0:01

So, due to the graphic nature

0:03

of this story, listener discretion is

0:05

advised. This episode includes depictions of

0:07

murder, violence, and substance use. Consider

0:10

this when deciding how and when you'll listen.

0:17

In 1966, John

0:19

Lennon discussed the changing landscape of religion

0:21

with a reporter from the London Standard.

0:24

To make his point, he quipped

0:26

that his band The Beatles was

0:28

more popular than Jesus Now. Whether

0:31

that was true or not, they'd achieved a

0:33

cult-like fandom. The

0:35

kind seen today among K-pop fans and

0:37

Swifties, the kind most aspiring

0:39

rock stars only dream of. In

0:43

1969, The Beatles hadn't toured

0:45

in three years, but their

0:47

devoted fans remained, spinning records

0:49

on repeat. Chief among

0:51

them? Charles Manson.

0:54

He had his own cult following, and

0:57

to them, he wasn't just more popular

0:59

than Jesus. He was Jesus.

1:03

And when Jesus told the Manson Family

1:05

that The Beatles were signaling them to

1:07

commit murder, they listened.

1:13

I'm Vanessa Richardson, and this is

1:15

Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. You

1:17

can find us here every Monday.

1:19

Be sure to check us out

1:22

on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast.

1:25

Stay with us. Calling

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let's get them over with. Before

2:35

we get into this story, amongst the

2:38

many sources we used, we found Jeff

2:40

Gwynn's book, Manson, The Life and Times

2:42

of Charles Manson, extremely helpful to our

2:44

research. The audiobook edition

2:46

is available for Spotify Premium subscribers in

2:49

our audiobook catalog, so you can check

2:51

it out after listening to this episode.

2:55

Leading up to the Grammys, we're going back

2:57

to cover a different kind of history-making

3:00

musician, Charles Manson.

3:02

Today, we'll cover the Tate

3:04

and LaBianca murders, the music

3:06

references Manson's followers left at

3:08

the crime scenes, and how

3:10

Charles Manson blamed all the

3:12

murders on the Beatles. If

3:14

you're listening on Spotify and you want to

3:17

skip ahead to anything specific, the chapters are

3:19

linked in our show notes. When

3:23

we left off in July 1969, Charles

3:27

Manson had just ordered a

3:29

fellow aspiring musician, Bobby Beausoleil,

3:31

to kill their drug dealer,

3:33

Gary Hinman. Manson told

3:35

Beausoleil to make it look like the

3:37

murder was committed by the Black Panthers.

3:40

Manson hoped the ensuing chaos

3:43

would spark the race war that

3:45

would signal the end times and leave

3:47

him as the leader of the remaining

3:49

people on Earth, but

3:51

that didn't go according to Manson's plan.

3:54

After the murder, Bobby Beausoleil fled

3:56

to San Francisco, driving a car

3:58

he'd stolen from his car. Hinman, but

4:01

the car broke down. When Highway

4:03

Patrol stopped to help, they realized that

4:05

an APB had been issued for the stolen

4:07

car. Then

4:09

the officers discovered the knife Beausoleil

4:11

had used to stab Hinman. Later,

4:14

they matched his fingerprints to the thumbprint

4:16

left in Gary Hinman's house. The

4:19

officers arrested Bobby Beausoleil, and he

4:21

was charged with murder. The

4:24

Black Panthers were never even suspected.

4:28

When word of Beausoleil's arrest hit Spawn

4:30

Ranch, Manson went into panic

4:32

mode. He'd always liked Beausoleil.

4:35

Manson thought Beausoleil wasn't particularly bright

4:38

and generally went along with whatever

4:40

Manson said. Perfect qualities

4:42

in a follower. But

4:44

now Manson worried Beausoleil would

4:46

confess. He might even

4:48

name Manson as a co-conspirator in

4:50

Gary Hinman's murder. Over

4:53

the next two days, Manson grew

4:55

increasingly agitated. It

4:57

wasn't just about Beausoleil's arrest. Manson

5:00

was also upset that Hinman's murder hadn't

5:02

made more of an impact. He'd

5:05

hoped the murder would kickstart a race war.

5:08

But so far they'd failed to bring about

5:10

the events Manson heard prophesied in the

5:12

Beatles' White Album. Helter Skelter

5:14

needed to happen. And soon.

5:18

To usher it in, Manson wanted to

5:20

stage an even more brutal murder. One

5:22

so shocking it would make headlines around

5:25

the country. As a bonus,

5:27

it might help Bobby Beausoleil. The

5:29

family thought that if more murders were

5:31

committed while Beausoleil was in custody, it

5:34

would prove that the police had arrested the wrong

5:36

man. Even though, to be clear,

5:38

they had arrested the right man. Ignoring

5:41

logic, Manson told his family that they

5:43

had to get the carnage started.

