All language subtitles for Inside.The.Manson.Cult.The.Lost.Tapes.2018.720p.WEBRip.x264-[YTS.AM]

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- Yeah, every girl ought to
have a daddy like Charlie.

Should--deserves to have
a daddy like Charlie.

[camera shutters clicking]

male narrator: Charles Manson:

Hippie guru,

would-be rock star,

and,
until his death in 2017,

the most notorious
prison inmate in America.

- You can't prove anything.

Now is the only thing
that's real.

narrator: Manson
was the leader of a cult

called The Family.

narrator: They murdered
nine people,

including movie actress
Sharon Tate

in the summer of 1969.

- It was one of the worst
things I've ever seen.

There was blood all over her.

narrator: The murders sent
shockwaves through Hollywood.

- No one was safe.

- Entertainers out there
are hiring bodyguards.

It put the fear of God
in them.

narrator: The court argued

that Manson had brainwashed
his followers

and programmed them to kill.

- They had no idea that where
Manson was leading them

was mayhem and murder.

- [laughs]

narrator: But could one man
have this much power?

And if so, how?

For the first time,
we can see how.

Shortly after his arrest,

Manson gave a group
of young filmmakers

led by Robert Hendrickson

exclusive access
inside his cult.

- Scene one, take two, roll 53.

narrator: Hidden away
for decades,

the original footage
has now been found:

More than 100 hours of film,
and with it

reels of unheard audio...

- We've seen Charlie do things
that no human being

has ever done.
Or no human being has...

narrator: And dozens of unseen
photographs.

- No, we've seen miracles.

- This is dynamite information
to have.

Where's it been all these
years, all this stuff?

- Some people
are making a movie.

narrator: Today, former cult
members can see themselves

as they once were.

- Did you ever think
of Sharon Tate's baby?

-I didn't know her.

I never met her.

Anybody watching this
would think I was a monster.

narrator: Never-before-seen
interviews

give us a firsthand view
of the programming process.

- I am Charlie.

And if he dies, I die.

narrator: And long-forgotten
film

provides shocking revelations

about how Manson's
followers lived,

loved...

[gun cocks]

And ultimately,

how they were turned from
regular, peace-loving kids

into brutal and brainwashed
killers.

-I didn't want to believe
the things I heard.

- I'm ready to die.

- I didn't want to believe
the things I saw.

- They're persecuting
what they can't stand

to look at in themselves:

The truth.

- When somebody
needs to be killed...

[knives thud]

There's no wrong.
You do it.

- Bam.

- And you kill whoever
gets in your way.

This is us.

[dramatic musical sting]

- ♪ Your home is where
you're happy ♪

♪ It's not where
you're not free ♪

narrator: In the hills
above Hollywood, California,

lives a small band
of young men and women

about two dozen in all.

They share a love of music
and each other.

They call themselves
the Family.

- Roll 136.

- All we ever did amounted to

smoking grass

and taking acid

and making love
as much as we could.

If we weren't doing that,
we was leading up to it.

If we weren't leading up
to it, we was doing that.

narrator: The group's leader
is a career criminal

with a rap sheet
containing multiple offenses

from forgery to armed robbery:

32-year-old Charles Manson.

Manson never knew his father.

His mother was a petty thief

who was in and out of jail.

And Manson followed
in her footsteps.

His latest sentence:
a seven-year stretch

for forgery
and breaking parole.

[ambient music]

He's released on March 21,
1967.

He heads to California...

and the Summer of Love.

- My name's Peter Coyote.

I'm the last ancient hippie,

and I was a serious player
in the counterculture.

It was wonderful
to wake up in the morning.

You could get food,
friendship,

whatever you needed.

People of like minds
got together

and they formed
extended families.

- My name is Aesop Aquarian.

There was a lot of talk about
going to the Summer of Love

and we did love each other
in those days.

We believed in peace and love

and that things
actually could get better.

[cheerful music]

♪

- Charlie saw
the hippie movement

and saw the power in it;

saw the power behind
the young people;

could see a huge
revolution starting.

And there really is
a revolution.

And Charlie wanted
to take this power

and turn it into
his own game.

- When Charlie
was released from prison,

he had spent over half
of his life in jail.

So he had no family.

For him, recruiting followers

was creating the family
that he never had.

♪

narrator: Guitar in hand,

Manson sets up
at street corners

and starts playing.

Gradually,
he attracts followers.

- ♪ People say
that I'm no good ♪

- In the late '60s,
music led kids

off the suburban sidewalks

to hear the sounds
of authentic voices

for whom the American dream
didn't work.

- The counterculture
was this idea that

young people
had been led astray.

What did it mean
to be a human being

in a capitalistic society?

Young people had been fed
a myth about

American exceptionalism

and American democracy
that was untrue.

♪

narrator: And Manson

knew just how
to get the kids to listen.

- My name is John Douglas.

I'm with the FBI,
former criminal profiler--

developed criminal profiling--

and I interviewed
Charles Manson

as part of the serial murderer
research project.

When Charles was in prison,

he was fascinated
by the pimps.

Because these pimps didn't
look anything extraordinary.

So how are you able to,
you know, master,

have this control,
you know, over others?

These pimps told him
where to find these girls.

They look like a broken wing.

A broken wing meaning that

something was wrong.

There was this rejection.

So Manson had the ability

to approach these so-called
broken wings

and talk to them.

- My name is Dianne Lake.

I was one of the first
and the youngest member

of the Manson Family.

I was 14 when I met Charlie.

♪ Say a little prayer?

- He expressed his love
and adoration for me.

It was a high.
It was magic.

It was an incredible

upwelling of love, and,
you know, joy.

My mom and dad were not
the warm, fuzzy

hugging variety.
They really weren't.

And I think that
I needed to feel that.

-♪ As long as you've got
love in your heart ♪

- Charlie invited me to be
a part of their family.

It was what I was looking for.

[cheerful music]

narrator: By the spring
of 1968,

Manson has gathered
half a dozen girls.

The lost tapes
show how he uses them

to lure men.

- Action.

What is your name?
- Paul Watkins.

- How did you get in?

- How did I get in
to The Family?

- Yes.

- I was walking through
Topanga Canyon

and it was starting
to get dark.

I needed a place to sleep.

And there was
this little house

in the clearing in the woods.

Who came to the door was

one of the prettiest girls
I'd ever seen.

- I go answer the door

and it's Paul.

- Big puff of marijuana smoke
hit me in the face.

And that smelled good to me.

- [giggling]

- Charlie told me,

"I want you to reel him in."

[soft music]

- There was 15 people
sitting around in there.

And it was a big room that
had mattresses all over it

and a little table
in the middle.

Charlie, he was playing
the guitar.

He laid all his girls
out in front of me

and says, "They're yours.

What are you gonna
do with them?"

And uh...

I was flattered.

