With a reference to the Manson Family, John Vanderslice makes it clear where the character in “Scorpio Rising” is mentally.

Track: “Scorpio Rising”
Album: Moon Colony Bloodbath (2009)

Like “Lucifer Rising,” the song “Scorpio Rising” takes a title directly from a Kenneth Anger short film. This one is much more direct and follows a character looking for the footprints and buried footage of Bobby Beausoleil, famous murderer and Manson Family member, who supposedly stole some of Anger’s film. The references may be direct, but they don’t relate to the core story of Moon Colony Bloodbath. “Scorpio Rising” seems to be about the mental state of our main character as they wander around trying to hide something no one should find.

We know from the rest of the album that there are many things people shouldn’t know happening. The character has been on a lunar base and seen unspeakable things and they haven’t resettled well back on Earth. These references are all “out there” in a similar way, especially Bobby Beausoleil. The way I take it, our narrator is trying to relate their own experience to the similarly unrelatable Manson story. When you read about Manson and his crew, it seems unimaginable that someone could fall into that company or that anyone could go down that path. You feel that way because you haven’t had this person’s experience and because you aren’t a murderous cannibal. Well, I hope you aren’t, at least.

John Vanderslice, even more than John Darnielle, writes about outsiders and characters who don’t relate to the world around them. It makes sense that his contributions to Moon Colony Bloodbath explore this space, but these references drive this person all the way away from our understanding. There are few references in modern American crime that call to mind “madness” more directly than Manson, so the shorthand here gets you where Vanderslice wants you to be as quickly as possible.