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Cursed Films season 2 episode 2 Rosemary's Baby
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00:00Transcription by CastingWords
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01:00Transcription by CastingWords
01:29The Vietnam War was really at its worst, so there was a massive youth movement to stop the war.
01:37A lot of people, including the government, feared that this revolution was actually going to happen in the United States, fueled by the youth of America.
01:46It was a violent, turbulent time.
01:50This is a CBS News special report, the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
01:55In 1968, there was a Martin Luther King assassination.
02:00There was the Robert Kennedy assassination.
02:03I always say horror films reflect the times we live.
02:06Rosemary's Baby came out at a pivotal moment in history.
02:11The world was really changing, and horror films changed with it.
02:17Rosemary's Baby was a milestone movie.
02:22Not too many mainstream Hollywood films, even now, would deal with the story of a young woman raped and impregnated by the devil.
02:31I think it's one of the greatest horror movies ever made for the very simple reason that it presents the adversary as us.
02:42Not someone who transforms under a full moon, comes out only at night.
02:49But the adversary is my slightly wacky, eccentric, nosy, if likable neighbors, and I think that's the movie's genius.
02:58That's one of the twists.
03:01It's for you from Roman and me.
03:03It gave people a different idea of what Satanists are.
03:06It's lovely.
03:07As a child growing up, just emerging as a Satanist when I was 12 years old,
03:13when I heard for the first time from someone else's lips besides mine,
03:18Hail Satan!
03:19Hail Satan!
03:20Hail Satan!
03:21Satan is his father!
03:23It was inspiring and strengthening.
03:24If you're not a Satanist, you're not rooting for the Satanists, I suppose it might be a different perception.
03:29Oh, God!
03:32Polanski was in many ways a bellwether of his times.
03:35He, too, observed that traditional hierarchies were being upended.
03:43There was fascination with witchcraft and questions of the afterlife.
03:52And, of course, with Anton LaVey's founding of the Church of Satan,
03:55there was a question about whether adversarial forces represented a legitimate spiritual or ethical path for people.
04:02So, suddenly, doors to the infinite were thrown open, and that was part of the counterculture.
04:08There was definitely a synergy between the Church of Satan and Rosemary's Baby.
04:15As far as Rosemary's Baby actually being cursed,
04:21as far as somebody dying or tragedy happening attached to the film itself,
04:28there is an idea that if you make a wicked film, dark film,
04:35then you're opening yourself up to forces outside yourself
04:40that could influence your life in a negative way.
04:45Rosemary's Baby is considered cursed,
04:48partly because of its proximity and time
04:51to the murder of Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, and her housemates.
04:58Polanski met Sharon Tate in London in swinging 1967.
05:12Sharon Tate was obviously ambitious.
05:15I feel a little top-heavy.
05:16Honey, you are a little top-heavy.
05:19What's your ultimate ambition?
05:20I want to remain as much myself as possible, you know,
05:25and just do what really excites me and interests me.
05:29She was also smart enough to see that Polanski was a man with a future.
05:36Roman's absolutely a genius.
05:41Yeah, he was a hard-luck guy.
05:43He's a brilliant director, and he had a lot of hard luck in his life,
05:46and I'm sure that leaves his mark.
05:48But only a psychiatrist would know that.
06:01My name is Julian Wasser.
06:03I'm a photo documentarian.
06:06I'm a photojournalist.
06:09I started when I was 11.
06:12I put a police radio in my father's car.
06:14I would steal his car, go out and shoot horrible crime scenes.
06:19What makes a good crime photograph?
06:21Blood, someone burned alive, something like that.
06:24A suicide off the Calvert Street Bridge,
06:27where the person lands on a concrete and smashed to pieces.
06:31Anything horrible.
06:32And how did that transition into photographing celebrities?
06:39Well, in L.A., what else is there except celebrities?
06:42That's what sell.
06:42That's what everybody in the world wants to see.
06:45Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, people like that.
06:49I worked on the set of Rosemary's Baby.
06:52Anything Roman Polanski touched was a big, big deal.
06:55You had Mia Farrow in that.
06:57I think she was married to Sinatra then.
07:00And Bob Evans, another charismatic guy, was involved.
07:04So it was a big deal.
07:05I felt very privileged to be able to work on that set.
07:10And there's Mia Farrow in the background with a knife on the floor.
07:15And the blood frakers, the camera guy on the right,
07:17he's since passed on.
07:20This was in 1968.
07:22It was a long time ago.
07:23Rosemary's Baby was written by Ira Levin,
07:30a self-professed New York atheist.
07:33And Levin asked himself the question one day,
07:37what would it be like if I took a scene from everyday life,
07:41a young woman becoming pregnant,
07:43and made it into a kind of a nightmare?
07:46Dr. Hill?
07:47Congratulations.
07:49Really?
07:49You're also seeing this horror of women at that time period.
07:54When you watch that movie,
07:55there's always an older man guiding her by the back of her arm.
07:59She's always being told to ignore her instincts,
08:01to always just sort of mold to whatever these men want from her.
08:04And she's really absorbing that.
08:07That was the story for women for so many generations.
08:10They didn't have any other choice but to mold within that world or perish.
08:16It's saying something about her,
08:18but it's also equally subversive in that she's going against her own Catholic faith
08:23to raise this satanic child.