5:51

On the night of August

5:53

8, 1969, Manson took family

5:55

member Charles Tex Watson aside

5:58

and told him what needed to be done. to

6:00

be done. A year earlier, when

6:02

Manson was cozying up to every music

6:04

industry contact that would tolerate him, he'd

6:07

pursued a relationship with music producer

6:09

Terry Melcher. At the

6:11

time, Melcher lived in a secluded house

6:14

on Cielo Drive. Even though

6:16

Melcher had moved out of the

6:18

house months before, Manson knew the

6:20

people who lived there now were

6:22

also rich and famous, the kind

6:25

of high-profile people whose death would

6:27

make national news. Talking

6:29

to Watson, Manson made his

6:31

plan rather explicit. Kill

6:34

everyone in the place. Totally destroy

6:36

them. Make it as gruesome as

6:38

you can. He assigned

6:41

Watson three other followers to help him,

6:44

Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel,

6:46

and Linda Kasabian. Tex

6:49

would be in charge of them. As the

6:51

man, Manson felt he was the most

6:54

trustworthy. He didn't tell the

6:56

women the plan, just giving Susan

6:58

the instruction to do something witchy.

7:00

They likely thought they were going on a creepy

7:03

crawly, a break-in with no

7:05

theft. Tex would reveal the

7:07

truth after they arrived. Most

7:10

of what we know about what comes

7:13

next comes from members of the Manson

7:15

family themselves, so it's important we

7:17

take it with a grain of salt. Just

7:20

after midnight on August 9, 1959,

7:23

the foursome drove into Benedict Canyon. Susan

7:26

and Tex were high on meth, having

7:29

snorted it before they left. Earlier

7:31

that day, Tex had also dropped

7:33

acid and taken some mescaline, so

7:36

he might have been feeling the effects of multiple drugs

7:38

in his system as they reached C.L.O.

7:41

Drive. The home

7:43

was set back from the road, but they

7:45

could see the warm lamplight from the living

7:47

room coming through the trees. Tex

7:50

hopped out of the car and cut the telephone

7:52

line to the house with wire cutters. Then

7:54

he motioned for Linda, Patricia, and

7:56

Susan to follow him. They

7:59

got out of the car. unsure of what they

8:01

were doing at the house. Linda

8:03

didn't question why Tex had a rope and

8:05

a gun on him. They walked

8:07

to the back of the property, scaled a

8:09

fence, and crept through the trees and bushes

8:12

that filled the yard. But

8:14

they stopped short at bright headlights coming up

8:16

the long driveway. Someone

8:18

was leaving the house. After

8:22

Terry Melcher moved out, 35-year-old

8:24

director Roman Polanski and his

8:26

wife, 25-year-old actress Sharon Tate,

8:29

rented the house. That

8:31

night, Polanski was away filming a movie

8:33

in Europe. But Tate, pregnant

8:35

and just two weeks from her due

8:38

date, had stayed behind in Los Angeles.

8:41

To keep her company, she'd

8:43

temporarily moved in Wojtek Frykowski,

8:45

a longtime friend of Polanski's,

8:47

and his girlfriend, Abigail Folger.

8:50

That August night, they had a

8:53

visitor, Sharon's close friend and hairstylist,

8:55

Jay Sebring. In addition

8:57

to the main house, the property also

8:59

had a smaller desk cottage. The

9:02

property caretaker, William Garretson, lived in

9:04

the cottage. That

9:06

night, he had a friend over, Steve

9:08

Parent. Parent

9:10

was just leaving the property around 12.15 a.m. on August

9:12

9th. It

9:15

was his headlights the Manson family saw

9:17

coming down the drive. Tex

9:21

motioned for the girls to get down

9:23

as he stepped onto the driveway and

9:25

waved down the car. Then

9:28

Tex revealed his gun. Steve

9:31

Parent naturally freaked out. Please,

9:34

please don't hurt me. I'm your friend.

9:36

I won't tell. Tex

9:38

ignored him. He sliced

9:40

Parent's arm with a knife and then

9:43

shot him four times. Parent

9:45

slumped over in the front seat, dead.

9:49

Linda was stunned, but she had no

9:52

time to process. Tex forced her to

9:54

steal the driver's wallet. Her

9:56

hands shook as she reached into the dead

9:59

man's pocket. Then

10:01

Tex told her to go to the back of

10:03

the house and act as a lookout while he,

10:05

Susan and Patricia made their way to the front

10:07

of the house. When

10:10

the trio reappeared in the backyard, they

10:12

each brandished knives. Linda

10:15

watched in horror as Tex cut

10:17

a long, slow slit into the

10:19

screen door. Still

10:22

in shock, she stayed in the backyard

10:24

as the others disappeared inside. I

10:29

have to warn you that what we're going to be

10:31

talking about in the next few minutes includes graphic

10:33

descriptions of violence. In

10:38

the living room, Tex, Susan and

10:40

Patricia found Wojtek Frykowski asleep on

10:42

the couch. Frykowski woke up

10:45

and asked them what they wanted. Tex

10:47

replied, I'm the devil and

10:49

I'm here to do the devil's business.

