by Greg King
Manson also met Gregg Jakobson, an associate of Melcher, who was to eventually serve as liaison between his boss and the Manson Family. Jakobson, who was married to the daughter of comedian Lou Costello, became rather deeply involved with the goings-on at Spahn Ranch, but luckily managed to avoid any of the murderous activity which occurred at the end of the summer of 1969.
There were to be three more additions to the Manson circle that summer. Seventeen-year-old Steve Grogan had been living at Spahn Ranch since the spring of 1967. Grogan had dropped out of school in the tenth grade and spent a year wandering round California, staying at various communes and monasteries.8 “There was a point in my life,” he later recalled, “where I was being real romantic about the meaning of life. I was a real philosopher, philosophized a lot about life and its meaning, deep meanings in my life, my purpose in life, you know, what I imagine every teenager goes through that same period in his life.”9
Grogan had a lengthy juvenile criminal record. In 1967, he was arrested for possession of marijuana, counseled and released. A few months later, he was apprehended while attempting to steal a pair of socks. His parents put up the money for bail, and Grogan walked.10 Shortly after this, he was arrested for indecent exposure. “The pants I was wearing,” Grogan later explained, “had the crotch ripped out of them from riding on the horses and things at the ranch. So when I was playing with the kids on the lawn I guess one of the mothers had viewed it from one of the windows and had called the police thinking that I was exposing myself to their children.”11 As a result of this incident, Grogan was placed on probation.
Through his wanderings, he eventually came to Spahn Ranch. Although he was only fifteen, and a runaway, Grogan managed to get a job working with the horses and cleaning the property in exchange for room and board. When Manson and the rest of the Family arrived at Spahn Ranch, they quickly befriended Grogan, rechristening him Clem.
Leslie Van Houten was a very pretty, eighteen-year-old whom Bobby Beausoleil had picked up hitchhiking while on a trip in Northern California. Van Houten had been born in 1949 in Altadena, California, and grew up in Monrovia, where she excelled in her school activities including band. Although her parents divorced when she was young, Van Houten seems to have done well in school and had few problems. In high school, she had been her freshman class treasurer, a volunteer in the Job’s Daughters service organization and a member of her church choir.
“I was always a very creative girl,” Van Houten recalls, “as a young girl artistic, but for a while I wanted to become a school teacher. Somewhere along the line I got distracted and lost the motivation. I believe that I was desperately seeking someone that I could love and hold on to and call my own. That somehow my dad leaving had left a space there.”12
Van Houten eventually moved in with her sister Charlene, and was exposed to the latter’s frequent drug use. Her increasing interest in both religion and philosophy, mixed with the freely-flowing drugs of the late 1960s, left Van Houten open to the Manson Family’s sphere of influence.
But by far the most important newcomer to the Manson Family was Charles Denton Watson, who, a little over a year later, was to become Manson’s main instrument of murder. Watson, a tall, handsome twenty-two-years old, hailed from Copeville, Texas. He was a gifted athlete, a member of his high school’s football and track teams, a well-liked, charming boy with good manners and a studious attitude toward his education. All of this changed when Watson left his hometown to go to school at the North Texas State College to study Business Management.
