IT was one of the most shocking and depraved killing sprees in history and sent shockwaves through the elite of Hollywood.
Across five weeks in the summer of 1969, Charles Manson – who liked to refer to himself both as Jesus and Satan – and his cult followers known as The Family, cold-bloodedly killed nine people across California.
AP:Associated PressCharles Manson and his sick cult were responsible for dozens of murders[/caption]
Getty – ContributorThey infamously slaughtered Hollywood star Sharon Tate in her home when she was eight months pregnant[/caption]
AP:Associated PressMembers of the Manson Family murdered at least nine people and are believed to have killed 24[/caption]
The frenzied stabbings and macabre messages smeared on walls with the blood of the victims were chilling and attracted even more publicity because one of the victims was glamorous actress, Sharon Tate, newly married to film director Roman Polanski.
She was also eight months pregnant at the time of the murder.
High on drugs, The Family was under the spell of Manson and devotedly followed his orders in carrying out the gruesome murders.
But a gripping Netflix documentary, CHAOS: The Manson Murders, asks whether the cult leader was just a puppet of the CIA and FBI?
Did he learn brainwashing techniques from the CIA’s mysterious mind-altering programme MKUltra? And what is the connection with Jack Ruby who shot dead Lee Harvey Oswald two days after he had assassinated President John F. Kennedy?
“I’m suggesting that there’s a possibility that Manson was being used by the State,” says journalist Tom O’Neill, author of the book Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties.
The first killing took place on 25 July 1969, when Manson, who lived with his commune consisting mainly of young women in Spahn Ranch, Los Angeles, sent three members to the house of drug dealer Gary Hinman, who Manson believed owed him money.
After being held hostage for two days, Hinman was stabbed to death by Bobby Beausoleil.
Manson instructed him to make it look like the Black Panthers – the African American civil rights movement – had committed the murder.
So Beausoleil daubed ‘political piggy’ on the wall in Himan’s blood, along with a paw print.
On 8 August, Manson sent four members of the Family to the rented house of record producer Terry Melcher – the son of actress and singer Doris Day – who had turned down his request for a recording contract.
However, Melcher had moved and the house had been rented to the film director Roman Polanski and his actress wife Sharon Tate.
High on drugs they shot Steven Parent, an 18-year-old friend of the caretaker, outside the house before bursting in and killing the four occupants – Sharon Tate, hairstylist Jay Sebring, aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski and his girlfriend Abigail Folger.
GettyAuthorities at the Tate home where the Manson Family killed five people[/caption]
AP:Associated PressSharon Tate, second left and four others were killed when the Manson Family members stormed her home[/caption]
GettyCharles “Tex” Watson was among Manson’s followers who killed Sharon Tate[/caption]
Tate, 26, who was eight and a half months pregnant, died from stab wounds and her blood was used to write the word “pig” on the outside of the house.
The following night Manson, who had not attended the previous killings, went with six members of the Family to the house of a supermarket executive, Leno LaBianca, and his wife Rosemary.
He gave instructions for them to be stabbed to death and then left while his order was carried out.
Afterwards, the slogans ‘death to pigs’ and ‘Helter Skelter’ were daubed on the walls and refrigerator door in the victim’s blood.
‘Police knew’
Getty – ContributorIt is suggested in the documentary that police knew there was a connection between the Tate and LaBianca killings[/caption]
findagrave.comDonald Shea was the final victim in the Manson Family’s killing spree[/caption]
HandoutRosemary LaBianca and her husband Leno were among the people murdered in the Family’s two-night spree[/caption]
Surprisingly, the police initially ruled out any connection between the Tate and LaBianca killings, despite the similarities.
“I feel that the police knew who did the murders really quickly but they didn’t pursue them for two months,” says Tom O’Neill.
“The Family left a trail of evidence everywhere, but the cops didn’t do anything. They knew that the LaBianca and Tate murders were connected, as was the Gary Hinman murder.”
The final victim was Hollywood stuntman Donald Shea who, for a time hung out with The Family at Spahn Ranch but who Manson decided to have killed because he believed he had reported their crimes to the police.
He was murdered on 26 August, hit with a pipe wrench and stabbed, more than two weeks after the Tate-La-Bianca murders.
“Eventually the police raided the Spahn Ranch where they were all picked up on other charges [vandalising part of the Death Valley National Park by burning stolen vehicles].
“They had stolen guns, vehicles and credit cards and underage runaway girls yet they were all released three days later. Were they letting Manson do whatever he liked?”
Was he getting away with murder?
The Family left a trail of evidence everywhere, but the cops didn’t do anything. They knew that the LaBianca and Tate murders were connected, as was the Gary Hinman murder
Tom O’Neil
“I started looking into the possibility of MKUltra and Dr Louis ‘Jolly’ West being involved. West was an expert on hypnosis and brainwashing.
“He was a scientist who was using the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in California to recruit subjects for his study of the brain altering uses of LSD on youths.”
Project MKUltra was a human experimentation programme designed and undertaken by the CIA to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture.
Manson was a regular face at the Haight where he took the women in his commune to be treated for venereal disease and unwanted pregnancies.
“There are documents showing that Jolly worked for the CIA for about 15 years and lied about it,” says Tom.