10:53

Then he kicked Frykowski in the head.

10:56

Tex told the women to check the rest of the house.

10:59

They found Abigail Folger, Sharon

11:01

Tate and Jay Sebring in the

11:03

bedrooms. Brandishing their knives,

11:05

they ordered everyone to the living room,

11:07

demanding they huddle in the center. Then

11:10

he took a rope and looped it around

11:12

all four of their necks, throwing

11:14

the end over a beam running across the

11:17

ceiling. He pulled on the rope

11:19

until it was taut, binding the

11:21

captives together. Tate,

11:23

Folger, Sebring and Frykowski

11:26

stayed silent and cooperated, hoping that

11:28

the three lunatics would rob them

11:30

and go away. But that

11:33

hope quickly faded when Tex bellowed,

11:36

you're all going to die.

11:39

Sharon Tate let out a blood curdling

11:41

scream that Linda could hear in the

11:43

backyard. In the chaos, Tex

11:46

let the rope slacken and the four

11:48

captives freed themselves and tried to scatter.

11:50

As the Manson family chased them down and rounded

11:53

them up again, Sharon Tate started

11:55

to cry. Jay shouted,

11:57

can't you see that she's pregnant?

12:00

As soon as Jay spoke, Tex

12:03

shot him in the abdomen. Then

12:06

Tex demanded all the money the hostages had.

12:09

Folger revealed that she had about $70 in her purse. Tate

12:13

explained that she didn't have any money in the house,

12:15

but she could get some. Knowing

12:18

that Manson would be upset if they returned

12:20

to Spahn Ranch without any cash, Tex

12:22

grew angry. During Jay

12:25

Sebring groaning on the floor, Tex

12:27

whirled on him and stabbed him until

12:29

he died. When

12:32

Tate and Folger screamed in horror,

12:34

Wojtek Vrjkowski awoke from his stupor

12:36

and struggled to untie his own

12:38

hands. Susan Atkins leapt

12:40

at him and stabbed his legs. Tex

12:43

turned the gun on him and began to shoot. But

12:46

he somehow managed to break free and

12:49

limped outside. Linda Kasabian

12:51

was still outside keeping lookout.

12:53

She saw Vrjkowski stumble onto the

12:56

lawn. When Nate set

12:58

out that evening, Linda thought they were going

13:00

on another creepy crawling mission, not

13:02

a murder spree. As soon

13:04

as she saw Tex shoot Steve Parrott,

13:06

she'd entered a state of shock. Now

13:09

facing the man she was supposed to kill,

13:12

she couldn't move. After

13:14

a few seconds, Vrjkowski limped past Linda

13:17

and collapsed in the yard. Just

13:20

later, Tex came running out of

13:22

the sliding glass door, jumped on

13:24

Vrjkowski and stabbed him again and

13:26

again. Finally

13:28

Linda found her voice. She shouted,

13:31

please make it stop. People are coming.

13:34

But nobody was coming. And

13:36

Tex did not stop. He

13:38

stabbed Vrjkowski 51 times. Meanwhile

13:44

Abigail Folger had escaped into the

13:46

side yard with Patricia hot on her trail.

13:49

Patricia caught up to Abigail and climbed

13:51

on top of her and stabbed her.

13:54

Across the yard, Linda heard Abigail

13:57

shrieking in pain and Patricia screaming

13:59

in pain. fury. In

14:02

shock, Linda ran away from the

14:04

crime scene and climbed over the property's

14:06

fence to the car and waited. Meanwhile,

14:09

Tex caught up with Patricia as

14:11

she stood over Abigail Folger. He

14:14

pointed Patricia towards the guest cottage

14:16

and told her to look inside

14:18

and kill anyone there. Patricia

14:21

seemed shaken after stabbing Folger, and

14:23

she only pretended to check the

14:25

guest cottage, telling Tex that the

14:27

house was empty. If

14:29

the caretaker, William Garretson, was awake,

14:31

he didn't give any sign to

14:33

reveal himself. Tex,

14:35

meanwhile, continued stabbing Abigail

14:38

Folger. Later, he

14:40

claimed she told him, I give up, you've

14:42

got me. Eventually,

14:44

the murderers turned back into the

14:46

house to pregnant Sharon

14:49

Tate. Tate begged them

14:51

to spare her. She pleaded with

14:53

them to kidnap her and keep her alive

14:55

just long enough to deliver her baby. Susan

14:58

replied, I don't care about

15:00

you. I don't care if you're

15:02

going to have a baby. You had

15:04

better be ready. You're going to die,

15:06

and I don't feel anything about it.

