Charles Watson Testimony, September 1971 - Part 3
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Q I take it you remember the day of August 9, 1969?
(Possible missing testimony)
Q (By Mr. Bubrick) August the 8th, August the 8th running into
the 9th. Do you remember August the 8th?
A Yes, the morning. I remember all that night before on the 8th. I was up
all night on speed and I ended up at the waterfall. Where Charlie and the
girls and I believe some babies were over there, a couple of babies that at
the ranch, and the younger people were at the waterfall and there was
belladonna hanging around that they had pulled up all around the waterfall
and I took some belladonna that morning .
Q The root form?
A Yes.
Q Do you remember how big a piece you took?
A About the size I always took, about an inch or three-quarters of an
inch long and about that big around or so --
Q (By The Court) An inch in diameter?
A The witness: About an inch; three quarters of an inch or an inch,
something like that, not a large piece.
Q (By Mr. Bubrick) That was in the area of the waterfall?
A Yes, that was at the camp at the waterfall.
Q What did you do after, after taking the belladonna?
A Walked over to the ranch.
Q How far a walk was that?
A I'd say less than a mile.
Q What happened at the ranch?
A I got over it and I remember seeing Sadie and Linda Kasabian, they had
just got back from somewhere, I recall that.
Q Do you remember whether it was early in the morning or mid-morning or
what?
A It was real early in the morning, about the same time the sun was
coming up, about sunrise, yeah.
Q How were they dressed when you saw them?
A They were in black, all black.
Q Did you say anything to them?
A Not that I can recall. I just -- no, I heard something about
conversations they had got some credit cards or something, that's about all
I heard.
Q What did you do that day, if you can remember?
A I went in the shack down below the ranch and I was out all day on
belladonna.
Q Do you remember what time you woke up?
A At eating time, when it was time to eat, one of the girls came and woke
me up and told me it was time for the family, like Charlie was pulling
everybody together for the night meal or something.
Q Who decided when it was time to eat dinner?
A Charlie did.
Q Did anybody eat before he did?
A No, I remember one time somebody ate before he did and he got real mad,
you know, or nobody ever went to sleep before he did or nobody ever got out
of bed before he did. You know, it was everybody was doing everything at the
same time, one person, that was Charlie.
Q When you were awakened in time for dinner, did you go to dinner?
A Yes I did. I had a lot of energy but I didn't have a lot of pep or
something, so I took some speed to get me moving, you know.
Q Do you remember eating?
A I didn't eat that night.
Q Did you see Manson again that night?
A I was sitting on the fireplace in the house where we ate and I don't
remember who was in the house, but I know he called me outside and told me
to go up to the ranch front, so that's what I did.
Q When you got to the ranch front, who else was there, if anybody?
A I remember a girl walked out, one of the girls, and everybody was
taking acid that night, and that's what I was told, anyway, so I took some
acid.
Q Who gave it to you, if you remember?
A I can't recall. I believe it was Squeaky, though I'm not for sure.
Q Did anything else occur that evening that you remember?
A Yes, Charlie called me over behind the car, down at the far end of the
ranch, and handed me a gun and a knife and he said for me to take the gun
and the knife and to go up where Terry Melcher used to live and to kill
everybody in the house, as gruesome as I could, or something to that effect;
or, "Make sure everybody is dead, as gruesome as you can," or something to
that effect.
Q Did he tell you who was in the house?
A I think he said something about movie stars but I'm not for sure. I
believe he did, though, I recall something about movie stars. I recall
something.
Q Did he say something about Terry Melcher living there?
A No, he didn't. He said where Terry Melcher used to live, I believe.
Q Who else was present at this conversation?
A No one, just Manson and I.
Q And what happened after that conversation?
A Well, he continued to tell me the things he wanted done.
Q Like what?
A He said, "The bolt cutters are in the back of the car for you to cut
the highline wires; then to go in and make sure everybody is dead as
gruesome as you can"; and he said afterwards to wash off and to throw away
the guns and the knives and the clothes; and then to come back to the ranch.
Then he said something about writing on the walls, and we were walking over
to the car that the girls were in and I said -- the first words that I had
spoken -- and I said, "Now, what did you say?" or something to that effect.
