Vanessa Richardson (4:50)

Jimi Hendrix took the stage to close out the Woodstock Music Festival. The venue was a modest dairy farm in upstate New York. It wasn't exactly the easiest place to get to, and yet at its peak, there were some 400,000 screaming fans. By the time Hendrix went up, heavy rain had turned the pasture into a mud pit and the crowds had dwindled to around 30,000. Despite all that, Hendrix and his band went on to play a show that would be remembered for decades to come. It was the perfect end to an incredible event. Originally, the shows weren't supposed to be free, but some hasty planning made it impossible to install ticket booths before the big day. Ironically, that's what made it so successful. And while there was a lot of sex, drugs and rock and roll going on, there was also a sense of camaraderie. Most of the attendees were young members of the hippie counterculture who fully bought into the festival's slogan, three Days of Peace and Music. There were no major outbreaks of violence, no fighting for spots, and almost no drama with how well everything had gone. Woodstock was regarded as a cultural turning point almost immediately, and as soon as the final curtain fell, venue owners, promoters and musicians around the country looked to replicate its success. But that was Easier said than done. The main attraction of Woodstock, besides the free admission, was its star studded lineup. Everyone knew that getting famous artists to sign on was key to attracting those kinds of crowds. And back in 1969, few acts were more popular than the Rolling Stones. But the Stones didn't just want to perform at another Woodstock type festival. They wanted to host their own version. While Woodstock was held in New York, the Stones decided to plan theirs in California. And Instead of a 72 hour marathon, the West Coast Woodstock would be a single day affair. It was set to be the final stop on the Rolling Stones American tour. The band envisioned it as a thank you to their fans. Their explosive popularity had led to rising ticket prices on their tour. The Stones saw a free festival as the antidote, a reminder that music was was about more than making money. And they had some friends in high places who agreed. It didn't take much convincing to get some other major acts on board. The full lineup included Santana, Jefferson Airplane, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby, Stills Nash and Young. And the Grateful Dead. Some of them had performed at Woodstock and had such a good experience that they were happy to give it another go. But signing on talent was just one aspect of planning a festival. They expected over 100,000 people to attend. Attend. Booking a venue, building a stage, rigging the sound and setting up facilities would be a challenge. That's where the Stones road manager, Sam Cutler came in. The band put him in charge of planning the event. With the help of the Grateful Dead, he scheduled the concert for San Francisco's golden gate Park. At 1,000 acres, it was the largest green space in the city. But only weeks before the big day, the city pushed back. And there was supposed to be an NFL game at Kear Stadium that same night, which was located inside the park. Having that many people swarming the area at the same time seemed like a recipe for disaster. So with less than a month to go, Sam Cutler scrambled to find another venue. Eventually he settled on a NASCAR track called the Sears point Raceway, about 30 miles away from San Francisco in Sonoma County. It could seat up to 50,000 and had more than enough flat ground around it to accommodate the overflow. The deal was solidified less than a week before the show, which was set for December 6, 1969. But just when it seemed like one crisis was averted, another popped up. The owners of the raceway always knew the concerts would be free. They'd originally agreed to let Sam use the venue without charge. But as the date of the show got closer, they changed their mind and Just a few days ahead of the concert, they demanded some kind of compensation. Either $100,000 worth over three quarters of a million dollars today, or the right to distribute a film of the event. This felt like a shakedown at the last minute. The Rolling Stones didn't want to give up the film rights. While they weren't charging for tickets, they did plan to make a highly profitable documentary of the concert themselves. Besides, they were already taking a loss by organizing the festival, shipping the equipment, and dealing with all the other costs. They weren't willing to spend another hundred thousand dollars on top of that. So Sam was forced to change venues once again. He called all around the state until he finally got in touch with a man named Dick Carter. Dick had a lease on another racetrack called the Altamont Speedway, located about 75 miles to the southeast in Tracy, California. Dick agreed to donate the spot to the Stones to use for their show. When asked why he did it, Dick told the press it was for the publicity and to prove I'm a good guy. He planned to rent the place out as a music venue in the future and saw this show as the perfect test run. So after scouting the area by helicopter, the organizers signed the final contracts on Friday, December 5, just one day before the festival. Some worried that the last minute change would mean a smaller audience. But local radio shows had breathlessly followed the story for days and got the word out about the new venue just in time. All the chaos probably brought the festival more publicity than they bargained for. Unfortunately, the issues were only just beginning. Sam knew a concert this big should have taken at least a week to set up. With only 24 hours of notice, staff had to rush to ship over the speaker equipment, put out cardboard, trash cans and portable toilets, and build the stage. Unsurprisingly, none of the facilities were adequate. There weren't enough bathrooms or garbage bins. The stage was too small and low to the ground, and the speakers weren't loud enough. But all of those concerns paled in comparison to the bigger problem. Security. To emphasize the peace and love at the heart of the show's ethos, the Rolling Stones didn't want to hire cops. But with over 100,000 people expected, they needed some way to keep the band and the crowd safe. As they mulled the decision over, the Grateful Dead suggested hiring a biker gang they knew called the Hells Angels. The band had used them as security in the past and never had any issues. Even better, the Angels were happy to work for beer instead of money. It seemed too good to pass up Sam Cutler was the one who made an official deal with the gang. The concert was back on, and just in the nick of time. The Stones were thrilled, but by the end of the show, Altamont was the last place they'd want to be.

