All language subtitles for Making.Manson.S01E01.1080p.WEB.H264-SPAMnEGGS_Legendas01.ENG

[news anchor]
Five persons, including actress
Sharon Tate, were found dead.

Bodies were scattered inside,
on the lawn, and the driveway.

- They had been stabbed and shot.
- [gunshot]

The bodies of a man and his wife
found in their home.

Leno LaBianca and his wife

had both been stabbed to death.

[cell doors clanging]

[automated voice 1]
Prepaid call from...

[Manson] Charles.

[voice 1] An inmate at...

[voice 2]
...the California State Prison.

[tone beeps]

[man] Hello?

[eerie voice] Ring, ring!

Ring, ring!

[man] Hello?

He called me
out of the blue and...

[exhales] If I only knew
what rabbit hole
I was stepping into.

Anything ever written
about Manson

is contradicted in these tapes.

[dramatic, eerie music playing]

[tone beeps]

[Manson on tape]

[dramatic music continues]

[music fades]

Gentlemen...

[man] If I could ask you
to take your glasses off.
We're on the record.

This will be a subsequent parole
consideration hearing

for Charles Manson.

[Jones] Back in 2001,

I had fallen on hard times.

I was just a strung-out junkie.

And I lost my business,
and I just lost my life.

[camera shutter clicks]

And I was on a computer one day

and I noticed that this Manson
autograph

was selling for an outrageous
amount of money.

Someone offered me something
if I would sign something.

But then someone else told me
not to sign anything

because my name
was worth a lot of money

and they didn't want me using it
as another economy.

[Jones] I was like,
"Goddamn, that guy's
still alive?"

I was like, "Man, I can get
this little fuckin' hippie
cult leader

to write me a letter or two."

I was just a hustler looking to
hustle someone for an autograph.

I figured I'll just get him
to write me somehow.

But it wasn't that simple
because he never wrote people.

And I knew I had a task
in front of me.

I'm thinking, "What do you say
to a... a killer-cult leader?"

[man] Shortly before midnight
on 8/8 of 1969,

Manson informed
his crime partners

that now is the time
for Helter Skelter.

Crime partners were directed to
accompany Charles "Tex" Watson

in order to carry out his,
Manson's, orders.

Where is this coming from?
Who's writing this?

[man] This comes from
the probation report

from when you first
came into the system.

Well, it's a little distorted.

[Jones] I knew that
the one thing that this guy
just is relentless about is,

"I did not do this."

I gotta make him think

I believe he's innocent.

So I just wrote this poem
about an innocent man

sitting on death row
in San Quentin.

But it worked.

He was touched by the poem
so much, he wrote me,

like, just a whole page
of bebop...

[pages fluttering]

...and then at the end,
"Charles Manson."

I didn't care about the rest
of it, I got that autograph.

You know?
I'm like, "Oh, I'm rich!"

But little did I know that

searching for an autograph,

I was gonna walk into

a world that I never, ever
would have imagined.

- [receiver clicks]
- [dial tone hums]

[dialing]

[automated voice 1]
I have a prepaid call from...

- [Manson] Charles.
- [voice 2] An inmate at
the California State Prison.

He called me out
of the blue and...

[exhales] If I only knew
what rabbit hole
I was stepping into...

[Manson on tape]

[Jones on tape] Oh, man.
I'm so glad you called.

[Manson]

[Jones] Right.

[Manson]

[Jones] Everything I have
is unreleased.

I've got 20 years' worth
of phone calls.

[on tape] Hello?

[Manson]

[Jones] The longer I spent
getting to know him,

I slowly started to see
that mask come off.

[dramatic music swells]

[music fades]

[Lake] I'm interested
to hear the tapes

of him and Charlie talking.

I would love to hear Charlie
say something... real.

I'd like to hear him
tell the truth.

Whatever it is.

[automated voice]
Your call is being connected.

[Manson]

[Jones] 9:20.

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

Is that Charlie?

- [producer] Yeah.
- Really?

Are you telling me,
is this the first time
anybody's heard this?

[Manson]

It feels strange to hear Charlie
again after all these years.

[Manson]

[Jakobson] I haven't heard
Charlie's voice in, uh...

we're talking about 50 years.

[Manson]

[Jones laughs on tape]

Listening to the tapes
is always chilling.

But it's also
the Manson version.

[Manson]

[Kaufman] How do you know
what's real and what's not real?

You'll never get
a straight answer.

In any of these tapes,
is he ever guilty?

