Guided Tour as Documentary: Six Degrees of Helter Skelter

Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Mason Murders  has the best opening line in a book I've ever read:

"It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon."

This is the kind of opening line that lets you know you're not going to put the book down. Written by Vincent Bugliosi, prosecutor during the Manson trials, the novel follows the Manson Family and their victims in exquisite detail, leading them into their final collisions.

Though, this isn't about the book, Helter Skelter. This is about the 2009 documentary Six Degrees of Helter Skelter, which explores the actual sites of the crimes committed by, and residences of the Manson Family.

The film starts unfortunately, with an opening line that let me know I was going to be disappointed. The dictionary definition of helter skelter is cited, and then juxtaposed this with what the narrator deemed would be Charles Manson's definition: "The end of the world brought on by the Beatles."

I could not believe that within the first 7 minutes of a documentary there would be such blatant misrepresentation of facts. In a nutshell, Manson did believe the Beatles knew about the end of the world, which he called "Helter Skeleter," but he did not believe that they were the ones "bringing it down." Helter Skelter was what Manson believed to be an inevitable race war.  For an unabridged explanation of Manson's interpretation of Helter Skelter, click here.
 



The whole documentary is lead like a Hollywood tour. That is because Six Degrees of Helter Skelter was directed by and stars a Hollywood tour guide, Dearly Departed Tours owner, Scott Michaels. This fact is made abundantly clear during the first 15 minutes of the film, which are devoted to Michaels' life story and proud show-and-tell of his morbid Hollywood memorabilia collection.

Michaels claims his legitimacy in the film by taking some time to besmirch other tour guides with his concept that a guide's own desire to be a famous actor is inversely proportional to how many facts they get right. Not a good argument to start with considering the evidence of Michaels' ego so far. The constant flow of hearsay, was irksome. Even facts that matched up to Bugliosi's novel were peppered with lines like, "I knew a guy who," and "I heard [insert famous actor] claims this."

Overall it was amateurish and masturbatory. Michaels didn't bother to re-record or cut out any of his stammering, or cute lines like, "I got my GPS bitch in the box thing." Most shots were of him walking to and fro the alleged crime scenes.  He was name-dropping like crazy, and only two people were interviewed. So much for all those guys he knows.

There are a few positive moments to note. Michaels used full color uncensored crime scene photos, and had video footage from Trent Reznor's stay at the Cielo Drive house. Recordings of Manson's songs were also played during the film, which were haunting, especially a song sung by the women of the Manson Family.

If you don't know much about the Manson Family murders, watch this film, but be forewarned that there is much more to know than what is presented. If you have ever read Helter Skelter, any other Manson related books, or seen any other Manson documentaries, watch Six Degrees of Helter Skelter for the crime photos, Reznor footage, and Manson music, but that's all that you will gain.

It is a neat concept to be taken to these crime scenes as a true to life alternative to a classic stuffy documentary. However, the novelty wears thin when you realize you aren't really there; you're watching a documentary. As tours go, it's pretty enthralling, but as documentaries go, it's a C+ at best.

Hunting for a Quailty Ghost Show

We all know that reality shows centered around ghosts have been very popular for the past few years. It started with the Ghost Hunters style shows; groups of rag-tag "ghost experts," psychics and mediums having sleep-overs with night-vision cameras. They jump at every sound, and the show's base soundtrack conveniently plays loudly over every sound bite of a ghost supposedly thumping or talking. They never find anything substantial, but how can you believe it at all with the way these shows are edited?

Currently the Unsolved Mysteries style ghost shows have been en vogue. These are allegedly true stories with interviews and reenactments similar to our favorite 1980's thriller, but without a stoic host like Robert Stack or a hotline. The most popular of these shows are My Ghost Story, Celebrity Ghost Stories, Paranormal Witness, and The Haunting. I prefer those shows, because even though there is always a risk of a person making-up the story, at least you have the gorey details straight from the horses mouth,  instead of watching a bunch of fools saying "did you hear that?" for a half hour.

In addition to all the ghost shows you can shake a stick at, there are the survival story shows, the hording shows, and animal rescue shows. I tweeted recently, "When are they going to make I Survived a Ghost Pet and what channel will it be on?" To my surprise, there is something on Animal Planet that loosely follows that description. Simply called The Haunted, this series follows the stories of pet owners who have experienced hauntings. This could be a good niche show if it actually spent a majority of the time focusing on the animal's experience, but it doesn't. It has been said that animals are known to be sensitive to ghosts and spirits, so why not milk that for all it's worth on a station aimed at people who already give a ton of credence to animals' actions?

When I first found this show, I was confused that it was on Animal Planet. There was nothing perceptively animal-centric about this show, until the haunted animal lover mentioned their pet pug was spooked. Here is an example of how generic this show is in an episode description:  

After having unusual experiences in their home, a family calls upon a paranormal team and demonologist to help. When they try to banish the entity from the home, it violently possesses one of the family members, and literally enters her body.

It would be very interesting and appropriate for the possessed "family member" to be a pet, but it is in fact a human woman. I turned on Animal Planet to watch a possessed dog, not a dog that ran under the couch while it's owner's soul was being eaten by a demon. I can watch that on any other channel.

From Paranormal Witness S01E03 The Poltergeist

The Haunted might be the worst, most contrived ghost show, but Paranormal Witness is the best of its kind. Not just focusing on ghosts, you can also hear about UFO's, strange beasts, and unexplainable coincidences. There are reenactments, but they don't hesitate to also use real videos or photos that are evidence of the paranormal experience. Having many witnesses, from different sides of the story, also helps with the credibility of the show.



If I could make my own ghost show I would feature people who actually have photos, videos, audio, etc. of the haunting. There would be no actor reenactments, no spooky music, especially not over recordings. There would be no embelishments; just the truth as the witnesses know it. The problem with the reenactments in these shows is that they are often padded with extra actions the witnesses never mention in the final cut of the interview. Obviously this causes a gullible viewer into thinking the haunting was more remarkable than it may have been, and alienates viewers that are genuinely interested in what actually happened. A stark portrayal with all the evidence layed out should be enough to make your hairs stand up.

I leave you with the question, can shows about "real life" ghost encounters legitimately fall under the documentary category? If there were any topic people could call bull s*#% on in a documentary format, it would be ghosts. Some people would call it a documentary about ghosts, and another group would call it a documentary about people who believe they saw a ghost. I can't say I wholeheartedly believe in spirits, but I want to be convinced with evidence. I will make it a mission of mine to find a convincing documentary about a haunting. If anyone has any recommendations, please leave a reply.