- Nancy and I made him
feel welcome

and had sex with him.

- I agreed that I would stay
with them for the summer

'cause he said he needed
some help;

he was all alone with them

and he couldn't handle them
all by his own,

couldn't keep them satisfied.

Charlie said that The Family
was my family forever.

♪

narrator: The lost tapes
show how Manson

broke down The Family
members' inhibitions

and used sex
not just to seduce,

but also to control them.

- We all had to go through
lots and lots of changes.

All the guys had to get over
all their homosexual things

by doing everything that you
could possibly think of

doing with guys.
And all the girls had to do

everything they could
possibly think of doing

with girls.

- He would have them talk
while he's having sex.

Was there anything, sexually,

that went on that you feel
disgraced by

or embarrassed by?

By doing that
they just felt better

about themselves,

although he had, now, all
the intelligence information

on them, and then would know

what kind of buttons to push.

narrator: Manson's technique
is finding the thing

each of his followers
really feels they need

and giving it to them.

- He'd mirror people.

He did that
the very first day with me.

He just mirrored me.

And he told me, "You're me.

We're the same."

He knew people.
He knew human nature.

So he made me feel
that this was just

meant to be.

And he made me feel important.

[ambient music]

- People would say,

"Well, how come
you didn't leave?"

I stayed with
Charlie because

Charlie captured my heart.

And like heroin addicts the
first time they take heroin,

I was addicted to that initial

feeling of love and adoration
and acceptance.

I wanted that again
and again and again.

[rock music plays]

narrator: As he gathers
his followers around him,

Manson pursues an idea
first dreamt about

during his years in prison:

A career in music.

♪

He sends his girls
out into the streets,

hoping to meet people with
connections to the business.

- On some level,
Manson's entrance

into the LA music scene is
rooted in a chance encounter.

Two of the women in The Family
happen to meet

Dennis Wilson
of the Beach Boys,

one of the central figures
of rock music

in Los Angeles
in the late 1960s.

- Wilson takes the girls home.

And shortly afterwards,
Manson follows.

- I was at Dennis Wilson's
house.

It astounded me at that time

because I'd never seen
a place like that.

It was like a fairy tale.

And Charlie comes
dancing out of the house,

and I said, "Wow."

[swinging music plays]

♪

- There's no other way
to put it.

Dennis Wilson falls in love
with Charles Manson

and falls in love
with the women.

- Both Charlie and Dennis,
I think that

there was a mutual admiration

going on between them.

They were both wild,
liked women,

liked music.

Dennis was very much impressed

with the fact that Charlie
could get his girls

to participate.

narrator: They party.
They hang out.

They even record together.

[men laughing]

On one occasion,
captured in the lost tapes,

Manson gives his home-spun
philosophy on life.

[guitar strumming]

- The way out of a room

is not through the door,
partner.

Because then you just go into
another room

which leads into another room,

which leads into a bigger room

and you're still inside
your cage, man.

- Dennis was kind of
looking for

some kind of spiritual
guidance, and I think that

you know, Charlie kind of
fit the bill.

- That's not the way out.
The way out is

to give it all up
and love every bit of it

as being perfect.

- Manson couldn't have
scripted it better.

Wilson introduces him
to his good friend

Terry Melcher,

one of the hottest
rock-and-roll producers

in America.

- He's the music producer
who has produced The Byrds,

and Paul Revere
and the Raiders.

He's got a number of hits
behind him.

narrator: Melcher has it all:

a superstar mom in Doris Day,

a superstar girlfriend
in Candice Bergen.

And at the time, he even rents

a superstar's mansion
in Beverly Hills

with an address
Charlie and the world

will never forget:

10050 Cielo Drive.

Coming up on "Inside
the Manson Cult"...

- Anyone in that house
on Cielo Drive...

- On Cielo Drive, over.

- Was going to die that night.

They were all going to die.

narrator: The real
inside story

of America's
most shocking cult.

- It was just pandemonium
in Los Angeles.

[gun clicking]

- It was terrifying,
the idea of

testifying against them.

- He's programming us.

-We are sneaking in
a county jail.

- He's telling us
to break him out.

[dramatic musical sting]

male narrator: Hidden
and forgotten

for more than 40 years,

the lost tapes take us
inside the Manson cult

and show how Charles Manson

turns a group
of hippie runaways

into brainwashed zombies,

some capable of mass murder.

- [laughs]

[rock music]

narrator: It is spring
of 1968.

The whole world
is rock-and-roll crazy.

- In that era, music's
a talking newspaper.

Music is a way that young
people were processing

the conflicts that were
all around them

in the culture.

It wasn't a secret code.

It was another language,

and it was a language that

thousands and thousands
of young Americans

spoke fluently.

narrator: Manson speaks
the language too,

and fame would bring him
the widest possible audience

for his ideas.

He's living with
California music legend

Dennis Wilson,

drummer of the Beach Boys.

He knows the power
rock stardom can bring.

Now he gets a taste
for the life.

- Charlie evolved.

He didn't want money or fame,

because he never had
money or fame.

But then when he sees
Dennis Wilson,

people are fawning over him,

he's got this beautiful house.

And Charlie thought,

"Hey, this is something
I want."

narrator: Wilson
hooks Manson up

with top Hollywood
music producer Terry Melcher.

Melcher is rock-and-roll
royalty.

- ♪ Just come
and say you love me ♪

- Manson thought Melcher
was there to audition him

for a record contract.

- I think Charlie was
very nervous,

but I don't think he wanted
to show that.

- ♪ Come on and look at me

narrator: Melcher
holds the keys

to Manson's musical dreams.

But a sound recording
from the lost tapes

reveals what Melcher thinks
of Manson's music.

-When Charlie was rejected
by Terry Melcher

and the music industry,

it festered with Charlie.

It's something he focused on

and fixated on

for a very long time
afterwards.

- He talked about all these
Hollywood people.

"They're all liars."

narrator: Manson has had it
with show business

and the people in it.

It marks a turning point
in the Manson story.

From now on,
Hollywood is the enemy.

Their dreams dashed,
The Family pack up

and hit the road.

[acoustic guitar plays]

♪

They settle at a horse ranch

around 30 miles north
of Los Angeles.

♪

- Spahn Ranch was private.

You know, it had that
interesting little flair

because it's been in a lot
of Western movies

but there also was, like,
a façade of a saloon

and, you know,
they rented horses

for horseback riding.

- Spahn Ranch
sat on old Highway 70.

It was a place...

Yeah, it had its own magic.

My job was looking after
horses and the cowboys,

the people that worked on
Spahn's Ranch.

A place like that
isn't actually a job.

It's a way of living.

narrator: A way of living
that is about to change.

- In comes this little guy
who bangs through the door

like he thought he was God,

and he screamed at us,
"I'm Charles Manson!"

