The Star and the Cult - European Stars & Stripes December 11,1969

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DAILYGAZINE

The Tote Cose

Was Terry Melcher (center) the inadvertent link between Sharon Tate (left) and

hypnotic Charles Manson? One witness said Melcher, son of actress D oris Day,

UPI, AP (2)

ha d rebuffed Manson's songwriting efforts while Melcher wa s living in the h o u s e

later occupied by Miss Tate. Manson allegedly put a curse on the h o u s e .

Compiled From Press Dispatches

IT W AS almost nightfall. Th e duskmade th e crags and cactus of,Goler

Wash in Death Valley even more eeriewhen a handsome young California high-w ay patrolman shoved open the kitchendoor of the old mining cabin and stoodthere, pistol in hand. ~ >

There was a single candle- burning, inthe room. It w as a few moments beforeJames Purcell could make out a dozenhippies seated around a planked tablestarting on an evening meal of sugaredRice Puffs, caramel popcorn an d candybars, •

Purcell ordered them outside, hands inthe air, where other .Officers arrestedthem. Then he began looking .around thethree-room Barker ranch for more sus-pects in what he thought' was a car-theftring. • ' • ' ' , '• / . * - •

HE WENT into, the bathroom andbeamed a flashlight arounft until hisattention was caught by what seemed tobe a dirty mop hanging out of a tinycupboard beneath the washstarid basin.

Purcell opened the, door and found in acloset 36 by 10 by 20 inches a tiny manwith his knees buckled up against hischest. A beard that covered his entireface and a shoulder-length man e of darkhair ha d given hi m away.

The man in the cupboard w as CharlesMiller Manson, 35.

c

For tw o years Manson allegedly hadled a changing band of restless young

me n — and particularly young women~from San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury toa handsome Pacific Coast pad* to anabandoned western movie location andfinally to Goler Wash. Th e group w asknown as "the Manson family."

In the end, some had turned againstthe man they called "Jesus" an d theiraccusations were riot of car theft but ofmass, sadistic murders.

At the vortex is Manson. To look athim now, shackled in chains and hand-cuffs with a weak smile and a body sofrail that he seems childlike, you wouldthink he could not harm a cat—and infact one of the girls who still idolizes himremembers she was first attracted whenshe saw him gently stroking a kitten.

O N T HE ONE hand, there was thecircle of actress Sharon Tate—the inter-national movie jet set,monied, sophisti-cated, an d on the surface at least,

glamorous.And on the other hand, there was thecircle of the bearded, magnetic Man-son—a migrant tribe—m ostly youngwomen—living out of a bus or in aban-

>««« 10

doned buildings, scrounging for a liv-ing.

Both groups were far from the ken ofmost American families— stable, home-oriented, with a night at the movies or aday at the lake as common pleasures.

THEN THE PATHS of the Tate andManson set*, crossed. Average fottcreacted with shock to headlines describ-ing . the ghastliest murders in movieannals:

The beautiful blonde Mius Tate, wife ofthe internationally acclaimed Polish-film

director Roman Polanski,master

of themacabre," w as found.:slain in the ninthmonth ,01 pregnancy^!*

1a hillside man-

sion -that looked like a slaughterhouse.Dead gjeith her — amid noose, hoods anderyprac scrawlings in blood — were fourothers.

Police said they f o j u n t i no good clues.

Then, the next night, a wealthy mar-ket owner and his wife, were stabbed andslashed among similar bizarre trap-pings. '

Again, no "good clues, For months, amystery.

Then; l&st Week, police chief EdwardDavis'^aftnounced at a news conference asolution. The killers, he said, werehippie-type members of "the Mansonfamily"—young people wh o called him"God" and "Satan," said he had themunder hypnotic spells, and who hadadopted his occult brand of religion.

AT FIRST glance, the Tate and Man-son groups seem to have little incommon. At second, common groundemerges. •' . ,

Members of both were young, oftenphysically attractive, restless, some root-less, some with deep problems, most

with time to pursue pleasure. A n d , p o l i c esay, members of both sets e x p e r i -mented with drugs.