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Vanessa Richardson (13:03)

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well, from roof repair to emergency plumbing and more done well. So the next time you have a home project, leave it to the pros. Get started@angie.com people started lining up at the racetrack for the newly named Altamont Speedway Free Festival on the night of Friday, December, December 5, 1969. The show wasn't starting until the next morning, but they wanted to get good spots. Not everyone was able to get close to the venue, though. At the time the speedway was only accessible via a couple of routes. The main one involved going along U.S. highway 50, which wasn't equipped to handle so many cars at once. All four lanes were quickly clogged, leading to a traffic jam over the 30 miles long. Some people parked as many as eight miles away and had to hike to the speedway through a ditch. Ironically, another nearby highway was under repair and just 11 days away from being completed, so instead of being used for travel, it was used as a parking lot for many attendees. Despite all these issues, spirits were high the night before the show. When the sun went down, people turned the lawn outside the speedway into a campground, pitching tents and lighting fires. The vibes were good, calm and low key, but they didn't last long. As the hours passed, legions of tiny groups formed into a single mass. People turned the cardboard garbage cans into makeshift drums and ripped apart wooden fences to fuel their fires. They pounded on the bins by the flickering light, chanting peace over and over. Before the show even started, the facilities, which were inadequate to begin with, were already being destroyed by a crowd of hippies. Of course, not everyone at Altamont was part of the counterculture, though. When the morning came, families with children and dogs, along with tourists from all over the globe, joined the crowd. By the afternoon, there were at least 150,000 people there and. And at the beginning, most of them were behaving themselves. When Sam Cutler asked the crowd to move back away from the stage, tens of thousands of people picked up and retreated without much complaint. That said, there were some early incidents. Most of them had to do with young people on bad drug trips. Nearby hospitals had to deal with a deluge of teens who took too much acid. All the while, the Hell's Angels looked on without doing much. They were more interested in drinking and partying than helping anybody out. As far as they were concerned, they were just there to listen to music. The only thing they had really agreed to do was to stand by the stage and protect the musicians. But once the concert actually started, everything changed. And the Hell's Angels went from being hands off to very hands on, especially when it came to certain attendees. 18 year old Meredith Hunter was harassed practically from the moment he walked through the gates of the speedway. A charming black man dressed in a bright green suit, Meredith stood out in a crowd. He came to the concert with his white girlfriend, a 17 year old named Patty, and almost immediately, the couple started getting dirty looks from the Hell's Angels. The harassment was frustrating, but as an individual, interracial couple in the 60s, Meredith and Patty were probably used to that kind of treatment. Apparently, Meredith's sister even suggested he bring a gun to the show for protection. That was the reason he arrived with a.22 caliber revolver stuck in his belt. But at first the couple was able to take the snide comments in stride. He and Patty pushed their way in close to the stage. As the first act, Santana, started playing. They were two small dots in a massive mob that completely surrounded the stage. The audience was so densely packed that there was hardly any space left to move. The only buffer zone for the musicians was provided by the Hell's Angels, who stood right up front and glowered at the audience. While the setup may have been uncomfortable, it was also exhilarating. As Santana played, the crowd went wild. By the time the first song was over, though, things had already started to go south. As the second song got going, a young man in a blue and yellow shirt broke from the audience and rushed towards Santana. He made it right up to the stage, which was built low enough that almost anyone could climb onto it. But before he could actually get up there, one of the Hell's Angels leapt in front of him, raised a heavy motorcycle boot, and kicked him right in the face. He, a couple of other bikers jumped in to pummel him before he even hit the ground. He was knocked out in seconds. It was the first grim message from the Angels, and it was loud and clear they weren't the kind of security who would patiently talk someone down from doing something stupid. In fact, they seemed almost eager for a fight. And it wasn't long before more scuffles erupted. Santana must have been distracted and concerned. While they couldn't see everything from the stage, they did spot the Hells Angels beating up a group of nudists for no apparent reason. Afterward, the bikers thrashed a photographer who snapped pictures of the assault, and they destroyed the evidence. They didn't just use their fists and boots, either. Many of them carried the gang's signature weapon, something called a loaded pool