this is cielo drive, 40 years ago the summer of evil began. nestled high in benedict canyon in los angeles it's been home to many of hollywood a-list celebrities. hello. it was august, 1956 during a blistering heat wave close to midnight. three women and a man all around 20 years old crept up the driveway behind me

carrying ropes and guns on the order of charles manson there to unleash what they called helter skelter, slaughtering five people they didn't even know, shocking the world two. more brutal murders would take place the following night n less than 48 hours, los angeles is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. this is the chilling story of what happened to a beautiful young actress named sharon tate and six others at the hands of a twisted family of drug-crazed hippies. it's a story that has it all. sex, drugs rock and roll, movie stars and murder. >> we have a weird homicide. >> in a scene described as a weird religious reicht. >> police admit they had have no suspects in the bel air

massacre there were two more victims in silver lake. found by their children, stabbed and mutilated. >> sometimes, you can measure here overnight dramatically the sale of guns, guard dogs and ropes. >> it was a story uncaged around the country. it was shocking if you're not save in the home where are you safe? >> when the tate-labianca murders happened people started locking doors and stopped picking up hitchhikers. it brought the curtain down on the 60s. >> a nomadic band of hippies led by a career criminal named charles manson were later arrested for the tate-la bianca murders. >> you got it stuck in your

brain that i murdered someone. what do you want to call me a murderer for? i haven't killed anyone. i don't need to kill anyone. i think i i very here. >> the hippy dream was alive in spring, 1967. the counter cultures turned it back on straight society instead of embracing long hair, drugs and psychedelic music. the hippy mecca was the haigt-ash bury in san francisco. in search of utopia was an ex-connamed charles manson born out of wedlock to a teen-aged run away, manson never knew his father and spent most of his flif prison. >> i have.

>> this street is my world. >> when released from terminal island in march 1967 federal penitentiary out of long beach he was 32 years of age. 17 out of those 32 years had been spent in jails and prisons. look at the crimes committed, nonviolent. stealing from the mail. forging government check. taking a woman across state border for prostitution purposes. his background certainly was not the portrait of what one would expect of a few tour mass murderer. >> he got out of jail when haight-ashbury was in blossom. flower power was the word at that time. he got out and went to the haight and a young girl handed him a flower and said love.

and he thought gee things have changed. >> he he couldn't imagine in wildest imagination this type of life up there. he became kind of a self-styled guru. most kids in the haight were late teens early 20s he spoke to them in lines of prison jargon. street street rap. >> you got a circle, man lives inside of the kirk yism yismt -- circle. responsible for the circle this, circle only. >> he can sit down with a guitar in front of people, he can sing about the flies buzzing around or shirt on. this was impressive to these kids them were following him. >> he began to collect young people. >> school buses were popular

with hippies and before long, manson had this one. >> he went up and down the coast from san francisco to l.a. picking up youngsters, and forming what would brk his family. >> the life style was sex, orgies and lsd trips. first girl had a degree from university of wisconsin. >> the growing family included susan atkins from san jose, california. mansion had a penchant for nicknames. >> susan atkins had a troubled past than most of them. susan had a father who was an alcoholic and her mother, who she adord died very young. >> she didn't get along with her father and gravitated to san francisco and became a topless dancer and met manson at the haight. >> also, patricia kremwinkel. she once wanted to become a nun.

