Charles Manson Denies “Helter Skelter” Theory: “That Was a F-cking Game”

In the summer of 1969, Charles Manson and some of his followers took part in a two-night killing spree that left seven innocent people savagely murdered. However, the infamous cult leader is debunking what many believe was the motive behind the senseless carnage, as heard for the first time in a new Peacock docuseries, Making Manson, streaming now.

“’Helter Skelter’ wasn’t my trip,’” the late convicted killer said in one taped conversation featured exclusively in the three-part series. “That was a f-cking game, man.”

What is “Helter Skelter”?

According to members of the “Manson Family,” Manson was inspired by the legendary British pop band The Beatles to help further his belief that an apocalyptic race war between Black and white people was imminent. Namely, many said he was roused by the group’s 1968 self-titled album — popularly known as The White Album due to its all-white cover — which featured the song “Helter Skelter.”

Former Manson members Dianne “Snake” Lake and Catherine “Gypsy” Share said Manson became preoccupied with the music.

Deputies escort Charles Manson from the courtroom after he and three followers were found guilty of seven murders in the Tate-LaBianca slayings. Photo: Getty

“When he first heard The White Album, he listened to it, and then he listened to it again, and he says, ‘Looks like The Beatles have tapped into the reality that I’ve been trying to tell you all this time,’” Share told Making Manson.

Many have theorized Manson grew impatient when the race war he’d so anticipated failed to come to fruition. Therefore, it was his plan to “send his ‘followers’ out into the homes of rich white people” to commit the murders and frame Black assailants, which Manson believed would incite a race war if white people grew angry enough.

On August 8, 1969, Manson directed followers Charles “Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel to murder those inside the rental home belonging to rising Hollywood actress Sharon Tate, who was 8 months pregnant at the time. There, Manson’s followers brutally stabbed, shot, and mutilated those inside, including Tate, three of her friends, and a teenager who’d just arrived at the property to visit the home’s caretaker.

Manson ended up getting a different distinctive feature for court: an X carved into his forehead to represent him "x"-ing himself away from the world. He later changed it to a swastika. Many of his followers followed suit during the trial. Photo: Getty Images

The following night, Watson, Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten — acting on Manson’s orders — violently stabbed and mutilated married couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca inside their Los Feliz home.

Charles Manson denies “Helter Skelter” theory

In audio recordings of conversations between Manson and his friend John Michael Jones, Manson denounced the theory that “Helter Skelter” had anything to do with the murders, as heard on Making Manson.

“They made it into ‘Helter Skelter.’ It wasn’t ‘Helter Skelter,’” Manson said on the prison call. “They said it was a race war. It wasn’t a race war. It wasn’t what they said.”

Music producer Gregg Jakobson, another associate of Manson’s, also didn’t believe that music would have motivated Manson to direct his followers to kill, unless Manson saw an opportunity.

“Charlie wouldn’t care about anything like that unless he could use it or unless he could embellish it and make it something that would work for him,” said Jakobson.

Manson said he didn’t think any of his followers were “serious” about his past discussions about the music, though Lake — who was only 14 when joining the hippie commune-turned-cult — said otherwise.

“Charles played that album frontwards and backwards, and he made us listen to it,” she told Making Manson. “He made me stay in the room until I peed my pants so that I would hear it.”

Emphasis was further placed on the “Helter Skelter” theory after Krenwinkel smeared the words “Healter [sic] Skelter” on the LaBiancas’ refrigerator using Leno LaBianca’s blood, as detailed in Making Manson.

Manson’s belief in “Helter Skelter” would later be pushed by Los Angeles County District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, who led the trial and wrote the groundbreaking true-crime novel Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders.

Learn more about what Charles Manson had to say about his crimes prior to his 2017 death on Making Manson, streaming only on Peacock.