Charles Manson Now
Page 1
CHARLES MANSON NOW
CHARLES MANSON NOW
Marlin Marynick
Edited by Elizabeth Licorish
Published by Cogito Media Group
Copyright ©2010 Marlin Marynick
The reproduction or transmission of any part of this publication in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, or storage in a retrieval system, without prior consent of the publisher, is an infringement of copyright law. In the case of photocopying or other reprographic production of the material, a license must be obtained from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright) before proceeding.
ISBN 978-2-923865-99-7
Cover design: Francois Turgeon
Text design and composition: Nassim Bahloul
Cogito Media Group
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Publisher’s note: Charles Manson will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of this book. Please note that some of the names and events have been changed to respect the privacy of certain people mentioned in the book.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF CHARACTERS
FOREWORD BY CHARLES MANSON
A MEETING WITH MANSON
I - THE WONDER YEARS
Fear Me! - When I was young…
II - THE PSYCHIATRIC NURSE
They Represent The Law?!
III - NOTHING TO LOSE
Death Row
IV - HOW IT ALL STARTED
I’m Not In Jail - Wagon - Change For A Dime
V - A CONCRETE CAGE
Case Worker - Witness Program - Bottom Lines - Krishna - My Fans
VI - FROM THE INSIDE
My Inmate Friends - Pincushion - Times Zones
VII - HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood - Fantasy
VIII - ATWA
The News - Butcherman - Can You Lie?
IX - MURDER FOR SALE
Major - Air - Words - Experiences - My Image
X - HE’S ONLY THE DEVIL
Denis Wilson - A Bug - The Self - More Fear - I’m Safe Here - Civilizations
XI - NEW RISING SON
Underworld - Hypnosis
XII - WHERE THE TRUTH LIES
Understanding - My Life - Trying To Trick Me? - Religion
XIII - UNCOVERING THE FINAL DETAILS
August 9 - My So-Called Friends - ATWA
XIV - A JOURNEY’S END
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES MANSON
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have happened without the efforts of the following people. I would like to thank:
Robert Daniel Pytlyk, whose friendship and direction really made this book possible.
Karen Ammond, President of KBC Media and my publicist, who helped make this book a reality from concept to completion.
Bill Gladstone, my book agent from Waterside Communications, who has been more than an agent: he has helped guide this project and worked with me throughout this process. Pierre Turgeon, who believed in an unknown author and this book.
Francois Turgeon, who is such an incredible, cooperative art director.
Gratia Ionescu, whose patience, guidance, and assistance were so valuable.
Elizabeth Licorish, my editor, who truly knows how demanding this process was: I couldn’t have done this without her.
Mark “Hollywood” Hatten, who was my sounding board
through all of this. You rock, dude!
Mary Chambers, for all her help.
Laurie Elyse, for all the connections and friendship.
Michael Wright, for his invaluable honesty and insights. Gerry Krochak, for all his help. One day, we’ll work on a book together.
Kelly Champagne, my transcriber, who was so efficient and organized.
Mike Ash, for being there and tending to all the little things. Richard Caithcart, for dealing with all of my technical, computer problems.
A very special thanks to everyone at Cogito Media Group.
Much gratitude to my family, friends, and co-workers, who had to put up with me while I worked on this book.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
John Aes-Nihil: filmmaker, photographer, owner of the largest archive of Manson materials and information, recognized in Manson circles as the “authority.”
Kenneth Anger: experimental filmmaker, who worked with Anton LaVey during the ‘70s, and for whom Bobby Beausoleil worked as a character in one of his movies.
Susan Atkins: member of the Manson Family, took part in the Tate/LaBianca murders, for which she was sentenced to life in prison; died in prison from brain cancer in 2009.
Bobby Beausoleil: member of the Manson Family, was dealing LSD; convicted of the murder of Gary Hinman, serving a life sentence in Oregon State Penitentiary.
Mary Brunner: member of the Manson Family, participated in the Hinman murder for which she received immunity after turning state’s evidence, convicted for a shootout and served a six-and-a-half-year sentence.
Kenny Calihan: inmate at Corcoran Prison, close friend of Charles Manson.
Clem: an original family member who was working as a musician, has since disappeared into obscurity.
Abigail Folger: heiress to Folger coffee fortune, murdered at the Cielo Drive residence by “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel.
Graywolf: first met Manson in 1969 after the murders, reconnected with him ten years ago; one of Manson’s close friends and confidantes outside of prison.
William Harding: collector of items made or owned by America’s most notorious apprehended criminals; he befriends the inmates with whom he corresponds.
JD Healy and Cathee Shultz: founders and owners of the Museum of Death in Los Angeles.
Gary Hinman: murder victim of Bobby Beausoleil, Susan Atkins, and Mary Brunner.
David Hooker: inmate of Corcoran Prison, close friend of Charles Manson.