I wasn't real clear on what was to be wrote on the walls or clear about the
whole thing, really; and he said, "Don't worry about anything, just make
sure that everybody is dead and that it is done as gruesome as you can do
it."
Q What did you do then?
A I got in the car.
Q Where?
A In the back seat of the car.
Q Who was in the car?
A Linda Kasabian.
Q Where was she, if you remember?
A She was at the driver's under the wheel.
Q Who else was in it?
A Sadie and Katie.
Q You were in the back. Who else was in the back with you, if you
remember?
A It was either Katie or Sadie. I can’t recall to be that perfectly clear
on who it was.
Q Did you see the bolt cutters in the car?
A They were laying on the back floorboard of the car.
Q Did this car have a back seat?
A No. There was all kinds of stuff on the floorboard and there wasn’t
anything in the back seat but a bunch of bottles and stuff like that.
Q Do you remember what the bolt cutters looked like?
A They were big and they were bright red.
Q How big?
A About that long (indicating) or so.
Q Two feet? Your Honor, I have here what appear to be a pair of red bolt
cutters. May they be marked W-4 for identification?
The Court: W-D.
Mr. Bubrick: W-D. I am sorry.
Q Will you look at the bolt cutters in front of you and tell me if you
recognize those?
A Yes. They are the bolt cutters.
Q Were they the bolt cutters in the car that night?
A That is the kind.
Q (By The Court) It looks like it anyway?
A Yes, right.
Q (By Mr. Bubrick) Incidentally this car that you were in was a yellow
car, do you remember?
A Yes. It was a yellow car.
Q Who did it belong to, if you remember?
A I believe his name was John.
Q It was the car that you saw around the ranch?
A It was, yes.
Q All right. Did you drive off from the ranch?
A Yes.
Q And was Linda driving?
A Yes, that is correct.
Q And you were in the back seat; is that correct?
A Right.
Q Was there anything else in the car that you were aware of?
A The only other thing that I was aware of is the gun and the knife that
Charlie had given to me.
Q How about any items of clothing?
A No.
Q And where was the car driven, if you remember?
A It was driven up to the top of the hill and that is where Terry Melcher
lived.
Q It was on Cielo Drive?
A I didn't see the street or anything. That is where we were, though.
Q Did you say anything while the car was being driven?
A No. I was laying down in the back seat. My head was in the girl's lap
when I was laying down.
Q Could you hear any directions being given to Linda?
A No. I couldn't hear anything.
Q Do you recall the car coming to a stop, the car stopping somewhere on
the hill?
A Yes, it stopped.
Q Where? Do you remember?
A It was by a telephone pole.
Q What happened at the pole?
A I know the girl that I was in the lap with shook me and said I'm to cut
the wires, so I knew, you know, Manson had told me that to cut the wires, so
I just went straight up the pole, you know.
Q How did you get up the pole? Do you remember?
A I can remember being on the pole, on the things that you climb on, your
know. I was on those.
Q The pegs or the bars in the pole?
A Yes.
Q Do you remember how far off the ground the first one was?
A No, I don't.
Q Do you know how you got up there?
A I can't recall exactly how I did get up there.
Q When you got up on the pole were you carrying the bolt cutters?
A No, I was not.
Q How did you get them?
A Linda handed those to me.
Q Where was she in the car?
A She was -- the car I remember was parked right by the pole and she was
in the driver's thing, right outside the door, handed them up to me.
Q Did she get out of the car to do that?
A Yes.
Q And then you went up the pole, did you?
A Yes.
Q And you cut the wires?
A I cut the first wire, all the wires that I could see.
Q Do you remember how many there were?
A No, I do not.
Q Did you come down the pole?
A I know I had to come down the pole but I actually don't recall coming
down the pole.
Q Do you remember whether you cut any other wires on the ground?
A No. I did not cut any other wires.
Q Did you have any other cutting device other than the bolt cutter?
A Just my knife, that is all, the knife that Charlie had gave me.
Q Did you have any pliers in your pocket or wire snips or anything of
that nature?
A No, nothing else like that.
Q And you used those, that bolt cutter, to cut those pole wires; is that
correct?
A Yes, that is correct.
Q You came back down the pole. Do you remember getting in the car?
A No. The next thing that I can recall is walking back up a hill.
Q Do you remember where the car was parked when you started to walk back
up the hill?
