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Why Did the Manson Family Kill? Dive into All the Surprising Theories
Did Charles Manson believe the Beatles were sending subliminal messages through one of their hit albums or were the brutal murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and others really about self-preservation?
Everyone can agree that in August 1969, members of Charles Manson’s cult — known by many as the Manson Family — broke into the home of actress Sharon Tate and slaughtered the pregnant mom-to-be and four others. The next night, the group struck out under the cover of darkness again to kill Rosemary and Leno LaBianca. But why the group killed — and the degree to which Manson was involved — is still disputed more than 50 years later.
“There are so many people involved in the Manson story, not one of them can say what really happened,” James Buddy Day, a true crime tv producer and author of the book Hippie Cult Leader: The Last Words of Charles Manson, told Time. “No one was making decisions for the whole group.”
While some have speculated that The Beatles’ hit “Helter Skelter” had Manson convinced he needed to start a race war, others believe the violence may have been a convoluted attempt to cover up earlier violence, a way to frighten a music executive who had dismissed Manson, or even the result of a botched drug deal.
As the case once again is set to come into the spotlight in Peacock's limited series Making Manson, premiering Nov. 19, here's everything to know about the various theories about what prompted some of the most notorious murders in history:
Why did the Manson Family kill? Helter Skelter theory, explained
By late 1968, Charles Manson and his followers were living at Spahn Ranch, spending their days doing drugs and practicing free love. Manson, an ex-con turned charismatic cult leader, discovered The Beatles' White Album around that same time and believed, according to testimony from his followers and prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, that a handful of the songs were predicting an imminent race war, according to Rolling Stone.
The most influential of these songs was "Helter Skelter," a song Paul McCartney wrote about a children’s slide but Manson interpreted as a song about the chaos that would come from an apocalyptic battle between whites and Blacks.
In his book, My Life With Charles Manson, follower Paul Watkins wrote that Manson began to use the phrase “helter skelter” around the compound to refer to a battle where “the Negros were going to come down and rip the cities all apart.”
When the prediction wasn’t coming to fruition on its own, Bugliosi argued in court that in the summer of 1969 Manson decided to start the war himself by directing his followers to kill affluent white victims and staging the crimes to make it appear as though they were carried out by Black perpetrators.
Follower Linda Kasabian would later testify that on the afternoon of Aug. 8, 1969, Manson told his followers, “Now is the time for Helter Skelter” before sending Kasabian, Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins into the night with three knives and a gun and instructing the women to leave a sign behind that was “something witchy,” according to Bugliosi’s closing statement in court.
They left behind clues at the savage killings, like writing “Pig” in blood on the front door of Sharon Tate’s home, according to a 1969 report from The Los Angeles Times. While killing the LaBiancas the next night, Watson, Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten wrote the words “Healter [sic] Skelter” in the victims’ blood on the refrigerator and carved the word “war” into the stomach of Leno LaBianca.
“Of course, the principal motive for these murders, the main motive, was Helter Skelter, Manson's fanatical obsession, his mania with Helter Skelter,” Bugliosi said in his final comments to the jury. “Helter Skelter was Charlie's religion, a religion that he lived by. To Manson, Helter Skelter was the Black man rising up against the white man, and then the Black-white war.”
Manson and his followers allegedly believed they’d ride out the war in the desert and then return to lead the Blacks in the newfound world.
Why did the Manson Family kill? The coverup theory, explained
While Bugliosi’s focus on the Helter Skelter theory helped convict Manson and his followers who were involved in the brutal slayings, Day, who talked with Manson for hours while he was behind bars before his death, contends the impetus for the murders was really an attempt to cover up the group’s earlier crimes.
The violence in the cult actually began earlier that summer after Watson stole money from a drug dealer named Bernard Crowe, according to Day’s book. Crowe was furious and called the Spahn Ranch looking for Watson. He got Manson on the phone instead, and during the call, Crowe allegedly threatened to come and kill everyone on the ranch unless his money was returned. Manson went to see Crowe, who he believed was a member of the Black Panthers, in his apartment and shot him in the stomach after a fight broke out. Believing he had killed Crowe, Manson was afraid the Black Panthers would retaliate.
