Movies are extremely
compelling expressions,
not only of stories,
not only of drama,
but of the zeitgeist.
They reflect back to us
who we are
politically,
socially,
religiously.
There are certain themes
whose moments,
whose time have arrived.
And the Satanic themes that
appeared in "Rosemary's Baby"
just seemed perfectly in step
with the tenor of the times.
In 1968,
everything was kind of changing
culturally.
The Vietnam w*r was really
at its worst,
so there was a massive youth
movement to stop the w*r.
A lot of people,
including the government,
feared that this revolution
was actually gonna happen
in the United States,
fueled by the youth of America.
It was a violent,
turbulent time.
Male This is a CBS
News Special Report.
The death of Dr. Martin
Luther King Junior.
In 1968,
there was the Martin Luther
King assassination.
There was the Robert Kennedy
assassination.
I always say horror films
reflect the times we live,
"Rosemary's Baby" came out
at a pivotal moment in history.
The world was really changing,
and horror films
changed with it.
"Rosemary's Baby"
was a milestone movie.
Not too many mainstream
Hollywood films, even now,
would deal with a story
of a young woman,
r*ped and impregnated
by the devil.
I think it's one
of the greatest horror movies
ever made for the very
simple reason
that it presents
the adversary
as us!
Not someone who transforms
under a full moon,
comes out only at night.
But the adversary
is my slightly wacky,
eccentric, nosy,
if likable, neighbors.
And I think that's
the movie's genius.
- That's one of the twists.
- This is for you,
from Roman and me.
- It gave people a different
idea of what Satanists are.
- It's lovely.
- As a child growing up,
just emerging as a Satanist
when I was 12-years-old,
when I heard for the first time
from someone else's lips
besides mine, "Hail Satan,"
- Hail, Satan!
- Hail, Satan!
- Satan is his father!
- It was inspiring.
It was strengthening.
If you're not a Satanist,
and you're not rooting
for the Satanists,
I suppose it might be
a different perception.
- Oh God!
Polanski was in many
ways a bellwether of his times.
He, too, observed that
traditional hierarchies
were being upended.
There was fascination
with witchcraft,
and questions of the afterlife.
And of course,
with Anton Lavey's founding
of the Church of Satan,
there was a question about
whether adversarial forces
represented a legitimate
spiritual or ethical
path for people.
So, suddenly doors to the
infinite were thrown open.
And that was part
of the counterculture.
- There was definitely a synergy
between the Church of Satan
and "Rosemary's Baby."
As far as "Rosemary's Baby"
actually being cursed,
As far as somebody dying
or tragedy happening attached
to the film itself,
there is an idea
that if you make a wicked film,
a dark film,
then you're opening yourself
up to forces outside yourself
that could influence your life
in a negative way.
"Rosemary's Baby"
is considered cursed,
partly because of its
proximity and time
to the m*rder of Polanski's
wife,
Sharon Tate,
and her housemates.
Polanski met
Sharon Tate in London
in swinging 1967.
Sharon Tate was obviously
ambitious.
- I feel a little top-heavy.
- You are a little top-heavy.
What's your ultimate ambition?
- I want to remain as much
myself as possible,
you know, and just do
what really excites me,
and interests me.
She was also smart enough to see
that Polanski was a man
with a future.
Roman's absolutely a genius.
And he was a hard-luck guy.
He's a brilliant director,
and he had a lot of hard luck
in his life
and I'm sure that leaves
its mark,
but only a psychiatrist
would know that.
My name is Julian Wasser.
I'm a photo-documentarian.
I'm a photojournalist.
I started when I was 11,
I put a police radio
in my father's car.
I would steal his car
and go out,
sh**t horrible crime scenes.
What makes a good
crime photograph?
- Blood. Someone burned alive,
something like that.
A suicidal-like, Talbert Street
Bridge,
where the person
lands on the concrete
and they're smashed to pieces.
Anything horrible.
And how did that transition into
photographing celebrities?
Well, in L.A.,
what else is there
except celebrities?
That's what sells.
That's what everybody
in the world wants to see.
Marilyn Monroe,
Marlon Brando,
people like that.
I worked on the set
of "Rosemary's Baby."