>> she was not a very attractive young would. she said he focused on her took her in another room told thor take off her clothes and look in the mirror to see how beautiful she was. you know? talk about telling people what they want to hear about themselves. he left the car there with paycheck in the glove compartment and never came back. >> the bus bound manson as flifd los angeles for a stay in early 1968. manson began hanging out on the sunset strip. >> the sunset strip was the hub of what is going on in the rock music wis is back after this in late 06s. the beginning of everything. where they had whiskey a go go and various clubs that came to symbolize the era. everybody was making it in the rock music business at that point. and manson got the idea he could took make it in the rock music business he was serious,

he want wanted to perform and be in the music business. >> a chance meeting with rock royalty got manson closer to the heat. drummer for the beach boys dennis wilson had it all. good looks, hit records and fast cars. cruising around los angeles wilson would often pick up hitchhikers sometimes bringing them back to his mansion on sunset boulevard. >> dennis wilson picked up two members of the manson family brought them back to his residents on sunset boulevard. dennis wilson. had sex with a run away, came back found his house overflowing with members of the manson family, including charlie. dennis called me and say come down here. there is a guy, and girls and a bus. it was late at night. said no. no. you've got to

listen to this guy. so i got my clothes on ask i came down. that is the first time i met charlie. there were a lot of girls, some guys everybody partying. it was night and it was fun. >> one of the other men was 22-year-old charles tex watson. a former rig salesman he picked up a hitchhiker on sunset boulevard. the beach boy invited him in. watson came face-to-face with his future, charles manson. >> he didn't have long hair and gruff look you can confuse him as a student at cornell boulevard. from farmersville texas an "a" average in high school. >> one of the sweetest guys i met. nice guy. drove a beautiful old pickup truck. and just a sweetheart. loved to -- just out for a good time. you know? party with the girls, go

swimming. >> for the family, live with the beach boy was pretty good but they were beginning to wear out their welcome. >> manson always hitting up wilson for money. they appropriated his wardrobe did a lot of damage to the house. the gonorrhea bill was the highest gonorrhea bill probably in beverly hills history. >> a continual party dennis was paying for everything. charlie and the girl woz just stay there. they didn't leave. he had to get out of there. >> greta: now, you hear how manson cleared the dance floor at whisky a go go fro

>> greta: in march, is the 19d 67 the month charles manson

was released from prison a beautiful 24-year-old actress named sharon tate began filming her fourth film "valley of the dolls". tate had small rolls in shows like like "mr. red" and "beverly hill billies" before starring in "eye of the devil". >> she was a so, so actress. she was stunningly beautiful. >> sharon was aware of the fact she was extremely beautiful but she didn't act as if she had an edge on anyone because that have physical beauty. >> she was just a regular person. and that made her even more attractive if that is possible. >> greta: while filming "eye

of the devil" she began dating roman polanski. >> "repulse" sort of made him an international super star, next big hit director z there is a lot of buzz about roman at the time he met sharon. >> greta: sharon remained friendly with her former boyfriend, jay sebring. >> before i entered hair business i made up i was going to do all i could to elevate the profession. >> i'm positive once sharon met roman that was it. >> greta: sharon and roman married in london in 196768. >> i think they were a fabulous match. roman is an interesting person one of the most brilliant people i have ever known. >> greta: roman and sharon settled in los angeles.

polanski continued work on his next film. >> greta: released in june, 1968, "reese mary's baby" was a success. >> catapulted roman to sort of the top of the ranks of directors around the world and at the time being married to sharon sort of became a very glamorous, very mod couple. >> they were very, very charming and romantic of the new hollywood. both were in love with the new way, this hollywood with the stars and kind of movies they were making. >> how do you feel about doing

nude scenes in a film. >> well, i feel if it's a real scene, honest scene, something where you strip naked to be doing naturally, making love, which is natural, taking a bath, you know? that is lovely. >> she was sweet. >> greta: while tate and polanski living the high life, dennis wilson decided to flee his home to get away from the manson family. >> greg i'm going on the road. he says can you get me out of here? i was -- movie. soy found another house down at beach. and moved out. that was the only way to get rid of the family. >> after the family left wilson's residents they moved to spawn ranch. >> greta: located 30 miles north of beverly hills in chatsworth california it was owned by 80-year-old george

span. the nearly blind spawn let the family live there in exchange for help at the run down ranch. he was a far cry from the sunset boulevard. >> it was dusty, dirty. there was, i mean, it lacked amenities. >> greta: greg jaimson used to visit charlie, tex and the girls. the mood was getting darker. >> one time charlie was fooling around with a gun and pointed it at me say what would you do if you pulled the trigger? i said i guess i would be dead. if you weren't afraid charlie lost a handle if i said oh put that down charlie would love it and continue on. with the skit. there was always a skit. >> greta: despite no longer living together wilson was trying to get manson a record deal. persuading a friend would worked with the raiders toon ma.

