During the day they would all go to their respective jobs. In the evening they would go back to Windy's for the night. I believe Juan and Larry were still working at Spahn and Johnny was working for man that sold hay. Johnny Schwartz liked western movies and TV shows and sat in front of the TV most of the time in the evening with the thing blaring. Juan was usually restless pacing around and doing different things. Windy would take care of her daughter, cook and the like.
Juan was the one to figure out that Larry was a Manson plant that turned out to be a snitch. He was telling the Family members that were sympathetic to Manson where Juan and Johnny were staying and what the routine was around Windy's . The Family hatched a plan to killed both Juan and Johnny before they could testify because they thought their testimony would hurt Manson. Naturally, they botched the thing entirely.
Ah, but no bad deed goes unpunished. Juan didn't let on to Larry that he knew that Larry was the snitch. One night Juan, Johnny and Windy took Larry out for the evening or so he thought. They took him to a spot near Spahn Ranch, stripped him naked and tied him to a tree and left him there. I'm betting that ranch hands can tie some pretty decent knots. Windy has no idea how long he was there or how he became untied but they didn't have trouble with him any more.
17 comments:
Seems like we never hear anything good about this guy. He sounds like a piece of work. I hope he has changed for the better.
This crap is better than TV!
So entertaining. Probably not so much at the time, though. Windy seems like a tough lady!
Funny on how his website he completely doesn't mention Manson.
You know, all of the cruddy Manson movies that rehash the same OLD crap... this stuff needs to be put in a screen play!
I wonder who it was that tried to saw through the roof.
I was once tied to a tree....
oh never mind
hey man, we gotta get to these guys quietly. they might have weapons. what do you think, go through a window or kick in a door? No, lets saw thru the roof. oh great idea. lets go. i think the lsd is kicking in.
Juan Flynn should of pummeled Larry with chingasos, in addition to tying him to a tree nude.
I fail to understand.
There’re some things I don’t understand like brain surgery, quantum mechanics and extruded plastics manufacture, and that’s just fine with me. These subjects are simply too complex and over my head to comprehend. They are for the most part magic in my world, but work as advertised, so I choose to accept them and those who practice and understand such black arts.
Then there’s the other end of the pendulum swing. These are subjects which I hold an intimate understanding and have either practiced, or have a mental straw man which outlines what I would do in certain situations. Situations as banal as predicting what the next vehicle will do at a red light, or if the cashier is expecting payment at the grocery store, after scanning several hundred dollars of products. Absolutely everyone has suffered behind that person who reserves the temerity to be surprised when the amount is announced, followed by some endless digging through some bottomless canvas bag, for some months expired coupons, before asking if they take out of state checks. If you haven’t witnessed this machination, then you are likely one of the offenders. Be that as it may, I’ve come to the conclusion there is a sector of society, which gets hit in the face at the speed of light, by life, from the minute they get up, until they go back to sleep.
Let’s review. So I want to dispense some revenge or intimidation to a person or people in a home. Throw a rock with a menacing message through a window? Call from a payphone and leave a raspy voiced threat? Watch for someone to leave for work, at a known time, then shadow and or run them off the road? Cut their brake lines or slash tires? Cut the phone lines or electric service? Nope, not a member of the Manson brain trust. You would climb a ladder and begin the silent and virtually hidden task of sawing a hole in the roof, drop into the attic, then crash through the ceiling, a la Green Hornet then…… I got nothing here.
OK, ok…. Let’s turn the table and put you INSIDE the home, this will be easier. You’re just sitting there in front of a blaring TV, or pacing nervously, but you’re just “minding your own business” when you detect the tell tale sound of someone sawing into your roof. You spring into action by…… Calling the cops, then Farmers Insurance? Blindly run out the front door screaming like a woman? Stand back to back with your roommates, in order to achieve 360 degree, stereo-optic vision, like the mighty Leaf Tailed Gecko? Hide in the bathroom vanity? Run to your truck, but you flood the engine and can’t get it started, so Jason pushes a machete through the cab, or you’re overwhelmed by sheer number of zombies and end up becoming part of the un-dead. I think I’m lost in my allegory here.