A We walked up the hill. It was at the bottom of a hill.
Q Is that where the telephone pole was where the wires were cut?
A No. The car was a long ways from the -- a pretty good little walk back
up the hill.
Q How did the car get from the pole where the wires were cut to where it
was parked at the bottom of the hill?
A It was drove to the bottom of the hill.
Q By whom?
A I don't know for sure who drove it.
Q Did you do it?
A No, I did not.
Q Then how many were walking back up the hill when you got out of the
car?
A There was four of us.
Q Do you remember what you were carrying?
A I was carrying a gun and a knife.
Q Did you pass any buildings, any houses on the way up the hill?
A Yeah, I believe there were houses on one side and on the other was
hills and rocks and things like that.
Q How were you dressed?
A I had on Jeans and a black shirt, I believe.
Q How about the girls?
A They all looked kind of like I did.
Q In what respect?
A The same kind of clothes kind of thing.
Q Do you remember how you were carrying the knife?
A I had the knife in one hand and I had that gun in the other hand.
Q And were you carrying them exposed that way as you walked up the hill?
A I was carrying them just the way they were given to me.
Q What sort of knife did you have, Charles, if you remember?
A I know it didn't have a handle on it; it was just a piece of metal.
Q Do you mean there was no wood on the part that you grasp?
A Right, yeah; there wasn't any, it was just a piece of metal.
Q Did it have anything wrapped around it?
A No, not that I know of. I didn't look that close.
Q Now, as you passed these houses and approached this house on Cielo
Drive, Terry Melcher's old house, were you aware of a gate?
A No, we just walked right up to the fence and started over the fence;
there wasn't really -- more of a gate, I don't know.
Q Had you ever been to this house before?
A Yes, I had.
Q On how many occasions?
A I'd say three.
Q Do you remember how you got into the house -- or, strike that. Do you
remember how you got up the driveway on the other three occasions?
A Yes, there's a button outside the gate.
Q What do you do to the button?
A You push the button and the gate swings open.
Q Did you do that on this night of August the 8th?
A No, we did not.
Q Did anybody push the button, as far as you know?
A Not as far as I know.
Q Why didn't you do it, if you knew it was there?
A There was no thought about a button, it was just the fence was there
and we just went over the fence; there just wasn't any thought about a
button or anything like that.
Q How high was the fence?
A It was hard to get over; I don't know how high it was.
Q You eventually got across the fence?
A Right.
Q And did the girls do it, also?
A Yes.
Q Then you got back to the driveway and continued walking on up; is that
correct?
A That is correct.
Q Did anything happen as you were walking up the driveway?
A Yes, a car's lights flashed on us and the car came up and --
Q Just before that, do you remember, Charles, whether you -- what order
you were in, in the sequence of four going up the hill; was there anybody in
front of you?
A There was two girls in front. We were kind of like we were riding in
the car, the same way we was riding in the car we was riding up, going up
that hill.
Q Two girls in front of you?
A Yes.
Q And you are in back with another girl; is that correct?
A Correct.
Q The four of you walked up this hill together?
A That's correct.
Q What happened then, when you saw the approaching lights?
A We were all four across the fence and the car pulled up and stopped and
--
Q Was anything said by anybody?
A No, nothing was said by anybody. I stuck the gun in the car and shot.
Q Shot what?
A The guy.
Q How many times?
A I don't recall the exact number of times.
Q Did you know who was in the car?
A No, I just knew that Charlie, you know, like I could see and hear him,
hear his voice like, and to kill everybody in the place; and I remember one
of the girls did say something about, "We got to get everybody," or
something to that effect.
Q Was this before or after you saw the headlights of the car?
A This was before we saw -- I saw the headlights of the car.
Q Were you able to see who the driver of the car was?
A No, I didn't see anything.
Q Did he take any form or shape in your eyes?
A No, huh-uh, just kind of like a mass thing there, you know. There
really wasn't any -- felt like I was in a dream or something, you know,
about half and half, you know; I felt half awake and half not awake.
Q All right. After you shot the driver of the car, what did you next do?
A Started walking up to the house.
Q Were the girls still with you?
A I didn't see the girls again until we were in the house.
Q Was there anybody in front of you as you continued on up the driveway
toward the main house?
A No, there was nobody in front of me.
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