Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Deb Silva Uncovers the First Spahn Raid

"Don't try to play The Man...Because the next time you try it, you'll find yourself hanging from a tree upside down, dead." 

If you're Charlie, you say that to firemen. And then the firemen inform the police. The police, natch, send the threat up the ladder to this guy who (to me at least) does not look like he fears hippies, slippies, or any other dang dirty commie. 

Stick me up in a tree. I double dog dare ya!

That's John P. Knox, Chief at LASO Patrol Division West in 1969. Manson Blog researcher and author Deb Silva recently unearthed reports Knox received regarding the scene at Spahn's Movie Ranch, known in the following reports as Spahn Ranch, during the Summer of 1969. The first three pages are missing, but you can read from the fourth page forward by following this link: pdf.

I'll leave the reading to you, it's worth your time, and instead touch on a couple of things that jumped out at me. I'd love to hear what you think below. 

- We wondered about this previously but the reason Mr. X, Jack Gordon, Ruth Gordon, and Carol Loveless have mugshot photos included with others arrested in the more famous August 16th raid might be because they were swooped up in the caves near Spahn's prior to the main raid.  

You will see in the pdf that the LAPD contacts the LASO the second week of July and is all, "Dudes we're looking for juvie arsonists and robbers. Might they be out there somewhere laying low?" 

And the LASO said, "Maybe. They're never super smart about where they hide. I'll get back to you." 

TWO HOURS LATER....The LASO people find the bad children. Seriously, how bad do you suck as a criminal if the cops find you in two freakin hours? Get a new career before it's too late oh you juveniles of 1969! 

The police at some point also possibly stumble upon Jack, Ruth, Carol, and X while out spelunking. I'd always heard the runaways hid in the caves but maybe an entire alternative society was up there who knows. I've also always believed successful drug dealers live in caves. I bet life was awesome. 

In what many would call snitching, Jack spills the beans on some Ranch facts. And also admits to knowing one of the bikers. Those games are dangerous, my dear Jackie Boy. 

Moving on: 

- Several neighbors admit to being terrorized
- Other neighbors offer to help law enforcement remove the group at Spahn's 
- Spahn's son says George Spahn is afraid to leave the Ranch over fear of retaliation
- Law enforcement appears to be playing it straight and by the book in their efforts


- Laura Ann Sheppard returns to the blog today. Her mother, pictured below with Laura, went to the Ranch searching for her daughter and watched her scamper away. Panicked, she talked to Charlie and got nowhere. 


I've seen Laura Ann Sheppard shamed in the comments section of this blog in the past. If any of you rotten assholes are still alive, post up a photo of yourself from back in the day and let's compare. I will wait. 

Not all of these kids were throwaways. Some of them met the wrong people at the wrong time. 

- The police are told Charlie makes juvenile girls bathe grown men in a big wooden tub. I've never heard that before. Have you? 

- The police think Charlie's group is growing booby-trapped weed.

- A group of men at the Ranch are observed having knife throwing practice August 8th, 1969. 

- Mrs. Greene & her father confirm groups of "negroes" are in the area.

- A Straight Satans biker bites the nose off a black man in a Venice Beach riot and retribution is feared.

- Dumb Danny uses his wife's maiden surname as an alias. Super Derrrrrr. 

-Someone tells the cops Charlie is coming back from SF August 8th with a load of narcotics. The police leave the news at rumor status. Seven people will read what I just wrote, verify it in the report, and decide once and for all the motive is drugs. Who can blame them? The possible becomes the probable in a flash here in Mansonland and it'll always be that way. 

Charlie and the Family were likely done before Cielo and Waverley happened. Law enforcement was closing in and the community was sick of their shenanigans. I hate to think it, but Sharon Tate and the others probably would've lived if another week was allowed to pass. It's such a shame. The cops were so close. 

Don't do anything illegal. Beware of the Eagle. 

26 comments:

brownrice said...

Great post. Thanks G.W. Thanks Deb. That report makes interesting reading. Has someone bought Sanders' archive off of him? It seems apparent he had access to this report.

starviego said...


- The police are told Charlie makes juvenile girls bathe grown men in a big wooden tub.

No wonder Dean Moorehouse refused to leave!

G. Greene-Whyte said...

LOL Star! No kidding.

Thanks, Brownrice.

DebS said...

Thanks Brownrice! I did not buy Sanders archive. Every so often things pop up and I was happy to get this and even though the first three pages are missing I felt it was post worthy. There is so little new information and new talking points.

Ajerseydevil said...

Unfortunately I couldn't download the file

G. Greene-Whyte said...

Are you able to open and read it, Jersey?

email me at gw at mansonblog dot com

Zodiact said...

Very eye opening!

David said...

Great stuff, Deb, as always.

One thing that stood out to me is the whole 'cops dragged their feet on purpose' concept sort of flies out the window. They were collecting everything they could to get those at the ranch, interviewing neighbors, talking to the FD, Juvi officers, etc. They conclude that the only substantial evidence they have is an auto theft ring (page 11).

Five days later they act on that.

G. Greene-Whyte said...

Great point, David. I've mentioned to a couple of friends that the police appear to be doing things by the book here while building their cases as opposed to blustering in and faking everything like incompetent evil idiots hellbent on a coverup.