cue. Essentially, it was a pool stick sawed down to the length of a club, perfect for swinging at anyone who rubbed them the wrong way. None of this should have come as a surprise to Sam Cutler or anyone else. While the Hells Angels were officially a club for motorcycle enthusiasts, they'd long been associated with organized crime. They prided themselves on their image as outlaws, men who flouted society's rules and were loyal only to their gang. So while they made a deal with Sam to work at the concert, it was naive to expect them to act like normal security guards. They were there to do as they pleased and to pummel anyone who got in their way. Sensing that the violence was escalating, Santana wrapped up their set in a hurry. In the span of an hour, the mood had gone from exuberant to extremely tense. The crowd screamed at the Angels as they vaulted back and forth in front of the stage, freely administering beating. That left the second act, Jefferson Airplane, with quite a dilemma. When yet another fight broke out after their first song, the lead singer, Marty Balin, leapt into the crowd to try and sort things out peacefully. He jumped in between an angel and the intended victim, only to find himself on the receiving end of a heavy punch. He was knocked out just one song into his set. The guitarist Paul Kantner stepped up to the microphone and and called the Angels out for ruining the show. The Hells Angels didn't take that well. The biker who punched Marty rushed the stage himself yanked the microphone away from Paul and started arguing with him. The confrontation made for a surreal scene. The men who were supposed to be working as security for the musicians, were now openly threatening to attack them. The festival was only just beginning, and the peaceful ethos of Woodstock was already long gone. But maybe there was still a chance to save Altamont. While the biker was on stage berating Paul Kantner, another Hell's angel hopped up and calmed his fellow gang member down. It seemed like finally, things might get back on track. The third act, the Flying Burrito Brothers, was up next. They were among the only ones to make it through their entire set without any major incidents. And even so, the next group, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, weren't exactly looking forward to their turn on stage. After witnessing Jefferson Airplane get attacked by the Angels, they were terrified of going up. Only David Crosby insisted on going through with the show. He eventually got his bandmates to agree, but the result was a lackluster performance that deflated the mood even further. Then it was time for the Grateful Dead. But even though they were the ones who suggested hiring the Hell's Angels in the first place, they refused to perform. They could tell it was only a matter of time before things went off the rails. Their absence wasn't just a bad omen. It actively made the situation worse. According to the schedule, they were supposed to play for an hour. Then there would be an hour gap before the headliner, the Rolling Stones, went up without the Grateful Dead. That meant two long hours of silence before the final set. By the time the sun started to go down, the vibes were at an all time low. The crowds continued to grow as more people trickled in to see the Stones packing the tired audience in even tighter. And soon an evening fog settled over the raceway. That, coupled with the dust and marijuana smoke, meant it was difficult to even see see the stage. Things were not going well, but everyone was there to see the Stones. No one wanted to leave before they played, Meredith Parker and Patty included. So they decided to stay and pass the time like everyone else by doing more drugs. Meredith did some amphetamines, which made him more excited, but also more antsy before the show. It took a while, but eventually Mick Jagger and the Stones took the stage. That's when the mood finally improved. As the sun set, the spotlights kicked on, the band started to play and the crowd went wild. The first song was Jumpin Jack Flash. Mick Jagger gave it his all, dancing around the microphone in an orange and black satin cape. The next tune was Carol and then Sympathy for the Devil. At that point, some of the people around Meredith hopped onto the speaker boxes in a rush of excitement. He joined them, only for a Hell's angel to grab him by his hair and yank him down. Meredith glared at the angel who responded by punching him in the face. The force of the blow threw Meredith back into the crowd, but the biker wasn't done. He lunged forward to beat him some more. Meredith tried to disappear into the mob as four or five additional angels jumped in to pound him. Lost in a tangle of arms and legs, Meredith did eventually manage to get free. Bruised and bloody, he staggered to his feet as the angels headed toward him again. He pulled the pistol from his belt. But before he could even aim it, another biker saw the commotion from the stage. 