Sharon Tate Murder House

Author: Jewls Krueger

The Manson Family Murders Begin

In the early morning hours of August 9, 1969, members of Charles Manson's cult, known as the Manson Family, descended on the secluded hilltop home at 10050 Cielo Drive in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles and brutally killed five people inside. The crime, which would shock the world and effectively mark the end of the 1960s counterculture, included the murder of 26 year old actress Sharon Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant at the time.

Sharon Tate

Sharon Tate was a rising Hollywood actress best known for her role in the 1967 film "Valley of the Dolls." She was married to acclaimed Polish film director Roman Polanski, who at the time of the murders was in Europe working on a film. The couple had been renting the home at 10050 Cielo Drive from talent manager Rudolph Altobelli since February 1969.

Before the Polanskis moved in, the house had been occupied by music producer Terry Melcher, the son of actress Doris Day, and his girlfriend Candice Bergen. Charles Manson had a personal connection to Melcher, as Melcher had previously considered and then declined to give Manson a record deal. By the summer of 1969, Manson had also developed an apocalyptic worldview involving an impending race war he called "Helter Skelter," and he believed the Tate-LaBianca murders would help to incite it.

The Victims

On the night of the murders, four people were inside the main residence: Sharon Tate, her close friend and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring (35), Polanski's friend and aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski (32), and Frykowski's girlfriend, coffee heiress Abigail Folger (25). Also on the property, but in the separate guest house, was the home's caretaker William Garretson and his 18 year old friend Steven Parent, who had come to visit him earlier in the evening.

The Murders

Just after midnight on August 9, Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian arrived at the Cielo Drive property. Watson climbed a telephone pole and cut the phone lines to the home. As they entered the gated property on foot, they encountered Steven Parent, who was driving out after his visit with Garretson. Watson shot and killed Parent in his car. Watson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel then entered the main home and attacked the four occupants, while Kasabian remained outside as a lookout. Sharon Tate was the last to be killed, reportedly pleading for the life of her unborn child.

Before leaving, Atkins used a towel dipped in Tate's blood to write the word "PIG" on the front door. Charles Manson himself was not present at the Tate murders, but he had directed his followers to go to the home and "totally destroy" everyone inside. The following night, Manson would accompany the same group to the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in the Los Feliz neighborhood, where two more murders would take place.

The Discovery & Investigation

The bodies at Cielo Drive were discovered the next morning by the Polanskis' housekeeper, Winifred Chapman. Investigators were initially baffled and did not immediately connect the Tate scene to the LaBianca scene. The case was eventually broken when Susan Atkins, jailed in late 1969 on an unrelated charge, bragged to cellmates about her involvement. Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten (who participated in the LaBianca murders the next night) went on trial in June 1970, with Linda Kasabian testifying for the prosecution after being granted immunity. On January 25, 1971, all four were found guilty of first degree murder. Tex Watson was tried separately and convicted later that year.

All of the perpetrators received death sentences, but those sentences were commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court ruled the state's death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. Charles Manson died in prison on November 19, 2017. Susan Atkins died in prison on September 24, 2009. Patricia Krenwinkel and Tex Watson remain incarcerated. Leslie Van Houten was paroled in July 2023 after being denied parole 22 times.

The Sharon Tate House Today

After the murders, caretaker William Garretson moved from the guest house into the main residence and lived there until 1988, after which the property changed hands several times. In 1992, musician Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails rented the home and set up a recording studio he nicknamed "Le Pig" as a reference to the bloody writing left on the door in 1969. Reznor recorded much of the Nine Inch Nails album "The Downward Spiral" at the home, and Marilyn Manson recorded portions of "Portrait of an American Family" there. The music video for Nine Inch Nails' song "Gave Up" was also filmed inside. Reznor moved out in December 1993, later saying that there was "too much history" in the home for him to handle. The original house was demolished in 1994 by the property's then owner Alvin Weintraub, who built a new 18,000 square foot Mediterranean style mansion on the lot that was completed in 1996. The new home was given the new address 10066 Cielo Drive to distance it from the infamous original.

The property is located in Benedict Canyon at the end of a small, private, one lane road. There are several "Cielo Drives" in the area, but the correct one is reached from the intersection of Cielo Drive and Bella Drive. The current owners are extremely private, and the home is gated and cannot be seen from the road. Please be respectful of the neighbors, stay on public roads and walkways at all times, and do not trespass under any circumstances.