The Devil's kin: Tex's cousin, Sheriff Montgomery

Just'a good ol' boy

What we have here, ladies & gentlemen is a photo of Tex Watson's 2nd cousin, Sheriff Tom Montgomery, who happened to have been in the unfortunate position of being related to Watson, and was the one who placed the piece of shit under arrest in Texas. Of course, he probably used fur-lined cuffs, so the "boy" wouldn't bruise his wrists & all. Sheriff Montgomery just thought the world of his "relation"and allowed the mother of Satan to take her son daily meals and other luxuries. Here is what he had to say about Tex Lucifer during his jail time in Texas:

"You know, I'm the boy's second cousin. His mother's daddy was my daddy's brother. But I don't think they ever established that Charles was in the Tate house-or that other place either. And this boy was raised in the church house. Why, his mother & daddy are the finest people you'll ever meet. It's awfully hard for people around here to think he could ever have done the stuff he's been accused of doing." 

Okay, let me go barf now. Why were they always calling him a "boy?" He was a freakin hairy-legged 24 year old already? Tex would call himself that too. He says in interviews "I was just an innocent Texas boy being corrupted by Charlie & the girls!" What a bunch of horseshit! Tex was a bunch of different things even before he met up with Manson, including a drug peddler, a wimp, a mama's boy, a thief, a liar, a pervert, and an extreme scum bag. A freakin boy? Are you kidding me? I'm surprised his mother didn't wipe his ass when she made her daily visits to the Collin County jail. I mean, come on. Does this look like the face of an innocent Texas boy? 

A boy's best friend is his mother!

Movie: The Last of the Manson Girls

January, 1972. Convinced there’s more to the Manson murders than meets the public eye, counterculture journalist Paul Krassner embarks on an LSD tinged investigation of the last of Manson’s disciples: Brenda McCann, Sandra Good, and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme. What he finds could change how the world sees the 60s… if he lives long enough to tell the story.

Directed By: Lonnie Martin
Written By: Based on “My Acid Trip with Squeaky Fromme” by Paul Krassner
Screenplay By: Lonnie Martin
Produced By: Cindy Marie Martin

Ningen Manga Productions, LLC

Facebook Page HERE

Website HERE

Goodbye Helter Skelter Chapters Ten though Fourteen

While Stimson says very little about the murders on Cielo, he has much more to say about Waverly because each of the participants' memories of what exactly happened differ greatly.

Chapter Ten: The Murders on Waverly Drive"

According to several of the participants of the events of August 9th and 10th, Charlie, Tex, Pat, Susan, Leslie, Linda and Steve Grogan drove around for a few hours looking for someone to kill: two homes in Pasadena were possible targets, a minister in a church, and a man in a sportscar at a traffic light. When the group arrived at Waverly Drive, Tex says that Charlie went up to the house alone, then came back for Tex. The two of them took Rosemary's wallet, tied up the victims, then returned to the car to get two of the girls. Tex says that Charlie then told him to make sure that the girls did some of the killing this time before he drove off with Susan, Linda and Steve. Susan remembers that Charlie tied the victims up on his own. Leslie doesn't really remember much at all but she does remember Charlie asking her earlier that night at Spahn if she thought she could kill, to which she responded that yes, she could. Susan, Tex and Linda remember that Charlie had a gun which was supposedly buried later that morning in the sands of Venice Beach.

Charlie says that he did not have a gun. He remembers that he first went looking for True, who wasn't home, and just sort of offhandedly stumbled into the La Bianca home. There, he had a brief discussion with Leno who he says was not fearful at all, and was not aware that Rosemary was in the house. He left the house having not robbed or tied up the victims: that it was all on Tex. He did not know anyone was going to be killed that night. He also says of leaving the wallet in Sylmar that, contrary to the prosecution's assertion, he did not know whose wallet it was but only assumed that it was "hot." Furthermore he says he knew that Sylmar was NOT a black neighborhood which becomes significant if he was indeed trying to start a race war.

Later, Linda says it was Manson's idea to kill Saladin Nader in Venice Beach. Susan however remembers that Linda suggested it while the group was still in Sylmar. Linda pointed out the wrong apartment, no one was killed, and then Manson went back to Spahn, leaving the others to hitchhike home. Stimson claims that much of the information from that night comes from Linda whose lack of credibility will be examined in later chapters.

