Charles Manson. The name is synonymous with one of the most notorious criminal minds in United States history. What makes him into the devious person that he is? Who was “The Family” and why did they follow him unconditionally even into prison and death? To this day, he has a congregational like following. Then and now Charles Manson can manipulate followers like silly putty and mold their minds like children’s Play Dough to do anything he desires. What does he have that makes some people devout followers for better or for worse? Mother of Manson
On November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati Ohio, Kathleen Maddox gave birth to a healthy baby boy she named Charles Milles Manson. Colonel Walker Scott is said to be the African American biological father of Charlie and was absent for all of his life. His mother, Kathleen, was a very uninhibited woman when it came to her sexual liaisons and it was not uncommon for Charlie to be in the same room while this happened. She was an alcoholic who was said to have sold Charlie to a waitress for a pitcher of beer. A couple of days later, his uncle found him and brought him back home where there was more abuse waiting for him.
Would his life have turned out better if his uncle would have left him to be raised by the waitress? Who is to say? A time later his mom and uncle were sentenced to five years for robbing a gas station. Charlie was sent to live in West Virginia with an aunt and uncle. When his mother was paroled, she picked him up and went back to her previous way of life in a dilapidated old motel room. The only happy memory he has said he can remember was the hug he received from his mom when she was paroled. In 1947 she attempted to have Charlie placed in some kind of foster care and was denied.
He was put into the Gibault School for Boys in Indiana per the court’s decision. He was there for less than a year when he ran away to his mother. He had dreams of running home to the open arms of his mother and leading a happy normal childhood life. When he arrived at his mother’s home, she opened the door and saw him standing there and slammed the door. There were no hugs, or tears, just a few cordial words and she called the cops on him and he was returned to the boy’s home. First Offense In 1948, Charlie committed his first “known” crime of record.
He was caught burglarizing a grocery store and sent to an Indianapolis juvenile detention center. After being there for one day, he was able to escape. He was captured and sent to Boys Town. Once again, he escaped, this time after four days and with another boy. The two, while on their way to the boy’s uncle’s home, committed two armed robberies. During the commencing of the second robbery, the two were caught and sent to the Indiana Boys School. Charlie claimed that during his time there, he was brutally abused physically, sexually and mentally.
After escaping from the boy’s school with two others, they stole a car and burglarized many gas stations on their way from Indiana to California. The trio only made it as far as Utah before being caught and this time charged with a federal crime for taking a stolen car across state lines. He was sent to the National Training School for Boys in Washington D. C. Prison for the 1st Time In 1951, after taking into account a psychiatrist’s recommendation, Charlie was transferred to Natural Bridge Honor Camp. Natural Bridge Honor Camp is a minimum security facility. This was Charlie’s first encounter with an actual correctional facility.
While Charlie was waiting for his parole hearing in 1952, he sodomized a boy while holding a razor blade to his throat. This resulted in his transfer to the Federal Reformatory in Petersburg, Virginia, where he was ultimately labeled as “dangerous”. After numerous disciplinary violations, he was once again transferred. This time it was to Chillicothe, Ohio and the Federal Reformatory there. Amazingly he did an about face and became a model prisoner earning his parole in 1954. Shortly after he was released, in 1955 Charlie met and married Rosalie Willis, a hospital waitress from West Virginia.
He resorted to odd jobs and auto theft as a means of support. Charlie stole a car in Ohio drove to Los Angeles with his now pregnant wife. Once again, he was caught and charged with taking a stolen car across state lines. This time he was given five years’ probation. In 1956, his probation was revoked and he was sentenced to three years in Terminal Island Prison in San Pedro, California when he didn’t show up for court on the same charges in Florida. While he was serving his time, his wife gave birth to Charles Manson, Jr. After a year of incarceration, his wife, Rosalie, was seeing another man.
They were officially divorced in 1958. Two weeks before he was to be paroled, Charlie attempted to steal a car to escape. His parole was denied and he received five years’ probation as a result. His five years of parole were granted in September of 1958. Second Prison Go-Round The very next year Charlie pled guilty to attempting to cash a Treasury check, receiving a ten year suspended sentence along with probation due to Leona, better known as “Candy Stevens”. She was the prostitute that he had been pimping who promised the courts they were to be married if Charlie were freed.
