By Member Request- Let Us All Bash Bill Nelson Shall We?

There is a saying "don't speak ill of the dead". Or what? At this point I don't think my karma can get any worse. Bill Nelson-Manson Family stalker, convicted child molester/sex offender. And my mentor.

I think if he was still alive today, he would crap his pants over my recent stuff. He made a lot of trouble for Tex. Exposing Tex's family for their MediCal fraud. Susan and James didn't speak to kindly of him.
I don't think Patty or Debra Tate cared for him much either. It has been written Colonel Tate didn't like him.

Mrs. Tate liked him- at first. Bruce, Leslie, Bobby and Katie lived in fear of him.

In typical Nelson fashion, he made more enemies than friends. I never got to speak with him before he passed. So by request-the Bash Bill Nelson post. Feel free to comment and tell us your own stories. (ahem Beauders)

My favorite Bill story is- He was telling his tale in typical Bill Nelson fashion, no names but enough clues to figure out who he was talking about. He mentioned meeting with a "famous female", which could only be Dee Dee Lansbury or Deanna Martin (but I could be wrong). He went to "her" house for lunch and to discuss Charlie and The Family. He chit chats with her being ever the perv, asks about Charlie's lovemaking. Then he asks her why she stopped chillin' with the Family. She replied that one night there was a BIG orgy. Everyone was participating, even her. She was digging it until, she saw Charlie touch one of Dennis Rices kids inappropriately. We all know Dennis and his kids came AFTER the murders when Charlie was already in jail.


Photo "lifted" from ColScott :)

Who was second in charge?

Panamint Patty has just recently finished reading books by Paul Watkins ("My Life With Charles Manson") and Bill Nelson ("Manson: Behind the Scenes"). One point that has become abundantly clear is that there is no real agreement on which follower was Manson's "number two" or "right hand man."

The forerunners:


Tex. Charlie put him in charge at Tate and he was also at La Bianca. Al Springer told police that "Charlie and Tex are the brains out there (at Spahn)." Furthermore, he is Ed Sander's choice for the job and was Bugliosi's early choice because it fit in nicely with the case he was building against Charlie. The Bug has since waffled on his pick.





Bruce. Bill Nelson argues in his book that "Charlie never did anything without Bruce." He was there for Crowe and Hinman, and may have also done Joel Pugh in London at the request of Charlie. He seems of all of the players to have been the least under Charlie's control, and more in control of himself, possibly because he was older and spent a lot of time away from the ranch. He is also rumored to have been allowed to wear Charlie's ceremonial vest.


Little Paul. Right on the cover of his book, Paul claims to be "Manson's Former #2 Man." He was good at helping Charlie attract young girls into the family and with "hustling" items that they needed on a day to day basis. He claims to have taken over the family once Charlie went to jail and to have slept with Squeaky, who was Charlie's exclusive girl.




Bobby. He and Charlie had a love hate thing going on becaue they were rival charismatics. Gypsy and Leslie were "his women:" Leslie has commented many times that Charlie "needed" Bobby. Perhaps Charlie just preferred to keep those who he was most threatened by close at hand.




Squeaky. She is Panamint Patty's choice for the job. Yes, history tends to focus on the men, but behind every insane criminal is an even insaner woman. Squeaky dealt with the family's finances and held everyone's IDs. During an acid trip at Spahn, Charlie asked Lynette "What are you doing?" "I am holding on to you," she replied. "No, I am holding on to you!" At which point, everyone realized it was true, and chaos ensued.

Who is your pick?

Roman at Cielo

last days

  


                            


                  

          


Yes I know, everyone has scene these pictures
a million times.  But I recently was told a little story
about the origin of these photos.  I was contacted 
by someone who owns quite a bit of case 
related memorabilia which was purchased from 
Bill Nelson.


These are the supposed pictures from the undeveloped 
roll of film the police confiscated after the murders and 
later returned to Roman.


I was also told Voytek took all the above photos, 
except for the one with him and Sharon together.   
Did anyone else notice Jay's speedo is so tight
you can tell his religion?

Vern Plumlee

Vern was the AWOL Marine who spent time at Spahn from July 1969 to September. He was "recaptured" by Uncle Sam and spent enough time in the brig for prosecutors to identify him as a witness and plan to use him during the trial. He escaped from the brig but was recaptured - again. He brashly bragged about killing 3 people and also said that he witnessed Manson and Grogan killing someone in the desert. He was a master of changing stories, it seems. Plumlee was convicted and sentenced to 5 years to life in an unrelated robbery stabbing.

After parole, he worked as a welder and raised a family.

Origins of the Black Bus

On page 18 of Ed Sander's latest release of "The Family," he writes that "It was in Sacramento where they seem to have traded the Volkswagen bus as down payment for an old yellow school bus...On October 16, 1967, at the Stewart E. Miller Standard Chevron Station...they outfitted the school bus with a thirty-nine dollar battery and two sets of 825-20 tires costing $216.20." Panamint Patty found an old reverse lookup Sacramento phone directory from 1968 and located the gas station which is now a plain vanilla used car lot at 6401 Stockton Boulevard in the part of town now known as "Little Saigon." This was a surprise, since she expected the gas station would likely be on a freeway on- or off-ramp. However, In 1967, Stockton Boulevard was the main way in and out of town to the south: there was no 99, no 5 connecting Northern and Southern California. And today, there is no Stewart E. Miller Chevron station: So you may say that Patty's adventure was a bust. But then again...So many of these sites are disappearing into the mist forty years later. She hopes that some of you may be inspired to do a little sleuthing of your own and perhaps one of us will find something truly amazing...

Shoshone Caves

This is our very own Grump From Pahrump at the Shoshone Caves. This is the comment he provided with the photo, "Me exploring one of the Shoshone caves, where Paul, Brooks etc lived. This one is a 3 room one!". ------------------------ From Little Paul's Book: The hillsides around Shoshone are riddled with man made caves, dug originally by itinerant miners, prospectors, and other vagabonds, who, over the years, found the town a convenient oasis in the scorching lowlands of the Amargosa Valley. Shoshone was also a water stop on the railroad line and for a time the site of a thriving hobo jungle which centered in and around the tufa caves. Crockett and Poston were broke and living in one of those caves when I arrived on October 9. Don Ward had told them (as he did me) not to leave Shoshone, that the Barker Ranch was about to be busted.

19844 Horseshoe Rd.

Charlie and company lived here for about three months. I might be wrong but I think parts of Ramrodder were filmed here. It looks like the house has been remodeled. It looks very different from the rest of the homes in the area. I think the plaster was done and the windows have been replaced with modern glass. It's the location though.


Thanks to Ken for the write-up and 
the awesome paparazzi work.

Spahn Ranch - February 2011

thank you to Stacey for the pictures