WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.299 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're looking 00:00:02.299 --> 00:00:05.440 at a name that really became synonymous with 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.700 the kind of American nightmare, didn't it? Charles 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:11.580 Mills Manson. Absolutely. His story marks, for 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.820 many people, the symbolic end of that whole 1960s 00:00:15.820 --> 00:00:17.780 peace and love idealism. It's a collision, really. 00:00:17.899 --> 00:00:20.059 A collision of what, exactly? Well, profound 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:23.280 systemic failure, his entire life in institutions 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:26.280 crashing headlong into this cultural explosion 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:28.079 of the counterculture. Right. So we're going 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:30.500 to try and unpack the life of Charles Mills Maddox, 00:00:30.620 --> 00:00:33.579 born 1934, a guy who spent, what, over half his 00:00:33.579 --> 00:00:35.859 life locked up before he became this infamous 00:00:35.859 --> 00:00:38.770 figure? That context is everything. That lifetime 00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:41.630 inside before the summer of love, that's what 00:00:41.630 --> 00:00:44.850 we need to trace. So our mission today is follow 00:00:44.850 --> 00:00:46.909 the timeline, try to get inside that bizarre 00:00:46.909 --> 00:00:49.570 ideology he cooked up, look at those weird brief 00:00:49.570 --> 00:00:52.469 brushes with Hollywood, and then the cultural 00:00:52.469 --> 00:00:55.810 scar left by those horrific 1969 murders. And 00:00:55.810 --> 00:00:57.289 we have to start with the conviction itself. 00:00:57.609 --> 00:01:01.210 1971, first -degree murder, conspiracy, seven 00:01:01.210 --> 00:01:03.310 people dead, including Sharon Tate. But the key 00:01:03.310 --> 00:01:05.780 thing was the conspiracy charge, wasn't it? Exactly. 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:09.400 Conspiracy by proxy. The prosecution had to argue 00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:12.299 successfully that even though Manson wasn't, 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:14.280 you know, physically at some of the killings. 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:16.659 Like the Tate murders. Right. His words, his 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:19.480 philosophy, his direct orders. That was the overt 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:21.359 act of conspiracy. That's what got him convicted 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.019 for all of it. So not holding the knife, but 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:26.159 creating the whole twisted belief system that 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:28.719 demanded the violence. Precisely. And it's that 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:33.819 same sort of. That persuasive rhetoric, that 00:01:33.819 --> 00:01:37.079 bizarre charisma that also led him, for a moment, 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.599 into the world of L .A. celebrities. Before the 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:42.319 cult leader, the wannabe rock star, you can't 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:44.439 really ignore his attempt to break into the music 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:46.900 scene. It seems almost peripheral, but it's important. 00:01:47.180 --> 00:01:49.540 It's incredibly strange. Here's this career criminal, 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.060 literally just out of prison, and he somehow 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:54.480 hooks up with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. 00:01:54.659 --> 00:01:57.040 Dennis Wilson. Seriously. Wilson was apparently 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:58.859 quite taken with him at first, called him the 00:01:58.859 --> 00:02:01.239 wizard. Even got him an introduction to Terry 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:04.000 Melcher, the producer, Doris Day's son. Wow. 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:06.400 So Manson was really trying for a record deal. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:09.639 Desperately. And when it fell through, when Melcher 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:12.840 wasn't interested, well, that rejection seems 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:15.740 to loom pretty large, especially considering 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:18.080 where the most famous murders took place. At 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.039 Melcher's old house, a house he'd been rejected 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:24.080 from. OK, that adds a layer. It does. But to 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.000 understand why that rejection might have hit 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.400 so hard, you really have to go back, way back, 00:02:28.699 --> 00:02:30.879 to the walls he spent his whole life inside. 00:02:31.219 --> 00:02:33.599 Okay, let's dig into those institutional years. 00:02:33.900 --> 00:02:36.219 They really are the bedrock of who Manson became. 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:40.900 Born in Cincinnati in 1934, his mother, Ada Kathleen 00:02:40.900 --> 00:02:43.819 Maddox, was only 16. And his biological father, 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:47.580 Colonel Walker Henderson Scott Sr., who he never 00:02:47.580 --> 00:02:49.500 knew was apparently a bit of a con man himself. 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:51.780 Claimed to be an Army colonel, but colonel was 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:54.520 just his first name. So instability from day 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:57.060 one, basically. Utterly. His mom divorced his 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:59.240 stepfather, William Manson, pretty early on, 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:01.780 37, though Charles kept the name. And then the 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:06.000 big one, 1939, Charles is five. His mother and 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.039 uncle get arrested for assault and robbery. Five 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:10.360 years old. And his mom goes to prison. Yep, she 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:12.659 got five years. Charles ended up with an aunt 00:03:12.659 --> 00:03:14.580 and uncle in West Virginia. Not exactly a stable 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:17.080 start. His mom got out in 42, and apparently 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.580 he said that was the happiest time. But it didn't 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:23.729 last, did it? No. By age nine, serious antisocial 00:03:23.729 --> 00:03:26.229 behavior. He even claimed he set his school on 00:03:26.229 --> 00:03:30.830 fire. Then it's just truancy, petty theft, the 00:03:30.830 --> 00:03:32.889 classic pattern kicking in. And the system's 00:03:32.889 --> 00:03:36.550 response was more institutions. Right. Age 13, 00:03:36.689 --> 00:03:39.870 1947, he's at the Cabalt School for Boys, a Catholic 00:03:39.870 --> 00:03:42.009 place, apparently very strict, beatings were 00:03:42.009 --> 00:03:45.250 common. He ran away, predictably. Then his first 00:03:45.250 --> 00:03:48.569 real documented crime on his own. 1948, robbed 00:03:48.569 --> 00:03:50.669 a grocery store. Just wanted food, supposedly, 00:03:50.810 --> 00:03:53.310 but found over $100. Ran in himself a room on 00:03:53.310 --> 00:03:55.889 Skid Row. Briefly tried to legit job Western 00:03:55.889 --> 00:03:57.710 Union, but that didn't stick. Back to crime. 