It is possible now to trace how thpaths of these two small groups met, anhow the two units in some ways aretypical of broader social groupings: thefast livers of the movie world and the so -called hippies who turn their backsonconventional life styles.

First, the victims:—SHARON TATE, 2 6 , s t r i k i n g l y

beautiful,but, friends said, insecure, un -sure, often lonely. She and Polanski w e r eknown as members of the jet set's''beautifulpeople." Neighbors c a l l e dthem "rich hippies."

Sharon was the daughter of an A r m yofficer %hoimoved around frequently.At6 -montHs,-" itf Dallas, Tex., she waschosen Miss Tiny Tot. At 16 she was M i s sRichland of Washington. At an A m e r i c a n

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UPI, AP (8)

This is the house where the bodies

of Miss Tate and four other victims

were found by maid Winifred

Chapman. Miss Tate and Joy Sebringwere fpund in front of couch (right).

TH E STARS AND STRIFES Thursday, December II,



r - , . - * -

HiniiiiiiiHiiiiiniiuiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

The

Sharon starred in

a series of iI ris. Herfrare scene*

"Valley:ofihe

(far ri ht), arid "The :Fear less. VrfrippTre Killers" J<\ £ A

with he r husband,

Roman Polanski . * " * * *

iHHmiimHiHiiiiiiiifiiiiiiifniiiimiiiiiittiiiirit*

schoo l in Italy sh e w as cheerleadern d hom e com i ng queen.S h e referred to herself among f r ie nd ss "sexy little me."O ne of he r f i r s t

ro les h a d h e r bathing nu d e in aHe r f i lm career rejwSlje'd. its peak in

e role o f J e n n i f e r iiii 'Valfey of th e•-.ir^f:^".,

W i th Pol ansk i s h e r trayelc$ th e w o r l d ,m ov i e w o r k called. liewas at fi lm

in Lo n do n while, at-.tneit1$200,000

h o m e in Los Angeles, sh e awaitedbaby— and met death..

-JAY SEBRIN G , 35 , h a n d s o m e , slightha i r s t y l i s t who demonstrated h is

b y b e c o m i n g dn.e of Holly-t op k ara t e experts." Sebring, o n c e

t o Miss Tate, w as also a f r ie ndPolanski ' s .-VOITYCK FROKOWSKY, 37, a

e m i g r e , tall, handsome an dpowe rfu l . A t one time an

o n Pol ansk i f i l m s , Frokowskyh ad sq u and e re d inhe r i t e d

and had b e c o m e a hange r-on ine Tate-Polanski grou p.-ABIGAIL "GIBBY" FO LGER , 26,

he i re ss t o a coffee fo r t u ne andg rad u ate f r o m R a d c l i f f e College,

e cam e t o L o s Angeles to do socialbut , pol ice say,became a f r i e n d o f

and a student o f black

-ST EV EN PA R ENT , 18, a f r ie nd o f03 at tl?e' • " • at

polanskJ

In Hollywood, th e Polanskif l ed a b u s yl i f e centered, due to Miss Tate's

o n t h e home. T he l i fe style,« n clotj)lng, w as in formal . Peoplewalks of

We-ihcluding s p m e -tyPes

met in o ddin at all hours. Polanski

n Ke couple

'» '•««>* ' usedbu t he and h i s w if e di d not .

a? Mft # &*• ^P to c ars ,onal,W fcving at show business

LSthenngs

' -"hoWwWng withp e r s o n s ; .

°NTRAST

' ****** a»* M s fol-were near foe ^ endOf life's

clantr°

uble>

A rmy c o l one l . Want ing to give h erchild a n a m e , sh e married Wil l iamM a n s o n s h o r t l y b e f o r e h e r s o n w a s b o r no n N o v . 11,1934.

T h e b o y never knew th e c o l one l o rM a n s o n . H is m o t h e r m o v e d and theb o y w as se n t to l ive with h is g r a n d -mother a n d a maternal au nt in W e s tVirginia. T h e a u n t w a s a h a r s h d i s -c ip l inar ian , h e recalled later, an d p u n -ishe d h im severely w h e n h e left h isyard to pl ay wi t h o t he r c h i l d re n .