This may be harder to deal with than I thought. I guess randomly blasting the walls and ceiling of a rental with a 12 gauge, is the most logical and rational action, for someone sawing a hole in your roof. Never mind.
Farflung, Love your writing and your thought process... not that I will ever try to understand it LOL!
Yea, it would seem like the first thing someone wold do if they heard sawing through a roof is to get outside and get a better look. Heck it could have been the landlord or tradesmen working on something.
Sawing through a roof isn't exactly to get the best element of surprise but perhaps it sounded better than tunneling?
LOVE Windy's stories and they really give a whole new insight.
I think Juan had fun, at first hanging out with the family, but after finding out what they were capable of doing, he freaked. Look what happened to Paul Watkins. The van he was sleeping in (as you do) was set on fire with him in it. Juan had every right to be freaked. Grabbing a shotgun, and randomly shooting it would of been a normal reaction to someone that knew what these people were capable of. Too bad none of the victims had a shotgun handy.
Regarding Juan, I am mixed about him. I think he had a good heart, but I also think he was on the "Manson" side even if he was seen as a man wh couldn't be trusted. I mean, Juan was on TV talking about Manson pretty positive and saying "I love the man." This after the whole Benny Hill-esque shotgun-cabin incident at Barker Ranch.
Upon a little further thought, I think what may be happening here is a “Manson Hookman Legend”. You know, a pair of teenagers find a spot to make out, then the radio has an announcement about some psycho escaping who had a hook for a hand? The couple ignores it because they want to get busy instead of staying pure and virtuous, but they get spooked by a scratching noise, and bolt only to find a bloody hook hanging from the girl’s door handle.
I think there are two different events getting combined into a pseudo-plausible story because of the characters involved.
So Juan is pacing nervously around the house. A noise is heard on the roof, this in spite of a blaring western with guns blasting. Then Johnny says jokingly “Hey Juan you think that’s Charlie?” Now Juan looks up and goes into a thousand mile stare, while he hears the distinct thump of a choppers blade cutting through the air in Viet Nam. Juan hears “Incoming!” along with agonized screams and explosions with shouts of “It’s Charlie! He’s at the wire, Charlie’s everywhere.” Juan goes ape, grabs a 12 gauge and runs a serpentine pattern through the house shouting “I see you Charlie! Come on, get some!” All the while blasting away at shadowy figures of what Juan sees as VC. Then everyone goes to sleep.
Then some time later (obviously), someone looks on the roof and there’s a rusting handsaw left behind by some handyman, or tossed up there by kids playing, and they conclude that Charlie was trying to saw through the roof.
Now everyone gets all “Lord of the Flies” on Larry, who agrees to go out with them because he didn’t have anything to do with the saw on the roof, or Juan’s flashback induced by Johnny. Larry ends up naked and tied to a tree, which by design guarantees eternal silence on the subject. Like the ‘unanswerable question’ of “If you woke up in a field, with your pants and underwear below your knees, and a condom sticking out of your butt, would you tell anyone?”
That’s not to say I’ve completely abandoned the zombie theory.
Matt just added a newspaper article to the story on the home page for me. It was a syndicated article that was published Oct. 1, 1970. I think it's safe to say that Juan was a little jumpy at the time and that threats were made to him.
St. Circumstance said...
I was once tied to a tree....
oh never mind
I remember- I was the one that tied you there!!!!
and then it started to rain....
Juan Flynn was a big boy. He later worked on heavy equipment and saw him at a couple of gun shows in Vegas. BTW his real name was John. He was like 3rd generation Euro-American descended from. The Panama Canal builders.I spent time in Panama in 1972 and met people that knew him and family. Spahn lost business in 1970 because of the scandal.Retz bought the back ranch house area and did something to the creek to divert water I think
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