This girl has just tried to assassinate the president of the United States...Gerald Ford. Of course, you might know her from her time with the Manson Family.
Squeaky was not directly involved in the infamous murders carried out by The Family. She never did any time for those but she doesn't seem to have regretted the association.
She was a piece of work in her own right. After the Manson murders and before her attempt on Ford, she was dragged in for the murder of a couple in Stockton, CA. Turned out everybody there was involved except the victims and Squeaky. A couple of years later she tried to kill Gerald.*
The story doesn't end there. In 1987, Squeaky got wind that Charles Manson had cancer in the balls. So she escaped from prison to be with him. This baffles me...more than the gruesome murders which, despite their grotesque nature, seem to have been about dope...bad dope deals. What I don't get is the devotion of these girls.
(Nancy Pittman, Sandra Good, Kitty Lutesinger, Catherine Gillies of the Manson Family)
WTF? They are Baby Boomers...and that might be all the explanation we need but, still...
Just up the road Jim Jones' People's Temple is rockin', Ted Bundy is about to commit his first murder, John Wayne Gacey has just been granted parole for sexually assaulting a minor. There they sit...ice wouldn't melt in their mouths...in devotion to Charles Manson.
Despite the attempt on Ford and her escape, to help Charlie with his balls, Squeaky was eventually paroled y'all...God only knows what she's up to.
*Thirteen days later another woman tried to kill Ford...the most innocuous figure in the history of U.S. politics. For her part, Squeaky seems to have been chapped about the Red Woods...yes she was a confidante of Charles Manson, yes she was involved with dope dealing Aryan Nationers but, she loved the planet.
Gerald Ford?
ReplyDeleteReagan or one of the Bushes I could sorta understand
John Hinckley Jr came very close to killing Reagan...closer than anybody thought at the time. Another deranged Baby Boomer...he was trying to impress Jodi Foster (ooops).
DeleteWe got the skate-punkers Jodi Foster's Army (JFA) out of the twisted affair.
Good post Erik. Strange days.
ReplyDeleteSwiss Adam
Indeed.
DeleteOne of the motives put forth for the murders was Manson trying to start a race war with the killings...much of the graffiti used terms common to Black radical groups at the time (there also a relatively mundane explanation for this as well). Two years later in San Francisco there are the Zebra Murders...racially motivated killings by a group of black men...that seemed very much intended to start a race war. Insanity.
Interesting stuff Erik. My knowledge on the whole thing is sketchy; bits picked up here and there from documentaries and articles but I've never really put it all together. Then there are these complex strands which you describe here. Oh, it messes with my head... kind of gruesomely compelling at the same time though, of course!
ReplyDeleteI have to confess a curiosity for these stories. It may stem from memories of Bundy's handiwork in Tallahassee when I was a child...before he was caught. I remember my mother putting a chair against the doorknob while my Daddy was at work.
DeleteThis particular story has a many strands and fits into a wider narrative about the era. Manson is credited with killing off the 60's but there was a lot of trouble in those circles by that time. Ira Einhorn and John Africa are living on the same commune by the time these trials are over.
I think this conversation is not done yet.