00:03:57.889 --> 00:04:00.530 Grand Theft Auto. Armed robbery. Which landed 00:04:00.530 --> 00:04:02.509 him in the Indiana Boys School. Another tough 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:05.110 place. And it's here, sources say, he develops 00:04:05.110 --> 00:04:07.969 this defense mechanism. The insane game. The 00:04:07.969 --> 00:04:10.270 insane game. What was that? It sounds theatrical, 00:04:10.370 --> 00:04:12.490 but it was pure survival. He was small, right? 00:04:13.250 --> 00:04:15.550 Vulnerable in these places. So to fend off tougher 00:04:15.550 --> 00:04:18.009 inmates, he'd deliberately act crazy. Screeching, 00:04:18.129 --> 00:04:20.089 grimacing, making them think he was totally nuts 00:04:20.089 --> 00:04:22.370 so they'd leave him alone. Wow. So performing 00:04:22.370 --> 00:04:25.149 psychosis as self -defense. Exactly. And you 00:04:25.149 --> 00:04:29.509 can see how that kind of performative control 00:04:29.509 --> 00:04:32.389 could become a tool later on. with his followers 00:04:32.389 --> 00:04:34.649 in the courtroom. And this whole time, he was 00:04:34.649 --> 00:04:37.610 basically illiterate, right? But smart. Yeah, 00:04:37.629 --> 00:04:41.129 tests showed an above -average IQ, 109. But the 00:04:41.129 --> 00:04:43.910 caseworker's assessment was just blunt. Aggressively 00:04:43.910 --> 00:04:46.589 antisocial. That gap between intelligence and 00:04:46.589 --> 00:04:50.310 social malfunction, that's crucial. The crimes 00:04:50.310 --> 00:04:52.470 just kept escalating, even inside. Oh, yeah. 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:54.810 Transferred to a federal reformatory after raping 00:04:54.810 --> 00:04:57.720 a boy at knife point. racked up serious disciplinary 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:00.579 offenses inside, including homosexual acts. He 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:02.740 even got married twice during brief periods outside. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:05.579 To Rothley, Willis had a son, Charles Manson 00:05:05.579 --> 00:05:08.160 Jr., and then Leona Candy Stevens, supposedly 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:10.759 another son, Charles Luther. Right, but mostly 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:13.420 he was inside. And a key reason he stayed inside 00:05:13.420 --> 00:05:15.879 so long was federal charges. Things like crossing 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:19.439 state lines and stolen cars, forged checks, the 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.370 Mann Act. Exactly. And the Mann Act, transporting 00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.730 women across state lines for immoral purposes, 00:05:24.949 --> 00:05:27.850 that plus the interstate stuff, meant federal 00:05:27.850 --> 00:05:30.810 time. And federal sentences back then, even for 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:32.689 things that might seem relatively minor now, 00:05:32.889 --> 00:05:35.250 were often much harsher, much longer than state 00:05:35.250 --> 00:05:37.750 sentences for similar crimes. So he was trapped 00:05:37.750 --> 00:05:40.370 in this federal loop. Pretty much. A vicious 00:05:40.370 --> 00:05:43.009 cycle he couldn't escape, which makes his reaction 00:05:43.009 --> 00:05:45.240 to finally getting out even more chilling. March 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:48.959 21st, 1967. He's 32, spent more than half his 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.639 life locked up. And what does he do? He asks 00:05:51.639 --> 00:05:54.279 to stay, tells the authorities prison is his 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:55.819 home. He doesn't think he can make it on the 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:58.180 outside. Request permission not to be released. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:01.600 That's staggering. The ultimate institutionalization. 00:06:01.620 --> 00:06:04.189 He preferred prison. It speaks volumes about 00:06:04.189 --> 00:06:06.629 his fear of the world, his lack of any real coping 00:06:06.629 --> 00:06:09.230 skills outside that rigid structure, and frankly, 00:06:09.350 --> 00:06:12.009 about the system's total failure to rehabilitate 00:06:12.009 --> 00:06:13.930 or reintegrate him. So they basically kick him 00:06:13.930 --> 00:06:16.569 out anyway. And where does he head? Straight 00:06:16.569 --> 00:06:20.970 into the whirlwind of 1967 California. Right. 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:23.930 Within a month, he's in Berkeley. Then Haight 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:25.990 -Ashbury, the heart of the Summer of Love. He 00:06:25.990 --> 00:06:29.639 starts using LSD. A lot. So the ultimate symbol 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:32.459 of confinement meets the ultimate symbol of, 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:36.379 well, freedom and chaos. And he lands in this 00:06:36.379 --> 00:06:38.720 really unique situation. He's still technically 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.139 on parole, supervised by a guy named Roger Smith. 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:44.420 A federal probation officer? Yes. But Smith was 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:46.500 also a criminology researcher working at the 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:48.980 Haight -Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. And guess 00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:52.120 what? Manson and his early followers became research 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.889 subjects. Wait, what? Subjects for what? Studying 00:06:54.889 --> 00:06:57.329 the effects of LSD and methamphetamines on the 00:06:57.329 --> 00:06:59.370 counterculture. So he wasn't just some random 00:06:59.370 --> 00:07:03.430 drifter. He was being observed, documented in 00:07:03.430 --> 00:07:06.129 this clinical research context. That's unbelievable. 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:08.490 Did they notice anything? The clinic's founder, 00:07:08.569 --> 00:07:11.089 David Smith, later said that Roger Smith felt 00:07:11.089 --> 00:07:13.230 Manson's personality change during this period 00:07:13.230 --> 00:07:15.529 was the most abrupt, the most dramatic he had 00:07:15.529 --> 00:07:17.629 ever seen in his career. So this environment, 00:07:17.850 --> 00:07:21.009 the drugs, the attention, it was fertile ground. 