the son of doris day lived with his girlfriend in a house rented in benedict canyon, 1050 cielo drive. >> i don't think he found her interesting musicly speaking but he found the life style interesting. the girls and bus and ranch. >> greta: greg jacobsen will never forget night they app companied manson to a whiskey a go go on sunset boulevard. >> 40 years ago, same booth. charlie stepped away from the booth without us knowing. next thing we knew something was happening on the dance floor, charlie on the floor people were moving back clearing the dance floor for charlie. the electricity coming out of his hair and head. people were just dumb struck it was a spectacle. >> greta: dennis wilson hoped to arrange recording sessions. one of the songs recorded was this tune.

"cease to exist". this is the beach boys version. dennis changed the phrase to cease to resist when he and beach boys recorded the song in september, 1968 now called "never learn not to love". credited to dennis wilson manson got paid when the song was included on the beach boys 1969 album 2020. but learics change infuriated him he was livid. i don't want to put my name on it. you guys ruined it. after he saw that side where manson got angry about the changing of the learics never learn not to love there was a new side that he didn't see the peace, love and tie dye thing anymore. he was an angry young man.

>> greta: charles man onthinks beatles are singing to him on the album

in fall 1968 beatles released the white album. the album mesmerized charles manson. >> charlie felt the beatles were talking to him personally, interpreting it. >> greta: manson ranted about a looming race war. now, in twisted logic it had a name, helter skelter. >> the manson refered to the last final destructive are war

on the face of the earth. >> charlie believed there was going to be a revolution. the black against white. he told his family, look. black would win this war. but he said that blacky only know what whiteys told them to do. he said they have to turn over the reigns of power to people who survived helter skelter. >> greta: in the drug fueled rant manson said the only hope of survival was here, in death valley. 200 miles east of l.a. temperatures soared to 115 degrees in the summer. it was in, this surreal landscape manson claims they would find a bottomless pit. >> somehow, charlie was convinced they're going find this gateway this, hole in the ground and it's going to be a paradise. >> greta: back at spawn ranch manson convinced followers helt sker skelter was, quote,

coming down fast. >> he was the ruler of the family, the king. everyone else was slavishly obedient to him. >> greta: countless lsd trips convinced the family member that's manson was a second coming of christ. >> they would have these kids you know couples having sex on a given month saying change partners. >> he was a master of making people follow him. >> he asked katie said i want you to go down to argentina to get a coconut branch. fi know her she went down and brought back a coconut for him. >> one person not eager to do things for mans qlon was terry melder. >> terry appreciated charl yes

for what he was but not as a musician. terry had to give him the producer speech got talent but there is nothing i can do for you. charlie was bitter about that. >> melcher rejection undoubtedly increased manson's hostility towards establishment. >> he felt he was being abandoned so he was becoming more desperate and becoming more threatening. >> greta: when doris day offered her beach house to her son, he decided to vacate the house on cielo drive. the new tenant? roman polanski and sharon tape. the couple moved in in spring, 1969 before taking off to europe to work on film projects. >> her departure was very rushed. it was chaos. knowing that bit time she got back home, it would be just prior to her delivery. >> in summer 1969 she finished

filming, rush returning to the house at cielo in time to wacht moon landing with her mother and younger sisters. >> very hot. and she was extremely pregnant. and we all went into the master bedroom. pile nootd bed. i was at her beat feet. we watched the moon landing. that was the last time any of us saw her alive. >> greta: two nights of slaughter shocked the world. that is next on "summer of evil, the manson murders". news.