15:09

With that, Susan and Tex

15:12

stabbed the starlet multiple times,

15:14

including right in her pregnant

15:16

belly. As Tate

15:18

lay dying, she cried out for her

15:21

mom. Then, to make the

15:23

scene more gruesome, Tex, Susan, and

15:25

Patricia wrapped a rope around her

15:27

neck and strung her up by

15:29

the ceiling beam. She

15:32

died from her stab wounds. When

15:35

she was dead, Susan soaked a towel

15:37

in her blood and wrote the word

15:40

pig on the front door. This

15:43

was likely a reference to the song, Piggy's,

15:45

from the Beatles' White Album. With

15:49

their mission accomplished, Tex, Susan, and

15:51

Patricia joined Linda at the car.

15:54

As they tore off their bloody clothes,

15:56

Tex told Linda to drive.

15:58

He was furious. she hadn't

16:00

participated in the murders. Meanwhile,

16:03

Patricia complained that her hand hurt.

16:06

She worried she'd injured it while stabbing

16:08

through Abigail Folger's bones. When

16:11

they finally pulled back up to spawn

16:13

ranch, Manson came out to greet them.

16:16

He asked if any

16:18

of them had any remorse, and without

16:20

hesitation, each of them responded,

16:23

no. Not

16:25

fully satisfied, Manson drove

16:27

to the house himself and made

16:29

small adjustments. He tried to

16:31

make the crime scene as bizarre and shocking

16:34

as possible. He placed a

16:36

towel over J.C. Brings' head. He

16:38

draped an American flag on a

16:40

couch next to Sharon Tate's body.

16:43

He moved a pair of glasses to the living room.

16:45

When he was finished, he drove back to

16:48

spawn ranch and went to bed. But

16:51

the next morning, Manson was still

16:54

unsatisfied with the crimes. Sure,

16:56

the gruesome and bizarre murders had made

16:58

national news, but none of the reports

17:00

blamed the deaths on the Black Panthers,

17:03

nor did they link the deaths to Gary

17:05

Hinman's murder. The Tate murders wouldn't

17:07

clear Bobby Beausoleil's name, nor

17:10

would they begin Helter Skelter.

17:12

For Manson, there was only one

17:15

way forward. More

17:17

murder. And this time,

17:19

he wouldn't simply issue orders from

17:21

the ranch. He intended to oversee

17:24

the killings himself.

17:33

The day after his followers

17:35

murdered five people, Charles Manson

17:38

wanted more. He

17:40

approached Linda Kasabian and told her she would

17:42

be driving them into town again that night.

17:44

He was going with them this time. He was

17:46

going to show them how to make a clean

17:49

kill. No one

17:51

had told Manson that Linda ran away

17:54

during the previous night's murders, and she

17:56

was too afraid to object when Manson

17:58

selected her for a murder. second

18:00

journey. Manson

18:03

also selected 19-year-old Leslie

18:05

Van Houten and

18:07

18-year-old Steve Clem Grogan,

18:10

the group dressed in dark clothes and

18:12

gathered their knives. Then they set

18:14

out into the night. At

18:17

this point, there was no denying what was

18:19

going to happen, and yet Manson's family went

18:21

along with it. Even after

18:23

murdering so many people in the

18:25

past few weeks, they still sought

18:28

Manson's approval. They still followed his

18:30

orders. Though it

18:32

has been debated, if they were simply

18:34

following orders, how guilty

18:37

were they? The controversial

18:39

1961 Milgram experiment studied this

18:42

very question. In the

18:44

experiment, participants were instructed to deliver

18:46

varied levels of electrical shocks to

18:48

another subject at the instruction of

18:50

a man in a white doctor's

18:52

coat holding a clipboard. In

18:55

truth, the shocks were a ruse. No

18:57

one in the study was harmed, but

18:59

with each shock, the subject reacted as

19:01

if they were truly being electrocuted. At

19:04

first, the shocks were light, but

19:07

the subject in the driver's seat

19:09

had the choice to continue following

19:12

the researcher's directions and make the

19:14

shocks increasingly more painful, causing

19:16

the subject to scream in agony. When

19:19

the participant delivering the shocks questioned whether or

19:22

not to keep going, the man in the

19:24

white coat said, please continue.

19:27

So they kept going. Every

19:29

single participant allowed themselves to

19:31

be pushed far beyond a

19:34

reasonable breaking point before saying

19:36

no. 65% of participants delivered

19:38

the maximum voltage of shocks.