08:28One important aspect that defines Rosemary's Baby
08:31is William Castle's involvement.
08:35My dad was the nicest, kindest, most compassionate man
08:41who just happened to love to scare the hell out of people.
08:46He was a well-respected director, producer.
08:51Do you believe in ghosts?
08:54You know, but most of his films, you know, he was the gimmick guy.
08:57I mean, I loved Homicidal, where there was a clock that came up
09:02right at the climax of the film.
09:04So if you were too frightened to stay,
09:06you could leave and get your money back.
09:09He had a film called House on Haunted Hill
09:12and something called Emerjo.
09:16A skeleton flew across the theater
09:19to everybody's screams of delight.
09:22It was William Castle who produced that film
09:24and he bought Rosemary's Baby.
09:25And I was not overjoyed when he did.
09:29So my dad definitely wanted to direct Rosemary's Baby
09:32when he bought the property.
09:34And he brought the book Robert Evans over at Paramount.
09:37But it was within the week, I think,
09:40that they said, no, we're going to have this young,
09:43hot, new director, Roman Polanski, direct it.
09:49And my father was really upset.
09:51He still was going to produce this,
09:53but his shot at directing an A film was taken away from him.
09:58I remember the day when he called and said
10:01that he had decided not to direct it himself.
10:03He was getting Roman Polanski.
10:05And was I terribly unhappy?
10:07And I said, no, I think I could get over that.
10:10And I remember Roman coming over the house
10:14and my dad saw Roman's fantastic talent
10:17and thought, okay, let's do this.
10:23We have four main characters in Rosemary's Baby.
10:28And the leading part is Mia Farrow.
10:31Then John Cassavetes playing her husband.
10:35Roman is a craftsman, the best.
10:38There is a longstanding rumor that Anton LaVey,
10:46the founder of the Church of Satan,
10:48was a technical advisor to the film
10:51or played the role of Satan himself in the movie.
10:55Anton LaVey got involved for authenticity and advice.
10:59Hail, Satan.
11:00Hail, Satan.
11:03Anton talked about Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra
11:06having friction on the set.
11:08He talked about John Cassavetes and Polanski
11:12having some friction because they both wanted to direct.
11:17The exterior filming of Rosemary's Baby
11:20was obviously filmed in New York City,
11:23but the interiors were all built on the Paramount Studios lot.
11:28Interesting, Paramount Studios is actually
11:31former cemetery property.
11:35Hollywood Memorial Park, right behind it,
11:37used to be twice as big as it is.
11:40This wall that you see on to our right,
11:42this is the wall of the cemetery.
11:45In the early 19-teens,
11:47Hollywood Cemetery was actually,
11:50literally, cut in half and sold.
11:52And on the other half,
11:53a movie studio was built.
11:55Where this traffic light is,
11:57is where Hollywood Cemetery ends
11:59and where Paramount Studios begins.
12:04I have no doubt that there are remains
12:07underneath Paramount Studios.
12:09So the studio itself is fairly,
12:11I think, I can say with confidence,
12:13haunted.
12:14I don't know if Rosemary's Baby is the most cursed film,
12:18and I don't know if there's such a thing
12:20as a cursed set,
12:22but I wouldn't bet my life on it.
12:26After the film was made,
12:28bad stuff started to happen.
12:31With Rosemary's Baby,
12:33all of these terrible things
12:34that took place in the actors and actresses
12:36and producers' lives
12:37happened after the film's release.
12:40The Christoph Comida story
12:42is a key one for me.
12:45Christoph Comida was a prolific jazz musician.
12:48He'd had about 60 films,
12:49soundtracks already under his belt
12:50before he started working with Polanski.
12:53He'd worked on other films with Polanski,
12:55like Cul-de-sac and Knife in the Water.
13:00Rosemary's Lullaby,
13:01at the opening credits of the film,
13:03is one of the most iconic pieces of music
13:05in terms of horror films that we have.
13:08So, according to Polanski,
13:11after the film, in December 68,
13:13he was drinking with Comida
13:15and another guy called Helasco,
13:18who was a writer,
13:19and those two got involved
13:20in a bit of rough and tumble,
13:21and Comida fell and hit his head.
13:24That's one version of events.
13:26Another story says he was in a car accident in L.A.
13:29What we do know as fact
13:30is that he developed a hematoma on the brain
13:33and fell into a coma
13:34and sadly died three months later.
13:37Now, there's a dark reflection on that in the film.
13:41Obviously, Rosemary's friend, Hutch...
13:43Hutch, this is Roman Castanet.
13:46He is targeted by a coven of witches.
13:48He develops a mystery illness
13:50and falls into a coma
13:51and dies three months later.
13:53Hutch is dead.
13:55Just like Comida.
13:57In the spiritual world,
14:00there's a thing which is known as a god wink.
14:02When you have a coincidence,
14:04which is a good coincidence,
14:05the idea is that's god winking at you
14:08to let you know that you're on the right path.
14:11I think there are certain dark coincidences,
14:14such as Comida's death
14:16and Hutch's death in the film,
14:18which is kind of like a devil wink,
14:20for want of a better phrase.
14:21It's kind of like the devil himself saying
14:25that you're not on the right track.
14:30Right after the film premiered,
14:32my dad, he had to go in for major, major surgery.
