To aid in the investigation, the Coroner asked that a 'profile' of the killers be done:
News article dated September 20th, 1969
Los Angeles Coroner Thomas Noguchi asked for a psychiatric report
— customary in unusual unsolved murders and in some suicides — because
of grotesque aspects of the mass slaying, including the hooding and
tying of a nylon cord around two of the victims and scrawled
inscriptions in blood around the home. Members of the psychiatric team
are Drs. Frederick Hacker, a psychiatrist; Robert Littman, a
psychiatrist who heads the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center, and
Norman Farberow, a psychologist.
Noguchi was impressed with the results, though it doesn't seemed to have aided in the resolution of the crime:
Coroner, by Thomas Noguchi, c.1983 pg137of252
The word "PIG" at the Tate house might have been written by a black drug dealer, as the LAPD believed. But at the LaBiancas' the killers had also scrawled "RISE" and "HELTER SKELTER." What did those words have to do with drugs? Rather, they seemed to suggest the hand of a terrorist or revolutionary group.
For advice, I turned to Dr. Frederick Hacker, the psychiatrist who ... was one of the world's leading authority on terrorism, its roots and its rites. .... It occurred to me that an expert such as Dr. Hacker, from his vast experience with terrorist groups, might discover an insight into these strange and violent murders. ....
Ten days later he filed his report, and it was a stunner. Dr. Hacker, from his distinctive experience, saw a possible connection between the two crimes much more sinister than anyone could have imagined. These are some excerpts from his report:
"It must be assumed that the [actual perpetrator's] helpers ... were in a state of mind compatible with planning and at least a limited amount of anticipation of difficulties and premeditation (see cutting of wires, complicated rope arrangement.. keeping the victims controlled while the slaying went on, etc.) ....
"The bizarre features of the multiple crime certainly suggest severe psychopathology of the killers... (the possibility than an interested party might have hired impulsively sadistic killers cannot be excluded).
"It is conceivable that the personality of the actual killer was quite different from those of his helpers and that... one party.. carried out the preparations and precautionary measures while the other party or parties actually perpetrated the crimes..."
Thus, weeks before Charles Manson was found, Dr. Hacker predicted the existence of a man not even present at the scenes of the crimes, who had sent his "impulsively sadistic killers" to do his murdering. Hacker's report also went on to say that "the criminals might be looked for among fringe pseudo-religious groups"--a prophetic description of the cult of which Manson was the pseudogod.
Finally, in what I considered to be one of his most brilliant insights, Dr. Hacker said that the criminals might be a group of former associates of the victims who believed themselves "rejected, thwarted, cheated by one or more of the victims and who took revenge in this fashion."
The word "PIG" at the Tate house might have been written by a black drug dealer, as the LAPD believed. But at the LaBiancas' the killers had also scrawled "RISE" and "HELTER SKELTER." What did those words have to do with drugs? Rather, they seemed to suggest the hand of a terrorist or revolutionary group.
For advice, I turned to Dr. Frederick Hacker, the psychiatrist who ... was one of the world's leading authority on terrorism, its roots and its rites. .... It occurred to me that an expert such as Dr. Hacker, from his vast experience with terrorist groups, might discover an insight into these strange and violent murders. ....
Ten days later he filed his report, and it was a stunner. Dr. Hacker, from his distinctive experience, saw a possible connection between the two crimes much more sinister than anyone could have imagined. These are some excerpts from his report:
"It must be assumed that the [actual perpetrator's] helpers ... were in a state of mind compatible with planning and at least a limited amount of anticipation of difficulties and premeditation (see cutting of wires, complicated rope arrangement.. keeping the victims controlled while the slaying went on, etc.) ....
"The bizarre features of the multiple crime certainly suggest severe psychopathology of the killers... (the possibility than an interested party might have hired impulsively sadistic killers cannot be excluded).