Stimson believes Manson's version of events for several reasons. He believes that Tex is not credible because he gets a lot of the details wrong, like saying the LaBiancas' car and boat were in the driveway when they were not. Also, the supposed hunting expedition earlier in the evening could not have taken place the way some of the participants said it did because there simply was not enough time. And, why would Charlie abort certain attempts because the neighbors might hear them but be okay with killing a man in a sportscar at a busy intersection on a Saturday night? No one can describe the gun that Charlie supposedly had, it was not in any of the trial testimony, and why would they feel the need to get rid of it it they had not used it? Charlie could not have tied up the LaBiancas on his own because Linda Kasabian says that he was only gone long enough for her to smoke 3/4 of a Pall Mall cigarette. Finally, when Linda led them to the wrong apartment in Nader's building, why didn't they just kill whoever answered if they were on a supposed random murder spree? In conclusion, Stimson says that because of these discrepancies, Charlie's explanation of events that night is the only one that makes sense and in it, he committed no crime.

Chapter Eleven: "The Murder of Donald 'Shorty' Shea"

This chapter is almost entirely devoid of any analysis by Stimson. He lets the words of Steve Grogan, Bruce Davis and Charles Manson stand on their own. What these people say is that Shorty was generally disliked by the Family because he was viewed as sloppy or sleazy for drinking too much and chasing the girls. Charlie says it is true that he did not like Shorty's being with a black woman because "I was raised that you don't...cross that racial line." Squeaky and Kitty both overheard Shorty talking badly about the Family to George Spahn. What finally got "five or six guys" upset enough to kill Shorty was the view that he had snitched on them and caused the Spahn Ranch raids of August 15 and August 24. Steve claims that the worst part of the raids were having Family children taken away to be placed in foster homes.

He and Bruce say that killing Shorty was Charlie's idea, that he was there, he put the weapons in their hands and told them to follow Tex's lead. Charlie on the other hand says that it was the group's collective idea and that it got out of hand. According to Steve and Bruce, Shorty was asked to drive the group down the hill to retrieve some car parts. At some point, Tex stabbed him in the eye, and Steve hit him on the head with a pipe wrench. Shorty was then dragged from the car and stabbed by various participants until he was dead. Charlie says he did not mortally wound Shorty himself but sounds as if he feels that the murder was justified based on the fact that Shorty was a snitch, and because snitches get what they get in the prison world that Charlie was accustomed to.  All of the participants agree that even though each of them at some point cut or hit Shorty, the bulk of the killing was done by Tex. Later that night it was Steve who came back to bury the body that had been temporarily stashed in some bushes.

What is most interesting to Patty about this chapter is the list of who was there: Steve, Bruce, Tex, Charlie, possibly one of the girls according to Bruce and "another person" according to Steve and Charlie, who is not named and who was never prosecuted for the murder. Who was this person, why was he or she never implicated, and what might be the significance of this? Patty would love to hear Stimson's thoughts on the topic.

Chapter Twelve: "Back to the Desert"

Stimson briefly recounts here how the Family returned to the desert around the first of September: Juanita Wildebush had left with a miner and Paul Crockett had moved into the bunkhouse with Little Paul and Brooks. He reminds us that Bugliosi recounts three aborted murder attempts on the residents of the bunkhouse during midnight creepy crawly raids but discounts them because what difference would it make if the supposed victims heard Charlie coming to kill them or not? It was very remote in the desert, and if Charlie truly had 20 or so brainwashed followers, why wouldn't they just kill them? Stimson also quotes Crockett as saying that he never saw any drug use or "ritualistic activity" in the desert.

Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen: "Introduction to the Motive" and "The Helter Skelter Motive"

Three elements that tie a person to a crime are means, motive, and opportunity: there is no such thing as a motiveless crime. And, while a prosecutor is not bound to introduce evidence of a motive at trial, it is to his distinct advantage to do so because lack of motive is strong circumstantial evidence of innocence. Stimson claims that in the Tate La Bianca trials, Bugliosi had to establish a motive because there was "literally no other evidence tying Manson to the murders."

Stimson contends that Helter Skelter is too fantastic to be believable, but that the public bought it because of the barrage of media fabrications and inaccuracies that began to emerge beginning in December, 1969: hooded victims, sexual mutilations, dune buggies with machine guns mounted on them and Manson being known among the family as "Jesus," for instance. Many police theories were bandied about including bad drug deal, orgy killing, LSD freak out, Mafia hit, robbery, revenge killing and class warfare, but none of them fully fit the circumstances of the crimes.