14:36His kidneys stopped working.
14:38And he was convinced he saw the reflection of the devil
14:40in the surgeon's knife.
14:42But that's only part of it.
14:46When the Catholic Church gave it a C rating
14:49and condemned it,
14:51when he got hate mail,
14:54saying that he was going to rot in hell,
14:56he went into a depression.
14:58He was used to making kind of fun horror films,
15:00you know, and all of a sudden,
15:01he thought, what did I bring into this world?
15:07The night before I gave labor to my second child,
15:10I dropped that.
15:11But I was Rosemary.
15:14Really?
15:14Which is not a real pleasant thing to dream
15:16right before you're about to go
15:17and give birth to a baby, yeah.
15:20And it has affected
15:21how I want to protect my children.
15:25And how one child I wasn't able to protect.
15:29I had one child who died of cancer.
15:31Was that the curse?
15:33I don't know.
15:35And my sister died very young
15:37of a heart and kidney issue.
15:39Was that the curse?
15:40I don't know.
15:41And my mother had Alzheimer's at a very young age
15:44and lived with Alzheimer's for 20 years.
15:47Was that the curse?
15:48I don't know.
15:51The events of Rosemary's Baby
15:53take place in 1966,
15:56which was the very year
15:58Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan.
16:00Of course, in one of the famous scenes from Rosemary's Baby,
16:03Rosemary is seated in the waiting room of her obstetrician
16:07and picks up a copy of Time magazine,
16:10which famously has on its cover the question,
16:13Is God Dead?
16:14The Western world experienced an occult revival
16:20by the late 60s with the Woodstock generation.
16:24It's like people that are nowhere are coming here
16:25because there's people that they think are somewhere,
16:27so everybody is really looking for some kind of answer
16:30where there isn't one.
16:32It's just like people are very lost, I think.
16:34The intersection of the hippie movement
16:37and the occult movement makes a lot of sense to me
16:39because I think they're hand-in-hand
16:40in terms of the type of ideas that they were exploring.
16:44You know, with the hippie movement,
16:46you have, like, this sort of return to the land idealism.
16:50It's going back to these sort of paganistic religious systems.
16:55I think that the obsession with witchcraft and the occult
16:58during the 1960s and the 1970s
17:01originated in England in 1951
17:04when there was the reversal of the Witchcraft Act,
17:07which had been put in place in 1735.
17:11And that did not allow anyone to openly practice witchcraft.
17:16So when that was lifted,
17:17you've got this whole kind of explosion
17:20of everybody wanting to explore this topic
17:22because they previously weren't allowed to.
17:26You have these kind of mind-altering drugs
17:28that are also playing a factor
17:29in this great awakening
17:32that was occurring in the culture.
17:36People who really started using LSD recreationally
17:39would kind of have religious experiences
17:43and hallucinations.
17:45Help me!
17:46Some of them explored all kinds of mystical religions,
17:50and some people became interested in Satanism.
17:55There were rumors that Sharon Tate dabbled in Satanism.
17:59If she did,
18:01I think it was more out of curiosity and fauna.
18:05But there were other people
18:06who had gotten serious about it.
18:10I'm trying to think if there were any famous people
18:12who ever admitted it.
18:14Sammy Davis Jr. identified and called himself a Satanist.
18:19He understood that Satanism was an advocate
18:23for minority positions in a lot of ways.
18:26That was a period in Sammy's life
18:29that he later wrote about
18:30and was very public about.
18:32But what's truly weird is that Sammy Davis Jr.'s memoir,
18:38Yes, I Can,
18:39can be seen very prominently on screen,
18:43at least twice.
18:45Once when Rosemary is snuggling up with the book,
18:48then another time when Guy is tucking away
18:52a book on witches that Rosemary had been given,
18:54and we see the spine of Sammy Davis' book
18:57very prominently featured.
19:01As a man whose life was impacted by evil,
19:06Polanski, he has to be seen as an artist
19:09who, at that time,
19:12was trying to expose us
19:14to questions of evil in ourselves.
19:18When we talk about having a tough childhood,
19:21it's hard to compare
19:24to what actually happened to Polanski.
19:28Polanski's mother, Buehler,
19:30was taken to Auschwitz,
19:33and she happened to have been
19:35four months pregnant at the time,
19:37which was significant
19:39because, of course,
19:40one of the first things
19:41that happened on arrival
19:43at these terrible places
19:44was an inspection
19:46as to whether or not you were fit for work.
19:48Tragically, she was exterminated.
19:55Polanski's father was also arrested.
19:59He eventually ended up
20:01in terrible circumstances,
20:04having to work at the Mauthausen camps,
20:08what was called the Staircase of Death,
20:11which involved carrying these huge slabs of rock
20:15up and down rough stone steps.
20:18And if you fell,
20:20you were basically left to die.
20:24Polanski's father survived
20:26two years of this
20:27nightmarish ordeal
20:29and eventually was liberated
20:32by the Americans
20:33in the spring of 1945
20:35and reunited with his child.
20:38By this stage,
20:40Roman Polanski
20:41already had to see
20:42more real horror
20:43and bloodshed
20:45in his life
20:46than most of us
20:47would care to see
20:48in our entire lives,
20:50and that was just the beginning.