And I was like, "I don't give
a hell who you are,

Get the hell out of my house!"

narrator: But it isn't
Windy's ranch.

It belongs to 80-year-old
George Spahn.

And Manson
makes a deal with him.

The Family can stay
free of charge

if the girls help out.

- We helped out
renting the horses,

shoveling horse poop.

- Charles Manson
took two of the girls

and he assigned them to
keep George Spahn happy...

in any way they could.

And they did.

narrator: Manson's commune

attracts more and more
followers,

including 25-year-old
musician Catherine Share,

nicknamed Gypsy.

- To me, it was beautiful.

I didn't see the dust.

I just saw the quaintness
of it.

And it just looked
almost dreamlike to me.

I was told by
one of the girls that

everybody picked new names,

and I could pick whatever
name I wanted,

and I said, "Oh, okay,
then I'll call myself Gypsy."

- We didn't need food.

Charlie showed us how to
get food out of the dumpsters

at the back
of the grocery stores.

- You wouldn't believe
what we got

out of the garbage cans today.

We got a whole watermelon,

six boxes of bananas,
four boxes of oranges, um...

- Don't forget the artichokes.
- Artichokes...

- We'd wash it off
and make fruit salads.

We ate very well, actually.

Playing music and

making love and getting to
know everyone...

It was quite ideal
for quite a long time.

But beneath the surface
there was a monster

that was lurking.

narrator: The lost tapes
reveal the tightening grip

Manson has
on his followers' minds.

- I am Charlie.

And if he dies, I die.

- You said you
are Charlie?

- I gave up my personality

and become what he
showed me I can be.

- And that is what?

- Total love.

- So in this clip we can see

more about the mindset
of Manson's followers;

that, in essence, they had
eliminated their identities.

They have nothing else
to go upon

except what Charlie
had provided,

and this instills this idea
of groupthink,

where all they know
is the benefit of the group.

- We didn't talk about
our inner feelings

or emotions because we weren't
supposed to have any.

It was one mind
with a lot of hands.

And there was no discussing it.

narrator: Somehow The Family
seemed to believe

they're actually living the
dream Manson had sold them.

But those outsiders
close enough to witness

see something very different.

- Manson had a bunch
of ragtag...

dirty little girls.

They were kind of pathetic.

They sure were strange.

The men all carried knives.

When I went up there,

I always carried a gun.

narrator: Coming up,

the lost tapes reveal
how Manson takes his cult

a step closer to killing.

- Everybody just went
stark raving mad,

I mean, just completely crazy.

narrator: And startling
recordings

show that he is
bending their minds

to believe he is God.

- We've seen Charlie do things
that no human being

has ever done.

We've seen miracles.

male narrator: It is
the summer of 1968.

Charles Manson, wannabe
musician and ex-con,

has established a commune
on a run-down ranch

30 miles outside
of Los Angeles...

[all humming]

And he's turning it
from commune to cult.

- Every now and then,

them girls would ask me

why I didn't throw away my bras

and run like them half-naked
around the ranch.

Didn't I feel like
I should be free?

I said, "You're not free.
You're slaves."

narrator: Along with sex,
music, and mind-control,

Manson throws
one more ingredient

into his cult-creating
cocktail:

isolation.

At the ranch there are no
calendars or clocks;

no magazines or newspapers.

Manson's word
is the only word.

- We were totally reliant
on Charlie's idea

of what our family
should be doing.

[solemn music]

♪

- The isolation
that Manson imposed

upon his followers by taking
them out into the Ranch

was pivotal.

In that environment,
he controlled

everything they saw,

everything they heard.

He could create
an absolute bubble.

- In hindsight, it was the
perfect breeding ground

for his philosophy to grow

and our commitment to him

to deepen.

narrator: The lost tapes
contain a unique record

of Manson's preaching.

- You're born with
a survival instinct

to be selfish.

So the first thing that
happens, man,

is they start giving you
their thoughts

and making things out of you
that they want out of.

And then by the time
you reach 30,

you're exactly what they want.

You're a free soul
standing in a cage

who has to die
because he was taught.

[chuckles]
Yeah.

- We would listen

to everything he had to say.

We never joined in,

commented,

disagreed.

He would seem to just
answer your questions

before you had any.

narrator: Manson's Family
is now about 30 strong.

Some have been with him
more than a year.

He has bent them to his will

with sex, isolation,
and domination.

And the lost tapes show
one last vital ingredient.

- We took things
like belladonna

and smoked hashish a lot

and smoked marijuana
all the time, and...

and psilocybin and mescaline...

When I was with Charlie we took

anywhere between
30 and 40 trips

on acid alone.

[rock music]

♪

Everybody just went
stark raving mad.

I mean, just completely crazy.

- People are jumping in and out
of the fireplace,

flying through windows,

hitting other people
in the face.

- Arms and legs flying
in every directions

and people screaming,

"Charlie! Charlie!"

- ♪ One too many trips

♪ To the moon and back

♪ Feel like I'm shot through

♪ From green to black

♪ Had so many highs

- The LSD was fun.

Everything became
more animated,

the songs, you know, the words,

I felt totally disconnected

from reality.

narrator: But not everybody
in the cult is high.

- Manson was smart enough
to know

how to dose out LSD.

I've interviewed Manson
three times.

He told us in the interview
at San Quentin

he would take drugs,
but not that much.

But what about your flock?

"I gave them the
full dosage of it."

You know, "Why?"

"Because I felt I could have
more of an impact

over them."

- The shadow side
of psychedelics

is that you're nakedly innocent
and vulnerable.

And someone can weasel their
way inside your mind

and alter your perspective.

narrator: With The Family
drugged and under his spell,

Manson takes his power
to a whole nother level.

-Charlie never just said
he was Jesus Christ,

but then he always said it.

He said it in every other way

except for just coming
flat-out and saying

"I am Jesus Christ."

- He said that 2,000 years ago
he'd hung on a cross

and died for everyone's sins,

and it didn't do a [bleep]
bit of good,

so now he's up again.

[solemn music]

- He started using
subliminal messages

such as, "They won't kill me
this time

because I've already died."

But he'd say it very quickly

with a lot of other things.

- The most extreme form
of grandiosity

and power and narcissism
is to be godlike.

- You look the part.

You got the hair,

you got the beard,

and now you start talking

and it's very,
very convincing.

Before you know it,

you're Jesus.

You're Christ.

- It looked to me like he was

hanging on the cross and...

you know, bleeding
from his hands.

It seemed very real.

It seemed like other people
were, you know,

believing it.

- We've seen what's possible.

We've seen Charlie do things
that no human being...

has ever done.

Or no human being has revealed
that he could do these things.

No, we've seen miracles.

- He often talked about

the significance of his name,
Man-son.

That he was Man's Son.

The Son of Man.

- We saw him bring
a bird back to life.