00:07:21.310 --> 00:07:23.139 Absolutely. Perfect for him to start building 00:07:23.139 --> 00:07:25.259 his own thing. And his ideology is this weird 00:07:25.259 --> 00:07:28.459 Frankenstein's monster of ideas. What kind of 00:07:28.459 --> 00:07:31.100 ideas? Bits from science fiction, like Heinlein's 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:33.660 Stranger in a Strange Land. Pieces of the Bible. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.740 Dale Carnegie's self -help stuff, How to Influence 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:40.360 People. And critically, Scientology. He studied 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.339 Scientology. Intensely. While he was in prison. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.620 completed something like 150 hours of auditing. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:50.079 He learned the techniques, the language of control, 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:52.939 submission, breaking people down. And he started 00:07:52.939 --> 00:07:56.420 using this mix on vulnerable people. Exactly. 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:59.100 Emotionally insecure people, runaways, social 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:01.699 outcasts. His first followers were people like 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:04.220 Mary Brunner, a young library assistant, Lynette 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:06.439 Squeaky Frum, who was just a teenager, people 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:08.180 looking for something. And he gathered them together. 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:10.040 Yeah, they ended up living communally, sometimes 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:12.459 up to 18 women packed into one place. And the 00:08:12.459 --> 00:08:15.500 manipulation techniques were... What did witnesses 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:18.920 say he did? High doses of LSD were key. Allegedly, 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:21.319 he used that, plus unconventional sex practices, 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:24.560 isolation, intense lectures. All designed to 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:26.319 break down their egos, make them empty vessels, 00:08:26.500 --> 00:08:29.199 totally reliant on him. And he stayed in control 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:31.759 during this. That's what Paul Watkins, a former 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.600 member, testified. He said Manson often took 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:37.720 lower doses of acid during group sessions. Kept 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:40.039 his wits about him, you know. While everyone 00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:42.559 else was tripping, he was consolidating control. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:46.019 Chemical manipulation. So this controlling figure 00:08:46.019 --> 00:08:48.539 somehow bumps into actual Hollywood royalty. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:51.580 The Beach Boys thing still seems bizarre. It's 00:08:51.580 --> 00:08:54.700 pure 60s California weirdness. Dennis Wilson 00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:56.679 apparently picked up a couple of the family women 00:08:56.679 --> 00:08:59.139 who were hitchhiking in Malibu. Just like that. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:01.419 Just like that. Takes him back to his place on 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:04.570 Sunset Boulevard. Comes home later. And there's 00:09:04.570 --> 00:09:07.710 Manson and a dozen or so followers just moved 00:09:07.710 --> 00:09:10.710 in. Dennis Wilson just let them stay. A famous 00:09:10.710 --> 00:09:13.169 musician housing a cult. For about six months, 00:09:13.309 --> 00:09:16.110 yeah. Wilson was apparently fascinated at first. 00:09:16.210 --> 00:09:20.750 Saw Manson as this sort of edgy counterculture 00:09:20.750 --> 00:09:23.389 guru. Called him the wizard. The women basically 00:09:23.389 --> 00:09:25.529 acted as servants. Did Manson get anything musical 00:09:25.529 --> 00:09:27.809 out of it? He did record some songs at Brian 00:09:27.809 --> 00:09:29.590 Wilson's home studio, though they weren't released 00:09:29.590 --> 00:09:31.629 then. Yeah. And there was that whole business 00:09:31.629 --> 00:09:34.350 with the song. Cease to exist. Right. The Beach 00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:36.649 Boys recorded it as never learn not to love. 00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:39.950 Credited only to Dennis Wilson. Manson was furious. 00:09:40.490 --> 00:09:42.970 Supposedly there was a deal for like $100 K's 00:09:42.970 --> 00:09:46.330 worth of stuff. But Manson felt ripped off. Uncredited. 00:09:46.509 --> 00:09:49.470 So the relationship soured pretty quickly. Dramatically. 00:09:49.789 --> 00:09:52.529 The family apparently trashed two of Wilson's 00:09:52.529 --> 00:09:54.850 expensive cars. When Wilson finally kicked them 00:09:54.850 --> 00:09:57.570 out and moved away himself, Manson left a bullet 00:09:57.570 --> 00:10:00.429 for the housekeeper. A clear threat. Rejection 00:10:00.429 --> 00:10:03.139 equals violence. Again. So where did they go 00:10:03.139 --> 00:10:05.700 after Wilson's Place? They ended up at Spahn 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:09.299 Ranch in August 68. This rundown old movie set 00:10:09.299 --> 00:10:11.759 used for westerns. Basically derelict. How did 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.919 they afford that? They didn't pay rent. The deal 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.539 was the women did chores around the ranch and 00:10:16.539 --> 00:10:20.080 provided sexual favors to the owner, George Spahn, 00:10:20.179 --> 00:10:22.759 who was about 80 and nearly blind. Grim. But 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:24.860 the isolation must have helped Manson's control. 00:10:25.179 --> 00:10:28.019 Totally. And it's here at Spahn Ranch that his 00:10:28.019 --> 00:10:31.129 main ideology. The really terrifying part comes 00:10:31.129 --> 00:10:33.409 into full focus. Hilter Skelter. Named after 00:10:33.409 --> 00:10:35.649 the Beatles song, what was the actual idea? It 00:10:35.649 --> 00:10:38.610 was his prophecy of an imminent apocalyptic race 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:42.330 war. He became completely obsessed with it. Believed 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:44.309 America's black population was about to rise 00:10:44.309 --> 00:10:46.490 up and slaughter the white population. Except 00:10:46.490 --> 00:10:48.610 for the family, presumably. Right. He thought 00:10:48.610 --> 00:10:50.629 they'd survive by hiding out in the desert in 00:10:50.629 --> 00:10:52.830 some kind of bottomless pit he'd read about in 00:10:52.830 --> 00:10:56.970 Revelations. But the racism was blatant and frankly... 