Bill Nelson disrespects Mrs. Tate

This video is old, I know, but it is informative, if not extremely uncomfortable to watch. Bill Nelson, as you all know was a Tate/LaBianca researcher/stalker/extreme creep. How he was able to get the wonderful Mrs. Tate to answer some of his ridiculous questions is beyond me. This man should of been ashamed of himself asking her such things, and going into detail after detail about her daughter's horrible murder. It was so unnecessary, and I do believe he was doing it on purpose to try to make her start crying on film. This man, while alive needed a few dozen lashes with a bullwhip, preferably administered by Col. Tate! This interview was broken up in sections, and the embed feature is disabled, so I made links. Sorry about the inconvenience. The first part of the interview starts at 6:54.

First part:

Second part

Third part

Fourth part

Fifth part

Sixth part

Seventh part

Michael Channels and Stoner Van Houten on "The Mic Show"

Recently, Michael Channels and Stoner Van Houten appeared on "The Mic Show" out of Tampa. It's an interesting interview. They were kind enough to give MansonBlog.com a nice shout out. THANKS, GENTLEMEN! If you only want to hear our mention, start listening at about 59:00.

Michael's YouTube Channel is HERE

We had the pleasure of spending a day at The Backporch Tapes last year. See it HERE

Programmed Horrors: Charlie Manson, Orange Sunshine LSD and more MKULTRA

The following is part of a post from RobertsCourt.com. There is much more regarding MKULTRA, besides the Manson connection HERE.

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Is this the true face of our government? Many of our nation's bravest children are saying, yes! One of the first missions of Mind Control conspirators was to kill the messenger who would tell you the truth and build resistance. And kill they have! The Kennedys, King, Lennon and more programmed horrors than can be listed in any blog.

It is well known that followers of Charles Manson committed the Tate-LaBianca murders during the late 1960's. These murders had a profound impact on the peace movement through the long-standing psychological warfare goal of discrediting the enemy through covert associative terrorism. If one examines the case closely, it becomes obvious that Manson used mind-control techniques such as hypnotism, LSD, and other types of mental programming to turn middle-class suburbanites into selfless killers, but one has to wonder just exactly how Manson was able to accomplish this?

You were meant to believe that Manson developed all of these horrific skills on his own, though we now know he was in the hands of our own CIA. The CIA actively advanced this very same "programming" and it literally comes from Nazi German programs. LSD was developed by the Swiss who were working these programming methods and was mass-produced by major U.S. pharmaceutical companies for the CIA.

Consider that Manson was part of the hippie movement at the time of the CIA's project, MKULTRA, which implemented the use of drugs in order to conduct mind control experiments.

It appears that part of Manson's own supply of LSD may have come directly from the CIA. A new type of LSD known as "Orange Sunshine" was being used by the Manson Family immediately prior to the Tate-LaBianca murders according to Family member Charles "Tex" Watson, who wrote in his prison memoir that it was the use of Orange Sunshine LSD that finally convinced him that Manson's violent, apocalyptic vision was real.

In addition, Tex Watson recounted in his testimony that Manson used other drugs such as "mescaline, psilocybin, and the THC, and STP" and described a "mental acid" that "drew stuff out of your mind; and the other (body acid)...would be drawing your body."

Later, when asked about the use of drugs in the Manson family "Tex" said, "People seem to think that Manson had all of us drugged out, while he remained sober so he could easily manipulate our minds. This may be true, but a sorcerer such as Manson uses mind-altering drugs himself in order to contact spiritual beings, and gain supernatural powers."

"He did use drugs to manipulate and control us, and the more drugs we took, the easier it was for him to manipulate us with his philosophy. We all began to reflect his views, a mirror image of destruction, growing worse every day. We mirrored his lifestyle and attitude toward society."

Orange Sunshine LSD was manufactured and distributed exclusively by a group known as "The Brotherhood of Eternal Love" who operated out of a beach resort near Los Angeles. The Brotherhood had among it's drug manufacturers and dealers, one Ronald Stark, who is believed to have manufactured 50 million doses of LSD, and had known connections to the CIA.