W h e n Manson was 1 3, h i s u nc l e fel lil l wit h t u be rc u l os i s a n d t h e y o u n g s t e rre jo ine d h is m o t h e r in Ind ianapol i s . T h e

w o m a n d i d n o t w a n t h i m a n d t r i e d t oget h im placed in a f o s te r h o m e . H eh ad pre viou s l y l ived in s e v e r a l , f o s t e rh o m e s , i n c l u d i n g o n e o n a f a r m , a n do n c e told th e j u v e n i l e a u t h o r i t i e s t h a th i s d r e a m i n l i f e w a s t o b e c o m e af a r m e r .

W h e n t he fos t e r home c ou l d not bea r r a n g e d , h i s m o t h e r s e n t M a n s o n t o t heGibau l t Sc hoo l in Terre Hau t e , Ind . , ab o a r d i n g s c h o o l ru n by R o m a n C ath -

ol ic priests. W h e n h i s m o t h e r c o u l d n o tkeep up the pay me nt s at Gibau l t , Man-s o n r e tu r n e d h o m e , b ut quickly r a naway . His m o t h e r was f re q u e nt l y d ru nk ,h e said, an d l iv ing w ith a su c c e ss ionof men. "I d i d n ' t w a n t to s t a y w h e r emot he r l ive d in sin," h e told j u v e n i l eofficials in Ind ianapol i s .

AT THE AGE of 14, he rented aroom an d supported himself by deliv-ering messages for Western Union andby petty theft.

Th e r o b b e r y o f $ 9 f r o m a groc e ryst ore put him b a c k in t he h a n d s o f

t he ju ve n i l e au t hor i t ie s . He d id not wantt o g o h o m e , h e said. S o o n i t was am o o t q u e s t i o n ; h is m o t h e r left to w n af -te r ge t t ing ar r es ted fo r ad u l t e ry .

Abou t t h i s t im e , y o u n g M a n s o n c a m eu n d e r t he a t t e n t ion o f t he Rev.G e o r g eP o w e r s , a l oc a l priest. "This par t ic u l a rb o y s e e m e d v e r y l o n e s o m e , j u s t c r a v i n gat t e n t ion and af f ect io n," , re c a l l e d Fa-t h e r P o w e r s , n o w a n i n s t r uc t o r a t t h eNe w Y o r k T h e o l o g i c a l S e m i n a r y . " H e

looked l ike an i n n o c e n t a l t a r boy,an dh e w a s s o a s h a m e d o f h i s mother."

Powers arranged f o r M a n s o n t o b es e n t t o B o y s T o w n n e a r O m a h a , a n dt he Ind ianapol i s n e w s p a p e r r a n a b i gstory. " H e w o n e v e r y b o d y over," th epriest said. "The j u v e n i l e c o u r t j u d g ewas c ompl e t e l y t ak e n wi th h is pe rsona l i -ty. H e h a d a n ab i l i t y be y ond h is yearst o p r e s e n t h i m s e l f ; h e w a s a be au t i fu lkid for h is age."

Four d ay s afte r M a n s o n ar r ive d inBo ys T o w n in March 1949, h e r an a w a yand s t o l e a m o t o r s c o o t e r , t h e n a car.H e w as arrested w h i l e r o b b i n g a g r o -c e ry s t o re in P e o r i a , 111., a n d s e n tb a c k to I n d i a n a p o l i s . O f f ic ia l s t h e r e ,p uzzl ed and f r u s t r a t e d , s e n t h i m t o r e -f o r m s c h o o l in P l a i n f i e l d , I n d .