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:01.480 How so? He believed black people, after winning 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:06.059 the war, would be too unintelligent, in his view, 00:11:06.179 --> 00:11:09.419 to run things. So Manson and his followers, his 00:11:09.419 --> 00:11:11.500 white followers, would have to emerge from hiding 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:13.559 and take over, become the new masters. That's 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:15.500 profoundly disturbing. And the murderers were 00:11:15.500 --> 00:11:17.779 supposed to start this war. That was the idea. 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:19.779 Make them look like they were committed by black 00:11:19.779 --> 00:11:22.840 militants, frame them, ignite the conflict. Helter 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:24.679 Skelter was the goal. And just before all this 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:26.600 kicks off, he has that weird encounter at the 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:30.080 house on Cielo Drive. Yeah. March 1969, he goes 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:32.639 to a Bavin 50 Cielo Drive looking for Terry Melcher, 00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:35.100 the guy who rejected his music. But Melcher's 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:36.700 already moved out. Who was living there then? 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:39.899 Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. Manson actually 00:11:39.899 --> 00:11:42.740 spoke to the owner, Rudolph Elton Belli, in the 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:44.840 guest house. Elton Belli told him Melcher was 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:46.940 gone, asked him not to bother the tenants. Did 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:49.769 Tate see him? Apparently, yes. She later asked 00:11:49.769 --> 00:11:51.690 Alta Belli about that creepy looking guy. It's 00:11:51.690 --> 00:11:55.009 just... Yeah. Months later, that exact house 00:11:55.009 --> 00:11:57.149 becomes the scene of the massacre he orders, 00:11:57.289 --> 00:11:59.990 the place of his rejection. Okay, so summer 1969. 00:12:00.629 --> 00:12:03.809 Things escalate fast. The first real violent 00:12:03.809 --> 00:12:06.389 act that sets things in motion is the shooting 00:12:06.389 --> 00:12:09.610 of Bernard Lotsa Papa Crowe, July 1st. Who was 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:13.149 Crowe? A drug dealer. Apparently, Tex Watson 00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:15.149 had ripped him off and Crowe threatened to wipe 00:12:15.149 --> 00:12:17.909 out everyone at Spahn Ranch. So Manson goes to 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:19.929 Crow's place in Hollywood and shoots him. Did 00:12:19.929 --> 00:12:21.769 he kill him? Manson thought he killed him. And 00:12:21.769 --> 00:12:24.269 this is critical. Soon after, Manson sees a news 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:26.149 report about a Black Panther member's body being 00:12:26.149 --> 00:12:28.789 found dumped somewhere in L .A. He puts two and 00:12:28.789 --> 00:12:31.110 two together, wrongly assumes Crow was a Panther, 00:12:31.289 --> 00:12:34.029 and totally freaks out. Thinks the Panthers are 00:12:34.029 --> 00:12:36.690 going to come after the family for revenge. Exactly. 00:12:37.110 --> 00:12:39.730 Massive retaliation. So he orders Spahn Ranch 00:12:39.730 --> 00:12:42.490 turned into an armed camp, defenses up, ready 00:12:42.490 --> 00:12:45.649 for war. This paranoia... fueled by his mistake, 00:12:45.809 --> 00:12:49.190 makes Helter Skelter feel real, immediate to 00:12:49.190 --> 00:12:51.549 him. And that paranoia leads to the next murder, 00:12:52.009 --> 00:12:55.350 Gary Hinman. Late July 69, Gary Hinman was a 00:12:55.350 --> 00:12:58.250 music teacher, UCLA grad student. Manson somehow 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:00.429 got it in his head that Hinman had money, maybe 00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:03.490 a $21 ,000 inheritance, or maybe owed money for 00:13:03.490 --> 00:13:05.769 bad drugs sold to a biker gang, the Straight 00:13:05.769 --> 00:13:09.019 Satans. The motive is a bit murky. So he sends 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:11.059 people to get the money. Sends Bobby Beausoleil, 00:13:11.139 --> 00:13:13.340 Susan Atkins, Mary Brunner. They hold Hinman 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:15.620 hostage for two days. He doesn't have the money 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:17.600 or won't give it up. Then Manson gets involved 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:19.940 personally. Yeah, Manson shows up, takes a sword, 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.580 slashes Hinman's face, cuts his ear. Then allegedly 00:13:22.580 --> 00:13:25.440 on Manson's orders, Beausoleil stabs Hinman to 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:28.200 death. And they leave a sign, like Crow. Just 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:30.279 like the plan for Hilter Skelter. They write 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:32.279 political piggy on the wall in Hinman's blood 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:34.919 and draw a panther paw print trying to frame 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:36.820 the Black Panthers. And Beausoleil gets caught. 00:13:37.340 --> 00:13:40.039 Days later, driving him in his car. Arrested. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.960 And this arrest is the pivot point. Because now, 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:45.899 one major motive for the Tate -LaBianca murders 00:13:45.899 --> 00:13:48.820 becomes trying to commit copycat crimes to get 00:13:48.820 --> 00:13:50.740 Beausoleil off the hook. See, you've got two 00:13:50.740 --> 00:13:52.799 potential motives swirling around now. Start 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.519 Helter Skelter and Free Bobby. Exactly. Which 00:13:56.519 --> 00:14:01.139 brings us to August 8th, 1969. 1050 Cielo Drive. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:05.120 The Tate House. What were Manson's specific orders, 00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:07.759 according to Watson? Tex Watson claimed Manson 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:11.340 told him, go to that house, totally destroy everyone 00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:14.039 inside, and make it as gruesome as you can. And 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:16.100 he told the women with Watson -Atkins, Krenwinkel, 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.480 and Linda Kazabian, do whatever Tex tells you. 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:21.620 The victims inside, Sharon Tate, heavily pregnant. 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:25.120 Jay Sebring, a celebrity hairstylist. Wooshee 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:27.139 Krakowski, a writer and friend of Polanski's. 00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:30.299 Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress. And outside... 