Helter Skelter
"It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, that you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in the cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon." So goes the first line of the 1974 book by Manson Family prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi (and Curt Gentry), Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders.
It's a haunting notion-as haunting as the crimes themselves proved to be on the American psyche for decades after those nights in 1969. Documented not only in the book quoted above but in the movies on television and film they inspire and inform to this day, those crimes are a part of our lexicon, a shorthand for the broken extremities of our society, a real part, like or not, of the American experience, of American history itself. The 10 lots featured in this auction are from later in that history, from when the perpetrators were still incarcerated or had been for decades to pay for their crimes.
Charles Manson Signed and Handwritten Postcard (JSA)
Offered is a postcard dated "30 DEC 1993" signed and handwritten by Charles Manson. The postcard is addressed to simply "WILCOX," but it is meant for Phyllis Wilcox, a well-known misguided serial killer correspondent and fan. Manson has signed on the front of the postcard, which sports his personal mailing return address stamp. Manson spends the postcard text asking for magazines and newspapers to be sent to him in prison, insisting they be "of some[thing] good NOT everyday Playboy but better stuff or just send photos or mail your self or whatever." Accompanied by an LOA from James Spence Authentication. Near Mint condition with expected wear from mailing.