Anything Roman Polanski
touched was a big, big deal.
You had uh, Mia Farrow in that,
I think she was married
to Sinatra then.
And Bob Evans,
another charismatic guy
who was involved.
So it was a big deal,
I-I felt very privileged
to be able to work on that set.
And there's Mia Farrow
in the background
with a knife on the floor,
and then Bud Fraker,
the camera guy on the right,
he's since passed on.
This was in 1968.
It was a long time ago.
"Rosemary's Baby"
was written by Ira Levin,
a self-professed
New York atheist.
And Levin asked himself
the question one day,
what would it be like
if I took a scene
from everyday life,
a young woman becoming pregnant,
and made it into a kind
of a nightmare?
- Dr. Hill?
Congratulations.
- Really?
You're also seeing this horror
of women at that time period.
When you watch that movie,
there's always an older man
guiding her by the back
of her arm.
She's always being told
to ignore her instincts,
to always just sort of mold
to whatever these men
want from her,
and she's really absorbing that.
That was the story for women
for so many generations
that they didn't have
any other choice
but to mold within that world,
or perish.
It's saying something about her,
but it's also equally subversive
in that she's going against
her own Catholic faith
to raise this satanic child.
One important aspect
that defines "Rosemary's Baby"
is William Castle's involvement.
My dad was the nicest, kindest,
most compassionate man,
who just happened to love
to scare the Hell outta people.
He was a well-
respected director/producer.
- Do you believe in ghosts?
You know, but most of his
films, you know, he was,
he was the gimmick guy.
I mean, I loved "Homicidal,"
where there was a clock
that came up
right at the cl*max of the film.
So if you were too
frightened to stay,
you could leave,
and get your money back.
He had a film called
"House on Haunted Hill,"
and something called "Emergo,"
a skeleton flew across
the theatre,
to everybody's screams
of delight.
- It was William Castle
who produced that film,
and he bought "Rosemary's Baby,"
and I was not overjoyed
when he did.
So my dad definitely
wanted to direct
"Rosemary's Baby" when
he bought the property.
And he brought the book to
Robert Evans over at Paramount,
but it was within the week,
I think,
that they said, no,
we're gonna have this young,
hot new director,
Roman Polanski, direct it.
And my father was really upset.
He still was gonna produce
this, but
his shot at directing
an "A" film
was taken away from him.
- I remember the day
when he called,
and said that he had decided
not to direct it himself.
He was getting Roman Polanski,
and was I terribly unhappy?
So I said no, I think I can
get over that. So
And I remember Roman
coming over the house,
and my Dad saw Roman's
fantastic talent,
and thought,
okay, let's do this.
We have four main characters
in "Rosemary's Baby."
In the leading spot
is Mia Farrow,
and John Cassavetes
is playing her husband.
Roman is a craftsman.
The best, and I trusted him.
All the way.
There is a long-standing
rumor that Anton Lavey,
the founder of the Church
of Satan
was a technical advisor
to the film,
or played the role of Satan
himself in the movie.
Anton Lavey got
involved for authenticity
and advice.
- Hail, Satan.
- Hail, Satan.
- Anton had talked about
Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra
having friction on this set,
he talked about John Cassavetes
and Polanski having
some friction
because they both
wanted to direct.
The exterior filming
of "Rosemary's Baby"
was obviously filmed
in New York City,
but the interiors were all built
on the Paramount Studios lot.
Interesting, Paramount Studios
is actually
former cemetery property.
"Hollywood Memorial Park,"
right behind it,
used to be twice as big
as it is.
This wall that you see
on to our right,
This is the wall
of the cemetery.
In the early nineteen-teens,
Hollywood Cemetery was actually
literally cut in half, and sold.
And on the other half,
a movie studio was built.
Where this traffic light is,
is where Hollywood
Cemetery ends,
and where Paramount Studios
begins.
I have no doubt that
there are remains
underneath Paramount Studio.
So the studio itself is fairly,
I think I can say with
confidence, haunted.
I don't know
if "Rosemary's Baby"
is the most cursed film.
And I don't know if there's
such a thing as a "cursed set,"
but I wouldn't bet
my life on it.
After the film was made,
bad stuff started to happen.
