A Complete Guide to Charles Manson Merchandise

An exhaustive list of Charles Manson merchandise with some cautionary warnings at the bottom. Please note I am interested in the case from a criminal justice perspective, and believe Manson was railroaded based on my vast research into the case (I do not support Manson as a person however, as it is clear he is indeed a lifelong con who routinely stole cars, dealt drugs, and pimped underaged girls.) I have put some basic prices here as a guide to their generally held value.

1. Books (Goodreads is a good site to review these works)

a. Goofy conspiracy books
"The Family" by Ed Sanders (The most popular dune buggy fascist conspiracy theory.) Usually sells for about 15 dollars used.
"Coming Down Fast: by Simon Wells (More dune buggy fascism.) About 10 dollars used.
"The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family" by John Gilmore (Declares Manson to be a Satanist.) I have never seen this for sale on ebay.
"Shadow over Santa Suzana" by Adam Gorightly (Declares Manson to be a witch.) Probably worth 5 to 10 in used condition.
"Manson" by Christopher Pascale (Declares Manson to be a scientology government experiment.) Too uncommon to be found usually.

b. Dubious fictionalized "History"
"Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders" by Greg King (Mainly a chick flick.) Probably 10 dollars.
"Taming the Beast" by Edward George (Dubious claims from a former psychiatrist.) Might be worth 5 dollars tops.
"Music Mayhem Murder" by Tommy Udo (Absolute travesty.) Very uncommon online.
"My life with Charles Manson" by Paul Watkins (Watkins spends most of his time dwelling on LSD usage.) Never seen this one for sale either.

c. Good academic/primary resource accounts
"The Manson File, Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman" by Nikolas Schreck (The best book written about Manson, in my opinion.) Marketed for about 65 dollars on Nikolas' website.
"Manson in his Own Words" by Nuel Emmons (Good book, but even Emmons himself admitted the publishers changed the book so much in editing it that it barely resembled the largely myth busting original idea.) This usually sells for 30 to 40 dollars.
"Manson Now" by Marlin Marynick (Good primary material, but comes off as fanboyish.) I'm not sure the exact pricing of this book but it seems in the 30 dollar range.

d. Many dozens of other less known works which are generally unavailable because they never saw more than 1,000 copies printed. These are probably worth hundreds if they're in good shape.

e. Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi, which is mostly just a retelling of the trial itself containing little interesting material. It got popular because it was first book written on Charles Manson which had a major publisher backing it, not because it was the best. (This book, depending on edition and condition, is worth anywhere from "basically nothing" to hundreds of dollars for a first edition copy, even more if signed.)


2. Movies

a. "Charles Manson Superstar" 1988 (Good interview and documentary) Retails for 10 to 15 dollars.
b. "Manson" 1973 (Lots of over-the-top drama, but good interviews) Probably 30 dollars or so unless you're getting it used.
c. "Helter Skelter" 1976 (Worthless docu-drama of the trial) I'm not sure if this is even sold anywhere.
d. "The Manson Family" 1997 (Terrible) Worthless because it's neither rare nor new.


3. Music

-LIE: The Love and Terror Cult (Very good 1971 album with Manson singing mainly folkrock, there are dozens of variants and rereleases.) A first edition in good condition might be worth a good 60 bucks, but there are so many vinyl, CD, and CD-r pressings it'd be hard to tell which is which.
-Family Jams (Occasionally available with the demos from the same sessions from 1968.) A first vinyl press in good condition is extremely valuable, all other editions are meager at best.
-Manson Speaks (From sometime in the 80s or 90s- over an hour of recordings of Manson speaking in his cell.) Probably worth about 30 dollars.
-Way of the Wolf (1990s release with some very good material, and some which is mediocre and boring.) Small first pressing might net 50 to 60.
-Commemoration (Some well mastered songs.) Relatively new so probably worth 10 to 15.
-Air (2010 folk.) Probably worth about 30 dollars.
-Trees (2011 album, good material but mainly gritty folk improvisation.) Also worth about 30.
-Horsefly (2012 EP) These are still being sold as of this guide being made- it's been pressed in several vinyl colors denoting limited or unlimited editions, which vary in price.
-Live at San Quentin (Poorly mastered live material recorded in San Quentin in the early 1980s.) This often-remade album is basically worthless unless it's signed or an original vinyl.
-Summer of Hate ((AKA Unplugged) Original session material from 1967 when Manson recorded with the Beach Boys.) I believe this edition is quite rare but it's most often found as a free download.
-Dozens of unofficial releases in varying qualities and forms, which are worth money only to collectors, but may for good pieces be worth some serious cash.


4. Interviews (Links included to the full length (or as close as possible currently) material on youtube.) This material is sporadically sold in DVD form online. The Ed Sanders, Nikolas Schreck, and several other interviews of Manson are not available on any video sharing site in any usable format, at the moment.

-With Tom Snyder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0BFZiKe4i0
-With Geraldo Rivera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSqeZw4NBIM
-With Penny Daniels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxUw1jp1EZI
-With Ron Reagan Jr http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa3SgsfZ3ow
-With Nuel Emmons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMl0ZcEfuw0
-With KALX http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpTo4HQeiZg
-With WSVN Miami http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwkQePbO1DA
-With Bill Murphy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rT9VuVxTAs
-With John Aes Nihil http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef8UlVGrQeo
-With Michal Ben Horin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0mF8dtGuuk
-With Charlie Rose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4uT6ou_ZGw
-With Heidi Schulmann http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afMkTGuPNjI
-With MSNBC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UgQSgzMoFk

Any of these interviews in DVD format would sell for the basic 10 dollar to 15 dollar range.

5. Letters, Manson art, signed stuff, ephemera.

Anything that can be legitimately sourced to Manson himself is probably worth a great deal to collectors, but naturally it can be problematic to prove it was actually Manson who signed it, letters addressed from his prison location are the easiest to prove and may be worth hundreds of dollars to the right buyer, but are generally worthless to anyone uninterested in the case. His art is another case- it was sold for a time on several websites for many hundreds of dollars and is probably worth the same amount now, although there is some question as to whether he actually made the art and didn't just sign the art some other person/prisoner made so that more money could be made.

Other Mansonite paraphernalia would vary in price according to scarcity and the object itself, for instance if someone sold a letter from Manson it would be much less valuable than, say, An edition of "Family Jams" Signed by Manson and a dozen other "family" members.


6. Cautionary

a. Anyone trying to sell you something signed by Manson is probably a fraud- Most autographed material is forged.
b. String puppets, locks of hair, etc, are probably frauds as well.
c. Many people burn CDs/DVDs of material without authorization, this is copyright infringement. Only buy obviously authentic merchandise or you risk low quality material.
d. Beware of suspicious offers: Someone tried to sell "Charles Mansons Guitar" for 2,500 dollars on ebay three years ago before the listing got pulled down after being flagged as against TOS (and probably fraudulent.)