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By mid-1968, Charles Manson and his group of loyal followers had set settled down in Los Angeles. At that point, Charles's main focus was his music career. But he still craved power and control, which meant recruiting more people to his cult. Although most members were women, Charles allowed a few men to join. The first was 20 year old Bobby Beausoleil, who quickly became his right hand man. Together he and Charles told the women what to do, where to go and how to act. By then Charles had completely convinced the family that he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. So he rarely got any pushback. That coupled with a steady diet of lsd, speed and alcohol made his claims sound a lot more reasonable. The young women treated Charles like a prophet. In return, he used amateur psychology to diagnose their insecurities and childhood trauma. He told them there were hidden messages in songs by the Beatles. Most importantly, he told them the family was destined for greatness. And he saw only one way to get there. He needed to become a famous musician. To do that, he'd need to make some important connections in the industry. But he was apparently too busy to go out and network. Instead he ordered his followers to make it happen. It was a big ask, but the family pulled through. In May of 1968, 2 of Charles followers were hitchhiking. The person who picked them up was none other than the drummer for the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson. When 33 year old Charles found out, he was ecstatic. The Beach Boys were one of the most successful bands of the era. Their 1966 album Pet Sounds was heavily influenced by LSD. It was exactly the kind of music that Charles wanted to make. So that same afternoon he showed up at Dennis house uninvited. At first Dennis didn't know what to think. But Charles worked his magic. Before long they were friends and the family was crashing at Dennis home. By August though, the family had overstayed their welcome. Dennis bandmates didn't like Charles. He was dirty, unreliable and creepy. Plus, Dennis had decided that Charles wasn't cut out for the music business. And so the two parted ways. The family moved out to Spawn Ranch, a dilapidated film set on the outskirts of la. In exchange for free rent, Charles's followers did chores around the property and performed sexual favors for the owner, 80 year old George Spawn. With a new home base, the group continued to grow. Charles attracted a dozen or so new members during this time, including 24 year old Tex Watson. Like many of Charles's recruits, Tex was young and Looking for a purpose. He'd grown up in a middle class family, graduated from college with good grades, but questioned the normal life that was supposed to come after. So instead of following a traditional route, he became interested in the counterculture. And then one day, he picked up a hitchhiker who introduced him to Charles Manson. When Tex joined, the family consisted of around 30 people. And to feed that many members, they had to commit more extreme crimes. They stole cars, credit cards, and dealt drugs. In addition, Charles convinced many of the young women to become sex workers. But no matter how much they brought in, it was never enough. And Charles knew getting involved in so many criminal ventures was bound to come back to bite them. The day of reckoning finally came on July 1, 1969, when Tex Watson stole money from a dealer named Bernard Crow. Afterward, Bernard called the ranch and threatened to kill everyone there unless he got his money back. Charles drove to Bernard's apartment, where the two of them got into a heated argument. It ended when Charles shot Bernard in the stomach. Charles fled the scene, believing he'd killed Bernard. In reality, Bernard was still very much alive. But when Charles was watching the news that night, he learned the police had discovered the body of a Black Panther. The Panthers were a left wing black power organization, and for some reason, Charles believed Bernard was a member and that he he'd just murdered him. Charles was wrong on both counts, but in his mind, his plan was falling into place. This whole time, he'd been telling his followers that a race war was coming. According to Charles, this war would cleanse humanity. Only he and his followers would survive because he knew of a secret place, a hole in the desert that led to the center of the earth. He would lead the family there, and when the fighting ended, they would rise and become rulers of the world. In Charles's eyes, Bernard's supposed death was the first step to creating this utopia. But first, they needed to win the war. The next battle came later that month, on July 25th. That was when Charles right hand man Bobby Beausoleil bought some mescaline from a PhD student named Gary Hinman. After some people at the ranch complained that the drugs were bad, Bobby confronted Gary about it. They got into a fight that left both of them with injuries. When Charles heard what happened, he showed up at Gary's house in Topanga Canyon and attacked him with a Confederate army sword. He slashed Gary's face before fleeing