We know that
anything's possible.

narrator: It's taken two years
of sex, mind-control,

drugs, and domination

for Manson
to turn regular kids

into a cult of worshippers

ready to obey
his every command.

The question now

is what will he make them do?

- Manson knew
where he wanted to go.

He knew where he was taking
these people.

But they had no clue.

They had no idea that

where Manson was leading them
was mayhem and murder.

narrator: Coming up,

the lost tapes show Manson
as he prepares for war...

- We're always ready.

narrator: And the killings
start.

- He was the commander now

and we were all in boot camp.

narrator: And an incredible
confession

never broadcast before.

- He said that one day

in Beverly Hills,

there would be some
atrocious murders

and people would be
chopped to pieces.

There'd be things written on
the walls in blood.

- [laughs]

narrator: June 1969.

Charles Manson is becoming
increasingly obsessed

with one extraordinary vision.

- I think Charles Manson
was looking for some

chaotic Armageddon

into which he could take
even more advantage

of disorder,
and rally people

behind a common threat.

- Charlie used to say
the blacks would

fight against the whites, and

everyone would fight
against everybody else

and that everyone would get
killed except for Charlie

and a few blacks who'd be left
to be their servants.

- He became increasingly,
you know,

paranoid about that,

and started preparing us

for that event.

- Manson is imbibing
what's happening

in terms of popular
and political culture

in the United States.

When we think about
the late 1960s,

the Civil Rights movement,
Malcolm X,

the Black Panther party,

the Vietnam War,

there were really hundreds
of civil disturbances.

And there was a real fear

that race war was coming
to the United States.

It seemed as if

the end of the world
was coming.

narrator: Manson dubs his
race war prophecy

"Helter Skelter,"

a name he takes from
a most unlikely source.

Male announcer: You guessed it,
the Beatles!

This rock-and-roll group
has taken over

as the kingpins
of musical appreciation

among the younger element.

narrator: In November 1968,

the Beatles release
their "White Album."

Manson becomes obsessed.

- Charlie played it forwards
and backwards

and he played it
over and over again.

He said, "The Beatles are
sending me a message...

That it's time."

Black man was gonna
take over the world.

- [laughs]

- There was a song
called "Helter Skelter"...

[guitar riff]

About people who were at the
bottom of the slide

of society getting back
to the top.

According to Manson,
these were the blacks.

- The Beatles now were
confirming

that it was all true.

[guitar riff]

It was crazy, crazy thinking.

[guitar riff]

narrator: Now free love
transforms to boot camp

as Manson readies his Family
for Helter Skelter.

- Mark it.
- Sandy, Brenda, Squeaky,

six, take one, roll 210.

-We're always ready.

- The new thought is
to be a strong reflection

of the father.

Now, I'm just finding out
about this, see.

And it feels good.

It feels good to know.

- He issued us all buck knives

and showed us
the most effective way

to kill someone.

He said it...

"You have to be willing to kill

in order to not be killed."

- ♪ If you want it

♪ Here it is

♪ Come and get it
[all laughing]

- ♪ But you better hurry

Because it won't be here long,
you [bleep].

- He told us

you stab and then you rip up.

You know, you--that's what
I remember.

It's like, you know, so,

the reason being that
you would hit as many organs--

you know, vital organs
as possible.

- He was the commander now.

And we were all in boot camp.

I think the dangerous side
of Charlie

was that

he would do anything...

to survive.

narrator: While Manson's
Family

think they're getting ready

to defend themselves,

in reality,

their leader's intentions
are very different.

- At that time, I was staying
with a man named Pete Nell

who was president of the
San Francisco Hell's Angels.

And I got to his house one day

just as Charles Manson
had left,

and he was flabbergasted.

Charles Manson had come to them

to try to get the Hell's Angels

to begin a race war;

to just go start randomly
shooting black people.

And Pete had said, "You know,
if you want a race war,

go start it yourself."

narrator: A chilling
piece of audio

captured on the lost tapes

when the cameras
stopped rolling

and never broadcast before

reveals that Manson
now does plan

to start that race war
himself.

And the place he's chosen?

The very heart
of Hollywood's elite:

Beverly Hills.

- He said

that one day, up in the

mountains of Beverly Hills

that they just, uh...

go in and have a bunch
of mass murders.

That they would be
so atrocious.

That there would be blood
splattered

all over everything.

That people would be
chopped to pieces

and cut up with knives.

There'd be things written
on the walls in blood.

And, uh, the white man would
get all uptight about it

and blame the [bleep] for it.

narrator: Coming up

on "Inside the Manson Cult"...

- He confided in me about
killing people.

About how groovy it was

to take a gun and blast
some guy in the stomach.

narrator: And a former
cult member

has to face
her younger self

from half a century before.

- Did I ever think
of her baby?

I've pictured her pregnant.

Anybody watching this would
think I was a monster.

narrator: Early summer,
1969.

Charles Manson is convinced
a race war

is coming down fast.

- The ranch changed completely

after that.

narrator: And the lost tapes

show how his world view
turns dark.

- He confided in me about
killing people.

About how groovy it was

to take a gun and

blast some guy in the stomach

just because he was black.

About how far out it would be

to go into a house and...

cut the [bleep] out of women

and cut the [bleep] off
of little boys

and just have pools of blood
everywhere.

- Manson addressed

the issue of
the pending race war

by creating what he thought

would be the circumstances
to ignite it.

narrator: As Manson
hones his master plan,

the tapes show how he's
conditioned his followers

to commit the ultimate crime

by conquering their
deepest fears

of death.

-There is no death.

There's no such thing.
When you die,

you die with the thoughts that
you have in your head.

- Their reality was
such that oh,

you know, death was
no big deal.

- When somebody
needs to be killed,

there's no wrong.

You do it.

And then you move on.

[gun clicking]

- Manson had weaponized
his followers

to use--like a knife,

like a gun,

like a rope,

to kill the people
that he had targeted.

narrator: Manson has trained
his Family

to be able to kill for him.

But are they ready
to really do it?

It's time to find out.

-Gary Hinman had his ear
chopped off...

along with being killed
and stabbed and

tortured...

everything else he had done
to him.

- We'd been to Gary's house

you know, several times.

He lived in Topanga Canyon.

narrator: Gary Hinman has sold
Bobby Beausoleil some drugs.

Beausoleil sells them on

but his buyers think
the drugs are bad.

Beausoleil needs
the money back.

- So, uh, Bobby was driven
over there

to make it right

with two girls
that knew Gary very well.

In fact I think he had slept
with both of them.

Susan Atkins

and Mary Brunner.

- Hinman denies
he did anything wrong.

He doesn't have any money,
he swears by it.

But he's getting loud,
he's getting angry.

- The women get on the phone
with Manson

and tell him what's going on

and Manson decides

that now he has to
ride in again

and solve the situation.