During his three years at North Texas State, Watson gradually declined. The athlete and scholar joined a fraternity, where he encountered both drugs and alcohol. On a dare, he broke into a high school some fifty miles away and stole several typewriters; his mother managed to hush up the affair and convince the police not to press charges. After three years at North Texas State, he suddenly quit school. He moved to Dallas with a friend who got him a job with Braniff Airlines. Here, he continued to both use and deal drugs, slept with numerous girls he met, and, while under the influence of either drugs or alcohol, wrecked several automobiles. Deciding that there were bigger and better opportunities—including, in Watson’s own words “much better grass”—in California, he left for the state in 1967.13
In Los Angeles, Watson applied for but never attended college; his application, however, ensured a supply of money from his parents back home, which allowed him to engage in other ventures. Contrary to what Watson would later claim, he was heavily involved with drugs long before meeting Manson. He later admitted to taking LSD up to five times a day on a regular basis before joining the Family.14
Watson first met Manson through Dennis Wilson. According to Watson, he picked up the singer while the latter was hitchhiking along Sunset Boulevard. Wilson had Watson take him back to his mansion up the Strip. Wilson told Watson that there was someone he should meet in the living room, and Charles dutifully followed. Through a cloud of thick blue hashish and marijuana smoke, Watson saw Manson, guitar in hand, sitting in the midst of a group of semi-nude women. Watson joined Manson and Wilson as they smoked more pot, while Manson strummed away at his guitar, talking all the while about love and peace and music. When Watson stumbled out of the house later that afternoon, Wilson told him that he could come back at any time to use the pool. Watson took him at his word, returning the following day, and again spoke with Manson.15 Watson also accompanied the women on their frequent garbage runs, when they ransacked refuse bins behind grocery stores, picking out bruised or damaged vegetables and canned goods to take back to Wilson’s house or Spahn Ranch. Eventually, Watson, because of failing finances, moved into Wilson’s house permanently. After a few weeks in this setting, with the freely available sex and the even more frequent drug use, Watson voluntarily decided to join Charles Manson and his followers. He was promptly rechristened “Tex.”16
Chapter 20
Spahn Ranch
In the summer of 1968, Dennis Wilson arranged for Manson to record some demo tracks. Wilson’s brother Brian had split the cost of installing a studio in his house on Bellagio Road in Bel Air with his record label, Capital, on the understanding that The Beach Boys would then scout out new talent and record them for Capital’s benefit. Dennis accompanied Manson and several of his women to his brother’s house, where they spent the night recording several songs. The first night stretched into a second, and then a third, leaving Brian Wilson distinctly uncomfortable. “I never saw them,” he recalled; “the bad vibes filled the house and I locked myself in the bedroom.… They had weird names, they were dirty, they showed little respect for our property.”1
On August 9, 1968—exactly one year before Sharon was murdered—Gregg Jakobson apparently arranged for Manson and some of his followers to record in a Van Nuys studio. This resulted in several additional demo tapes, to add to Manson’s growing collection. Jakobson was impressed enough with Manson and his lifestyle to sit through endless philosophical discussions and even considered joining the Family himself.
In the fall of 1968, Manson succeeded in selling The Beach Boys one of his songs. Called “Cease to Exist,” Manson allegedly wrote it as a fable for the group, then in the midst of disagreements. But they tampered with the song before they recorded it, much to Manson’s anger. The words of the chorus, “Cease to Exist,” were changed to “Cease to resist,” thereby giving the song a vaguely sexual connotation which was the last thing Manson had intended. They changed the title, too, calling the song, “Never Learn Not to Love.” As eventually recorded, with the typical Beach Boy harmonies and back-up instrumental, the song was a far cry from what Manson had first written. The song went on to The Beach Boys album 20/20 and was eventually released as a B-side to another single, “Bluebirds over the Mountain,” on December 8, 1968. The single reached sixty-one on the Billboard charts before disappearing into obscurity. Manson, in payment, received an unspecified amount of cash and a BSA motorcycle.2
Throughout the summer and fa
ll of 1968, Manson was continually after Terry Melcher to cut him a deal, to pull some industry strings. Melcher was to make a few half-hearted attempts, but his interest in Manson had never been very great. But Manson and members of his Family persisted in cultivating a relationship. In late summer, 1968, Manson Family members Charles Watson and Dean Morehouse both apparently attended several parties given by Melcher and his girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen, at their house at 10050 Cielo Drive—the same house in which Watson would slay Sharon a year later.3
On another occasion, Watson hitchhiked to Beverly Hills and walked up Benedict Canyon Road, Cielo Drive and the cul-de-sac which ended at the gate to 10050. Having let himself in to the property by pushing the automatic gate control button, Watson made his way to the back door and rang the bell. A maid answered and recalled that he had made an earlier visit with Dean Morehouse. She left Watson sitting in the kitchen while she herself went off to find Melcher. In a few minutes, Candice Bergen walked in to the kitchen and demanded to know who he was and what he wanted. Watson explained that Gregg Jakobson had been arrested on drug charges, and that he needed bail money, but Bergen, apparently annoyed by the fact that Watson was covered in grime, eyed him suspiciously. When Melcher entered the room, he told Watson that he was unable to help, saying that there was no way for him to come up with the money as it was a Saturday.4
Sometime in the fall of 1968, Terry Melcher lent Watson and Dean Morehouse his Jaguar, which they picked up at 10050 Cielo Drive and then drove to Ukiah to pick up Mary Brunner’s baby Pooh Bear, Manson’s son. Melcher even gave Watson his Standard Oil credit card to use.5 After returning to Los Angeles, Watson apparently took advantage of this fact to fill up the Family’s schoolbus as well.