F o r t h e n e x t f ive y e a r s , M a n s o n w asin and out of i n s t i t u t i o n s . In 1954, h er e t u r n e d t o W e s t V i r g i n i a w h e r eh is g r a n d m o t h e r an d a u n t l i v e d , an dm a r r i e d R o s a l i e J e a n Willis o n Jan. 17,1955. S o m e r e p o r t s i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e y

(Continued on Page 1 t f )

The Other Victims

h is t o ry 0-of a grou p

o! on th e move.• 1 5 , emerges as an extract

A b a n d o n e d as aboy,foster parents: iflnd. In re-

shar ed

•iw « & ! & ? 'to

CSnctonattby one of

boyfriends; reportedly an

December 11, 1969

AP (3)

Other victims were Steven Paren t (left), Seb r in g (c en te r ) , an d Abigail Polger and Voityck Frok ow sk y .

TH E STARS AN D STRIPES Page 11



m iliiiiiiiiimmiiiiimmiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiius

§The

Talker

Susan Atkins, already charged

in another murder, told a

cellmate about the Tate

murders and described

slayings for grand jury.

(Continued from Page 1 1 J

had a son, and, that by the time th echild w as born, Manson was in jail inCalifornia for transporting stolen vehi-cles.

W h e n he was released in September1958, his wife ha d already divorced him.He was arrested several times for theft,forgery an d probation violations. InI960, he was arrested fo r violating thewhite s lave t raf f ic act in Laredo, Tex.,and, when he was returned to Los An-geles, he was sentenced to 10 years injail fo r check forgery an d probation v i-olations.

PAROLED in 1067, he discovered thehippie life and, friends said, a new gyp-sy world opened fo r him. H e went to SanFrancisco's Haight-A shbury hippie dis-trict and collected a following, mostlygirls.

In prison he had learned to play theguitar, found he could sing an d began towrite songs. Now he called himself "aroving minstrel" and "a walking musi-cian."

Manson and a 19-year-old W isconsingirl moved into a hillside pad she de-scribed as "a luxurious hobo castle" withArabian tapestries, goatskin rugs and ayard of "dancing trees an d smilingclover." Manson's growing clan sang,beat drums an d played along with him.

By April 1968, they were bored withHaight-Ashbury an d Manson led a follow-ing of about 15 people, mostly girls, in agreen an d white school bus he hadbought and converted into livingquarters, down the Pacific Coast high-way to Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles , he s truck up friend-ship with a musician named Gary Hin-m a n. Hinman w as killed a year later an done of Manson's female fol lowers ischarged with hi s murder ,

Manson began moving in a circle inwhich he met Dennis W ilson, leader ofthe f a m ous po p group Th e Beach Boys,an d W ilson permitted Manson and his"family" to live for a time in his opulenthome on Sunset Boulevard in PacificPalisades until they had a disagreementover payment for songs Manson ha dcomposed for the Beach Boys.

IN SOME still unexplained manner,Manson blamed Terry Melcher, son ofscreen star Doris Day, fo r fa i lure of bissong-writing career*

Poge 14

AP ,5

The Ranch

AH (3 1

Marii&ri's "family"Jived in this cluttered,

abandoned ranch in Death Valley. Lynn

Fromm and Sandra Pugh (bot tom lef t )

called hippiesrin commune "beautiful,

peaceful people." Paul Watkins (left in

photo below) said "thewhole thing was

held together by black magic." Brooks

Poston (right, below) calledManson

"an insane genius."

Manson several times visited youngMelcher when he was living at the Bene-dict Canyon home where the Tate mur-ders occurred.

Manson and his followers moved on ,this time to an isolated area in the SantaSusana mountains near Chatsworth onthe fringes of Los Angeles, a placeknown as the Spahn Ranch. In the 1920sit had been the setting for the W illiam S.Har t western movies.

The facade of the main street of theset, with its saloon and stable, still re-mains, bu t nearby ar e trailers an dshacks and caves. The place is litteredwith the upper portions of Volkswagenswhose undercarriages have been re -moved fo r conversion into dune bug-gies.

A wire service photographer visitedthe ranch alone last w eek and said it wasa sinister place, still inhabited by hip-pies who could be heard in the isolated

shacks, He had not been there long whena man dressed in a loincloth and riding awhite horse rode up and drove him o ffthe premises.

IT W AS W HILE the "family" w asstaying at the Spahn Ranch that th e Tatemurders occurred last Aug. 8-9.