20:58The year after the film came out,
21:00one of the most impactful moments
21:03of my young life
21:04was driving up to San Francisco.
21:05We pulled over to the curb
21:09and my dad saw a newspaper stand
21:11and read the headline
21:11that Sharon Haid had been murdered
21:13and her baby had been murdered.
21:16And they turned the car around
21:18and we drove right back.
21:20Well, I got up
21:22and I heard a lot of sirens.
21:24I called the police department
21:25and said,
21:25what's going on in West L.A.?
21:27And they told me
21:28there was an incident
21:30on Shallow Drive
21:32and I got dressed,
21:33went right up there.
21:35This incredible true crime case
21:39is like nothing else.
21:41It involves rock stars
21:43and movie stars.
21:45If you didn't know
21:46it was a true crime,
21:48you would think it's a movie.
21:51My name's Scott Michaels
21:53and this is Dearly Departed Tours
21:55and welcome back to 1969.
21:58I put together
21:59the Helter Skelter tour
22:00probably about 13 years ago.
22:02Three weeks prior
22:04to the Tate LaBianca murders,
22:05the first man walked on the moon.
22:07A couple of weeks prior to that,
22:08Judy Garland died in London.
22:10Her funeral in New York
22:11kicked off the Stonewall riots
22:12and the gay rights movement
22:14went into full swing.
22:16Myself, I'm obsessed
22:17with the year 1969.
22:19Incense and peppermints,
22:20White Rabbit,
22:21Jefferson Airplane.
22:23You got the peace sign,
22:24you got mushrooms.
22:25On the very day of the murders,
22:26August 8th,
22:27just a few hours before
22:28the Tate murders
22:29in Beverly Hills,
22:30the Beatles took that iconic
22:32Abbey Road album cover photograph,
22:34which I think is fascinating
22:35because they figure into this case.
22:37This is important to me,
22:38the addresses of Cielo Drive
22:40and LaBianca's house
22:42on Waverly Drive
22:43because I spent so much
22:44of my time and my life
22:45researching them
22:46and I wanted to commemorate them.
22:49Cielo Drive is still
22:50a tourist attraction,
22:52although the house
22:53has been gone since 1993
22:55and a new house
22:56has been put in its place.
23:00Roman and Sharon
23:01moved into the house
23:02in February of 69.
23:05It was a rental
23:05and by the end of March,
23:08both of them had gone to Europe
23:09to do separate projects.
23:12Roman went to London
23:13to work on the script
23:15and pre-production
23:16for Day of the Dolphin,
23:17which was a film
23:18he planned to direct,
23:19but he never did.
23:20Far go now,
23:21men not hurt far.
23:22Men hurt far.
23:26Yes.
23:27And while they were gone,
23:28Roman had Abigail Folger
23:30and Wojciech
23:31kind of take care of the house.
23:33Cielo Drive is in the middle
23:35of Benedict Canyon, basically.
23:37This tragic boulevard
23:40that makes its way
23:41from the Sunset Strip
23:43all the way over
23:44to the San Fernando Valley.
23:48Benedict Canyon is located on,
23:51I think this is official,
23:52like a Native American
23:54burial ground.
23:56And I believe somehow,
23:58someway,
23:58something terrible
23:59was wished upon the place
24:01because there are too many things
24:03that happened in Benedict Canyon
24:04for it to be a coincidence.
24:07Well, starting from
24:08the very base of Benedict Canyon
24:09is the Beverly Hills Hotel
24:11where Peter Finch...
24:12I'm as mad as hell
24:13and I'm not gonna take this anymore!
24:15The Australian actor
24:17died of a heart attack
24:18in the lobby,
24:19winning the first
24:19posthumous Academy Award.
24:21Peter Finch in Network.
24:22A little bit further up
24:24is where Richard Dreyfuss
24:25was nearly killed
24:26in a car crash.
24:27Across the street
24:28from where a musician
24:29named Charo lives,
24:31her husband killed himself
24:33in the alley behind their house,
24:34a Benedict Canyon address.
24:36A little bit further up
24:37was where Elizabeth Montgomery
24:38from Bewitched
24:39lived and died
24:40across the street
24:41from John Ritter's house.
24:42John Ritter didn't die
24:43in Benedict Canyon,
24:44but he lived there at the time.
24:46A little bit further up,
24:47Susan Berman was murdered
24:48in Benedict Canyon,
24:49the Durst murders
24:50that they made
24:50the documentary about.
24:52About five doors down,
24:54George Reeves, Superman,
24:55died of a speeding bullet
24:57to the head.
24:58A little bit further up,
24:59there was a woman
24:59by the name of Yvette Vickers.
25:01She was a B-movie star.
25:02She was in Sunset Boulevard.
25:03She was in the attack
25:04of the 50-foot woman.
25:05And she died in her home.
25:07She wasn't found for months.
25:09A little bit further up,
25:10Paul Byrne
25:10in Gene Harlow's house.
25:11Paul Byrne killed himself
25:12in that house.
25:13Jay Sebring moves
25:14into that house.
25:15Rudolph Valentino
25:16lived across the way
25:17from the Tate murders.
25:18And then Doris Duke,
25:19the tobacco heiress,
25:20died in that same house
25:21under very mysterious circumstances.
25:24Her butler inherited
25:25something like $500 billion.