Manson himself visited the property at 10050 Cielo Drive on numerous occasions. Once, he sat in the back seat as Dennis Wilson drove Melcher home. Manson did not leave the car, but continued to sit inside, strumming his guitar.6 Manson also became involved with the property on Cielo Drive not only because of Melcher but also because Rudi Altobelli, the owner of the estate and permanent resident of the guest house, was a major agent in the city. If Wilson and Melcher could not come through for him, Manson reasoned that Altobelli could pull all of the right strings. Altobelli later described how, in the late summer of 1968, both Melcher and Jakobson had talked excitedly about Manson and his Family, and were anxious to arrange a meeting.
Altobelli eventually did meet Manson, but it was not at Cielo Drive. One evening he attended a party at Dennis Wilson’s Sunset Boulevard mansion, and Manson and his followers naturally formed a large portion of the invitation list. Wilson introduced the pair. Altobelli agreed to listen to one of the demo tapes which Manson had recorded that summer. But he was not interested in Manson’s philosophy, incessantly spilled out during the course of the evening. Jakobson had spoken of Manson’s great ideas about love and peace and life, but Altobelli, uninterested, apparently brushed him aside.
Another Hollywood personality introduced to Manson was the Polanskis’ good friend John Phillips. Both Dennis Wilson and Terry Melcher approached Phillips with tapes of Manson and asked him to listen to their new discovery. Phillips wasn’t very enthused, but Wilson tried to draw him in. One day, he rang Phillips and told him: “This guy Charlie’s here with all these great-looking chicks. He plays the guitar and he’s a real wild guy. He has all these chicks hanging out like servants. You can come over and just fuck any of them you want. It’s a great party.”7
“Terry Melcher and Dennis Wilson,” Phillips later said, “and the people who were living with Manson at Dennis Wilson’s house used to call me all the time, you know, and say, ‘Come on over, it’s incredible.’ I’d just shudder every time. I’d say, ‘No, I think I’ll pass.’”8
By the beginning of August, 1968, Dennis Wilson had had enough. He moved out of his house on Sunset Boulevard and into a small apartment with Gregg Jakobson. He left it up to his business manager to throw out Manson and his followers. Manson immediately went back to Spahn Ranch, asking if they could stay at the outlaw shacks—small wooden huts that had formerly been used as set pieces for the numerous westerns filmed at the Ranch. George Spahn agreed, and the Manson Family moved in, staying for just over two months.
Manson’s relations with George Spahn always remained good, and Manson made sure that the girls took care of the old man, ensuring that he never had the opportunity to find out what was taking place at the ranch. But, for other residents of the Spahn Ranch, having Manson and his band of followers living in their midst was a less than comfortable experience. The ranch hands in particular disliked him, and never trusted either Manson or his Family. Randy Starr, Donald Jerome “Shorty” Shea and Juan Flynn were all witnesses to the comings and goings at the ranch, many of them illegal. In time, as Manson became more comfortably ensconced at Spahn, he arranged to make drug deals at a high level. For a time, the ranch served as a kind of mid-way point, between the stretch of Death Valley and the sprawl of Los Angeles, a place where bikers converged to leave their stashes, and where Manson, in turn, sold to those from the neighboring areas.
