Helter Skelter (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - The Legend of Helter Skelter - full transcript

[ominous music]

♪

- Between the times
of the murders on Cielo Drive

until the arrest
of December the 1st,

many months before the trial,

I went down
to the Spahn Movie Ranch

and thought, "What the hell
is going on here?"

This place was a cesspit.

It was stinking.

There was beaten up,
abandoned cars

all over the place.



And then I encountered
the delectable and delightful

Sandra Good
and Lynne "Squeaky" Fromme,

who told me that Charlie
was innocent of anything

and was pursuing
happiness and joy

and all that sort of stuff.

And then I was lucky enough

to bump into Paul Watkins
and Brooks Poston,

who just happened
to be visiting the ranch

and had come back
to see their pals.

They knew Charlie was arrested,

they knew he was in jail,

and they knew
who was in jail with him.

So they were not too scared
to come back.

It was a stroke of luck.



I mean, then they
then opened up to me

over a couple of days,
and all of a sudden,

I heard this unbelievable
story of Charles Manson.

And not only
was there a coming race war,

but it was predicted
in songs like "Helter Skelter"

that were secret messages
to Charlie Manson

from the Beatles.

As a journalist,

you should have a streak
of cynicism about you,

but it was so outrageous

and it kind of added up
rather well

to what had happened.

After that,
I wrote a very quick book

called "5 to Die,"

and the book came out

two or three months
before the trial.

And then guess what.

Nine months later, July 1970,

Vincent Bugliosi
stood up and said,

"Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury,

"I will show you that
the motive for these murders

"was Charles Manson's belief

"that there was gonna be
a race war.

"And he got the message
from a group

from Liverpool, England."

- Now, this is far out
and unbelievable,

but a motive
for a murder like this,

you're simply not gonna find
within the pages

of a textbook on police science.

That's all there is to it.

- And then years later,

I ran into Mr. Aaron Stovitz,
and he said,

"You know, your book,
Vincent took it.

"He said he used
your Beatles thesis

as the blueprint
for the prosecution."

And that when
I sat in the trial,

it looked like he had.

- You think you're gonna get
a jury to believe that story?

- Whether they believe it or not

is legally irrelevant.

We do not have to prove

the reason why they did it.

- You could call Vincent back.

He would deny it vehemently,
but there it is.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

♪

[tense ambient music]

[low, indistinct chatter]

- Charlie was a showman
on top of everything else.

And that's part of the way
he wielded power

over the family members.

From the first day of the trial,

he was having
his Hollywood moments.

- [echoing] You're doing this
to all these children.

- He has a scab
in the form of an X

on his forehead in blood.

Manson has taken
the position that

that is a symbolic gesture

indicating that
he has x-ed himself

out of society at large.

- The girls
x-ed their own foreheads.

♪

Several of the girls
were sitting out front

of the Hall of Justice.

They were freaky.
They were a spectacle.

Girls: ♪ Oh, whisper words,
you come to me ♪

♪ The song I sing
for all to see ♪

♪ The past is gone,
and now I know ♪

♪ Inside the cell,
nowhere to go ♪

- What people don't realize
is behind the scenes,

this trial was the Manson show.

He was a puppet master.

He was pulling
everybody's strings,

even if they weren't
aware of it.

- Charlie had a good PR thing
going for him.

He had Sandy Good
and Squeaky Fromme

and a couple other girls

that would talk about
all good things Charlie

to anybody
that wanted to listen.

- I showed up on the first day
of the trial,

and Squeaky gave me
a sheet saying,

"I've x-ed myself
out of the world."

She knew who I was,

and she'd known
that I had written the book,

which was not positive
towards Mr. Manson.

And she said in a sweet,
sing-song voice, she said,

"Do you know what it feels like

to have a sharp knife
slipped down your throat?"

[ominous music]

I went away,
went into the courthouse,

called my wife,

told her to take
my one-year-old daughter,

leave the house
until further notice.

[clicking]

- I covered, by that time,
a number of trials,

including one of the biggest
trials of the country,

and that was the Sirhan trial.

And I had never seen
a prosecutor

hand out copies
of his opening statement,

which he read, word for word.

You have to remember
there were no cameras

in the courtroom,
and there was no recording

in the courtroom,
so by handing out copies

of his opening statement,

Bugliosi ensured
that not only was it reported

the way that he wanted it
to be reported,

but it was reported
in more depth.

That was a very smart move
on his part.

- I felt that
his opening statement,

which was brilliant,

was maybe not true entirely,

but it was the greatest job

of promoting a trial
that I had ever heard.

- What about the Helter Skelter?

- Well, as I indicated,
to Charles Manson,

he had an obsession
with Helter Skelter.

He constantly predicted that
Helter Skelter was coming down.

- What about Helter Skelter?

- That's the district
attorney's illusion.

That's his trick.

Helter Skelter
was a nightclub in the desert.

It's where I run a poker game
and I shoot dice.

And I make money and I ride
around in dune buggies.

- I discussed
with Vincent Bugliosi

on a dozen occasions.

To get the conviction
he felt was necessary,

jurors had to get a better sense

of the sheer fantasy/insanity

that reigned on Spahn Ranch
and the den.

He wasn't making anything up,

but he'd found some facts
that, if presented

in the right way,

would get the verdict that
he felt those crimes deserved.