>> friday, august 8th, 1969. film director roman polanski was in london working on "the day of the dolphins". 5,000 miles away a sweltering los angeles blanketed by a brutal heat wave. at their benedict canyon home, polanski's eight and a half months pregnant wife was counting the date until the birth of their baby. >> august 8 i was supposed to go up there. sharon was miserable in the last stages of her pregnancy she says, can we do it another time? i said absolutely.

>> greta: sharon did have company her her two houseguests staying with her. 25-year-old coffee heiress abigail folger and her boyfriend. >> sharon abigail and jay all went out to dinner that night. >> greta: the four came here too el coyote mexican restaurant. unbee known is the to them this would be their last meal. >> left a little after 10, 10:30 got back to cielo. >> a sinister plan was being hatched by manson at spawn ranch. >> told his family we can ignite helter skelter start the war between blacks and whites committing murders our self autos manson told watson to go up to the house at 1050

cielo drive and kill everybody there. >> why that house? >> the house was a symbol. didn't matter who is in there. it was striking out at something that melceher had been attached to. >> he knew he was no longer driving -- living there. >> greta: joining them on the mission of murder was a recent addition to the family 19-year-old linda kasabian. >> linda kasabian was a run away, left home traveling around the country. she wound up at the manson spawn ranch. >> just getting ready to leave. and charlie came out and said, you girls know the sign.

you know what i mean. >> greta: in her only television interview linda kasabian told steve dunleavy about the savagery. >> tex had rope. and wire cutters. and he climbed up on l and started going around the enbankment. after we got over to the other side, started going towards them. >> the care taker started driving towards the gate must have been terrified out of his mind pechl in black climbing over the gate at midnight. pulled the car to a stop said don't hurt me. i won't say anything. >> a delivery boy 18-year-old steven parent just graduated from high school. >> he was shot four times two, times in the face and a couple

times in the chest. >> greta: in the house on the hill nobody heard a thing. >> abigail was reading a book. voccheck napped on the couch, sharon and jay in the bedroom talking. >> i was told to stay and watch. >> they went into the house, rounded up sharon and jay, abigail folger from her bedroom. tex walked in entered the living room he said where are you? he said i'm the devil. >> i started hearing screaming. loud screaming. >> when jay sebring tried to stop tex watson from man handling sharon, tex shot him. he managed to get to the front door as susan atkins slashed

his leg was a knife. >> i started walking towards the house. and next thing i know, a man comes stumbling out of the house. covered in blood. and falls down and tex starts stabbing him. >> do you remember what is going through your mind you see tex stabbing the man? >> you realize charlie was definitely the devil. >> frytowski having been stabbed 51 times, bludgeoned with a gun, shot twice. >> in the background i see a white figure of a lady in a night gown. her shirt was on. >> abigail folger died after being stabbed 28 times. the killers then turned their attention to a terrified sharon tate. >> sharon was the last to die.

she was left alone in the living room. begging had pleading and crying for her life, the life of her unborne child. >> susan atkins told poor sharon, look bitch i zront mercy on you. you're going to die. >> tate stabbed 16 times in the chest and back. following manson's orders susan atkins used sharon tate's blood to scrawl the word "pig" on the front door, then, the killers fled. at 8:00 a.m. next morning the polanski made arrived for work. then 15 years old, jim was warming up the family car when the maid came running down the street. >> she was shaken, blood, bood bodys, just screaming. i made a phone call. >> almost unbelievable it was

like a slaughter house. >> the lieutenant in charge of the investigation in a 1990 interview recalled a search for a motive. >> started to turn up small quantities of narcotics. some cocaine. sou think up a drug connection. >> 16-year-old deborah tate was in the shower her mother rushed into the bedroom. >> mother flung the shower door open and said sharon is dead. i am fighting the shower door back what are you talking about? she collapsed. >> that morning police took into custody the care taken, william garrison. >> he was the chief suspect. >> he wasn't the chief suspect there. was no blood in his quarters. whoever did this had to be covered in blood themselves. >> as lapd scoured cielo drive, manson decided there would be another night of murder. this time? he went along.