25:27He bought a house in Benedict
25:28and died a couple months later.
25:30There's so many stories
25:31about Benedict Canyon.
25:34But it all goes up
25:36to Cielo Drive
25:37where the Tate murders happened.
25:39That seems to be
25:40the awful, notorious crown jewel
25:43of Benedict Canyon.
25:46I couldn't believe
25:49that these souls
25:50could do that.
25:52We are a family.
25:54We are every white mother,
25:56every white king.
25:58I just was in shock.
26:00I couldn't believe
26:01Tex could do that.
26:04Susan and Patty.
26:07I remember
26:10Tex slapped the newspaper
26:12and the headline read
26:14something like
26:15Tate LaBianca murders.
26:19And he slaps that
26:21and he says,
26:22I did this.
26:25Charlie told me to.
26:27My name is Diane Lake,
26:29former member
26:29of the Manson family,
26:31formerly known as Snake.
26:33I was 14.
26:38When I got introduced
26:39to Charlie and the girls,
26:41they opened their arms to me.
26:44I felt wanted
26:44and I felt loved there.
26:46But I think that
26:47what happened
26:48was that he had
26:49this experience
26:50of being crucified
26:53on acid.
26:56And I think he started
26:57to believe
26:58that he was a messiah.
27:00That's when
27:04it really started
27:05to turn
27:05was, you know,
27:06maybe nine months
27:08in when we got
27:09to Spahn Ranch.
27:11He'd been always
27:12talking about
27:13this race war.
27:14That's when he started
27:15getting enamored
27:16with the White Album
27:17and that the Beatles
27:18were sending him
27:19a message.
27:20Then this black-white race war
27:22became Helter Skelter.
27:24This race war
27:26was like an apocalypse.
27:28You know,
27:28a lot of people
27:29were going to die.
27:30We, as a family,
27:32were going to be preserved.
27:35Charlie wanted us
27:36to have babies
27:38for creation
27:39and that we would help
27:42repopulate the earth.
27:46It's kind of crazy
27:48to talk about,
27:49but, you know,
27:51but that, you know,
27:52looking back,
27:54that's really,
27:55that was what he wanted
27:57to do.
27:58There's an obvious link
28:03from Charles Manson
28:05to Rosemary's Baby.
28:07The Dakota building
28:08was used as the outside
28:09of the Bramford,
28:10as we know.
28:11John Lennon had
28:12an apartment
28:13in the Dakota.
28:14And then you say,
28:15okay, well,
28:15the large bulk of the White
28:17Album was written
28:17in India
28:18during a retreat.
28:21And at that retreat
28:22was Mia Farrow.
28:25Mia Farrow,
28:26who was friends
28:27with Sharon Tate
28:27and Roman,
28:28hung out with the Beatles,
28:30went to India
28:30with her sister.
28:31Songs were named
28:32after them.
28:33Verses in classic
28:34Beatles songs
28:35refer to Mia
28:35and her sister.
28:36You mentioned
28:38the White Album
28:39and John Lennon
28:40and what's eerie
28:40is that in the scene
28:42where Rosemary
28:42is in the taxi cab
28:43and she's got that,
28:44like, occult book
28:45that she gets
28:46from the bookstore.
28:47In the background,
28:48there's always this
28:48white beetle
28:49that's, like,
28:49trailing her.
28:51There's a white
28:52VW beetle
28:53that's throughout
28:54the film, actually.
28:55You always see it
28:56parked out front
28:57of the building.
28:59A lot of what
29:00the film is dealing
29:01with is what's
29:02hidden in plain sight.
29:05The Dakota building
29:06is the outside
29:07of the Bramford
29:07and that's where
29:08the writer of those
29:09songs would
29:10eventually be murdered.
29:11My gosh,
29:12the Dakota
29:13where Rosemary's Baby
29:14was filmed
29:15and John Lennon
29:16was murdered
29:16right in front of it.
29:17John Lennon
29:18gave his autograph
29:18to the gunman
29:19six hours before
29:21the senseless shooting
29:22in the entrance
29:23to his New York
29:24apartment building.
29:26That's sinister.
29:28If you look
29:29at the scene
29:30where the woman
29:31jumps out of the window
29:32and Rosemary's Baby
29:33commits suicide,
29:35it's the exact spot
29:37where John Lennon
29:39was shot.
29:41And it's very eerie
29:42because you're thinking
29:44about the White Album
29:45and you're thinking
29:46about Helter Skelter.
29:49Then we say,
29:50okay, so Charles Manson
29:52who plays a big part
29:53in the curse
29:54of Rosemary's Baby,
29:55he said he was inspired
29:56by songs on the White Album
29:58and nine months
30:00after the White Album's release,
30:02Charles Manson
30:02and the Manson family
30:03murdered Sharon Tate.
30:07You can find a connection
30:09between anything
30:10if you look hard enough.
30:13But it doesn't necessarily mean
30:15that it's not true.
30:19If we take a look,
30:21for example,
30:21Victoria Vetri,
30:23she's one of the key plays
30:25in the curse
30:26of Rosemary's Baby.
30:27So she only has a bit part
30:29in Rosemary's Baby.
30:30She plays Terry,
30:32who's taken in
30:33by the cast of vets
30:34before she eventually,
30:36allegedly,
30:37throws herself out of a window.
