These are excerpts from Watson’s testimony that involve Dean Moorehouse. Each section is separated by a line.
QUESTION: Now, can you tell us about when it was that you met Dennis Wilson?
ANSWER: It must have been around in April, I guess, April of May of it would be ’68.
QUESTION: I think you told us you picked him up hitch-hiking; is that correct?
ANSWER: That’s correct.
QUESTION: Where did you take him, if you remember?
ANSWER: I took him to his house.
QUESTION: Where was that?
ANSWER: It was in Pacific Palisades.
QUESTION: Was there anybody else there when you got there?
ANSWER: Yes, a guy by the name of Dean Moorehouse was there; and Charles Manson was there and he had a bunch of girls with him, about five or six girls.
QUESTION: Did you become friendly with anybody you met at Dennis Wilson’s?
ANSWER: Dennis wasn’t there a lot and a guy by the name of Dean Moorehouse was living there. He was kind of the one that raked up the leaves and kind of took care of the place.
QUESTION: Where was he living, if you know?
ANSWER: He was living it a little log cabin behind the main house.
QUESTION: That is on Dennis Wilson’s property?
ANSWER: Yes, that is correct.
QUESTION: Would you see Dean Moorehouse frequently?
ANSWER: Yes, quite often. I eventually moved into Dennis’ house. Dennis asked me to move in.
QUESTION: Do you remember when you did that?
ANSWER: David and I leased out the beach house, our beach house, and then after that I really didn’t have a place to stay, so Dennis asked me to move in to his place.
QUESTION: How many times would you say you had seen Dennis or you had been at Dennis’ house from the time that you first met him and the time that you moved in?
ANSWER: Probably 10 times.
QUESTION: How about Dean Moorehouse, had you met him on a number of occasions?
ANSWER: Every time I was there, he was there.
QUESTION: Does Mr. Moorehouse have a daughter?
ANSWER: Yes, he had a daughter.
QUESTION: Was she there?
ANSWER: On occasion she was there. She lived out at the ranch mostly.
QUESTION: What would you do when you would visit with Dennis before you moved in?
ANSWER: Just kind of go over and sit around and go swimming and then Dean Moorehouse would be talking to me all the time, you know.
QUESTION: What did he talk about?
ANSWER: Kind of about dropping out of society, I guess you would say, or about society.
QUESTION: What would he say about society that you can now remember?
ANSWER: Well, he would talk about how they had a lot of wants and desires, of wanting material things, and how they had a lot of thought in their heads and a lot of wants.
QUESTION: Did he say there was anything wrong with having thoughts in your head or having wants?
ANSWER: Yes. He said that this was where the — that it was destroying the love in the world.
QUESTION: Did he ever tell you how he defined love?
ANSWER: Not having any thought, being able to give everything that you had.
QUESTION: On how many occasions would you say you and Mr. Moorehouse talked along these lines?
ANSWER: Every time I was around him, this is all he talked about.
QUESTION: Were you taking any drugs at this time?
ANSWER: During that period, just marijuana.
QUESTION: And how frequently were you using that?
ANSWER: Pretty frequently.
QUESTION: At Dennis Wilson’s?
ANSWER: Yes, before I moved in.
QUESTION: Any other drugs that you used while you were at Dennis’?
ANSWER: After I moved in, I took some LSD.
QUESTION: Let’s stop there a minute. Had you ever used anything like LSD before you moved in to Dennis Wilson’s?
ANSWER: No, this — no, never had used LSD before.
QUESTION: Had you been staying with Dean Moorehouse before you moved into Dennis Wilson’s?
ANSWER: Well, I wasn’t staying with Dean Moorehouse, until I moved in to Dennis Wilson’s house.
QUESTION: When you say you moved in with Dennis Wilson, did you move into the main house or did you move into the cabin that Dean Moorehouse lived in?
ANSWER: I moved into the main house, in one of the bedrooms.
QUESTION: I think you told us you used some LSD there; is that correct?
ANSWER: Yes, LSD, but it was real light, like it really didn’t have a big effect.
