Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

The Book of Books about one of the most shocking crimes ever committed. Written in simple, clear, almost surgical language, it demands the reader's full attention and leads us right into the hell of one of the most evil minds to have walked this Earth, the mind of Charles Manson.

Although everyone knows the particulars of the massacres committed by the Family, the lack of remorse, the sheer power of all the brain-washing done to the Girls of Manson's sect never fails to shock me and amaze me. How easy it is for a human being to turn into a beast under the influence of drugs, sex and the vague promise of a self-proclaimed ''Messiah''.

It is not an easy read. Far from it. It requires the right mentality, it requires us to stay calm and try show more to let ourselves unaffected as the Helter Skelter unfolds in front of our eyes... show less

Amazingly enough (especially considering my interest in the macabre), I had never before picked up this classic true crime account of the Manson Murders. I’m pleased to say that I have rectified that deficiency, and that I was not disappointed in the least.

Bugliosi (who was also the lead prosecutor of Manson and his co-defendants) begins the 600+ page book with the Tate murders themselves. We follow the housekeeper as she enters the property to begin her day, the trauma of the bodies being discovered, and the movements of the police who first entered the scene. We are next led along to the LaBianca murder scene (the murder of an elderly couple also committed by Manson’s “Family”). From these two bloodbaths, Bugliosi takes the show more reader along through the (occasionally horribly bungled) police investigation, letting us walk along with investigators as they try to make sense of such seemingly senseless killings.

As I said earlier, Bugliosi was the lead prosecutor of the case (and occasional investigator). This is certainly in evidence as Bugliosi approaches “Helter Skelter” like a trial in and of itself. Physical evidence, witness statements, and paper trails are carefully presented and thoroughly dissected for the reader. The sheer weight of evidence eventually brought together against Manson and his family is presented here in largely chronological order, and shows just how completely Bugliosi throws himself into his work. There is a good reason why Helter Skelter is considered one of the best true crime books written (easily up there with Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood).

So, grab this book and read it. For such a hefty tome, it goes by very quickly. Bugliosi’s style is intense, but highly readable. Any one who is interested in true crime will obviously love this book, but even if that isn’t your usual genre, this is a compelling read about a charismatic madman and the incredible influence he had, not only on his followers, but on the country as a whole. show less

I am not, by any stretch, a true crime aficionado, but I started reading up on Sharon Tate before going to watch Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood last year and fell a little bit in love with her and Jay Sebring. Most of my research has been into their lives, but who can avoid reading about the horrific way in which Sharon, Jay, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, Steve Parent, and later Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, had their lives stolen from them? I dithered for a while, but eventually decided to read the definitive account of the murders by Vincent Bugliosi, the man who put the killers behind bars.

Covering the murders, investigation, killers' arrests, trial and sentencing, this is a long and detailed history of the 'Manson Family' show more murders. Perhaps too long. Bugliosi, however, does a good job at balancing truth with tension, to the point where, if I didn't already know the outcome of the trial. I would have felt sick that Manson and his acolytes were going to evade justice! I did feel that the victims were sidelined after the description of the murders, to the point where 'Tate-LaBianca' became simply the name of the trial, and I had to remind myself that the whole point of the year long battle in court was to get justice for Sharon, her friends and the LaBiancas. Manson, Susan Atkins, Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten should never be regarded as anything but the vicious murderers they are - I can't believe there are people who would even try to glorify, excuse or sympathise with them! The only names worth remembering are those of the victims.

Apart from the suffering inflicted on those who died, I was also shocked by the ineptitude of the LA Police Department (one officer wiped out a fingerprint on the gate release, evidence was lost, the detectives on the initially separate murder investigations wouldn't talk to each other, and a young boy and a TV crew found the discarded weapon and clothes from the Tate murders!) and the almost comic turn of the trial, with Manson's lawyer trying to turn the proceedings into Jarndyce vs Jarndyce. This was the biggest murder trial of the time, and Bugliosi's withering narrative makes the whole process sound like a parody of Law and Order. At least justice prevailed in the end.

After wading through 700 pages on Kindle, there are some photographs of the crime scene at the end, but the victims bodies have been censored (worse can be unwittingly found online!) show less

Gory murders in the land celebrities, a strange cult built around an ex-con leader who implies, but won’t outright claim, that he’s Jesus Christ, and a plan to incite a great race war culled from the lyrics of a famous rock album—every bit of it’s true, and in Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders you get it in the words of the man who knows the story better than anyone outside the “family,��? prosecutor Vincent Bulgiosi.

By now it has attained the status of counterculture legend: In August of 1969, seven people—including actress Sharon Tate and three of her houseguests—were stabbed to death in Los Angeles. The search for who might have committed these crimes, and why they might have done so, turned up show more the improbable story of domination and brainwashing that is the subject of Bugliosi’s 1974 bestseller.

Helter Skelter is a big book, and Bugliosi has plenty of room in its 700-plus pages to trace, among other things, the personal history of Manson himself, as well as the more prominent members of his “family��?; the disturbing details of the murders; the connection between Manson’s belief system and the lyrics on the Beatles’ White Album; Manson’s plan to usher in Armageddon by turning black and white America against one another in an epic race war; and the daily happenings of one of the strangest and most famous court cases ever tried.

