Dianna Lake Describes Her First Acid Trip (Beatles-Related)

[Norbert K]

My father got a twinkle in his eye. "Dianne," he said dramatically, "it is time for you to know more about who you are." The pronouncement, especially coming from him, was mysterious, but I figured nothing could be worse than our sex discussion.

My father walked around the table passing out tabs of acid to the guests and giving out smaller tabs to me, [and her friends] Jan, and Joan.

"Put the tab on your tongue," he said. "I have some surprises for you."

I was already surprised, but since my father was giving us the drugs, I didn't hesitate to accept. He told us he would be right in the next room and that it would be best if we didn't leave the house. He beseeched us to stay inside where he could see us if we needed his help. I had no idea what to expect, but my father's obvious concern made the expectation exhilarating. I felt a buzz even before the drug took effect.

My father put on the new Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, and at first I didn't feel anything. Then I started to feel the music. I laughed and had to lie down. I couldn't imagine wanting to leave the house. I had a realization of being a me that was more than me. I would never be able to put it into words, but somehow I knew in that moment that everything I would ever need was with me and inside me. When the song "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" came on, I was enthralled.

"Jan, Joan, do you see the notes?" I asked. They had to see them. They were everywhere. They were alive. Then I heard the calliope. It took up the entire room and filled me with ecstasy. I never heard anything so beautiful; it penetrated me from my fingers to my toes."

-- from Member of the Family by Dianne Lake. Lake went on to join Manson's group with the blessing of her increasingly drug-fried parents.

[Pamela Brown]

"Chaos" gives new insights to the events surrounding Charles Manson and his group...pretty much demolishes Bugliosi's Helter Skelter theories...
https://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Charles-Manson-History-Sixties/dp/0316477559

[Norbert K]

Yes, indeed. I learned a lot about Bugliosi from Chaos -- all of it bad. I also found that Roman Polanski was scummier (especially in his treatment of his wife Sharon) than I already knew he was.

The much-needed reappraisal of Vincent Bugliosi (as a lawyer and as a person) is underway. Tom Bucy's book Final Argument exposes the dishonesty of Bugliosi's defense of Stephanie Stearns in the Palmyra murders. Bugliosi duped the jurors into letting a murderer go.

[Pamela Brown]

I agree. I had no idea how badly Polanski treated Sharon.
I will check out the Palmyra murders. That is a new one to me...

[Norbert K]

If you're into true crime, the Palmyra Murders are a must!

There is an FBI Files episode called "Deadly Paradise" on Youtube; an ID Channel show called Dark Waters: Murder in the Deep: "Lost Paradise"; a made-for-TV miniseries called "And the Sea Will Tell," which tells Bugliosi's (false, I contend) version of events; the book And the Sea Will Tell, by Bruce Henderson and Vincent Bugliosi; and Final Argument by Thomas Bucy, which soundly rebuts Bugliosi's account but is rough in style.

[Pamela Brown]

Thanks for the info. I did watch And the Sea Will Tell, and found it puzzling.

[Norbert K]

Every person of importance in this case (FBI agent Shisido, Prosecutor Enoki, the Pollocks, Curt Shoemaker) *other than Bugliosi* believed that Stearns not only participated in the deaths of the Grahams but orchestrated the whole thing.

Bugliosi himself admits several times in "And the Sea Will Tell" that everything Stearns (he refers to her as "Jennifer Jenkins") did following her return from Palmyra suggested guilt rather than innocence.

Stearns herself admitted to a friend that "If Buck ever decides to talk, I'm in trouble."

The jury foreman in Stearns' murder trial later encountered Bugliosi's co-author, Bruce Henderson, and told him that Bugliosi was "very clever. He got us to acquit a murderer."

[Laughing Jaw]

On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 11:48:49 AM UTC-4, Norbert K wrote:.

> If you're into true crime, the Palmyra Murders are a must!
>
> There is an FBI Files episode called "Deadly Paradise" on Youtube; an ID Channel show called Dark Waters: Murder in the Deep: "Lost Paradise"; a made-for-TV miniseries called "And the Sea Will Tell," which tells Bugliosi's (false, I contend) version of events; the book And the Sea Will Tell, by Bruce Henderson and Vincent Bugliosi; and Final Argument by Thomas Bucy, which soundly rebuts Bugliosi's account but is rough in style.

