This could have been easily a 20 part series, I highly encourage you guys if you haven't already to look up videos of Charles Manson to get a real feel for how out of this world he really was.
See you guys next week!!
Resources:
https://www.history.com/news/charles-manson-helter-skelter
https://allthatsinteresting.com/gary-hinman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_Family
https://allthatsinteresting.com/leno-rosemary-labianca-murders
https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/2019/09/20/court-denies-release-manson-follower-leslie-van-houten/2391368001/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/tex-watson
https://allthatsinteresting.com/gary-hinman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_Family
https://allthatsinteresting.com/leno-rosemary-labianca-murders
https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/2019/09/20/court-denies-release-manson-follower-leslie-van-houten/2391368001/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/tex-watson
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