Goodbye Helter Skelter

A Manson insider's take on the famous murder case

August 9, 1969: the hills of Los Angeles were so quiet, as one of the killers would later say, "You could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in cocktail shakers" in the famed canyon houses. Those killers, disciples of cult leader Charles Manson, would soon be famous for committing a series of grisly murders at his behest. While Manson's goal was to sow race riots was intentional, his victims were random: a young actress and her friends; a grocer and his wife. Few crimes have been so dramatic, engrossing, and difficult to truly understand. Now, 50 years later, people are still fascinated by the crimes that seemed to mark the end of an era of peace and love, and the editors at LIFE present the special edition, "Manson." Revisit "Manson's World," with the hippies, the forming of the Family, and the man himself. Then, explore the shocking details of "The Manson Murders." Consider "The Aftermath," including the dramatic trial, the cultural shift toward violence and fear, and Manson's life in prison. Filled with rare photographs, including images of Manson's followers living on Spahn Ranch, LIFE's 'Manson' continues to explore, like Quentin Tarantino's new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the motivations, the magnetism, and the mayhem that possessed the man behind the murders.

In the early 1950s, Lynette Fromme's world was more or less a paint-by-numbers existence that millions of other suburban children were living in Southern California. Red-haired, freckled, and convivial, she was the child of an in absentia workaholic father and a reclusive mother. She sang in the school choir and her dance troupe performed before President Eisenhower. As a young teenager she wrote forlorn poetry. Beyond her neighborhood, the counter-culture of Los Angeles was thriving. Lynette began getting interested in, then became attracted to, the freedoms of that world. Little by little, she began losing her way.... That day on the beach marked Lynette's introduction to the world of shade. Charles Manson, freshly released from prison, became her guide to illegal drugs and social outcasts. Over the course of a decade, Lynette would change until she found herself imprisoned for the term of her natural life in the custody of the Attorney General of the United States for attempting to assassinate then-president Gerald Ford. Meticulously researched for over three and a half years, with hundreds of interviews and thousands of pages of testimony to review, in Squeaky author Jess Bravin has created a psychosocial masterpiece of one American girl who ran away, and ran too far.

William Shepherd ("Billy Shears") took over The Beatles and the McCartney estate on 16 September 1966, going from "Billy Pepper" of Billy Pepper and the Pepper Pots, to The Beatles' new "Sgt. Pepper" of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Taking creative control of the band from John made William "the new boss," saving the band, but tormenting all involved. The Memoirs is the source of the "Paul is Dead" material reprinted in Billy's Back! and of the insights in Beatles Enlightenment, but also includes the darker aspects: Paulism, Satanism, and Biblical humor--calling The Beatles the four-headed 666 Beast. The Memoirs is the first fully encoded full-length book. As part of that encoding, it contains the world's largest acrostic, and is the world's premier of word-stacking. By reading The Memoirs, you will learn the secret meanings of their songs, and will recognize Paul and William's distinct physical differences, personality differences, and vast differences in musical skills.

A Canadian psychiatric nurse recounts his dealings with the imprisoned Charles Manson's confidants on the outside, his telephone conversations with the convicted murderer, and their meeting, and offers Manson's own writings and art.

Manson's Right-Hand Man Speaks Out is an interview with Charles "Tex" Watson, covering ten intriguing subjects chapter by chapter. It provides something for everyone, including factual information for the historian, counsel for parents in raising successful children, research assistance for students, and answers for teenagers. Those searching will find the Truth and see at last how to stop the pain.

A New York Times Notable Book An NPR Best Book of the Year For readers of Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Nothing to Envy, this is a breathtaking real-life story of four street children in contemporary Zambia whose lives are drawn together and forever altered by the mysterious murder of a fellow street child. Based on years of investigative reporting and unprecedented fieldwork, Walking the Bowl immerses readers in the daily lives of four unforgettable characters: Lusabilo, a determined waste picker; Kapula, a burned-out brothel worker; Moonga, a former rock crusher turned beggar; and Timo, an ambitious gang leader. These children navigate the violent and poverty-stricken underworld of Lusaka, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities. When the dead body of a ten-year-old boy is discovered under a heap of garbage in Lusaka’s largest landfill, a murder investigation quickly heats up due to the influence of the victim’s mother and her far-reaching political connections. The children’s lives become more closely intertwined as each child engages in a desperate bid for survival against forces they could never have imagined. Gripping and fast-paced, the book exposes the perilous aspects of street life through the eyes of the children who survive, endure and dream there, and what emerges is an ultimately hopeful story about human kindness and how one small good deed, passed on to others, can make a difference in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

In this poignant and disturbing memoir of lost innocence, coercion, survival, and healing, Dianne Lake chronicles her years with Charles Manson, revealing for the first time how she became the youngest member of his Family and offering new insights into one of the twentieth century’s most notorious criminals and life as one of his "girls." At age fourteen Dianne Lake—with little more than a note in her pocket from her hippie parents granting her permission to leave them—became one of "Charlie’s girls," a devoted acolyte of cult leader Charles Manson. Over the course of two years, the impressionable teenager endured manipulation, psychological control, and physical abuse as the harsh realities and looming darkness of Charles Manson’s true nature revealed itself. From Spahn ranch and the group acid trips, to the Beatles’ White Album and Manson’s dangerous messiah-complex, Dianne tells the riveting story of the group’s descent into madness as she lived it. Though she never participated in any of the group’s gruesome crimes and was purposely insulated from them, Dianne was arrested with the rest of the Manson Family, and eventually learned enough to join the prosecution’s case against them. With the help of good Samaritans, including the cop who first arrested her and later adopted her, the courageous young woman eventually found redemption and grew up to lead an ordinary life. While much has been written about Charles Manson, this riveting account from an actual Family member is a chilling portrait that recreates in vivid detail one of the most horrifying and fascinating chapters in modern American history. Member of the Family includes 16 pages of photographs.

The Untold Story of the Manson Family Murders from Manson's Final Interviews "I didn't have anything to do with killing those people. They knew I didn't have anything to do with it. They didn't want to hear it..." For 50 years the legendary Manson Family murders have fascinated and mortified that such brutal acts of cold-blooded murder could have taken place and with women playing a key role in those murders. Manson was an enigmatic drifter who drew a group of people into his web of deceit and evil that eventually led to the brutal Tate, and then LaBianca murders. The prosecution would go on to spin what was considered the de-facto theory behind the murder spree and the world bought into the "Helter Skelter" racial war conspiracy. Now for the first time, documentary film producer and author James Buddy Day takes readers through a more rational and believable set of reasons for the murders. James Buddy Day was the last person and author to have interviewed Charles Manson. The reader will be intrigued on Manson's perspective on how the prosecution convicted him for murder when he was forty miles away when both the acts were committed. The book will appeal to readers searching for facts and truths about the most iconic mass murder in the 20th century. You will get to know Manson through the pages of this book. Descriptions and interviews are very graphic, and the material may not be suitable for all readers.

Lynette Fromme's story of her life with Charles Manson from 1967 to 1969