Charlie was questioned for suspected violation of the Mann Act, (better known as the White Slave Trade Act of 1910), and released. Following this incident, he dropped out of site which was a violation of his probation terms. An ensuing bench warrant was issued and he was indicted. In 1960, he was arrested in Texas and extradited to Los Angeles to serve his suspended ten year sentence for the Treasury check charge. In his following annual reviews, he was said to have the urge to constantly bring attention to himself. In 1963 on the pretense that she had a son named Charles Luther with him, Leona was granted a divorce.
In the year 1966, Charlie was transferred to Terminal Island again for early release. By the time he was paroled, he had spent more than half of his life in institutions of some sort. This was when Charlie told the officials that the prison system was his home now and asks to stay. Due to the prisons not having any reason to keep him, they released him out into the world. Meet “The Family” Not Convicted in the Tate/LaBianca Murders Upon his release from Terminal Island, Charlie made his way to San Francisco then to Berkley, California.
Making his living by begging on the streets is how he met and moved in with the first of the Manson family clan, Mary Brunner. Mary was a graduate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison who was working as a librarian’s assistant. Using the typical Charlie “charm”, he eventually broke her down and had 18 other women living in her home with them. By employing some of the information he gathered in prison about Scientology, he became a spiritual leader in the Haight-Ashbury community. Charlie ended up getting an old school bus and replaced the seats with pillows and carpets.
He and “the Family” ended up cruising up and down the whole west coast before coming back to the Los Angeles area. “The Family” came by the name “The Family” in 1968 when a reporter referred to them in an article as such. Mary Brunner – The first member of “The Family”. She was said to have been the main recruiter for the rest of the members. She gave birth to Valentine Michael Manson in 1968 and when she went to prison, he went to live with her parents in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She witnessed the stabbing and helped to smother Gary Hinman.
She was arrested after a shootout with the police when they responded to a silent alarm and served six and a half years in prison. She was stealing guns to carry out a plan to hijack a plane and kill one passenger per hour until Charlie was released. Mary regained custody of her son Valentine, took on a different name, and was last known to be living in the Midwest. Sherry Cooper – Ran away with Barbara Hoyt when she overheard other’s talking about the murders. It is said that Charlie ordered her returned or killed.
After he gave them twenty dollars, the girls continued on their way to Los Angeles and never went back. In 1975 she did a television interview with Danny DeCarlo and hasn’t been heard from since. Barbara Hoyt – Ran away with Sherry Cooper. She heard the murder of Donald “Shorty” Shea a week after the Spahn’s Ranch raid. The family offered her an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii in exchange for her not testifying. She flew out with Ruth Ann Moorehouse who ended up lacing her hamburger with 10 hits of acid. Upon her return to the lower 48, she was more than willing and testified against “The Family”.
She testified that they were threatening her life and the lives of her family, which is why she fled from California. She currently lives in Washington State with her daughter. Nancy Pitman – She was introduced to Charlie through Deirdre Lansbury, Angela Lansbury’s daughter, who floated in and out of “The Family”. She heard him personally tell Susan and Linda to carry out Tex’s orders. She was arrested in 1971 for helping with the escape of Kenneth Como, but the prosecutor dropped the charges due to insufficient evidence. She ended up with an escaped convict named Michael Lee Monfort who also went by the nickname of “Red Eye”.
Red Eye and two other roommates killed their other roommate by making him dig a hole, filled him full of lead, and buried him in the same hole. The dead roommates wife was eventually killed, (by accident), by Red Eye as well. Nancy was arrested and convicted for being an accessory after the fact for the death of the wife. She is currently disassociated from “The Family” and Red Eye and is said to live in the Pacific Northwest with her four children. Ruth Ann Moorehouse – She met Charlie when her father Dean picked him up along with two other female “Family” members in 1951.
Charlie and the girls were brought back to the Moorehouse home and given dinner. Dean ended up giving Charlie a piano which he traded for a Volkswagen microbus later on. When they left the home, Ruth Ann accompanied them to Mendocino which angered Dean immensely and he said he would kill Charlie for it. Charlie smoothed it over when he returned and turned Dean on to LSD. From that moment on, Dean thought of Charlie as being like Jesus and virtually worshipped him. In 1970, Ruth Ann and Barbara Hoyt took a trip to Hawaii as a bribe to keep Barbara from testifying against “The Family”.
