Editing Charles Manson (section)

== 1967–1968: San Francisco and cult formation==
=== Parolee and patient ===
Less than a month after his 1967 release, Manson moved to [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] from Los Angeles,<ref name="Guinn, p. 94">{{harvnb|Guinn|2013|p=94}}</ref> which could have been a probation violation. Instead, after calling the [[San Francisco]] probation office upon his arrival, he was transferred to the supervision of [[criminology]] doctoral researcher and federal probation officer Roger Smith.{{sfn|O'Neill|2019|p=237}} Until the spring of 1968, Smith worked at the [[Haight Ashbury Free Clinics|Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic]] (HAFMC), which Manson and his family came to frequent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=David E |last2=Luce |first2=John |date=1971 |title=Love Needs Care: A History of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic and Its Pioneer Role Treating Drug-abuse Problems |publisher=Boston, Little, Brown |url=https://archive.org/details/loveneedscarehis00smit/ |access-date=April 30, 2021}} p. 52</ref> Roger Smith, as well as the HAFMC's founder David Smith, received funding from the [[National Institutes of Health]], and reportedly the [[CIA]], to study the effects of drugs like [[LSD]] and [[methamphetamine]] on the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture movement]] in San Francisco's [[Haight–Ashbury]] District.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=251}}</ref> The patients at the HAFMC became subjects of their research, including Manson and his expanding group of mostly female followers, who came to see Roger Smith regularly.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=266}}</ref>

Manson received permission from Roger Smith to move from Berkeley to the Haight-Ashbury District. He first took LSD and would use it frequently during his time there.<ref name="Guinn, p. 94"/> David Smith, who had studied the effects of LSD and amphetamines in rodents,<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=260}}</ref> wrote that the change in Manson's personality during this time "was the most abrupt Roger Smith had observed in his entire professional career."<ref>Smith, p. 257</ref> Manson also read the book ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]'', a science fiction novel by [[Robert Heinlein]].<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=237}}</ref> Inspired by the burgeoning [[free love]] philosophy in Haight–Ashbury during the [[Summer of Love]], Manson began preaching his own [[philosophy]] based on a mixture of ''Stranger in a Strange Land'', the [[Bible]], [[Scientology]], [[Dale Carnegie]] and [[the Beatles]], which quickly earned him a following.<ref>{{harvnb|Guinn|2013|p=95}}</ref> He may have also borrowed some of his philosophy from the [[Process Church of the Final Judgment]], whose members believed [[Satan]] would become reconciled to [[Jesus]] and they would come together at the [[Eschatology|end of the world]] to judge humanity.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Account |first=LEH IT Admin |date=2017-03-08 |title=Sinister Scenesters |url=https://64parishes.org/sinister-scenesters |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=64 Parishes |language=en}}</ref>

