[imagesource: Associated Press]

Charles Manson died at the ripe old age of 83 in November 2017, having been locked up since his arrest in December 1969 for the Tate-LaBianca murders.

He was convicted of conspiracy to commit the slayings orchestrated by members of the so-called Manson Family. The idea, according to Manson, was to start a ‘race war’, which he called ‘Helter Skelter’.

Few figures in criminal history have gripped the public imagination like Manson. The murders committed by his ‘family’ have inspired operas, South Park episodes, novels, and countless films, the latest of which is Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The story behind the murder spree and Manson’s cult, outlined above, has been well documented. A new six-part docuseries, Helter Skelter: An American Myth, aims to look at things from a different perspective, though.

Per TIME:

As [Director and producer Lesley Chilcott] sees it, the Black-vs.-white race war Manson ­prophesied—and dubbed “Helter Skelter,” to help convince his followers that the Beatles’ White Album was a coded message intended specifically for them—wasn’t the true catalyst of the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Manson, she argues, was simply a grifter looking to cover up earlier crimes and, ultimately, get famous. It’s a canny thesis; if only it weren’t submerged in such a conventional retelling of the Manson saga.

A collage of archival footage and existing audio (including Manson’s horribly mediocre music), combined with interviews with former associates and experts, provides further insight:

So-called Manson girls Catherine “Gypsy” Share and Dianne “Snake” Lake are the most fascinating; both women seem to regard their youth with a mix of nostalgia and horror.

And although the show relegates too much of its argument to the last third of the finale, episodes that trace Manson’s path through the penal system to Haight-­Ashbury and L.A. illustrate how he absorbed ideas (like the sales psychology of Dale Carnegie) for reasons more practical than philosophical.

Take in the trailer:

This is definitely one for the true-crime addicts out there.

The docuseries is currently streaming on Epix.

[source:time]