Charles Manson is considered one of the worst murderers in history, but in his case he was not the direct author of the crimes for which he was accused, although he was the creator of a sect that wreaked havoc in the late 1960s. Let’s see below, Who was Charles Manson and the Family: complete history.
Charles Manson Biography: Who Was He?
Born in Ohio in 1934, Charles Manson he spent several years in jail for theft, fraud, and pimping before starting a cult, which he called his family. In the late 1960s, he gathered around him drunks, drug addicts, and people with criminal records or psychiatric problems.
Charles Manson presented himself to his followers as a guide for lost people. Thanks to his charisma, he was able to manipulate about forty young Californians, especially women, in their crimes. He asked these to obtain money, food and drugs for the benefit of his community.
The Manson’s captivating and at the same time psychopathic personality was forged since childhood, with a childhood that was chaotic. From several letters from Manson when he was young (and in jail for robbery), we know that the killer He had grown up without parental love.
Born Charles Milles Manson, he was son Kathleen Maddox and “Colonel Scott”, whom he gave this name because he never knew him.
Charles Manson gets her last name from her mother’s first husband, William Manson. His childhood was miserable, with a unstable alcoholic mother, who was 16 years old when she had her son. At age 5, his mother is in prison for armed robbery, and he is taken to live with his aunt and uncle. When his mother returns, her alcoholism prevents her from having custody of her son.
Manson is boarding in a special school in Indiana. At age 13, he begins his career as a criminal and robs a grocery store and a casino. At 16, doctors consider Charles Manson to be “aggressively antisocial.” At age 18, a prison psychiatrist diagnosed a “psychic trauma” and “a great sensitivity that did not receive love and affection.”
In 1955at the age of 21 years old, was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing a carbut was released on parole.
He tries to marry his girlfriend at the time Rosalie Willis, but a year later sentenced again for the same crime. In prison he finds out that he has a son, but Rosalie asks for a divorce and leaves with the child.
Released for good behavior, he is later imprisoned again for various crimes. “I’ve been in jail my whole life, so I feel at home here, huh… how long have I been in jail? 34 years… », he says in an interview in 1981.
In 1967, he even asked to stay behind bars, but his request was rejected.. It was then, in the middle of the hippie period and while he was passionate about the Beatles, when after traveling to San Francisco he founded his “family” around a prophecy inspired by the songs of the legendary band.
Charles Manson Cult: The Manson Family
After getting out of prison and trying to try his luck in music and film, he founded his sect which he nicknamed La Familia, which settles on an old set, Ranch Spahn, graciously loaned by its owner in exchange for domestic and sexual favors from family members. The atmosphere becomes oppressive and many members drop out. The ranch is located in the valley of death, in a geological desert of beauty but harsh and totally isolated. Young people go there voluntarily, but once there, they are stuck with no car and no money. Terry, a young woman, is raped there, like others after being drugged by Charles Manson. A son is born from this rape, Matthew Roberts, who will be abandoned by his mother.
To the combine excerpts from the Bible with texts from the Beatles’ white album, Charles Manson he conceived a strange prophecy that the blacks would soon dominate the whites and turn to him to rule their new nation.
Convinced that he must carry out a series of ritual murders to trigger this famous drug-influenced interracial conflict, and the Beatles’ theme, “Helker Skelter” Manson decides to perpetrate a crime spree that will take place in the summer of 1969.
Manson Family murders
The first murder was not premeditated. Let’s say it went wrong. Very bad. One of the family members Bob Beausoleil, have a date on July 25, 1969 with Gary Hinman, a music teacher who also plays mescaline who owes him money.
Beausoleil goes to Gary’s house with two daughters of the Family, Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner. Gary doesn’t have the money. Beausoleil isn’t happy, so they start fighting. The girls choose to call Manson to the rescue, who when he arrives he does not think twice and stabs Hinman who dies instantly.
Following this first murder, Manson is determined that the Family will carry out their prophecy. The August 9, 1969 , the members of the sect, Charles Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins have to go to the house of a producer who had refused to work with one of them, Terry Melcher, to kill him along with his family or whoever is in home. What the three members of the sect do not know is that the house has been sold and is now owned by the couple Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. That night, Polanski is away on work, and Sharon Tate, eight months pregnant, has invited friends to her home . After sneaking into the house, The Family kills Tate and four others: Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent..
Always with the idea of fighting against the prophecy, one of the three members of the family writes “PIG” with the blood of one of the victims on the front door.
Finally, the last known murder, andl August 10, 1969, that of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Cult members Watson, Susan Atkins and Lesly Van Houten drive through the beautiful neighborhoods of Los Angeles. They sneak into the Labianca house, the couple is sleeping on the sofa.
They tie them up to rob them, but finally they end up torturing them before killing them… On the belly of Leno Labianca, they carve “War”, on the walls, with the blood of the victims they write “Death to the pigs” and “Get up”. On the refrigerator, someone writes “Healter Skelter, referring to the Beatles song.
Death of Charles Manson
After being arrested, the members of the Family as well as Charles Manson are found guilty of the murders, since although he was absent on the scene, he was the mastermind of the massacre. Manson is sentenced on March 29, 1971 to the death penaltybut that sentence is revoked to life imprisonment in 1972, when the death penalty is overturned in California.
Manson will spend the rest of his days locked up in the prison of Corcoran but he applied for parole 12 times (all times he was denied). He died on November 19, 2017 at the age of 83.
Charles Manson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
the figure of Charles Manson has gone down in history as one of the most horrifying and although this year 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the infamous night of their murders in Hollywood, director Quentin Tarantino wanted to include part of that story in his most recent film «Once upon a time in Hollywood.
Damon Herriman (photo) Who is plays Mansonin the film, in which we can also see Margott Robbie as Sharon Tate.
The film focuses on the Hollywood actor rick dalton (fictional character played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) that in the late 1960s they must adapt to how Hollywood is changing.
the figure of Tate appears in the film being a neighbor of dalton since the central plot takes place on the weekend in which the murderer incited his sect to carry out their murders. In fact, you can see how Brad Pitt’s character joins the Family to investigate him.