[voice echoing]

[girls singing indistinctly]

- It was 6 1/2 months ago

that the Manson Family
was arrested for murdering

Sharon Tate and six others.

Since then, they've been
in and out of court

dozens of times trying to get
the charges dropped.

- How you doing, Charlie?
- Good.

- Manson has talked
in the hallway.

He has criticized the court.
- Pardon?

- He has said
he can't get a fair trial.

- It's all a play, isn't it?

- One member of Manson's family

will testify against him,
Linda Kasabian,

who says she was a lookout
during the murders.

[suspenseful music]

♪

- Linda Kasabian
was only with the family

for about a month.

She was given a tentative
offer of immunity

if, on the stand,
she told everything she knew.

- Well, Linda was testifying
now because Susan Atkins

had taken away her testimony

and gotten back into the fold.

- Linda Kasabian,
a 21-year-old member

of the so-called Manson Family

and the state's star witness,

testified
for the third straight day.

- She said
that she and three others

had just crawled over the fence

into the estate area

when the leader of her group,
Tex Watson,

shot a man in a car

who was driving
out of the driveway.

From then on, she said she heard

screams from the house,
saw people running out,

and said it was unbelievably,
horribly terrible.

Mrs. Kasabian said she saw
Watson stabbing one man

on the lawn near the house,

and that Patricia Krenwinkel
had a knife

and was chasing another woman
across the lawn.

The witness turned away
when she was shown a picture

of one victim, Steven Parent.

She said he had begged
not to be hurt.

After the killings,
she said that

Ms. Krenwinkel, Ms. Atkins,

complained that the victims
had pulled their hair

and that Ms. Krenwinkel
said her hand hurt

because her knife had struck
bone in one of the victims.

- You gentlemen
could see for yourselves.

She appeared to be quite honest,

quite relaxed,

and answered all questions

that were put to her
that were relevant.

- I'd like to see them just
to fall down on their knees

and beg forgiveness.

Do I feel that I deserve
to be free?

Morally or legally or what?

I don't understand...
- Any way you like?

- Well, that I feel that I've
told the truth and

that I've probably helped
a lot of people.

- Linda's testimony
is not the truth.

She's been offered immunity.

She gets out if she says
what she is saying.

She gets her children back,

and she gets out of jail.

- How do you know this?
- And I can see the temptation

to cooperate,
but at the same time,

she's hurting five people
and she has to live

in that lie she's telling.

It's not the truth.

- After the trial started,

it became apparent that this
was not like any other trial.

- The case has since
become a bizarre national

and international sensation,

attracting the attention
of everyone

from President Nixon
to the curious people

who sit in the courtroom
where the case is being heard.

- Another bizarre time
was the time

that Charlie held up
the front page

of... I believe it
was the "L.A. Times."

And it said, "Manson Guilty,
Nixon Declares."

They had the jury removed.

They talked about it
and decided to bring

each juror in.

The judge says, "And what did
you think about that?"

I said, "Well, if the president

"said that he thought Manson
was guilty

"without hearing
any of the evidence,

that was a pretty stupid
thing to say."

- I don't think
it will have any bearing

on the trial itself.

I'm very confident
that each juror

gave the judge
a truthful answer.

- The remarks of the president
of the United States

were simply indicative
of the climate of opinion,

not only in Los Angeles County,

but throughout the United States

in regard to Manson

and the other defendants' guilt.

- What's the latest, Charlie?

- If you judge my world,
I'll judge yours.

- What came to that, Charlie?
- What's happening?

- Ask the president.

- They claimed a mistrial.

The judge denied the mistrial.

One of the lawyers
was sent to prison

for contempt for giving
Manson the newspaper.

[soft dramatic music]

I was always amused
by the fact that Mr. Bugliosi

claimed that he was hand-picked

out of all the 500
top prosecutors

to run the case.

Well, it wasn't quite that way.

Aaron Stovitz
had been warned many times

to keep his mouth shut
in talking to the press.

One day during the trial,

he made an off-hand remark
about Susan Atkins

being a better actress
than Sarah Bernhardt.

The next day, Stovitz was gone,

and Vincent took over.

And the rest for Vince
is history.

- Vince Bugliosi had been
a star college tennis player

at the University of Miami,
and I think for Bugliosi,

everything in life
was like a set of tennis.

He was going to, you know,
try to control service

and destroy your service.

And he brought that intensity
to the Manson prosecution,

and I think
that's what it took, actually,

to contend with Manson's antics.

- As a prosecutor,
Vincent Bugliosi

was extremely hard-working,

extremely centered upon his job.

When he had a case,

he had a cot in his office,
and he'd sleep there

and he'd just inhale
the whole case

and work and work and work.

- I was put on
as the second chair,

and what Vince
didn't know was that

I was also told that
if Vince got in trouble

with the press,

that I would take over the case.

- I think Vince
was obsessed with the trial,

and Stephen Kay was not
given all that much to do

by Vince because Vince,
as we all know,

solved the whole case
himself single-handedly

with a little bit of help
from the detectives.

Not much help,
but a little bit of help.

- So Barbara Hoyt,
Manson Family member,

she escapes from Barker Ranch
after the murders,

escapes because
she's had a moral break

with Charles Manson.

And she walks out of the desert,

gets home, and the trial comes.

And the family realizes
she's gonna testify

against Manson

because she's given
depositions to the lawyers.