=== Involvement with Scientology ===
Manson began studying Scientology while incarcerated with the help of fellow inmate Lanier Rayner, and in July 1961 listed Scientology as his religion.{{sfn|Bugliosi|Gentry|1974|p=260}} A September 1961 prison report argues that Manson "appears to have developed a certain amount of insight into his problems through his study of this discipline".{{sfn|Bugliosi|Gentry|1974|p=144}} Another prison report in August 1966 stated that Manson was no longer an advocate of Scientology.{{sfn|Bugliosi|Gentry|1974|p=146}} Upon his release in 1967, Manson traveled to Los Angeles where he reportedly "met local Scientologists and attended several parties for movie stars".<ref name="mallia1998">{{Cite news |last=Mallia |first=Joseph |title=Inside the Church of Scientology&nbsp;– Church wields celebrity clout |work=[[Boston Herald]] |page=30 |date=March 5, 1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |title=Charlie Manson, Nomadic Guru, Flirted With Crime in a Turbulent Childhood |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=84 |date=December 7, 1969}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Goodsell |first=Greg |title=Manson once proclaimed Scientology |work=Catholic Online |publisher=www.catholic.org |date=February 23, 2010 |url=http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=35505 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227053826/http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=35505 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 27, 2010 |access-date=February 24, 2010 }}</ref> Manson completed 150 hours of [[Auditing (Scientology)|auditing]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/cooper/scandal_behind_scandal.html|title=The Scandal Behind the "Scandal of Scientology"|last=Cooper|first=Paulette|website=www.cs.cmu.edu|access-date=November 8, 2019|archive-date=November 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112220005/http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/cooper/scandal_behind_scandal.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His "right hand man", [[Bruce M. Davis|Bruce Davis]], worked at the [[Church of Scientology]] headquarters in [[London]] from November 1968 to April 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanders |first=Ed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20n2VPmoiQoC |title=The Family |date=January 1, 2002 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=1560253967 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022013344/http://books.google.com/books?id=20n2VPmoiQoC |archive-date=October 22, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== San Francisco followers ===
{{see also|Manson Family}}
Shortly after relocating to San Francisco, Manson became acquainted with [[Mary Brunner]], a 23-year-old graduate of [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]]. Brunner was working as a library assistant at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and Manson, until that point making his living by [[begging|panhandling]], moved in with her. Manson then met teenaged [[runaway (dependent)|runaway]] [[Squeaky Fromme|Lynette Fromme]], later nicknamed "Squeaky", and convinced her to live with him and Brunner.<ref>{{harvnb|Guinn|2013|p=97}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Angela|last=Serratore|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/manson-family-murders-what-need-to-know-180972655/|title=The True Story of the Manson Family|magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]]|location=Washington, D.C.|date=July 25, 2019|access-date=August 18, 2020|archive-date=August 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818185908/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/manson-family-murders-what-need-to-know-180972655/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to a second-hand account, Manson overcame Brunner's initial resistance to him bringing other women in to live with them. Before long, they were sharing Brunner's residence with eighteen other women.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|163–174}} Manson targeted individuals for manipulation who were emotionally insecure and social outcasts.<ref name="Smith, p. 259">Smith, p. 259</ref>

Manson established himself as a [[guru]] in Haight-Ashbury which, during the Summer of Love, was emerging as the signature [[hippie]] locale. Manson soon had the first of his groups of followers, most of them female. They were later dubbed as the "Manson Family" by Los Angeles prosecutor [[Vincent Bugliosi]] and the media.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|137–146}} Manson allegedly taught his followers that they were the [[reincarnation]] of the [[Early Christianity|original Christians]], and that [[The Establishment]] could be characterized as the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Trevor Hughes and Trevor |title=Charles Manson and the Manson family: What to know about the murderous cult leader |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/11/20/charles-manson-and-manson-family-murderous-cult-leader/880220001/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>

Sometime around 1967, Manson began using the alias "Charles Willis Manson".<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|315}} Before the end of summer, he and some of his followers began traveling in an old [[school bus]] they had adapted, putting colored rugs and pillows in place of the many seats they had removed. They eventually settled in the Los Angeles areas of [[Topanga, California|Topanga Canyon]], [[Malibu, California|Malibu]] and [[Venice, Los Angeles|Venice]] along the coast.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|163–174}}<ref name="Sanders">{{cite book|last=Sanders|first=Ed|author-link=Ed Sanders|date=2002|title=The Family|location=[[New York City]]|publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press|isbn=1-56025-396-7}}</ref>{{rp|13–20}} 

In 1967, Brunner became pregnant by Manson. On April 15, 1968, she gave birth to their son, whom she named Valentine Michael, in a condemned house where they were living in Topanga Canyon. She was assisted by several of the young women from the fledgling Family. Brunner, like most members of the group, acquired a number of [[Pseudonym|aliases]] and nicknames, including: "Marioche", "Och", "Mother Mary", "Mary Manson", "Linda Dee Manson" and "Christine Marie Euchts".<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|xv}}