- Charlie gets a samurai sword.

He takes the sword
to the house.

- Once you show up
with a sword,

things will not end well.

- Manson makes a swipe.

He made a slice from the ear
down to the face.

It was bleeding a lot.

- Pretty much what he's
telling Beausoleil

is, "Come on.

You know what you have to do."

- Bobby Beausoleil
takes one of the cars

and leaves the area.

Beausoleil is found
in the car, asleep,

arrested,
charged with the crime

of killing Gary Hinman.

Manson gets a call
letting him know

that Beausoleil
has been arrested,

and this is where the chaos
really sets in.

- This is when things
start getting really dire.

I mean, really murderous.

narrator: Manson's Family
are now murderers

and, it seems, ready to
give up everything for him.

It's time to put his
master plan into action.

The Helter Skelter race war
won't start on its own.

But his family can start
it for him,

and he knows just where
and how

he wants them to do it.

It has taken over two years,

but he has created
an army of followers

ready to kill
to please their master.

On the evening
of August 8, 1969,

Charles Manson
selects his most trusted

for a mission that will haunt
U.S. history.

- Manson told his followers

that this would
be the ignition point

for Helter Skelter.

narrator: Charles "Tex"
Watson,

23-year-old ex-high school
football star.

Patricia Krenwinkle,

21, a onetime
church choir member.

And Susan Atkins,

also 21,

a former Girl Scout.

They'll be driven
to the onetime home

of Terry Melcher,

the man who rejected Manson
for a record deal:

10050 Cielo Drive.

Coming up

on "Inside the Manson Cult"...

Manson brings terror
to Tinseltown...

- The gore. The blood.

This was what Charles Manson
wanted.

narrator: And the threat
of more murder to come

on the lost tapes.

- If you had to kill more,
you'd kill more?

- Mm-hmm.

- Whatever we have to do.
- Whatever.

- We leave our house open
to the soul.

narrator: Charles Manson
has turned

his young followers...

- We're always ready.

narrator: Into killers.

- There is a deed to be done.

There is something that has
to be taken care of here.

narrator: The murder spree
has begun.

-When somebody
needs to be killed,

there's no wrong.

You do it.

woman on radio: Man down,
man down,

at 10050 Cielo Drive, over.

- August 9, 1969.

9:00 a.m.

Bob Burbridge is a 25-year-old
cop on patrol

for the LAPD.

- Well, I just got out
of roll call

at West Los Angeles
Police Station

and the call was
a man down call,

a call of a drunk
or it could be a dead body.

So I rolled on the call...

[indistinct radio chatter]

- We're turning onto
Cielo Drive.

This is the way I came up
on that day.

[woman speaking on radio]

We're approaching the driveway
going up to the mansion,

the Sharon Tate mansion.

As soon as I went through
the gate,

I discovered a body
in a white car.

I looked on the lawn,

and there were two more bodies
laying on the lawn.

We decided that there might be
a sniper involved,

so we asked one of the
policemen

to go get a shotgun

to cover us while we went

running across this open area
to the house.

[indistinct radio chatter]

narrator: By the summer
of 1969,

Terry Melcher

had moved out of the
Cielo Drive house.

- Manson knew pretty damn well

that Terry Melcher
no longer lived there.

What you have here
is you have a resonance--

it's a symbolic resonance.

And there's gonna be revenge

on whoever is there:
men, women, children.

It didn't really matter.

narrator: The people now
living at 10050 Cielo Drive

are Hollywood director
Roman Polanski

and his wife,

Sharon Tate.

- Sharon Tate was a rising
young movie actress.

She had not starred
in any A movies

but she was certainly headed
in that direction.

narrator: Polanski is in
London working on a movie.

But Tate is at home
with friends.

[guitar riff]

♪

Three of Charles Manson's
most trusted followers

had paid them a visit.

♪

Charles "Tex" Watson,

Patricia Krenwinkle,

and Susan Atkins.

[radio chatter]

The LAPD is just about
to find out

what horrors
they had inflicted

inside the house.

- We got to the living room.

We saw two more bodies--

towels over their head

and a rope wrapped around
both of their necks.

One of them was Sharon Tate.

She was obviously
eight to nine months pregnant.

man's voice: A movie
actress and four

of her friends were murdered.

And the circumstances
were lurid.

- I just remember she was
the most beautiful thing

I've ever seen.

And there was blood
all over her and...

it was awful.

It was just awful.

I--I hate
to even think about it.

- Identification of the persons
are as follows:

Sharon Polanski,

Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger...

- Jay Sebring was an
internationally famous

hairstylist.

Abigail Folger was the heiress

for the Folger coffee fortune.

Wojciech Frykowski was good
friends with Roman Polanski.

Steven Parent had just been
there to visit the caretaker.

The victims suffered
102 stab wounds.

Three of the victims
were shot.

One of the victims was pounded

on his head with a gun butt.

Sharon Tate was hung
from a high beam

going across
the living room ceiling.

- The Manson followers, they
leave "pig" scrawled in blood

to try to convince
investigators

that the Black Panthers
had done this.

The Panthers call
police officers pigs

because they're trying to

dehumanize law enforcement

in the same way they argue
law enforcement

has dehumanized black people.

- The gore. The blood.

Manson told his followers

that this would
be the ignition point

for Helter Skelter.

- The revolution
is waiting for a spark.

Everybody's ready.

Everybody's got their--
their guns together.

- All right, this is beautiful.

Okay, you'll be able to...

You have to have
this thing to where

it just slides right out
with your own motion.

- Everybody's waiting
for somebody

to...

have enough love

to start it.

narrator: Not content
with one bloodbath,

on the following night

Manson decides
that the killing spree

must continue.

- The Family drove around
Los Angeles county

for 4 1/2 hours

looking at random
for people to murder.

Then Manson started giving

more specific directions,

and they ended up
at the LaBianca house

at 3301 Waverly Drive.

[heart beating]

narrator: The house belongs to
supermarket owner

Leno LaBianca

and his wife, Rosemary.

[tense music]

♪

- He said, "Don't move.
This is just a robbery."

He assured them that

he wasn't going to hurt them.

♪

He took Rosemary LaBianca's
wallet

because he wanted to have it
planted in a black area

and he wanted a black person
to find the wallet

and use the credit cards

and get blamed
for the murders.

♪

He said, "Don't let them know
that you're gonna kill them."

♪

- In a personality-driven
cult,

whatever the leader says
is right is right,

and whatever the leader says
is wrong is wrong.

His ideas,

his prescriptions

are absolute

and must be accepted
without question.

- No "why?"

We never ask why.

- Mm-hmm.

- Whatever we have to do.
- Whatever.

- We leave our house open
to the soul.

We leave our mind open.

[guns clicking]

- In the LaBianca house,

above the inside
of the front door

is written the word "rise."