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:32.220 Steven Parent, just a young guy visiting the 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:34.000 caretaker, caught leaving at the wrong moment. 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:36.559 Watson cut the phone lines first. Yes. Then shot 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:38.899 and stabbed Parent in his car. Inside, it was 00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:41.259 chaos and terror. Watson reportedly announced, 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:43.139 I'm the devil and I'm here to do the devil's 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:46.580 business. The violence was extreme. Sebring protested 00:14:46.580 --> 00:14:48.460 how they were treating Tate. Shot and stabbed 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:51.519 seven times for it. Furkowski fought back hard, 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:54.980 incredibly bravely, but was stabbed 51 times, 00:14:55.059 --> 00:14:58.330 beaten over the head 13 times. Folger ran outside 00:14:58.330 --> 00:15:01.269 but was caught and stabbed 28 times. And Sharon 00:15:01.269 --> 00:15:04.710 Tate pleading for her baby's life. Hanged briefly 00:15:04.710 --> 00:15:07.809 with a rope, then stabbed 16 times. Died from 00:15:07.809 --> 00:15:10.330 massive hemorrhage. Just horrific. And again, 00:15:10.350 --> 00:15:13.690 they left a sign. Atkins wrote pig on the front 00:15:13.690 --> 00:15:16.429 door in Tate's blood. Now here's the conflict 00:15:16.429 --> 00:15:19.470 again. Was pig meant to incite the race war, 00:15:19.629 --> 00:15:22.809 like the prosecution argued? Or was it, as Atkins 00:15:22.809 --> 00:15:25.230 later claimed, a direct copycat of the piggy 00:15:25.230 --> 00:15:27.870 at the Hinman scene intended to point blame elsewhere 00:15:27.870 --> 00:15:30.389 and free Beausoleil? Two very different interpretations 00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:32.470 of the same word. Fundamentally different. And 00:15:32.470 --> 00:15:34.309 Manthan apparently wasn't satisfied. He felt 00:15:34.309 --> 00:15:36.889 the Tate murders weren't messy enough. Didn't 00:15:36.889 --> 00:15:38.830 send the right message. So the next night, August 00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:41.179 10th, he goes out himself. He drives the car 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:43.559 this time, takes Watson, Krenwinkel, Leslie Van 00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:45.559 Houten, and others. They drive around randomly 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:48.220 for a while, then end up at 3301 Waverly Drive. 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:51.440 A LaBianca house. Home of Lino LaBianca, a supermarket 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:54.620 executive, and his wife, Rosemary. And this time, 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.960 Manson goes inside with Watson initially. What 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.799 did he do? He tied the couple up. Then, and this 00:15:59.799 --> 00:16:01.759 is crucial for the conspiracy charge he left, 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:05.120 told Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten what 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.860 to do, and then left them to carry out the murders. 00:16:08.429 --> 00:16:10.950 More extreme brutality. And anything even more 00:16:10.950 --> 00:16:14.830 ritualistic. Lena was stabbed 12 times with a 00:16:14.830 --> 00:16:17.710 bayonet. The word war was carved into her stomach. 00:16:17.909 --> 00:16:21.289 And Rosemary. Stabbed 41 times. Horrifically, 00:16:21.370 --> 00:16:23.570 many of those wounds were inflicted by Leslie 00:16:23.570 --> 00:16:26.409 Van Houten after Rosemary was already dead. And 00:16:26.409 --> 00:16:28.950 more writing. More signs. Yes. Crinwinkle wrote 00:16:28.950 --> 00:16:32.429 rise and death to pigs on the walls. And significantly, 00:16:32.730 --> 00:16:34.830 Helter Skelter misspelled on the refrigerator 00:16:34.830 --> 00:16:38.100 door. All in blood. They left a carving fork 00:16:38.100 --> 00:16:40.100 sticking out of Lino's stomach, a steak knife 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:42.820 in his throat. Pure overkill designed to shock. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:44.820 Was that the end of the violence for that night? 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:48.539 Almost. Manson later sent some followers to kill 00:16:48.539 --> 00:16:51.779 an actor, Saladin Nader. But Linda Kazabian, 00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:54.879 who was the driver in Lookout at Tate and was 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:57.419 present at LaBianca, claims she deliberately 00:16:57.419 --> 00:17:00.159 messed it up. knocked on the wrong door on purpose 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.240 to prevent another murder. That act probably 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:04.579 saved her later, giving her credibility for immunity. 00:17:05.059 --> 00:17:07.539 Absolutely. It positioned her as someone who 00:17:07.539 --> 00:17:10.000 finally resisted. But there was one more murder 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.359 directly linked to the family that summer. Donald 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:16.180 Shorty Shea. August 26th. Shea was a stuntman, 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.130 worked at Spahn Ranch. Manson apparently suspected 00:17:19.130 --> 00:17:21.549 him of being an informant or maybe just didn't 00:17:21.549 --> 00:17:23.349 like him because she was married to a black woman, 00:17:23.450 --> 00:17:26.009 which clashed with Manson's racist views. How 00:17:26.009 --> 00:17:28.029 was he killed? Brutally tortured and murdered 00:17:28.029 --> 00:17:31.549 by Manson, Bruce Davis, Tex Watson, and Steve 00:17:31.549 --> 00:17:35.430 Grogan. Pipe wrenches, knives, bayonets. Davis 00:17:35.430 --> 00:17:37.990 later described the horrific scene, how Manson 00:17:37.990 --> 00:17:39.890 pressured them, how he himself couldn't bring 00:17:39.890 --> 00:17:42.069 himself to use a machete effectively. They buried 00:17:42.069 --> 00:17:44.009 him out there. Somewhere on or near the ranch. 00:17:44.750 --> 00:17:47.109 His remains weren't found for eight years until 00:17:47.109 --> 00:17:50.430 1977, when Grogan finally agreed to lead authorities 00:17:50.430 --> 00:17:53.829 to the burial site as part of a deal. So, multiple 00:17:53.829 --> 00:17:57.809 gruesome murders, cryptic messages. How did the 00:17:57.809 --> 00:17:59.990 police investigation handle all this initially? 00:18:00.190 --> 00:18:02.730 Sounds like chaos. It was. There was a huge, 00:18:02.730 --> 00:18:06.029 tragic disconnect at first. The detectives investigating 00:18:06.029 --> 00:18:08.650 the Tate murders initially... didn't connect 00:18:08.650 --> 00:18:10.710 them to the LaBianca murders the very next night. 