QUESTION: Do you remember what effect, if any, it did have on you?
ANSWER: At that time it just kind of made me submit and believe more of what Dean Moorehouse was saying.
QUESTION: And was he saying the same thing you have told us about hare before?
ANSWER: Yes, that is correct.
QUESTION: Would Dean Moorehouse use LSD at the same time you did, if you know?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: What did you give Charlie Manson?
ANSWER: I gave him the truck and all of the possessions that I had in the truck at the time.
QUESTION: You mean you physically just turned it over to him?
ANSWER: Yes, that’s correct.
QUESTION: And you actually turned it over to Manson; is that correct?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: Did you have a pink slip for this truck?
ANSWER: I don’t believe I had a pink slip, but I had a bill of sale.
QUESTION: Did you give that to Manson?
ANSWER: Yes, I did. I believe a girl by the name of Ruth Moorehouse, Charlie put it in her name.
QUESTION: Do you know that of your own knowledge?
ANSWER: No, it never did go in her name because the truck stayed in my name, I found out later; but I believe I do remember her signing something to get it, you know.
QUESTION: Did Mr. Manson ever tell you what he did with this property?
ANSWER: No, he said, I believe, something to the effect he just let it kind of flow through him.
QUESTION: Was there any particular reason for giving it to a woman or a girl?
ANSWER: Well, he said that he always put it in the girls’ name, because he knew the girls would stay with him, where he didn’t know about the guys completely. Be knew that the guys were always running off and he didn’t want anything in the men’s name, wanted to keep it in the girls’ names because he had control of all the girls.
QUESTION: Now, you said something about you left, you moved from Dennis’ when, in August of ‘68?
ANSWER: That’s correct.
QUESTION: Where did you go then, if you remember?
ANSWER: Dean Moorehouse and I went up north to his trial. He was having a trial on LSD or something; he was being tried on LSD.
QUESTION: Do you remember where the trial was being conducted?
ANSWER: No, I know it was on the other side of San Francisco.
QUESTION: You mean north of San Francisco?
ANSWER: North of San Francisco.
QUESTION: How did you get up there?
ANSWER: We went in Terry Melcher’s car.
QUESTION: Had you ever met Terry Melcher?
ANSWER: Yes, I met Terry Melcher at Dennis’ house at — I guess you’d call it kind of a party, like Dean and I was living there and then Greg Jakobson was living there, and a bunch of Greg’s and Dennis’ friends just happened to be over one day and I guess you’d call, it kind of a party, I think.
QUESTION: Is that the first time that you met Terry Melcher?
ANSWER: Yes. I met him that times that was the first time. I remember Dean said that was Doris Day’s son or something like that.
QUESTION: Can you remember when this occurred?
ANSWER: It was in the last month that we were at Dennis Wilson’s house. That would have been in August.
QUESTION: August of ’68?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: When you say you went with Dean Moorehouse to his trial in Terry Melcher’s car, where did you get that car?
ANSWER: Terry, I believe Dean had been talking to Terry about going up north and Terry offered Dean his car to use.
QUESTION: Were you with Dean when he picked up the car?
ANSWER: Yes, I was.
QUESTION: Do you remember where Terry Melcher was living at the time?
ANSWER: He was living — it is on Cielo Drive, I believe, off of Benedict Canyon Road.
QUESTION: How did you get up there, if you remember? I am talking about the day you went with Dean to get the car.
ANSWER: Yes. Dean had already picked up the car and he had asked me to come along with him on the trip, when we moved out of Dennis’ house, and went by Terry Melcher’s house to pick up his credit card.
QUESTION: Whose credit card?
ANSWER: Terry Melcher’s credit card.
QUESTION: Dean already had Terry Melcher’s car; is that correct?
ANSWER: Yes, that is correct.
QUESTION: Now he was going to get Terry Melcher’s credit card?
ANSWER: That is correct.
QUESTION: Do you remember a gate somewhere in the driveway leading up to the Terry Melcher house?