the scene. But Bobby was still there, and he knew Gary desperately needed medical attention. He patched him up the best he could and spent the next Three days debating what to do next. Eventually, Bobby felt he had no way out. The second he let Gary out of his sight, he was sure Gary would call the cops. So Bobby decided to stab him to death. High on drugs, adrenaline and Charles's deranged ideology, Bobby panicked. He staged the crime scene to deflect suspicion, using Gary's blood to write political piggy on the wall. Then he drew a paw print symbol. He hoped this would make the police think Gary's killer was a black panther. But the authorities weren't fooled for long. A few days later, on August 6th, they arrested Bobby for stealing a car. When they searched his vehicle, they found the blood stained knife that had been used to kill Gary. Bobby claimed he witnessed two black men, men kill Gary in a drug deal gone wrong. The officers didn't buy his story. Bobby was locked up on a murder charge that same night. When Charles learned what had happened, he was furious. He considered the members of the family to be his possessions, not the states. So he ordered the group to get Bobby out of jail. To do that, they would commit a spree of copycat crimes that resembled the murder of Gary Hinman. They hoped that would be enough to convince the authorities they had the wrong guy. On August 8, two days after Bobby's arrest, Charles sent four of his followers to 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel. Charles thought the home belonged to Terry Melcher, the music executive who'd refused to give him a record deal. Charles had been planning his revenge on Terry and he ordered his followers to kill everyone inside as gruesomely as possible. Tex, Susan, Linda and Patricia arrived sometime after midnight. First, Tex shimmied up a telephone pole and used a knife to cut the phone lines. Then the group climbed over the gate. As they did, a car pulled up outside. The family hid in the bushes as someone pulled in and opened the driver's side door. It was an 18 year old friend of the groundskeeper named Steven Parent. Tex emerged from the bushes and fired four bullets into his chest, killing him. Then he pushed Steven's body to the side, got in the car and drove everyone up the driveway. The family broke into the home by breaking a window. Before anyone inside could react, Tex charged into the living room. But he didn't find Terry Melcher there. Turns out Terry had moved to Malibu months earlier. Instead, the house was being rented to director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate. On August 8th, 26 year old Sharon was 8 and a half months pregnant and Roman was in Europe shooting a movie. While he was gone, Sharon had friends living with her. An aspiring screenwriter, 32 year old Wojciech Frykowski and his 25 year old girlfriend, the coffee heiress, Abigail Folger. A 35 year old hairstylist named Jay Sebring was also at the house that night. The change in targets didn't make a difference to Tex. He found Wojciech in the living room first and held him at gunpoint. Meanwhile, Susan and Patricia split up to look in the bedrooms. The Linda stayed by the door as a lookout. A few minutes later, Jay, Abigail and Sharon were all led into the living room and tied up. While Jay was being restrained, he complained about the rough treatment. In response, Tex shot him dead. As he fell onto the carpet, bleeding, Sharon started to panic. Abigail Folger, on the other hand, stayed calm. She, she offered the group money and led one of the family members to her wallet in the bedroom. There was only $70 inside, not nearly enough to appease Tex. Tex told the remaining hostages they were all going to die. When Wojciech heard that, he tried to fight back. Wojciech overpowered Susan. Even after she stabbed him repeatedly in the legs. Wojciech didn't stop until techs leapt on top of him and and beat him unconscious with the butt of his gun. In the chaos, Abigail got loose and ran into the backyard. Patricia caught up with her before she could get to the fence. Patricia and Tex stabbed Abigail to death outside. Then Tex went back inside and killed Wojciech. That left Sharon Tate. She begged them to let her live, at least until she had her baby. Baby. But the family had no remorse. They were only loyal to Charles Manson. Tex stabbed her like the others. Next, it was time to stage the crime scene. They wanted to make it look like the same killer who murdered Gary Hinman. Susan wrote the word pig on the front door in Wojciech's blood. As adrenaline and drugs surged through the family's veins, they made their way back outside and hopped in the car. Linda drove them back to the ranch where they told Charles what they'd done. Step one was complete. But their mission wasn't finished yet. On the morning of August 9, 1969, the bodies of Sharon Tate and four others were found at her home. The news plunged the city of Los Angeles into chaos. But the police struggled to understand the motive. The authorities thought maybe it was a crazed fan or a drug deal gone wrong. Meanwhile, 34 year old Charles Manson was riding High. He was loving all the attention the murders were getting. There was just one problem. The police hadn't drawn a connection between the Tate murders and the death of Gary Hinman. At least not publicly. If the race war Charles had predicted was going to ignite, the world had to believe the Black Panthers were responsible for all of the killings. Which meant the family had to strike again. Early the next morning, at around 3am on August 10, Charles and six of his followers made their next move. He'd brought along the four people who had participated in the Tate murders. Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel. But now he'd added two others. Leslie Van Houten and Steven Grogan. The seven of them drove to the Los Angeles home of a grocery store executive, 44 year old Lino LaBianca and his wife, 39 year old Rosemary. Charles knew the area because he'd attended a party next door earlier that year. More importantly, he knew the labiancas were wealthy. They could kill two birds with one stone. Get people talking about a Gary Hinman copycat and score some quick cash. He and Tex went into the house first where they tied Lino and Rosemary up. Then they went back outside to get Leslie and Patricia. After that, Charles drove off with Linda, Steve and Susan. Meanwhile, Tex, Leslie and Patricia were left to commit the murders. The three of them robbed Lino and Rosemary, then stabbed them to death with a bayonet. Tex carved the word war into Lino's abdomen before going upstairs to take a shower. While he did that, Patricia wrote Rise and death to pigs on the walls in blood. Afterward, she stabbed the dead bodies with a carving fork which she left in Lino's stomach. It was all part of Charles plan to pin the murders on the Black Panthers. But he also reveled in the horror his followers had caused. Maybe that's why he wanted to keep going. While the LaBiancas were slowly bleeding out, Charles drove his three other followers to the apartment of an actor named Saladin Nader near Venice Beach. He ordered them to kill Saladin, then hitchhike back to Spahn Ranch. To this day, it's not clear why Charles targeted Saladin. He may have brushed shoulders with him at a Hollywood party. Or maybe he just chose someone whose death would make headlines. Either way, by that point Linda was having serious second thoughts. When she first joined Charles cult, Linda was lost and looking for greater meaning. She thought she'd found it in the family. But then Charles forced her to participate in the Tate murders. Linda was horrified by the senseless violence. She'd considered leaving the group then and there, but she had an infant daughter back at Spawn Ranch. Linda was worried that Charles would hurt her if she tried to walk away. So she did as Charles asked and accompanied him to the LaBianca's home. Now she and the others were at Saladin Nader's apartment. But this time, Linda refused to go through with another murder. So to avoid killing him, she deliberately knocked on the wrong apartment door and woke up his neighbor. The thought of a witness seeing them spooked the rest of the group. They decided to call the whole thing off and head back to Spahn Ranch. When they arrived, Charles was disappointed to hear Saladin was still alive. But he was more than satisfied with the brutality of the LaBianca murders. At around 10:30 that night, Rosemary's 15 year old son found the bodies of his mother and stepfather. He immediately called the police. And after seeing the crime scene, the authorities started to wonder maybe there was a connection between the LaBianca Tate and Gary Hinman murders. It was exactly what Charles Manson had wanted all along. And the revelations seemed to make him even more confident. Back at Spahn Ranch, Charles's preachings were becoming more apocalyptic. He announced that it was time for the group to find a bottomless pit hidden somewhere in Death Valley. There, he claimed, the family could lie low until a world war vanquished civilization. When the smoke cleared, he promised the family would return to the surface world to re rule as kings and queens. But that obviously didn't happen. Charles and his family spent over a month cruising around the desert and stolen cars and dune buggies searching fruitlessly for the entrance to this fabled underground city. But their new age lifestyle wasn't well received outside of la. Nearby residents complained to the police about a group of rowdy, thieving, drug using hippos. And on October 12, 1969, two months after the murders, Charles and over 20 of his followers were arrested for car theft in Inyo County, California. That's when the police started to connect the dots. Bobby Beausoleil had already been arrested for Gary Hinman's murder. Under questioning, several of Charles's followers admitted that Gary was just one piece of the puzzle. And they explained that the group was also behind the Tate and LaBianca murders. They also made it clear that they were acting on the orders of Charles Manson. But authorities would need more if they wanted to prosecute Charles. Luckily, one former member was ready to talk. After the labianca killings, Linda Kasabian had fled to her family in New Hampshire. But she'd