With "Rosemary's Baby,"
all of these terrible
things that took place
in the actors, and actresses
and producers' lives
happened after the film's
release.
The Krzysztof Komeda story
is a key one for me.
Krzysztof Komeda was a prolific
jazz musician.
He'd had about 60 film
soundtracks already
under his belt before he
started working with Polanski.
He'd worked on other films
with Polanski
like "Cul-de-Sac,"
and "Knife in the Water."
"Rosemary's Lullaby" at the
opening credits of the film
is one of the most iconic
pieces of Music
in terms of horror films
that we have.
So, according to Polanski,
after the film in December '68,
he was drinking with Komeda
and another guy called Hlasko,
who was a writer.
And those two got involved
in a bit of rough and tumble,
and Komeda fell and hit
his head.
That's one version of events.
Another story says he was
in a car accident in L.A..
What we do know as fact is
that he developed a hematoma
on the brain
and fell into a coma,
and sadly died three
months later.
Now there's a dark reflection
on that in the film.
Obviously, Rosemary's friend,
Hutch.
- Hutch, this is Roman Castevet.
He is targeted
by a coven of witches.
He develops a mystery illness
and falls into a coma,
and dies three months later.
- Hutch is dead.
Just like Komeda.
In the spiritual world,
there's a thing which is known
as a "God wink."
When you have a coincidence
which is a good coincidence,
The idea is that's God
winking at you
to let you know that
you're on the right path.
I think there were certain
dark coincidences
such as Komeda's death
and Hutch's death in the film,
which is kind of like
a devil wink,
for want of a better phrase.
It's kind of like the devil
himself saying
that you're not
on the right track.
Right after the film premiered,
my Dad had to go in for major,
major surgery.
His kidney stopped working,
and he was convinced he saw
the reflection of the devil
in the surgeon's knife.
But that's only part of it.
When the Catholic Church
gave it a C rating
and condemned it.
When he got hate mail
saying that he was gonna rot
in Hell.
He went into a depression.
He's used to making kind of
fun horror films, you know,
and all of the sudden,
he thought,
what did I bring
into this world?
The night before I gave labor
to my second child,
I dreamt that I was Rosemary.
- Really?
- Which is not a real pleasant
thing to dream
right before you're about to go
and give birth to a baby.
Yeah.
And it has affected how
I wanna protect my children,
and how one child
I wasn't able to protect.
I had one child who died
of cancer.
Was that the curse?
I don't know.
And my sister died very young
of a heart and kidney issue.
Was that the curse?
I don't know.
And my mother had Alzheimer's
at a very young age,
and lived with Alzheimer's
for 20 years.
Was that the curse?
I don't know.
The events of "Rosemary's Baby"
take place in 1966,
which was the very year
Anton Lavey
founded the Church of Satan.
Of course, in one of the famous
scenes from "Rosemary's Baby,"
Rosemary is seated
in the waiting room
of her obstetrician
and picks up a copy
of Time Magazine,
which famously has on its cover
the question,
"Is God Dead?"
The Western world experienced
an occult revival
by the late 60s with
the Woodstock Generation.
It's like people that
are nowhere are coming here
because there's people that
they think are somewhere.
So everybody is like,
really looking for you know,
for some kind of answer.
Where there isn't one.
It's just like, people
are very lost, I think.
- The intersection
of the hippie movement
and the occult movement makes
a lot of sense to me.
Because I think they're
hand-in-hand in terms
of the type of ideas
that they were exploring.
You know, with the hippie
movement you have like,
this sort of, return
to the land idealism.
It's going back to these
sort of paganistic
religious systems.
I think that the obsession
with witchcraft
and the occult during
the 1960s and 1970s
originated in England in 1951,
when there was the reversal
of the Witchcraft Act,
which had been put in place
in 1735,
and that did not allow anyone
to openly practice witchcraft.
So when that was lifted,
you've got this whole
kind of expl*si*n
of everybody wanting
to explore this topic,
because they previously
weren't allowed to.
You have these kind of
mind-altering drugs
that are also playing a factor
in this great awakening
that was occurring
in the culture.
People who really started
using LSD recreationally
would kind of have um,
religious experiences,
and hallucinations.
- Help me!