It was this very same batch of acid that was available in abundance four months later during the fateful free concert held at Altamont Speedway. Four people died at that concert, one of them after being brutally stabbed to death by a group of Hell's Angels who had been given access to multiple tabs of Orange Sunshine. Many people who attended that concert noted that the LSD seemed to be "contaminated" and that the general vibe one got from using it was that of extreme negativity, violence, and death. Additionally, Orange Sunshine was in use among American ground forces during the Vietnam war, having been smuggled into that country from the California coast.

Manson's personal obsession was with "Helter Skelter" and his belief was that this event would ignite a black-white race war in America; the Tate-LaBianca murders and the murder of musician Gary Hinman were definitely staged with false clues that the killers (or perhaps someone else) hoped would be blamed on elements of the "black militant" movement.

Manson has said in interviews that he based some of his philosophy on the science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Hienlien. In a scenario perhaps reminiscent of Mark David Chapman's and John Hinckley's infatuation with Catcher in the Rye, could Stranger in a Strange Land somehow have been Manson's program-trigger mechanism? Was the concept of Helter Skelter part of Manson's program? It is interesting to note how the "science fiction" character of Valentine Michael Smith in Heinlien's Stranger in a Strange Land very closely parallels Manson's own life: Valentine Michael Smith was a human being who returned to Earth after being raised on Mars where he underwent training in the occult arts; Manson was isolated in prison where he also studied the occult extensively and has quipped that he viewed himself as a man with an alien mind after his release from prison in 1967; both Manson and the fictional "Smith" gathered about them a group of followers into a communal lifestyle and practiced a sort of "group mind" telepathy; both attempted to transform the world as we know if via their respective philosophies.

Are these cults a thing of the past, or have they only been perfected and "normalized?" The study of emotional contagion and synchronized behavior in cult groups was an ongoing mission of the CIA, was it then applied to the culture as a whole? There is no mystery how LSD was so obsessively studied and distributed to millions of Americans through CIA networks. It opens up the "religious" centers of the brain where wrongful authority can program them. LSD was simultaneously distributed to normalize and culturally accept this programming method and discredit an entire peace movement. Many, many "legal" drugs now perform the same function of opening the mind to suggestibility via mass media.

So it came to pass that Charles Manson was stuck in solitary confinement at Folsom Prison when a new inmate was placed in the adjoining cell. It was Tim Leary, who was eventually captured with Joanna Harcourt Smith, who later admitted working for the DEA. "They took you off the streets", Manson informed Leary, "so that I could continue with your work." Charlie couldn't understand how Leary had given so many people acid without trying to "control" them.

With all this in mind, consider that if a ex-convict-turned-hippie like Charles Manson could program people to kill, then why not the U.S. Government?

In the book, Helter Skelter, Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi discussed Manson's programming techniques in depth, likening much of Manson's programming abilities to those used by the U.S. military.

Manson was in prison during the time that the CIA was known to be using inmates at Vacaville prison in the MKULTRA experiments, a fact that leaves one to speculate that perhaps Manson was some sort of mind-controlled guru created by the CIA and set loose against the "subversive" left-wing elements in order to discredit them.

Since his incarceration for the Tate-LaBianca murders, Manson has again served part of his time at Vacaville.

In alot of Manson interviews he will say things like "I'm only what i've been trained to be, I'm only what you thought you" "One interview he said Jimmy Carter made me what I am"

We now have substantiated proof that the CIA was working on projects to control human behavior. You are meant to believe that these were isolated studies, not influencing us domestically, not employed against us. How could we know otherwise?

Given total silence on the subject of collective unconscious manipulation, it is safe to presume that the collective unconscious mind was the true "enemy" of these programs. The individual would need to be more insane than Manson himself to presume otherwise.

Fusion Magazine

Nick Tosches who wrote this article early on in his career is still pumping out novels, biographies and other works in his own unique, raw and sometimes disturbing, style.  Heck, he was just a kid when he wrote this!  A friend of Ed Sanders when Sanders had his book store, Tosches chronicles the evolution of The Family.

I do like sharing these older articles most of which are not totally unheard of but rarely posted in their entirety.