Linda Kasabian: member of the Manson Family, turned state’s evidence against the Tate/LaBianca murderers for which she was granted immunity, testified during the trials.
Paul Krassner: author, source for the Manson/Polanski home movie information.
Patricia Krenwinkel: member of the Manson Family, took part in the Tate/LaBianca murders, for which she was sentenced to life in prison; serving her sentence at California Institute for Women at Frontera.
Leno LaBianca: murder victim of “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten.
Rosemary LaBianca: wife of Leno LaBianca, murder victim of “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten.
Anton LaVey: founder and high priest ofthe Church ofSatan.
Stanton LaVey: grandson ofAnton LaVey.
Bill Nelson: author, became obsessed with the Manson murders.
Roman Polanski: film director, Sharon Tate’s husband.
Matthew Roberts: DJ in Los Angeles, research on his biological parents indicates he could be the son of Charles Manson.
Jay Sebring: Los Angeles hairdresser, one of the victims murdered at the Cielo Drive residence by “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel.
Donald Shea: aspiring actor, worked on the Spahn Ranch, murdered by Steven Grogan and “Tex” Watson.
Star: young woman who befriended Manson because of his philosophy on the environment, lives with Graywolf.
Sharon Tate: actress, pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski, resident of the house on Cielo Drive, murdered there by “Tex” Watson, Susan Atk
ins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel.
Donald Taylor: controversial author of One Gay Man, claimed to have a relationship with Charles Manson.
Terry: Matthew Roberts’ biological mother.
Leslie Van Houten: member of the Manson Family, took part in the LaBianca murders for which she was sentenced to life in prison; serving her sentence at California Institute for Women at Frontera.
Vicki: at the age of fifteen, in 1969, first met Charles Manson, friends with him since then, has relationships with several of Manson’s friends and associates.
Charles “Tex” Watson: member of the Manson Family, took part in the Tate/LaBianca murders for which he was sentence to life in prison. He is currently serving his prison sentence in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.
Dedicated to the memory of Danny and David Stephenson.
FOREWORD BY CHARLES MANSON
Here’s what I wrote for you, man, are you ready?
When you’re raised up in a prison you learn all the tricks, and you figure out all the reasons why everything happens. You know the game better than they do. So you are a warden, you are more of a warden than the warden is. He calls you into his office, but it’s actually your office. He’s over there because you allow him to be there, you understand everything that goes on. What happens is you become the president, you become everybody. I was Richard Nixon, I was the mop and broom and the toilet. There wasn’t anything going on that I didn’t know about. So what happens is you’ve got a group of people, let’s say one hundred million, and all those people they only know so much. You can add everything that they know and it’s only gonna fill a certain amount of the bucket. You can’t get any more than you get, I mean there is a limit, on the physical level anyway, there are numbers, weights, judgments, laws, rules, all of that.
When you’re raised in a federal prison, the prison becomes your mind, because people come in, and people go out. People get jobs, and they serve a function, and abide by certain rules, and regulations, then after awhile everything is turned around, and there is nobody there but you! ‘Cause you’re in the room, and there are ten people in the room, and one person comes in and leaves, and another comes in and leaves, then two come in, and one leaves, three leave, and one comes in. Pretty soon everything turns around, and you’re the only one left, and you’ve been there and the room has turned over ten times. There is nobody else there! You’re there all by yourself ‘cause you see how everybody else’s mind works, when they come into the room. They don’t know what’s going on. They say, “What’s going on?” and the only thing they know is what they were told. So, pretty soon you see what it means when you say, “Three Dog Night.” It means when you come to prison and you stay the fifteen years, all the dogs of the world are dead when you come back out, there is no dog that was alive when you were out last time. The three dog night would mean you were in prison three times, three times all the dogs.
You watch it on the line all your life. You watch people come in and go out, come in and go out, the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out. You go and you try and talk to these people. You can’t talk to them because they’re so scared that they don’t want to hear it. They don’t want to hear nothing. All they want to do is draw their paychecks and go back and forwards and live in their lunch buckets. And there’s no communication unless you can pile enough bodies up and I don’t think even Hitler did that, did he?No, I was going to say I don’t think there’s any way you’re ever going to turn the tide. I don’t think it will turn around because they’re not going to accept a Jesus, the real one. Because they got that Jesus in their head that they want to be whatever their victory is.