00:18:10.849 --> 00:18:12.950 Why not? They seem so similar. The Tate scene 00:18:12.950 --> 00:18:15.750 was incredibly messy, and some victims had connections, 00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:19.349 however tangential, to the drug scene. So the 00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:22.250 initial theory for Tate was maybe a drug deal 00:18:22.250 --> 00:18:25.890 gone bad. They overlooked... the ritualistic 00:18:25.890 --> 00:18:28.349 elements initially. So what finally connected 00:18:28.349 --> 00:18:31.130 the dots? The hymn and case detectives. They 00:18:31.130 --> 00:18:33.589 saw reports about the Tate killings, noticed 00:18:33.589 --> 00:18:36.190 the similarities, the extreme stabbing, the writing 00:18:36.190 --> 00:18:38.750 in blood, specifically the word pig or piggy. 00:18:39.109 --> 00:18:41.230 They reached out to the Tate team. That was the 00:18:41.230 --> 00:18:43.410 breakthrough. That cross -jurisdictional communication 00:18:43.410 --> 00:18:45.930 was key. Absolutely critical. But even then, 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:47.690 catching the family wasn't straightforward. They 00:18:47.690 --> 00:18:49.589 were actually arrested before the murder link 00:18:49.589 --> 00:18:52.289 was solid, but for something else. The dune buggy 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:56.079 theft ring. Right. August 16th, a big raid at 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.140 Spahn Ranch. They were stealing VW Beetles, converting 00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:03.099 them into dune buggies, major auto theft. But 00:19:03.099 --> 00:19:06.359 they all got released. Why? A technicality. The 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.720 warrant had the wrong date on it. A simple clerical 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.720 error let them walk. Unbelievable. So when were 00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:14.960 they finally apprehended for good? October. After 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:16.940 they had moved out to Barker Ranch, this isolated 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:19.420 place in the desert, they got noticed after setting 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:21.400 fire to some earth -moving equipment belonging 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:24.119 to Death Valley National Monument. That triggered 00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:26.299 another big raid. And they found Manson hiding. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:28.779 Yeah, a highway patrol officer found him crammed 00:19:28.779 --> 00:19:30.940 into a tiny cabinet underneath a bathroom sink. 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:33.940 A pretty ignominious capture. But the actual 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:35.980 evidence linking them to the murders came from 00:19:35.980 --> 00:19:39.339 inside the system. Yes. Susan Atkins. She was 00:19:39.339 --> 00:19:41.859 in custody for the Hinman murder already. And 00:19:41.859 --> 00:19:43.859 she started bragging to her cellmates, giving 00:19:43.859 --> 00:19:46.799 them incredibly graphic, accurate details about 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:48.960 the Tate murders. And the cellmates talked. They 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.099 did. That information got back to the investigators 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:53.859 and it blew the case wide open. That led to murder 00:19:53.859 --> 00:19:56.460 warrants for Watson, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian 00:19:56.460 --> 00:20:00.500 in early December 69. And Kasabian turned herself 00:20:00.500 --> 00:20:03.200 in. She did. She'd already fled the family right 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.539 after the LaBianca killings. Clearly terrified. 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:10.200 She surrendered voluntarily and, crucially, because 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:12.599 she hadn't physically participated in the killings, 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:14.940 she was mostly the driver. And look how she was 00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:17.700 offered immunity. In exchange for testifying 00:20:17.700 --> 00:20:20.730 against everyone else. Exactly. Her testimony 00:20:20.730 --> 00:20:23.390 became the absolute cornerstone of the prosecution's 00:20:23.390 --> 00:20:26.210 case. She was the eyewitness who could put Manson 00:20:26.210 --> 00:20:28.509 at the center, issuing orders, connecting both 00:20:28.509 --> 00:20:30.829 murder scenes, explaining the motives. Without 00:20:30.829 --> 00:20:32.569 her, the conspiracy case would have been much 00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:35.349 harder. Okay, so the trial starts June 1970, 00:20:35.609 --> 00:20:40.269 and it immediately descends into, well, a circus. 00:20:40.490 --> 00:20:43.210 A terrifying circus, right from day one. Manson 00:20:43.210 --> 00:20:45.150 is denied the right to represent himself, which 00:20:45.150 --> 00:20:47.589 infuriates him. So what does he do? Carves an 00:20:47.589 --> 00:20:50.519 X into his forehead with his fingernail. An ex? 00:20:50.660 --> 00:20:52.619 What did that mean? He declared he had exed himself 00:20:52.619 --> 00:20:55.059 from the establishment's world, cut himself off, 00:20:55.259 --> 00:20:58.019 and almost immediately, the female defendants, 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:01.920 Atkins, Krenwinkel, Van Houten, they copy him. 00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:04.319 Carve exes on their own foreheads. And the family 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.279 members outside the courtroom. They start showing 00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:09.579 up with exes too. Loitering outside the courthouse, 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:13.079 sometimes openly wearing sheathed knives. It 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:15.700 was pure intimidation theater. Were witnesses 00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:18.200 actually intimidated or harmed? Oh, definitely. 00:21:18.750 --> 00:21:20.869 Paul Watkins, a key former member who testified 00:21:20.869 --> 00:21:24.150 against Manson, his van mysteriously burst into 00:21:24.150 --> 00:21:27.430 flames, leaving him badly burned. Another witness, 00:21:27.630 --> 00:21:30.630 Barbara Hoyt, was lured to Hawaii by family members 00:21:30.630 --> 00:21:32.609 who tried to silence her by giving her a hamburger 00:21:32.609 --> 00:21:36.049 laced with a massive dose of LSD. She survived, 00:21:36.309 --> 00:21:38.650 but they were clearly trying to stop her testimony. 00:21:38.869 --> 00:21:41.470 And Manson himself was disruptive in court. Constantly. 00:21:41.750 --> 00:21:43.930 At one point, President Nixon made a comment 00:21:43.930 --> 00:21:45.829 to the press saying Manson was guilty, essentially 00:21:45.829 --> 00:21:48.710 convicting him before the verdict. Manson managed 00:21:48.710 --> 00:21:50.549 to get a newspaper with the headline, Manson 00:21:50.549 --> 00:21:52.670 Guilty, Nixon Declares, and flashed it at the 00:21:52.670 --> 00:21:55.650 jury. Caused a huge uproar, motions for mistrial. 