Some of them explored all kinds
of mystical religions,
and some people became
interested in Satanism.
There were rumors that Sharon
Tate dabbled in Satanism.
If she did,
I think it was more out
of curiosity and fun,
but there were other people
who had gotten serious about it.
I'm trying to think if there
were any famous people
who ever admitted it,
Sammy Davis Jr.
Identified,
and called himself a Satanist.
He understood that Satanism
was an advocate for minority
positions
in a lot of ways.
That was a period
in Sammy's life
that he later wrote about
and was very public about.
But what's truly weird
is that Sammy Davis Jr's memoir,
"Yes, I Can,"
can be seen very prominently
on screen at least twice,
once when Rosemary is snuggling
up with the book,
Then another time when
Guy is tucking away
a book on witches that Rosemary
had been given,
and we see the spine
of Sammy Davis' book,
very prominently featured.
As a man whose life
was impacted by evil,
Polanski, he has to be
seen as an artist
who, at that time,
was trying to expose us
to questions of evil
in ourselves.
When we talk about
having a tough childhood,
it's hard to compare to what
actually happened to Polanski.
Polanski's mother, Bula,
was taken to Auschwitz,
and she happened to have
been four months pregnant
at the time,
which was significant
because of course,
one of the first things
that happened on arrival
at these terrible places
was an inspection
as to whether or not
you were fit for work.
Tragically,
she was exterminated.
Polanski's father
was also arrested.
He eventually ended up
in terrible circumstances
having to work at
the Mauthausen camps,
what was called
the "staircase of death,"
which involved carrying
these huge slabs of rock
up and down rough stone steps.
And if you fell, you were
basically left to die.
Polanski's father
survived two years
of this nightmarish ordeal,
and eventually was liberated
by the Americans
in the spring of 1945,
and reunited with his child.
By this stage, Roman Polanski
already had seen
more real horror and bloodshed
in his life
than most of us would care
to see
in our entire lives.
And that was just the beginning.
The year after
the film came out,
one of the most impactful
moments of my young life
was driving up to San Francisco.
We pulled over to the curb,
and my dad saw a newspaper
stand and read the headline
that Sharon Tate
had had been m*rder*d,
and her baby had been m*rder*d.
And they turned the car around,
and we drove right back.
Well, I got up,
and I heard a lot of sirens.
I called the police department
and I said,
what's going on in west L.A.?
And they told me there was
an incident on Cielo Drive.
And I got dressed
and went right up there.
This incredible true crime case
is like nothing else.
It involves rock stars
and movie stars.
If you didn't know
it was a true crime,
you would think it's a movie.
My name's Scott Michaels,
and this is Dearly
Departed Tours.
And welcome back to 1969.
I put together
the "Helter Skelter Tour"
probably about 13 years ago.
Three weeks prior to
the Tate-LaBianca murders,
the first man walked
on the moon.
A couple of weeks prior to that,
Judy Garland died in London.
Her funeral in New York kicked
off the Stonewall Riots,
and the g*y Rights Movement
went into full swing.
Myself, I'm obsessed
with the year 1969.
"Incense and Peppermints,"
"White Rabbit,"
Jefferson Airplane.
You got the peace sign,
you got mushrooms.
On the very day of the murders,
August 8th,
just a few hours before the
Tate murders in Beverly Hills,
the Beatles took that
iconic Abbey Road
album cover photograph,
which I think is fascinating,
because they figure
into this case.
This is important to me,
the addresses of Cielo Drive,
and the LaBianca's house
on Waverly Drive,
because I spent so much
of my time in my life
researching them, and I wanted
to commemorate them.
Cielo drive is still
a tourist attraction.
Although the house has been
gone since 1993,
and a new house has been put
in its place.
Roman and Sharon
moved into the house
in February of '69.
It was a rental.
And by the end of March,
both of them had gone to Europe
to do separate projects.
Roman went to London to work
on the script
and pre-production
for "Day of the Dolphin,"
which was a film he planned
to direct, but he never did.
- Va-go-now-mei-nah-her-pas!
- Yes!
- And while they were gone,
Roman had Abigail Folger
and Wojciech
kind of take care of the house.
Cielo Drive is in the middle
of Benedict Canyon, basically.