So when you’re in prison, and the cops come up to you, you look up to them like they’re your father, because they’re retired veterans, and they are retired warriors. You’re raised up by police ‘cause you don’t have no family, so all the cops become your dad. You’re on the inside of the system, the president is your father, the government is your father, and the army is your brothers. The reality is, you are God on the inside, everything is in your mind, and you are the son of all things. When you raise a child in a prison, it’s not a prison to that child, it’s just the child’s home. You can’t break what’s already been broken, you break the child, you beat the child into submission. The child submits to everything you are doing, he becomes more of what you are doing, than what you are doing. You’ve got all kinds of people doing all kinds of things in prison and they’re coming off on you like, well, you fucked up, and you’re no good, you did this, and you’re just a throwaway child. You live for what they think because you think they are your parents, for years they’re your parents. You look up to them, and think they are your heroes, then you get older, and you become everything they were. Then a new group comes in and they don’t like you ‘cause you’re not looking up to them like they are your parents anymore, you’re looking at them like they are your children, because they’ve become your children now. Then when they become your children, they feel uncomfortable with that. When you become the authority then they become befuddled, bewildered, they don’t know, and the ones that raised you are already dead. So the guy says, “You go work in the kitchen.” You say, “Fuck you.” He says, “Well, you’re not getting out of the hole then.” You say, “Good, I like the hole.” He says, “Well, you’re not going to get out of prison.” You say, “What prison? You’re the one who has to come here, you can’t live without this. I can live without this, I can live without it.”
So, then they kick me out of prison. They say, “Your time is up, we gotta let you go.” They can’t deal with me so that’s what [they] do. I’m not in prison, that’s my home, man. “Get the hell out of here! We don’t want you in here no more ‘cause you’re fuckin things up, ‘cause the kids are not looking up to us like we’re father now and they’re giving us trouble, and you’re causing trouble!” You get to the point where people are destroying themselves, they would cut their own wrist, and you see them committing suicide, before they could accept the truth about themselves. Go to the nut wards and they got them filled with the criminally insane. You know what crazy is, you see it every day, man. Do you realize that everybody in the hospital in Vacaville that forced medication on me, and had me strapped down, and played all that stuff on me are all dead? In other words they did it to themselves. What you are trying to put on me is what you’re thinking; it ain’t got a fuckin’ thing to do with me. They put me on the “no mind list.”
They said “You’re on the “pay no mind’ list.” They tell everyone “Leave him alone, and don’t pay attention to him, don’t listen to him, don’t even mention his name, don’t say nothing about him, just get rid of him, get him away from us, because we can’t stand him.” So, I go outside, and I go over to the music and the Grateful Dead is playing, and they put me on the witness program. Not because I snitched on somebody or betrayed a trust. I didn’t snitch on nobody, and I didn’t betray a trust, but they’ve got me on the Federal Witness program. They say, “Leave this man alone, do not put him in jail in any direction whatsoever, he’s the devil, and we can’t control him, and we can’t whip him, we can’t beat him. He anticipates everything we’re going to do. So stand off of him, ‘cause he’ll destroy everything you fuck with him with. If you do something against him it’s going to turn back on you a thousand fold.” And so, I’m out there walking around, here comes the State of California and the Italian Mafia, district attorney. They said I killed people. “I ain’t killed those people! I didn’t have a fuckin’ thing to do with killing those people!” That’s your kids. Mr. Richard Milhous Nixon. That’s your government, that’s not my government. My government is George Washington, your government is Abraham Lincoln. That has nothing to do with me, I’m from the South. I’ve got enough fuckin’ brains to realize that I’m stupid, and I’ve got enough intelligence to understand that I don’t know anything, that God is great, and God is bigger than me. I’m not as big as God, but all the fucki
n’ assholes that got me locked up, they think they are God.
Charles Manson
Corcoran State Prison, California, 2010
A MEETING WITH MANSON
“Get down!” Charlie commanded, a sneer on his face.
He had the guards’ full attention, two of them, in the center of the room, standing in the circular area that acted as a security desk. Charlie crouched down, ready to leap at any second. I was taken by how agile he was. He met the gaze of the guards full on, trying to determine if he should continue. “I’ll kill you,” he shouted. “Can’t you see this gun? I’m serious!”
We were in the visiting room at Corcoran California State Prison, a place Charles Manson has called home for more than twenty years. Over the past few years, I’d developed a relationship with Charlie; this was our first visit. He had not been to the visiting room for almost a year and now, it seemed, he was making up for lost time. Charlie had begun acting out a bank robbery for this intimate audience: the guards and me.
This was live theater at its best. Charlie squatted down and moved around with an urgency, an intensity that caught us completely by surprise. The scene took about ninety seconds to complete. When he finished, he sat down and took a few moments to catch his breath. “Ah, I feel pretty good. I just can’t breathe,” Charlie laughed to himself. I was speechless.
Charlie likes to philosophize and talk about the deeper meaning ofthings, about ultimate reality. Often, he uses extreme examples to exemplify a point. During this visit, he tried to show me how he experiences reality. The bank robbery scene was intended to exemplify a concept Charlie called “level seven” which, he later explained, meant conquering fear. Level seven is a degree of heightened awareness, the level at which Charlie says he lives. I interpreted Charlie’s one-scene play as an illustration of being in the moment-mindfulness, and presence, that sort of thing.