behind me on this home on waverly drive, the manson family struck again, butchering leno and rosemary la bianca. >> they were looking for victims at random in los angeles. they stopped in front of the home of the la biancas. she had -- they had been in the area before because a friend next door was a friend of the family. >> the 44-year-old was the head of gateway markets. he and his 38-year-old wife just returned from a weekend of boating manson slipped into their home. >> n convinced lieno if he cooperate nod harm would come. tied his hands behind his back then sent his killers in. >> this time, watson and kremwinkel joined by leslie van patten.

>> she has been home coming queen in her town she fell in with a young man got her on to drugs and brought her to spawn ranch. >> three slaughtered couples. the knife jabbed into a throat. the word "whore" carved into his stomach. rosemary stabbed 41 times. a misspelled helter skelter scribbled on the walls in the victim's blood. >> total the two nights of savagery. seven dead bodies no speekts my feeling is that constant murders there is no way of connecting people, people didn't run in same circles they didn't know each other. >> greta: august 10th

dr. thomas noguchi conducted autopsy autos only time in the career i walked out of an autopsy room when the doctor cut sharon tate's stomach open and removed that baby. i just had chills up and down my spine. i just turned around and walked out. >> a jail house confession breaks

august, 1969. no suspect, no motive the murders had the city of angels paralyzed with fear. >> everybody felt they might be next. >> almost as if los angeles was having a nervous breakdown roo at spawn ranch deputies came looking for charles manson but it had nothing to do with murder. >> property owners around span ranch were complaining about the hippy-type people driving their dune buggies on the private property. >> the deputy sheriffs surrounded this ranch. >> a huge stockpile of firearms and stolen vehicles i'm sure they felt were being arrested for murder. >> the leader was had where to be found. >> manson hiding on the property. he refused to come out. he was forcefully removed.

>> greta: when the district attorney decided there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute the group was released from jail. manson decided staying at spawn was getting too risky. >> charlie talked about going to the desert. great idea go out to death valley. that society is perfect for you. there is no society in death valley. >> the year the at ranch were very, very difficult. >> it's a miracle they got out here. >> greta: the family moved here to barker ranch built in 19 30s in rugged and december yolit area of death valley. you're looking at the last footage of the ranch before being gutted by a fire in may, 2009. >> charlie wasn't very impressive to carl and i. >> pictured here with manson. >> he was trying to talk religion about carl about the

book of revel yaigs. that didn't go far. >> greta: the family was splintering, linda kasabian returned home to new hampshire. tex watson decided to bolt barker ranch heading back to texas. >> tex is the only one i was ever sus spishus of ta. butcher boy. >> the other members of the family remained with manson at the ranch. >> it was like living at spawn ranch. it was different, too. it was darker it and was more desperate. you can feel tension. >> racing through the desert in stolen dune buggies he dreamed of recreating the days of desert corps. a patrolman began to take a look at the family. >> our interest in the group was as a group of hippies with a stolen car ring.

no knowledge this was a group from the los angeles crimes. >> greta: a park ranger made a visit to barker ranch encountering a group of scruffy young women. >> manner of dress from nude to clothed. the gal who later identified as told her they were girl scouts from the bay area. >> interviewing locals he began to hear wild tells of drug use, sex orgys and a leader who thought he was jesus christ. in early october it was confirmed the group was in possession of stolen vehicle autos we hiked into the barker ranch area, took up positions around the cabin yin waiting for everybody to get in place. >> greta: 17 family members were arrested but manson nowhere in sight two. days later he was spotted entering the cabin. >> i went into the back door, shoved the door o -- open.

i see seven people in the room. i directed each out. >> greta: once again, manson seemed to have vanished. >> sink tiny cup board, long hair hanging out. this figure emerged from this tiny cup board. i asked who he was. he said, charles manson. charlie was booked in as manson, charlie m, aka jesus christ, aka, god. >> greta: here on this corner outside of the now abandoned hall of justice the manson girls went on a freak show during the trial. there's a new way to buy a car. it's called truecar. and truecar users... save time and money. so when you're... ready to buy a car, make sure you... never overpay. visit truecar.com today.