30:39So Victoria Vetri,
30:41she does also go by
30:41the alias of Angela Dorian.
30:44After Rosemary's Baby,
30:45she became very close friends
30:47with Sharon Tate
30:48after the Manson murders.
30:51Victoria then
30:52went into a dark paranoia.
30:55She doesn't want to go out at night.
30:57She becomes quite reclusive.
31:06My name is Victoria Vetri,
31:08and I was born in Hollyweird.
31:11I mean, Hollywood.
31:14I did a lot of films
31:15and TV shows.
31:16I still get residuals.
31:17I enjoy being an actress
31:18and entertaining people.
31:20And I love to move.
31:22I love to move.
31:25There's all these films
31:25that I look at,
31:26and I'm in shock.
31:27I'm going,
31:27oh, my God,
31:28I never even got a chance
31:28to see them.
31:30And I'm going,
31:31wow, that was me
31:32when I was younger.
31:34I'm happy, though.
31:35I'm living with someone
31:36that I really care for right now.
31:38My name's Mark Melvin,
31:39and I'm a friend
31:40of Victoria Vetri.
31:41You are Victoria's...
31:43Play toy.
31:46Bravo, bravo.
31:48There you go.
31:51Back in the 60s,
31:52she really had
31:53a booming career
31:54in Hollywood going on.
31:57It's been so long
31:58since I look back
31:59at some of these things.
32:00Maybe I should see them again
32:01so I can remember them.
32:03I mean,
32:03as I'm getting older,
32:04I'm losing part of my brains.
32:06No, I'm just kidding.
32:07Do you remember
32:09working with Mia Farrow?
32:11Vaguely, yeah.
32:13I think so.
32:14I'm trying to remember
32:14what film we did together.
32:16My name is Terry Gionofrio.
32:18Nice to meet you.
32:19I'm Rose Rainwood.
32:20How's that?
32:21And that's me
32:22with the dark wig on.
32:23Staying with the cast of it.
32:24And I'm washing clothes back there.
32:25Did you have to rehearse
32:26this scene at all,
32:27or did you just...
32:28We just went through with it.
32:30I enjoyed working with her, too.
32:32What was her name again?
32:34Mia Farrow.
32:34Mia Farrow, yes.
32:35Excellent.
32:36Beautiful actress, too.
32:37Beautiful charm, though.
32:39It's kind of an interesting story
32:40the way we met.
32:40Basically through the pink car
32:42that Playboy...
32:43Oh, yeah.
32:43...gave her in 1968
32:44for being Playmate of the Year.
32:47I was Playmate of the Year,
32:49and I had no clothes on.
32:52I ended up buying that car in 2010,
32:54and I was excited
32:56I was going to meet
32:57the Playmate of the Year.
32:59And then three months afterwards,
33:00I heard that she had shot her husband.
33:03I was.
33:04I was a bad girl.
33:05Don't do that again.
33:09Never.
33:10Especially not me.
33:11Oh, I would never hurt you.
33:12You know that.
33:13I only hurt myself.
33:15Well, he's alive.
33:16He survived, yeah.
33:16Thank God, but...
33:18I'm trying to remember all this.
33:19Oh, my gosh.
33:21I don't even know my...
33:22That's because of your memory.
33:24Well, my memory's
33:26coming and going sometimes.
33:27So...
33:27So...
33:31My name is Bruce Rapgibb.
33:41Victoria, who's a waitress
33:43between acting jobs, I guess,
33:45and I was a chef.
33:47So that's how we met,
33:48and kind of had a chemistry.
33:51Right off, we were flirting
33:52with each other.
33:55We had a great 20 years together.
33:58The last five
33:59maybe almost killed me.
34:02Oh, Bruce Rapgib.
34:03Oh, dear.
34:05Victoria Rapgib.
34:06I was in a band,
34:09and she'd be saying
34:11there was girls at your rehearsal
34:12and this and that.
34:13I'm saying, no, no.
34:16I don't like to talk negative
34:17about people that I...
34:18You know, once you are married
34:20and living with them
34:21and they want to
34:22keep you in their order,
34:25you find out that he's cheating on me?
34:27Uh-uh. Later.
34:29I said, I'm not going to fight.
34:31And here she comes with the gun.
34:34I said, you're going to shoot me, really?
34:35For what?
34:37I saw her aiming the gun.
34:38I couldn't watch,
34:39so I turned my back
34:40and Pop shot me in the back.
34:46Went through my lung
34:47and I guess they went to operate.
34:49The bullet was a quarter inch
34:50from my heart,
34:51so they left it in me.
34:52It's still in me now,
34:54traveling around somewhere.
34:56At one point,
34:56my doctor x-rayed me
34:58and it was in my right shoulder.
35:00So, yeah, it's crazy.
35:05I loved her.
35:07Yeah, I still love her.
35:12She spent eight years in prison.
35:15Was it eight years?
35:16Oh, my God.
35:17And she's been on parole
35:18for three years now
35:19and it's scheduled
35:20to end in one month.
35:22I'm trying to remember
35:23what the hell got me
35:23in prison, to be honest.
35:25She doesn't...
35:25I don't think she really
35:27remembers the incident
35:28so much.
35:29I don't.
35:30It's really weird.
35:31I think she remembers
35:32that she was in prison.