This tragic boulevard
that makes its way
from the Sunset Strip,
all the way over
to the San Fernando Valley.
Benedict Canyon is located on
I think this is official,
like, like a Native American
burial ground.
And I believe somehow, some way,
something terrible
was wished upon the place,
because there are too many
things that happened
in Benedict Canyon
for it to be a coincidence.
Well, starting from the very
base of Benedict Canyon
is the Beverly Hills Hotel,
where Peter Finch
- I'm as mad as Hell,
and I'm not gonna take this
anymore!
- the Australian actor died
of a heart attack in the lobby,
winning the first posthumous
Academy Award.
- Peter Finch, in "Network."
- A little bit further up
is where Richard Dreyfus
was nearly k*lled
in a car crash.
Across the street from where
a musician named Charo lives.
Her husband k*lled himself in
the alley behind their house.
A Benedict Canyon address.
A little bit further up
was where Elizabeth Montgomery
from "Bewitched" lived and died,
across the street
from John Ritter's house.
John Riter didn't die
in Benedict Canyon,
but he lived there at the time.
A little bit further up,
Susan Berman was m*rder*d
in Benedict Canyon,
the Durst murders that they
made the documentary about.
About five doors down,
George Reeves, "Superman,"
died of a speeding b*llet
to the head.
A little bit further up,
there was a woman by the name
of Yvette Vickers.
She was a B-movie star,
she was in "Sunset Boulevard,"
she was in "The Attack
of the 50 Foot Woman."
She died in her home.
She wasn't found for months.
A little bit further up,
Paul Bern and Jean Harlow's
house.
Paul Bern k*lled himself
in that house.
Jay Sebring moves
into that house.
Rudolph Valentino lived across
the way from the Tate murders,
and then Doris Duke,
the tobacco heiress,
died in that same house under
very mysterious circumstances.
Her butler inherited something
like $500 billion.
He bought a house in Benedict,
and died a couple months later.
There's so many stories
about Benedict Canyon,
but it all goes up
to Cielo Drive,
where the Tate murders happen.
That seems to be the awful
notorious crown jewel
of Benedict Canyon.
I couldn't believe that
these souls could do that.
We are a family!
Men and k*ll every white mother,
every white babe.
I just was in shock.
I couldn't believe Tex
could do that.
Susan, and Patty.
I remember Tex slapped
the newspaper,
and the headline read
something like,
"Tate-LaBianca Murders."
And he slaps that, and he says,
"I did this.
Charlie told me to."
My name is Dianne Lake,
former member of the Manson
family,
formerly known as "Snake."
I was 14,
when I got introduced
to Charlie and the girls,
they opened their arms to me,
and I felt wanted,
and I felt loved there.
But I think that what happened
was that he had this experience
of being crucified on acid.
And I think he started to
believe that he was a Messiah,
that's when it really
started to turn was,
you know, maybe nine months in,
when we got to Spahn Ranch.
He'd been always talking
about this race w*r.
That's when he started getting
enamored with the White Album,
and that the Beatles were
sending him a message.
Then this black/white race w*r
became Helter Skelter.
This race w*r was like
an apocalypse.
You know, a lot of people
were gonna die.
We, as a family,
were going to be preserved.
Charlie wanted us to have
babies for creation,
and that we would help
repopulate the earth.
It seems
It's kind of crazy
to talk about, but
you know, um,
but that, you know,
looking back,
that's really, that was
That was what he wanted to do.
There's an obvious link
from Charles Manson
to "Rosemary's Baby."
The Dakota building was used
as the outside
of the Bramford, as we know.
John Lennon had an apartment
in the Dakota.
And then you say, okay, well
the large bulk of the White
Album was written in India,
during a retreat.
And at that retreat
was Mia Farrow.
Mia Farrow, who was
friends with Sharon Tate,
and Roman, hung out
with the Beatles,
went to India with her sister,
songs were named after them,
verses in classic Beatles songs
refer to Mia and her sister.
You mentioned the White Album,
and John Lennon,
and what's eerie
is that in the scene where
Rosemary is in the taxicab
and she's got that like,
occult book
that she gets from
the bookstore,
in the background, there's
always this white Beetle
that's like, trailing her.