19:41

Milgram wrote in his paper titled,

19:43

The Perils of Obedience, stark

19:46

authority was pitted against the

19:48

subject's strongest moral imperatives against

19:50

hurting others. And with

19:53

the subject's ears ringing with the screams

19:55

of the victims, authority won

19:57

more often than not. The

19:59

extraneous willingness of adults to go

20:02

to almost any lengths on the

20:04

command of an authority constitutes the

20:06

chief finding of the study and

20:08

the fact most urgently demanding explanation.

20:10

To the

20:12

Manson women, Manson was the ultimate

20:14

authority. They'd follow him to the

20:16

ends of the earth. On

20:19

the night of August 10th, 1969, they

20:23

followed him to Los Feliz. Manson

20:25

directed them through LA's east side

20:28

and told them to turn on

20:30

to Waverly Drive. The family members

20:32

knew this street. Phil Kaufman

20:34

had invited them to parties here at

20:36

Harold True's house. Kaufman was

20:38

the up-and-coming music manager who'd recorded

20:41

Manson's music the year before. Manson

20:44

might have turned his attention away from

20:46

music, but his time trying to break

20:48

into the industry had introduced him to

20:51

LA's wealthier neighborhoods. He saw

20:53

Waverly Drive as a place where important

20:55

people lived, just like Cielo

20:57

Drive. So he figured, if

20:59

any other residents died, it'd be

21:02

newsworthy. Everyone

21:04

waited in the car while Manson hopped

21:06

the fence and snuck into the house.

21:09

He entered through an unlocked back door.

21:11

He made texts go inside with him.

21:14

Inside, they found Leno and

21:16

Rosemary Labianca. They

21:18

were the owners of a successful grocery store

21:20

chain and boutique, respectively. The

21:23

Labianca's were a well-liked, upper-middle-class couple.

21:25

They had no connections to Manson

21:28

or the family. They weren't

21:30

famous. If they were anything,

21:32

they were unlucky. That

21:36

night, Leno was asleep on the couch. When

21:39

he awoke to the noise, Charles Manson

21:41

ordered texts to tie the man's hands

21:43

behind his back with some leather ropes

21:45

he'd brought from the ranch. Manson

21:48

went into the bedroom, brought out Rosemary,

21:50

and sat her next to her husband.

21:53

Then he walked outside, pocketing Rosemary's

21:55

wallet on the way. Manson

21:59

retrieved Patricia. and Leslie from

22:01

the car, sending them in. He told

22:03

Tex, make sure everybody

22:05

does something. As

22:08

they went inside, Manson hopped into

22:10

the driver's seat, greeting Linda, Clem,

22:12

and Susan. He started the car

22:15

and drove to Denny's. Inside

22:19

the LaBianca house, slaughter

22:21

ensued. Tex

22:23

put a pillowcase over Lino LaBianca's head

22:26

and wrapped a lamp cord around the

22:28

man's neck and mouth. He

22:30

instructed Patricia and Leslie to take Rosemary

22:32

into the bedroom and do the same

22:35

thing to her. When

22:37

they were out of sight, Tex stabbed

22:39

Lino with a bayonet. From

22:41

the bedroom, Rosemary screamed, what

22:44

are you doing to my husband? She

22:46

tried to run to Lino, but the lamp

22:48

cords wrapped around her neck were still plugged

22:50

into the wall. As Rosemary

22:52

strained against the cords, Patricia stabbed

22:54

her with a kitchen knife. Then

22:57

Tex came in with his bayonet.

23:01

When Rosemary was dead, Tex returned to

23:03

the living room and stabbed Lino a

23:05

few more times. Once

23:07

he was sure Lino was dead, Tex

23:10

instructed Leslie to stab

23:12

Rosemary's body, following Manson's

23:14

command that everyone participate.

23:17

In total, Leslie and Tex

23:20

stabbed Rosemary LaBianca 41 times.

23:23

Patricia and Tex left Lino with more

23:26

than a dozen stab wounds and

23:28

a carving fork lodged into his

23:30

abdomen. This was likely a

23:33

reference to the Beatles song, Piggy's,

23:35

which includes the lyric, you

23:37

can see them out for dinner

23:39

with their piggy wives, clutching forks

23:41

and knives to eat their bacon.

23:45

Perhaps to nail the music reference, the

23:47

killers used Lino's blood to write, death

23:49

to pigs on the wall. Then

23:53

they carved the word war into

23:55

his stomach and used his blood

23:58

to paint the word rise. on

24:00

the walls. According to

24:02

Greg Jacobson, the talent agent who

24:05

explored a Manson family documentary, Manson

24:07

often repeated the word rise, especially

24:09

in connection with the Beatles song

24:11

Blackbird. The song's chorus includes

24:14

the phrase, you were only waiting

24:16

for the moment to arise. Manson

24:19

read it as a message telling black

24:21

people to rise against their white oppressors.