In his book ''Love Needs Care'' about his time at the HAFMC, David Smith claimed that Manson attempted to reprogram his followers' minds to "submit totally to his will" through the use of "LSD and … unconventional sexual practices" that would turn his followers into "empty vessels that would accept anything he poured".<ref name="Smith, p. 259"/> Manson Family member [[Paul Watkins (Manson Family)|Paul Watkins]] testified that Manson would encourage group LSD trips and take lower doses himself to "keep his wits about him".<ref>{{harvnb|Guinn|2013|p=139}}</ref> Watkins stated that "Charlie's trip was to program us all to submit."<ref>{{cite book |last=Melnick |first=Jeffrey Paul |date=2018 |title=Creepy Crawling: Charles Manson and the Many Lives of America's Most Infamous Family |publisher=Arcade |isbn=978-1628728934}} p. 16</ref> By the end of his stay in the Haight in April 1968, Manson had attracted twenty or so followers, all under the supervision of Roger Smith and many of the staff at the HAFMC.<ref name="Smith, p. 260">Smith, p. 260</ref> The core members of Manson's following eventually included: Brunner; [[Tex Watson|Charles "Tex" Watson]], a musician and former actor; [[Bobby Beausoleil]], a former musician and [[pornography|pornographic]] actor; [[Susan Atkins]]; [[Patricia Krenwinkel]]; and [[Leslie Van Houten]].<ref name="InsideFamily">{{cite web |title=Charles Manson's Son Says He Wishes He'd Gotten to Know Him Before His Death |url=https://www.insideedition.com/charles-mansons-son-says-he-wishes-hed-gotten-know-him-his-death-54566 |website=insideedition.com |date=July 18, 2019 |publisher=Inside Edition Inc, CBS Interactive |access-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824173448/https://www.insideedition.com/charles-mansons-son-says-he-wishes-hed-gotten-know-him-his-death-54566 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ViceBob">{{cite web |last1=Kovac |first1=Adam |title=We Spoke to Charles Manson's Guitarist About Making Art While Serving Time for Murder |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/we-spoke-to-charles-mansons-guitarist-about-his-life-making-art-and-music-while-serving-time-for-murder-298/ |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |date=April 8, 2015 |publisher=[[Vice Media]] |location=New York City |access-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-date=May 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526142449/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bn5wwd/we-spoke-to-charles-mansons-guitarist-about-his-life-making-art-and-music-while-serving-time-for-murder-298 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Milne |first1=Andrew |title=Meet Bobby Beausoleil: The Haight-Ashbury Hippie Who Became A Manson Family Murderer |url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/bobby-beausoleil |website=allthatsinteresting.com |date=July 6, 2019 |publisher=PBH Network |access-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824173444/https://allthatsinteresting.com/bobby-beausoleil |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Subsequent arrests ===
Supervised by his ostensible parole officer Roger Smith, Manson grew his family through drug use and prostitution<ref name="Smith, p. 260"/> without interference from the authorities. Manson was arrested on July 31, 1967, for attempting to prevent the arrest of one of his followers, [[Ruth Ann Moorehouse]]. Instead of Manson being sent back to prison, the charge was reduced to a [[misdemeanor]] and Manson was given three additional years of probation.<ref name="O'Neill, p. 242">{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=242}}</ref> He avoided prosecution again in July 1968, when he and the family were arrested while moving to Los Angeles,<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=244}}</ref> when his bus crashed into a ditch; Manson and members of his family, including Brunner and Manson's new-born baby, were found sleeping naked by police.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=246}}</ref> Afterwards, he was again arrested and released only a few days later, this time on a drug charge.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|2019|p=248}}</ref><ref name="O'Neill, p. 242"/>