"Charley and his friends came tospend th e night," said th e ranch owner,80-year-old blind cowboy George Spahn,"and never seemed to leave."

A girl now in custody alleged to policethat Manson directed hi s followers to goto the home previously occupied by Mel-cher and eradicate the "pigs," no t know-ing that Miss Tate had since rented theestate. Five of the hippies are alleged tohave c arried out the slayings — one man

and four girls, al l dressed in black.The murders of supermarket chainowner Leno Labianca an d his wife f o l >

lowed the next day on Aug. 10. A fewweeks later th e Manson group boarded

THE STARS AND STRIPES

the green and white bus and drove to G o-ier W ash where Manson go t permissionfrom the owner of the Barker ranch,Mrs. Arlene Barker, to stay for a fewdays. They remained for more t h a n amonth. V

One of th e "family" at that time was10-year-old Paul W atkins who testified ata preliminary hearing in IndependenceCalif. , where Manson was ordered h e l don charges of receiving stolen a u t o m o -

biles pending action by Los Angeles a u -

thorities in the Tate case.

AFTER TH E court hearing, W a t k in s

talked about how Manson operated."He was always saying that ours was a

democratic setup and that everyone hadan equal voice bu t that he was the recep-tacle who was receiving instructionsfrom God," W atkins said. .

"No one moved unless Charlie k n e w

about it, You woke up in the mornmg a tthe ranch and you didn't know w h e t h e i

Thursday, December 11, 1969



e

' a t euse

i E e t o u t o f b e d o r g o outdoorsI i m t l l he told you wha t to do.

i f e n u s stories an d there^Wduld ,tehe w o u l d Implant. He was

a b o u t love and we_al lie girls particularly p

w h o testified Againstth e car theft hear i ng

t u m e I ever saw Char l ieshei n ' i o a r o o m where Dennis (Wil-

s i t t i n g an d went dye'r an dfeet? Literally kisseU::Ais

foas an i n s a n e genius," P&ton at-fe w as insane but he wa s a ge-S e h o w he would keep p lant ingrith y o u and the next thing yq u

w e r e stealing a car and youw a s the very th ing you

an d Poston refused tot h e y had any suspicion of

B s l a y i n g s or anything beyond ca r

j K I L L E R S dressed in black fo re r o u s f o r a y , in an account giv-

, , j a t t o r n e y s for Susan Denise At-! l, In a separate case, she is

w i t h murdering Malibu musi-r y H i n m a n , with whom Manson

l i v e d for a time.e y R i c h a r d Caballero said Miss

the grand jury "all the de-i b o u t t h e Tate killings. Sh e wen ta t ha d n o t h i n g to do with the slay*

: w a s u n d e r Manson's "hypnot ic1 C a b a l l e r o .

i n a rose-colored ve lve teenp u f f sleeves an d short skirt,

later described before thege le s C o u n t y grand jury ±- in a

s e s s i o n — the roles she saidj l a y e d by each suspect during the

m u r d e r orgy. ,;

A t k i n s — also known as $adies a i d a m o n g other things t ha t

r e p r o v e d hi s followers for then e s s " of the Tate s laughter , at

s a i d he was not present . \s a i d M a n s o n accompanied

;sixin the killings to the Los

o f L e n o a n d Rosemary L a -th e n e x t night to show them

) d o a c l e a n job."A t k i n s said that Charles Watson"her to kill Miss Tate, bu t that

s e d , an d held the actress whilei s t a b b e d h e r . •

o n a n d f i v e o f h i s followers wereM o n d a y by the grand jury

m u r d e r of Sharon -Tafe, an dn e r s l a s t A u g . 9, and alsoindic tedi, m u r d e r s th e following n igh t o f

wealthy grocery cha in

s t a r w i t n e s s against Manson an dwas Miss Atkins, who wastodicted b y th e grand jury .

to Manson an d Miss A t-n n o ni n d i c t e d included Linda Lou-

^ 2 0 , who was arreited in" • " e last week an d waived

return to Los Angeles;19 , who is in j a i l hi' icia Krenwinke l , 21,

in Mobile, Ala., an d!