24:24

So rise was both a Beatles reference

24:26

and a red herring in his race

24:29

war plot. The final

24:31

nod was left in the kitchen

24:33

on the refrigerator door. Patricia wrote,

24:35

Helter Skelter, though she spelled

24:37

it wrong. The

24:40

killers must have been feeling cocky

24:42

because instead of fleeing the scene,

24:44

they took their time showering and

24:46

eating the LaBianca's food before hitchhiking

24:48

back to spawn ranch. As

24:52

Tex, Pat and Leslie followed Manson's

24:54

orders, then and the

24:56

rest of the women, Linda, Clem and

24:58

Susan arrived at Denny's. There

25:01

Manson told Linda to leave Rosemary's

25:03

wallet in the restaurant bathroom. His

25:06

plan was for a black woman

25:08

to find the wallet, steal the

25:10

credit cards inside and then be

25:12

blamed for the LaBianca's murders. Then

25:14

they sat down at the restaurant,

25:16

but instead of ordering pancakes, Manson

25:19

asked his followers who else they

25:21

might kill. Manson

25:23

recalled Linda telling him about a

25:26

Lebanese American actor named Saladin Nader

25:28

whom she'd met while panhandling. Linda

25:31

had gone back to the actor's home in Venice

25:33

to have sex. Manson asked if

25:35

Linda remembered the building where the actor

25:37

lived. Linda said yes,

25:40

but when Manson handed her a knife

25:42

and told her she was going to

25:44

find Nader and slit his throat, Linda

25:47

balked. The bloody events

25:49

of the previous night had sickened her and

25:51

she did not want to be a part

25:53

of more violence. She said, Carly,

25:56

I'm not you. I can't

25:58

kill anybody. Manson

26:00

ignored her. He needed

26:03

as many high-profile deaths as possible

26:05

to ignite Helter Skelter. He

26:08

dropped the family members off in front of

26:10

the actor's apartment. He gave

26:12

Linda a knife and told her

26:15

to slit the man's throat. Then

26:18

Manson drove away, back to Spahn

26:21

Ranch. They

26:23

climbed the building's staircase. Susan and Clem

26:25

were close behind her. She

26:27

walked past her old friend's apartment to

26:29

the next door down. She

26:31

knocked. An older man

26:33

answered the door, looking as if he just woke

26:36

up. Linda said, excuse

26:38

me, and left the man alone. She told

26:41

Susan and Clem it must have been the wrong

26:43

apartment and she couldn't remember where he lived. So

26:46

the three hitchhiked back to Spahn

26:48

Ranch. Linda's lie

26:50

saved Nader's life. All

26:53

she could hope for now was that

26:55

Helter Skelter would come before Manson ordered

26:58

her to kill again. When

27:11

the news of the La Bianca murders

27:13

broke, LA was thrown into a frenzy.

27:15

Charles Manson was sure this was the

27:18

beginning of Helter Skelter. He waited for

27:20

news of riots in the streets, but

27:22

after a full day, he was left

27:25

disappointed. There were no riots,

27:27

no race wars, and the police were on

27:29

to the Manson family. Within

27:31

weeks, they raided Spahn Ranch,

27:34

but they weren't investigating murder.

27:37

They were investigating car thefts,

27:39

and the Manson family didn't

27:41

face consequences. They got off

27:43

on a technicality. Still,

27:45

it was enough to spook Manson.

27:48

He thought it might be a signal

27:50

that someone was spilling family secrets. He

27:53

blamed Donald Shorty Shea, an employee

27:55

of the ranch owner. Shorty

27:58

didn't care for the family's presence. at the

28:00

ranch, and he often advised his boss to kick

28:02

them out. Given his

28:04

animosity towards Manson, Shorty made

28:07

a convenient scapegoat. Some

28:09

night in late August, about two weeks

28:11

after the Tate and LaBianca murders, Manson

28:14

and two followers took Shorty Shea

28:16

out into the desert and

28:19

killed him. The latest

28:21

murder didn't quell Manson's paranoia. He

28:23

moved the family to the place

28:25

they'd been preparing at Barker Ranch

28:27

in Death Valley. He told

28:29

them it was time to find The Pit.

28:33

The Pit was a recurring theme of

28:35

Manson's sermons. For the family, it was

28:37

a safe place in which they could

28:39

hide during the race war. Then

28:41

they'd emerge and rule the world.

28:45

When they reached the desert, Manson sent

28:47

the family on daily excursions to find

28:49

The Pit. Each night,

28:51

when they returned from a day of searching,

28:53

exhausted, they would gather around

28:55

a fire, take hits of acid, and

28:58

listen to Manson preaching about helter-skelter and

29:00

their new life. Though,

29:02

at this point, their life looked the same.

