Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary that can only be described as baffling considering the way it focuses on the possible federal connection to the Manson Murders, Netflix’s ‘Chaos: The Manson Murders’ is unlike any other. That’s because it is based on the 2019 book ‘Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties’ by Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring, and the former actually features in it. Therefore, with Tom being an award-winning journalist as well as an investigative reporter, there is true backing to all his claims, theories, and hypotheses in the form of interviews and case files.
Tom O’Neill Never Set Out to Be a Reporter
It was reportedly back when Tom was just a young man that he developed an interest in the world of arts, creativity, and entertainment, so he always knew he wanted to pursue a career in the same. He actually attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts, from where he graduated with a Bachelor’s in Film/Cinema/Video studies before kickstarting his career as a writer. From what we can tell, he started out with some small pieces for local publications before climbing the ladder and landing a spot at US Magazine in 1991 as a specialist in celebrity profiles.
Tom gladly worked in this field for around five years before growing bored of doing such covers and reporting from television show sets, only for an investigative piece to soon land in his lap. His first volley into this world was about the cut-throat battles talk show producers fight to secure guests, followed by the stalking murder case of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by a fan. That’s when the writer realized this was his true calling, resulting in him spreading his wings to such an extent he soon became a contributing investigative journalist for several publications.
Whether it be Details Magazine, Detour Magazine, Irish-America, Live, Out, the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Daily News, or the Village Voice, Tom has been featured in it all. However, it wasn’t until 1999 that he developed an undeniable interest in the Manson Family and the Manson Murders while doing a standard “Then and Now” piece on it for LA Magazine. He initially thought this would be just like his other works, but the more he began researching, the deeper he fell into the matter, and he couldn’t ignore the way he thought there were some holes in the story.
Tom O’Neill Has Questioned the Entire Narrative of the Manson Murders
While it has long been believed that Charles Manson brainwashed his followers to do his bidding and kill seven people over two nights in 1969, Tom believes there is more to the tale. It is no secret Charles was a career criminal who spent more than half of his life years in prison before he was ever apprehended for murder, all his former institutions believed he was a good man. As per reports, his initial inmates all believed him to be charming, funny, as well as manipulative, yet they didn’t think he was a bad person or someone who could have malicious long-term intentions.
However, following Charles’ release in 1967, he moved from Los Angeles to Berkeley without informing his parole officer and then finally settled down at Spahn Ranch in 1968 with his followers. Within a year, he had amassed a significant group of runaway girls and hippie men who hung on to his every word as not just a self-proclaimed musician but also a philosopher. Throughout this, he often visited the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic (HAFMC) for his Family’s sexual health, which is where hypnosis and brainwashing expert Dr. Louis “Jolly” West also reportedly “worked.”
According to Tom, Charles’ brainwashing of his Family was possibly related to the infamous failed CIA project MKUltra, wherein the government tried to mind-control unwilling subjects. In it, they used substances such as LSD to influence unwitting people’s behavior, and the cult leader was known for making his Family take this particular drug for days and nights on end. Jolly West allegedly worked on this endeavor and was even successful, per Tom, yet there is no proof he and the serial killer ever even met. It’s also imperative to note that Dr. Jolly always denied being a CIA associate.
Tom O’Neill Continues to Focus on the Manson Case
Even though it was back in 2019 that Tom published ‘Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties’ following two decades of research, he is still wrapped up in it. Back then, he only questioned the MKUltra project’s possible ties to the murders and the Helter Skelter (race war) scenario argued by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi against the Family. However, these days, he is essentially working to find proof of the same – something he believes he can do since he has allegedly already found hard evidence connecting key players in this whole ordeal to the CIA.
Tom has always maintained that officials often even showed unexplained leniency towards Charles after his 1967 release and before his ultimate arrest, so he has been delving into that too. The amount of evidence he has brought forth connecting all these dots does indicate the possibility of a different story, and it has indeed cast doubt on the official tale in the eyes of some. In other words, with renewed motivation, this Venice, California-based author, editor, writer, and investigative reporter continues to dedicate himself to his craft and the chaos of the Manson Murders to this day.
Read More: Manson Family’s Spahn Ranch and Barker Ranch: Where Were They Located? Do They Still Exist