[Manson]

[Share] He's still
the same Charlie.

He's still manipulating
whoever he's talking to

and he's still lying
through his teeth.

[Manson]

For a moment, I got jerked back
to... that period of time.

You know, I wondered
what else I heard then

that I don't remember now.

[unsettling music playing]

[Manson]

Listening to his upbringing
and his childhood

and the trauma that
this guy's been through,

I think Charlie became human
to me that day.

And I became more interested
in knowing more.

[Manson]

[Jones on tape] How old were you
the first time
she went to prison?

[Manson]

[Jones on tape] What?

[Manson]

[Jones on tape] Holy shit.

That really happened?

[Manson]

He told me a story about
sitting at a window
of a boys' home,

and how each time
a vehicle would pull in

his heart would start
palpitating, thinking,

"They're here for me,"
only to see another boy leave.

And I remembered as a kid,
in my own youth,

sitting at that same window.

[gentle guitar music playing]

And when he told me that story,

I swore from that day forward
I would never ask him for
another fucking thing.

I didn't want an autograph
no more.

I just knew that I was not gonna
be one of those people

that left him sitting
at that window.

[Jones] How old were you when
you started with boxing?

[Manson]

[Jones on tape] Wow.

You were a mean son of a bitch

when you were younger.

[Manson]

[uneasy music playing]

[Jakobson] Used to say
his daddy was the street

and his mom was
the institutions he grew up in.

He was a master at finding
himself in an institution.

He could not conform.

[Jones] How old were you
when you did the first thing?

That first crime you ever did?

[Manson]

[Jones] Wow.

[Manson]

[Jones] Uh-huh?

[Manson]

[laughter]

[Share] All Charlie knew was
being incarcerated.

That's the core of Charlie.

Who he is is someone that's been
in the system

for most of his life.

[ominous music playing]

[inmates chattering]

[Manson]

[Kaufman] He kept himself alive
with crime.

He was a pimp and a street guy.

[Manson]

His last bust was forgery.

He was stealing checks.

Didn't seem like
the right crime,

'cause he was illiterate.

[Manson]

[echoing gunshot]

[Davis] There are a lot of
young men and women who grew up

in America
with hard childhoods,

with parents who were
unloving, unfeeling,

and they didn't turn out
to be killers.

[pensive music playing]

[Manson]

[Kaufman] People
who are doing big numbers
in the big penitentiaries,

the last five years,
they're sent to a low-key prison

like Terminal Island.

That's why Charlie
was down there,

and that's where I met him.

He was my cellmate.

And Charlie was over
there playing his guitar.

[Jones] You remember the first
song you ever wrote?

[Manson]

[guitar strumming]

♪ Your home is where
you're happy ♪

♪ It's not where
you're not free ♪

♪ Your home is where
you can be what you are ♪

♪ 'Cause you were
just born to be ♪

[song ends]

[Jakobson] Because Charlie
was a little wiry guy,

he had to deal with a place
that's very tribal.

[dramatic music playing]

There was the white Aryan
Brotherhood,

there's the Black brothers,
there's the Latinos.

He had to get along
with all those people.

[Manson]

Because he was so used
to having to be a chameleon

and having to fit in
everywhere he was
in order to survive,

he seems to know
what everybody needs.

[Manson]

[Lake] It sounds like he learned
a lot of bad stuff in there,

and he would use those insights

for his survival.

[uneasy music playing]

[Manson]

[Jones on tape] Be honest
with me for a minute.

If you could change one thing
about your past,

you could go back and do one
thing different,

what would it be?

[Manson]

[Jones] No?

[Manson]

[uneasy music playing]

[cell door clanging]

[inmates chattering]

[automated voice]
A collect call from...

[Manson] Charles.

Yeah...

See, I told you you'd call back.

[automated voice]
Your call is being connected.

[Jones] Hello?

Over all, nobody on this planet

knew that man better than I did.

Or longer than I did.

Charlie never got the chance
to tell his story.

Anything ever written
about Manson

is contradicted in these tapes.

[Manson]

[Lake] When he was in jail,
he had a life.

And he didn't want
to be thrust into society.

[tone beeps]

[Manson]

But when he got out,
there was this whole
counterculture hippie movement.

He came out
into the Summer of Love.

♪ Love is a revolution... ♪

[upbeat psychedelic rock
playing]

[Manson]

[Jakobson] Imagine being
in a cell, a young, little guy.

Twenty-four hours later,
you're in San Francisco.