29:05

Barker Ranch was a rustic, bare-bones

29:07

set of cabins in the middle

29:09

of nowhere, certainly no improvement from

29:11

Spawn Ranch. They were still broke,

29:14

using drugs, and resorting to petty

29:16

crime to make ends meet. The

29:21

locals easily figured out that the wave

29:23

of petty theft was connected to the

29:25

cult that had moved in down the

29:27

road and reported them to police. With

29:30

tensions rising and no sign of

29:33

the mystical Pit, members started peeling

29:35

off from the cult, including Tex

29:37

Watson, who went back to Texas.

29:41

But the true nail in the coffin

29:43

came in early October 1969. One

29:46

of the Manson women, Kitty Lutsinger,

29:49

had been asking why Bobby Beausoleil

29:51

was in police custody. Kitty

29:53

cared because she was pregnant

29:56

with Beausoleil's baby. Susan

29:58

told Kitty about how they'd tortured and

30:01

killed Gary Hinman that summer. She

30:03

looked proud as she recounted the

30:06

murder, even laughing, and it was

30:08

that terrifying pride that pushed Kitty

30:10

over the edge. On

30:12

October 9th, 1969, Kitty and another woman fled

30:17

Barker Ranch and went straight

30:19

to the police. The

30:21

next day, October 10th, the

30:23

Park Service Highway Patrol and Inyo

30:25

County Sheriff's Department raided

30:27

Barker Ranch. Authorities

30:30

made 10 arrests, but they

30:32

did not locate Charles Manson. By

30:35

chance, he was visiting LA. It

30:37

was a miracle for him. When

30:40

the authorities came back a few

30:43

days later, the ranch appeared abandoned,

30:45

but as California Highway Patrolman James

30:47

Purcell made a sweep inside the

30:49

house, he found a lit

30:51

candle flickering on the table and he

30:53

knew that someone must be home. Purcell

30:57

searched the bathroom. Right

30:59

before his eyes, the door of a

31:01

small cabinet by the sink swung open

31:04

and Charles Manson emerged.

31:07

Purcell said, "'If you make one false

31:09

move, I'll blow your head off.'" To

31:12

which Manson replied, "'Hi.'"

31:17

Manson was arrested and brought to a jail

31:19

in Inyo County, along with the rest of

31:21

the family. Once serious

31:24

interrogations began, everything

31:26

unraveled. Susan Atkins

31:28

confessed to Gary Hinman's murder, then

31:31

bragged to her fellow inmates about

31:33

the Tate-LaBianca murders. Linda

31:35

Kasabian quickly agreed to testify against

31:38

the family in exchange for immunity.

31:40

And thanks to fingerprints lifted from

31:43

the scene, Leslie Van Houten, Tex

31:45

Watson, and Patricia Krenwinkle were

31:47

charged with the LaBianca and Tate

31:49

murders. What followed was

31:52

nothing short of a media circus.

31:55

In March 1970, the

31:57

Manson family members who weren't going to trial

32:00

produced and released an album to

32:02

raise money for Manson's defense. That

32:05

same month, Phil Kaufman finally released the

32:07

album he'd helped Manson produce in the

32:09

summer of 1968, titled,

32:13

Lie, The Love and Terror

32:15

Cult. Charles

32:17

Manson finally had what he wanted.

32:19

His music was for sale, and

32:22

he was world famous. There

32:25

was just the small problem of the pending

32:27

murder trials. They began on

32:29

July 24, 1970.

32:33

As four of the Manson family women walked into

32:35

court one of the days, they

32:37

sang in unison, seemingly still under

32:39

Manson's control. From

32:42

the jump, it was clear Manson and his

32:44

followers had committed the murders. Susan

32:47

Atkins and Linda Kasavian had

32:49

revealed everything. But

32:51

Susan's testimony was unusual. She didn't

32:54

seem to realize that she was

32:56

incriminating Manson. She saw

32:58

her testimony as an opportunity

33:00

to proselytize about Manson's godlike

33:02

powers. She was

33:05

seemingly still under his influence. So

33:07

were his other followers. At

33:10

one point during the trial, Manson

33:12

managed to sneak something sharp into

33:14

his jail cell. He carved a

33:16

small X in his forehead, just

33:18

above his eyebrows. Then he

33:20

arranged for a family member to pass

33:22

out a written statement outside the courthouse.

33:25

It read, I have X'd

33:27

myself from your world. No

33:29

man or lawyer is speaking for

33:31

me. I speak for myself.

