In Charles Denton “Tex” Watson…The Man Behind The Monster

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four – The Interviews, Part A, Part B, Part C, Part D, Part E, Part F, Part G

I continue to dissect and differentiate between what Tex says from what he truly means. In today’s Part H – The Victims, we see how ingrained his sociopathic behaviour is.

In life, when normal people respond to questions, truth is backed by genuine feelings from the heart. And then there's rote regurgitation masked as the truth with sociopaths. Charles "Tex" Watson is stellar at the latter.

In this interview, as in every other one he has ever participated in, Tex has the Bible thumping truisms down to perfection, no matter the question posed.

Too bad it's all just spewed con artistry.

The first question out of the gate was this, "Let's talk about the victims. What do you think has caused you to feel the way you do today?"

Tex grinds out;

"It takes the Spirit of God to produce empathy — a capacity for experiencing the feelings and thoughts of others."

Crikey. It's like Tex was given a text book on how to be human and he memorized it like a theology student would a religious text.

He literally blames God here if you read between the lines. He's saying God didn't produce empathy in him so he was helpless. He had to become a cold-hearted killer. That's not only blatantly wrong, it's blasphemous.

Humans are born from God (if you have a spiritual background) but they have Free Will. They make choices.

Choices, Tex. You ever heard of that word???

Along our life path, we come to many forks in the road—one way is good, the other bad. If you're inclined to be wholly egocentric and narcissistic, you'll choose the bad IF it gets you what you want, faster, easier.

In all Tex's youth, he did this. From little things back home in Copeville, Texas to when the stakes got seriously high, from drug dealing, theft and eventually murder in L.A. Former jailer at the Collin County Prison, Bob King, intimates Tex got into “trouble” at home and that’s made him vamoose and leave for California. It’s obvious then that the criminal mindset was well developed before Tex ever left Texas.

I suspect deviant ways began early in childhood, as nothing stops a narcissistic personality. In other words, Tex had no innate stop gaps, like the rest of us do who have a conscience, when it came to taking the wrong path in life. He used his reactionary frontal lobe to decide his next move, and all moves would align with his desires, and if people got in the way, they became collateral damage. Simple as that.

The only thing that changed over time was the escalation of those choices.

Tex states that "I broke" after he read in Bugliosi's Helter Skelter when Vincent writes that Steve Parent's mother became hysterical after viewing her son at the morgue.

I want to ask Tex, How? How did you break? And Why? For the victim and his family? Or for yourself?

)He states that he rejected help from psychiatrists and drugs and instead gravitated to Christians who were reaching out to him. Why, you ask? Simple. A sociopath's single skill is manipulation. Tex had no control over psychiatrists or drugs but he could control unknowing people, especially those who already had a soft spot towards him. And he calculated that if he got them on his side, maybe that wave of sympathy would eventually unlock his prison door and return his freedom. All sociopaths think they will outsmart the authorities, that they will be found innocent and set free. They have no ability to see fault in their actions, so they surmise, why should anyone else?

What we do know from court and prison records is that Tex had a nervous breakdown and spent considerable time at Atascadero State (Mental) Hospital. He wouldn’t eat, lost a lot of weight and for a time was considered catatonic. Could it have all been an act? Sure. He had this breakdown shortly after extradition from Texas to California. Notice how he didn’t break down while still being held in Texas. Nope. The closer he got to San Quentin’s Green Room by way of an L.A. trial, the more he magically lost it. If his breakdown was genuine, you can be sure it was NOT because of his sorrow for the victims. It was due to loss of face, self-image, reputation, control and power.

In this first question, Tex NEVER mentions any of the victims by name. He only mentions his plight. Just like with co-killer, Patricia Krenwinkel, when asked in one of her parole hearings who the main victim was in all of this, she said it was herself. Tex is doing the very same thing here. Sociopaths are completely incapable of seeing others in their mind. They can spew memorized, canned responses to feign caring and empathy, but when asked to offer true feelings about their victims, the conversation always reverts back to themselves.

Tex saw God as his “Get Out of Jail Free card.” He was told God forgives but he blithely ignored what man has to do to be forgiven. Tex sees himself as being completely absolved of all guilt in those murders, and has about as much emotional investment in them as someone who slaps paint over rotten wood to hide the rot. Susan Atkins took this stance, too, and both, once they thought this was a legitimate out, never looked back and forevermore had that frontal lobotomy blissful glow of innocence.

According to Tex, it was May of 1975 when he dropped his guilt. For 7 spent lives, he breathed a form of guilt for 4 years. That's roughly 6 months mental incarceration for each victim; Steve Parent, Voytek Frykowski, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. A disgustingly infinitesimal amount of time. Since then, his life behind bars has been a mental lark.

I’m always inclined to proverbially ask this question of prison Bible thumpers, aka jailhouse believers: If God is the answer why didn't you try to find Him BEFORE you committed murder??? Even if you didn't know He existed (and Tex did know as he came from a devout church-going family, attending in his youth the Copeville Community Methodist Church

Tex further states that, "...that every life--man, woman and child...is of enormous value in His eyes," never mentioning that Tex should value people as God does. Tex admits that, "This thought was entirely missing at the time of my crime, even though my mother had tried to teach me to live for others."

This statement is huge.