There's a white VW Beetle
that's throughout the film,
actually.
You always see it parked
out front of the building.
A lot of what the film
is dealing with
is what's hidden in plain sight.
- The Dakota building is
the outside of the Bramford,
and that's where the writer
of those songs
would eventually be m*rder*d.
My gosh, the Dakota,
where "Rosemary's Baby"
was filmed,
and John Lennon was m*rder*d
right in front of it.
News John Lennon gave
his autograph to the g*nman
six hours before the senseless
sh**ting,
in the entrance to his New York
apartment building.
That's sinister.
If you look at the scene
where the woman jumps
out of a window
in "Rosemary's Baby" and
you know, commits suicide,
Get back.
- It's the exact spot where
John Lennon was shot.
And it's very eerie,
because you're thinking
about the White Album,
and you're thinking
about Helter Skelter.
Then we say, okay,
so Charles Manson,
who plays a big part in the
curse of "Rosemary's Baby,"
He said he was inspired
by songs on the White Album,
and nine months after
the White Album's release,
Charles Manson and the Manson
family
m*rder*d Sharon Tate.
You can find a connection
between anything,
if you look hard enough,
but it doesn't necessarily mean
that it's not true.
If we take a look,
for example, Victoria Vetri,
she's one of the key players
in the curse
of "Rosemary's Baby."
So she only has a bit part
in "Rosemary's Baby."
She plays Terry,
who is taken in by the Castevets
before she eventually allegedly
throws herself out of a window.
So, Victoria Vetri,
she does also go by the alias
of Angela Dorian.
After "Rosemary's Baby,"
she became very close friends
with Sharon Tate.
After the Manson murders,
Victoria then went into
a dark paranoia.
She doesn't want to go
out at night.
She becomes quite reclusive.
My name is Victoria Vetri,
and I was born in Hollyweird.
I mean, Hollywood.
I did a lot of films
and TV shows.
I still get residuals.
I enjoy being an actress
and entertaining people,
and I love to move.
I love to move!
There's all these films
that I look at
and I'm in shock, I'm going,
oh my God, I never even got
a chance to see them.
And I'm going, wow, that was me,
you know, when I was younger.
I'm happy, though.
I'm living with someone that
I really care for right now.
- My name's Mark Melvin,
And I'm a friend
of Victoria Vetri.
You are Victoria's
- Play toy.
- Bravo, bravo!
- Yeah.
Back in the '60s, she really
had a booming career
in Hollywood going on.
It's been so long
since I looked back
at some of these things.
Maybe I should see them again
so I can remember them,
I mean, as I'm getting older,
my-I'm losing part of my brains.
No, I'm just kidding.
Do you remember
working with Mia Farrow?
- Vaguely, yeah, I think so.
I mean, I'm trying to remember
what film we
What we did together.
- My name is Terry Ginoffrio.
- Nice to meet you.
I'm Rosemary Woodhouse.
And that's me,
with the dark wig on.
And I'm washing clothes
back there.
- Did you have to rehearse
this scene at all,
or did you just uh
- No.
We just went through with it.
I enjoyed working with her too.
What was her name again?
- Mia Farrow.
- Mia Farrow, yes.
Excellent,
beautiful actress, too.
- It's kind of an interesting
story, the way we met,
basically, through the pink car
that Playboy
- Oh yeah!
- Gave her in 1968
for being Playmate of the Year.
- I was Playmate of the Year,
and I had no clothes on.
- I ended up buying
that car in 2010,
and I was excited, I was gonna
meet the Playmate of the Year.
And then three months
afterwards,
I heard that she had shot
her husband.
- I was, I was a bad girl.
- Don't do that again.
- Never.
- Especially not me.
- Oh, I would never hurt you.
You know that.
I only hurt myself.
Well, he's alive.
- He survived, yeah.
- Thank God, but I'm trying
to remember all this.
Oh my gosh,
I don't even know what
- That's because of your memory.
- Well, my memory's coming
and going sometimes.
Just
So
My name is Bruce Rathgeb.
Victoria was a waitress
between acting jobs, I guess.
And I was a chef.
So that's how we met,
and kinda had a chemistry
right off,
We were flirtin'
with each other.