ANSWER: It seems like I recall it but I don’t believe — I can’t recall it having any big thing on it right now. I do recall going through a gate, yes.
QUESTION: Do you remember whether it was open or closed when you got up there?
ANSWER: I can’t remember at that time.
QUESTION: After you got in the front of the house, do you remember what you did?
ANSWER: We went in the house in the front room..
QUESTION: Did you knock on the door to get in the house?
ANSWER: I can’t recall.
QUESTION: You went in the house with Dean Moorehouse?
ANSWER: With Dean, yes.
QUESTION: Had you ever been in that house before?
ANSWER: No, not before, no.
QUESTION: This was the very first time you had ever been in it?
ANSWER: This was the first time.
QUESTION: Ever been at a party at that. house?
ANSWER: No, no party at that house.
QUESTION: And you went into the front room, did you?
ANSWER: Yes, right.
QUESTION: And Dean was also share?
ANSWER: Yes, that is right.
QUESTION: Did something happen between Dean and Terry?
ANSWER: No. I remember we sat around in the front room, Dean and Terry and I, and we smoked some Marijuana together.
QUESTION: Was there anybody else there with Terry Melcher?
ANSWER: His maid was there and his butler, I believe he called it, or chauffeur.
QUESTION: They didn’t smoke any marijuana?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION: The three of you smoked marijuana. How long did you stay on that occasion?
ANSWER: I don’t recall. I can’t recall. I can’t recall how long we stayed — not too long, though, an hour I would say or something like that.
QUESTION: And then I take it you left sometime shortly after that?
ANSWER: Yes, we did.
QUESTION: Did Dean get Terry’s credit card?
ANSWER: Yes, his credit card and his car.
QUESTION: What sort of a car did he get?
ANSWER: It was a black XKE.
QUESTION: Jaguar?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: Did you drive up north with Dean?
ANSWER: Yes. Before going up north, though, we went by a place called the Fountain of the World. where Charlie Manson was, had a school bus parked there.
QUESTION: Where is the Fountain of the World?
ANSWER: That is up in Box Canyon close to Spahn’s Ranch.
QUESTION: That is in the Chatsworth area?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: Had you ever been there before?
ANSWER: No. That was the first time.
QUESTION: Was Dean Moorehouse there when you got back?
ANSWER: Yes, he was.
QUESTION: What happened so far as you and Dean Moorehouse are concerned, then, after you got back?
ANSWER: Then we took out up north.
QUESTION: Where did you go?
ANSWER: To a town the other side of San Francisco.
QUESTION: Is that where Dean Moorehouse had a trial going?
ANSWER: Yes, that’s correct.
QUESTION: Did you drive directly to that city?
ANSWER: Well, we was on the road to the city all the time but we stopped, I believe, a couple times along the beach, and that about all.
QUESTION: Would you recognize the name of the city if you heard it?
ANSWER: Probably would, yeah.
QUESTION: Were you going to Ukiah?
ANSWER: Yeah, Ukiah, that’s the name of it.
QUESTION: Up in Mendocino?
ANSWER: Mendocino, yeah, that was close by, I believe.
QUESTION: Did you spend any nights on the road after leaving the Fountain of the World and before arriving at Ukiah?
ANSWER: I believe we drove all afternoon and drove all night.
QUESTION: How long did you stay in Ukiah, if you remember?
ANSWER: I’d say a week or two.
QUESTION: Incidentally, did you use any drugs on your way up to Ukiah?
ANSWER: I believe when we stopped along the beach a couple of times we met some guys one time that gave us some marijuana and we had a few marijuana cigarettes, and that’s about all on the way up.
QUESTION: Did Dean Moorehouse talk while you drove up north?
ANSWER: Yes, that was his thing, kind of; he would continuously kind of preach, you know.
QUESTION: What did he talk about on the way up north?
ANSWER: The same thing, you know, person losing their ego and losing their thought, and this way you’d have more love, you know, to give.
QUESTION: Had you formed any attachment or feelings for Dean Moorehouse by this time?
ANSWER: Yeah, Dean and I were pretty close.
QUESTION: What did you think of him as, if you did?
ANSWER: He was just a close friend, I’d say.
QUESTION: Had you formed any opinion about Mr. Manson by this time?
ANSWER: No, just like that’s what Dean was always talking about, was Manson; and the way Manson had brought him to thinking like this, always talking about Manson’s philosophy as well as his.
QUESTION: Well, did Dean refer to Manson as anything in particular?
ANSWER: Not that I can recall.
QUESTION: Was Manson ever referred to as Jesus Christ?
ANSWER: Yes, he was referred to that when I got back and started living with the family, I knew him as that.
QUESTION: Did Dean Moorehouse ever refer to him as Christ?
ANSWER: I’m not for sure; I know that Dean was always talking about Christ and seems like the two had so much together, you know, by him talking about Christ and by him talking about Manson at the same time, that it just kind of became that Manson was Christ.
QUESTION: Do you remember where you stayed in Ukiah when you finally got there, Charles?
ANSWER: At a friend’s, a friend of Dean Moorehouse and a friend of the family’s, too, I believe.
QUESTION: Now, you think you stayed up north a week or two?
ANSWER: Yes, right.
QUESTION: And you were using Terry Melcher’s credit card, were you?
ANSWER: Yes, gasoline and stuff.
QUESTION: Did you use any drugs while you were up north with Dean?
ANSWER: I believe at the house we stayed at we smoked marijuana a couple times or so.
QUESTION: And when Dean’s matter was over up north, did you come back with him?
ANSWER: Yes, we did.
QUESTION: Did you drive back in a car?
ANSWER: Yes, same car.
QUESTION: And do you remember stopping in San Francisco on your way back?
ANSWER: Yes, we did stop in San Francisco.
QUESTION: Did anything happen in San Francisco?
ANSWER: We stopped at a friend of Dean’s, and the guy gave him some LSD. It was yellow, I remember, bright yellow LSD.
QUESTION: What happened to that?
ANSWER: We took a couple of trips together and then we gave the rest to Charlie when we moved in with Charlie.
QUESTION: Do you remember how much acid you got from this fellow up in San Francisco?
ANSWER: I don’t recall.
QUESTION: Do you remember how many of them you used?
ANSWER: A couple.
QUESTION: And how about Dean?
ANSWER: I only saw him use a couple, you know, when we took them together.
QUESTION: Do you remember how many trips you took on acid?
ANSWER: Altogether?
QUESTION: Yes — no, no; in San Francisco.
ANSWER: A couple, I believe.
QUESTION: Do you know, Charles, what the normal dose, if there is a normal dose, for LSD is?
MR. BUGLIOSI: Calls for a conclusion, your Honor,
THE COURT: Well, suppose you confine it to him.
THE WITNESS: All I know is I have taken — this is what I was told, anyway, that some of them were 500’s and some of them were 2,000’s.
QUESTION BY MR. BUBRICK: 500 what, if you know?.
ANSWER: I don’t know — little measurements, I guess. I don’t know what they were.
QUESTION: Which of the two is the largest?
ANSWER: The 2,000.
QUESTION: Were these drugs that you got by prescription?
ANSWER: No, no prescription ever.
QUESTION: You don’t know who made them, do you?
ANSWER: At first when I was out back to the ranch —
QUESTION: No; we are talking about the drugs you got up there in San Francisco.
ANSWER: Oh, in San Francisco.
QUESTION: Yes.
ANSWER: Well, I wasn’t talking about 500 and 2,000 then.
QUESTION: All right. Maybe I confused you. Do you know the size of the tablets that you took in San Francisco?
ANSWER: I know the guy gave Dean a bag of yellow powder and then some individual caps that stuck together.
THE COURT: You mean gelatin capsules?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
QUESTION BY MR. BUBRICK: Do you remember which of the two you took? The bulk powder or the capsules?
ANSWER: I took after it had been put in the capsules.
QUESTION: I take it you know where that came from.