seen the news. She knew Charles and the the others were in custody and figured it was just a matter of time until the police came for her too. So she decided to turn herself in. By December of 1969, Linda had agreed to testify against Charles and his accomplices. She would prove to be a star witness when the trial began in June 1970. In court, she helped the prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, focus on Charles's apocalypse apocalyptic beliefs. He said the crimes were part of a grand conspiracy, one based on a philosophy that Charles called Helter Skelter, after a Beatles song of the same name. Vincent told the court that Charles believed an apocalyptic race war would soon break out. When the smoke cleared, the Manson family would emerge from their hiding place in Death Valley and take over the world. Benson argued that Charles ordered the tape LaBianca murders and framed the Black Panthers to kickstart this war. Patricia and Susan adamantly denied this theory. They claimed that Charles Madsen had rambled at times about a race war, a bottomless pit, and secret messages being sent to him through music. But they insisted this was not the central focus of his preachings. He mostly spoke about the value of individuality, living without ruling rules, and taking copious amounts of psychedelic drugs. As for his attachment to the song Helter Skelter, Charles claimed it only meant chaos or confusion to him. It had nothing to do with his prophecies about the apocalypse. Charles himself insisted the murders were done to deflect suspicion from Bobby Beausoleil. None of this exonerated the family, but it undercut the prosecution's attempts to make them look. Look like a crazed cult. I definitely don't think I believe anything Charles Manson says, but I'd love to know what you all think. Is Vincent Bugliosi right? Was Helter Skelter always the main goal? Or was the Manson family really trying to get Bobby out of jail? Let us know what you think in the comments. Whatever their real motives, Vincent Bugliosi's arguments were effective. On January 25, 1971, Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel were found guilty of murder. They were sentenced to death, which was commuted to life in prison in 1972 after California temporarily banned capital punishment. Meanwhile, Textbook Watson wasn't tried until August of 1971. He attempted to plead insanity, but in the end he was given the same sentence as the others. Since then, Charles Manson's legacy has only grown. He became the prototype of a cult leader, an unhinged remorseless ruler who controlled his followers like puppets. Even after he was locked in jail, he frequently stayed in the news with a attention seeking stunts like carving a swastika into his own forehead. This behavior lasted until 2017 when he died in prison of a heart attack at age 83. As for his family, not much remained. In 2009, Susan Atkins passed away in prison at 61. Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Bobby Bosole are still locked up. Only 75 year old Leslie Van Houten ever walked free. She was led out on parole in 2023. Since their convictions, all of the family members have distanced themselves from Manson and expressed remorse for their crimes decades later. Manson's impact is hard to overstate. Not only did the Tate LaBianca murders put an abrupt end to the counterculture movement of the 1970s 60s, but they also set the stage for what was to come. In many ways, the Satanic panic of the 80s and 90s was a reaction to cults like the Manson Family. And while they were unique in their level of violence, there are plenty of other groups that emphasize the apocalypse as a way to lure recruits. In Cult Watch this week I'm highlighting a group called the Shinchanji Church of Jesus. Shincheonji was founded in South Korea by a man named Lee Man. He it claims to be the one true religion whose leader will shepherd the chosen into heaven upon the second coming of Jesus Christ. Since its inception, the church has been accused of infiltrating Christian churches to try and secretly convert members. Recently, they've been targeting low income pastors in parts of Africa by offering free Bible study studies. Once new recruits have been indoctrinated, they're reportedly encouraged to cut off their loved ones, donate money to the church, and isolate themselves from the outside world. These practices have led to widespread public outcry. Like Charles Manson, Shinchoji has been accused of manipulating vulnerable people with stories of an impending apocalypse. Speaking out against this kind of rhetoric can protect unsuspecting people from falling under their influence and hopefully prevent another Manson family from coming to life. 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 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 podcasts. 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 on Friday. 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, Cult and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertzovsky, Laurie Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Molly Quinlan Artwick, Leah Roche, and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening.