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“You can convince anybody of anything if you just push it at them all of the time.”

Author: Vincent Bugliosi

After claiming to too tasteful to fall for true crime, I read a random Ann Rule book and discovered that true crime books are both addictive and amazing. Since then, I’ve been slowly but surely reading some of the more well-known books and following the exploits of famous killers such as John Wayne Gacy and Jeffery Dahmer. Despite my new addiction, which went from a temporary guilty pleasure to a years’ long interest, I’d never read anything about the famed Charles Manson. My understanding of the case was vague at best: there was a cult and a charismatic leader that talked his followers into murdering random people. With that small amount of introduction, I realized that it was time to make my true crime journey official and go to one of the most acclaimed books: Helter Skelter.

Vincent Bugliosi, prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, penned this exceptionally large book. It opens with the discovery of the bodies at the Tate mansion. Manson’s first targets included the pregnant wife (Sharon Tate) of the famed producer and director Roman Polanski. If that wasn’t enough to grab public attention and imagination, there was more: Tate had had a party on that fateful night. There were many people there, and each of them bodies were killed by Manson’s group in a strange and gruesome way.

From here, Bugliosi gets to the meat of the book. It’s not about the murders, per say, but the faulty (read sloppy) police investigation that complicated the trial. Murder weapons are found by the public, provided to the police, and promptly lost; TV crews discover more than the police do; and Manson’s “family” are not careful with their proud revelations. Despite all this it’s an uphill battle as Bugliosi attempts to unravel the law in such a case. How do you deal with multiple defendants whose testimony cannot be used legally against one another? What of Manson himself, who takes a weird liking to Bugliosi and gets one of his own inept lawyers “dealt with” by the family? How do you keep a sequestered, exhausted jury impartial with news raging all around them and the leak of a newspaper into court?

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Helter Skelter is most interesting not when it talks about the crimes themselves, or even the backdrop of Manson’s women’s testimonies, but when Bugliosi spins the narrative of what starts out as a shaky case. Part of it is happenstance, part genius, and part the Manson’s group’s inevitable mistakes. The courtroom is where the story gains its strength, captivating audiences while teaching us at the same time. Who knew that one defendant’s testimony could not be considered when it damned another defendant?

As the narrative continues, we dip into the testimonies of Manson’s girls, which reveal the insidious way that he first built up their confidence and sense of finally belonging and then destroyed their morality. It’s still shocking that anyone would fall for or go along with such a thing. Manson himself is not the charismatic Hannibal Lecter like character I imagined. Instead, he is man who picks abused girls and turns them to his will with minimal effort. He creates a place for unwanted people to feel like they belong, and then spirals out a weird, racist theory taken from a misreading of The Beatles White Album. It’s strange to believe that a man such as this could build a following and that there are people out there who will listen. The answer I was seeking is here – but it still resonates as improbable. I got the view into the cult life, into the promises Manson gave, into his ultimate game plan, yet I still left wondering “but why?” It is, of course, the same with all true crime stories. It’s hard to fathom why people chose evil and how seemingly normal people can become comfortable with killing. The circumstances never justify the true horror of the results.

Helter Skelter does a good job laying out the entirety of Manson’s rise and fall, of the crimes and the aftermath, and of the trial that followed. This is, obviously, the definitive true crime volume for anyone who wants the low down on Manson’s story. Recommended.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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