Helter Skelter is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. The subject of the book is the 1969 Manson Family murders and Bugliosi's own interpretation of the prosecution of Charles Manson and his followers.
Helter Skelter was first published in the United States in 1974 and became a bestseller. The book takes its title from the song by The Beatles, with which (as Bugliosi claims) Manson was obsessed. Bugliosi claims that Manson used the phrase for an anticipated race war. Helter Skelter won a 1975 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book and was the basis for two television films, released in 1976 and 2004.
According to the director of the 2008 movie The Strangers, this book was the main influence for the story line of the movie, contrary to any other stories that have been posted around the Internet since the film's release.