It is odd that on Labor Day the History Channel would choose to air a docudrama about the Manson family murders instead of oh say, something about labor in the United States.

Forty years after the brutal Tate-LaBianca murders, Linda Kasabian, the only family member who was present at the murders, but did not participate, thus escaping prosecution, “tells her story.”

For years Kasabian has lived in secret under an assumed name, fearing retribution by a Manson follower, and will only allow her face to be shown on TV via backlighting and dark glasses.

Whether her life is really in danger is a matter of opinion. Manson’s followers have largely faded into the wood work (or more likely gotten clean and sober), and those literally with blood on their hands are all safely locked in prison, having long ago renounced Manson. 

Kasabian recently appeared on Larry King Live with ardent supporter Vincent Bugliosi, who was also the lead prosecutor of Charles Manson and granted Kasabian immunity in exchange for her testimony against the family.

They were both on to promote “Manson.” Bugliosi has always fiercely defended Kasabian, claiming she was “cut from different cloth” than the other family members.

Kasabian has expressed grief over the murders and claims to be haunted by the screams she heard that night. She cites fear as her reason for not running for help, and that may be a legitimate reason considering her co-horts were cutting people up mere feet from her.

All of this is of little comfort to Sharon Tate’s sister Debra, who has long voiced her opinion that Linda Kasabian should not have gotten off scot free. 

It is bizarre that the History Channel would air this on Labor Day instead of the actual anniversary of the murders in August. What’s even more bizarre is that the History Channel would make this in the first place. Yes, it’s a part of history, but do we really need to revisit this particular story?

"I said make it stop and she said,
No I can't, it's too late."
Linda Kasabian

Inside Charles Manson's warped world of fear, sex, and drug-induced mind control,
The cult leader turned a group of harmless hippies into a gang of brutal murderers.

Shortly after midnight on August 9, 1969, a car pulled up to actress Sharon Tate's sprawling Benedict Canyon home she rented. As the driver, Linda Kasabian, stood guard outside, three of her "family" members committed one of the grisliest mass murders in American history.

Forty years later, HISTORY presents a chilling drama-documentary featuring exclusive, first-hand testimony from Kasabian, as well as interviews with Vincent Bugliosi, the chief prosecutor in the case and author of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders; family member Catherine Share, aka "Gypsy"; and Debra Tate, Sharon Tate's sister.

MANSON chronicles the nine months leading up to what Manson called Helter Skelter, the title of a Beatles song twisted by him to mean an apocalyptic race war the murders were supposed to ignite. As Manson subjected his followers to LSD-fueled orgies and increasingly bizarre tests of loyalty, they fell completely under his spell. Realizing he could get his family to kill anyone, Manson embarked on a murderous mission that would shock the nation to the core. Manson's name has become an emblem of insanity, violence and the macabre; his crimes mark an emphatic end to the 1960s.

MANSON takes viewers deep inside America in the late 1960s  into a world of hate, fear, sex, and mind-control. It vividly details how Charles Manson transformed a harmless group of hippies, mostly young women from decent families into a gang of brutal murderers. The special, a drama-documentary, weaves in rare archival footage and on-camera eyewitness testimony to present a spellbinding portrait of a true nightmare in U.S. history. At the center of the film is Kasabian, the star witness for the prosecution, who has emerged from hiding to tell the full story of the murders for the first time in four decades.

Kasabian, then a 21-year-old flower child fleeing an abusive marriage with her baby, recounts finding love and freedom with Manson and his disciples: He gave me the feeling that I would be cared for, and that he took care of everybody. We were like his children. Deep under their leader's drug-fuelled spell, Linda and the family were soon lured into his paranoid vendetta against The Establishment. She recounts what it was like to witness the horrific murders, and how she ultimately risked her life and her daughter's to escape.

Two-hour Special Premieres on September 7 at 9pm ET/PT on HISTORY

By Missy Lee

Missy Lee is the publisher, editor and chief reporter for ILoveTelevision.com. Prior to starting ILoveTelevision.com she worked for TV-Now.com and the late Tony Bray. After living in LA and covering all things entertainmentfor a number of years, she moved back to her home state of Tennessee.