Bugliosi, Stimson contends, discovered Helter Skelter "in the peripheries of the consciousness of some of the people at Spahn's." Major components of the theory were the music of the Beatles and Revelations 9 in the Bible. Stimson says that the influence of the Beatles on Manson is overestimated because he was older and preferred the music of the previous generation to which he belonged, like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra (to be honest this part made Patty chuckle a little bit). Further, he points out, that of COURSE there were messages in the music of the Beatles, that is what music is, and it is why people listen to it in the first place...so, what?

Then Stimson makes what Patty feels is his strongest point in the entire chapter. If indeed, the Family did honestly believe that they would live in a bottomless pit in miniaturized form for 50 to 100 years before emerging to rule the world, wouldn't that qualify them as being psychotic? And if hey were crazy enough to believe in Helter Skelter, why were they considered sane enough to stand trial?

Stimson goes on to demonstrate how none of the participants save Leslie thought that their crimes were meant to start a race war. Tex says he wasn't clear about what was to be written on the walls, that he "wasn't clear about the whole thing, really." Pat says that she thought they were going to Cielo to commit a robbery. Kasabian says she thought it was to be a simple creepy crawl.  Bobby says that he had never heard of Helter Skelter until it was reported in the media. Charlie says he did talk about Helter Skelter, but that to him it just means "confusion:" the direction that society was heading in in 1969. Stimson quotes a December 7th LA Times article entitled "Manson Wanted a Race War, Friends Say" in which each source says that they only heard certain parts of the supposed theory, and that they had to piece it all together on their own later on. Even Bugliosi has said on many occasions that he doesn't believe in Helter Skelter: "It was almost unbelievably bizarre...(I) told (a co-prosecutor) it wouldn't take me two seconds to dump the whole Helter Skelter theory if he could find another motive in the evidence." Stimson's ending analysis is that why wouldn't the convicted killers claim Helter Skelter as their motive, especially when they know it might be to their advantage to do so?  Because, he says, it's not true.

In the next installment, Patty will detail for you what Stimson claims the REAL motive was. She hopes you are looking forward to this part of the book as much as she is.

Collector Alert: Michael Channels is selling part of his collection

Michael Channels is selling parts of his collection off for cheap! Here is a letter from 1987 that comes with a certificate of authenticity, as does everything that comes of the back porch. Michael's stuff is guaranteed for real, and trust Patty, that is important because there is a lot of fake stuff out there.

Here is a piece of fan mail from a guy in Europe that Manson wrote on. Michael is selling it for FIVE measly little dollars!! In the video he hilariously says, "Maybe it's you. You can get it back." LOL

Why is he doing this you might ask? Because he has a ton of stuff and apparently is raising funds to one day add a book he is writing to the legion of titles published on the subject. It's bound to be a good one, Patty'd venture.

Says Michael,"If you want more, tune in later. Cuz I got a pile of shit to get rid of here, and its all going, Out the door. First come, first served."

UPDATE: at the time of this publication the items you see here have mostly been sold. However, do get in touch with Michael via the contact information he has in his video to be alerted to upcoming items he is ready to part with. This is one of a kind stuff, people.

Video of the Hinman Murder Scene

Video of the Hinman house, including the inside bedroom where
Gary Hinman's blood stains are clearly visible.

Included is part of the interview with Det. Charles Guenther & Det. Paul Whitely.

Am I Blue?

Am I Blue?

Am I blue, yes I'm blue

It started the day I lost you.

Nobody ever missed somebody like I do.

Am I blue, am I blue...

Here we have an extremely rare photograph of Sandra Good being visited by her son Elf, possibly during her stint at the federal prison in Dublin, California when he was probably around 7 or 8. Obviously, she had already transformed from Sandra Good into "Blue" for Manson's "Order Of The Rainbow" environmental religion. Actually, that was the whole reason she got sent to prison. Well, that isn't the reason she got sent to prison. The reason was because she was sending death threats through the mail. I always thought getting 10 years for sending threatening letters was kind of severe, but the authorities probably felt otherwise. She did seem to always threaten people's lives back then. Well, hopefully she has mellowed with age. Enjoy the photo, ladies & gentlemen. It's an oldie, but a GOODIE!!