On the living room wall

in Leno LaBianca's blood

is written "death to pigs."

- Well, that was the whole
point of it.

Staging the murder scene
the way it was staged

was so that it would be
believed that

this was a race war.

That this was
the disenfranchised

lashing out at the rich
and the privileged.

- And it's the people
that will cause a revolution.

And it's the people that will
cause a change

in the country.

- And on the refrigerator
at the LaBiancas

in Leno LaBianca's blood

is written the words
"Helter Skelter."

narrator: Coming up on
"Inside the Manson Cult,"

news of the murders
spreads through The Family...

- Tex tells me, "I did this.

Charlie told me to."

They were almost like lethal.

They didn't seem to have
any remorse.

narrator: And a new member

shares an extraordinary
confession

for the first time.

- One of the girls came up
to me and said

"We want you to go
to the courthouse and...

Kill the judge."

- [laughs]

Male announcer: The latest
murders were discovered

during the night.

Leno LaBianca,
a supermarket owner,

and his wife had both
been stabbed to death,

repeated stab wounds.

- It was just pandemonium,
in Los Angeles especially.

People were so scared

that gun sales
went up tremendously.

- People are buying
extra locks on their doors.

Entertainers out there
are hiring bodyguards

to be--to be with them,

you know, 24/7.

So it put the fear of God
in them.

- Charles Manson
accomplished his goal

of terrorizing Los Angeles.

No one was safe.

narrator: Back at Spahn Ranch,

news of the murders
spread through The Family.

- Tex tells me, "I did this.

Charlie told me to."

Patty said that
she had stabbed somebody

and at first, you know,
it was hard

but then it got to be more fun.

They were almost
like boastful

or gleeful.

I mean, it's like they...

they didn't seem to have
any remorse.

- Despite the violence
and the brutality

of these murders,

the people that had
committed them

of this following

were still very proud
of what they had done.

For them, it was a way to
sort of say,

"Hey, look at what I did.

This is how loyal I am
for Charlie."

narrator: For the first time
in decades,

Catherine Share,

known in The Family as Gypsy,

sets eyes on her younger self.

She was filmed shortly after
the Tate murders.

- Mm-hmm.

- Did I ever think of her baby?

I've pictured her pregnant.

Yeah.

No, I've--I've only pictured
her pregnant.

That's the only way I can
picture her.

I was so cut off
that I couldn't feel...

what I should have felt
for another pregnant woman

and her child.

And it's very disturbing
to watch me

put that out.

- The baby?

- No, I picture Sharon Tate
pregnant at times. Yeah.

Anybody watching this
would think I was a monster.

- I didn't know her.

I never met her.

How can you tell
what's in a picture?

It's not even living.

And there was part of me

that still believed that
he had all the answers

and he was the one.

There was another part of me

that was starting
to know better.

But I was keeping it

just deep down inside.

Because if I showed it,

my life would be in danger.

narrator: While Manson
plots his next move,

the cops are fumbling
their investigation.

- The police had no idea

who committed these murders.

They had one team working on

the Tate murders,

and another team working on
the LaBianca murders.

- They didn't think these
cases, ah, were related,

you know, at all.

I mean, this is obvious to me.

Here's the signature.

Here's the symbolism of this.

What are the probability

that someone else is
perpetrating the same crime,

the same way?

[upbeat music]

♪

narrator: As the investigation
stumbles along,

Manson leads his followers
to the desert

to hide out from
the Helter Skelter race war

he still insists is coming.

♪

But then things start
to go wrong.

- Charlie decided that he was
gonna burn up an earth-mover.

Not a very swift move when you,

when you want to hide.

- I was washing my hair.

- Get your hands up!

Everybody up, turn around!

- And I had a gun
pointing at me,

"You're under arrest."

- Quiet, give me
your other hand.

I said move!

- Charlie disappeared.

Just--
[whistles]

You know, he made himself
invisible.

[tense music]

-Get up! Get up!

- So the police found Charlie

under the sink cupboard.

♪

narrator: To The Family's
relief,

the cops aren't hunting
for the Tate

and LaBianca killers.

They're looking for the people
who burnt the earth-mover.

- We got arrested
for vandalizing

government property.

♪

narrator: The police
have no idea

that they have America's
most wanted killers

in their care.

Coming up,

exclusive lost tape footage
with the prisoner

who blows the Sharon Tate
murder case

wide open.

- She told me

she just kept stabbing her
until she stopped screaming.

narrator: And shocking
evidence

of the power Charles Manson

has over his followers.

- I'm ready to die
for Charlie.

I'm ready to die.

[dramatic musical sting]

narrator: Charles Manson

and some of his
most faithful followers

are in jail after burning
an earth-mover.

But they also just may be
getting away with murder.

- It wasn't until Susan Atkins

got transferred

to Los Angeles County Jail
Sybil Brand

that she started
talking to her cellmate

about Charlie, and, you know,

Helter Skelter.

narrator: Susan Atkins,
known in The Family as Sadie,

was at the Hinman murder

and also at the Tate mansion
on Cielo Drive.

- Susan Atkins came from a,
uh, middle-class family.

Unfortunately her mother died
at a very, very young age,

which devastated her.

She wasn't getting
the attention anymore

from the mother who she loved,
she loved dearly

and she sought out others

to get some type of attention.

narrator: While in jail,

Atkins latches onto cellmate
Ronnie Howard.

- Roll 159.

What is your name?

- My name is Ronnie Howard.

narrator: And the lost tapes
reveal how Atkins

unwittingly gives
the game away.

- She was telling me about

different things that

she thought would shock me.

And I told her,
"Nothing shocks me."

And she said, "Well,
I think I can tell you

a few things that would
shock you."

[solemn music]

- She confessed
to Ronnie Howard

about her participation

and Charles Manson's
participation

in these murders.

- I asked her,
"If you were really there,"

I said, "Who really
killed Sharon Tate?"

And she told me

that she killed Sharon Tate.

She said she was the one
that stabbed her.

Every time she screamed
she'd stab her again and...

she just kept stabbing her
until she stopped screaming.

And she said it sent

a hot rush all the way
through her body.

And she told me that

to stab somebody

is better than having a climax.

But she--she told me that

the future murders
would be more gruesome.

They wanted to do something
to really shock the world.

A few of them
were celebrities.

- Which celebrities were
they going to kill?

- Steve McQueen.

Tom Jones.

Frank Sinatra.

Liz Taylor.

♪

- Ronnie Howard

called LAPD and said, "Hey,

this is what this woman
has told us,"

and that broke the case.

narrator: On December 9, 1969,

the charge against Manson
is changed from arson

to first-degree murder.

Male announcer:
A wandering band

of members of
a so-called religious cult

with a leader they call Jesus

has had three of its
followers arrested

in the investigation
of the murder of Sharon Tate

and six others.

narrator: But Manson's arrest
for the murders

does not signal the end
of his Family.