We had a great 20 years
together.
The last five,
Baby, you almost k*lled me.
Oh, Bruce Rathgeb.
Oh dear.
Victoria Rathgeb, eww!
I was in a band,
and she'd be saying,
there was girls at your
rehearsal, and this and that.
I'm saying, no, no, you know.
I don't like to talk
negative about people that I
You know, once you are married
and living with them,
and they wanna keep you
in their order.
I find out that
he's cheating on me?
Uh-uh! Later.
And I said,
"I'm not gonna fight."
And here she comes with the g*n.
I said, you're gonna sh**t me,
really, for-for what?
And I saw her aiming the g*n,
and I couldn't watch.
So I turned my back, and
pop, she shot me in the back.
It went through my lung,
and I guess they went
to operate,
the b*llet was a 1/4-inch
from my heart
so they left it in me.
It's still in me now,
traveling around somewhere.
At one point,
my doctor x-rayed me,
and it was in my right shoulder.
So, yeah, it's crazy.
I loved her.
And I still love her.
She spent eight years in prison.
- Was it eight years?
Oh my God.
- And she's been on parole
for three years now,
and it's scheduled to end
in one month.
- I'm trying to remember what
the Hell got me in prison,
to be honest, I'm
- She doesn't-I don't think
she really remembers
the incident so much.
- I don't, it's really weird.
- I think she remembers
that she was in prison.
Maybe she doesn't want
to remember.
Well, I think I wonder
why she really shot me.
She had the g*n when I met her.
Um, it was a Walther PPK 9mm.
A very good g*n.
- Walther PPK. 7.65 mil,
with a delivery like a brick
through a plate glass window.
- She got it as protection,
uh
because of the Manson murders.
She had the g*n all those years,
and then ended up sh**ting me,
instead of Charlie.
- So, "Rosemary's Baby"
was 1968.
The Manson murders happened
in '69, a year later,
but Victoria was invited
to be up there at the house,
and stayed home
for whatever reason.
But uh, she was quite surprised
to wake up the next morning
to find out everybody
that had gone up
to the house that night
was now dead.
Male In a scene
described by one investigator
as reminiscent of a weird
religious rite,
five persons, including actress
Sharon Tate,
were found dead
at the home of Ms. Tate
and her husband, screen
director, Roman Polanski.
The house that had known
a number of movie star tenants,
suddenly became a scene more
tragic than any horror movie.
- We have a weird homicide.
We're trying to piece the thing
together
with what small amount of
physical evidence we have,
and anything that I tell you
at this point
would be mere speculation,
and I'm not gonna speculate.
Male Los Angeles
police are saying little
at this time about possible
progress on solving the murders
of actress Sharon Tate,
and four others.
When Polanski
in his shocked state
arrived back in L.A.,
he saw the police investigation
is going nowhere.
As a result, he started
to undertake some of his own
uh, unofficial detective work.
He suspected everybody.
Roman called my dad
to his bungalow,
and Dad came home, and he said,
he made me write the word
"pig" over and over again.
And Dad never understood
why Roman asked him to do that.
And he had my father's
handwriting analyzed
to see if it matched the "pig"
that was written on the walls.
I was shocked.
Tommy Thompson, the
entertainment editor of Life,
was a friend of Roman's.
And Roman said, I need
a photographer to go up
to the house to photograph
it for clues,
for this psychic, Peter Hurkos.
He was a psychic to the stars,
whatever that means.
Clues for the psychic
to then analyze your photos?
- Exactly, look at my photos
and get psychic vibrations,
and find out
who the m*rder*r was.
Male Why were you
called in on this case?
A lot of people are somewhat
skeptical of mystics
and clairvoyants, and psychics.
- I have proved it enough,
and I'll take any test
what scientists may impose.
And I like skeptic people,
I approve it.
I wanna understand how Roman
can put this trust
in the psychic?
- Because it's Hollywood, man!
"Psychic!"
We went up there,
and Roman was already there.
And I asked him,
what am I gonna do?
And he told me,
just photograph everything
I'm looking at,
which I did.
I mean, one of the
pictures is iconic.
It's of Roman sitting on a chair
in front of the-the open
door to his house,
with the word "pig"
written in blood
that Julian took.
