HELTER SKELTER - In the late sixties, Playboy magazine published an article with photos predicting: "This is the year that Sharon Tate happens ..." She had already appeared in The Fearless Vampire Killers. Also, she’d appeared in the film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann’s first novel, Valley of the Dolls. She’d gone on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in this movie. Married to Roman Polanski, her director in Vampire Killers, Sharon was close to her son’s delivery date. She was in-between projects in LA, another one of her films had just wrapped, The Thirteen Chairs co-starring Orson Welles. Waiting for her husband’s return from filming, she spent an evening with friends after dining out at her favorite restaurant. Yet, that awful night, her young life was about to be cut short. Sharon Tate was murdered, along with four others, by the Charles Manson family. The murders included Steven Parent, deceased in his parked car on the driveway. Along with Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger, found dead on the front lawn. Sharon Tate’s neck was tied with rope to Jay Sebring’s and they were found in the living room. Sharon had been stabbed sixteen times and died along with her unborn son. Recounting the events leading up to the murders, the true crime book entitled Helter Skelter detailed what happened. Charles Manson and his cult devotees, also known as The Family, committed the heinous crime as part of their vision of apocalypse, war, and violence. He drew his references from Beatles music and the Book of Revelations. Manson and his followers were successfully prosecuted and found guilty as part of their scheme to trigger Helter Skelter.