I'm not saying I'm not open to considering evidence of later cover-ups, but at least at this point in the story, the cops aren't covering shit up. Them and the neighbors want the group out of the area.

cielodrivecom said...

Spot on David. Great work Deb

grimtraveller said...

David said:

One thing that stood out to me is the whole 'cops dragged their feet on purpose' concept sort of flies out the window. They were collecting everything they could to get those at the ranch, interviewing neighbors, talking to the FD, Juvi officers, etc. They conclude that the only substantial evidence they have is an auto theft ring (page 11).
Five days later they act on that


That comes across very strongly.
It's quite interesting when one has to hand actual documents and not someone like Preston Guillory giving a one dimensional opinion. What's also interesting are the rumours that were said to be flying around. In their own way, they kind of ended up being quite accurate.
These reports definitely, with the benefit of hindsight, show that the 'happiness & rainbows' stance of Squeaky's book is limited to her choice of view only.....there's a sense of build-up leaping off those pages and Charlie's unravelling state of mind that we've seen and heard from other documents and people {both in LE, the fire dept and the Family} seems to be confirmed in what we see here.

GG~W. said:

the police appear to be doing things by the book here while building their cases

Which is pretty much how Samuel Barrett portrayed it in court. In "Helter Skelter," Vincent T made Barrett seem like the most incompetent probation officer ever, who never did anything that might have gotten Manson off the streets, and that impression might've stuck, had I never read Barrett's testimony. He explains why things that people were {and still do} crying out for never happened, like Manson being removed back to jail for numerous violations of parole....but he also explains the steps he took to have his parole quashed and him removed back to prison. All this commenced before Charlie was ever arrested out in the desert. As has been pointed out before, Manson was being sought after on 3 fronts by the time he was finally arrested and each of them had to be street legal.

Torque said...

Yes, excellent post. Law enforcement appeared to be conducting an impressive investigation, aided by other agencies as well as the public. Indeed, if LE were able to act earlier, would the events at Cielo and Waverly have unfolded as they did?

Vera Dreiser said...

Um, nerds, this was all covered in fuckin Chaos, including the report that Manson was returning to Spahn from the Bay area with drugs. Geez Louise. O'Neil may even have some of these documents on his social media, but Vera's too soused to look now.

starviego said...

The pages are addressed to a "John P. Knox, Chief Patrol Division West"

Who is this guy? Presumably, he's with the LASO, but is he out of the Malibu substation? They were there at Spahn almost everyday before the raid, but you don't here anything about the Malibu substation in these docs.

starviego said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Life of Laura Gertrude Garrett said...

One correction, if I may. The wedding photo shows Laura's mother and Laura's sister Sandra- Dan

G. Greene-Whyte said...

Thanks, Dan.

G. Greene-Whyte said...

Star, he’s chief of the LASO Traffic Division at the time, right?

David said...

John P. Knox

Served in the LASO from 1955 to 1987

1963: Lt. LASO
1967: Executive Assistant to the Chief
1968: Promoted to Division Chief- Technical Services Division
1972: Transferred to Jail Division- he is quoted in an LA Times article about William Farr

Died 1996

Oh and for our conspiratorial types- in August 1969 it was announced he would be attending the FBI National Academy. He did sometime later.

Doug said...

Laura Sheppard's mom was a hero!

A Polish Jew confronting a disciple of Hitler with the will and determination of a champion. Not backing off one bit in her efforts to get her daughter back!

And Manson probably hit her up with his "your children came to me, you didn't want them" bullshit

H. Allegra Lansing said...

I wasn't going to weigh in on this, but I just can't help myself. The constant efforts to 'out' Mr X have me in stitches, but he was not arrested at the ranch on August 16th. He was not at the ranch on that date and was, in fact, on the east coast at the time.

Mr. X is NOT Thomas Gallela. Full stop. Confirmed. I have pictures of him during that era and while as an older gentleman he bears some resemblance to today's Gallela, they are not one and the same.

Mr X's raid probably occurred between April and June 1969. There's a ton of info to detail in this report, but it's that earlier report (which likely has little to do with Manson's crew on the surface) that I'm looking for, especially who they name as the informant there.

G. Greene-Whyte said...

Dude we figured it out. He has the same initials as Jesus Christ. Full stop. I would not say we out people here. You might have the wrong group.

G. Greene-Whyte said...

You really are a lot, Allegra. I've tried to defend you for a year but just damn. Your X is not in one single Manson-related document and there are no drug arrests.

We have an extensive folder on X. We see his felonies. He wasn't a dope dealer. We have photos of his house, former tennis team, and snaps of him playing drums. His Facebook. And his TedX. No wait. That's someone else.

Provide your evidence if you want us to take you seriously. We don't believe people and their supposed secrets here.

Wtf happened to you? You were so nice at first but now you act like Gollem. Didn't you ask people here not to worry about what you're doing and leave you alone? Have we moved on from that plan?

DebS said...

H. Allegra Lansing said...

There's a ton of info to detail in this report
----------------------

Allegra, when you are unpacking the info and detailing it on your channel don't forget to mention where you sourced the material from. I'm sure it's just been an oversight in the past.

starviego said...

David said...

John P. Knox
1968: Promoted to Division Chief- Technical Services Division


So was he up at Spahn for the Aug16 raid? Who was in charge on-scene?

Doug said...

Don't you mean

Mr (Ted)X?