The Knockouts - The Young Will Overcome

Swedish rock band, The Knockouts cover the Charles Manson tune "The Young Will Overcome".

Family Jams version compliments of blog reader "Rose"

Altamont, Dick Carter and Susan Atkins

I ran across an interesting item about Susan Atkins in a book on auto racing, of all places.  The book is Racing's Real McCoy written by Jack McCoy.  The book is partly autobiographical and a lot of racing history.  Any race enthusiast would enjoy this book with its over 900 photos and many statistics.

Dick Carter comes into play rather oddly, relative to this book.  The book I have was autographed by the author Jack McCoy but under that autograph is a bit of narrative written by Carter, for what purpose, I am unsure.  This stuff is written on the inside of the front cover.

On the inside of the first end page Carter has attached a four page story about himself.  Dick Carter aside from being a NASCAR driver and many other things also owned the Altamont Speedway at the time of the infamous Rolling Stone concert on December 6, 1969.

Carter claims in the third paragraph of his story that Susan Atkins worked for him at a business in San Francisco.  He does say that Susan's alias became "Sadie Mae Hawkins"  but I think he might have confused Sadie Hawkins Day with Sadie Mae Glutz.  Carter also says that "Abby" Folger was his cousin!  I did the best I could in trying to track down whether or not that was true but all I could really determine was that there were Carter's and Folger's that were related but if Dick Carter and Peter Folger were related it went back a few generations.  Both Carter and Folger are from the East Bay in the San Francisco area.

I'm posting all of Dick Carter's story, though most of it does not pertain to the Family.  It kind of gives you a feel for the guy.  The two middle pages of the story were cut off, I think by just one line, and there is not much I can do about that.  That's the way it was when I received it.

 

 

 

Manson Timeline

Last night a Word document with a well-reserched timeline was sent to the major TLB forums. The person who put in the hard work to compile it has requested anonymity.

I converted it to a downloadable PDF and have made it available HERE. Just enter your email address and it will be sent to you automatically.

I have been studying this case for 35+ years. I have read, enjoyed and learned from all of your blogs. I appreciate all the hard work and generosity you have all displayed in sharing your info. I started working on a timeline a couple of years ago because of my bad memory and I love timelines—it’s easier to see patterns of behavior and to nail down facts. I stepped up work on it recently and have amassed a helluva lot of info (maybe too much). Since I do not have the financial means to donate to your blogs, I thought I could offer up the efforts of my time as a way to say thank you and give back a little of what I’ve gained from your endeavors

If you look closely, or remember, you will see I 'borrowed' the original timeline from Mark Turner's seemingly now defunct site, I just added a lot more info. I was originally going to offer it to just one site, but in effort to minimize the seemingly ever present bullshit claims I’ve seen fly back and forth over the years of stealing the truth (how can you steal the Truth?? Maybe you can't HANDLE the Truth or find it, but it’s hard to steal it!! lol) I’ve decided to offer it to you all. You can only bring forward the Truth and the reality of this whole case and your blogs, is that all of it has been built upon the work of other people, many other people. Without all of them, you guys, my 35+ years of research and effort, this timeline would not have been possible. In putting this together I’ve come to realize that there is overlap in info that people paid money for (transcripts, parole hearings, legal docs, etc) and it just seemed like a waste. Chalk it up to a "Can't we all just share" plea. Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox.

Early on I was given a great suggestion to add links. While I have not purposely left out sites, I've just been more easily able to find what I needed to back facts from Cats and Cielo's sites. If some or all of you decide you’re not interested, no problem - the journey was well worth it for me. I was able to narrow some areas of interest I want to focus on. If you decide you want to post it and change links, add your own or make any changes, no problem. I realize I've left stuff out, there's just so much info. If you decide to post it, I would like to remain anonymous. Give credit to Mark as the originator and I can just be a 'friend' to the TLB case. I uncovered none of this info on my own, just put 'some' of the facts together. I will be adding to my own timeline forever, and have started to work on key players' timelines as well as the years '67-69 in more of a micro way. If interested in that, I will give you what I put together, when it’s relatively put together. My original idea was to have the timeline posted as a Work-in-Progress and have people add verified info as it comes up - a collaborative effort if you will. Just a suggestion though.