21 year old Alan Passaro was a barber and a Hell's angel with a minor criminal record. At the time of the concert, he was out on the bail for charges including possession of stolen goods and marijuana. He hadn't seen the lead up to the fight with Meredith Hunter, but when he looked down and saw a man drawing a pistol, he acted on instinct. He jumped into the air, pulling a hunting knife from his boot and tackled Meredith to the ground. Seconds later, he hopped back up to his feet. His knife was soaked in blood. On December 6, 1969, a Hell's angel named Alan Pissaro attacked 18 year old Meredith Hunter. Meredith was there to see the Rolling Stones not get in a fight. And yet Allen lunged at him from the stage, pinning him to the ground. Then he stabbed Meredith in the neck neck with a long hunting knife. As the two of them rolled through the dirt, he thrust the knife in and out of Meredith's back. The crowd was so thick the Stones didn't even realize what was happening until they were halfway into their third song, Sympathy for the Devil. That was when Mick Jagger spotted some commotion near the stage. As the crowd thinned, Jagger saw Meredith Hunter sprawled on the ground. And then. Then he noticed the bloody knife in Alan Pissaro's hand. Jagger leaned into the mic and urged everyone to stop fighting. At that point, he didn't realize the gravity of the situation. But soon a few people bent down to try and help Meredith. They came away with blood on their hands. When Jagger saw that, he knew it was bad. With a shaking voice, he called for a doctor. A first year resident at a San Francisco hospital happened to be attending the show and made his way to the stage. Soon afterward, he carried Meredith to the Red Cross tent where doctors quickly realized he would need surgery without it. The wounds looked fatal. One doctor rushed off to try and find an airlift, while another called for help. There was a helicopter on site reserved for the Rolling Stones, but the pilot refused to take off without authorization. And for some reason there was no one around who could give the order. In the end, the helicopter was declared off limits, even to save a life. Meredith hunter died at 6:30pm while waiting for an ambulance. He was 18 years old. Back on stage, the Stones probably didn't know Meredith had passed. They tried to keep the concert going, but the damage was done. They played a few slow songs, then ended with their hits. Only a few minutes after the final note, they piled into their helicopter and left for the San Francisco airport. West Coast Woodstock had started with a bang but ended with a whimper. Before the show, crowds had been chanting peace and love. Now hundreds of thousands were leaving the blood spattered ground and piling into a clogged up highway. Only the cleanup crew and the medical staff stayed behind. Around 8pm the coroner finally made his way to the Red Cross tent. Meredith had been stabbed 16 times in the head, neck and back. The police launched a murder investigation that night, but even though it was obvious where to start, it wasn't easy to find their suspect. Everyone knew a Hell's angel had killed Meredith, but none of the witnesses could see say which one. The next day, a lawyer representing the Rolling Stones told the cops they had video of the event. At least three cameras documenting the concert were pointing in the general direction of the stabbing when it happened. But the authorities would have to wait until the film was developed to see the footage. In the meantime, the police didn't have any strong leads. But three days after the concert, they arrested the killer without even realizing it. On December 9, Alan Passaro and two other Hells Angels were pulled over for driving a stolen vehicle. When the officers searched the car, they found a crowbar, a pistol and Allen's hunting knife. There were flecks of blood still on the blade. Allen was jailed for grand theft auto while detectives continued interviewing witnesses in connection with the stabbing. But it was slow going. The scene had been so chaotic that few people got a good view of the murder. And it didn't help that most of them were drunk, high or both at the time. The police weren't the only ones interested in the tragedy, though. Reporters for Rolling Stone magazine covered the incident in several lengthy articles, and they were able to track down much more reliable witnesses than the police had been able to. In fact, the authorities used the articles to find people who actually saw the stabbing. According occur their Best witnesses came directly from the Rolling Stone magazine article. And eventually detectives were able to view the film from the concert, too. The footage didn't show the killer's face clearly, but based on his clothing, they could tell he was a member of the San Francisco chapter of the Angels. The authorities tried to get in touch with the biker gang, but none of them were willing to talk. They had a strict no snitching policy and would never agree to help the police, no matter the crime. They did turn over Meredith's pistol, which one of them had taken from the scene. But beyond that, they refused to identify the murderer. Luckily, the other witnesses were more willing. Over the next few months, police circulated photographs of several suspects, including Allen, to the people Rolling Stone magazine had already interviewed. Several of them identified the case. Killer. On March 2, 1970, three months after Altamont Allen was arrested and formally charged with murder. The district attorney wanted the death penalty, and the deck was stacked against Allen. After all, he was a known member of a criminal gang with plenty of prior convictions. Eyewitnesses saw him kill Meredith, and professional quality film footage corroborated their stories. When