History Channel Manson Speaks: Inside the Mind of a Madman.

Here are the links to the recent History Channel Manson related program Manson Speaks: Inside the Mind of a Madman.  The show will likely repeat a few times here in the US but for those outside the US it might not be available for a while.

http://www.tagtele.com/videos/voir/248354

http://www.tagtele.com/videos/voir/248385

The show focuses on unsolved murders that have been loosely connected to the Family by Bugliosi, other authors and Manson pundits.  The main unsolved murder discussed is that of Reet Jurvetson who was known as Jane Doe 59 for over 45 years until a DNA match finally identified her.

The suicide of John Haught is also discussed.  The surprise to this discussion is that Mark Ross was located and interviewed.  I found his participation in the project the most interesting, particularly because he was so evasive.  The show speculated that the reason Mark Ross changed his name to Aesop Aquarian was that he was hiding from the Family because he feared them.

I think there was another reason.  In the early 70s a new commune sprouted up in Los Angeles headed by Father Yod and went by the name The Source Family .  Since many of the members changed their names to things like Electric Aquarian and Isis Aquarian, it's far more likely that Mark Ross changed his name to Aesop Aquarian because he joined this commune.  Which left me wondering if Mark isn't somewhat like Brooks Poston who needed a blueprint of someone else's making to conduct their life.

My sincerest condolences to Simon Wells whose excellent investigation into the death of Joel Pugh was taken completely out of context by the show.  They couldn't have placed Simon's work in a worse light.

Joan Huntington, Laurence Merrick's wife, was interviewed.  It looked like she had a great album full of pictures of the Family.

The show shanghaied Clem and got him to speak.  There is no video, only audio of this encounter but we here at the blog can confirm the encounter took place outside of the restaurant where we saw him on our last tour.

I was in the program for what can only be described as a cameo appearance.  The lighting on me was terrible and I don't want to talk about it!

All in all the show departed from the same old, same old of previous productions but fell short of believability regarding the unsolved murders.  The masses who are not into the details of the case like we are will probably find it to be a great show.

MansonBlog Tour 2016 - Jane Doe 59

Helter Skelter page 620:

On November 16, 1969, the body of a young girl was found dumped over an embankment at Mulholland and Bowmont Drive near Laurel Canyon, in almost the same spot where Marina Habe's body was found.  A brunette in her late teens, five feet nine, 115 pounds, she had been stabbed 157 times in the chest and throat. Ruby Pearl remembered seeing the girl with the family at Spahn, and thought her name was "Sherry." Though the Manson girls traded aliases often, LASO was able to identify only one Sherry, Sherry Ann Cooper, aka Simi Valley Sherri.  She had fled Barker Ranch at the same time as Barbara Hoyt and was, fortunately, still alive.  The victim, who had been dead less than a day, became Jane Doe 59 in police files.  Her identity is still unknown. 

The proximity in time of her death to that of Zero suggests the possibility that she may have been present at the murder, then killed so she wouldn't talk. But this is strictly conjecture, and there is no evidence to support it. Her murder remains unsolved.

There have been conflicting reports of the location of her discovery. Some articles have identified the spot as Mulholland and Skyline which is 3/4 mi down the hill from Mulholland and Bowmont. We stopped there first:

It is an isolated drop-off and a good place for a panicked perp to throw the remains. Below the ravine is a jogging trail which would have made it easy to spot the body from.

Looking north from the top of the ravine you can see the Chatsworth hills where Spahn Ranch is...

Reet Jurvetson's remains were found by a bird watcher. The level of decomposition was fairly light.

The MansonBlog investigative team is on the scene.

At the intersection of Mulholland and Bowmont there is a very steep drop-off ideal for disposing of a body

The first thing we noticed exiting the car was that there were surround sound bird calls. Plus, there were markers for bird watchers like the one above. You would think it is likely that since a bird watcher found Jurvetson's remains that the Mulholland/Bowmont site is the more likely of the two places of the discovery. However Mulholland/Skyline is where Jurvetson was found.

This is mansonblog.com reporting live...