Book Report "Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties" by Robert Stone

Patty stumbled across this title that was published in 2007 by novelist Robert Stone, a Pulitzer nominee for a collection of short stories called "Bear and His Daughter." In 1966, Stone stayed in Mexico where Ken Kesey was living. Kesey later moved to his family's farm near Eugene Oregon, but had introduced Stone to Tim Leary and Ram Dass. Stone acknowledges that these two had known connections to the BEL "who were considered heavies."

In the summer of 69, Stone and his wife stayed in Palo Alto rather than stay in sweltering hot Los Angeles. Of Hollywood at the time, Stone reminisces that

"the lure of sex (was) surely the biggest illusion of all, since it had long ago been rationed, arbitraged and factored in LA, as everything else would one day be."

This quote reminded Patty of blogger Leary who likes to remind us that sex was a big factor in the allure of the Manson Family. Patty would always counter that since it was the 60's sex was everywhere so what was so special about Charlie's girls? Some people say that Charlie killed the sixties, others say that it was Altamont. Stone is positing here that it was the almighty dollar that brought down free love and it did not happen over night. Cheers, Leary. Where the heck are you, anyway?

Stone remembers that early theories as to motive mostly involved people suspecting each other of
having had a hand in it, which is telling to Patty. What was all the paranoia about if there was nothing shady going on? He also remembers regarding Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farmers that  
"it was bruited about that they spent some time out at the Spahn Movie Ranch with the Mansonites."

Patty had never heard that. Do you think that could be true?  But wait, there's more! Carol and Katie, please avert your eyes because Patty does not mean to offend:

"I went back to the Chateau to do a joint with Janice. "Where did you get the dope?" She asked. "Did you buy some?" It was Jay Sebring's dope, and he had given it to me at a party."

Say what?

Thesis on Susan Atkins

Whoever runs the website "freesusanatkins.net" apparently doesn't believe a murderer should stay in prison for the remainder of time for helping end the lives of 9 human beings. I am very curious to know where this person gets their information from, and why they have the opinion that Susan didn't kill anyone, and deserved to get out of prison back when she had her first parole hearing in the 70's. He/She were also of the opinion that she was a political prisoner. Huh? Funny, but I thought Susan Atkins was in prison for having been part of a crew that murdered 9 innocent people, including a baby that was fixing to be born, and not only that, but taunted her victims, which, in my opinion makes it even worse. By telling the victim/victims ahead of time that "they are going to die" is torture. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here is this person's "thesis" on Susan where he/she sort of puts the blame on Linda Kasabian, as usual.(spelling/punctuation errors included):


My Basic Thesis

If you who don't know who Susan Atkin's is, she participated in what are remembered as the "Manson Murders". She is known for ** laughing and cackling at the relatives of the victims in court ** telling the Prosecutor, the Court, fellow prisoners that she told Sharon Tate "Look Bitch I have no mercy on you, you are going to die " **  painting the word "PIG" on the Tate house door with Sharon's blood ** stabbing and tasting the blood of Sharon Tate ** smothering or stabbing to death Gary Hinman ** changing her version of events to hood wink the ignorant ** and a bunch of other things.

So you may wonder why I support her release on parole. Before I explain I would like to state I think she is guilty of participation,  which she admits totally. I assert however that she didn't kill anyone, has served enough for what she did, and the killers will still be in prison.

Here is my basic position.

In the book "Helter Skelter" by Vincent Bugliosi the head prosecutor of the case, on page 17 the police comment that the vast majority of stab wounds are similar, like a bayonet. This was a point held from the press as a confirmation point to know they had the killer. There were two knifes found in the house, a kitchen knife with animal blood on it and a buck knife found in the in the furniture with no blood on it.

This second knife was Susan's knife. As it had no blood on it, it didn't stab anyone. Also reported in Helter Skelter the buck knife was ruled out because the depths and widths of the wounds couldn't have been made by the buck knife. So Susan's knife didn't stab anyone.