=== Involvement with the Beach Boys ===
{{See also|Never Learn Not to Love|The Beach Boys bootleg recordings#Manson sessions}}
On April 6, 1968, [[Dennis Wilson]] of the [[Beach Boys]] was driving through Malibu when he noticed two female hitchhikers, Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey. He picked them up and dropped them off at their destination.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=216}} On April 11, Wilson noticed the same two girls hitchhiking again and this time took them to his home at 14400 [[Sunset Boulevard]].{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=216}}<ref name=WebbGuardian2003>{{cite news|last1=Webb|first1=Adam|title=A profile of Dennis Wilson: the lonely one|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/14/popandrock|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=December 14, 2003|access-date=December 14, 2016|archive-date=November 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107123033/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/14/popandrock|url-status=live}}</ref> Wilson later recalled that he "told [the girls] about our involvement with [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|the Maharishi]] and they told me they too had a guru, a guy named Charlie [Manson] who'd recently come out of jail after twelve years."<ref name="RM68">{{cite magazine|last1=Griffiths|first1=David|title=Dennis Wilson: "I Live With 17 Girls"|magazine=[[Record Mirror]]|date=December 21, 1968|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/dennis-wilson-i-live-with-17-girls|url-access=subscription|access-date=December 4, 2020|archive-date=January 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120003836/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/dennis-wilson-i-live-with-17-girls|url-status=live}}</ref> Wilson then went to a recording session; when he returned later that night, he was met in his driveway by Manson, and when Wilson walked into his home, about a dozen people were occupying the premises, most of them young women.<ref name=WebbGuardian2003 /> By Manson's own account, he had met Wilson on at least one prior occasion: at a friend's San Francisco house where Manson had gone to obtain [[marijuana]]. Manson claimed that Wilson invited him to visit his home when Manson came to Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Emmons|first=Nuel|title=Manson in His Own Words|publisher=Grove Press|year=1988|isbn=0-8021-3024-0}}</ref>

Wilson was initially fascinated by Manson and his followers, referring to him as "the Wizard" in a ''Rave'' magazine article at the time.{{sfn|Stebbins|2000|p=130}} The two struck a friendship, and over the next few months members of the Manson Family – mostly women who were treated as servants – were housed in Wilson's residence.<ref name=WebbGuardian2003 /> This arrangement persisted for about six months.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=224–225}}<ref name="RM68"/>

Wilson introduced Manson to a few friends in the music business, including [[the Byrds]]' producer [[Terry Melcher]]. Manson recorded numerous songs at [[Brian Wilson]]'s [[Brian Wilson's home studio|home studio]], although the recordings remain unheard by the public.<ref name="DoeUnreleased">{{cite web|last1=Doe|first1=Andrew Grayham|title=Unreleased Albums|url=http://www.esquarterly.com/bellagio/unreleased.html|website=Bellagio 10452|publisher=Endless Summer Quarterly|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=October 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025151137/http://esquarterly.com/bellagio/unreleased.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Band engineer [[Stephen Desper]] said that the Manson sessions were done "for Dennis [Wilson] and Terry Melcher".{{sfn|O'Neill|2019}} In September 1968, Wilson recorded a Manson song for the Beach Boys, originally titled "Cease to Exist" but reworked as "[[Never Learn Not to Love]]", as a single B-side released the following December. The writing was credited solely to Wilson.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Barlass|first1=Tyler|title=Song Stories - "Never Learn Not To Love" (1968)|url=http://www.justpressplay.net/articles/39-news/3713-song-stories-qnever-learn-not-to-loveq-1968.html|date=July 16, 2008|access-date=July 6, 2016|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305141845/http://www.justpressplay.net/articles/39-news/3713-song-stories-qnever-learn-not-to-loveq-1968.html|url-status=live}}</ref> When asked why Manson was not credited, Wilson explained that Manson relinquished his publishing rights in favor of "about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of stuff".{{sfn|Stebbins|2000|p=137}}<ref name="Nolan2">{{cite magazine |last=Nolan |first=Tom |title=Beach Boys: A California Saga, Part II |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beach-boys-a-california-saga-part-ii-19711111 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=November 11, 1971 |access-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-date=August 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816014717/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beach-boys-a-california-saga-part-ii-19711111 |url-status=live }}</ref>  Around this time, the Family destroyed two of Wilson's luxury cars.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=223–224}}

