The Tate-LaBianca Homicide Research Blog

Book Club Discussion #5
Ed Sanders, "The Family", Pages 84-97.

In the fall of 1968, Charlie decided to go to “Grandma’s Place” in Death Valley. He learned of the ranch from Cathy Myers, a/k/a Cathy Gillies, a/k/a Patty Sue Jardin. They drove to Trona, then drove north 20 miles on Highway 28 to Ballarat, home of Lynyrd’s General store. HA HA.
 
Barker ranch is made up of 2 small cabins, and a large main ranch building. Further east, is the Myers Ranch, which is a well-kept series of buildings, including the ranch house, a trailer and several outbuildings. There was a well-watered garden with fruits & vegetables, watered by a spring shafted into the hillside. They stayed a couple of days at Myers Ranch, but were unable to get permission to stay longer, so they had to retreat to Barker’s Ranch.
 
A man named Ballarat Bob was the generally caretaker of Barker’s, and he discovered the nude hippies crashing at his pad, but evidently could do nothing about it.  The main Barker Ranch is an L-shaped building with a kitchen, which included a stove and refrigerator. There was no electricity, so they had to use a generator for power. In Bob’s bedroom was a pile of mattresses, which accommodated all the bodies.
 
Manson became friends with the miners in the area with his constant stash of drugs. He learned of the Hopi Indian legend of the underground hole. Manson decided that the hole was an underground city where he and his family could go to escape the upcoming Armageddon he was now preaching. The family regularly went on missions to find the hole. Manson was convinced that one entrance to the hole was thru the Devil’s Hole. Manson convinced himself, that if the water was pumped out of the hole, he could gain access to it. According to Sanders, he consulted a pumping company who quoted him $33,000 to pump it out.
 
Around this time, Manson had his famous “death valley death scene”. He said he was walking in the desert and had a revelation. He had walked so far his tongue was swollen and he knew he was going to die. Then he decided that it was all really funny, laughed insanely, felt better and walked 10 miles to safety.  Manson developed a great fondness for the coyote, and developed a state of mind “coyotenoia”.
 
On December 8, 1968, Capitol Records released the Beach Boys’ single, “Bluebirds over the Mountain” and on the flip side was “Never Learn Not to Love (Cease to Exist)”. On December 7, 1968, Capitol Records released the “White Album” by the Beatles. Manson started listening to the White Album and was convinced that The Beatles were speaking to him through their music.
 
In early December 1968, Charlie sent Bruce Davis to England, to live with the Scientologists and study. He also gained employment with them.
 
Sanders says that Manson’s son, Mark, was killed by a shotgun blast during a knife fight, which occurred right before Manson was sentenced to death row.
 
[There are several paragraphs regarding devil worship and cults, which I won’t go into in this narrative, since we’ve discussed it before at great length. Anyone of you is welcome to read up on it and discuss it if you choose.]
 
Now we’re being introduced to Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski. Roman & Voytek met while Roman was attending the film school in Lodz, Poland. Frykowski had a degree in chemistry. I believe that Voytek’s father had helped Roman out financially, on some of his early projects, and, as such, he felt “obligated” toward Voytek.
 
Voytek was married twice, and had a son named Bartek. In the latter part of 1967, Frykowski moved to Paris. In early 1968, he then moved to New York City. In January of 1968, he met Abigail Folger, a San Francisco heiress/socialite who was a Radcliffe graduate and an accomplished pianist. She also had interests in art and painting. Her personal annual income was around $130,000/year, which was a WHOLE lot of money in 1968.
 
Folger met Frykowski thru her friend Jerzy Kosinski. Folger & Frykowski were both fluent in French, and she undertook the daunting task of helping him learn English. In the fall of 1968, Folger & Frykowski drove a “Drive-A-Car” to the West Coast, settling at 2447 Woodstock in Los Angeles, located off Mulholland in the Hollywood Hills. Across the street on Mulholland was Cass Elliot.
 
Miss Folger was very involved in social issues. Even though she was wealthy enough to not even have to work, she volunteered her time with the LA County Welfare Department from the fall of 1968 until March 31, 1969.
 
According to Sanders, Folger and Frykowski not only mingled with Hollywood types through Roman and Sharon, they also acquired friends of their own, including acquaintances of Charles Manson and family. I’m assuming he’s talking about the drug party connection. He doesn’t mention specifically that they hung out at Cass’s pad.
 
Folger met Jay Sebring through Sharon, and invested in his hair empire. She agreed to purchase around $3,500 worth of stock in Sebring International.
 
Back to Charlie: In December of 1968, Charlie and 3 girls drove to an exclusive dude ranch near Reno, NV where they spent 2 weeks as guests of Charlene Cafritz, whom Manson had met at Wilson’s pad. Mrs. Cafritz was getting a divorce in Reno. Charlene evidently got lots of money from her divorce, and being enamored by Charlie, spent most of it on him, buying him certain items that he gave away.
 
According to Sanders, Mrs. Cafritz took several motion pictures of Charles & his family, which no one wants to discuss. She was also friends with Sharon Tate and Terry Melcher.
 
It seems that there is confusion as to where the family was living in late 1968 and early 1969. Some were in Death Valley, some in Topanga Canyon, some in Laurel Canyon in a log cabin house once owned by Tom Mix.
 
Manson reportedly attended a New Year’s Eve party at the home of John & Michelle Phillips, which I’m assuming took place December 31, 1968.
 
On January 1, 1969, the body of Marina Elizabeth Habe was found in thick underbrush off Mulholland Drive. She had contusions in the eyes, slashes in the throat and heart, burns inflicted, raped, nude except for one shoe. According to one former family associate, Marina Habe was known by the members of the Manson Family.

Thanks Katie!!!  Great Job!