Hey, Nate Hale here. This is part three of a three-part series I'm doing on Charles Manson.

If you haven't heard the first two parts yet, I suggest you go back and start with those.

We'll be right here waiting for you. And now, on with the show. They rode mostly in silence that night.

Nobody even felt like listening to the radio.

It was one of the four who had a valid driver's license.

Susan Atkins and Pat Kranwinkle rode in back.

Before they left, Charlie had given them some explicit instructions about how to dress and what to bring with them.

They all wore dark clothing and they were told to bring knives with them, among other items.

Charley kept harping on them not to forget their knives, even though he didn't say why.

That didn't stop Pat from forgetting where she put hers, but by the time they were ready

to go, she decided she couldn't keep them waiting any longer. So she went without

the blade.

Charlie told each of them just enough of what they needed to know for that night's mission.

Only Tex Watson knew exactly what they were supposed to do once they reached the house on Cello Drive.

The women may have suspected something, but officially, as far as they knew,

they were just going to do another one of their regular creepy crawls.

That's what they called their nighttime missions Charlie sent them out on, where they'd break into

someone's house while they were sleeping? Usually just to perform some innocent pranks by moving

some stuff around or to steal a few valuables.

But no one ever got hurt in any of those missions.

Not before.

Ominously, though.

...