In fact, it gains a new member

at a crucial time.

- I walked away from my house
and everything that was in it.

Just...away.

And, uh, went to the ranch.

narrator: 24-year-old
Aesop Aquarian

is a musician
and aspiring actor.

The lost tapes show him
playing guitar

with the Family just days
after the murder charge

is filed.

- I was,
"part of The Family."

I was living on the ranch,
working the ranch.

I was taking care
of the girls,

I was driving the girls,

I was making sure
they were safe.

And the love that
was there was...

undeniable, anybody who came
on the ranch

even for a second,

you know, caught the love
that we had.

[all laughing]

- Even when he was in jail,

Charlie was still able
to manipulate

and have power and control
over his followers.

narrator: New recruit Aquarian

can see firsthand
how Manson's power

is getting, if anything,
stronger.

- These girls loved Charlie
so much

that they literally

would do anything for him.

Literally would do
anything for him.

- Whenever we need to,

we respond.

We respond with our knives.

We respond with
whatever we have.

[indistinct chatter]

narrator: Among Manson's
most loyal disciples

on the outside

are Nancy Pitman,
known as Brenda,

Lynette Fromme,
known as Squeaky,

and Sandra Goode,
known as Sandy.

- We could respond so quickly.

Teeth...
- Anything.

Whatever. Whatever's at hand.

Because we are animals.

- We are.

- [indistinct speech]

- And I know that if they

ever laid a finger on Charlie,

if we were unarmed, we would

chew their necks off,

anything. Claw their eyes out.

And they know it.

- Those members that stayed

to the very end
with Charles Manson

were in love with him.

- N-88!

- The idea
that they might imagine

another life
did not occur to them.

- I'm ready to die
for Charlie.

He's ready to die for me.

He has died for me.

I'm ready to die.

I'm ready to die for--
to protect my own.

narrator: The Manson trial
begins on July 24, 1970.

- I have no, uh,
absolute knowledge,

but I don't think any case
in history

has received this much
pre-trial publicity

throughout the world.

narrator: Stephen Kay

was a rookie prosecutor
working on the case.

- At age 27,
I had been assigned

to be a prosecutor on

what was then considered
the crime of the century.

narrator: Kay's job
will be tough.

- Manson left no fingerprints
at the locations.

There was nothing at the scene

of the crimes to tie Manson
into the crime

so it was all testimony.

- So what basically
had to be proved

was that Charlie had
manipulated his followers

so much that he himself was
culpable of these murders.

man: You want Mr. Kanarek

to challenge the jurors
or are you ready to accept

anyone that's put in the box?

- You've already tried
the case.

narrator: To bring
Manson down,

the prosecution needs someone
on the inside

to turn against him.

But getting a Family member
to break ranks

will be no easy task.

- In the visiting room
he said to a Family member,

"If Gypsy tries to get away,

"I want you to...

"tie her behind a car

"and drag her slowly

"back to the ranch.
Don't kill her,

but you can get close."

And then he looked at me
and said,

"Are you going anywhere?"

And I said, "No."

narrator: Another potential
witness is Dianne Lake,

known in The Family as Snake.

She's now 16.

Still under Manson's control,

Lake has kept
her true identity hidden

from the prison authorities...

Until now.

- They sent us to testify
in front of the Grand Jury

and that's when I finally
felt safe enough

to say...

"My name is Dianne Lake.

I'm 16, and I want my mommy."

narrator: But after two years
of near-daily LSD use

Lake is in no position
to testify.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia,

she's sent for emergency
psychiatric treatment.

- They committed me
to 90 days observation

at Patton State Hospital.

And then the 90 days
turned into nine months.

It was like he was in my head

telling me,

"Turn left. Turn right."

You know, "Turn the light off."

"Don't say that" or
"Don't talk to that person."

There was one officer
in particular that really

treated me with--with respect

and like a tenderness.

He made me feel safe

enough to start telling...

telling the truth.

- Sandy, Brenda, Squeaky,
four, take one, roll 209.

narrator: As Lake prepares
to testify against Manson

the tapes reveals what her
former friends think of her.

-She's a very young girl,

and by the time the, the DAs
had gotten through with her

she was speaking their
language.

She's just like a baby.

She can be molded whatever way

anyone chooses to mold her.

- I'm sure that's what they
believed, you know,

that I had been, uh,
swallowed up.

You know, that I was
being manipulated

by the courts.

narrator: The big question is:

will Lake be brave enough
to testify?

- Snitches will be taken
care of.

- How?

-Oh, that's to be seen.

That's to be seen.

narrator: Still to come
on "Inside the Manson Cult,"

secretly filmed footage
of Manson in prison...

- We are sneaking

in the county jail.

Looking under the door
to see if the man is there.

- He's telling us
to break him out.

narrator: And an extraordinary
command

to young member of the cult:

Kill the judge.

- I felt my jaw drop

to the ground.

[dramatic musical sting]

narrator: Charles Manson
is on trial

for multiple murders.

Teenage cult member
Dianne Lake

might be key
to convicting him

if she can escape his control.

- It was like he was
in my head.

- [laughs]

narrator: A unique moment
from the lost tapes

shows just how hard
that's going to be.

Secretly, the filmmaker
smuggles a camera

into Manson's jail cell.

And the cult leader
takes his chance

to speak directly
to his followers.

- We are sneaking
in the county jail.

Looking under the door
to see if the man is there.

Sneaking like little children
out of town.

[laughs]

Sneaking...
[laughs]

Sneaking all around

the courthouse.

- He's programming us.

Telling us what to do.

- Everything is sneaky
up around Sneakyville.

[laughs]

- He was telling us
to break him out

of jail.

To learn where the vents are,

learn how to get in and out
of the building

and learn how to set him free.

- You gotta sneak
to get to the truth.

The truth is condemned.

The truth is in
the gas chamber.

[laughs]

- Manson had a very powerful
personality.

When he was in a room,
you could almost feel

the electricity
pouring off of him.

And he would kind of
command the room.

[indistinct chatter]

Manson one time
came into court,

and he had taken a razor blade

and put an X on his forehead.

And the next day, the girls
all had Xs on their foreheads.

They said they were going to
X themselves out of society.

- Some of the behaviors
that the girls exhibited

during the trials
really was frightening.

Because you can see that
despite being back in reality

back in society,

they're still totally
under Charlie's spell.

narrator: The tapes show
how Manson's followers

may be ready
to threaten anyone

involved in the prosecution.

- Sandy, Brenda, Squeaky.

- Ask me a question.

- What if they execute
Charlie?

- Well, they'll have
to contend with us.

narrator: Just how far
the cult is prepared to go

is made frighteningly clear

to new member Aesop Aquarian.