The prosecution has to share

the depositions
with the defense.

They know what she's gonna say.

- Every day
I got a death threat,

sometimes twice a day.

Well, it was Gypsy and Squeaky

and Clem and Sandy.

I mean, they threatened me
every way they possibly could.

They threatened me,
they threatened my family,

so I cooperated with them,

went to Hawaii with them.

- One of the family members
takes her to Honolulu,

and at the airport,
gives her a hamburger.

- And she disappeared
with the hamburger.

And I went to pay for it.

So we sat down. She took a swipe

off the ketchup and ate some.

I ate the hamburger.

And the last thing
she says to me was,

"Just imagine if there were
ten tabs of acid in that."

- There were ten tabs
of acid in the hamburger.

[dramatic music]

- I was high as a kite,
and then somebody said,

you know, "Are you all right?"
And I said, "No."

and I asked him
to call a policeman.

They gave me IV valium
to bring me down

from the acid.

And I told them to call
Mr. Bugliosi

and tell him
I couldn't testify that day.

- I guess valium
has a very extreme impact

on... as she described it,

"My mind was ripped out."

It's a terrible thing
to have gone through.

- Had you ever been
on an LSD trip before?

- Not like that one. [laughs]

- Four more
of Manson's followers

were arrested and charged
with attempting to kill

a prosecution witness
with an overdose of LSD.

[indistinct chatter]

- But she recovered
and testified against Manson.

- Barbara, could you repeat
what you overheard

Susan Atkins say in the kitchen

when you were on the bed
in the other room?

- She said,

"Sharon Tate came out and said,

'what's going on here?'"
Something like that.

And she said, "Shut up, woman."

And then she said,

"Sharon Tate
was the last to die.

She had to watch
the others go first."

- Are you afraid
of Charles Manson?

- [chuckles softly]

Not when there's a bunch
of other people around.

- Well, were you afraid of him

at the time that you decided
to leave Manson and the family?

- Yes.
- Why?

- Because when he got
in the desert,

he got meaner.

[tense ambient music]

- Tex Watson managed
to dodge extradition

for almost a year.

He was the invisible person
in the courtroom,

this hometown good-body
who turned into a monster.

If he appeared in the trial,

Manson would've pointed out

as his lawyers
would've pointed out,

well, Charlie didn't go
to the murder house.

Tex Watson led the killers.

Tex is the one to blame.

Tex knew the Sharon Tate house.

Charlie just said go out.

Tex is the real
number one fiend,

and if Tex had gone
on trial with Manson,

I wouldn't have been surprised

if Manson might've
been acquitted.

- Well, it's been ten months
of hard work, Carl,

and, of course, we're very happy

he's on his way to California.

I think there's something
wrong with the system

that can take an alleged killer

that slaughtered people

and hide him
in the state of Texas

for ten months.

[dramatic music]

- Fires are sweeping
over thousands of acres

of Southern California,
filling the sky with smoke

and threatening
several communities.

It hasn't rained
since last spring.

More than a hundred homes have
been destroyed or damaged.

- The Spahn Ranch was the home
of the Manson Family.

It burned down during the fire.

Since that time,
many members of the family

have disappeared, gone to jail,

and some stand vigil
waiting for Charlie.

- I felt badly
for some of the girls

because they were not eating.

They were really literally
sleeping out there.

And so I would get them milk
from the milk machine

or, you know,
snacks and bring it to them,

which led the prosecutor
to scream at me

and tell me
I was feeding murderers.

But it was hard
not to feel some...

sorrow for these kids

that had been dragged
into this cult,

and now their whole life
was spent on a street corner.

- During the trial,
one day after court

on my way
to where I parked my car,

Squeaky and Sandy Good
snuck up behind me,

and said they were gonna do
to my house

what was done at the Tate house.

Vince had a DA investigator
that was either inside

or in his car outside his house

for the whole trial.

[suspenseful music]

- Charlie would
call us in to visit.

He actually sent me
to Beverly Hills Hotel,

and Vincent Bugliosi
was staying there

'cause he had gotten
some threats.

And I stood outside the hotel

with a kingsnake
wrapped around me.

And he came out, and I said,

"Hey, Boogie,
do you want to pet my snake?"

And he just, like, freaked
that I knew where he was.

♪

- In the last week,
the defendants

in the Manson trial
in Los Angeles

have become
increasingly disruptive.

Twice the court
has had them removed

to another room where
they could hear the testimony

but could not interrupt
the proceedings.

- In those days,
every TV station

had their own artists.

I worked for CBS News
at that time.

I had never set foot
in a courtroom in my life.

And I was thrust
into the center of it.

There were seven artists
covering the Manson trial,

and we sat in the front row.

And at that time, the girls,
I could touch them,

they were so close to me,
the three of them.

[overlapping chatter]

- Charles Manson interrupted
the opening testimony today

to complain
to Judge Charles Older

about the conduct of the trial.

"You are trying
to use this courtroom

to kill me," Manson charged.

"You want me dead."

The judge ordered Manson
to be quiet

or he would be removed
from the courtroom.

- Manson was only 5'2".

He was a short little wiry guy.

- Manson replied,
"The minute I see

"you are going to kill me,

you know what I'm going to do."

And the judge snapped back,

"No. What are you going to do?"

- He jumped up
on the counsel table

with a brand new,

freshly sharpened
number two pencil.