» 2 4 , n o w i n custody i n

ItllllltllilllllllllllllHIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIMtAHIIIIi

an d Watson are bothManson is still in

, Calif., on charges3 a re2

r5

eivin£ .

stolenP

r°P-

H onult of a

P°uc

e raid onAt?

am?

ment astOctober.o f m /

e.ade

d i nnocent to theo r m u r d e r i n g music i an H i nm an .

o u n inTOWCarcuso' «

aveoun t of th

" Tate kil l ings based, he

M]Q7Tr

fnterviewwi

>nher

-„ , ;ss fate was stabbed afterJe t me have my baby," an d

that the-others were s tabbed and shotwith methodical thoroughness . The nextn igh t , to prove a lso tha t they ha d n t losttheir nerve, c l a n m em ber s s t abbed fa -tally th e L a b i an c a s — t h e n showered andsnacked in the i r home.

In both cases, the word "pig" was in-scribed in blood. Back at the ranch, th eattorneys said, one ki l ler c racked: "Weg f l i t f iv e piggies."

After th e Tate murders , police say,Manson moved h is "fami ly" to the Death

Valley area.There , guarded by fortified observe

tion posts equipped with telescopes an dwalk i e talkies, police say,m e m b e r s ofth e tr ibe conver ted s to len Volkswagensi n to dun e bugg i e s — cut-down autos bui l tfor rac ing over sandy areas.

T W O O F T H E "family" wh o have re -mained faithful to Manson ar e SandyGood Pugh, 26, and Lynn Fromm, 21,both girls from middle-class familiesw ho left home and Joined th e Mansongroup. Mrs.Pugh was at the Indepen-

dence hearing with a 4-month-old baby inher arms.

The

Accused

Those indicted include: Manson (in

chains a bov e l e f t ) , Char les Watson

( inse t ) , Linda Kasabian ( le f t ) and

Patricia Krenwinkel (above).

Also indicted but notshown wa s Leslie Sankston.

M an s on s m i l ed a t t h em w h en h een t e r ed th e courtroom an d they beamedback.

"They (the police) have got a lot oflove (M anson ) locked up i n there," MissFromm said.

Bu t i t was Miss Atkins who turned i n -f o rm er . T h e r e a r e m an y wi l d a n d u n -subs tan t i a ted rumors f loat ing aroundth e case and one i s tha t she to ld pol i ceeve ry th i n g b e c ause she l earned the g a n ghad a list of persons sti l l to be ki lled.

Whi le the m em ber s h i p of Man s on ' s"family" s h i f t ed c on s t a n t l y t i t genera l -ly cons i s ted of abou t 1 2 girls and sixboys l i v i ng an i ndolen t l ife of easysex ( severa l girls had babies t h a t mem-

bers of the f ami ly de l ivered themselves) ,p len t i fu l m a r i j u a n a , but few hard drugs ,and such projec ts as c on ve r t i n g the"L on gh orn Saloon" on the m ov i e se ti n t o c o m m u n a l s leeping quar ters .

W h a t a t t r a c t ed peop l e to Man s on ' sf am i l y ? H e f oun d lone ly outcas ts l ikehimse l f and they gave each other thea f f ec t ion t h e y h ad a lways sough t an dseldom found . "That's a l l there i s ,m a n , " M a n s o n of ten to ld f r i ends . " Ify ou don ' t have someone to loveyou,y ou d o n ' t h a v e a n y t h i n g . "

A t to r n e ys fo r severa l of the d e f e n -d a n t s i n t h e T a te m urde r s c on t e n d t h a tM an s on had a " h y p n o t i c e f f e c t " on hisfol lowers, but h i s f r i e n ds t e n d to scoffa t the t h eo ry . "It's not h y p n o t i s m , "said one, "it'sm ak i n g good love to thegirls."

"He gave off a lot of mag ic , " saidone of his girls, "|lye.ryone was al-ways so happy around him."Another

said: "He ' s got the look tha t he needsto be mothered . "

TH E S T A R S AN D STRIPESPage 15

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The Star and the Cult - European Stars & Stripes December 11,1969