Yeah but see here's the thing -- how can anyone recreate with any accuracy the insanity that happened that night? But if you want to talk about Atkins, she wa there when Gary Hinman was murdered. Granted she didn't kill him, but I don't believe her when she said she didn't know what was going to happen. Manson was seriously pissed at Hinman, only a moron or someone deep in denial wouldn't know.
It was Kasabian who refused to murder, after the Libianca murders Manson told her to kill that guy (sorry I've got Alzheimers) and she stalled it out long enough to where she didn't have to do it.
I don't see where Atkins behaved that way. I see Atkins totally embracing the whole thing. I mean good god writing with a dead woman's blood is beyond gruesome. And wasn't she the one who, when Sharon Tate pleaded for the life of her unborn baby, responded "I don't have any pity on you bitch." That's not someone caught up in the moment. That's someone who's enjoying what's happening.
I don't as far as motivation, does it really matter whether it was Helter Skelter or Manson just being Hannibal Lecter-like insane? He ordered the murders and his followers joyfully carried them out.
Chris