Helter-Skelter

The dictionary definition of helter-skelter is a “disorderly hurry, a confused and hasty action, or showing haste or confusion in a wild, disorderly way.” Charles Manson harbored the idea of “Helter-Skelter” as a motive and catalyst for his apocalyptic vision of social disintegration, which would end with a final war. He viewed the so-called Judgment Day, Armageddon, and Helter-Skelter as one and the same and looked on African Americans as the source of evil and destruction. Charles Manson believed that if wealthy Caucasians were murdered in larger numbers, this would precipitate a racial war initiated by outraged Caucasians and perpetuated by an angry, retaliatory African American population, with the final result being Helter-Skelter.

Charles Manson has been quoted as saying, “Blackie doesn't know how to do it unless Whitey shows him how first.” To ensure that the conflict would progress, he decided to mobilize his “family” to jump-start the process. Thus, Charles Manson and the members of the “Manson family” decided to set their plan in motion via the Tate/LaBianca murders in the summer of 1969.

The apocalyptic vision that Charles Manson entertained involved the ideation that once the African American population started Helter-Skelter, they would slaughter all Caucasians except himself and his family. They would be hiding out in a safe and secret location, deep in the earth in Death Valley, California. After a period of time, during which the African Americans ruled the Earth, he and his family would emerge from their hiding place. He would then “show Blackie that he has it all wrong, like he always has, and Blackie will see we're right and give it back over to us. Blackie will then take his place where he belongs, serving Whitey.”

[Page 217]Thus, Charles Manson had a grandiose delusion of world domination, like many other cult leaders and religious fanatics. He conceived this plan by distorting the lyrics of a Beatles song, “Helter-Skelter,” on their “White Album.” Manson was particularly fixated on that album and believed that the Beatles were sending him personal messages and directives for the future. Apparently, that particular song tied together some of the loose ends in Manson's mind. It provided the term he was looking for to describe his apocalyptic vision of Armageddon, his envisioned major race war, and the development of future society. Unlike many other cults and their leaders, Charles Manson and “family” did not commit suicide or force their homicides by law enforcement officers; they simply wound up in prison.

It is of interest to note that the idea of Helter-Skelter has been adopted by other offenders. For example, James Clayton Vaughan Jr. (a.k.a. Joseph Paul Franklin), another white supremacist, borrowed the notion from Charles Manson. However, Franklin viewed it differently. He believed that if he killed enough African Americans, other Caucasians would follow his example and take up the fight themselves. Through their notion of “Helter-Skelter,” both Charles Manson and Joseph Paul Franklin distorted reality, entertained bizarre fantasies, and were inspired by rhetoric of nihilistic chaos and neo-Nazism.

At a deeper level, Helter-Skelter was a facade for chaos. Manson, a man desperate to control everyone with whom he came in contact, was attracted to the idea of complete chaos from which he would emerge as the leader, the savior. This fantasy permeated his interactions with others. His drive to achieve his goal of Armageddon and ultimate chaos was rooted in a mind damaged by childhood trauma and crisis that left him with dark feelings of rejection, low self-esteem, and anger. Typical of people who feel impotent and have delusions of power and control, Manson found a raison d'être in pursuing his apocalyptic fantasy.

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