Wilson eventually distanced himself from Manson and moved out of the Sunset Boulevard house, leaving the Family there, and subsequently took residence at a basement apartment in [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]].{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=224}} Virtually all of Wilson's household possessions were stolen by the Family; the members were [[eviction|evicted]] from his home three weeks before the lease was scheduled to expire.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=224}} When Manson subsequently sought further contact, he left a bullet with Wilson's housekeeper to be delivered with a threatening message.<ref name=WebbGuardian2003 /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Holdship|first1=Bill|title=Heroes and Villains|url=http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?topic=2371.25|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 6, 2000|access-date=April 7, 2015|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235253/http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?topic=2371.25|url-status=live}}</ref>

Band manager [[Nick Grillo]] recalled that Wilson became concerned after Manson had got "into a much heavier drug situation ... taking a tremendous amount of acid and Dennis wouldn't tolerate it and asked him to leave. It was difficult for Dennis because he was afraid of Charlie."{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=224–225}} Writing in his [[Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy|2016 memoir]], [[Mike Love]] recalled Wilson saying he had witnessed Manson shooting a black man "in half" with an [[M16 rifle]] and hiding the body inside a well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/beach-boy-mike-love-claims-bandmate-charles-manson-kill-man-article-1.2773092|title=Beach Boy Mike Love alleges bandmate watched Charles Manson carry out murder|first=Nicole|last=Bitette|website=[[New York Daily News]]|date=August 31, 2016 |access-date=February 12, 2021|archive-date=July 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722104419/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/beach-boy-mike-love-claims-bandmate-charles-manson-kill-man-article-1.2773092|url-status=live}}</ref> Melcher said that Wilson had been aware that the Family "were killing people" and had been "so freaked out he just didn't want to live anymore. He was afraid, and he thought he should have gone to the authorities, but he didn't, and the rest of it happened."{{sfn|O'Neill|2019}}

=== Spahn Ranch ===
Manson established a base for the Family at the [[Spahn Ranch]] in August 1968, after their eviction from Wilson's residence.<ref>[http://la.curbed.com/2014/10/22/10032594/the-story-of-the-abandoned-movie-ranch-where-the-manson-family The Story of the Abandoned Movie Ranch Where the Manson Family Launched Helter Skelter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160709124920/http://la.curbed.com/2014/10/22/10032594/the-story-of-the-abandoned-movie-ranch-where-the-manson-family |date=July 9, 2016 }}. Retrieved March 10, 2016.</ref> The ranch had been a television and movie set for [[Western (genre)|Westerns]], but the buildings had deteriorated by the late-1960s. The ranch then derived revenue primarily from selling horseback rides.<ref name="NME">{{cite news|url=https://www.nme.com/news/bryan-cranston-had-run-in-with-charles-manson-2161985|title=Bryan Cranston had a very close run-in with Charles Manson in the 1960s|last=Reilly|first=Nick|date=November 21, 2017|work=[[NME]]|accessdate=October 17, 2022}}</ref> Female Family members did chores around the ranch and, occasionally, had sex on Manson's orders with the nearly blind 80-year-old owner, [[George Spahn]]; the women also acted as guides for him. In exchange, Spahn allowed Manson and his group to live at the ranch for free.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|99–113}}