- And all of a sudden,
Manson yells to the judge,

"Somebody ought to cut
your head off, old man."

- Manson screamed,
"I will have you removed

"if you don't stop.

I have a little system
of my own."

Then he jumped up
and hurled himself

over the defense table
in the direction of the judge.

- So he went
at the judge like this.

- The bailiff
tackled him in midair,

and it happens in an instant.

You know, everybody sat
stunned in the courtroom.

- And as they struggled
to take him out,

Manson again shouted,
"You think I'm kidding?

"In the name
of Christian justice,

someone should
cut your head off."

- The judge had the composure,

leaned over the bench and said,

"Let the record reflect
Mr. Manson

"has made a lunge for the bench,

and is now being subdued
by the deputies."

- The trial continued with
Manson and his girl followers

listening over a loud speaker
in another room.

[dark music]

- Today's proceedings
were somewhat more spontaneous

than yesterday's.

- Bugliosi was obsessed.

He felt he had to have
every person

that ever set foot
at Spahn Ranch testify.

And so you had the guy
who shoveled horse manure,

motorcycle gangs,

people who just
stopped by there.

- He called in witnesses

who didn't really
talk about the murders.

They talked
about Helter Skelter,

and Charlie's idea

that there was
going to be a race war.

- One of the key pieces
of testimony

came from Danny DeCarlo

about the lifestyle,
the drugs that they used,

and the guns at the Spahn Ranch.

- We had fun shooting guns.

- Mm-hmm.
- No doubt about that.

- He took us down
to the place behind the ranch

where Charlie used to fire
the Buntline revolver,

and that's where we found
shell casings,

which we matched up with one
of the murder weapons.

- How are you?
How are you feeling?

- I'm nervous.

- In a case that has been
particularly gruesome,

today's testimony was perhaps
the most horrifying yet.

Prosecution witness
Virginia Graham

had shared a jail cell
with Susan Atkins,

and she testified
that Ms. Atkins told her

she had killed Sharon Tate.

[dramatic chords]

Mrs. Graham
went on with several hours

of gruesome details.

[indistinct chatter]

- Gregg Jakobson
was fascinated by Manson,

and he was a crucial witness
for the prosecution

because Jakobson reiterated

that Manson spent
hours and hours

talking about the Beatle lyrics,

and particularly
"Helter Skelter"

and how they were messages
to him from the Beatles.

- During Melcher's testimony,

he made it clear
that he'd never offered Manson

a recording contract.

He thought the music was average

or nothing special.

Brooks Poston and Paul Watkins

left the Manson Family
before the murders.

They escaped
and they both testified

for the prosecution.

- He said Manson
gave him a knife and told him,

"If you are with us,

"you will take this knife,

"sneak into the sheriff's home,

and cut his throat."

Poston admitted
he defied Manson's orders

and did not kill the sheriff,

something the defense
said showed that Manson

did not control Poston.

Another witness, Paul Watkins,

said he often heard
Manson talk about

starting a race war by killing
whites in rich suburbs

and making it appear
that blacks had done it.

- Paul Watkins testified,
"Death was Charlie's trip."

- Some people are saying
the more domination

you put on Manson
over his family,

you're going
in the direction, then,

of lessening the culpability

of those who were dominated

to the point where maybe
they're not guilty, Paul.

Because if you're simply
a robot or an automaton,

then you lack criminal intent.

So I presented evidence
to the jury

that there were
other members of the family

that were equally
slavishly obedient

to Charles Manson,

do anything
in the world for him,

but they wouldn't kill for him.

And I told the jury
when those words,

Helter Skelter,
were found printed in blood

at the LaBianca murder scene,

that was tantamount
to Manson's fingerprints

being found at the murder scene.

That was his motive.

- I was very worried
about testifying.

We went to the trial,

and I was scared that I was
gonna hear Charlie's voice

and that he was gonna
be able to intimidate me enough

that I, you know, I wouldn't be
able to tell the truth.

When I went into
and faced Charlie,

Charlie was, you know,
at the defense table.

One of the first things
that I was asked was,

"Did you love Charlie?"

And it was like,
"Yeah, I guess... I guess I did."

I mean, I did have love for him,

or I had had love for him.

The first thing Charlie says is,

"Don't pin it all on Mr. Manson.

She loved everybody."

And it just... you know,
and he did it in such a way

that, you know,
he totally had dismissed

what I said.

And he was playing the crowd.

I was very much relieved that...

Oh, yeah,
he doesn't have, you know,

he doesn't have control
over me anymore.

I don't hear his voice.

You know, and he just looked
like this little...

This little con man pimp,
you know?

- Charles Manson
has been listening now

for 14 weeks
to witnesses who say

he and the three girl defendants

are guilty of the Tate
and LaBianca murders.

Soon he'll get a chance
to defend himself.

- Three young woman charged
along with Charles Manson

in the murders
first wanted to testify,

to confess,
it was widely speculated.

But they insisted
the jury hear them.

They were refused
and then decided

they didn't want
to say anything.

- Manson, however,
did address the court

in a rambling, quite amazing,

one-hour dissertation
about life and...

I mean, without notes.

- Through it all,
he was soft-spoken,

at one time appearing
near tears.

Often Manson
lost track of his story,

telling some things
over and over,

and then continuing incoherently

into another chapter
in his uneven life story.

