Hinman:: There seems to be some confusion as to why Gary Hinman was killed. One story goes; Manson was under the impression that Gary had inherited a large some of money. He told Bobby Beausoleil, Mary Brunner, and Susan Atkins to go over to Hinman's and get the money and Gary was subsequently killed after he refused to give them anything.
           The other story, which Beausoleil himself never brought up in either of his two trials, was that Hinman had sold him some mescaline, which Bobby sold to some bikers that hung around Spahn's Movie Ranch. A day later the bikers returned claiming the mescaline was bogus and demanded a refund. So Beausoleil went over to Hinman's to get his money back.
           In an OUI magazine interview Bobby recalled, "I didn't go there with the intention of killing Gary. If I was going to kill him, I wouldn't have taken the girls. I was going there for one purpose only, which was to collect $1000 that I had already turned over to him, that didn't belong to me."
           When Hinman refused the group his money and car titles a three-day conflict began. During which time Manson himself came over and took his sword to the side of Gary's face, slicing up his ear.
           On the third day, Susan remembered, "Mary and I were in the kitchen. Bobby walked in and said quietly, "You two stay in here. I'm going to have to kill him."
           "I couldn't stop myself. I ran into the room. Gary was standing, holding his stomach, and Bobby clutched a knife."
           At one of his trials, Beausoleil stated that he hadn't killed Hinman, Manson had. But in the OUI interview he said Manson wasn't even there. "You see the Sheriff's Homicide Department wanted to get Manson involved in my case, which was very difficult because Manson was not involved." Beausoleil continued and said that Hinman was killed because "he told me that he was going to the police (and tell them) that I had come and assaulted him to get money from him. I had my back against the wall."

Copycat:: After Bobby Beausoleil was arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman the family began to panic. Susan Atkins remembers, "Instantly the atmosphere at Spahn's tightened even more. We figured it would be only hours before the police came down on us. But, additionally, we all were affected by Charlie's obsession with getting Bobby out of jail. Bobby had been driven by a need to prove himself as tough as Charlie, and now Charlie was possessed with the need to prove his loyalty to his 'brother.' To die for him if necessary."
           "Out of all the confusion and the mass of words, the constant use of drugs, came a vague sort of scheme to try to convince the police that Bobby could not have done the Hinman killing. It was a plan for "copycat murders" that would make the police believe they had the wrong man in jail."
           To this day Charles Manson states this as the true motive and that it was the others at the ranch that came up with the plan. However, this whole story is suspect because it didn't surface until after the murder convictions. It was first brought up in the penalty phase of the Tate/Labianca murder trial. A series of family members testified that not only had the murders been committed to get Bobby freed from jail. But that Linda Kasabian, the prosecution's star witness, had come up with the plan. Many years later some of those who testified admitted they had lied in an effort to exonerate Charlie.

Melcher:: Terry Melcher - the son of Doris Day - and his girlfriend Candice Bergen lived at 10050 Cielo Drive before Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. Terry had met Manson at a party at Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's house in Pacific Palisades. With time, Melcher's associate Greg Jakobson became fascinated with Charlie's philosophy and life style and began urging Terry to record him. Jakobson talked Melcher into coming down to Spahn's Movie Ranch to hear Manson and the girls play. After hearing them play once Terry returned to the ranch with a friend he thought might be interested in recording Manson and company.
           Jakobson recalled, "I think Terry showed some interest in the music, but there was nothing positive. There was never any, 'Yes, I will record you' talk going on. It was like that was the preliminaries and nothing ever came of it."
           Manson felt other wise. Tex Watson recollected, "Terry, Charlie told us, had made him some big promises and then never come through. Terry, Charlie said, didn't care about anything but money. Gradually, it seemed clearer and clearer, at least to us, that Terry Melcher was the one who had failed Charlie, who had led him along and then betrayed him, who had kept his music from the world."
           After dinner on August 8, 1969 Charlie took Tex aside. According to Watson Manson told him, "What I want…I want you to go to that house where Melcher used to live - [we knew that by now Terry had moved down to a beach house in Malibu] - I want you to take a couple of the girls I'll send with you and go down there…and totally destroy everyone in that house, as gruesome as you can."
           In Susan Atkins' December 1969 published confession she said, "The reason Charlie picked the house was to instill fear into Terry Melcher because Terry had given his word on a few things and never came through with them."
           A similar theory has been applied to the Labianca murder. Phil Kaufman - who Charlie befriended in Terminal Island prison before being released in 1967 - had connections to the music industry and was trying to help Manson get a break. Kaufman also used to hang out at the home of Harold True, who until September of 1968 lived on Waverly Drive next to the Labianca house. None of Kaufman's music industry connections panned out for Charlie and Phil suggested that one possible reason why Manson picked the Labianca house was to send him a message.

Drug Burn:: Almost immediately after the Tate murders were discovered police began investigating the possibility of a drug burn. This was based upon the small amount of drugs found on the property and some rumors that Wojciech Frykowski was getting involved with the distribution of a new drug known as MDA. Wild stories began snowballing in the tabloids and eventually leaked into more mainstream media outlets. However, other than hearsay and rumors there hasn't been any concrete evidence published over the years to suggest that Frykowski was actually dealing drugs.
           Though some family members were familiar with the property, no one has suggested that they knew any of the victims.
           In Susan's confession she recalled, "I had no idea who lived in the house when we were driving up there, not when we got there, and not after it was all over. I don't guess anyone else did either. Not Charlie, not Tex, no one. Not till the next day when it came over TV."
           This was confirmed by Watson, "[Manson] apparently didn't know who was living in the house or how many people we might find, but whoever and however many it was we were to kill them all…"
           During the penalty phase of the trial Susan and the others tried hard to exonerate Manson while at the same time blame it all on Linda Kasabain. In Susan's testimony she stated that Linda "told me to get a knife and a change of clothes…she said these people in Beverly Hills had burned her for $1,000 for some new drug, MDA.." The story was clearly a fabrication, but one must wonder why MDA came into it? Did she read about it in the newspaper or was there more to the story?

Helter Skelter:: The Helter Skelter motive is definitely a bizarre story and very hard to believe. While many reject it as a motive for the murders, no one can deny that Helter Skelter was something that the family talked about, a lot. There is loads of testimony from various family members that confirmed Manson talked about it constantly.
           Susan remembered, "Charlie obtained The Beatles' so-called White Album in late 1968. It had a tremendous impact on our lives, especially Charlie's. One night when many of us were playing records and listening to the album, Charlie said, "They're speaking to me."
           "Charlie was preaching constantly about the end of the world and the need to flee into the country, specifically the desert."
           Watson also recollected, "It was violent death, physical death that he meant when he told us that death was beautiful, because it was the thing people feared the most. Yet, he said, death was nothing but an illusion in the mind anyway, so killing a human being was merely destroying a fantasy. He kept repeating that the spirit, the soul, can never be killed; it is one and eternal - the illusion of physical death merely opens the resistant spirit to realization of its essential oneness with all that is."
           Did Manson and the family really believe in Helter Skelter? And was it the actual motive behind the murders? Who knows? Nonetheless, this was the motive presented at the trial and this is the motive that the convictions were based on. Read more about the Helter Skelter motive and the connections Manson made between the Bible and the White Album here.