Beyond the Obvious: Five Solid Charles Manson Books

The new book on Charles Manson, Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson, is getting good reviews and strong word-of-mouth. It indicates there is still a lot of interest in the Manson case and crimes, perhaps more than had been considered before. The books are countless, some bad, some decent. The most well-known,  Helter Skelter, was a touristy, breathless exercise by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. But The Family by Ed Sanders is the test by which all Manson books should be judged.  I still check in with it a couple times a year. For completist readers of the Manson legend, though, here are five lesser-known books that will give your reading on the man a bit more depth.

Desert Shadows: A True Story of the Charles Manson Family in Death Valley by Bob Murphy (Sagebrush Press, 1993) Murphy is a former superintendant of Death Valley National Park and delivers a well-told book on the Family’s move to Death Valley after the murders, including the best account yet the arrest of several members, including Manson, at Barker Ranch in a remote part of the park.

Charles Manson: Music Mayhem Murder by Tommy Udo (Sanctuary, 2002) The factual errors are minor irritants when you look to this as the best tome yet on Manson’s connection to the Topanga Canyon music world in the late 60s. It’s also a solid primer on the relationship between Manson and Bobby Beausoleil, a skilled musician who did the soundtrack for Kenneth Anger’s movie, Lucifer Rising, after Jimmy Page flaked.  Includes both a discography and some lyrics.

The Garbage People: The Trip to Helter-Skelter and Beyond With Charlie Manson and the Family by John Gilmore and Ron Kenner (Omega Press, 1971) Re-released in 2000 as Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family, Gilmore interviewed Manson and other family members a number of times in 1969 and it shows in this thorough account. It’s an abbreviated walk through Family land, with details that most authors have missed. Photo section includes morgue shots that you’ve likely seen before but remain a little unsettling.

The Shadow over Santa Susana: Black Magic, Mind Control and the Manson Family Mythos by Adam Gorightly (Creation, 2009) Takes on the religious and, well, spiritual side of the Family, including explorations of connection to the Process Church of the Final Judgment and Scientology.  Shadow is the best exploration of mind control and conspiracies around the murderous ways of Manson.

Will You Die For Me? The Man Who Killed For Charles Manson Tells His Own Story, Tex Watson as told to Chaplain Ray (Fleming H. Revell Company, 1978) Watson was the hatchet man on the Big Night at Cielo Drive. He got religion pretty quick after being sentenced to death in late 1971, and while this book reflects Watson’s conversion, it’s also a brutal account of life in the Family, including a first person step-by-step of the murder at the Cielo house.  

Chasing Linkletter Ghost, Salvation and Manson Victim Eatery

Salvation Mountain

There’s some average Joe gag from decades ago about people being subjected to the movie reels or slide show from someone’s latest vacation. I always thought it was pretty cool, actually. Any time people go places is a good time, be they tourists or travelers.

I came back a few days ago from a trip that took me from Imperial Valley up to Death Valley. Naw, I won’t burden anyone with details of how great 117 degrees feels or how standing on a rock in the middle of Titus Canyon with no one within 25 miles feels incredibly liberating and alone.

I hit Salvation Mountain, a couple miles east of Niland, Calif., which is a hillside covered in a painted tribute to the faith of Leonard Knight. I visited the place in 1998 and talked with Knight for some time. I was just traveling then as now, no story or anything. Just wanted to get his deal. We talked about some hassles he was getting from some of the locals at Slab City, which begins about 100 yards south of Knight’s little compound, which is composed of a couple trailers and a lot of paint cans, along with the beaming hill.

Knight is now in a nursing home and he has a friend looking after the place. It’s still popular – the day I was there, at least a half dozen folks were poking around, climbing up the sides of the hill, checking out the art.

Slab City is just as compelling as Salvation Mountain. It’s a village of folks living off the grid in the middle of the desert. Some of them have solar panels now, which is a change from the last time I was there. There’s also a place for bands to play called the Range. It’s a stage with a little bar, and I’d say that any band wanting to shoot a cool-ass video and play for a crowd they would never encounter elsewhere, this would be the way to go. Haul the gear out there, bring some folks, stock the bar with $1 cans of beer, and have at it under the desert sky.

I spent the last couple days of my trip in LA, which is always fine and never long enough.  Had much tequila and beer at El Coyote, where Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Foster and Wojciech Frykowski dined before the Manson clan visited their place up the hill.

Where Diane Linkletter took a dive

One thing I also had to do in LA is check out the building that Diane Linkletter was supposed to have taken a dive from under the influence of LSD in 1969. Imagine my disappointment when I found out the cause of death was a ruse by her dad, talk show/wholesome entertainment icon Art Linkletter, to push an anti-drug agenda. The guy had a few burdens and I dug him when I was little, at a time that some entertainment figures were still pretty pure.  I’d say he was one of the good guys. And his daughter’s death came a couple months after the Manson slayings went down, so he was probably thinking he was doing some good by talking about acid being the cause and all. Still…I walked over to her apartments, Shoreham Towers, and grabbed a shot of the nameplate. For some reason, reading that she took a jump because she was depressed made me feel much worse than if it was just a lofty notion of flying on acid.