“Jolly was also connected to the Kennedy assassination. He went to examine Jack Ruby a few weeks before he was going to testify as to why he shot Oswald.
“Jolly flies into Dallas, goes to the county jail, spends a couple of hours talking to Ruby and comes out after his examination and says, ‘In the preceding 24 hours, Jack Ruby has had a break with reality. I find him to be mentally ill at this time and I think a mentally ill person should be in a hospital.’
“So, in other words, on the day of him meeting Jack Ruby, he lost his mind.
“Well, this is what Jolly West had been doing for 10 years – learning how to induce someone without their knowledge. It was a CIA objective of MK Ultra.
“One of the biggest problems I have is that I’ve never been able to put West and Manson in the same room.”
Debunked theory
AP:Associated PressExperts in the Netflix documentary believe theories about Manson’s motives were a ploy[/caption]
AP:Associated PressManson follower Bruce Davis was convicted of the Hinman and Shea murders[/caption]
Oklahoma Department of Public WelfareTom O’Neil began to look into the possibilty of Dr Louis West and MKULTRA’s involvement in the Manson case[/caption]
Manson was an avid fan of The Beatles and he and his followers would avidly listen to The White Album, studying the lyrics.
It was the title of one of the tracks, Helter Skelter, that was daubed on the LaBianca’s fridge.
The words were seen as Manson’s name for the race war he was starting. But Tom O’Neill no longer buys that.
“In the beginning I believed it. Now I believe the story was managed and manipulated.
“It served the purposes of COINTELPRO and CHAOS to have the world turn against the left-wing anti-war movement, which a lot of people conflated with hippies.
MK Ultra was a mind-altering experiment run by the CIA
Manson Family victims
IN the summer of 1969, the Manson Family, under the direction of their deranged leader Charles Manson, committed a series of brutal murders that shocked the nation.
Sharon Tate – A rising Hollywood starlet, Sharon was eight and a half months pregnant when she was viciously murdered in her own home. Married to director Roman Polanski, her promising career was tragically cut short.
Jay Sebring – A celebrity hairstylist and former lover of Sharon Tate, Sebring was known for his charm and connections in Tinseltown. His life ended brutally that fateful night.
Abigail Folger – Heiress to the Folgers coffee fortune, Abigail was a socialite with a generous spirit. She met her untimely death alongside her friends.
Wojciech Frykowski – An aspiring screenwriter from Poland, Frykowski was Abigail Folger’s boyfriend. His dreams of making it big in Hollywood were shattered in a night of horror.
Steven Parent – An 18-year-old visiting the property’s caretaker, Steven was in the wrong place at the wrong time, becoming an unexpected victim of the Manson Family’s savagery.
Leno LaBianca – A successful supermarket executive, Leno was known for his business acumen. He and his wife became targets in their own home, falling prey to the Manson Family’s madness.
Rosemary LaBianca – Wife of Leno, Rosemary was a co-owner of a dress shop. Her life was brutally taken in the supposed safety of her residence.
Donald “Shorty” Shea – A stuntman and ranch hand, he was killed on August 26, 1969. Manson believed he was a police informant and resented his interracial marriage. He was brutally beaten and stabbed by Bruce Davis Tex Watson, Steve “Clem” Grogan.
“COINTELPRO was started in 1967 by the FBI and CHAOS the same year by the CIA. Those two programmes were designed to infiltrate left-wing groups, especially the Black Panthers, and neutralise them. That’s what their own documents say.
“The powers that be in 1969, believed there was going to be a civil war because of this left-wing movement. There were celebrities [like Jane Fonda and Warren Beatty] that were supporting the Panthers and having fund raisers for them.
“There’s a COINTELPRO memo from November 1968 – less than a year before the Tate-LaBianca murders – which said, ‘When the armed rebellion comes, we have to make the celebrities understand that they are going to be lined up against the wall with everyone else.’
“And what happens? Eight or nine months later, Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, two of the biggest jet-setters in that world, are slaughtered.
“It’s kind of ironic, if nothing else, that before we knew about COINTELPRO and the FBI having the Panthers in their sights, Manson’s plan was to pin these murders on the Panthers.
“What we think of now, when we think of the Manson murders, is youth becoming corrupted and being turned into these monsters.
“So, in other words, the message is don’t let your kids do drugs, don’t let them join communes, don’t let them march against the war because they’re all going to turn into these crazed killers who have no respect for life.
“Manson used LSD to create personality change and make it fixed so that it lasted after the LSD trips had ended, which was the research objectives for MKUltra.
“I have a Jolly West report to the CIA which says that he had successfully learned how to replace true memories with false ones. He used LSD and hypnosis and other unnamed drugs.
“The question is, how did Manson learn how to brainwash those kids in under a year?
“Yes, he was a con artist, but everybody who knew him in prison and everybody who knew him prior to the murders said he was a joke. Nobody took him seriously. He somehow got help. Where did that come from?”
CHAOS: The Manson Murders is on Netflix now
AP:Associated PressCharles Manson died in prison in 2017 while serving nine life sentences[/caption]
APSpahn Ranch, where Charles Manson and members of his cult lived at the time of the Tate murders[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