Goodbye Helter Skelter Chapters six through nine

The next two chapters on Bernard Crowe and Gary Hinman begin to flesh out Stimson's contention that Charles Manson is not legally culpable for the murders that took place during the summer of 1969. If Patty understands correctly, rather than Charlie's ordering "his children" to kill, his brothers and sisters killed for love of each other, to preserve their family unit. The distinction here is that each person involved made the decision to be involved of their own free will rather than being told to do something and obeying because of having been brainwashed or what have you.

Chapter six: "The Shooting of Bernard Crowe"

Stimson claims that this incident was one of two main catalysts that led to the murders later that summer, and was a naive effort by Tex Watson alone to raise a little cash. Tex got Rosina Kroner to raise $5,000 for a marijuana deal that ostensibly Bernard Crowe helped her to raise. When the three of them travelled to the dealer's apartment, Tex slipped out the back leaving Rosina with a very angry Crowe, who called Spahn demanding his money back. If he did not get his money, he threatened to come to the ranch and kill everyone there.

While Tex claims that it had previously been agreed that Charlie would handle the aftermath of the theft, Charlie claims that this was never so. Stimson agrees with Charlie's version because he was not "criminally naive" enough to have set the deal up in the first place. On the other hand, Stimson asserts that Tex already had a reputation as a thief because it was his idea that Linda Kasabian should rip off her husband's friend for $5,000 that summer. Stimson quotes Tex from Will You Die for Me as having said that "I thought a while and came up with an idea" and "it was MY mess." Charlie claims that he told Tex to give the money back, but rather he ran to the hills to hide out with Sadie. Then Charlie was stuck holding the bag and had to do something to protect his family from being up into danger.

When Charlie shot Crowe, he thought he had killed him. He also thought that meant that Tex was inadventently going to cost him his own life and as such, he told Tex that Tex OWED him big time. The very next day, the new reported that a Black Panther had been killed in Griffith Park, and the Family mistakenly thought it was Crowe. This is significant according to Stimson because the Family therefore believed that Charlie had killed for the benefit and survival of the family, which set a standard and demonstrated the extent of Charlie's love for them. From this point on they all became capable of murder.

Furthermore, Stimson says that Tex wrote in his book about how Charlie brought up the Crowe affair on the night of Cielo. This is further significant in showing that Charlie didn't order the murders that night because if Charlie had been involved, there would not have been any debt for Tex to have to pay back.

Chapter Seven: "The Murder of Gary Hinman"

While some of their specific assertions conflict, both Bobby Beausoleil and Charlie have claimed that the murder of Gary Hinman was indeed a drug deal gone bad and not a strong-armed robbery as many have asserted. Bobby's story is that the Straight Satans were having their tenth anniversary party in Venice Beach, and that he wanted to be invited, so he tried to score "something different" to impress them. He claims that Gary was making mescaline from peyote in his basement and that he bought 1,000 tabs for $1,000. The next day, the angry bikers beat Bobby up and demanded their money back, which is why Bobby paid Gary a visit in the days before his murder on July 31, 1969. But since Bobby did not have any of the so-called bad drugs for Gary to test, Gary assumed that Bobby was trying to rip him off.

Bobby also asserts that Charlie did not order him to kill Gary and that he did not make the phonecall to Spahn that the police later discovered from Gary's telephone records. Rather, he claims that the girls, who were unaware of the purpose of the visit in the first place, called Charlie to say that they were in trouble and that Gary had a gun. This is why Charlie had Bruce Davis drive him from Spahn Ranch to Gary's house where he took Gary's gun away and cut his ear with a machete. Prior to Charlie's arrival, Bobby said that Gary had signed over the pink slips to his cars which Bobby was going to give to the bikers in lieu of the $1,000. According to his account, a gentleman's agreement had already been achieved before Charlie showed up and cut Gary, purportedly to protect the girls. Only after Charlie cut Gary did Gary threaten to go to the police, at which point Bobby said he "acted irrationally" and killed Gary.

Susan Atkins tells a different story when she says that the pink slips to Gary's cars were not turned over until two days later. Charlies version differs as well. He says that Bobby asked him what he should do about the bunk drugs and that Charlie told him to forget about it. Bobby however wanted to pay the visit to Gary because it was a matter of principle for him. When Charlie showed up, he cut Gary to show Bobby how to be a man at which point Charlie says the pink slips were turned over and he left. After he left, he claims that Gary said he was going to kill Charlie and so Bobby killed Gary first to protect his friend. Charlie claims that he never told Bobby what to do.

