Helter Skelter Essay, Research Paper

PIG was the word smeared in blood on the door at 10050 Cielo Dr. on August 8, 1969. Beyond the door lay the bodies of Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski and Jay Sebring all with multiple stab wounds and bullet holes. A couple of them had electrical cords around the necks and were hanged from the rafters of the Tate residence, the rest of the house had blood on the ceiling, blood on the walls, and blood on the floor. The following night at 3301 Waverly Dr. came the discovery of more bodies, more mutilation and more blood. Along with these were more blood written messages this time WAR was carved into the stomach of Leno LeBianca, on the living room wall was DEATH TO PIGS, on another wall in the living room was the single word RISE. And also was the words HEALTHER SKELTER ( incorrect spelling of the Beatles song Helter Skelter ) on the refrigerator door. A few weeks prior to these slayings was the murder of Gary Hinman killed in the same fashion as the others and the message written in his blood read POLITICAL PIGGIES. These brutal murders brought about an end to the Summer of Love that was going on in San Francisco.

The man responsible of these murders was born no name Maddox on November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, OH to a 16-year old prostitute. He finally received his name of Charles Milles Manson after his mother took one of her many lovers to court and won the child support sum of five dollars a month support for Manson. His father never came in to contact with Charles. Charles lived with his mom until he was five years old and his mother was sent to jail on a charge of strong armed robbery. Charles packed and moved in with his very religious aunt and an uncle who dressed Charles in a dress for his first day of school in order for him to act like a man instead of the sissy that he was, in his uncle s words. Three years later his mom was paroled and Charles went back to live

with her, although she was an alcoholic and was known to leave Charles with neighbors for weeks at a time without any contact from her. It is rumored that his mom once traded him for a pitcher of a beer at a local bar. Manson was sent to a home for boys in which escaped from later he was picked up on robbery charges and this pattern of him escaping homes, was even put in the Omaha Home for Boys. Being sent right back to them continued until about age 13 when he was sentenced to three years in a reform school where the guards and other inmates allegedly assaulted Manson sexually until he and two other inmates escaped. They were headed westward until they were picked and sentenced to federal jail time for driving stolen cars over state lines. First he was put in a minimal security section of the prison until he held a razor blade to another inmates neck and threatened to kill him. After a few other attacks on fellow inmates Manson was transferred to a higher security section of the prison. After being transferred Manson , became an ideal prisoner and was paroled for good behavior in the summer of 1954. In the fall of 1955 Manson was sentenced to five years probation but skipped his court date and had his probation revoked. Picked up in Indiana he was sent to a Federal Prison in California but later released on probation only to return again for pimping. While in jail he was given an IQ test and on which he scored a 121. Paroled once again in March of 1967 he headed to San Francisco where it was the Summer of Love. The streets were full of runaway kids and all of them hungry to hear any insights or any message that was going on out there. Upon his arrival Manson appeared very charismatic to the young people attracting both men and women of the white race to follow him and follow him they did. Some eager to follow him were like Mary Brunner, a college graduate, others were like Susan Atkins and Robert Beausoleil and had experiences with Satanic cults. Manson along with his Family drifted

throughout California with the population of the Family reaching about fifty at its highest. While doing this wandering through the state Manson became obsessed with the Beatles song Helter Skelter. He was convinced that this song was predicting a race war that was coming as soon as the blacks reached the point at where they have been driven to violence and would result in the whites being annihilated, which would leave Manson and his Family to be the rulers. On October 13, 1968, the bodies of Nancy Warren and her 64-year old grandma were found ritually tortured and killed, suspected to be the first victims of the Family. Two months later on December 30, 17-year old Marina Habe was abducted and killed in a similar fashion, this murder was also linked to the Family. Next on May 27, 1969 64-year old Darwin Scott was found hacked to death and pinned to the floor with a butcher knife in his apartment, this murder was also linked to the Family. Between July 27 to August 26 of 1969 the Family is suspected of at least nine murders. Seven of those are the events at the Tate residence and the LaBianca residence.

Manson was charged with seven counts of first degree murder for the Tate/LaBiance murders and two more for the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald Shorty Shea along with that is one charge of conspiracy to commit murder. At the trial the media made it into a circus, with them going as far as calling Manson everything from Satan to the most evil man in America and so on. This sparked a lot of attention and made this into one of the most memorable events of this century. During the course of the trial Manson shaved his head and carved a swastika into his forehead, his followers did the same. Manson was found guilty of all of these charges and was sentenced to the gas chamber but later had it changed to life when California dropped capital punishment. Even today

Manson still maintains the fact that he is innocent and there are those that agree with him and those who do not. It can be argued to free him or to keep him in prison but Manson says it best himself, Prison s in your mind ..Can t you see I m free?