Remember Them

What people remember most about the occupants of Cielo Drive on August 9th 1969 is their brutal end, and their status as victims.  But a life shouldn't be remembered only by its end.  Sharon Tate was an up and coming actress who was legitimately considered one of the nicest people you would ever meet. Jay Sebring revolutionized men's hair care and achieved fame of his own - he guest starred on Batman as a character modeled after himself 'Jay Oceanbring.' Abagail Folger, despite being the heiress to the coffee fortune, was a social worker in the slums of Los Angeles. Wojciech Frykowski survived the occupation of WWII Poland, and the subsequent communist takeover, and helped kickstart the career of Roman Polanski by financing one of his first films. Steven Parent had dreams of college and had overcome legal problems in his youth. Like every victim, they were so much more than a statistic, so much more than a body on the ground.  They deserved better.  They didn't have the chance to live on; let's make sure at least  their memory does. RIP. 

A Timeline to Tragedy - pt 2

At this moment 50 years ago (1145pm PT) 18 year old Steven Parent entered the Cielo Dr property after getting off work at his 2nd job.  Some weeks earlier he'd given a ride to the property caretaker, and while he wasn't expected this night, Steven took the opportunity to stop by and say hello to him. He and the caretaker enjoyed a beer, and Steven, an electronics fan, unsuccessfully tried to sell the caretaker a Sony Digimatic alarm clock. 

As the calendar flipped to August 9th on Cielo Drive, Frykowski was asleep on the living room couch; Folger was reading in bed and had booked a 10am flight to visit her mother; 8 month pregnant Tate and celebrity hairdresser Sebring sat talking on her bed. And outside the main gate, Manson disciple Tex Watson was about to climb a telephone pole and cut the wires to the house. . .

At 1215am PT, Steven Parent used the caretaker's phone to call a friend and tell him he'd be stopping by shortly. He said goodbye and started his car. As he drove toward the main gate he was stopped and approached by Watson. Four shots followed, ending the young man's life. Although neighbor's later claimed to have heard the shots (and went back to bed) they apparently went unnoticed by the residents of the property. Moving past the body in the car, the four killers approached the house. .

At around 1220am PT 50 years ago Watson cut a window screen and entered the home, then unlocked the front door to admit Atkins and Krenwinkel, leaving Linda Kasabian outside as a lookout. Watson woke Fykowski with a kick to the head and announced that he was the devil, there "to do the devil's business.' The two women went down the hall to collect the others; Folger initially waved to one of the killers, believing her to be just another guest of Sharon's. The killer cheerfully waved back.

At about this time 50 years ago (1230AM PT) the four friends were forced into the living room. A rope was tied around both Sebring and Tate's necks and tossed over a rafter. Sebring objected to the treatment of the pregnant Tate; for his efforts Watson calmly shot him, leaving him to bleed out on the rug....

With Sebring dying chaos erupted. Realizing this was no mere robbery Frykowski escaped his bonds and grappled with Atkins. Despite stabbing him repeatedly in the legs she was losing and appealed to Watson for help. Eventually Wojciech would make it as far as the lawn before succumbing; it took multiple gunshots, 13 verifiable blows to the head, and 51 stab wounds to kill the Pole. The head injuries came from the pistol Watson carried, whose grip broke during the struggle, leaving behind a vital piece of evidence.

Meanwhile Folger attacked Krinwinkel and despite a stab wound escaped out the pool door in Sharon's room. She was overtaken on the lawn and stabbed to death as she pled for them to stop, saying she was "already dead.". In the morning the police would initially think her white nightgown was red, given the amount of blood it bore.

Tate died last, unable to flee because of the rope and the pregnancy. She begged to be kept a hostage long enough to have her baby; instead she died brutally near Sebring, calling out for her mother. Susan Atkins dipped a towel in her blood and wrote PIG on the door, then casually tossed the towel back into the living room. It landed on Sebrings face, erroneously creating a rumor the victims were hooded. By 1245, if not sooner, it was done.

A Timeline to Tragedy

50 yrs ago, at roughly this moment, Jay Sebring, Sharon Tate, Abagail Folger, and Wojciech Frykowski arrived for an 8pm (PT) reservation at the El Coyote Cafe. It was a busy Friday night, and the quartet waited in the bar 15 minutes before being seated in their booth. It was to be their final meal.

The 4 friends finished their meal and departed for Tate's home at 10050 Ceilio Dr.  Although they didn't realize it, Charlie Manson had visited the address on March 23rd, looking for the previous tenant, and had seen Tate. By the time the group finished dining on Aug 8th, Manson had ordered the occupants of the home executed.

39 Years Later - Sharon Tate and the Adoration of Evil

              

Today is the 39th anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate and her friends (Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, and the visiting Steven Parent) at the hands of the Manson family. Sharon was a truly beautiful woman - breathtaking, in a literal sense - and was weeks away from giving birth to a son when she was killed.

                                 

(above) Sharon, taken on the day before her murder

What's really a shame is that Manson continues to be a cult figure ala fellow murderer Che Guevara. Do a search on the murders and you'll find three sites that glorify Manson and his minions to every one that mourns Tate. One page not only quoted the killers and said  'I love that quote!' [emphasis theirs] but offers for sale pieces of the fireplace from the room in which she died. *

I will repeat what I wrote here once upon a time. Quit celebrating these monsters. Render them 'John Doe' or 'Mr. X' while repeating the tales. We don't disclose the names of rape victims or juvenile offenders, the former largely by journalistic discretion; why not deny killers their chance at fame by doing the same?

Study them, write about them, make your morbid money, whatever; just do it while severing their names from history.

One last thing. I've always held it against Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) that he chose to live in the infamous murder house. After reading the following I've changed my mind and have much more respect for the man.

While I was working on Downward Spiral, I was living in the house where Sharon Tate was killed. Then one day I met her sister. It was a random thing, just a brief encounter. And she said: 'Are you exploiting my sister's death by living in her house? 'For the first time, the whole thing kind of slapped me in the face. I said, 'No, it's just sort of my own interest in American folklore. I'm in this place where a weird part of history occurred. ' I guess it never really struck me before, but it did then. She lost her sister from a senseless, ignorant situation that I don't want to support. When she was talking to me, I realized for the first time, 'What if it was my sister?' I thought, 'Fuck Charlie Manson.' I went home and cried that night. It made me see there's another side to things, you know?

• Trent Reznor

* I refuse to link to the site; find it on your own if you wish