The Helter Skelter scenario is an apocalyptic vision that was supposedly embraced by Charles Manson and members of his Family. At the trial of Manson and three others for the Tate–LaBianca murders, the prosecution presented it as motivating the crimes and as an aspect of the case for conspiracy.Trial of Manson et al. for Tate-LaBianca murders begins CBS Evening News, July 24, 1970. Via interviews and autobiographies, former Family members related what they had witnessed and experienced of it.
In both the trial and his subsequent (1974) book, Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi presented evidence that, in a period that preceded the murders, Manson prophesied what he called Helter Skelter, an apocalyptic war that would arise from racial tensions between black and white people. The prophecy involved reference to the New Testament's Book of Revelation and to the Beatles' music, particularly their 1968 self-titled album, whose song "Helter Skelter" inspired its title.
A major part of the evidence was the testimony of Paul Watkins, a Family member uninvolved in the crimes, who presented the vision in full form. Though the defendants were convicted on all charges of conspiracy and murder, various parties have argued for other motives of the murders. Writers, police detectives, attorneys involved with the case, and perpetrators have contended that the crimes were copycat killings, revenge for a bad drug deal, or a combination thereof.
Background As assembled by Bugliosi, the evidence of the vision indicated that Manson had been predicting racial conflict for some time before he used the term "Helter Skelter". According to Paul Watkins, he first used the term at a gathering of the Family on New Year's Eve 1968 at Myers Ranch, near California's Death Valley. The apocalyptic scenario had Manson as the war's ultimate beneficiary and its musical cause. With the Family, Manson would create an album whose songs would bear messages as subtle as those he had heard in songs of the Beatles. These would draw the "love"—the hippies in Haight-Ashbury—to join the Family.See also Watkins, Paul, My Life with Charles Manson, Chapter 12
In the vision's logic, black men would thus be deprived of the white women whom the political changes of the 1960s had made sexually available to them; they would lash out in violent crimes against whites.Testimony of Paul Watkins in the Charles Manson TrialIn his trial testimony, Watkins indicated that the militants would be Black Muslims. Manson, according to Family member Brooks Poston, "said a group of real blacks would come out of the ghettos and do an atrocious crime in the richer sections of Los Angeles and other cities. They would do an atrocious murder with stabbing, killing, cutting bodies to pieces, smearing blood on the walls, writing 'pigs' on the walls... in the victims' own blood."
When frightened whites, according to Watkins and Tex Watson, would retaliate with a murderous rampage,Watson, Charles as told to Hoekstra, Ray, Will You Die for Me?, Chapter 11 militant blacks would exploit it to provoke a war of near-extermination between racist and non-racist whites over the treatment of blacks. In the wake of that, black militants would arise to finish off the few white survivors and to kill off all non-blacks.
In this holocaust, according to Watkins, the members of the enlarged Family would have little to fear; they would wait out the war in a secret city underneath Death Valley, a city they'd reach through a hole in the ground. Upon the war's conclusion, they would be the only remaining whites. Emerging from underground, they would rule the blacks, who, having "completed the white man's karma", would want no longer to kill. Proving, as Watkins explained, incapable of running the world, blacks would go to Manson, who'd "scratch [the black man's] fuzzy head and kick him in the butt and tell him to go pick the cotton and go be a good nigger."
The term "Helter Skelter" was taken from the Beatles' song of the same name, which Manson reportedly interpreted as concerned with the war. The song was on the band's self-titled double album, also known as the "White Album", which Manson heard within a month or so of its November 1968 release.
Appearing in a 2009 documentary, former Manson follower Catherine Share said the following:
According to Paul Watkins, Manson and his followers began preparing for Helter Skelter in the months before they committed the murders. They worked on songs for the hoped-for album, which they anticipated would set off everything. They prepared vehicles and other items for escape from their Los Angeles base to Death Valley when the days of violence would arrive. They pored over maps to plot a route that would bypass highways and get them to the desert safely.Watkins, Paul, My Life with Charles Manson, Chapter 13 Manson, according to Tex Watson, "used ... parts of the song ['Helter Skelter'] to plot out [the] escape route to the desert."
Tate–LaBianca murders
On the night of August 9–10, 1969, Manson, Linda Kasabian, Steve Grogan, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel drove to the Los Angeles home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, who were murdered. In trial testimony, an interview with the Los Angeles Times, or in an autobiography, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins, and Tex Watson stated that Manson guided the group to the home, directed the tying-up of the LaBiancas or said he had tied them up, or gave instruction as to the killings."Susan Atkins' Story of 2 Nights of Murder", Los Angeles Times, December 14, 1969.Watson, Will You Die for Me? Chapter 15 In Leno LaBianca's blood, Krenwinkel wrote "Healter Skelter" on the refrigerator and "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on walls.
On the previous night, August 8–9, Tex Watson, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel had driven to 10050 Cielo Drive, in Beverly Hills, where pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four other persons were murdered. In trial testimony, an interview with the Los Angeles Times, or autobiography, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins, and Tex Watson stated that Manson assembled the group, whom he instructed to get weapons and changes of clothes; gave an instruction to "Go with Tex and do whatever Tex tells you to do"; and/or instructed Watson to go to the house and kill everyone in it.Watson, Will You Die for Me? Chapter 14 Using Tate's blood, Atkins wrote "Pig" on the door.