Only once
did he directly respond

to the accusations against him.

He said, "I have killed no one,

and I have ordered
no one to be killed."

In apparent reference

to his female codefendants,
Manson continued,

"These children
who come at you with knives,

"they are your children.

I did not teach them, you did."

- And after Manson
finished his rant,

the judge said, "Now, we'll
bring the jury in Mr. Manson,

"and perhaps you'd like to say

whatever you want to say
to the jury,"

and Manson said, "I've said it."

He said,
"I'm not gonna testify."

He didn't testify to the jury,

and he told the girls
not to testify.

So you had a murder trial,
capital case,

death penalty on the line,

and none
of the defendants testified.

Then the defense
came out and said,

"We have no witnesses."

Nobody testified.

- Actually, we thought
it was very, very dangerous

for him to take the stand,
and it's very dangerous

to subject yourself
to cross-examination.

- Are you pleased with the fact

that the defense is seemingly
offering no defense?

- No, Stan, I'm not.

Obviously, I'm a prosecutor,
and I seek convictions

in any case that I'm on.

However, I always welcome
and I encourage

a very spirited,
vigorous defense.

- No one is really certain
what happens next.

It has been that kind of trial
for 23 weeks.

- Just when the prosecution

and the defense
rested their case,

one of the lawyers
for Leslie Van Houten,

Ronald Hughes, disappeared.

[eerie music]

During the trial,
I heard personally

that Ron Hughes suggested
that Leslie Van Houten's case

be separated from the rest
of the Manson Family,

and Charlie immediately
got angry at that and said,

"No way."

And then suddenly,
Ronnie Hughes disappeared.

- Well, we received
some information this morning

from a very close personal
acquaintance of Mr. Hughes

that Hughes contacted him
on Thanksgiving Eve

and asked for a ride
to the Sespe Hot Springs area,

Ventura County, which is
a remote mountainous area.

We're actually concerned
for his physical safety.

- Four months
after he disappeared,

his body was found in a river.

- The attorney who replaced
Hughes, Maxwell Keith,

was prepared
to go into court today

and ask that a mistrial be
declared for Ms. Van Houten.

But when court opened,
before he could do that,

there was a wild melee between
the three girl defendants,

matrons, and deputies.

It began when Ms. Van Houten
objected to her new attorney.

She shouted at the judge,
refused to sit down,

then she struck out
at the bailiffs.

- Morning, Charlie.
- Morning.

- Any comment at all?

- I have a big laugh. [laughs]

[tense music]

- Irving Kanarek,
Mr. Manson's attorney,

is in the fifth day
of a marathon

final address to the jury,

the longest summation to a jury

in a criminal case
in California.

He's been accused
of conducting a filibuster,

and he says
he is still not through.

- Kanarek droned on so endlessly

that the jurors requested
No Doz pills to stay awake.

- It will be well after
the first of the year

before the arguments
and the instructions

are completed, and the jury

will finally begin
its deliberations.

[helicopter whirring]

- We all took it very seriously.

Took a lot of handwritten
notes during the trail.

[suspenseful music]

And we had four defendants

so you had to talk about
the defendants individually

and talk about the evidence
that related

to each one of them.

But with regard
to Leslie Van Houten,

I was the lone holdout
for a while.

I had a little different take

on her involvement
than most of the other jurors

because Leslie Van Houten
was only involved

on the second night,

and of all the people
that were stabbed,

she only stabbed one person,
Rosemary LaBianca,

after she died.

But I began to see it
as she was equally guilty.

- It took 42 1/2 hours
of deliberating

before the jury sent out word
that it had indeed

reached a verdict.

- We sat there for a while

before we notified the bailiff,

just letting it all sink in.

And then we called the bailiffs
and said we have a verdict.

- The courtroom was packed

as the jury foreman
handed over the forms

on which the decisions
were written.

The three girls on trial,
Susan Atkins,

Patricia Krenwinkel,
and Leslie Van Houten,

grinned and talked
among themselves.

Charles Manson smiled
and stroked his beard,

then the verdicts were read.

- There's something called
the California conspiracy rule

that said any member
of a conspiracy

is equally guilty
of any crimes committed

by his coconspirators,

and Charlie
was obviously the head

of the conspiracy.

So that's what got Charlie.

Guilty. Seven counts of murder,

and one count of conspiracy
to commit murder.

- You've heard the verdict.
How do you feel now?

- Are you guys proud of a system

where a man
cannot defend himself?

There's a revolution
coming very soon.

- What are you going to do
right now?

- We're gonna stay here
until Charlie's out.

[camera shutter clicking]

- Could you have won the case
outside of Los Angeles?

- Yes, I think
we could've won the case

outside of Los Angeles.

I think that we were forced
to select a jury

from a very hostile
and antagonist community.

- I don't believe that.

This jury is 12 people
chosen from this community.

They based their verdict
solely and exclusively

on the evidence that came
from that witness stand.

They were not influenced
in any fashion whatsoever

from any pretrial publicity.

This is just weeping
on the part of the defense.

- Are you going to ask
for the death penalty?

- Yes.

- The nearly eight-month
ordeal of sequestration

for the jurors is not over.

The seven men and five women

will continue to be locked
in a hotel each night

until they decide
life or death sentences

in the penalty phase
of the trial,

which will begin Thursday
and could take several weeks.