"It is conceivable that the personality of the actual killer was quite different from those of his helpers and that... one party.. carried out the preparations and precautionary measures while the other party or parties actually perpetrated the crimes..."
Thus, weeks before Charles Manson was found, Dr. Hacker predicted the existence of a man not even present at the scenes of the crimes, who had sent his "impulsively sadistic killers" to do his murdering. Hacker's report also went on to say that "the criminals might be looked for among fringe pseudo-religious groups"--a prophetic description of the cult of which Manson was the pseudogod.
Finally, in what I considered to be one of his most brilliant insights, Dr. Hacker said that the criminals might be a group of former associates of the victims who believed themselves "rejected, thwarted, cheated by one or more of the victims and who took revenge in this fashion."
Dr. Hacker's theories and my own study of the case have led me to conclude that Manson had a different motive (other than Bugliosi's Helter Skelter motive).
Why did he choose Sharon Tate's residence for the orgy of murder? I
believe that the pseudogod chose that particular house for a very mortal
reason: symbolic revenge for a failed musical career. And after he
had turned his worshipping cultists loose on Sharon Tate and her
friends, the LaBianca murders were purely random, committed only to
throw police off the real "revenge" trial at 10050 Cielo Drive
----------------------------
The afrorementioned Dr. Hacker was also quoted extensively in the Nov. 1969 issue of 'Pageant' magazine
Speed was found in Jay Sebring's black Porsche 911-S parked outside the house where he was murdered. ...
Doctors claim speed makes people behave as though they are crazy. "When somebody has taken speed, there is much more tolerance for inflicting and accepting violence," claims Frederick Hacker, head of the Hacker Clinic in Beverly Hills. "Last year I was talking at a conference about the national nightmare resulting from drug abuses, and this murder is the kind of thing I was talking about."
Doctors claim speed makes people behave as though they are crazy. "When somebody has taken speed, there is much more tolerance for inflicting and accepting violence," claims Frederick Hacker, head of the Hacker Clinic in Beverly Hills. "Last year I was talking at a conference about the national nightmare resulting from drug abuses, and this murder is the kind of thing I was talking about."
Also this interesting link:
https://mindcontrolblackassassins.com/tag/dr-frederick-hacker/
Dr. Hacker was CIA psychiatrist-in-residence, author and “expert” on provocateur violence.
...On November 21, 1968, Dr. Hacker was assigned as a psychiatrist to Donald Defreeze, (later) known as Cinque Mtume and “Field Marshal Cinque” of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). Dr. Hacker was also a close adviser to Randolph Hearst during the 1974 SLA “CIA Psyop” kidnapping of Patty Hearst.
http://www.maebrussell.com/Mae%20Brussell%20Articles/Why%20Was%20Hearst%20Kidnapped%204.html
Dr. Hacker was the psychiatrist assigned to Donald DeFreeze on November 21, 1968, while DeFreeze worked for the LAPD as an informer.
...On November 21, 1968, Dr. Hacker was assigned as a psychiatrist to Donald Defreeze, (later) known as Cinque Mtume and “Field Marshal Cinque” of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). Dr. Hacker was also a close adviser to Randolph Hearst during the 1974 SLA “CIA Psyop” kidnapping of Patty Hearst.
http://www.maebrussell.com/Mae%20Brussell%20Articles/Why%20Was%20Hearst%20Kidnapped%204.html
Dr. Hacker was the psychiatrist assigned to Donald DeFreeze on November 21, 1968, while DeFreeze worked for the LAPD as an informer.
17 comments:
That was a very interesting post. First time I hear of this profiling.
Very good stuff here, Star. Thanks for this
I don't see the psych profile or the choice of victims as mutually exclusive from Helter Skelter. The HS idea may have come first and then Chuck picked the actual victims. As I have posted before: Occam'
s Razor.
Nobody with any sense should trust for a single moment anything that a freakin' CIA shrink says.
I don't see the psych profile or the choice of victims as mutually exclusive from Helter Skelter.