Free love, drugs, partying.

Unbelievable.

People would gather,
and they would call it
a love-in.

There's always gonna be girls
and guys hooking up.

Anything that happened
wouldn't be too unusual
after a while.

It's hard to picture what
an extreme opposite that is.

Charlie would be like a child
in a candy store.

[upbeat music continues]

[discordant psychedelic music
playing]

[tone beeps]

[Manson]

[discordant music continues]

[Jones on tape] Was that
the first time you took acid?

[Manson]

[psychedelic music continues]

[Lake] It was like
this new age.

This new way of thinking.

And there were all kinds
of gurus popping up.

And so he realized,
"I don't have to be a pimp,
I can be a guru."

[camera shutter clicks]

[Jakobson]
He was a real chameleon.

Whatever the scene demanded,
he would change color

so that he would fit in.

There was a lot of messages
going around,

and Charlie soaked
that kind of stuff up

because anything and everything
was ammo for Charlie.

[Davis]
Charlie was a mature ex-con

who knew how to get his way
and how to talk to people.

I'm sure he never said,
"I'm gonna come out of jail
and become a cult leader." No.

He went out of jail
and discovered that

his line of patter
went down rather well.

- [tone beeps]
- [Jones] I can imagine how much
pussy you got in your life.

- [Manson laughs]
- Have you ever had a woman

that just knocked
your socks off?

You got her in bed and you
were like, "Oh, I'm in love!

This woman is crazy!"

[Manson]

[Lake] I was really
one of the first girls,
and I was the youngest.

At that time, I was 14.

I met him in October,

and he had gotten out of jail
like in March.

And when I met Charlie
and the girls,

they were all sitting
around in a circle,

and Charlie got up

and invited me to come
sit in the circle.

They all instantly
love bombed me.

It was so emotionally fulfilling

to feel so loved and accepted.

[tense music playing]

I mean, I needed, like,
a father figure

or somebody to make me feel
like I belonged.

And he was able to do it.
And that's what I needed.

I think he was somebody
a little bit different
for all of the girls,

and yet he had this way
of making us all feel like

we were the special one.

Charlie could really perceive

what someone had in them.

He just said, "You're not like
all the rest.

You've gone through a lot of
hard knocks, haven't you?"

And so, people felt
comfortable with him

because they think,
"Well, he's just like me."

He started meeting these girls
that are basically throwing
themselves at him,

he wasn't used to that,
you know?

The girls, for whatever
their reasons,

they liked the way he sang,

they liked the way
he played his guitar,

and they liked the way
he looked at life,

and I think his ego
got a little inflated.

[Lake] Later, Charlie took me
to the bus,

he made love to me
like I was a woman,

not just a little child,

which made me feel wonderful.

But I'm 14.

See, he always couched it

that it was
an opportunity for me

to get rid of my inhibitions,
you know?

I was uncomfortable,
but it's not till later
that I realized, "Oh."

I-I wasn't street smart.

I just wasn't.

[Kaufman] I mean, Charlie was
very good at not conning,

but influencing people
without them knowing it.

These kids had run away
from home,

and they were susceptible.

The hook was in
and he'd get another girl.

And he just really knew
how to take advantage of 'em.

He just... "Ka-rum!"

[Share] I was looking for
a family because I'm an orphan.

Being an orphan puts you
in a different mindset

than anybody else.

I didn't have any set rules
that I was trying to get rid of

because I had been on my own
for so long anyway.

And the hippie movement was
everything I'd been looking for.

[Lake] Just before
I met Charlie,

my parents became hippies
and we lived in a commune.

My parents weren't
enfolding me

as their child.

I was just another body.

And I felt I needed to belong
somewhere

where they wanted me,

and when I met Charlie
and the girls,

that's what I got.

[Rose] When I first met Charlie,

I was living in San Francisco
at the time as a hippie.

A lot of the kids, like myself,

were looking for... answers.

- [dark music playing]
- [tone beeps]

[Manson]

[Lake] Charlie would
get in a circle

and he'd play his guitar.

He wanted to share his message.

I think that that was
important for him.

He wanted people
to listen to his songs.

[Manson]

I think his message was,

get over our doubts,

get rid of your inhibitions,
and live life.

[slow psychedelic music playing]

[Manson]

[Deutsch] I hope you're not
going to be exonerate Manson,

'cause I don't want
any part of it if you are.

I have lived with this now
for over 50 years.

For us, as reporters,

no one could understand
how such nice girls

could have followed
this crazy guy.