the trial began on December 16, it seemed like an open and shut case. Allen knew he couldn't plead innocent, and he admitted he had lied to the police when they first questioned him about the incident. Even so, he argued he had acted in self defense when he stabbed Meredith Hunter. He insisted that he and the rest of the bikers were at the concert to maintain order. They were vastly outnumbered by unruly hippies in the crowd. So when he saw Meredith pulling out his gun, he had to act to protect the public. And as shaky as it might sound, it proved to be a shrewd defensive strategy. Because while the jury had preconceived notions about the Hell's Angels, they also had some about the counterculture. Many adults at the time saw hippies as irresponsible junkies, people who were maybe even more dangerous than outlaw bikers. That's why Allen's lawyer focused on the chaotic environment at Altamont Speedway. Over and over again, he stressed that much of the crowd was on drugs. Even the star witnesses had to admit that they'd taken LSD or at least smoked a joint before the stabbing. Then there was the film footage. For much of the trial, it wasn't clear if Meredith had pulled out his gun before or after the stabbing. Most witnesses agreed that he had, but a few weren't so sure. And if Allen was arguing self defense, it was a critical point. The police showed the video to the jury hoping it would prove that Alan Passaro was the one who killed Meredith. But the more important detail was Meredith's stance before he was attacked. Though the footage was grainy, it looked like he was holding the page pistol. Just before Allen lunged at him, the court could make out the silhouette of the gun outlined against his girlfriend's crocheted sweater. In the end, that was enough for the jury. Even though at least four huge bikers had been beating Meredith before he pulled out the gun, the jury ruled that Allen was the one who acted in self defense. After deliberating for 12 hours, they declared him not guilty. A lot of people disagreed with the verdict. I'd love to know your take. Do you think it was fair? Should Alan Passaro have been acquitted? Let us know in the comments, wherever you listen. As for Meredith's girlfriend and his family, they were devastated. They felt it was a miscarriage of justice. And they were incredibly offended that the Rolling Stones didn't say anything about the murder. I guess it makes sense that the band wanted to put the ordeal behind them. But they didn't just refuse to speak about it in public. They never even contacted Meredith's family to offer an apology. Over the next few years, they mostly stuck to their code of silence. Eventually, the event faded from the public consciousness. But Meredith's family never forgot it. And neither did Alan Passaro in the future. Fifteen years following the concert, Allen continued to associate with the Hells Angels and spent much of his time in and out of prison. Then in 1985, he was found dead in Santa Clara County, California under mysterious circumstances. He had drowned in a lake with no apparent explanation. His car was discovered parked nearby with $10,000 in cash inside. It's possible he was murdered, though police never charged any suspects. Many people think his death was related to what happened at Altamont. Regardless of the verdict, back in 1971, his actions had long term consequences for his biker gang. Prior to the concert, the police already considered the Hells Angels to be a major threat, mostly because of their drug dealing. But Allen's trial put them under a microscope. And in the aftermath of the incident, the authorities cracked down on them even harder. The entire notion of the counterculture was affected too. Four months before Altamont, Woodstock brought the movement's best qualities to the forefront. But the Manson family murders in August and Meredith Hunter's death in December caused the public to focus on its dark side. With the dawn of the 70s, hippies were treated with more and more suspicion. In particular, their penchant for psychedelic drugs was considered to be a threat to the public order. As the culture moved on and transformed, the philosophies of the 60s were looked on as more of an excuse to misbehave than a reflection of peace and love. And for a while, Altamont was treated as the final nail in the coffin for the movement. Today, the picture looks a little more complicated. There isn't a single event that ended the counterculture and no specific date when it died. After all, some of the era's most powerful ideas persist. Modern day environmentalism and critiques of consumerist society, for example, have their roots in the 60s. Altamont deserves to be remembered. It's a cautionary tale about what happens when music festivals don't treat safety as a major priority. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next time. We'll decode the episode together and hear another story about the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes wherever you get your podcast. Your feedback truly makes a difference and to enhance your Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode early and ad free. We'll be back next Wednesday. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertsofsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Molly Quinlan Artwick, Leah Roesch and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening.