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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 10, No. 31 |
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"MANSON"
ABOVE: Charles Manson, left, as he appeared when first put on trial for the "Manson Family" murders and, at right, as he looks today, serving his life sentence in prison. |
40 years later, the Manson
murders just as horrifying
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By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
If you have seen any of the bizarre "interviews" done with convicted murderer Charles Manson since he began serving a life term in prison, I'm sure you'll agree that it now seems impossible that any rational human being ever could have looked to this pathetic lunatic as an inspirational leader.
But here's the message that comes through loud and clear, 40 years after the grotesquely brutal murders of actress Sharon Tate, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, heiress Abigail Folger and several other victims: Charles Manson's psychological grip on members of his so-called "family" was so profound that they happily did the murders for him.
This is the clear explanation reached in the new "dramatic" documentary "Manson," which premieres Sept. 7 on The History Channel.
And we hear it from some key sources who were as close to the center of that gruesome Los Angeles area murder binge as any living souls: Linda Kasabian, the Manson Family member who served as "lookout" on the night the killings took place in the Benedict Canyon mansion of filmmaker Roman Polanski and his doomed wife, Sharon Tate; Catharine "Gypsy" Share, the "family" member who recruited Kasabian, and Vincent Bugliosi, the chief prosecutor of Manson and author of "Helter Skelter," the definitive book about the case and the subsequent TV movie.
Kasabian is the richest source of material because she has been "in hiding" ever since she was released from prison early, a result of her willingness to testify against Manson and the others at the trial. Now in her 60s, Kasabian has been living with the nightmares of being at the scene of the murders, even though she did not take part in the actual butchery, which included such severe hacking and stabbing of the victims that they were barely recognizeable afterward.
The "Manson" documentary really doesn't offer any fresh insight into the case, which was well-documented at the time, but it's hard not to be drawn into the story because it's dramatized with a cadre of mostly unknown, but quite effective actors. In between the dramatizations, we hear from the real-life witnesses, including Sharon Tate's sister, Debra, who gives us insight into the aftermath of the horror that descended upon her family and the families of the other victims.
As Kasabian explains it, her marriage had disintegrated in the late 1960s, so she left her husband and took her baby daughter with her to live at the remote Spahn ranch north of Los Angeles, a one-time western movie location where Manson had set up a commune with his other disciples. Drugs and sex were the lure that tied so many young people from normal families to this new kind of family, though Kasabian suggests most of them were simply trying to escape the pressures of urban living by joining in a simpler "back to nature" lifestyle.
Kasabian makes it appear the build-up she was given about Manson made him sound like a charismatic religious leader rather than an ex-con whose background included armed robberies and homosexual rape. He'd just been released from prison at age 32, but already had spent 17 years of his life behind bars.
In that counter-culture period of the late 1960s, Manson offered firm leadership to young women who may have been in desperate need of a comforting father figure. He wound up using their bodies to attract men to his "family" when he wasn't busy using their bodies himself. By providing for all their needs, he turned them into zombies who would do whatever he told them, even when he started returning to crime as a means of supporting the group.
If you read between the lines of what Kasabian and the others tell us about Manson's motives, it now seems extraordinarily unfortunate that some really successful members of the entertainment industry opened their doors to Manson, probably in return for drugs and sex he could provide. Chief among them: Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, who initially led Manson to believe he could get a recording contract and become a rock star. The man who was supposed to make this happen for Manson was Terry Melcher, the son of singer-movie star Doris Day, who fancied himself a promoter and show business entrepreneur.
When nothing came of Melcher's "deal" for Manson, the cult leader was furious and tried to confront Melcher at his Benedict Canyon home. When Manson showed up there, he discovered Melcher was gone and the hosue had been rented to Polanksi and his wife, Sharon Tate. A man on the premises when Manson arrived ordered him off the property and Manson really began to cook up a stew of hatred.
So delusional had Manson become that he was convinced The Beatles' song "Helter Skelter" from their famous "White Album" was their message to him that they subscribed to his theory that blacks were about to rise up in America and kill allwhite people. Manson believed the "good" white people who would survive would be him and his "family" members. He figured blacks weren't smart enough to operate post-Helter Skelter America, so they'd come to him for help in running it.
Yes, this is the point where you have to ask yourself: How stoned were his "family" members? Could any rational person believe in such a crackpot? Apparently so because Manson had no trouble getting his minions to go along with his scheme to start the anti-establishment killings that he hoped would trigger an early start to Helter Skelter and ultimately lead to Manson ruling America.
Adam Wilson, who plays Manson in the dramatic re-enactments, is quite good, though perhaps a shade less sinister than Steve Railsback, who played him in the 1976 TV movie "Helter Skelter." Tamara Hope, who plays Kasabian, is just a tad too sweet for my taste, but maybe they had to play Kasabian nice in order to get her cooperation. (Ironically, the actress who played Kasabian in the 1976 TV movie was Marilyn Burns, heroine of the original 1974 "Texas Chain Saw Massacre.")
There really isn't much from "Manson" to instruct us in how to avoid such monsters coming into power in the future. Knowing Manson is still behind bars isn't all that comforting and I'm not even sure I'm happy to know that Linda Kasabian is out there wandering around free. Yes, it's true she didn't stab anybody to death, but she helped provide Manson with money to keep his "family" running and might have bailed out of his outfit a little earlier and maybe helped the authorities save some of those lost lives.
It remains one of the darkest chapters of 20th century history. But I suppose we need to study even that kind of history every now and then, so this is probably a good place for most younger people to start.
©2009 by Ron Miller. This column first posted Aug. 31, 2009.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series.
You can comment on this column online. Please address your message to either "The Editors" or Ron MIller. To send an email, click here and don't forget to mention Ron's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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