Neither do I. I think it's possible that Manson had both ideas in his head at different times applying to different situations, and this was a sort of killing two birds with one stone kind of thing...
"We get to start the revolution AND I can get revenge by proxy against Melcher.
...and for an added bonus, maybe we can get Beausoleil out..."
I'm actually working on a post similar to this concerning Tex's trial. From a medical standpoint, psychiatrists like psychologists are part of the APA, however they are two completely medical sciences. Psychology, with the proper degrees, is the study of disorders and profiling people. Psychiatry is the study of TREATING the mental disorders. Psychology complies all research done into a book called the DSM (the most current edition is the DSM-5. The DSM stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) that help psychiatrists diagnose and treat disorders. You have to meet X amount of symptoms to qualify to be diagnosed. For example, Psychologists found that you need to have three specific symptoms to be diagnosed with what was previously called " Conduct Disorder." Which would have been chalked up as "normal teenage and pre-teenage behavior" as it was for Diane Lake. How would a psychiatrist today make this diagnosis if the research didn't exist? How would a psychiatrist made a profile of people or people they didn't know and didn't diagnose?
Simple answer, they couldn't.
During trial's psychiatrists typically side with the side paying for them or contracted by the defense or prosecution. I'm getting into that when I work on the post about Tex's trial. During the trial, it creates confusion among the jury and they have to sort out what is and what isn't accurate.
*Completely different medical sciences.
This would be a great post, James D. People had such a limited idea of mental disorders back then, which was pretty much psychopathology, psychosis and depression/melancholia. No bipolar disorder, personality disorders and little consideration of comorbidities. Was there even a DSM by Tex's trial?
Star, I agree with your position on motive. Choosing Cielo was revenge. I think Terry Melcher drastically misread Charlie, continuing to use the girls while Charlie was increasingly desperate for the stardom he thought Terry would give him in exchange. The girls believed Helter Skelter so it was an easy way to get them to participate. Its Tex I can't figure out, if he felt he owed Charlie or wanted to impress him or something else.
Patty: that was Hacker's theory, not mine. My comments start under the posted pic.
The DSM-1 was published in the early 1950's...but as you said, the research was limited at the time to where we are with the DSM-5. Though some of the illnesses and or disorders may have changed names over the years, the qualifications for diagnosis are still the same.
Patty I would respectfully submit that Tex was the most easy to figure out. In an alt universe he goes to the Nam and participates in a mini My Lai. He will obey authority and in this case that was Charlie. Also remember, Tex "owed"Charlie for the Crowe shooting. Sadie owed for the nightclub fiasco. Katie was desperate to belong. I think Linda was excited to be there (much more than the Bug portrayed). LVH remains a small mystery but we have to remember each of these people were all fringe criminals already. They were all playing their role in the Charlie psychodrama. And no doubt, Charlie (especially if he went back to check like I do believe) could not believe they all did what he asked.
ColScott said:
And no doubt, Charlie ... could not believe they all did what he asked.
I remember seeing an interview with Charlie some time in the 80s or 90s where the interviewer asked if there was anything he regretted and Charlie (after a long and seemingly significant pause) said something to the effect of “I didn’t realise how gullible you people are”. Whether he regretted not using that gullibility to achieve more or because it led to the unravelling of his whole scene was kinda hard to determine but I always thought it was a rather telling response.
ColScott, I thought you changed your mind about Manson going to Cielo Drive after the murders and that you now believed he did NOT.
Nothing sums up Watson's need to please his frat leader more than stealing 23 type writers for the scavenger hunt (he only needed one). It's in 'die for me'. He says it's why he got expelled which should be possible to verify.
Carol- I am allowed to vacillate. Several thoughts fill me at once. There are multiple accounts of Charlie telling everyone on Waverly to not make it crazy like last night. Newspapers? Second hand accounts? Maybe. That's why I said IF.
Massive overkill is usually personal....
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