For Manson, Spahn Ranch represented a pratice Utopia, a place where he could remain firmly in control and steer the destinies of those around him. “I see the young love coming and getting free of all the programs,” he once told follower Paul Watkins.9 At the Ranch, Manson was able, to a large degree, to separate his Family members from their previous lives.
“Being at Spahn’s made it easier,” Watkins later wrote. “We were isolated from society. We had no TV sets, no newspapers, and we rarely left the ranch except to drive into town on garbage runs or into the valley to pick up a truckload of corn for the horses. We were nearly always together: sleeping, eating, making love, playing music, working on the ranch. There was nothing more important to any of us than putting Charlie’s scene together.”10
“It was a great place, actually,” recalls Lynette Fromme of the Spahn Ranch. “We could make anything we wanted out of it. It was like having the Our Gang set. You could turn it into anything.”11
“It was all very fun in the beginning, innocent,” Van Houten later declared of their time at the Ranch. “At first, the Magical Mystery Tour was that we would be cowboys, or gypsies or pirates, and every day, it was to wear a different role, so that we would get more out of ourselves. Every day was Halloween.”12
Life at Spahn Ranch was a more or less leisurely existence while Manson waited for his big recording contract to come through. The Family helped take care of the horses Spahn kept to rent out to weekend visitors, cleaned the barns and occasionally acted as guides to curious tourists. Several of the women were detailed to look after the group’s children: by this time, Manson’s son Pooh Bear had been joined by Susan Atkin’s bastard son, who she named Zezo Ze-ce Zadfrack, as well as several other infants. The Family doted on these offspring, but Manson in a determined effort to sever all links between parents and children, pointedly refused to let mothers care for their infants, instead charging other female members with the task.
In time, the Family spread over the ranch, erecting tents, building lean-tos, and trying to find secret hiding places. The women would borrow ranch hand Johnny Swartz’s 1959 yellow and white Ford and go on garbage runs to Hughes Market at Chatsworth Plaza, just down the road, spending the rest of the afternoon preparing the food for the evening meal. Dinner was a communal event, often taken outdoors, sitting around a campfire while Manson sang or rambled on about philosophy.
After dinner, the drugs came out: pot, hash, LSD, peyote, mushrooms—whatever the Family happened to have on hand. “They came in different, various ways,” recalled Steve Grogan. “Some people just brought in a bag of weed. Other times one or two members of the group would go out and buy drugs. It was all bought so everybody would ingest them at the same time. That was one of the rituals, that no one would be taking any drugs without everybody else being able to participate at the same time.”13
“The evening ritu
al,” said Paul Watkins, “was always the same: we’d eat dinner, listen to Charlie rap for an hour or two, play music together, then make love—either in small groups or as a Family. Once or twice a week we’d set aside an evening to take acid. Use of drugs in the Family was never indiscriminate or casual. Rarely did we smoke grass during the day, and Charlie forbade anyone taking acid on his own. Drugs were used for a specific purpose: to bring us into a higher state of consciousness as a Family, to unify us.”14
Some nights there were orgies, which, in later literature, assumed truly gigantic proportions. Former Family member Linda Kasabian, for example, testified that Manson directed the couplings, picking out partners and supervising initiations. Sometimes, orgies were staged to impress visitors if Manson wanted them to join his group, and the women were occasionally used as bargaining chips, with sex in exchange for money or drugs with the bikers who hung out at the ranch. That Manson eventually came close to dominating the sex lives of his followers is without dispute, although it would be incorrect to think that the only sexual encounters on the ranch were those which occurred at Manson’s direction. But the numerous tales of nightly orgies, rapes, and even necrophilia which later surfaced—all of these seem, in retrospect, to have been greatly exaggerated by the contemporary media reports hungry for any details of the seedier side of life at the Spahn Ranch prior to the murders in August, 1969. Even Charles Watson later admitted: “Despite some of what has been written about Manson’s methods of breaking down inhibitions, I never saw any male homosexual activity in the Family; in fact, I heard Charlie preach against it several times. I never saw or heard anything about the sexual initiations that were reported, either—Charlie supposedly performing perverse sexual acts with a new member while the rest of us watched.”15