You know, within the girls,
there was Mary Brunner.

[Brunner] I was living
in an apartment.

It was so routine,
it was a drag.

And I just dropped it, you know,
whatever was happening,

and took off.

Then there was Susan Atkins.

I think she'd been a sex worker

and she'd done strip dancing.

Lynette, her parents had
kicked her out of the house.

He let us be beautiful.

And he, um, he robbed us
from our parents

and he gave us back
to ourselves.

- [intense music playing]
- [tone beeps]

[Manson]

[Lake] Then there was
Patty Krenwinkel

who had her dad's gas card.

[laughs]

That took us quite a ways, so...

[Manson]

[Lake] The rest of us
were just, like, homegirls,

more on
the innocent side of...

you know, being a woman.

[tone beeps]

[Manson]

[exhales]

Charlie's right,
that's what they were.

Wayward children.

But they were led
totally astray by him.

I think that Manson's real gift,
if you would call it that,

was that he chose his followers
very young.

They all had had disputes
with their parents.

They were part of
a counterculture era

which made them in conflict
with most adults.

They saw themselves
as knowing everything,

but they knew nothing.

[ominous music playing]

[Stimson] I'm a longtime friend
of Charles Manson.

The narrative that
Charles Manson got out
of prison in March of 1967

and immediately began
collecting recruits

to eventually commit mass murder
doesn't really make
a lot of sense,

but it's the one
that's been sold.

He was really just a fella
who was out of prison

and making his way
through a new world
and he met people.

Sure, he was agreeable
if somebody wanted
to come along and stay,

but I'm not aware
of any instance where he

actively tried to recruit,
if you will,

anybody into his group
of associates.

[Manson]

He always had to alienate them
immediately from their parents

so that they would not go home.

They had left
their parents behind.

[Lake] He would tell us,
"Forget about your mother
and your father.

You don't belong to them."

He made us strong inside
ourselves and be our own leader.

But, see, our parents,
uh, they didn't do that.

They made us depend on them,
ask them questions.

We don't need 'em.

[Share] Charlie was an abused
and damaged human being.

Just like all of us,
he had been thrown away.

[Manson]

[Jones]
Man, that's heartbreaking.

I know you loved your mom.

Problem is,
she couldn't love you back.

[Manson]

And at first, I think he learned
from the pimps

to pick what they call

"a bird with broken wings."

Children that were thrown away.

But it turned into
something else.

It turned into "all for one,
one for all,"

and loyalty, and love
that he had never experienced.

[Deutsch] He saw himself
as some kind of uber-parent

who took care of them.

It was the first family
he ever really had.

Every girl ought to have a daddy
like Charlie.

Should, deserves to have a daddy
like Charlie.

The reason that I hung in there
with Charlie

is because I wanted
to experience that same

feeling of love
and acceptance and...

magical joy that I felt
at that first meeting.

And I didn't jump
into the Family right away.

But then they were gonna leave,
they were gonna go on a trip,

and I didn't want to be
left behind.

So I... I jumped on the bus.

- [somber music playing]
- [tone beeps]

[Manson]

[Jones on tape] That's right.

[dramatic chord plays]

[mellow, somber music playing]

[Lake] I wouldn't say we were
a cult at that point.

You know, in that first year,
we were a commune.

I don't think we paid rent
anywhere.

So, you know,
we were freeloaders

in vacant houses in Topanga.

We definitely considered
Charlie our leader.

You know, or the head of the...

commune.

[Deutsch] He thought he was
gonna start some wonderful...

nirvana for everybody.

They were gonna be happy there,
it was gonna be this

commune where
they all ate together

and did everything together,
but he was...

he couldn't help
but be a criminal in every way.

- [Manson]
- [Jones] Yeah.

[Jones] Yeah.

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

[Rose] I think
there was probably

some thought in people's minds

that the girls needed to do
what he wanted

if they wanted to stay
and be accepted by him.

He had been so under the thumb
of what he called "the man,"

which was law enforcement,

and he had to obey the rules
set by the man,

and now he was gonna break
all the rules.

And he was going to control
other people

and have them under his thumb.

And that's what he did.

[ominous music playing]

[Lake] We would take LSD
and we sat around and got high.

An acid trip
in the Manson Family

was more of a...

a spiritual awakening,

and Charlie did give it to us
like a sacrament.

He would put the tab
on each person's tongue.

They took a lot of LSD.

It was like taking lunch.

It was really good stuff, too.