Charles Watson, who did most of the killing, states that Susan did not kill Sharon Tate - he did it.

As for Susan changing the story, she simply may not have a clear memory.

The Coroners report on the stabbing of Frykowski supports the position that Susan didn't stab Frykowski. She tried to stab him during the fight as he tore her hair but apparently missed. By her testimony and Watson's book she hesitated and then Frykowski attacked seeing his chance to escape. What is interesting is she hesitated. She didn't jump right in like some Bride of Chucky. She didn't want to.

In the her book Susan says Linda gave her a knife because she lost hers. The Prosecutor always wondered if Susan had a second knife, stabbed with it, and later threw it away. In her book she says she held Ms. Tate and said "look bitch you're going to die." But in her Grand Jury testimony it is a bit different.

Q. Did you do anything to Sharon Tate at that point? 

A. I went over and grabbed her by the hand and put my arm around her neck. She looked at me and begged me to let me have her sit down and i was told before we even got there no matter what they beg don't give them any leeway. 

Anyway, I went over and put her down on the couch and looked into her face knowing that anything that I would say I was saying to myself, in a sense reassuring myself. I looked at her and said, "Woman, I have no mercy for you." And I knew at that time I was talking to myself not to her.

Notice the comment is directed at herself not Sharon, to reassure herself in her fear, and also self loathing.

A great deal is made about Susan lying, changing the story each time. If you read the details it is true they do contradict. She had a second knife from Linda, she didn't, Tex doesn't report one, Linda says nothing about an additional knife. She was sitting next to Sharon, she was in front. When they drove off to do the crime she remembers waving good bye, others say they heard that she said they were off to kill some Pigs. Each of these are self serving not only to Susan, but also to the person contradicting her. And the worst thing about memory is that the longer you think about something, the less accurate it is.

I propose that the reason for all this variation is she was scared and shocked, and may not have a clear memory. She may have even been scared for herself. After all she was in a room with two people who had just killed.

But the basic outline remains consistent She was told to get some clothes and do what Tex told her. She knew something nasty was about to happen but felt she could not resist. When she saw Stephen Parent shot she went into shock to the point he occurred as a thing (a comment used to show her soulless nature, when it actually shows how normal she is). Once inside the Tate house she did as Tex told her until he told her to kill someone which she refused. This is consistent except for the defense portion of her trial when she was going to die so why not lie just to get away from Manson, her trusted guru that threw her on the gallows to save himself..

She seems to have not killed Gary Hinman, even though she said she did. Her guilty plea doesn't support this -  she didn't go with intent to rob or kill, but changes her story to get away from Manson. Also interestingly while in her guilty plea she states she smothered Hinman with a pillow, the Coroners Report does not mention anything about him being smothered. Neither does the review granted to Bruce Davis, another family member. So despite her guilty plea, she didn't smother Mr. Hinman.

- So it appears she didn't kill anyone.
- The people who run the prison she is she is rehabilitated, has been for years.
- While she did have a deranged past based on her feeling unloved and worthless, she is now loved.
- The people who did kill will still be behind bars.
- The main reason she is still there is the Public memory and hysteria over her from the trial and from the movies. But Parole isn't supposed to be based on movies.
- It is highly doubtful she drank blood as that produces at minimum a horrible stink as your immune system fights with the immune system you just ingested. It can even result in painful cramps. She was not reported as having experienced either of these.
- The only source of these stories was her saying them in Jail and to the Prosecutor. She was warned the weak get abused in Jail, so when she was bothered by the long time criminal's she just made up horror stories based on her past to scare the Lifers. And I think she also did it because her need to tell the truth made it come forth. There was no reason to talk that bluntly and brag so openly, unless her heart wanted it out. But telling lies isn't worth life in prison.

So if she apparently didn't kill, and the murderers are still in jail, the only thing her staying in prison serves is our need to punish her.

But without her there would have been no Grand Jury, no Linda Kasabian coming forward, no names of the participants, no solution to the case.

She was heartless in her laughing at the court, but she was really laughing at her own sense of pointlessness. Plus watching the Prosecution in comparison to what they had offered and taken back, that may have caused her to laugh.