When Ruth Ann was leaving to come home, she was the one who laced Barbara’s hamburger, and ended up being charged with Conspiracy to Prevent and Dissuade a Witness. A pregnant Ruth Ann fled the state after being released and the judge decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to go after her. Currently, she has been reported to live somewhere in the Midwest with her husband and three children. Kathryn (Kitty) Lutesinger – She was the girlfriend of Bobby Beausoleil and pregnant with his child when she was brought into “The Family”.
Charlie was constantly threatening her because he was paranoid that she was trying to take Bobby away from them. When she finally got tired of the constant threats, she left and went to the police to report them for their threatening her. When Bobby was arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman she was unable to get ahold of him, Charlie said he was in jail but it was no big deal. Kitty wound up moving back with “The Family” in Death Valley. In 1969 she and Stephanie Schram fled the ranch, flagged down a cop, and asked for protection against “The Family” members.
In 1971 she was arrested for helping Kenneth Como escape from The Hall of Justice, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. Currently she is married and living somewhere unknown. Dianne Lake – Dianne grew up in the Wavy Gravy’s Hog Farm Commune, so she was used to the ways of “The Family” long before she came to live with them. In fact, her parents gave permission for her to travel with them at the age of 14. Charlie would beat her in front of the other members for no reason at all. When the ranch was raided in August of 1969, Dianne wasn’t there. She was hiding out with Tex Watson at a ranch in Olancha.
She was, however, arrested at the second raid in December. In 1970, she was admitted to Patton State Hospital as a patient with emotional trauma schizophrenia for six months, but was considered competent by the time the trials happened. Dianne ended up going to live with an officer and his wife where she graduated from high school and college. Currently, she is reported to be married with 3 children in an unknown location. Catherine Gillies – Cathy’s grandma was Arlene Barker, the owner of a ranch in Death Valley where “The Family” ended up living for the years of 1968 – 1969.
Charlie gave Arlene a gold record he acquired from Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys as payment for them living there. Cathy was present at the house when a member of “The Family” named Zero reportedly committed suicide. After “The Family” disbanded, she joined a motorcycle gang. Currently, she is divorced and lives in Death Valley with her 4 children. Sandra Good – Sandy joined “The Family” in 1968. In September of 1969 she gave birth to a son named Ivan who may or may not be the child of Charlie and whose life has not been tracked. In 1971 she was arrested for helping Kenneth Como escape, but the charges were dropped.
After the convictions of “The Family”, she hooked up with an ex-convict and member of the Aryan Brotherhood and was arrested again in 1972 for hiding him after he robbed a grocery store. The charges again were dropped. Sandy and Lynnette “Squeaky” Fromme became nuns in Charlie’s new religious sect called The Order of the Rainbow and changed their names to Blue and Red respectively. They ended up being very enthusiastic environmentalists and started a fictional terrorist group called the International People’s Court of Retribution that would supposedly assassinate the CEO’s of companies that polluted the earth.
The only things that they actually did was send out threatening letters to the CEO’s asserting that there were thousands of members that were just itching to kill them. She was arrested in 1975 for Conspiracy to Send Threatening Letters via U. S. Mail, convicted of five counts, and served 10 years in prison for it. Sandy started a website with George Stimpson called Access Manson which ended up folding in 2001 and is back up and running as alltheworldalive. com. She has continued to stand by Charlie’s side through everything going to the extent of moving to Hanford California to be near the prison he was in.
Currently, she moved away from Hanford and there is nothing more known about her. Susan Bartell – She joined up with “The Family” after the Tate/LaBianca murders. She was at the Barker Ranch when it was raided though. Sue was at the home of Mark Ross when Family member Zero supposedly committed suicide. She left “The Family” in the early 1970’s and there is nothing more known. Catherine Share (Gypsy) – Both her mother and her father were members of the French underground and during WWII they took their own lives. She was adopted by a blind American psychologist and his wife who ended up with cancer and committed suicide.
Gypsy was a wiz on the violin like her father and was an excellent singer. She traveled around California landing the occasional acting job until she starred with Bobby Beausoleil in the soft porn named Ramrodder. She lived with Bobby and his wife Gail for eight months until she met Charlie and went to stay at Spahn’s Ranch. She was the oldest woman in “The Family”, was deeply in love with Charlie, and gave birth to a son she named Phoenix. He was a quite possibly a love-child between Gypsy and Charlie. Gypsy helped to convince Barbara Hoyt to go to Hawaii.