ANSWER: It came from a friend of Dean’s.
QUESTION: It had no labels on it or anything of that nature?
ANSWER: No, none at all.
QUESTION: After you left San Francisco on these trips that you have talked about, did you come directly back to the Los Angeles area?
ANSWER: Yes, we did.
QUESTION: And where did you so when you arrived in the Los Angeles area?
ANSWER: We saw Charlie riding around one motorcycle and he led us up to a place where Dennis Wilson had moved, not the old place, but a new place on the in Malibu.
QUESTION: Now, can you fix the time of the month for us, Charlie?
ANSWER: l believe that was around in September.
QUESTION: 1960
ANSWER: ’68.
QUESTION: Did you go to Dennis Wilson’s beach house then?
ANSWER: Yes, we did.
QUESTION: Did you still have Terry Melcher’s car?
ANSWER: Yes we did.
QUESTION: And was Dean still driving that?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: What happened, if anything, at the beach house?
ANSWER: I remember we drove the car up there and spent one night at Dennis’ place there and then Dennis suggested that — I think he was kind of mad at Dean or something because of something that happened in the old house, something with Dean and one of the girls in the old house, I believe, and so Dean really didn’t want to stay with him and he suggested we go out and stay with Manson out at the ranch.
QUESTION: Did you do that?
ANSWER: Yes, we did.
QUESTION: When, if you remember?
ANSWER: Sometime still in September there, about a day or two after we got back from up north.
QUESTION: Did you go out to the Spahn Ranch?
ANSWER: Yes, we.
QUESTION: Did you still have the car?
ANSWER: No. We left it at Dennis’ house. We were told to leave it at Dennis’ house and that Terry would pick it up.
QUESTION: Is that the last you saw of that particular car at that time?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION: How did you get over to the ranch, if you remember
ANSWER: I believe we hitch-hiked.
QUESTION: Did you have anything with you other than what you were wearing?
ANSWER: No, that was all.
QUESTION: Do you remember how you were dressed?
ANSWER: No, I don’t.
QUESTION: When you got to the ranch, what happened on your first day, on the day of your arrival?
ANSWER: I know Charlie was living in a tent and some of the girls and people were living up at the ranch part and Charlie moved out of the tent and told Dean and l that we could live in the tent.
QUESTION: Where was the tent with respect to the main structures on the ranch?
ANSWER: The tent was between the farm have and the main branch part up a creek a ways.
QUESTION: Was the doctrine preached by Moorehouse similar to what Manson was telling you?
ANSWER: Yes, it was the same because Charlie had got Moorehouse onto acid, and onto this same thing.
QUESTION: Was Moorehouse living at the ranch during this period between September and December?
ANSWER: He left after about two weeks when he moved out of the tent. He went on down the road.
QUESTION: When was that, if you can tell us?
ANSWER: I really don’t know. I just know it was about two weeks after we got there. It was around September of ’68.
QUESTION: Did Moorehouse tell you why he was leaving?
ANSWER: Well, I know that Charlie — I heard something to the effect that Charlie didn’t want older men around the ranch.
QUESTION: Did you ever see Dean around the ranch after he left on this occasion?
ANSWER: I believe only one time.
QUESTION: When was that?
ANSWER: I don’t know if it was before or after. I don’t know.
QUESTION: But Charles Manson was not the person who got you involved in LSD; isn’t that correct?
ANSWER: I can’t really — it was, you know, during the time Dean was at Dennis’ and Manson was around. I remember Manson having some LSD but he didn’t ever give me any at Dennis Wilson’s. I don’t know where it came from.
QUESTION: So you ingested LSD and smoked marijuana before you ever got involved with Charles Manson; isn’t that correct?
ANSWER: Yes, with Dean Moorehouse.
QUESTION: Charles Manson then was not the person that got you started on marijuana or LSD; is that correct?
ANSWER: No. I would say it would be Dean and Charles and maybe Dennis, you know, just around the Wilson house there.
QUESTION: So my statement is correct then?