The wicked subject alone would be enough to carry even a badly written book. But Helter Skelter isn’t the work of a sloppy hack who lucked into a great story because of his position—despite its length, the book’s pacing is excellent, and it contains the well-drawn characters of a good literary novel.

In fact, the author himself is one of these carefully-drawn characters. Bugliosi, in time, emerges as far more than the just-the-facts-ma’am personality you might expect of a prosecutor. Rather than distance himself from the material at hand, he uses his proximity to the case to guide us through Manson’s strange world, pointing out and explaining things we’d otherwise almost certainly miss. We learn important details just as he learned them, and while he remains objective in all the right places, he isn’t afraid to go subjective and express his displeasure with the way the police and sheriff’s departments bungled parts of the investigation, or to voice his personal outrage at the sheer evilness of Manson’s crimes.

Neither is he afraid to admit to a curiosity for what made the diminutive would-be musician turned psycho tick—and his attempts to find out by talking one-on-one with Manson, though limited, make for some of the most interesting sections of the book.

Manson in the words of his followers can be chilling. But Manson in his own words—particularly when he’s lucid and eager to talk—gets into your head and stays there.

And in the end, that’s also what Helter Skelter does: It gets inside your head and it stays there. It causes you to marvel and even shudder at the power one human being can hold over another. It is at the same time a great mystery, a compelling courtroom drama, and an in-depth study of one of the most convoluted criminal minds in history. Creepy stuff, yes. But impossible stuff to put down. show less

Charles Manson is the one of the most tedious and unimportant figures in history. His racism, his misogyny, his hatred of everyone more successful than him, his opportunism, his lust for violence - none of these were original. All he did was read between the lines of mainstream American society and reflected it back in a more direct, unrepressed form.

One of the great problems with this book, therefore, is that it refuses to see the extent to which Manson was, in repeating the evils of the system back to itself, a kind of perverse critique. Yes, he was an evil murderer who only cared about himself, but what kind of society would produce such a monster? The author, Vincent Bugliosi, never turns the lens around to look at himself or the show more world he inhabits to see the source of Manson's evil. There is a dogged conservatism to Bugliosi's narrative that refuses to see this truth.

While that is my main problem with this book, it is not the only one. For a start, it is unnecessarily long. Bugliosi was the prosecutor on the Manson case, and he gives us everything excruciating twist and turn of the legal trial, whether it is of interest or not (mostly not). What is more, Bugliosi clearly has a massive ego, for he constantly makes himself the hero of the story, showing up the incompetence of the police and wrestling with perceived legal injustices and tricks that might have allowed Manson to go free.

I am sure there are better books on Manson out there, but despite its bestseller status, this one simply does not pass the test of time. show less

This true crime classic has been on my to read list for awhile and I am glad that I finally got around to reading it. I had seen television documentaries of Manson and his family years ago. It was interesting to say the least, but watching them gave me worst nightmares than a horror fiction book. With that being said, I had some weird dreams reading this true crime novel and I would try not to read it at night as somehow or other the evil that I was reading went with me into my subconscious. Thankfully this kindle version did not have pictures as the author had edited them out to protect the victims families.

The murders committed by the Family/Manson were the most vicious and barbaric killings I have ever read. I didn't realize either show more that it seemed to take law enforcement a long time to figure out who committed the murders, but in an era (1969) where DNA/forensic science didn't even exist, it doesn't surprise me that they were not able to find out who did it so easily. Also VICAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) didn't exist either which if it had been around in 1969, Manson and his family would have been tracked down sooner.

Charles Manson was the worst of the worst kind of criminal and just seeing pictures of him, you can see the fruit loop craziness emanating towards you. He thought that the Beatles white album had hidden messages in their songs and that he was to obey them by killing people. His followers which were considered his family worshipped the ground he walked on and that anything he said they were to obey him immediately.

The author gives a very detailed account of the crimes that Manson and the Family committed and everything that law enforcement had to endure to bring this lunatic to justice. In my opinion, Manson sat on death row way too long and they should have sent him to the electric chair long time ago. Other known killers (Bundy, Ridgeway, etc.) did not sit on death row for a long time like Manson did, but thankfully he is no longer in this world. Giving this book four stars! show less

Helter Skelter is, in many ways, the gold standard for true crime.

Vincent Bugliosi worked the murder cases from the start, relentlessly investigating, then prosecuting. With this book, he provides one of the most intimate accounts of a criminal case ever published.

This book is heavy on details, but I found it all fascinating. Because this is written by a contemporary of the times, rather than by someone researching a crime from an earlier period, the emotions and experiences feel as tense and urgent as if this case were current. Through his writing, Bugliosi provides tremendous behind-the-scenes insight into the police investigation and drawn-out court proceedings.

Manson often claimed that, because he was brought up in the system, show more society, by default, created him. While this in no way excuses him, it does make for an interesting launching point in discussing our punitive system, particularly in how we treat our youth, which has changed little over the ensuing decades. show less