35:34Maybe she doesn't
35:35want to remember.
35:38Well, I mean,
35:39I think I wonder
35:40why she really shot me.
35:43She had the gun
35:44when I met her.
35:46It was a Waltham PPK,
35:47nine millimeter.
35:49Very good gun.
35:50Walter PPK.
35:527.65 mil
35:53with a delivery
35:54like a brick
35:54through a plate glass window.
35:56She got it as protection
35:58because of the Manson murders.
36:01She had the gun
36:02all those years
36:03and then ended up
36:04shooting me
36:05instead of Charlie.
36:08So Rosemary's baby
36:10was 1968.
36:12The Manson murders
36:13happened in 69
36:15a year later,
36:16but Victoria
36:17was invited
36:18to be up there
36:18at the house
36:19and stayed home
36:20for whatever reason.
36:22But she was
36:23quite surprised
36:23to wake up
36:24the next morning
36:24to find out
36:25everybody that had
36:26gone up to the house
36:27that night
36:27was now dead.
36:31In a scene
36:32described by one
36:33investigator
36:34as reminiscent
36:34of a weird
36:35religious rite,
36:36five persons,
36:37including actress
36:38Sharon Tate,
36:39were found dead
36:40at the home
36:40of Miss Tate
36:41and her husband,
36:42screen director
36:42Roman Poljanski.
36:44The house
36:44that had known
36:45a number of movie
36:46star tenants
36:46suddenly became
36:48a scene more tragic
36:49than any horror movie.
36:51We have a weird homicide.
36:55We're trying to piece
36:55the thing together
36:56with what small amount
36:57of physical evidence
36:58we have.
37:00Anything that I'd tell you
37:01at this point
37:01would be mere speculation
37:03and I'm not going to speculate.
37:05Los Angeles police
37:06are saying little
37:07at this time
37:07about possible progress
37:08in solving the murders
37:09of actress Sharon Tate
37:11and four others.
37:13When Polanski
37:14and his shocked
37:15state arrived back
37:17in L.A.,
37:18he saw the police
37:20investigation
37:21as going nowhere.
37:23As a result,
37:25he started to undertake
37:26some of his own
37:27unofficial detective work.
37:31He suspected everybody
37:33and Roman called my dad
37:35to his bungalow
37:36and dad came home
37:39and he said he made me
37:40write the word pig
37:41over and over again
37:42and dad never understood
37:43why Roman asked him
37:45to do that
37:46and he had my father's
37:48handwriting analyzed
37:49to see if it matched
37:51the pig that was written
37:52on the walls.
37:54I was shocked.
37:56Tommy Thompson,
37:57the entertainment editor
37:58of Life,
37:59was a friend of Roman's
38:00and Roman said,
38:01I need a photographer
38:02to go up to the house
38:03to photograph it
38:04for clues.
38:05For this psychic,
38:07Peter Hercos,
38:10he was a psychic
38:11to the stars,
38:12whatever that means.
38:14Clues for the psychic
38:15to then analyze
38:16your photo.
38:17Exactly.
38:18Look at my photos
38:18and get psychic vibrations
38:20and find out
38:21who the murderer was.
38:23Why were you called in
38:24on this case?
38:24A lot of people
38:25are somewhat skeptical
38:27of mystics
38:28and clairvoyants
38:29and psychics.
38:30I have proved enough
38:32and I take any test
38:33what scientists may impose
38:34and I like skeptic people.
38:35I prove it.
38:37I want to understand
38:38how Roman can put
38:39this trust in the psychic.
38:41Because it's Hollywood, man.
38:47Psychic.
38:51We went up there
38:53and Roman was already there.
38:56I asked him,
38:57what am I going to do
38:57and he told me.
38:59Just photograph everything
39:00I'm looking at,
39:01which I did.
39:02I mean,
39:04one of the pictures
39:04is iconic.
39:06It's of Roman
39:07sitting on a chair
39:09in front of the open door
39:11to his house
39:11with the word pig
39:13written in blood
39:14that Julian took.
39:16There's a psychic
39:21solving the crime.
39:24I don't know
39:24what he's looking for.
39:26This blood was so thick
39:28it was like jello
39:29in the living room.
39:31The smell is horrible.
39:33It's like a slaughterhouse.
39:35That's what it smelled like.
39:37The psychic was kind
39:39of a con artist.
39:42Julian took Polaroids
39:44while he was doing
39:45a shooting.
39:47Herco sold the pictures
39:48to one of the tabloids.
39:52The Polaroids,
39:53the psychic took
39:55to sell
39:56to the Hollywood Citizen News.
39:59And then the Hollywood movie,
40:00what else is he going to do?
40:02When we were
40:05in the desert running,
40:07the girls told me
40:10specifically their part
40:12in the murders.
40:15When Susan was killing Sharon
40:19or helping kill her
40:21and Sharon was begging
40:22for the life of her baby,
40:25Susan told me
40:26that she thought about
40:27cutting the baby out
40:30and rescuing the baby.
40:32What stuck with me
40:34even more than the details
40:36and the details
40:37were pretty bad
40:38was the way
40:39in which they told it.
40:41They told it.
40:42They were almost gleeful
40:43about what they had done
40:45for Charlie.
40:47I want to take the children
40:48to the desert.