- One of the girls
came up to me and said

"We've got to get Charlie out.

"We want you to," uh...

"To go the courthouse and...

Kill the judge."

I felt my jaw
drop to the ground.

"You want me to what?"

Said, "We want you
to kill the judge."

"That'll show them
that we're serious

and that'll get Charlie out."

"Are you for real?"

And she said, "Yeah."

My first thought was,

"What the hell
am I doing here?"

I don't think that was
the next day that I left

but it could have been.

[ambient music]

♪

narrator: Manson's power
over his followers

may be giving Dianne Lake
second thoughts.

- It was terrifying,

the idea of going by the girls

and testifying against them.

And I was always afraid
that I was going to have

mind control by Charlie again.

That was a big fear.

And also that fear
of wanting that...

you know, that original feeling

of love and adoration from him.

I thought that was going
to be a weakness.

- The truth has not been
in your courtrooms.

Never has been
in your courtrooms.

All you have is confusion
in your courtroom.

- We went in, like,
the back door,

and there was still
a lot of press

but they kind of snuck me in.

- You can't prove anything

that happened yesterday.

Now is the only thing
that's real.

- The girls were outside
the Hall of Justice.

I was scared.

- We were on pins and needles.

We didn't know how the jury
was gonna respond

to Dianne Lake.

We felt that she had been
a great witness.

Believable, but...

she had spent eight months
in a mental hospital.

We didn't know what the jury
was going to do.

narrator: Still to come
on "Inside the Manson Cult"...

- He's waiting in a cage.

He's looking down like
I'm one of his disciples.

- [laughs]

narrator: An astonishing
revelation...

- I don't believe Charlie
believed in Helter Skelter.

It was just a crazy story.

[dramatic musical sting]

narrator: One of
Charles Manson's

earliest converts

has testified against
the man she loved.

- It was terrifying,

going by the girls

and testifying against them.

narrator: Time for the jury
to decide.

man: The jury,
hearing the charges

against Charles Manson
and three girl members

of his so-called Family

brought in its verdict
this afternoon.

All were found guilty
of murder in the first degree.

[indistinct chatter]

narrator: The trial
has lasted seven months

and is, at the time,
the most expensive

in U.S. criminal history.

The jury takes ten days
to reach a verdict.

man: Manson then shouted
at the jurors,

"You're all guilty!"

narrator: On Monday,
March 29, 1971,

Manson is sentenced to die

for the murder spree
that shocked the world.

Leslie Van Houten,

Susan Atkins,

and Patricia Krenwinkle

will also be given
the death sentence.

[women singing]

- I couldn't understand
how they could

be so happy

and cheerful when they were
facing the death penalty.

It would be years later
that I would see that look

in other eyes of cult followers

and I would realize

this is the way
that people look

when they're under
undue influence

and they're not thinking
for themselves.

[ambient music]

♪

narrator: In 1972,

Charles Manson and his
three female accomplices

have their death sentences
commuted to life in prison

when California temporarily
abolishes the death penalty.

- After Charlie Manson

was locked away for life,

he became the most popular
prison inmate

in the United States

measured by the amount
of fan mail

that he received.

For a lot of young people,

he was like the ultimate
outlaw,

the counterculture icon...

And he continued to live on
in that sense

and continued to have
a cult following

in the broader population.

- I think within the
psychodrama of his own mind

Manson tapped into
this idea

of a fear of black-led
racial violence.

And I think that idea

was something that is a

carry-over from the '60s

even to this day.

- Charlie Manson wanted to be
rich and famous.

When he couldn't do it
in the music business,

he figured out another way
to be famous.

- Manson frequently said

he wanted to be bigger
than the Beatles.

And it could be argued

that he did have
even more of an impact

than the Beatles on our lives,

on American culture.

It did something to us.

We're no longer as free
and able to just...

think that we're safe
in our homes.

- Roll N-72, scene
four girls A, take one.

narrator: Over the years,
many of Manson's followers

remained devoted
to their Messiah.

- Again and again I've gotta
pay for your sins.

I've been laying up here
paying for your sins

for 2,000 years.

narrator: Others managed
to break free.

- Do I feel that
Charlie Manson conned me?

As time went on, absolutely.

Charlie had learned to be
a very good manipulator.

A shark, it will eat
whatever to survive.

And it will kill whatever
to survive.

- I lost some innocence
for sure.

But I--I survived

and I thrived,

and, um, I'm very thankful
for that.

narrator: In the space
of two years,

Manson brainwashed
dozens of followers

and even convinced some
to kill for him.

Behind it all
lay his twisted world view,

the Helter Skelter race war.

But did Manson ever truly
believe in this philosophy

or did he simply use it

to frighten and control
The Family?

In 1979,

when FBI profiler John Douglas

met Charles Manson in prison,

they had a revealing exchange.

- He's waiting in a cage.

He's looking down,

he's looking down like
I'm one of his disciples.

Like, you know.

- You gotta sneak
to get to the truth.

The truth is condemned.

The truth
is in the gas chamber.

- At the end of the day,
I don't believe Charlie

believed in Helter Skelter

at all.

It was just a crazy story.

And I didn't believe it,

I told him he
didn't believe it,

and he laughed

when I told him, "I don't
believe your BS here, Charlie,

"Come on, man.

You're just into sex, drugs,
and rock and roll."

- [laughs]

- And he was nodding his head,
he was smiling,

laughing, you know.

So.

- ♪ Pretty girl

♪ Pretty, pretty girl

♪ Cease to exist

♪ Just come and say
you love me ♪

♪ Give up your world

♪ Come on, you could be

♪ I'm your kind

♪ Oh your kind

♪ And I can see

- Um, as far as
these things go, um...

You have to make love with it.

- ♪ Walk on, walk on

♪ I love you, pretty girl

♪ My life is yours

♪ And you can have my world

♪ Never had a lesson

♪ I ever learned

♪ But I know

♪ We all get our turn

♪ I love you

♪ Never learn

♪ Not to love you

♪ Submission is a gift

♪ Go on, give it
to your brother ♪

♪ Love and understanding

♪ Is for one another

♪ I'm your kind

♪ I'm your kind

♪ I'm your brother

♪ I never had a lesson

♪ I ever learned

♪ But I know we all

♪ Get our turn

♪ And I love you

♪ Never learn

♪ Not to love you

♪ Never learn
not to love you ♪

♪ Never learn

♪ Not to love you

Thanks for watching.

And here are a few more shows to check out from Fox.

Buckle up, Buttercup.

It's real, and it
pulls people together.

-♪ We're breaking waves♪
-[siren wailing]

♪ Shooting stars♪

♪ We live for glory
not forever♪

MAN: Touchdown!

♪ Reach out♪

-♪ Make this
right here right now♪
-[laughing]

♪ Stand up♪

♪ Here right now♪

That sounds like fun.