I never took an LSD tab
unless Charlie gave it to me.

[distorted, ominous laughter]

[Share] When you're on LSD,
if you don't have
the right guide,

it could be a very
dangerous drug.

If you don't have the right
guide with the right intentions.

[Kaufman] Charlie, he knew that
they were susceptible

to his nonsense.

On LSD, he could really
direct mind traffic.

[uneasy music playing]

It was... hypnotizing.

And to some extent,
he did hypnotize his followers

into believing he was the word.

[Manson]

[Jones] That's right.

[Jones] That's right.

[Jones] Right on.

I think you're the most
incredible

fucking human being
on the planet Earth.

I wanna put--

[Manson]

[Share] He took it even
a step further

and thought that he knew it all.

And that can happen sometimes
with too much acid,

and I think that's
what happened to him.

[fire crackling]

[Lake] I wasn't there
when it happened.

But he felt like
he was being crucified,

on the cross, as Jesus.

[fire crackling]

I think after that,

Charlie didn't take
any more acid,

or if he did,
he took very little.

[Davis] Manson
was very manipulative,

and he knew the impact of drugs,

so he very carefully avoided
taking them himself.

And then handed out
those drugs to the girls

and never, never got himself
stoned in front of them,

because he wanted
to be in control.

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

The programming probably
wouldn't have worked
without the drugs.

If you were
one of Charlie's people,

if that was really your family,

it'd be like being in the army,
you know?

You'd just take orders.

That's the only thing
that makes sense to me.

At least I can blame it
on the drugs.

[Rose] Most of the communes
I knew of did have a single,

titular head,

but Charlie got into it
a little bit deeper.

The concept of
going off together

and living
according to his rules

and his-his ways
of doing things.

[Manson]

[Jones] Right on.

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

[Lake] Charlie was adamant

about non-materialism.

That was one of the reasons
that he wanted to drop out.

We didn't need all of that.

[Manson]

We learned how to survive
on very little.

He taught us how to get food
out of the dumpsters

behind the grocery stores.

[Manson]

He was about 50 years
ahead of his time,

you know, living off the wasted
food this country produces.

Charlie called it "postulating."

Basically what it was is,

is praying and asking the
universe to bring us clothes,

or food, or gas.

And, amazingly enough,

it worked.

Or it seemed to work.

People came to the Family,

brought us clothes,

shared their-their music.

[somber music playing]

He wanted people
to play music with him.

He continued to write songs.

[Manson singing]
♪ Oh, garbage dump ♪

♪ Oh, garbage dump ♪

♪ Why are you called
a garbage dump? ♪

♪ I claim all these
garbage dumps ♪

♪ In the name of ♪

♪ The Garbage Pickers
of America ♪

[overlapping singers]

♪ The Garbage Pickers
of America ♪

♪ Oh, but it smells ♪

♪ P-U! ♪

Yeah.

"Garbage Dump" was his--

the pinnacle of his achievement.
[laughs]

He's got that West Virginia
twang.

If he wasn't a murderer,

he probably could've
done something.

[intense music builds]

[music fades]

[ominous music playing]

- [inmates chattering]
- [tone beeps]

[Manson]

[Jones] They said that you were
like the wizard

because you never wrote music,
it just came outta ya.

[Manson]

[Jones] God.

[Manson]

Mm-hmm. Yep.
Sounds about right.

[upbeat surf rock music playing]

[Stimson] The girls
were hitchhiking somewhere

and Dennis Wilson picked them up

and invited them back
to the house.

I mean, come on.
This is the Beach Boys?

[crowd screaming]

They're the top dog.

[Stimson] Dennis Wilson
picked up the girls,

made love to them,
and then said,

"You're welcome to stay here
anytime you want."

And they said, "We have
more people back home."

And he said, "Bring them, too."

So that's what they did.

[Deutsch] The music scene
in America was changing

as much as the society
was changing.

That really was what
propelled Manson,

'cause he saw all these acts
that were getting famous

and making money

and having people
worshipping them,

and he wanted to be one of them.

[Jakobson] All of a sudden,
Charlie showed up
at Dennis's house

with his big bus
and a bunch of girls.

Dennis told me,
he walked in the house

and there's a party going on.

[Manson]

[Jones laughs]

[Jones laughs]

[Jones laughs]

Charlie was so good
that he had Dennis

in the palm of his hand
almost immediately

[somber music playing]

[Lake] I got to stay
at Dennis's.

He liked Charlie.

He called him a wizard.