In reality, Crowe survived and would later testify against him in court during the Tate and LaBianca murder trial.
“Manson said, ‘Now we gotta fend for ourselves because the Black Panthers are going to kill us,'” Day said, according to Time. “At that point, Manson has two problems: First, he’s worried that Black Panthers will take revenge for the drug dealer he believes he’s murdered, and second is that anyone in the group can rat him out. So he comes up with a strategy of saying, if everyone’s willing to commit these violent acts, it will bond us together, and no one can tell on anyone.”
To offer himself greater protection, Manson began to hang out with the biker gang known as the Straight Satans, letting them stay at the ranch in exchange for their protection.
The second incident came a few weeks later when follower Bobby Beausoliel allegedly purchased some mescaline from his friend Gary Hinman and sold it to the biker gang. When they complained about the quality and demanded their money back, Beausoliel went to Hinman to get a refund.
Hinman said he didn’t have any money. Unsure what to do next, Beausoliel called Manson, who came to the property and slashed Hinman badly in the face with a samurai sword. When Beausoliel asked Manson why he’d attacked Hinman he left him with some chilling words.
"He said, 'To show you how to be a man.' His exact words," Beausoleil said, according to the TV special Inside the Manson Cult: The Lost Tapes. "I will never forget that."
Hinman was badly bleeding and needed medical attention.
"I knew if I took him, I'd end up going to prison. Gary would tell on me, for sure, and he would tell on Charlie and everyone else," Beausoleil said. "It was at that point I realized I had no way out."
Beausoleil killed Hinman, then painted the words “Political Piggy” on the wall in blood along with a panther paw in an attempt to shift blame to the Black Panthers. But his plan wouldn’t work and he was arrested for murder on Aug. 6.
Day believes Manson’s followers committed the heinous murders of Tate, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Voytek Frykkowski, and Steven Parent just days later to save Beausoleil and make it appear as though Hinman’s real killer was still on the loose and repeated a similar crime at the LaBianca residence the very next day.
Why did the Manson Family kill? The retaliation against a music producer theory, explained
Before Sharon Tate and husband Roman Polanski moved into the now-infamous home along Cielo Drive, music producer Terry Melcher and his then-girlfriend, Candace Bergen, lived at the address.
In his quest to earn fame and fortune as a musician, Manson crossed paths with Melcher after the two were introduced by the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, according to Fox TV. Melcher, then a producer at Columbia Records, refused to offer Manson a recording contract, enraging the cult leader.
Although it’s believed Manson knew Melcher was no longer living at the home at the time of the murders, it’s theorized he may have directed his followers to strike that particular house to send a message to Melcher.
"Manson didn’t send his murderous family for Melcher and Bergen – he knew they had moved. Instead, he wanted to frighten Melcher and other members of the rock ’n’ roll elite," author William McKeen wrote in 2017’s The Conversation.
Why did the Manson Family kill? Botched drug deal theory, explained
Five decades after the murders, the business partner of Manson victim Jay Sebring came out with another shocking theory about what could have prompted the crimes.
Jim Markham told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019 that Sebring, a celebrity hairstylist, also used to sell drugs to the stars, earning himself the nickname “The Candyman” in Hollywood. He believes that Manson had gone to the Tate home shortly before the murder hoping to sell Sebring cocaine and marijuana.
“He showed Jay and Wojciech the product. They were going to buy some of it, but the two of them beat him up at the gate. The next night, Manson sent the Family up [to kill them].” Markham told the outlet.
Markham declined to provide any further details about why he believes that may have occurred, but said he’s been haunted by it for years.
“I’ve lived with that for 50 years. I still believe that,” he said.
Decades after the murders sent shockwaves through the country, those left behind are left to still wonder which motive, or combination of factors, led to one of the most brutal killing sprees in history.
To learn more about the Manson Family, watch the new Peacock three-part docuseries Making Manson, premiering on November 19.