But she has paid for all that, more than many people who have murdered, except she didn't.

NOTE: We will not be responsible for feelings of nausea, and/or projectile vomiting caused by reading such crap: http://freesusanatkins.net/

Book Review: Goodbye Helter Skelter, By George Stimson

Let me begin by saying I enjoyed the book immensely. I looked forward to its release because George Stimson has had decades-long access to Manson and especially to Sandy Good (and her collection of audio files) not to mention Lynnette Fromme. I knew going in that the slant would be towards Manson's innocence, but I believe that Stimson does consider him innocent. Stimson took great care to cite his sources. He interjects his opinions, but he develops those opinions incrementally and (almost) convincingly. I did not agree with him on a number of things but I won't focus on those. You'll have to read it for yourself. Despite disagreeing on a number of major points, I do though give it a thumbs-up. It is a must TLB read.

The book begins by running through well thought out chronologies of the mood in the USA during the 60's given the Vietnam War's division in American idiology, the largest such division since the civil war. It also takes the reader through an excellent chronology of the Manson Family from 1967 - 1969. Most of this we are already familiar with. Stimson artfully colors it with first hand accounts from Manson and various members from a variety of sources, not the least of which are Stimson's and Sandra Good's collection of taped telephone conversations. These are fascinating perspectives that we haven't been privy to until now.

CROWE

The first motive bone thrown to us is on page 104. During a phone conversation with Stimson Manson says, discussing the "Magical Mystery Tour" vibe at Spahn Ranch.

"It was a game up until where Tex brought reality into play, with money. We wasn't dealing in no money. We wasn't even bothering with it. It was a drag."

The first episode covered is the shooting of Bernard Crowe. The Family, contrary to most stories had been planning on leaving Spahn for quite some time, not as a spur of the moment decision sparked by the events of August 9th & 10th. In an attempt to help the Family accumulate provisions for the stay at Barker Ranch, Tex comes up with an idea "that would eventually not only lead to the shooting of Bernard Crowe and intensify pressure on Charles Manson and everyone else to get out of the city, but would also create a lethal debt and an underworld favor owed".

Tex commits the theft of Crowe's money. Crowe calls the ranch and threatens to burn it, rape the girls and kill everyone. Manson's overriding concern is not the threats but the girl (Rosina) being held captive by Crowe as a result of Tex's ill-conceived plan. Manson asks for help but is turned down by Bobby B, Bruce, and the now hiding Tex. TJ Walleman is the only one with any military training agrees to help. But, TJ freezes in Crowe's apartment. Manson offers his own life by passing the gun to Crowe. Crowe informs Manson that he'll kill everyone instead and passes the gun back. Manson shoots. News reports the next day of a slain Black Panther are confused by Manson with the Crowe shooting, as Manson believes Crowe is dead. Stimson says regarding this mistaken conclusion:

"Although this conclusion was a mistake, it's consequences would greatly affect many of the people at Spahn's Ranch in the following weeks. The belief that Charles Manson had killed a Black Panther is one of the most important and yet most overlooked occurances in that summer in terms of understanding the murders that followed it."

The need to get out of LA and away from the Panthers was now paramount. More importantly, in the eyes of the Family, Manson had killed to protect them - and showed how far he'd go to do so.

HINMAN

According to Stimson Gary Hinman was "a small time drug dealer who manufactured and sold hallucinogens." Beausoleil, in an attempt to impress the Straight Satans sets up a deal of 1000 hits of mescaline for $1000. The Straight Satans's visit Bobby shortly after and rough him up claiming the mesc was bad.

So, Beausoleil goes to Old Topanga Canyon road with Mary & Sadie along for the ride to get his money for the bikers. Hinman thinks Beausoleil's attempt to get the money back is a scam. Things don't go well and Manson shows up to "show that boy how to stand up towards his own problem." He arrives and cuts Hinman with the sword to distract him from the gun he's holding, flips it to Beausoleil and leaves.

The inheritance motive was nothing more than the prosecution creating a motive for Manson to order the robbery that results in murder.

