There was a concentrated effort in the 60s on the part of the U.S. government to make people afraid of hippies.
From the FBI’s leaked COINTELPRO documents to the LAPD’s operations to disrupt the Black Panther movement, Richard Nixon had decided to make them an enemy.
So it was all too perfect when, in 1969, a hippie cult led by Charles Manson broke into actress Sharon Tate’s home and murdered several people, continuing their spree at the La Bianca house.
It may have also been the inspiration for Jeffrey MacDonald’s defense after his wife and children were slain in their apartment in Fort Bragg, North Carolina – just another random blitz attack by those dirty hippies.
That was his initial claim, but the truth behind the attack was much more terrifying and closer to home.
10 /10 The Day And Night Of
Jeffrey MacDonald and Collette Stevenson met in high school. They had an on-again, off-again relationship throughout high school and into MacDonald’s education at Princeton.
Jeffrey joined the Army after med school. By 1970, he was stationed at Fort Bragg. Collette described her life in a letter to a friend as never being “so normal or so happy.”
February 16, 1970, seemed like another unremarkable day. Macdonald took his daughter and son, Kimberly and Kristen, to play with the Shetland pony he’d bought them for Christmas.
Collette, pregnant with their son, stayed home. That night, they watched Laugh-In and fell asleep during Johnny Carson.
At 3:42 the next morning, MacDonald called dispatchers at Fort Bragg. “Help!” He gave his address. “Stabbing! Hurry!”
Kimberly, 6, Kristin, 4, and Collette were found in their home, beaten, and stabbed. Collette was stabbed 21 times in the chest with an ice pick and 16 with a knife.
Kristen and Kimberly were just as brutal; both were repeatedly bludgeoned before being stabbed with both objects. Kristen’s baby bottle was just next to her head.
Macdonald, too, had been stabbed, but not fatally. The word “PIG” was scrawled in all capitals above the headboard of his bed.
After being resurrected, he said, “Jesus Christ! Look at my wife! I’m gonna kill those Goddamned acid heads!”
9 /10 MacDonald's Story
Questioned by the CID at the Womack Army Medical Center, where he was being treated for an acute stab wound that partially collapsed his lung, and a concussion, MacDonald claimed that he had awoken to his wife and children’s screams.
When he went to their aid, he was attacked by three males, one black and two white. A fourth intruder, a woman wearing a floppy hat, stood by a candle while chanting, “Acid is groovy. Kill the pigs.”
MacDonald attacked, getting stabbed repeatedly before collapsing. He later awoke to his wife’s body, tried to give her mouth-to-mouth, and phoned for help.