00:21:55.829 --> 00:21:58.769 And he physically attacked the judge. He literally 00:21:58.769 --> 00:22:01.190 leaped over the defense table and tried to attack 00:22:01.190 --> 00:22:04.670 Judge Charles Older. After that... Rumor has 00:22:04.670 --> 00:22:06.630 it Judge Older started carrying a revolver under 00:22:06.630 --> 00:22:09.589 his robes. The tension was unbelievable. Even 00:22:09.589 --> 00:22:11.890 the defense lawyers weren't safe. The most chilling 00:22:11.890 --> 00:22:15.410 incident involved Ronald Hughes, Leslie Van Houten's 00:22:15.410 --> 00:22:18.769 lawyer. During a weekend recess near the end 00:22:18.769 --> 00:22:22.490 of the trial, he went camping and just disappeared. 00:22:22.750 --> 00:22:25.569 Vanished. Completely. His badly decomposed body 00:22:25.569 --> 00:22:28.529 was found months later. While never officially 00:22:28.529 --> 00:22:30.789 proven, the suspicion has always been that the 00:22:30.789 --> 00:22:33.829 family murdered him. Sandra Good, another family 00:22:33.829 --> 00:22:36.730 member, later referred to Hughes' death as the 00:22:36.730 --> 00:22:39.170 first of the retaliation murders. It cast a pall 00:22:39.170 --> 00:22:41.970 over the whole proceeding. Did Manson ever testify 00:22:41.970 --> 00:22:44.549 directly to the jury? No. The judge wouldn't 00:22:44.549 --> 00:22:46.509 allow him to represent himself, and he largely 00:22:46.509 --> 00:22:48.470 refused to cooperate with his appointed attorney. 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:51.759 He did give a long, rambling statement outside 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:54.000 the jury's presence, basically doubling down 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:56.660 on his helter -skelter philosophy, blaming society, 00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:58.880 saying things like, the music is telling the 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:01.259 youth to rise up against the establishment. But 00:23:01.259 --> 00:23:03.640 he maintained deniability about the actual orders. 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:06.079 So the whole trial boils down to the prosecution's 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:08.380 motive versus the defense's. Helter -skelter 00:23:08.380 --> 00:23:12.200 versus copycat. Exactly. Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:15.910 hammered home helter -skelter. The bizarre race 00:23:15.910 --> 00:23:18.589 war motive, the pig writings, the attempt to 00:23:18.589 --> 00:23:21.470 frame black groups, the wallet supposedly left 00:23:21.470 --> 00:23:23.950 in a black neighborhood. That was the narrative. 00:23:24.289 --> 00:23:26.470 Manson masterminded these killings to ignite 00:23:26.470 --> 00:23:29.190 chaos. And the defense, what was their argument? 00:23:29.789 --> 00:23:32.140 Fragmented. Especially after Hughes disappeared. 00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:34.740 But the core idea they tried to float was the 00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:37.700 copycat motive. That the women, maybe led by 00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:40.099 Kasabian before she got immunity, planned and 00:23:40.099 --> 00:23:42.380 carried out the Tate -LaBianca killings primarily 00:23:42.380 --> 00:23:45.180 to mimic the Hinman murder scene and get Bobby 00:23:45.180 --> 00:23:49.539 Bousselet freed. A much more mundane, albeit 00:23:49.539 --> 00:23:52.279 still horrific, motive. So grand apocalyptic 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:54.740 delusion versus cynical legal strategy. That 00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:56.779 was the choice facing the jury. They ultimately 00:23:56.779 --> 00:23:58.859 believed Bugliosi and the helter -skelter narrative. 00:23:59.339 --> 00:24:02.180 rejected the copycat theory. January 25th, 1971, 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:05.140 guilty verdicts. Guilty on all counts for Manson, 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:07.140 Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten, all sentenced 00:24:07.140 --> 00:24:10.599 to death. But they weren't executed. No. In 1972, 00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:14.059 the California Supreme Court briefly ruled the 00:24:14.059 --> 00:24:17.400 state's death penalty unconstitutional. So all 00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:19.460 their sentences, along with others on death row 00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:22.059 at the time, were automatically commuted to life 00:24:22.059 --> 00:24:24.359 in prison, but with the possibility of parole. 00:24:24.539 --> 00:24:26.339 And that's where Manson stayed for the next... 00:24:26.569 --> 00:24:30.289 What, 46 years? Life in prison? 46 years. And 00:24:30.289 --> 00:24:32.670 it wasn't exactly quiet. He remained a volatile 00:24:32.670 --> 00:24:36.450 figure even inside. In 1984, another inmate threw 00:24:36.450 --> 00:24:38.609 paint thinner on him and set him on fire. Set 00:24:38.609 --> 00:24:41.369 him on fire? Why? Apparently, Manson had objected 00:24:41.369 --> 00:24:43.730 to the other guy's Hare Krishna chanting. Caused 00:24:43.730 --> 00:24:46.009 second and third degree burns. Just constant 00:24:46.009 --> 00:24:48.170 conflict. Did he ever engage with the parole 00:24:48.170 --> 00:24:51.849 process show remorse? Rarely. After 1997, he 00:24:51.849 --> 00:24:53.609 pretty much refused to even attend his parole 00:24:53.609 --> 00:24:56.049 hearings. The reports always cited the same things. 00:24:56.130 --> 00:24:58.910 Zero remorse, ongoing controlling behavior, significant 00:24:58.910 --> 00:25:01.690 mental health issues, diagnoses shifted over 00:25:01.690 --> 00:25:03.910 the years, schizophrenia, paranoid delusional 00:25:03.910 --> 00:25:06.289 disorder, later assessments suggesting bipolar 00:25:06.289 --> 00:25:08.990 disorder, psychopathy. But the core assessment 00:25:08.990 --> 00:25:12.150 was always unreformed, still dangerous. Parole 00:25:12.150 --> 00:25:14.150 was consistently denied. Did he still try to 00:25:14.150 --> 00:25:16.089 connect with the outside world? Oh, yeah. In 00:25:16.089 --> 00:25:19.250 2009, they caught him with a smuggled cell phone. 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:22.519 He'd been calling people all over the U .S., 00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:25.279 even Canada. And then there was the whole engagement 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.940 thing. Right, to star Afton Alain Burton. Yeah, 00:25:27.980 --> 00:25:30.400 this young woman who started visiting him became 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:32.799 convinced of his innocence, maintained a relationship 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:35.099 with him for nine years. They actually got a 00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:37.440 marriage license in 2014. But they never actually 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:41.119 got married. Nope. The license expired. There 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.440 were reports, like from journalist Daniel Simone, 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:46.160 claiming Manson called it off because he found 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:50.190 out her real motives was... Well, grotesque. 