It could indicate that his mother had seen deviant tendencies in her boy early on, of him caring more for himself than others, of committing deviant acts to get his way, and she feared that behaviour would grow. Tex's parents were very fine, hardworking people and I'm sure they laid awake at night concerned about their son's callous behaviour. Antisocial Personality Disorder, the clinical term of sociopathy in DSM-5, usually begins to manifest itself in the early years but acting out may not occur until the teenage or young adult years, making Tex's sociopathic timeline spot on. If ASPD people always get what they want when they want it, they may have no desire to harm others. It’s when any obstacle comes in their way, then slashing away that obstacle, human or otherwise, is the default reaction in a sociopathic mind.

Tex refers to the seven murders as "my crime." He’s white washing over his heinous acts to sterilize himself from them, packaging them in a neat dissociative box to avoid getting too close to the reality and having to admit fault and feel fault. He doesn't personalize the victims or use active verbs to describe what he did to them. They are simply, "my crime." This is just another tiny clue that indicates that Tex has never emotionally dealt with his actions and that all his so-called grieving and regret has been for show.

Once in prison, Tex admits that he "...was concerned that I didn't know how to feel about my victims' deep pain..." Concerned. Wow. That's the understatement of the 20th century! This is why ASPD is NOT a diagnosis of insanity. All sociopaths KNOW Right from Wrong, they just refuse to see what they're doing as wrong. You can bet your bottom Greenback that Tex damn well knew driving up to Cielo that sweltering August night was wrong but he did it because his well-being was paramount. His tail was in a crack from the drug deal gone wrong with Lotsapoppa. He knew they needed to get out of town ASAP, so Tex knew money was top priority. If he could placate Manson with his revenge fantasy and get the loot they needed to hide out at Barker, then getting hopped up on Speed and slicing through a few Beautiful People up in Benedict was okay by him. Tex only felt "concerned" once it behooved him to, for his own sake.

He claims an "us and them syndrome" only developed with Manson. That is true to the extent that Charlie had always fostered that belief in The Family. Tex knew this of Charlie right from Day One, well before he was All-In at Spahn’s Ranch and while he was still living in that Hollywood apartment with his on again/off again girlfriend to pursue odd jobs and a  lofty career as a small-time pot dealer. Tex had countless chances to walk away from Manson. Tex CHOSE to stay. No gun was ever put to his head.

Tex won't "go there" for the interviewer in terms of how he truly felt or feels today toward his victims. He reverts back to his rote responses, never letting down his guard, never saying in plain language what he did and never admitting how truly horrific those details are. A sociopath can never "go there" because they have no genuine feelings for others. Tex will have a soft spot for his parents only because he knew they loved him and gave him what he wanted and for his children who, to Tex, are just lovely reflections of himself, but everyone else may as well be made out of cardboard. He feels no genuine connection to any other person.

Tex says he sought out God, "so I could be healed." I. Me. Mine. Never a mention of how he could and should heal others. We all will immediately think of the victims and their family members but that thought will never be automatic to Tex.

Tex further states, "...guilt robs a person of their future. He has removed those chains. I've come to understand that Christ came to free us of our guilt."

This statement would be laughable if the circumstances of his actions were not so horrible. Tex found a "loophole" in God and he's sticking with it. Tex has conveniently warped God's purpose and spends his life with that frontal lobotomy smile that only comes from ignorant bliss. It makes me cringe to think that idiot was allowed conjugal visits. It must have given Doris Tate nightmares. At least Doris eventually got the law overturned, bless her heart. Watson nor any of the Manson killers, nor any killer period should be allowed to profit from their deeds, nor should Tex have a mental "out" of any kind. But there you have it, folks. You slaughter in ’69 and fool around in a conjugal trailer in ‘71. Fun!

Tex goes on to say, "...to wallow in guilt would only create another victim."Yes, Tex, that's right! That’s what we out here want and 12 of your peers wanted—you dead via the Green Room cyanide gas tour. It's amazing how he chooses to forget that NOBODY wanted him alive after October 21, 1971.

The only true statement Tex utters which he may actually believe is this, "In reality, my crime has tentacles that have spread throughout society and affected the lives of hundreds, or thousands, possibly millions of people. What impact has my crime had? It has had a devastating impact."

I, for one, since '69, have never looked at a window screen without thinking of Tex and his bayonet. I'm one person, out of those millions...

Tex declares that "change is possible", yet we know that ASPD people do not change. You can't magically concoct a conscience. In his confines in prison, Tex is prevented from doing further harm, but given an opportunity at freedom, and again backed into a corner, Tex would strike out. The only eventual stop gap with ASPDers can be aging and with it a loss of physical strength to harm others. The only 100% “cure” is permanent confinement until death.

Tex states, "Others are proud of my changed life." And by "others" he means clergy, his fellow jailhouse cohorts, other delusional bible thumpers and, of course, for a time the daughter of Rosemary/step daughter of Leno LaBianca, Suzan LaBerge, who went off the rails after her parents were killed, and like Patty Hearst I believe for a time was afflicted by Stockholm Syndrome and befriended the killer. I gather she's since regained a brain and no longer is "proud" of Tex Watson.

Tex readily admits that, “My parents and siblings were disgraced by my crime. My Dad painted over the ‘Watson’ name on his store. He went to his grave with the shame of my life, and all of my family members live with it.”