[helicopter whirring]

[dramatic music]

- When the penalty
phase started,

everything was different.

The girls had decided to testify

and confess to everything

and absolve Charlie
from any responsibility.

That was their mission from him.

- It wasn't going to change
the outcome of the verdict,

but during the penalty phase,

you're looking
for mitigating factors.

And they were trying
to save his life.

♪

- Manson shaved his head.

They ended up
with shaved heads as well,

which stunned everybody.

Manson eventually
turned that X into a swastika.

He looked more menacing.

- I was in jail for 90 days
for Barbara Hoyt,

and one of the girls
comes to visit me

and has a piece of paper

that she puts on the glass,
and it said,

"The girls want you to testify,

and this is what
they want you to say."

[helicopter whirring]

She said, "Read every word,"
and she said,

"Now, Charlie's gonna be
in the courtroom

listening to every word,
you dig?"

Like he used to say, "You dig?"

So I read this crazy story

that was all Linda's idea

because she was
a prosecution witness.

And that's when
Vincent Bugliosi said to me,

"You're saying all this
to make sure that

"Charles Manson doesn't go
to a gas chamber, right?"

And I said, "No."

And I was just splintered.
I was just saying

what everybody
expected me to say.

I was acting,

the biggest acting job
I've ever done.

- And so they began
to take the stand,

one after the other,

and tell
the most horrific stories

with details
that we had not heard

during the trial.

They were now convicted,
of course,

and so they could say anything.

And their own lawyers
refused to question them

because they felt that
they were committing suicide

on the stand.

They would just let them
go up there and talk,

and the judge allowed it.

Susan was devastating.

I mean, she talked about
stabbing Sharon Tate.

- It was the first time
the jurors have heard

an admission of guilt
from any of the four

convicted murderers.

Ms. Atkins said
it was Linda Kasabian

who picked the Tate house
for the killings

because she said she had once
been to the home to buy drugs,

had been badly treated,
and wanted revenge.

She said Charles Manson
was not to blame.

- We drove to the house

with instructions
to kill everyone in the house.

- It was probably
the most grisly day

of the entire trial,
and it was the most horrible.

[dark music]

- On the evening of August 8th,

Charles Manson gathered
some of his family members,

Susan Atkins and Tex Watson,

Linda Kasabian
and Patricia Krenwinkel,

and directed them to go
to the Cielo Drive residence.

[eerie music]

♪

- I remember
getting in the car with Tex,

and my three co-defendants.
- Tex Watson.

- Tex and I had our own
special little stash

of cocaine.

Yeah, I think it was cocaine
or methadrine.

I'm not sure which.

We both snorted some speed
and got in the car.

We were very, very wired.

♪

As we went in, a car came up.

- The driver of the car
was 18-year-old Steven Parent.

Watson was armed
with a .22 caliber

Buntline revolver
that had a 9-inch barrel.

- Um...

- Boy Steven Parent was killed.

- Right, was killed.
- In the car outside.

- Right.

- Tex shot the gun four times,
bang, bang, bang, bang.

Tex told me to go
to the back of the house.

And him and the girls went
to the front of the house.

- Linda Kasabian saw Watson
at the dining room window,

which was ajar.

She saw him reach in
and push the window up,

took the screen off,
then climbed in.

He then went
and opened the front door.

Atkins and Krenwinkel,
they came in.

They were both armed
with knives.

Watson told them to go check
at the back of the house,

see if there
was anybody else there.

When they walked past
Abigail Folger's bedroom,

she was in bed reading,

and she just waved at Atkins
and Krenwinkel like,

"Well,
I guess they're just guests

of Sharon Tate or whoever."

- The people in the house

were all brought
into the living room.

- Watson smashed Jay Sebring
in the face

with the gun butt

and shot him and stabbed him
seven times.

At that point,
pandemonium broke loose.

- All I can remember seeing
is people just scattering

in different places

and running in different places.

- Abigail Folger ran out
of the back of the house.

Krenwinkel chased her
with an upraised knife,

and on the shutters
next to the back door,

left a fingerprint.

And so with that fingerprint,

Krenwinkel could be placed
inside the residence.

Krenwinkel chased her
to the front yard,

jumped on her,
and started stabbing her.

Abigail Folger
was stabbed 28 times.

Now in the meantime,

Wojciech Frykowski
tried to run out of the house.

- Next thing I know,

a man comes stumbling
out of the house,

covered in blood,
and falls down,

and Tex starts stabbing him.

- Frykowski was hit 13 times
with the gun butt.

He was shot several times,

and he ended up
getting stabbed 51 times.

Atkins, all the while,
had Sharon Tate at knifepoint,

and Sharon Tate was crying
and pleading and begging.

[dramatic music]

♪

- I remember
that I felt nothing.

I felt absolutely nothing
for her

as she begged for her life
and for the life of her baby.

- Watson, with this long rope
that he brought in,

threw the rope
over the high beam,

tied one end
around Jay Sebring's neck,

and the other
around Sharon Tate's neck.

Then Susan Atkins took a towel,

and on the front door
in Sharon Tate's blood

that she had dipped
the towel in,

wrote the word "pig."

[eerie music]

Now, the next day,

Manson gathered Susan Atkins,

Patricia Krenwinkel,
Leslie Van Houten,

Linda Kasabian, Tex Watson,
and Steve Grogan.

They drove around.

