Helter Skelter

“It's not my conspiracy. It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says, 'Rise!' It says 'Kill!' Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music. I am not the person who projected it into your social consciousness.”
—Charles Manson, on trial for mass-murder, 1970

Of all the Beatles Conspiracies, it is Helter Skelter that is, in my humble opinion, the most disturbing and haunting of all. It may be because this conspiracy is more fact than theory; it may be because innocent people were not only killed, but brutally slaughtered. It may be because this all happened as a result of the infamous Charles Manson’s delusional insanity, and his unfortunate interpretations of The Beatles’ music.

The War in His Head

In the late 60’s, Charles Manson, a wayward and maladaptive man, was obsessed with two things: the Bible and The Beatles. Easily able to recite verses from the Bible’s book of Revelation, he preached to his “family” of impressionable drug-induced followers that a type of Armageddon was about to ensue. The long-oppressed black man, he claimed, was going to rise up and wreak havoc on the white man, starting a holocaust in which all whites would be murdered in the name of racial revenge. A state of absolute chaos was near, and Manson and his followers would be the only whites to survive it. According to Manson’s plan, the “family” would seek refuge in a cave underneath Death Valley, California during the war, and would emerge as the last whites, the last of the “superior race” when the war ended. The Manson Family would then overthrow the blacks and take over the nation.  

Lyrical Prophesies

In 1968, Manson’s maniacal beliefs were intensified even further when the Beatles released “The White Album,” which featured the song, “Helter Skelter.” “Helter Skelter,” along with other songs such as “Revolution 1,” “Revolution 9,” “Piggies,” “Honey Pie,” and even the sweet, light-hearted tunes of “Blackbird” and “I Will” were, in Manson’s mind, lyrical prophecies confirming the devastation and chaos that he had predicted was yet to come.  He convinced himself and his followers that The Beatles were the four angels described in the book of Revelation, and that he himself was the fifth angel. Manson was sure that together, the five angels would ignite the racial revolution.

The Manson Murders

Manson, who regarded himself a prophet, had predicted that the murders would begin in the summer of 1969. When they did not, however, Manson took his queue. On the night of August 8, 1969, he instructed four of his “family” members to drive to a house addressed 10050 Cielo Drive, and kill everyone inside. After dropping acid, the four did just that, brutally massacring the seven people inside, including actress, Sharon Tate, and her unborn baby, with whom she was eight months pregnant. Before leaving that night, the murderers used her blood to write the word “Pig” on the front door of the house. As if that were not enough, the next night, Manson himself, along with three of his willing cohorts, would take the lives of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Mr. LaBianca was found with the word “war” slashed across his abdomen and a fork stuck protruding from his throat. The words “rise” and “death to pigs” were scrawled on the walls in blood, and the misspelled song title of “Healter Skelter” could be read across the door of the refrigerator, also in blood.

  It wasn’t until October 12^th that Manson and his followers were arrested for these heinous crimes. When they appeared before the court, it took twenty minutes for the grand jury to convict them of murder and sentence them to life in prison.

Lyrical Interpretations show us what some Beatles songs from "The White Album" actually meant to Manson and his cult

a clip from the film "Helter Skelter"

The Real Helter Skelter

            So did Paul McCartney write “Helter Skelter” with the book of Revelation in mind, signaling Charles Manson to spark a racial holocaust of absolute chaos? According to the Beatles, no. This is what they had to say about it:

“The Who had made some track that was the loudest, the most raucous rock 'n' roll, the dirtiest thing they'd ever done. It made me think, "Right. Got to do it." I like that kind of geeking up. And we decided to do the loudest, nastiest, sweatiest rock number we could.”

—Paul McCartney, 1985 “Charles Manson interpreted that Helter Skelter was something to to with the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. I still don't know what all that stuff is; it's from the Bible, Revelation - I haven't read it so I wouldn't know. But he interpreted the whole thing - that we were the four horsemen, Helter Skelter was the song - and arrived at having to go out and kill everyone.” —Paul McCartney, Anthology  “That's Paul completely. All that [Charles] Manson stuff was built 'round George's song about pigs and this one... Paul's song about an English fairground. It has nothing to do with anything and, least of all, to do with me.” —John Lennon, 1980 “We used to have a laugh about this, that or the other, in a light-hearted way, and some intellectual would read us, some symbolic youth generation wants to see something in it. We also took seriously some parts of the role, but I don't know what Helter Skelter has to do with knifing someone. I've never listened to it properly, it was just a noise.” —John Lennon, Rolling Stone, 1970 “When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride Till I get to the bottom and I see you again. Do, don't you want me to love you I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you Tell me, tell me, tell me, come on tell me the answer You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer. Helter skelter, helter skelter Helter skelter. Will you, won't you want me to make you I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer. Look out Helter skelter, helter skelter Helter skelter. Look out 'cause here she comes. When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride Till I get to the bottom and I see you again. Well do you, don't you want me to love you I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer. Look out Helter skelter, helter skelter Helter skelter. Look out helter skelter She's coming down fast. Yes she is. Yes she is”