She was involved in the store robbery and was shot 3 times (none were serious) while trying to obtain the guns and hijack an airplane as an attempt to free Charlie. She served 5 years at the same prison the other girls were housed at. Gypsy had fallen in love with Kenneth Como, but was instructed not to correspond with him, which angered Kenneth. He beat up Charlie in the prison yard and eventually convinced Gypsy to leave Charlie and “The Family” behind. Once they were out of prison, they married. They ended up getting divorced in 1981.
Throughout the 1980’s she was convicted of several credit card scam charges and served numerous years in prison again. She again married. This time it was to an informant and was rumored to be in the Witness Protection Program. Vincent Bugliosi wrote in his book that she has cleaned up her life and is in the process of writing her own book on her crazy life. Her current whereabouts are unknown. Lynnette Fromme (Squeaky) – As a child, Lynnette was the star performer in the Westchester Lariats, a dance troop that performed everywhere including the White House and on the Lawrence Welk show.
In high school she was on the Honor Society and in the Girls Athletic Club, but at home was brutal for her because her father held her so high. Lynnette began doing drugs and drinking while she was in high school and after graduation she moved out. Her father made her move back home and sent her to college. This caused a major argument between them and she left home where she met Charlie. His form of lifestyle is exactly what Lynette was looking for and she moved in with “The Family” on the school bus and traveled with them. Since she was one of the irst members of “The Family”, she was held in high regards and given the honor of caring for George Spahn, who nicknamed her “Squeaky” because of the sound she made when he touched her leg. She became the head of “The Family” when Charlie was sent to prison. Squeaky moved many times following him as he was transferred from facility to facility. It is said that she ordered the killing of Leslie Van Houten’s lawyer. In 1972 Squeaky and four other members were arrested for murder. After the other four Family members confessed, she was released and moved in with Sandra Good in Sacramento.
The two started the International People’s Court of Retribution. (See Sandra Good) Squeaky was still trying to make Charlie notice her, and attempted to assassinate President Ford. She was sentenced to life in prison where she bludgeoned another inmate and escaped when she heard Charlie was dying of cancer. She was caught and sent back to prison. She served the last of her time at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Texas. She was paroled on August 14, 2009 and remains a devout follower. Brooks Poston – He was spending his days wandering through California when he met Dean Moorehouse.
After listening to Dean preach about this great man he met, he was taken to the home of Dennis Wilson to meet Charlie Manson. Brooks gave “The Family” a credit card of his mother’s and joined them. He lived for the summer with Dean at the Wilson house doing gardening work in trade for a place to live. Brooks was a phenomenal guitarist and singer which made him fit right in. His major flaw was that he took the things that Charlie said as gospel and would put himself into trances on command. He met a girl named Juanita and stayed at the Barker Ranch instead of traveling with the rest of “The Family”.
It was here that he met a miner named Paul Crockett who was successful at “deprogramming” Brooks, Juanita, and some of the other members by the time Charlie and the others returned after the murders in the summer of 1969. The group of ex-Family members and Paul ended up leaving, afraid for their lives. Brooks testified for the prosecution at the murder trials. Currently he lives a meek, unassuming life somewhere unknown and still plays the guitar. John Haught (Zero) – Zero met up with Charlie and “The Family” when he moved to California from Ohio.
After getting out of jail from the raid at the Barker Ranch, he moved in with others at the home of Mark Ross. In November of 1969 he supposedly killed himself while playing Russian roulette. The police ruled it as a suicide even though there were some very strange things that didn’t quite add up. According to his girlfriend, he grabbed the gun while lying in bed and she told him there was only one bullet in it, put it to his head and pulled the trigger. What didn’t add up was the gun and holster had no prints, and the gun had been fully loaded, not just a single bullet.
Some years down the road an anonymous man told a Los Angeles Times writer that he was there when the suicide happened and one of the girls shot Zero in the head. Before the police could question this man, he disappeared, never to be heard from again. Steven Grogan – While drifting from commune to commune in 1967, Steve found himself at Spahn’s Movie Ranch. Charlie and the rest of “The Family” moved there in the spring of 1968. As with a lot of the other members, he was a very talented musician and fit in well, but some of them thought he was mentally challenged or just plain dumb.