Earlier that day, Kasabian would testify, Manson told the Family, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter." Upon the group's return from the Tate–Polanski residence, stated Watson, in his autobiography, Manson asked him, "Was it really Helter Skelter?" Replied Watson, "Yeah, it was sure Helter Skelter."
On October 12, 1969, during the arrests that led to the charges in the murders, California Highway Patrol officer James Pursell found Manson at Barker Ranch. According to Pursell, "Charlie told us that his group was out there looking for a place to hide because there was an impending race war. He told us that the blacks were going to win. He told us that because we were number one, cops, and number two, white, we should stop right there, let them loose, and flee for our lives."Oney, Steve, "Oral History of the Manson Murders", Los Angeles Times, July 1, 2009
In early 1969, Paul Watkins told Bugliosi, Manson had told him Helter Skelter would start that summer. In May or June, months after he had been frustrated in his efforts to make the album, he told Watkins Helter Skelter was "ready to happen".Watkins, Paul, My Life with Charles Manson, Chapter 15 "Blackie never did anything without whitey showin' him how", Watkins would recount Manson's saying. "Helter Skelter is coming down. But it looks like we're gonna have to show blackie how to do it."
References to the Beatles and the Book of Revelation In his book Helter Skelter, Bugliosi writes that Manson told "numerous people", including former Barker gang member Alvin Karpis, that "given the chance, he could be much bigger than the Beatles."
In My Life with Charles Manson, Watkins said Manson delivered the Helter Skelter prophecy around a campfire at Myers Ranch. As Family members listened to the album repeatedly over the following days, they believed it:
Watkins said, too, that Manson "spent hours quoting and interpreting Revelation to the Family, particularly verses from chapter 9".
Watson wrote that the Bible had "absolutely no meaning in our life in the Family" apart from Revelation chapter 9. Manson lived with an aunt and uncle for a period in his childhood when his mother was in prison. He later told a counselor that the aunt and uncle had "some marital difficulty until they became interested in religion and became very extreme".
Beatles songs, as interpreted in the vision The following summarizes Bugliosi's account of statements made to him by Family members Paul Watkins and Brooks Poston and talent scout Gregg Jakobson.See also Testimony of Brooks Poston, People v. Watson, August 25, 1971See, too, Testimony of Gregg Jakobson, People v. Watson, August 26, 1971 It also includes statements from Tex Watson's autobiography, published years after the Tate–LaBianca murders, and statements of Manson himself to David Dalton.
"Honey Pie" Lyric: Oh, honey pie, my position is tragic / Come and show me the magic / Of your Hollywood song Meaning: The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles. They want Manson to create his "song", that is, his album that will set off Helter Skelter. Lyric: Oh, honey pie, you are driving me frantic / Sail across the Atlantic / To be where you belong Meaning: The Beatles want Jesus Christ to come to England. Consequence: In early 1969, states Bugliosi in Helter Skelter, Manson and his female followers attempt to contact the Beatles by letter, telegram, and telephone; they are struggling to make clear to the Beatles that it is they, the Beatles, who are to come across the Atlantic, to join the family in Death Valley. "I Will", "Yer Blues", "Don't Pass Me By" and "Blue Jay Way" were all interpreted as the Beatles are calling for Jesus Christ. "Blue Jay Way" appeared on Magical Mystery Tour, the album that preceded The Beatles. The Family had come to call its journey from San Francisco, to Los Angeles, the "Magical Mystery Tour". Lyric (I Will): And when at last I find you / Your song will fill the air / Sing it loud so I can hear you / Make it easy to be near you... Meaning: The Beatles want Manson to make an album. "Sexy Sadie" Significance: Manson had renamed Family member Susan Atkins "Sadie Mae Glutz" long before the release of The Beatles. This served to reinforce the mental connection Manson felt he had with the Beatles. In San Francisco, where she met Manson, Atkins had been a topless dancer. Paul Watkins wrote that Atkins "thrived on sex", and he even seemed to suggest she had the nickname Sexy Sadie before the Family heard the song. Similarly, Tex Watson wrote that the words of "Sexy Sadie" fit Atkins so well "that it made us all sure [the Beatles] had to be singing directly to us." Watson specifically noted that the song's title character "came along to turn on everyone", "broke the rules", and "laid it down for all to see". Atkins, he said, "had broken all the rules, sexually, and liked to talk about her experience and lack of inhibitions". "Rocky Raccoon" Significance: Rocky Raccoon means "coon", a racial epithet for a black man. Of all the Beatles songs known to have been associated with Helter Skelter, this is the only one that mentions the Bible. So one day [Rocky Raccoon] walked into town / Booked himself a room in the local saloon / Rocky Raccoon / Checked into his room / Only to find Gideon's Bible ... Now Rocky Raccoon / He fell back in his room / Only to find Gideon's Bible / Gideon checked out / And he left it no doubt / To help with good Rocky's revival.