History of Sorts

On the night of August 8, 1969, Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian were sent by Charlie to the old home of Terry Melcher at 10050 Cielo Drive. Their instructions were to kill everyone at the house and make it appear like Hinman’s murder, with words and symbols written in blood on the walls.

As Charlie Manson had said earlier in the day after choosing the group, “Now is the time for Helter Skelter.”

What the group did not know was that Terry Melcher was no longer residing in the home and that it was being rented by film director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate. Tate was two weeks away from giving birth and Polanski was delayed in London while  working on his film, The Day of the Dolphin. Because Sharon was so close to giving birth, the couple arranged for friends to stay with…