At some point, Gary's gun was fired since a bullet hole was found by police in the kitchen. No one can agree about when it actually went off, however. Stimson claims that although some things still don't make sense, no one says that they went there with the intention of killing Gary. "People don't normally administer first aid to their victims before killing them," he claims. The killing only occurred after Gary went back on his word to not go to the authorities over his slashed ear and therefore was not premeditated as the prosecution would have us believe. Stimson says that Bobby killed Gary to protect Manson. He killed for brother, just as Manson did when he believed he killed Crowe. Stimson is painting an overall picture here in which Charlie is not the father of a group of children who unquestioningly did his bidding: rather, they all had a more equal social and emotional relationship based on mutual love and reciprocity.

Chapters Eight and Nine: "Introduction to the Tate La Bianca Murders" and "The Murders on Cielo Drive

Stimson says very little about the murders on Cielo, save the following: They were not random, nor isolated, but part of a larger series of events that arose out of "illegal drug transactions gone awry, underworld favors owed, and an ill-conceived plan to divert police attention from a previous murderous occurrence." All four participants admit to what they did, but did Charlie really "mastermind" them? Charlie told Stimson that perhaps he did, but "unknowingly." Everyone remembers Charlie telling the girls to do whatever Tex said and to "leave something witchy." Charlie also remembers giving them the old pair of glasses to leave behind in order to cause confusion. While Tex remembers that Charlie specifically told him to kill the occupants of Cielo and in exactly what way, Stimson believes that Tex was either mistaken or outright lying. Future chapters are to elaborate on what Stimson believes the true motive was.

Stimson has a bit more to say about Waverly because each of the participants' memories of what exactly happened differ much as they did in the instance of Gary's Murder. More on that next time.

Goodbye Helter Skelter: Chapters three through five

Welcome back to Patty's ongoing book report on George Stimson's very thoughtful Goodbye Helter Skelter. Today's installment covers the next ninety pages or so for your reading enjoyment. BTW, have you ordered your copy yet? If not, then get on it!

Chapter three: "On Sources, Methodology and Terminology"
George explains why he does not use Helter Skelter as source material (one sided and self aggrandizing), The Family (entertaining but irrelevant), or Manson in His Own Words (in Emmons' own words). He claims that the Indiana School for Boys' gang rape recorded in Emmons is completely fabricated, and that Charlie himself refers to the entire book as "bullshit." He also discounts Taming the Beast because the quotes attributed to Manson were not tape recorded or written down verbatim, they were paraphrased by the author.

Rather, George relies on taped interviews and conversations, letters, trial transcripts, and the websites of people who were involved like Tex's and Bobby's. He relies on speakers talking about themselves only, and refuses to use anonymous sources.

Here is where things get a little shaky. George is occasionally willing to "present possible motivations" for people when he feels that they are lying. For instance, he claims that when Susan Atkins told her cellmates that she tasted her victims' blood, it is reasonable to assume that she is lying because she was trying to scare them in order to protect herself. While this may seem reasonable, it seems to Patty that then he is venturing into territory where he should not be if he is attempting to be more objective than his predecessors. We shall see how this plays out as the book goes along.

Further complicating the methodology is the fact that since parole boards don't retry cases and must accept as true the courts findings, those hoping to be paroled must admit to guilt and could also therefore not be telling the whole truth. This might not be entirely intentional on the part of the participants. George quotes Pat Krenwinkel here when she said in 1993 that "sometimes I'm not sure who said what and what really happened because there is (sic) so many accounts from everyone."

Before the chapter ends, George vouches for Charles Manson's honesty when he says that he has never known him to lie, but only to be evasive. He claims that in "even Bugliosi has acknowledged Manson's honesty."

At the end of the chapter, Patty was left with an uneasy feeling that she hopes will dissipate some as the book progresses.  After all, George has asks us that if we are to read the book, we read the entire thing, hear him out fully.  Patty intends to do just that.

Chapter four: "The Mood of the Time"
This chapter is very densely packed with many details, and is nearly impossible to summarize. In fact, George has already summarized what was a very crazy and tumultuous few years into just a few pages which, if you are big on US History, pop culture, movies and/or music you will want to read very carefully for book, movie and album recommendations just as Patty did.