33:34

I am not allowed to speak with words, so

33:36

I have spoken with the mark I will be

33:38

wearing on my forehead. After

33:44

he did this, some of the family

33:47

women appeared at the courthouse with X's

33:49

gouged into their foreheads. Still

33:51

the trial moved forward, though Manson lost

33:54

the privilege of acting as his own

33:56

attorney. He denied all responsibility,

33:58

telling the truth. the court, these

34:02

children that come at you with

34:04

knives, they are your children. You

34:07

taught them. I didn't teach them. I

34:09

just tried to help them stand up. As Rolling

34:14

Stone detailed years later in

34:16

a 2019 article, Manson told

34:18

the court he blamed society

34:20

and he blamed musicians saying, is

34:24

it a conspiracy that the music

34:26

is telling the youth to rise

34:28

up against the establishment because the

34:31

establishment is rapidly destroying things? It

34:34

is not my conspiracy. It is

34:36

not my music. I hear

34:38

what it relates. It says

34:40

rise. It says kill. Why

34:43

blame it on me? I didn't write

34:45

the music. It's

34:47

the Beatles, the music they're putting

34:49

out. These kids listen to this

34:52

music and pick up the message. It's

34:54

subliminal. Never mind

34:56

the fact that Charles Manson was the

34:58

one telling his followers exactly what these

35:00

messages in the music were and

35:03

how to find them. He

35:05

made enough of a case that

35:07

during deliberations the jury requested a

35:09

record player and the white album.

35:11

This way they could decipher any

35:13

hidden messages for themselves. The

35:16

jury listened closely and one

35:18

week later they convicted Manson and

35:21

his followers of murder.

35:24

It was clear to them the messages of

35:26

evil didn't come from the Beatles. They

35:29

came from Charles Manson. That

35:32

April Charles Manson, Patricia Krenwinkle,

35:35

Tex Watson, Susan Atkins and

35:37

Leslie Van Houten were all

35:40

sentenced to death. When

35:43

California briefly overturned the state's death

35:45

penalty before restoring it, their sentences

35:48

were commuted to life in prison.

35:50

In 2023 Leslie

35:53

Van Houten was released on parole after

35:55

being denied more than 20 times. Linda

35:59

Cassabia and served no time because

36:01

of her plea deal, but went into

36:03

hiding until she died in February, 2023.

36:08

Bobby Bosile is still in prison

36:10

for Gary Hinman's murder. He's been

36:12

denied parole 19 times. But

36:16

even with most members behind

36:18

bars, the Manson family continues

36:20

to cause pain. Manson

36:22

girl Lynette Frome was uninvolved with the

36:25

murders, but made headlines in 1975 for

36:28

attempting to assassinate President Gerald

36:30

Ford. She said she

36:33

did it to impress Manson. Meanwhile,

36:36

dark associations still haunt the

36:38

Beatles. In the

36:41

Beatles anthology, Paul McCartney said,

36:43

it was frightening because you don't write

36:46

songs for those reasons. In

36:48

the same book, George Harrison said he

36:50

was deeply upset to be associated with

36:52

Manson. It was even

36:54

worse for Ringo Starr, who knew

36:57

Sharon Tate personally. And

36:59

before he died, John Lennon denounced

37:01

the murders, saying it was the

37:03

worst possible version of fans drawing

37:05

meanings from lyrics that were never

37:08

there. Out of

37:10

respect for the victims, the Beatles refused

37:12

to play the song, Halter Skelter, live.

37:15

Though in 2004, Paul McCartney did

37:17

play it as a solo act, perhaps

37:20

in an attempt to reclaim it.

37:23

After all, it was only ever supposed to

37:25

be about a slide. Charles

37:28

Manson spent the rest of his

37:31

life trying and failing to get

37:33

parole. He died in prison

37:35

in 2017. As

37:38

of 2023, his songs have

37:40

racked up millions of listens

37:43

on music streaming platforms. Thanks

37:54

for listening to

37:57

Serial. A

38:00

Spotify Podcast. We release new

38:02

episodes every Monday. Keep

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Serial Killers Podcast, and TikTok, at

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story to share? Email us

38:14

at serialkillersstories at spotify.com.

38:18

Stay safe out there. Serial

38:24

Killers is a Spotify Podcast.

38:27

This episode was written and

38:29

researched by Christina Pammies, Aaron

38:31

Lan, Nora Battelle, Brian Petrus,

38:33

Mickey Taylor, and Maggie Admire.

38:36

Story edited by Maggie Admire. Fact

38:38

checking by Lori Siegel. And sound

38:40

design by Sam Baer. Our

38:43

head of programming is Julian Vouro. Our

38:45

head of production is Nick Johnson. And

38:47

Spencer Howard is our post-production supervisor.

38:50

I'm your host, Vanessa Richardson. Thanks

38:56

for watching.