He proudly introduced him
to all kinds of music people

that came to the house.

Dennis used to call me up
and tell me, "Gregg,

you gotta come out,
we're having a party."

There was always something
going on.

Dennis was, like,
showing Charlie off.

Charlie was teaching him
how to play the guitar.

There was this mutual admiration
between the two of them.

[Jakobson] I thought, "Wow, it'd
be fun to watch Charlie work."

We just played some music
and it lit me up a little bit.

I'm always good with
being entertained,
so Charlie fit right in.

[Manson]

[Jones] Right.

[Manson]

We did garbage runs
in his Rolls-Royce.

Dennis was very impressed

with the food
that we could prepare

and set before him on his table

that came from a dumpster.
[laughs]

[Share] Dennis almost gave up
everything.

And I saw him, you know,
change his look,

stop bleaching his hair.

But he was under contract,

and he liked the good life, too.

He liked, you know,
the mansion and all that.

But he was...

He came close, he was tempted.

[Manson]

[Jones] What?

[Manson]

[Jones laughing]

[Manson]

[Jones] No way.
What, was he just paranoid?

Charlie was very good at
be-being evil,

and not... not showing it.

Anything that detracted him
from his game plan,

at that time,
he would squash it,

but he did it
with velvet gloves.

No.
It slowly unfolded,

and I was told he had gotten
out of jail, or prison,

or whatever,
I never knew the details.

And that didn't mean much
in the '60s.

But if we knew that he had
murdered somebody,

that would be different,
but he just had--

he had just gotten out of jail,
that's all we knew.

I knew that
he had been in prison

for taking a girl
over the state line.

It seemed minimal. [laughs]

At the time.

[Manson]

[Jakobson] I didn't know
anything about a lot of this.

But when I think about it now,

I don't know how
he sleeps at night.
You know, he's like a predator.

[Roy] That's a new story.
I haven't heard that one before.

He's claiming
he murdered someone.

I had a unique opportunity
to evaluate Charlie Manson

right after I was employed
by the California Department
of Corrections.

You know, he used people
throughout his life.

He's crossed the line
in a number of areas,
with people dying.

Anyone that came
in contact with him

ended up hurt or dead.

[Jakobson] So you can tell,
it would just be
a matter of time

before he did something
just as off-the-wall

and destructive as that was.

It has to end that way
with Charlie.

[ominous chord plays]

[mellow rock music playing]

[Lake] When we were at
Dennis Wilson's,

I didn't get that feeling
that we were welcome anymore.

It's a difficult situation.

And then we got kicked out.

So it was getting harder
and harder to find a place

for all of us to live.

Till the Spahn Ranch showed up.

[unsettling music playing]

[Manson]

[Jones] No!
Who went with you?

[Manson]

[whinnying]

[dog barking]

[Lake] It was
a failing movie set

that had been thriving
at some point

for Westerns.

But now it was just
a weekend rental of horses.

It seemed really remote.
[laughs]

Now it's kind of like
in the middle of Los Angeles.

[horse huffs]

[dramatic Western music playing]

That was a place to spread out.
It was fun.

[Share] We just thought
everything was playacting.

I lived in a fantasy, anyway.

I didn't want to live
in reality. It hurt too much.

[Lake] I loved walking out
in the woods,

up in the hills with
all the beautiful rocks.

[Share] It was my ideal
dream come true.

Never having to be alone again.

It was very pure.

[tone beeps]

[Jones] Let me ask you this.

- [Manson] What?
- [Jones] The truth is,

that whole thing was consensual.

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

[Jones] Yeah.

[Manson]

[Jones] Right on.

[Manson]

[Share] Even though Charlie,
behind the scenes,

orchestrated everything,

there was never,
"Now you will do the laundry.

And you will cook."
[chuckles]

It was just doing what you felt
you could do well

and wanting to help people.

And loving them.

[girls singing]

[ominous music playing]

[Jakobson] He was at his best
at the ranch.

With the girls, with the...
the whole backdrop.

Charlie made sure
that the show went on,

and even the girls were
instructed to be a certain way.

He would orchestrate that.

He was like a director.

[projector clicks]

I never realized how much,

but you could tell.

It was Charlie's show.

[Lake] We were
taking care of George,

the old cowboy
that owned the ranch.

He's blind.

And Charlie saw an opportunity
to take advantage of this guy.

But we helped clean his house.

You know, we had sex with him.

Kept him happy.

Right? This old guy.

