Murder House Bears Evidence of Massacre
Tate Home
August 20, 1969
By Paul Houston
Times Staff Writer
At his press conference Tuesday, Roman Polanski suggested that newsmen "go
see this orgy place. You'll see how innocent it is."
When newsmen sought to do so, a uniformed guard hired by the film director
turned them away at the gate to Polanski's rented estate at the end of Cielo
Drive in Benedict Canyon.
A reporter for the Times, however, had been allowed to take a close look at
the murder scene earlier.
Still lying on the front lawn where pieces of blue cloth which apparently had
been used to cover the bodies of Abigail Folger and Voyteck Frykowski.
On a concrete front porch of the rustic and rambling ranch-style house was a
large patch of dried blood, perhaps marking the point where a struggle took
place.
The word "Pig" was faintly visible at the base of the glass-topped,
wood-bottomed front door. The guard on duty said investigators told him that it
was believed the word was smeared in blood on the door with a towel used by the
killers to wipe blood off themselves.
The front door opens into a long, narrow living room which was in some
disorder. At the center was a puffy brown sofa with its three cushions up ended.
Two large, dark patches on the buff carpet in front of the sofa at the end
marked the spots were the bodies of actress Sharon Tate and hair stylist Jay
Sebring were found.
Wood Plank Loft
Eight feet overhead, extending from the wall in front of a sofa to just in
front of it, is an airy wood plank loft with a ladder leading up to it. The
killers had looped a piece of rope over a beam at the front of the loft and tied
the ends around the necks of the two victims.
A number of magazines and paperback and hardback books lay scattered on a
table behind the sofa. There were several issues of Playboy, a couple of books
on the anti-ballistic missile controversy, several science fiction novels and
two identical books, each priced at $26.00 entitled "Erotic Art."
There is a small bar with a small amount of liquor on the shelves at one end
of the living room. A colorful poster from the Monterey Pop Festival, the only
wall ornament in the room, hangs on the bar wall. A porcelain mug in the bar was
inscribed with the word "opium."
In one corner is a brown, baby grand piano that was dusty from white
fingerprint powder sprinkled by police.
Miss Folger’s suitcase and expensive camera were on the floor of the bedroom
containing a double bed. Letters and postcards addressed to her and Frykowski
were on a dresser.
In the master bedroom, apparently occupied by Miss Tate, there were only
striped sheets on the king-size bed. On top of a Spanish-style dresser cabinet
were a water pipe and books on childbirth and baby care, including one titled
"Name Your Baby."
