A Glimpse Into the Mind of a Madman

9 Pages 2362 Words

his ways of thinking. Manson and
his followers moved around from street to street until Manson conned an old man into
letting them stay on his property, the infamous Spahn Ranch. The old man was promised
that all of his sexual needs would be taken care of by Squeaky Fromme, one of Manson's
followers who would later be imprisoned for attempting to assassinate President Gerald
Ford (Bardsley).
It was while living on this ranch that Manson preached his philosophy to his
brainwashed followers. His plan was to start a race war in which the blacks would
overthrow the whites and kill them all. Manson and his followers, however, would
survive this war because they would be hiding in a cave under Death Valley. When the
blacks gained power they would be unable to rule and Manson and his followers, which
he thought would have grown to a population of 144,000 by this time, would emerge
from "the bottomless pit" as he called it and rule the world. Manson felt that the Beatles
sending him these messages through their White Album. The song Helter Skelter, which
Manson adopted as the name for his doctrine, was actually about a British slide, kind of
like a roller coaster. Manson however, felt that it was a secret message to him to start a
race war (Foster).
Another song on the Album, Revolution had a special meaning to Manson. He
felt that it told of the impending disaster. He also tied it to the book of Revelation in the
Bible, which deals with prophecy and apocalypse. Since Revolution was track number
nine on the album, Manson focused on Revelation 9. One verse linking the Beatles to his
philosophy according Manson was the verse which states "Out of the smoke, locusts upon
the Earth; and unto them was given power." Locusts are a type of beetle, which Manson
interpreted to be the Beatles. The book also speaks of "angels with breastplates of fire."
Manson saw this as the Beatles with their electric guitars. ...