>> greta: november, 19699. charles manson and the family being tied to a string of murders from her cell, this manson girl started talking about susan atkins being a killer. the victim? a victim who had been stabbed to death before the tate la bianca murders. suddenly everything came crashing down. >> she told these two inmates of hers the family was responsible for the tate-la bianca murders one. girls called lapd with a dime on the pay phone and broke the case. >> the persons for whom warrants have been issued are charles d watson, patricia kremwinkel and linda kasabian. >> one week after at announcement charles man onand followers charged with several counts of murder.

>> just average american girls. shocked the country. never associate violence and murders. >> not committed to nonviolence in any way. >> if killing dz not go unnoticed dorn said her weather man digged charles manson. weatherman said the group adopted a four finger salute. 24, july, 19706789 manson, atkins, kremwinkel and van hatten went on trial in downtown l.a.. >> problem manson not physically at the scene participating in murders two main pieces of evidence i used to connect manson was motive and domination over the family. >> tex watson was still fighting extradition to california. in l.a. a cleaned up linda kasabian became a star witness for prosecution.

>> she was so necessary as a witness, kasabian given full immunity. every prosecutor said you don't find witnesses to a crime and tell. >> the trial was almost as bizarre as the murder. >> manson leapt across the tw screamed someone should cut your head off old man. he held up a newspaper said manson guilty. the women did whatever he told them to do. >> they carved x's in their fareheads. manson changed his into a swas sticka. outside of the court house, the circus never ended. here, manson girls staged a call fwor freedom. >> they were like creatures from outer space. >> i remember most is his eyes. staring at me as i

received -- testified. dark, cursing evil eyes. >> rumors ran wild when one lawyer disappeared four months into the trial. >> hughes goes up to the hot springs area of ventura county. the court reconvenes and hughes did not show up. they said my god. i just wonder if the family -- . >> from what anyone could disern a flash flood came away and washed him away. >> january, 1971 it took the jury seven days to reach the verdict. >> the jury could only come to one verdict, guilty. >> greta: four sentenced to death on march 29th, 1971 in october, tex watson was also convicted for the murders and sentenced to death. >> that year, 1972 california and u.s. supreme court ruled

that the death penalty was unconstitutional and everyone on death row in the country sen tenses were reduced from death to life. >> atkins died of cancer in september, 2009. the rest remain behind bars. >> i don't harbor hate for them. i wish them the best. they've been controlled environment situation. >> manson member squeaky chrome tried assassinate president ford after serving 30 years, she was released in 2009. after 40 years the public's fascination with the saga has yet to wane. >> they say how could this have happened. >> it is unbelievable. >> the weirdest concepts. it seems fiction. just too far out.

>> greta: a wide eyed charles manson but the recent total says it all. he's just another gray haired career criminal living on his last days of his wasted life in prison.

good night.stern, and on the wet coast, red eye. >> tonight, on huckabee. tonight on "huckabee" -- >> we should be doing everything we can as a country to create more good jobs that pay good wages, period. >> the president talks a good talk but what's the truth about today's job market. >> i have been long-term unemployed for four years. >> this is the first time. >> hundred resumes and one interview. >> i work two pilot jobs. >> it's depressing and it's defeating and it's humiliating. >> tonight the real unemployment numbers and the real stories behind them. and -- >> having the freedom to start your own business because you will know you