Patty is afraid to try and summarize what George wrote at all because of this passage near the middle of the chapter: "Although most written works...on the Manson case touch briefly on the mood of the time, it is really not enough to vaguely refer to "Flower Power" or the "Summer of Love" to fully explain the spirit of the late 1960's and early 1970's. That spirit cannot be conveyed into a soundbyte, for it was in fact derived from an accumulation of experiences and events that took place and affected people's minds...on a daily basis for years." Any attempt by Patty to boil down George's eloquent chapter into a paragraph or two would be doing just this: creating a soundbyte. Suffice it to say that Patty has received her marching orders to read up on topics that she still knows very little about like Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panthers, the philosophy of Jerry Rubin, movies like Zabriskie Point and Alice's Restaurant, the "Is God Dead?" Time Magazine cover, the shooting of James Meredith and so on.

Chapter Five: "Spring 1967 to Summer, 1969"

This chapter is a chronology of the events leading up to the murders that is meant to illustrate the group dynamics and bonding between the members of Charlie's brigade. Much of it you are already familiar with but let's hit the highlights, shall we?

Shortly after his release from prison on March 21, 1967 Charlie traveled to the Bay are where he met Mary Brunner. They stayed only a few months before leaving for LA where they met Lynette Fromme in Venice Beach. The three traveled through Northern California through the spring and summer of that year, staying briefly at 636 Cole Street in the Haight Ashbury. In July, Charlie met Dean Moorheouse while hitchhiking, and the four were invited to stay with him for a time. Charlie was gifted a piano by a friend of Dean's which he sold in order to buy a VW camper van. By September, the four were in LA again, where they met Patricia Krenwinkel in Manhattan Beach. Back in San Francisco, they traded the camper van for a black bus with a stove, sink and water tank on top (what Little Paul likened to the bus' "hat") and added Susan Atkins to their group.

In November 1967, Charlie contacted producer Gary Stromberg whom he met through a prison contact (Phil Kaufman), and worked on an ill-fated movie about a black Jesus. He also recorded some music at Universal which was never released. While in LA they stayed at the Spiral Staircase where they met Bobby Beausoleil, Gary Hinman, Diane Lake, Nancy Pittman and Dede Lansbury. There were two abandoned houses they stayed in, Horsheshoe Lane (where Susan was given the nickname Sadie Mae Glutz during a fake ID brainstorming session) and Summit Drive where they met Bruce Davis, Little Paul, and Sandra Good (who had flown down from the Bay area in a private plane with a rich artist friend to sell paintings and go surfing).

Pooh Bear was born at Summit Drive on April 5, 1968 which concreted the group, George Stimson asserts, from a group of loose knit friends into more of a "family." By May, they were forced to move out because of pressure from local law enforcement. Sadie then heard about Spahn Ranch from someone who picked her up while hitchhiking. The group asked George Spahn if they could stay, and he agreed. Here is where the group picked up Steve Grogan (Clem), TJ Walleman and Catherine Share.

Around this time Dennis Wilson invited the group to stay with him after picking up Pat and Ella Jo Bailey while hitchhiking. Here, they met Brooks Poston and Tex Watson, who had picked up Dennis while hitchhiking home from Sunset Boulevard (hitchhiking seems to be a common theme through all of the meetings, doesn't it?). Dean Moorehouse was on the scene again when Mary, Susan and Pat moved north to where the famed Witches of Mendocino incident happened. Manson asked Dennis to bail the girls out but he demurred. Charlie made new Hollywood contacts through Dennis, namely Greg Jakobson and Terry Melcher. When Charlie wasn't given any royalties or writing credits for Cease to Exist (Cease to Resist), Stimson claimed that he soured on Hollywood and actually CHOSE to move out. The family was "glad to get back to the more natural way of living at Spahn's Ranch" to spurn the materialism of Hollywood in favor of their beloved environmentalism.

By July 1968, Paul Watkins was back from Big Sur, and on August 16 the Witches were released from custody in Mendocino. Susan gave birth to her son. Tex moved in to a tent at Spahn but continued to split his time between there and Hollywood where he sold wigs and marijuana. In November, he moved back to LA, failed his civil service exam, and met his fiance, Rosina Kroner. He also began selling LSD and returned to Spahn by March 1969, but continued to come and go as he pleased.