I have copies on dvd of The Sea Will Tell and Deadly Paradise. Never Lost Paradise though. I'll have to check it out.

Thanks.

[Laughing Jaw]

On Friday, September 9, 2022 at 8:45:20 AM UTC-4, pamel...@gmail.com wrote:

> "Chaos" gives new insights to the events surrounding Charles Manson and his group...pretty much demolishes Bugliosi's Helter Skelter theories...
> https://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Charles-Manson-History-Sixties/dp/0316477559

There's a lot of stuff in "Chaos" - really good book. I hear Tom O'Neil is writing a follow up.

Amid the many issues raised I was/am really intrigued by the guy who goes by the name of "Jolly" West. When O'Neil related that West was Jack Ruby's psychologist just before Ruby went insane my Jaw dropped.

I have since learned that Jolly West was somehow involved with Timothy McVeigh after the Murrah building.

[Norbert K]

And the Sea Will Tell is a dramatization of Bugliosi's version of events, so it should be approached with skepticism. It is ludicrous to contend, as Bugliosi did, that Buck Walker murdered both of the Graham's and stole their boat without Stearns having any idea what was going on.

"Lost Paradise" includes lots of family photographs of the Grahams. They were an interesting and well-traveled couple. It's sad that they didn't know what they were dealing with in Stearns and Walker, although Muff Graham certainly didn't like them.

[Norbert K]

That's good to hear that O'Neill is writing a follow-up.

It was through Chaos that I learned about "The Vince Bugliosi Story" by George V. Denny, which is available online.

O'Neill says that Bugliosi's wife admitted to him (O'Neill) that Vincent had psychiatric problems. Denny shows that she was putting it mildly!

[Laughing Jaw]

On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 6:36:30 AM UTC-4, Norbert K wrote:

> It is ludicrous to contend, as Bugliosi did, that Buck Walker murdered both of the Graham's and stole their boat without Stearns having any idea what was going on.
>

So what do you think about this guy's take on things. It's a two part video: the first recaps events, the second discusses why he thinks Bugliosi was right.

I also find it hard to believe Stearns was innocent -- why would she agree to paint over the boat and change the name if there were nothing amiss?

But I am having trouble with the first question; although it's all mere speculation. But the second, (about why Buck Walker wouldn't have turned on her), that indeed has me stumped. The guy was no Sir Galahad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_0DmVIVVpQ

[Norbert K]

Thanks for continuing to discuss this, Laughing Jaw. This case is one that fascinates the hell out of me.

So why didn't Buck turn on Stephanie? My suspicions are that (1) they were soulmates in psychopathy. Buck boasted to one of his fellow prison inmates that Stephanie would never talk about what had occurred on Palmyra because she was a "stand-up girl." What this meant for Buck is that Stephanie was as pathological as he was.

And (2) blaming the murders on Stephanie, even if they were her idea (as most of the participants believed they were) wouldn't have helped him. Buck had a deep criminal history -- that's why he fled to Palmyra in the first place. Stephanie joined him on th3e Palmyra jaunt because she was crazy and murderous, too.

Stephanie's first post-Buck boyfriend was another murderer, BTW.

Stearns is still alive, BTW, and she runs a senior center in Hawaii.

[Norbert K]

BTW, some of Buck Walkers' fellow inmates testified in his murder trial (which ended in his conviction; he didn't have Bugliosi working for him and dreaming up befuddling defenses) that he boasted about murdering Mac Graham.

Okay. So who killed Muff Graham? Stephanie, obviously.

There's an old FBI Files episode on this case called "Cursed Paradise" available on Youtube. A lot of the participants in the case, including one of the true heroes of the story, Curt Shoemaker, participate. There's also an ID Channel show called Dark Waters: Murder in the Deep: Cursed Paradise, whose producers sensibly do not follow Bugliosi's warped speculations.