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This may seem like an odd pair, but they fit together
surprisingly well in Manson’s mind. Manson had his own unique interpretations of
almost every verse from Revelations 9. He believed that the Beatles were the
four angels spoken of in the Bible. When the Bible describes locusts emerging
from the bottomless pit, he saw it as another reference to the English rockers
because locust and “beetles” were one and the same. The locusts are described as
having the faces of men and the hair of women, which only reinforced his opinion
(Bugliosi 322-323). In Verse 15 of Revelations 9, the Bible says, “So the four
angels were released; this was precisely the hour, the day, the month, and the
year for which they had been prepared to kill a third of mankind.” Manson
preached that the third part of mankind was the white race that would die in
Helter Skelter (Bugliosi 323). Helter Skelter was the name that Manson had given
the race war between the whites and the blacks.
He believed that the blacks
would win but would be unable to govern and then be forced to turn to the Manson
Family for leadership (Bugliosi 329-331). Manson believed that the Beatles song
of the same name was a prediction of this race war (“Charles Manson”). He would
often quote whole Beatles’ songs and Revelations 9 to support his views (Bugliosi
300). Manson believed that the Beatles were spokesmen contacting him directly
through their songs. He claimed that the White Album set things up for the
revolution and that his album (to be released later) would “really start things
off (324-325).” Charles Manson had an uncanny ability to sense and use a
person’s hangups or desires (Bugliosi 317). He prayed on young men and women who
were vulnerable and looking for any sense of love or belonging. Many of the
members of the Family were young females who had traveled to California in
search of God or happiness (343). He even attracted a few men with LSD trips to
“open the mind (317).”
What they found was a man who would convince them of what
they desperately wanted to believe: that they were attractive and desirable, and
that he was God. As he pulled in followers, Manson began to preach his
philosophy. He claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and was known as
both God and Satan. He taught that the United States was on the brink of a
black/white racial war called Helter Skelter. Manson believed that the blacks
would be incapable of governing after being the inferior race for so long and
would turn to the Family for leadership (“Family” 2). He promised his followers
that they would soon retreat into the desert to the Bottomless Pit, another
concept shared with The Process, where they would live in comfort until they
numbered 144,000 (Bugliosi 313). Then, they would return to the upper world
where they would rule (333).
When Manson’s followers numbered twenty or thirty
and Helter Skelter had still not begun, he decided to start the spark that would
light the fire. The members of the Family had already proven that they were
willing to kill and risk their own lives for him, so Manson ordered the Tate-LaBianca
murders. The intent of these murders was to cause Helter Skelter; they were
supposed to appear as though blacks had committed them. For this purpose, the
words “DEATH TO PIGS” were written on the living room wall at the LaBianca
residence, and “HEALTER SKELTER [sic]” was printed on their refrigerator, both
in the blood of the victims.
The word “PIG” was printed on the bottom half of
the front door at 10050 Cielo Drive in Sharon Tate’s own blood (Bugliosi
331-332). After Manson and the Family members who were involved in the Tate-LaBianca
murders were arrested, he continued to reveal his ultimate control over them.
Susan Atkins, who was involved in both murders, agreed to testify for the Grand
Jury in return for immunity. After the criminal trial started, however, and she
had one meeting with Manson, she repudiated her statement and was once again
charged with first degree murder (“Family” 11).
Manson’s followers who were not
arrested held a vigil outside the Hall of Justice everyday throughout the trials
(“Charles Manson”). During the court proceedings, when Manson refused to face
the judge, the other three defendants did the same (Fillmer 10). When he carved
an X in his forehead, they mimicked him again. And when he changed that X to a
swastika, they followed (“Family” 11). The defendants repeated all of Manson’s
outbursts in court in a “chant-like manner (Fillmer 10).” Vincent Bugliosi says
of the Family members in his book Helter Skelter, “They were also young, naive,
eager to believe, and, perhaps even more important, belong.
There were followers
aplenty for any self-styled guru. It didn’t take Manson long to sense this. In
the underground milieu into which he’d stumbled, even the fact that he was an
ex-convict conferred to a certain status. Rapping a line of metaphysical con
that borrowed as much from pimping as joint jargon and Scientology, Manson began
attracting followers, almost all girls at first, then a few young boys (222).”
Manson used the people’s eagerness to implant his philosophy deep into their
impressionable young minds. He taught that he was the fifth angel of the
Apocalypse, the one that held the key to the Bottomless Pit. What Charles Manson
didn’t teach his followers was that the translation of the angel’s name -- Abbadon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek -- is “destroyer.”
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