Here's a psychic
solving the crime.
I don't know what
he's looking for.
The blood was so thick,
it was like Jell-o
in the living room,
and the smell is horrible.
Like a slaughterhouse.
That's what it smelled like.
The psychic was kind
of a con artist.
Julian took Polaroids while
he was doing his sh**ting.
Hurkos sold the pictures
to one of the tabloids.
The Polaroids, the psychic took
to sell to the Hollywood
Citizen News.
Another Hollywood move,
what else is he gonna do?
When we were
in the desert running,
the girls told me specifically
their part in the murderers.
When Susan was k*lling Sharon,
or helping k*ll her,
And Sharon was begging
for the life of her baby,
Susan told me that
she thought about
cutting the baby out,
and say rescuing the baby.
What stuck with me even more
than the details,
and the details were pretty bad,
was the way in which
they told it.
They told it, they were
almost gleeful
about what they had done
for Charlie.
- We wanna take the children
to the desert.
Your children.
There's no reason why
your children should die,
they'll go to the-we'll
take 'em to the desert.
If you give 'em to us.
I am not aware of the family
Talking about "Rosemary's
Baby," Polanski,
but I can see how people
could compare and contrast
"Rosemary's Baby,"
and this woman giving birth
to a child
that was all engineered
by a family
for this baby then to become
the child of the devil.
The only time he reacted,
when he was looking at pictures
of Sharon in the bedroom,
and he started crying,
that was the only time
I saw him react.
Did he ever tell you to stop?
- No, but man, I'm telling you,
I felt that.
- You felt like stopping?
- I-I felt very bad
about this whole scene.
I didn't want to be
around there.
I felt like I was a
graverobber, it was awful.
But you know, what do you do?
You-you're working.
And then the uh,
shot of the nightstand
in their bedroom,
and there's this wedding photo
of Sharon and Roman,
and the princess phone
with black LAPD fingerprint
powder all over it.
That one shot just sums up
the whole thing.
People often ask,
how would you describe evil?
And they will always say,
Adolf Hitler.
And they will always say
Charles Manson.
And I think it's fascinating
that Polanski's family were
k*lled in a concentration camp,
It's a direct result
of Adolf Hitler.
And his wife and friends
were m*rder*d
as a direct result
of Charles Manson.
That's wild.
That-there is something there
that I can't explain.
There were people
out there who believed
that what happened
to Sharon and to Roman
was karmic retribution
for kind of exploiting
the dark side,
with "Rosemary's Baby."
They were actually implying
that it was the victim's
own bad behavior
that caused their murders.
Jack Nicholson, who was friends
with Sharon and Roman,
said that Sharon had the
unfortunate circumstance
of being m*rder*d twice.
Once by her actual K*llers,
and the next time by the press.
Now, Cielo is right
across the way here.
I-I think that's it.
- It's the street?
- I think. I think, yeah.
That's it.
There's a sign here.
Yeah, there, see?
- Okay, that's Cielo.
- Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, all this is new.
Yeah, when I came here,
there was several
police cars here,
and there was a-a telephone
coming a line man
at the top of that pole
repairing the cut wire.
I still didn't even know
what happened.
You want the overlook
shot here, turn right.
Yeah, there's the-where
the Polanski house was.
It was a tiny little
red shingle place.
Now you got that.
This thing's probably
five times bigger.
This is L.A. excess,
to the nth degree.
At the end of the
filming of "Rosemary's Baby,"
Mia Farrow bought my father
a beautiful humidor
where you keep cigars in.
On the top of the cover
was a 14-karat-gold devil,
with ruby eyes.
And it said,
"To Bill. Love, Mia."
And it ended up in
a storage unit.
And my husband was in the
storage unit and he called me,
and he said,
what do I do with that?
I'm like, you do nothing.
You just leave it
in that storage unit.
I didn't want anything
to do with it,
because it represented bad luck.
And even though we might not
completely believe in it,
we were too afraid not to.
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02x02 - Rosemary's Baby
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The documentary series focuses on alleged curses that afflicted the production of notable horror/non-horror films.
The documentary series focuses on alleged curses that afflicted the production of notable horror/non-horror films.