=== Doomsday beliefs ===
{{See also|Manson Family#Possible murder motives|Helter Skelter (scenario)}}
The Manson Family evolved into a [[doomsday cult]] when Manson became fixated on the idea of an imminent apocalyptic [[ethnic conflict|race war]] between America's Black minority and the larger White population. A [[White supremacy|white supremacist]],<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Lauren|last=Gill|url=https://www.newsweek.com/charles-manson-was-white-supremacist-lets-not-forget-713915|title=Remember, Charles Manson Was a White Supremacist|magazine=[[Newsweek]]|date=November 16, 2017|access-date=August 17, 2020|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804074518/https://www.newsweek.com/charles-manson-was-white-supremacist-lets-not-forget-713915|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Desire|last=Thompson|url=https://www.vibe.com/2017/11/charles-manson-his-obsession-with-black-people|title=Charles Manson & His Obsession with Black People|magazine=[[Vibe (magazine)|Vibe]]|location=New York City|date=November 20, 2017|access-date=August 18, 2020|archive-date=August 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813000715/https://www.vibe.com/2017/11/charles-manson-his-obsession-with-black-people|url-status=live}}</ref> Manson told some of the Family that Black people would rise up and kill the entire White population except for Manson and his followers, but that they were not intelligent enough to survive on their own; they would need a white man to lead them, and so they would serve Manson as their "master".<ref>{{cite web|first=John W.|last=Whitehead|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/helter-skelter-racism-and_b_669109|title=Helter Skelter: Racism and Murder|website=[[HuffPost]]|date=August 3, 2010|access-date=August 17, 2020|archive-date=October 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030204544/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/helter-skelter-racism-and_b_669109|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Jim|last=Beckerman|url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2019/08/09/charles-manson-murders-still-relevant-racism-50-years-later/1955164001/|title=Charles Manson: 50 years later, murders have racist link to recent mass-killings|newspaper=[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]|date=August 9, 2019|access-date=August 17, 2020|archive-date=January 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124221103/https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2019/08/09/charles-manson-murders-still-relevant-racism-50-years-later/1955164001/|url-status=live}}</ref> In late-1968, Manson adopted the term "[[Helter Skelter (scenario)|Helter Skelter]]", taken from [[Helter Skelter (song)|a song]] on [[the Beatles]]' recently released ''[[The Beatles (album)|White Album]]'', to refer to this upcoming war.{{sfn|Bugliosi|Gentry|1974|pp=244}}

=== Tate encounter ===
On March 23, 1969,<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}} Manson entered the grounds of [[10050 Cielo Drive]], which he had known as Melcher's residence. He was not invited.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|155–161}} As he approached the main house, Manson was met by Shahrokh Hatami, an Iranian photographer who had befriended film director [[Roman Polanski]] and his wife [[Sharon Tate]] during the making of the documentary ''[[Mia and Roman]]''. Hatami was there to photograph Tate before she departed for [[Rome]] the following day. Seeing Manson approach, Hatami had gone onto the front porch to ask him what he wanted.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}} Manson said that he was looking for Melcher, whose name Hatami did not recognize.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}} Hatami told him the place was the Polanski residence and then advised him to try the path to the guest house beyond the main house. Tate appeared behind Hatami in the house's front door and asked him who was calling. Hatami and Tate maintained their positions while Manson went back to the guest house without a word, returned to the front a minute or two later and left.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}}

That evening, Manson returned to the property and again went to the guest house. He entered the enclosed porch and spoke with Altobelli, the owner, who had just come out of the shower. Manson asked for Melcher, but Altobelli felt that Manson was instead looking for him. It was later discovered that Manson had apparently been to the property on earlier occasions after Melcher left.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233, 369–377}} Altobelli told Manson through the screen door that Melcher had moved to Malibu and said that he did not know his new address, although he did.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|226}}

Altobelli told Manson he was leaving the country the next day, and Manson said he would like to speak with him upon his return. Altobelli said that he would be gone for more than a year.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}} Manson said that he had been directed to the guest house by the persons in the main house; Altobelli asked Manson not to disturb his tenants.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}} Altobelli and Tate flew together to Rome the next day. Tate asked him whether "that creepy-looking guy" had gone to see him at the guest house the day before.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}}