"But when CharlesManson left the house on Old Topanga Canyon Road there was no thought of killing Gary Hinman. Hinman had assured Manson that he had no beef over his cut face. Those who stayed behind after Manson left fed Hinman and administered first aid to his wound. (People who intend to murder someone usually do not administer first aid to their victim before killing them.) The killing only occured after Hinman went back on his word not to go to the authorities over his slashed ear."

TATE

Manson assembles them and sends them off no differently than he had many times before - to do a garbage run. The knives are for cutting the bad parts off of the fruit. The changes of clothes are to be changed into while they stop at a laundromat to clean the dumpster-soiled clothes.

(Yes, you would be correct in assuming I doubt this part).

LABIANCA

Manson only is away from the car for 3 or 4 minutes. He looks inside the True house and determines that Harold is not there. He walks into the LaBianca house and has a cordial conversation with Leno (who is not alarmed or frightened) about Manson's not knowing anyone lived there. Leno replies something about having just moved back.

The reason the 3-4 minute timeline is correct? Linda Kasabian says that they were gone long enough to smoke 3/4 of a Pall Mall cigarette. This of course is not long enough for Manson to have done all the things that were attributed to him at trial.

(The 'ever truthful' Kasabian cigarette timer is infallible. Following along, children?)

THE REAL MOTIVE

Stimson believes (as most of us do) that the Helter Skelter motive is fantasy. What Stimson attempts to do in his book is to convince the reader that the REAL motive is the copycat or "get brother (Bobby) out of jail" motive:

To begin with, it must be conceded that the copycat plan was not a good idea. If the purpose of the killings subsequent to Gary Hinman's was to make the police think that the people responsible for Hinman's death were still at large it is unclear why a series of  copycat crimes would necessarily make them think that Bobby Beausoleil was not involved in the murder. They already had a very good case against him. His fingerprints had been found at Hinman's residence and he had been arrested in the dead man's car with the murder weapon still inside the vehicle. If similar killings were committed, why would the police think that Beausoleil was innocent? Wouldn't they likelier think that he must have had accomplices in the Hinman murder who were still at large (which in fact was the case)?

But, despite this fundamental flaw the ill-conceived and executed copycat motive was the main reason for the Tate-LaBianca murders.

According to Stimson's theory Tex Watson and Susan Atkins were fueled by their secret stash of methamphetamine. The "get brother out of jail" motive was hatched by the girls and Tex Watson. Manson was not a part of it, nor did he order it.

Manson:

[See], I thought [that I had killed Bernard Crowe]. And I got all with Tex and I said, "You caused me to kill somebody, man. You owe me. Susie, you owe me. I fought three guys for you that wanted to rape you. I kept you out of it, man. You owe me, you owe me and you owe me. You got me fighting all over this town for you, man, 'cause you won't stand up for yourself. I'm not the policeman, man. Go to the cops and get them to do your fighting."

Every time it's someone's turn to die, come and get Charlie, put him on the line, let him die. Put me out front and let me face it. Let me face everything that no one wants to understand or no one wants to look at. Let me take the gun and go off into hell with it.

So I said, "You owe me, mister, and when it comes time to pay this circle, this covenant, this family, this ranch, you'll pay your debt to all these people that feed you, and serve the same God that you serve...

Here's my sin. I told Tex, "Come here. You owe me one."

So then I come back to Watson and I say, "You pay [Beausoleil] what you owe me."

He said, "How do I pay it?"

I said"[I] don't know I'm not your father. Do what yo're told. Pay your debt, or get off my road."

So he pays what he has to pay. And he does what he has to do. I didn't direct him to do anything. I told him to be a man, stand up for himself. I didn't tell himwhat he should do or how he should do whatever he had to do...

I never directed traffic on no street corner about anything. Man, I haven't got time for that.

Admittedly, I couldn't wait to get to "The Real Motive" chapter, especially since I was teased by the part in the Crowe chapter involving Tex's idea that "would also create a lethal debt and an underworld favor owed". The "get brother out of jail" motive was a let down for me. BUT I give Stimson kudos for developing a thoughtful argument.