He was sentenced to a state mental hospital after he exposed himself to a bunch of school aged children, but he turned around and walked right back out and back to Charlie two days later. Sadie, Linda, and Steve were ordered to kill a man that had previously given Linda a ride, but they went to the wrong apartment, got scared, and went home instead. He was involved in the killing of Shorty behind the ranch house. He went to trial for the murder in 1971, was convicted and sentenced to death. His sentence was changed to life in prison because the judge believed he was too dumb and on too many drugs to murder Shorty without guidance.
He ultimately drew a map to show where the body was buried. After serving only 14 years, Steve was released in November of 1985. He is the only one of “The Family” that has ever been released after being convicted of murder. It is reported that he changed his name to Adam Gabriel and played lead guitar in the band Rhythmtown Jive as currently as 2009. His actual current whereabouts are unknown. Danny DeCarlo (Donkey Dan) – Dan was born in Toronto, Canada, but given U. S. citizenship after serving four years in the Coast Guard.
When he finished his service in the Coast Guard, he went into the firearm business with his dad and was the club treasurer for the Straight Satans motorcycle club. He began his life of crime years before he met up with Charlie and “The Family” by being convicted for drug smuggling between the United States and Mexico. It was through his affiliation with the Straight Satans that he eventually met Charlie. While they were living at Spahn’s Ranch, Charlie wanted protection for the family and Dan liked the company of the girls so a friendship was made.
Dan was responsible for all of the weapons that “The Family” had stockpiled. Although he was arrested in the raid on Spahn’s Ranch, he quickly left when he learned about the murders. He did end up testifying against Charlie and the others for seven days at the murder trials and handed the police investigators the sword that had cut off Gary Hinman’s ear. He didn’t hang around for his share of the $25,000 reward that was offered. He jumped bail on a federal gun charge and left the country for Canada. His whereabouts are currently unknown. Bruce Davis – He met “The Family” in 1967 while doing construction work in Oregon.
Charlie and Bruce hit it off immediately due to their mutual musical proclivities, backgrounds in the penal system, and interest in Scientology. Bruce had worked at the headquarters for Scientology in London, England in late 1968, early 1969, but his fondness for drug use got him kicked out. When he got back to the United States, he returned to Charlie, where he was the treasurer and controlled all the fake ID’s and numerous stolen credit cards. Bruce was with Charlie when he cut off Gary Hinman’s ear and helped them kill and dispose of Shorty at Spahn’s Ranch.
He was arrested in the Barker Ranch raid for grand theft auto, but released due to lack of evidence. When Mary Brunner told the authorities about his involvement in the Hinman murder, he went into hiding until Charlie ordered that he turn himself in. He was subsequently convicted in both of the murders and was sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, he has found his faith and helped Susan Atkins to find hers as well. Bruce is currently serving out his life sentence at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, California.
Robert Beausoleil (Bobby) – Bobby was a self-taught guitar player and was a member in a few bands prior to his career in the film industry. While in San Francisco, he worked with a filmmaker named Kenneth Anger in the film Lucifer Rising where he played the title role of Lucifer and had a hand in composing the score for the film. When he had a falling out with Kenneth, who he now lived with, he returned to Los Angeles where he once again found work as an actor. He was starred along with Catherine Share in the soft porn Ramrodder. During this time he was residing in Gary Hinman’s basement, and through Gary he met Charlie.
Bobby’s musical talent impressed both Charlie and the rest of “The Family” and he began spending more and more time with them. He was responsible for selling a bunch of motorcycle gang member’s $1000 worth of LSD that turned out to be bunk. The gang was livid and wanted their money back, so he went to the maker: Gary Hinman. Gary in turn refused to give the money back saying it wasn’t a bad batch and so Bobby made the phone call to Charlie. As soon as he got there, Charlie sliced off Gary’s ear with a sword, and was held captive for two more days until Bobby had enough and stabbed him two times in the chest.
Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner smothered Gary with a pillow as he lay there dying. Bobby was arrested and convicted after two different trials for murder and originally sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life in prison when the death penalty was outlawed in 1972. Bobby was married in 1982 to a woman named Barbara at the prison chapel. In 2005 his art was showcased at a Los Angeles art gallery, which turned out to be a mistake when it was placed right after a photo spread of Sharon Tate. He works with an at-risk youth program and in 2008 was once again denied parole.
