Did Manson believe this Helter Skelter Philosophy, or was he just into controlling people?
Yeah, he believed it, but we also let him control us. Remember, I ran from Manson on December 1, 1968, the day we listened to the White Album together. That day he began to formulate part of his philosophy from the Beatles, because to him their music confirmed his black-white revolution theory. For the next three months, while I was away, he persuaded the hard-core family members with this madness. So much so, that when I was drawn back to the family at the end of February, all they could talk about was Helter Skelter coming down fast. To them, I was ignorant and blind and had a lot of catching up to do. I didn’t know what they were talking about. My head was spinning from all this new insight. Not only did Manson believe his philosophy with strong conviction, but also he took pride in it. He didn’t tell us where he was borrowing it from, but to him the Beatles were confirming all he believed. Others believe he was a false prophet, “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up an