40:49Your children.
40:51There's no reason
40:51why your children should die.
40:52We'll take them
40:53to the desert
40:54if you give them to us.
40:56I am not aware
40:58of the family
40:58talking about
40:59Rosemary's baby,
41:01Polanski.
41:02But I can see
41:03how people could
41:05compare and contrast
41:06Rosemary's baby
41:08and this woman
41:10giving birth to a child
41:11that was all engineered
41:13by a family
41:14for this baby
41:17then to become
41:18the child of the devil.
41:20The only time
41:26he reacted
41:26when he was looking
41:27at pictures of Sharon
41:28in the bedroom
41:29when he started crying
41:30that was the only time
41:32I saw him react.
41:36Did he ever tell you
41:37to stop?
41:39No, but man
41:40I'm telling you
41:40I felt that.
41:42You felt like stopping?
41:43I felt very bad
41:46about this whole scene
41:48I didn't want
41:49to be around there
41:50I felt like I was
41:51a grave robber
41:52it was awful
41:52but you know
41:55what do you do
41:56you were working
41:57and then the shot
42:00of the nightstand
42:01in their bedroom
42:03and there's this
42:03wedding photo
42:04of Sharon and Roman
42:06and the princess phone
42:07with black
42:08LAPD fingerprint
42:09powder all over it.
42:11That one shot
42:15just sums up
42:16the whole thing.
42:21People often ask
42:24how would you
42:25describe evil
42:26and they will always
42:28say Adolf Hitler
42:29and they will always
42:30say Charles Manson
42:31and I think
42:33it's fascinating
42:34that Polanski's family
42:35were killed
42:35in the concentration camp
42:36it's a direct result
42:37of Adolf Hitler
42:38and his wife
42:40and friends
42:40were murdered
42:41as a direct result
42:42of Charles Manson
42:43that's wild.
42:44There's something there
42:45that I can't explain.
42:48There were people
42:49out there
42:50who believed
42:51that what happened
42:52to Sharon
42:52and to Roman
42:53was karmic retribution
42:56for kind of
42:56exploiting
42:57the dark side
42:58with Rosemary's baby.
43:01They were actually
43:02implying
43:02that it was
43:03the victim's
43:03own bad behavior
43:04that caused
43:05their murders.
43:07Jack Nicholson
43:08who was friends
43:08with Sharon and Roman
43:09said that
43:09Sharon had the
43:10unfortunate
43:11circumstance
43:11of being murdered
43:12twice
43:13once by
43:14her actual killers
43:15and the next time
43:16by the press.
43:21That cello
43:22was right across
43:23the way here.
43:25I think that's it.
43:27I think.
43:27I think, yeah,
43:29that's it.
43:29There's a sign here.
43:31Yeah, there, see?
43:32Yeah, that's it.
43:33Yeah, all this is new.
43:34Yeah, when I came here,
43:38there were several
43:38police cars here,
43:40and there was
43:40a telephone company
43:42lineman
43:43at the top
43:44of that pole
43:44repairing
43:45the cut wire.
43:46I still didn't
43:47even know
43:47what happened.
43:52You want the
43:53overload shot here?
43:54Turn right.
43:56Yeah, there's
43:57where the
43:57Polanski house was.
44:00It was a tiny,
44:01little red shingle
44:02place.
44:03Now you got that.
44:06This thing's
44:07probably five times
44:08bigger.
44:09This is LA
44:10excess
44:11to the nth degree.
44:18At the end
44:19of the filming
44:19of Rosemary's Baby,
44:21Mia Farrow
44:22bought my
44:23father
44:24a beautiful
44:25humidor
44:26where you keep
44:27cigars in.
44:29On the top
44:30of the cover,
44:31it was the
44:3214-karat pole
44:33devil with
44:33ruby eyes,
44:34and it said,
44:35To Bill,
44:36love Mia.
44:37And it ended
44:38up in a storage unit.
44:41My husband
44:42was in the storage
44:43unit, and he
44:43called me and said,
44:44what do I do
44:44with that?
44:45I'm like,
44:46you do nothing.
44:46Just leave it
44:47in that storage unit.
44:49I didn't want
44:49anything to do
44:50with it,
44:50because it
44:51represented bad luck.
44:53And even
44:54though we might
44:55not completely
44:55believe in it,
44:56we were too
44:56afraid not to.
45:00Children,
45:02your mother's
45:05going to die
45:05tonight.
45:11Children,
45:13kiss your mother
45:16good night.
45:21Children,
45:22kiss your mother
45:27good night.
45:32Children,
45:35kiss your mother
45:37good night.
45:43Children,
45:46kiss your mother
45:49good night.
45:57ones,
45:58baby.
46:02Children,
46:02kiss your mother
46:03good night.
46:05Children,
46:05will you
46:06commit to
46:06a
46:08good night?
46:09There's
46:10one.
46:10One.
46:11Two.
46:12Two.
46:12One.
46:12One.
46:13Five.
46:13Two.
46:14Three.
46:14Four.
46:15Two.
46:15Two.
46:15Two.
46:16Five.
46:17One.
46:18One.
46:18Two.
46:19Two.
46:20One.
46:20One.
46:21Two.
46:22Two.
46:22Two.
46:24One.
46:24Two.
46:25Two.
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