ANSWER: Well, I can’t be positive about it, you know, to say that it is.
QUESTION: Did you meet Dean Moorehouse before or after you met Charles Manson?
ANSWER: On the same night.
QUESTION: Can you briefly describe Moorehouse’s philosophy — very briefly?
ANSWER: He was always preaching in the bible, out of the bible; and also the philosophy that Charles Manson had taught him or told him about being free, because, as he said, he had set his daughter free by giving her to Charles Manson; and the way you become free was to lose all your thought, and when you lose all your thought, you could submit entirely; and this was what love was, was giving, and this is about the philosophy.
QUESTION: What about the anti establishment? Dean was quite a bit against the establishment, wasn’t he?
ANSWER: Not that much. He just brought up what the establishment — or, that they had thought and that this is what — that they had thought, and that love didn’t have any thought.
QUESTION: Well, Dean was kind of down on the establishment, wasn’t he?
ANSWER: No, he never was really down that such on the establishment,
QUESTION: Well, he told you he didn’t want to have anything to do with the establishment, right, he wanted to drop out?
ANSWER: Well, he was talking about no thoughts and that was the only thing the establishment had: thought.
QUESTION: Did he indicate to you — I am talking about Dean, now — the the establishment was headed for trouble?
ANSWER: I can’t recall anything like that,
QUESTION: Words to the effect that the establishment was on its way out; that a new order was going to take over?
ANSWER: No, I don’t believe he said anything about that.
QUESTION: What were the occasions for your going up to the Cielo address?
ANSWER: One time was with Dean Moorehouse — and maybe two times with Dean Moorehouse, I’m not for sure about that; and another time was when I went up — Greg Jakobson was in jail and Charlie asked me to go up and ask Terry if he would give me the money to go bail Greg out of jail, so that I went up there then; and that’s the only time that I recall besides going up there with Dean.
QUESTION: So there were three occasions?
ANSWER: I believe that is correct.
QUESTION: And on all three occasions you actually entered the home?
ANSWER: Yes, I did.
QUESTION: So you were familiar with the inside of the home; right?
ANSWER: I had been in the front room and the breakfast room.
QUESTION: Isn’t that why you told Katie, Sadie and Linda that you knew the layout; isn’t that why?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION: Do you remember what rooms you went into, the times you were there with Dean Moorehouse?
ANSWER: We were in the front room one time and I remember sitting at the breakfast table one time.
QUESTION: Well, the breakfast room table, is that the time you vent to get bail for Greg Jakobson?
ANSWER: That’s correct.
QUESTION: Did you over go to any room other than the breakfast room?
ANSWER: That’s all.
QUESTION: And I think you said you hitchhiked there?
ANSWER: Yes, I did.
QUESTION: And when you left the residence, how did you leave?
ANSWER: The butler took me a way.
QUESTION: The butler did what?
ANSWER: Terry Melcher’s chauffeur, I guess I should say, took me down to Sunset Boulevard and I hitchhiked.
QUESTION: He drove you down the hill to Sunset Boulevard; is that correct?
ANSWER: That is correct.
QUESTION: On the other occasions when you had previously visited the Cielo Drive address with Dean Moorehouse, do you know whether or not you pressed the button tote gate leading to the house?
ANSWER: Dean was driving; I didn’t press any button.
QUESTION: Now, are you aware of the gate opening on those occasions and a car driving up the driveway?
ANSWER: That’s not really clear to me right now. I know, like a lot of things must have happened, but it is not too clear to me.
QUESTION: Well, on the occasions when you drove up there with Mr. Moorehouse, after you got to the house and knock on the door, if you remember?
ANSWER: Yes, we’d get out of the house and knock on the door.
QUESTION: Are there any occasions that you remember coming through the driveway, through this gate and finding somebody at the front of the house waiting for you?
ANSWER: I can’t recall.
QUESTION: Did you know whether or not there was a signaling device from the electric gate to the house?
ANSWER: No, I never — it never came to my mind,
MR. BUBRICK: l have nothing further, your Honor.