Manson gave directions

about where to go.

They ended up at the house
next door

to where Leno
and Rosemary LaBianca lived.

So Manson went up to the house,

found an unlocked door,

and came in.

He was armed with a firearm.

He got the drop on both of them,

and he tied them

with their hands behind
their back with rawhide.

He told the LaBiancas

this was just a robbery,

and that he wasn't
going to hurt them.

- Manson came back,
looked in the car,

and he pointed at Pat and I
and told us to get out

and go do what Tex said.

He said to Tex to make sure
that everybody did something.

- So Watson,
who was armed with a bayonet,

and the two women
entered the house

and immediately Krenwinkel
went to the kitchen

and got knives for herself

and Leslie Van Houten.

- Tex said for Pat and I to take

Mrs. LaBianca into the bedroom.

- Van Houten took
a pillowcase from the bed,

put it over Rosemary's head,

unplugged the lamp
on the nightstand,

and wrapped the cord

around the base
of the pillowcase

with the lamp still attached.

At which point,
Rosemary could hear Leno

getting stabbed
in the front living room.

♪

And Rosemary had
this sudden burst of energy

where she took the lamp cord

and swung the lamp
in Van Houten's direction.

Van Houten knocked
the lamp out of her hands

and wrestled her
down to the bed.

And Krenwinkel,
with the kitchen knife,

stabbed her
as hard as she could,

but hit her collarbone
and the knife blade bent.

Van Houten immediately
ran to the hallway and said,

"Tex, Tex, it's not working."

And so Watson came in,

and Watson and Van Houten
then proceeded

to stab Rosemary LaBianca.

- When I started stabbing,
I didn't...

I didn't really have
any idea in my mind

that it's a real feeling.

It's... it's not even like
cutting a piece of meat.

It's much tougher.

I just completely bled out
on that woman's back.

- Rosemary LaBianca
was stabbed 41 times.

One of the stab wounds
from Watson's bayonet

severed her spinal cord.

Leno was in the living room.

Krenwinkel plunged
the carving fork

in his abdomen seven times,

and then she stabbed him
12 times with a knife.

And she carved the word
"W-A-R" in his abdomen.

After Leno and Rosemary
were murdered,

Watson and Krenwinkel
took showers.

And Leslie Van Houten
went to the refrigerator

in LaBianca's kitchen,
the same refrigerator

that had "Helter Skelter"
in blood written on it.

And she got out
some chocolate milk

and drank the chocolate milk.

I think Watson had some cheese.

♪

When they got Leno
into the coroner's office

and took the pillowcase off,

he had a knife with the handle

protruding out of one side
of the neck,

the blade traversing his neck,
severing a carotid artery,

and part of the blade
sticking out

of the other side of his neck.

- It was
incomprehensible slaughter

of innocent people.

And that was hard for anybody
to get their minds around.

It was beyond drama.

It was horrific.

[suspenseful music]

- Charles Manson preached
the idea of love and peace.

He hid behind the idea of love
and the hippie culture,

but he used it as a shield.

Obviously,
considering executing somebody

is a pretty tough decision.

I think we deliberated
three days for the penalty.

We talked about it
and talked about it,

and we all agreed
that the death sentence

was the right punishment.

- How does it feel to be out?
- Good.

- And so the Manson jury
ends its stay

at the Ambassador Hotel
after seven months

of being sequestered on orders
of Judge Charles Older.

- Today, the judge formally
passed sentence

on Charles Manson and his girls.

The death penalty, he said,
for seven senseless murders.

- What are your thoughts
of the verdict handed down?

- What is the verdict?
- Death.

- For all of them?
- Death for all of them.

- For all.

Uh... you know what?

The system
has just judged itself.

It's just judged itself.
It's all a matter of time now.

You can't kill love.

You can't kill the soul.

And the love and the soul
is in the penitentiaries

and it's in the jails,

and those brothers and sisters
are coming out soon.

And they're gonna judge you
as you have judged them.

[eerie music]

♪

[distorted voice echoes
indistinctly]

- People would visit Charlie.

Squeaky came back and said,

"I got some acid for everybody."

Okay, so we all took acid.

And then she said,

"Charlie would like us
to show the world

how much we love him."

I said, "Okay."

And so she said,
"What we're gonna do is start...

It was around
the Whiskey a Go Go

on Sunset Boulevard.

And we're gonna crawl

all the way
back to the courthouse.

- ♪ If you don't think

♪ This world
is filled with pain ♪

♪ You don't know
that wars become insane ♪

♪ No explanation
is an insult to your brain ♪

♪ Then you try
dying in the rain ♪

- When the acid was coming on,

you kind of feel like
you can do anything

and you don't feel much
physically,

but it got pretty excruciating.

And I thought to myself,

"Well, this does it.

I'll be crippled for life now."

- ♪ When you see
the little children ♪

♪ Play with guns

♪ And you let them think
that killing is fun ♪

♪ If you're too dumb

♪ To know the harm you've done ♪

- The police just checked to see

if any of us had warrants.

- ♪ Try bleeding in the sun

- And I was very glad
when I had warrants

out for me for traffic tickets.

They took me
and Mary Brunner in,

and the other girls crawled on.

- ♪ I've got too much
on my mind ♪

♪ I've got too much
- I still have some scars...

- ♪ On my mind

- On one knee from that crawl.

