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Small spoiler warning for the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It has a way happier ending than what really took place when members of the “Manson Family” murdered five people, including very pregnant actress Sharon Tate. Had Tarantino’s vision been reality, there would have been no murders that night, or the following night.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: August 9, 1969--
What happened in the early morning hours of August 9, 1969, is well known; much less is known about the murders of the following night.
Cult leader Charles Manson, who wasn’t there on August 9, thought his followers had done a shit job of the Tate murders; he was apparently displeased with how panicked the massacre had been. And so, he led them the next night “to show them how to do it.”
He took the murderers from the previous evening, plus two other members of his fucked-up cult. The location chosen was fairly random. Manson had attended a house party on Waverly Drive the previous year and took them to the house next door. Inside were Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, owners of a grocery store chain. Their 16-year-old son Frank was supposed to be with them, but at the last minute had asked to stay with his friends an extra night at Lake Isabella.
The news of the grisly Tate killings was all over Los Angeles, but the LaBiancas likely never imagined they could be next. Manson and his followers entered the home through an unlocked back door. Rosemary was already in bed; Leno dozed in a recliner in the living room; he was awakened when Manson shoved a gun in his face.
Manson brought Rosemary out from their bedroom and demanded all their cash, promising them they wouldn’t be harmed. The murderers then tied them both up. With the LaBiancas still alive, Manson got in the getaway car and left the scene with three of his followers, leaving the other three behind to commit the murders and hitchhike home.
Which they did. It was horrible. Google the details if you must.
The LaBiancas are often referred to as “the forgotten murders.”
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