00:25:50.490 --> 00:25:53.250 She supposedly wanted to marry him just to get 00:25:53.250 --> 00:25:55.670 legal rights to his body after he died. To put 00:25:55.670 --> 00:25:58.369 it on display, like a tourist attraction. That 00:25:58.369 --> 00:26:00.609 was the allegation. Who knows the real truth, 00:26:00.710 --> 00:26:03.309 but the wedding never happened. Classic Manson 00:26:03.309 --> 00:26:05.309 weirdness right to the end. And the family's 00:26:05.309 --> 00:26:07.549 influence didn't just vanish either, right? Squeaky 00:26:07.549 --> 00:26:10.230 from... Exactly. Even years later, the family 00:26:10.230 --> 00:26:13.710 echo was there. 1975, Lynette Squeaky Frum, one 00:26:13.710 --> 00:26:16.069 of his earliest followers, points a gun at President 00:26:16.069 --> 00:26:18.490 Gerald Ford in Sacramento. Her stated reason 00:26:18.490 --> 00:26:21.089 was basically to gain attention for Manson, to 00:26:21.089 --> 00:26:23.670 be closer to him. She was tackled, the gun didn't 00:26:23.670 --> 00:26:25.990 fire properly, but it was a major incident. And 00:26:25.990 --> 00:26:28.150 Sandra Good, too. Around the same time, yeah. 00:26:28.730 --> 00:26:31.109 Sandra Good was convicted for sending threatening 00:26:31.109 --> 00:26:33.849 letters related to environmental issues, but 00:26:33.849 --> 00:26:36.109 again, seen as acting under Manson's lingering 00:26:36.109 --> 00:26:39.150 influence. It kept the fear alive, kept the family 00:26:39.150 --> 00:26:42.240 in the headlines. So Manson finally dies in prison, 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:47.259 November 19, 2017. How old was he? 83. Died of 00:26:47.259 --> 00:26:49.960 cardiac arrest, complications from colon cancer. 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:52.859 But even his death wasn't the end of the story. 00:26:53.019 --> 00:26:55.839 The fight over his body. Right. A bizarre three 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.960 -way legal battle erupted. His grandson, Jason 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:01.920 Freeman, wanted the remains. A pen pal named 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:04.359 Michael Channels produced a will supposedly leaving 00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:07.259 everything to him. And another guy, Matthew Roberts, 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:10.000 claimed to be Manson's son, though DNA tests 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.400 later disproved that. Who ended up winning? The 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:14.400 court sided with the grandson, Jason Freeman. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:18.140 He had Manson cremated in March 2018 and scattered 00:27:18.140 --> 00:27:20.039 the ashes somewhere on a California hillside. 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:21.960 So looking back, what's the cultural impact? 00:27:22.140 --> 00:27:25.420 He looms so large. Undeniably. Musically, he 00:27:25.420 --> 00:27:28.099 was this outsider figure. His own album, L .I 00:27:28.099 --> 00:27:30.519 .E., came out during the trial. Artists from 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:32.799 Guns N' Roses covering Look at Your Game Girl 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:36.460 to Marilyn Manson taking his name that connection 00:27:36.460 --> 00:27:39.240 to dark counterculture is potent. And in film. 00:27:39.380 --> 00:27:41.819 The sheer brutality, the randomness, the Hollywood 00:27:41.819 --> 00:27:44.140 connection. Yeah. It definitely influenced movies. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:46.640 Some argue it ushered in an era of increased 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.740 gore and sexual violence and horror and crime 00:27:48.740 --> 00:27:52.140 films and that weird Star Wars connection. Luke 00:27:52.140 --> 00:27:54.680 Starkiller. Yeah. George Lucas apparently changed 00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:56.680 the hero's name to Skywalker, partly because 00:27:56.680 --> 00:27:59.660 with renewed Manson coverage after the From attempt, 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:02.319 Starkiller sounded too much like celebrity killer. 00:28:02.750 --> 00:28:04.950 The name itself had become toxic, associated 00:28:04.950 --> 00:28:07.410 with that specific fear Manson generated. So 00:28:07.410 --> 00:28:10.529 this deep dive really shows a perfect storm, 00:28:10.670 --> 00:28:12.950 doesn't it? A life shaped by institutional failure 00:28:12.950 --> 00:28:16.049 colliding with the wild energy of the 60s counterculture. 00:28:16.170 --> 00:28:18.190 And creating this uniquely American monster, 00:28:18.349 --> 00:28:21.170 crafting a racist apocalyptic ideology out of 00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:23.910 scraps of pop culture, the Bible, and prison 00:28:23.910 --> 00:28:26.130 yard psychology. As we wrap up, let's go back 00:28:26.130 --> 00:28:28.829 to that core question from the trial. The conflicting 00:28:28.829 --> 00:28:32.690 motives. Was it all about the grand, insane plan 00:28:32.690 --> 00:28:36.009 of Helter Skelter, this elaborate scheme to start 00:28:36.009 --> 00:28:38.450 a race war? That was the prosecution's narrative, 00:28:38.650 --> 00:28:42.349 the terrifying, almost epic delusion. Or was 00:28:42.349 --> 00:28:44.849 it the defense's alternative, something almost 00:28:44.849 --> 00:28:47.630 more chilling in its banality, that these horrific, 00:28:47.769 --> 00:28:50.819 headline -grabbing murders were just... A calculated 00:28:50.819 --> 00:28:54.019 tactic. A copycat crime designed simply to get 00:28:54.019 --> 00:28:56.680 their friend Bobby Bussolet out of jail. A cynical, 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:00.039 strategic move using extreme violence as legal 00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:02.400 leverage. So the final thought for you to consider. 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:05.579 What's ultimately more disturbing? The idea of 00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:08.519 a cult leader driven by a vast, racist, apocalyptic 00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:11.559 fantasy? Or the idea that such brutal, infamous 00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:13.880 murders could be committed for a reason as relatively 00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:16.400 mundane, as strategically cold, as trying to 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:18.140 spring a buddy from prison? How does knowing 00:29:18.140 --> 00:29:20.039 that both of these starkly different motives 00:29:20.039 --> 00:29:22.640 seem plausible, even equally plausible given 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:24.720 the evidence and the players involved, shape 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:27.000 how we understand cults, manipulation, and the 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:27.819 potential for violence?