Charles Manson
was still a pimp. [laughs]

You know,
call it what you want,

but he was still, uh...
still scamming.

I mean, they wouldn't even think
they're being manipulated

because it was so smooth.

He was slick.

He was a street hustler.

And he's got a game going.

There wasn't prostitution
like he used to have,

but it really was.

[uneasy music playing]

[Manson]

[Jones] You had 'em all, huh?

[Manson]

[Jones laughs]

There was a lot of sex going on,

but it wasn't a sex cult.

It just seemed like a bunch of
people that had a lot in common

with this great, brilliant guy

that took care of us
and we took care of him.

Charlie had us physically
and mentally and emotionally
love each other.

[uneasy music continues]

People would call it an orgy.

But in my perspective then,
it was okay,

in this new...

counterculture.

You know, and this was being fed
to us, of course, by Charlie.

It was frowned upon
by the straights,

the people outside
of the counterculture.

It didn't seem to me
to be perverted.

[Manson]

[Jones] I know.

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

[Manson]

Charlie was having a hard time
keeping us all happy.

So he said. [laughs]

- [ominous music playing]
- [horse whinnying]

- [dog barking]
- [crow cawing]

[Lake] Charlie wanted to bring
more guys into the Family

who could provide
money, food,

love, sex.

[Kaufman] I got out of prison
in '68.

I couldn't wait
to get out of prison
and hang out with Charlie.

He says, "Come on in.
Stay with us."
I says, "Yeah."

And he said, "It's a family,
and we all make love.

And every night,
a new-new girl."

I mean, they were serious,
those girls.

They-they really went for it.

And Charlie, he just really knew
how to take advantage of 'em.

[Manson]

[Jones] Well, who had the
best body, out of all the girls?

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

[Manson]

[Jones] Wow.

[Manson]

Charlie went through, I think,
an evolutionary process

where he began
to realize the power
and the control that he had.

And he exercised it
more and more.

[dramatic music playing]

[Rose] The new women
that came to the group

passed "Manson's inspection,"
quote-unquote, first.

They would have to spend a day,
a night with him

before they spend time with the
other people that were there.

Charlie brought
one of these girls back,

and when we came out
in the morning
and gathered round,

Charlie had the woman stand up

and he said, "You know,
I'm not going to ask her

to become
a member of the Family

because she wouldn't
give me head."

Which not only embarrassed her,

but made us feel awkward
as well.

And that's when
I began to realize

he began to show abuse of power.

[Share] We ignored signs.

Because sometimes
we'd understand

that he had our greater good,

and he knew what was going on,

and we needed to,
you know, listen to him

about all things.

[Manson]

[Lake] He definitely used us,

and he definitely abused us.

You know, I-I got hit
and beat and, you know,

and raped once.

And I think the other girls
probably did, too.

But they kept it...
they kept it a secret.

Me and Linda couldn't get
a big barrel down

'cause we were filling it up
with water and gasoline.

And we rolled it down a ravine,

and the top came off,

and so we just decided, "Look,
nobody knows about this.

We'll just come
get it tomorrow."

But Charlie found out.

He asked who, exactly,
rolled it down and just

almost beat me
within an inch of my life.

Seriously, within
an inch of my life.

[tone beeps]

[Manson]

I told him, I said, "You got
a good game going here, Charlie.

You got the girls
and you got a good life here.

Don't blow it."

Yeah, he had other plans
at the time.

I said, "Wait a minute,
where's he gonna go next

with this abuse of power?

This is not the kind of leader
I want to follow."

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

At that time, I realized that

it's probably time for me
to leave.

[ominous music playing]

[tone beeps]

[Manson]

For me, it started
getting darker

when Dennis bought
a song from Charlie.

Dennis always had
a good sense of music,

but he didn't have
much of a lyric sense,

a melody lyric sense.

Dennis had given Charlie
some cash,

which wasn't a big deal
to Dennis.

But Charlie had no idea
what that meant.

[Share] He just said,
if I can be a rock star,

he could have more control
over his life,

he wouldn't have to live
hand-to-mouth.

And he could do more
of what he wanted.

He wanted his own ranch.

♪ Cease to resist ♪

♪ Come on, say you love me ♪

♪ Give up your world ♪

♪ Come on and be with me ♪

He gave him $500,
and now Dennis owned the song.

Dennis could put his name
on the song,

and he could change it,

and even get royalties

should it ever be recorded.

[Manson]

[Jones] I heard that
pissed you off.