- How did you get rid
of the X on your forehead?

- I actually did it myself.

Mm-hmm. I sanded it off.

- Oh, my goodness.

- I think it's important when
we look at the Manson Family

to understand that they
operated very much like a cult.

So it starts out
that an individual

with a certain
personality structure

seeks out individuals
who are vulnerable.

[soft dramatic music]

There's an initial stage
where a person is bombarded

with messages of love
and complete acceptance,

so the person feels that

in all of the schools
of thought that led to them

being not good enough,
have now been disintegrated,

and they have found a place
where it's not necessary

to meet any of the criteria
of the outside world.

The person is then isolated,

and there is a relentless effort

to keep the media
away from them.

If it slips though,

the message is that it's lies.
It's untrue.

You only believe
the leader of the cult.

There is then
a period of treating

the person very badly,

either through forced
sexual activity,

beating them, belittling them,

so that what
psychologically happens

is the individual now says,

"I want to get back to a place

"where I get
the perfect acceptance

"that I was getting before,

and I would do absolutely
anything to get it."

All of the strengths
that would create boundaries

between themself and the leader

are disintegrated gradually.

And what Charlie did
was to make people believe

that the disintegration
of their ego

was philosophically driven

and that it was being done
for their own good.

When reality, it was all
the interest of himself.

- The element of con man
in Charlie as a philosopher

was essential because
you can't have a philosopher

or a guru, whatever,
without also being a con man.

- The closer you get
to the Manson case,

the more you focus in,

the less glamorous it becomes,

and you realize
that Charles Manson

took over the lives
of these kids

and hurt everyone,

ruined everyone around him.

Because he had lived in prison

for more than half
of his life at this time,

he was very canny
and was charismatic.

He knew how to twist people.

He knew how to survive.

I think any of us,

if we'd been walking
down the road

in the summer of 1969

and had a fight
with our parents,

could've ended up
in the Manson Family.

- It makes me sad a little bit
when I look back on it

because most of us
just loved each other,

and we didn't realize that...

we were looking up to someone
that was so damaged.

- The thing that was driving
Charlie at that time

was his insecurities,

his fear and paranoia.

And it became directed
at his own people.

- It came during this height

of the hippie culture.

Everybody was looking
for this enlightenment.

And then with these murders,

just out of the blue,
scaring everybody,

and people not knowing
how this happened,

and then to find out
it's this ragtag,

you know, band of guru
Charlie Manson followers.

And then watching them,
you know,

parade down the halls
of justice,

singing in satin dresses
and just looney tunes.

- A part of it, I think,
is because

it's just so hard to believe.

That little thing
that Charlie had,

whatever it was
that made people go to him.

Maybe that's part
of the reason why

we're still talking about it,

that almost supernatural

whatever the heck
it was about him.

Maybe that's it. I don't know.

♪

- There has never been
a lack of interest

in the Manson story

because it is

something that was such
an aberration.

It changed society.

It brings out all of our fear.

- I think
the Charles Manson case

is of enduring fascination

because LA changed forever.

There's a paranoid culture
in modern LA

that was not here in the 1960s.

One of the most
incredible things is that

Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys

could pick up two
of the Manson girls

hitchhiking
on Pacific Coast Highway,

and the next thing you know,
the Manson Family

has moved into his house
in Pacific Palisades.

It was a more innocent time
in that regard,

and the Manson killings
ended that time.

[helicopter whirring]

- People have been brainwashed

or have read so much
about the real reason

behind these murders
was to start a race war

that they believe it,

and I do not think that
that was true.

- A large number of people

believe that it was
this Helter Skelter theory,

which I don't believe,
and if it was not,

then what was it?

That's the question.

- People glamorize the case,
and it wasn't glamorous.

People think Spahn Ranch
was groovy.

Free sex, love.

But it was syphilis and violence

and motorcycle gangs

and rape and degradation.

- Look at the bodies,
look at the lives

that were destroyed.

And singed and paralyzed...

By this man and what he wrought.

- What Charlie wanted
more than anything

was to be famous,
to be important.

And curse his soul...

He did it.
We're still talking about him.

The puppeteer played us,

and he didn't just play us once,

he kept doing it.

He knew what strings to yank,

and when the time was right,

he always did it.

Let's take what we can learn
from Manson

and finally, thank God,
move on past him.

[mellow music]

♪

- ♪ Pull the string,
and I'll wink at you ♪

♪ I'm your puppet

♪

♪ I'll do funny things
if you want me to ♪

♪ I'm your puppet

♪

♪ I'm yours
to have and to hold ♪

♪ Darling,
you've got full control ♪

♪ Of your puppet

♪

♪ Pull another string,
and I'll kiss your lips ♪

♪ I'm your puppet

♪

♪ Snap your finger

♪ And I'll turn you some flips ♪

♪ I'm your puppet

♪

♪ Your every wish
is my command ♪

♪ All you gotta do is wave

♪ Your little hand

♪ I'm your puppet

♪

♪ I'm your puppet

♪

♪ I'm just a toy

♪ Just a funny boy

♪ That makes you laugh
when you are blue ♪

♪

♪ I'll be wonderful

♪ I'll do just what I'm told

♪ I'll do anything for you

♪ 'Cause I'm your puppet

♪

♪ Darling, darling

♪ Darling, darling

♪ I'm your puppet

♪

- Greg, move your head.