By Late August, 1968, Bobby arrived at the ranch with wife Gail and Leslie Van Houten. By September, Juanita Wildebush also arrived and donated her van and inheritance to the Family. Stimson claims that many, many people came and went, but that Charlie put conditions on none of them. He did have a way of getting rid of "troublemakers" with his "kill me, kill you" routine and by putting loathsome characters on a horse named Major to scare the shit out of them. Charlie claims that Susan caused a lot of trouble but he didn't have the heart to drive her off.

It became impractical for the group to stay at Spahn because of their burgeoning size and increased pressure from the law, so in October 1968 they drove out to the desert to check out Myers Ranch. Stimson claims that they got along just fine with the locals, like Emmett Harder, who thought well of them. When winter came, it got cold and harsh, so everyone but Paul, Brooks and Juanita moved in January 1969 to the house on Gresham Street in Canoga Park. Supposedly they didn't immediately return to Spahn's because Lynette and George Spahn had a fight. A month later however, Stimson says that Spahn invited them back again.

Danny DeCarlo arrived at the ranch in March, 1969. The group began their moneymaking schemes to get back to the desert, including the "Helter Skelter" nightclub in the Longhorn Saloon which the police quickly shut down. The stage was now set, says Stimson, for the "ill conceived underworld mis-dealings that would soon get out of control and escalate into literal matters of life and death."

Bobby Beausoleil's Parole Hearing Postponed

The parole hearing for Bobby Beausoleil scheduled for today was postponed without explanation.


Read the story HERE

Leave Something Witchy by Randolph Gentile

"Leave Something Witchy"  is a full-length graphic novel about the life of Charles Manson and his "Family". Chronicling Manson’s life from birth to his final arrest, months after the Tate/LaBianca murders.

Written and drawn by Randolph Gentile, Marvel and DC Comics letterer and creator of the critically acclaimed" Viral: A Slasher Comic", published by Comixology, "Leave Something Witchy"part 1, will be released in late 2015.

Randolph Gentile is available to answer questions in the comments section.

-------------------------------

When I decided to write and draw "Leave Something Witchy", the story of Charlie Manson and the Family, I, like everyone on this blog and others who read a lot of true crime novels was fascinated by Charlie. To ask "what makes him tick" kick starts a journey into the human mind, America in the 1960s, drugs, runaways, the US prison system, music, Hollywood, Satanism, religion, and murder. More than enough material for a good story.

One appeal of the Manson story that always fascinated me is how he not only managed to attract wayward youth, but how many of those young people were capable of murder. What are the odds? There were communes all over California, none remembered for murder yet the group at Spahn Ranch managed to have 7 (at least) ready and willing killers.

How did Charlie bring that dark side out of these people? Is that dark side tucked away in all of us, able to surface if you were pointed in that evil direction? Charlie used a cocktail of LSD and quasi-religion to mold Tex, Sadie, Patricia and the others into killers.

But not everyone at Spahn was chomping at the bit to kill for Charlie. Some ran at the first drop of blood. So what was it about Tex that would pick up a knife and gun and lash out at "blobs" while others literally headed for the hills at Spahn and Death Valley? Maybe it wasn't Charlie's fault for what happened at Cielo and Waverly? But then, maybe it is… after all Leslie, Patricia, Tex, Sadie, Bruce Davis, were all model prisoners while an 80 year old Charlie still does time in the hole, yelling with a swastika tattooed between his eyes about the injustices thrust upon him.

You can turn this story in countless directions. That's what I find most fascinating about this story and it's why I've decided to embark on writing and drawing "Leave Something Witchy".

The first time I drew Sharon Tate, I, like most people that have seen her, was struck by her beauty. She's the prototypical Hollywood Beauty. When you draw someone you're forced to really look at them. Eyes being the most important part to capturing life in your drawing. As I drew Sharon's eyes for the first time I became incredibly saddened. Those eyes watched at Tex wrapped a rope around her neck. They watched Patricia Krenwinkel, knife in hand, chase her dear friend Abigail out of her house. Then they pleaded with Tex and Sadie to let her live… to let her have her baby… suddenly I'm not drawing the eyes of a beautiful actress, I'm drawing eyes that have seen unspeakable horror.

I kind of envy Vincent Bugliosi, Ed Sanders and the others who have written novels about that night. It's one thing to write about the murder of a pregnant woman. It's another to draw it.