[Manson]

[Jakobson]
Charlie was really angry
Dennis had changed it,

more than that he had maybe
stolen the song from him,

as far Charlie was concerned.

And Dennis said, "Please don't
take it too personally.

It's part of the music
business."

But Charlie never
experienced that.

What does he know about
the music business?

It just pissed him off.

[Manson]

[Jones] Mm-mm.

[Davis] It's a classic
example of Hollywood
music industry rip-off,

and when you do it
to a guy like Manson,

it festers in his brain.

"I've written a great song.

They've actually brought it out,
they're selling it,

and I don't get a nickel
of what I wrote."

[tone beeps]

[Manson]

[Jones] Yeah.

Charlie was getting
more and more desperate.

I think there was a lot
of pressure on Charlie

out at the ranch.

But the light at the end
of the road

was the potential
record contract.

[Share] Gregg Jakobson,
Dennis Wilson's manager,

who was very close to Charlie
and really loved his music,

brought Terry Melcher
to listen to us.

[Jakobson] Now, Terry's
a successful music producer.

Always looking for a new act.

His job was taking people
into the studio

who had never been
in the studio.

Don't forget,
Terry's a celebrity.

I mean, his mother is Doris Day.

Terry went out there, he brought
a couple of musicians one time,

and Terry was really
impressed with Charlie.

He was going to produce
a record with us

if he liked what he heard.

[Davis] And then
all of a sudden,

as he was about leave
the Spahn Movie Ranch

with a mellow feeling
about Charlie,

he saw Charlie go up
and beat the hell out of a guy.

One minute he was this pacifist,

the next minute
he was a raving lunatic.

When Terry Melcher saw that,

um, he just freaked out.

[Share] When Charlie walked
Terry back to the car,

Terry told Charlie, "I'll get
back to you real soon."

But he did not
get back to him, at all.

In any way.
Through anybody. Period.

Terry broke his word.

To him, it was
a slap in the face.

[Kaufman] I mean, that's
a common mafia-type thing.

You know, people say,
"It's my word,

and if I break my word,
you can kill me."

His code of conduct

was that of a convict.

And he wore it proudly.

Honesty and integrity
is part of their code,

'cause all they had in prison
was their word.

They couldn't decide
what to eat,

they couldn't decide when
to turn off the lights,

they couldn't decide anything.

But one thing
they could decide is,

whether they could back up
their word.

[Manson]

[Jones] That's right.

[Manson]

[Jones] Right on.

[Share] Charlie did say
things like,

"Those lames in Hollywood

have no idea
what their word means."

He wanted to threaten him.

Charlie told me

"We're going to go visit Terry.

I think he's living
with his mom."

[uneasy music playing]

He drove me there

and had me knock on the door

of Doris Day's house,

and casually ask,

"Hey, is Terry home?"

And the housekeeper

told me, "No, um,

he's not home yet.
Um, can I take a message?"

And so, Charlie had me write,

"Hey, Terry. This is Charlie.

I'm still waiting."

I was thinking,

if this turns out bad,

in other words, if he comes
and hurts Terry,

this is all in my handwriting
and I'm complicit in this.

It's a conspiracy.

It's all in my handwriting.

It was a gangster move.

"Your word is your bond,
and you better keep it.

Or you're in trouble."

He got angry
or manipulated.

You know, I know
he was disappointed that

Terry Melcher and Gregg

kind of dangled this carrot,
and then...

cut him off.

[Jones on tape]
Beach Boys stole your songs

and so did Terry Melcher, too.

I don't know if it's true.

[Manson]

His own behaviors and...

destructiveness came to pass.

Rejection, obviously,
was-was a very strong feature

of Charlie's early
childhood experience.

His worldview is, "There's
nobody out there I can--

I can rely on or I can trust.

They're out there to hurt me.

And therefore,
I'm going to protect myself."

And then it goes to
another level.

"So I'm going to be
on the lookout for it.

And when it happens,
I'm gonna retaliate."

[Lake] When the music thing
fell through,

that's really what sent him
off the rails.

[Roy] His ingrained criminality
crept in.

The benign, manipulative,
cunning, almost desperate...

individual emerged.

He was always
needing to be in control,

and that came from
having all control

taken from him
at a very young age

and being helpless.

And a man
does not want to be helpless,

and he'll do anything
not to feel that way again.

He tried love for a while.

He said, "Oh, that worked."

And he said,
"But fear is stronger."

[Manson]

[rapid, tense music building]

[dramatic theme music playing]