For Charles Manson, religion was a strong force that he used to manipulate the minds of his followers. When Charles was 34 he decided he wanted a family. Charles started to attract a group of followers, many of whom were young women with troubled lives, rebelling against their parents and society. All of Charlie's followers were weak willed people who were naïve, gullible, and easy to lead. Manson used LSD and amphetamines to alter his followers personalities. (Manson) Manson's "family" referred to Charles as "God" or "Jesus Christ." The family traveled around California trying to find a place to join together and live. In the spring of 1968, the "family" moved in with a music teacher, Gary Hinman. Eventually Hinman became very uncomfortable with Manson and his girls and told them to move out. Manson then found George Spahn and conned the old man into letting the him and his followers live on the ranch. The Manson "family" was surviving off of stealing and scavenging. Manson made sure that the girls did what he wanted them to. They listened to and looked up to Manson. They took drugs he took if he told them to. They would satisfy his sexual needs one after the other if he told them to. When Charlie carved a black X on his forehead his "family" did too. (Singer,55)

The ninth chapter of Revelation was the Manson's family guide. Manson believed that in many ways he was following the bible. Charles was "god" and his "family" was his followers. His family believed that the "four angels" referred to in the Revelations, was the popular band, the Beatles. Manson viewed the Beatles as prophets who were placed on Earth to warn of an upcoming revolution. Manson believed that the Beatles were talking to him through their music. (Missouri)

 
Victims Jay Sebring and Steve Parent

Charlie came up with a philosophy; something he dreamed up to impress his followers. The focus of his philosophy was a kind of Armageddon. Charlie preached that someday the black men were going to rise up to power and start killing all of the whites, and turn the cities in to an inferno of racial revenge. In Charlie's eyes the colored man could win this war. Charlie figured that the blacks wouldn't be able to hold on to this power because of natural inferiority. In 1968, Charlie forecasted a racial war. The Beatles released their White Album, which had the song "Helter Skelter." The lyrics fit Charlie's theory of war: "look out helter skelter, helter skelter, helter skelter. She's coming down fast, yes she is, yes she is." The Armageddon now had a name. It was "Helter Skelter." According to Charlie his family would survive this racial holocaust because they would be hiding in the desert safe from the chaos of the city. He pulled from the book of Revelations, the concept of a "bottomless pit," the entrance of which was a cave underneath Death Valley that led down to a city of gold. This is where Charlie and his family planned on waiting out this war. Charlie's concept was that when the war was over the Manson "family" would be one of the only white families left. Then, the Manson "family" would rule the world, because the blacks could not handle it. (Buglioso,321) Because the Armageddon never came, Manson felt like he should take it into his own hands. During the summer of 1969 Charles made a few members of his family start the murders. The started with the Tate household.

Quiet and secluded is just what the young star wanted. The canyons above Beverly Hills were far enough away from the noise of Hollywood to have privacy and space. Sharon Tate loved her house on Cielo drive. To her it meant romance, with the man of her dreams and father of her child, director Roman Polanski. It was August 9,1969, Sharon was having a get together with a few of her sophisticated friends: Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, and Jay Sebring. Sharon was eight months pregnant and was very lonely for her husband who was away in Europe working on a film. Sharon had many gathers like this one because she was lonely. (Buglosi,25)

The Tate house was secluded but not completely insecure. About one-hundred feet away from the house was a locked gate, and a guesthouse occupied by the caretaker.

 
Left to right: Susan Atkins receiving counsel, A pensive Tex Watson

That night at the Kott's, Sharon's nearest neighbors who lived about 100 yards away, thought they heard gunshots coming from the direction of Sharon's property sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. Since they heard nothing else they went to bed. Around the same time, Tim Ireland who was supervising a camp-out less than a mile away heard a women screaming, "Oh, God, No, Don't, Don't..." He drove around and found nothing unusual. Nearby the Scott's dogs went into a barking frenzy sometime around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. He got out of bed, looked around and found nothing unusual. Robert Billington, a member of a private security patrol thought he heard several gunshots a little after 4 am. and called the headquarters. The LAPD officer said, "I hope we don't have a murder, we just had a women screaming call from that area." Winifred Chapman, Tate's housekeeper, got to the main gate around 8 am. She opened the gate. As she walked up to the house she saw an unfamiliar white Rambler parked in the driveway. When she got in side she walked toward the living room noticing that the front door was open, that there were splashes of red everywhere. Looking out the front door, she saw pools of blood in the front lawn. LAPD officer Jerry DeRosa was the first to arrive. He walked up to the Rambler and found a young man slumped over in the passenger seat, drenched with blood. Two other officers arrived and the three of them approached the house. On the front door was scrawled the word, "PIG." When they reached the living room they were shocked, a young pregnant woman was lying on the floor smeared with blood, a rope around her neck that was connected to a rafter on the ceiling. The other end of the rope was around the neck of a young man lying nearby, also drenched in blood. As they looked through the rest of the house they heard a dog and a man, it was William Garretson, occupant of the guesthouse was arrested immediately for the murders. (Manson)

Manson's next household was the LaBlianca's. After they murdered Rosemary LaBlainca, one of Manson's girls took Rosemary's wallet and credit cards and left them in the ladies room of a gas station, in an area heavily populated by blacks. Theoretically, the credit cards were supposed to be used by some black women. That in turn would appear to be responsible for the deaths of the LaBianca family. The credit cards were never used or even turned in. (Sanders,153)