Bobby is currently serving his time at the Oregon State Penitentiary and his next parole hearing is scheduled for 2013. Paul Watkins – After living in Lebanon and Texas, this talented musician and his family found their way to California. He met Charlie and “The Family” after graduating as an extremely gifted student from high school. In his own version of things, he was Charlie’s right hand man. Charlie had Paul re-enroll in high school to recruit fresh faces. He ended up attempting to leave the ranch. While trying to scare Paul back into “The Family”, members bragged to him about the Tate/LaBianca murders they had committed.
Paul and his group eventually got scared and went to the police. He was a key player for the prosecutor during the murder trials, giving up all of the secrets he knew. It was thought that the ensuing house fire that nearly killed him was set by vindictive members of “The Family” for ratting Charlie out. After the trials, he became the founder and president of the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce as well as the unofficial mayor of a small town there. Paul traveled around giving lectures on substance abuse, cult psychology, and was in a documentary. Before his death from leukemia in 1990, he had 2 children with his long-time wife.
Members of “The Family” convicted in the Tate/LaBianca murders Linda Kasabian, Driver – She met Charlie at the age of 18 years old and by that time she had been married, divorced, remarried, and had a daughter named Tanya. When she left her second husband and stole $5,000 from the man they lived with, she came to join “The Family” and live at Spahn’s Ranch. The night of the Tate murder’s she was selected by Charlie to drive the killer’s to Sharon Tate’s house since she had the only valid license. She witness Tex shoot Steven Parent and literally ran into a dying Wojciech Frykowski in the doorway of the house.
The very next night she was once again driving the killer’s to their destination at the LaBianca residence. She fled from Charlie 3 days later when he gave her the task of bringing a message to some jailed family members. Linda was not able to bring Tanya with her without kicking up suspicion. Tanya was put in foster care after the raid on Spahn’s Ranch while she was making her way to her husband Bob. She returned to Los Angeles to retrieve her daughter, made her way to her dad who lived in Florida, and then eventually ended up at her mom who lived in New Hampshire.
Since she was the best witness that the prosecution had, Linda turned State’s Evidence and was given immunity in exchange for her testimony at all of the murder trials. When the trials were done she went back to her mom’s house in New Hampshire, far away from the California public eye. In a serious car accident Linda was disabled and no longer able to work. 1996 brought another raid and this time an arrest for methamphetamine possession that she skirted a sentence for by going to drug counseling classes. In the same incident, her daughter was sentenced to a year in jail for crack and powdered cocaine possession.
Linda was in a documentary about Charles Manson and on Larry King Live in 2009. Over the years she has racked up various troubles with the law and is currently married and living in Washington State. Charles “Tex” Watson, Murderer – Before he was introduced to drugs, Tex was an “A” student and star athlete in Texas, but then he became a college drop-out and drug dealer in California. When he joined “The Family” in 1967 he was the resident mechanic and general fix-it guy. He soon became the second in command and when Charlie spoke he listened and did as he was told.
The night of the Tate murders, the girls were told to go with Tex and do as he says. When he came in the front door of Sharon Tate’s house he announced, “I am the Devil and I’m here to do the Devil’s business. ” Tex was the primary killer in both of the murders by stabbing or shooting the victims. When he reported to Charlie after the Tate killings he told him, “Boy, it sure was helter skelter. ” Tex ran back to Texas and was arrested after the California police informed the police there about the discovery of his fingerprints at the Tate residence. He was successful in his fight against extradition and was tried separately in 1971.
Tex used the defense as being Charlie’s robot slave who was constantly using amphetamines and LSD. They even had eight different psychiatrists testify that he was temporarily insane while committing the murders. The jury believed otherwise and convicted Tex of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science – Business Management degree and co-authored a book in 1978 titled Will You Die For Me? In 1983 he became an ordained minister and now runs a web based ministry called Love Ministries where he makes apologies to his victim’s families.
He is currently married to his wife of 25 years and has 4 children via conjugal visits. Tex has been denied parole 16 times, the latest in 2011, and has served 43 years so far in prison. Susan Atkins (Sadie Mae Glutz), Murderer – Susan was the primary caregiver to her mom throughout her bout with cancer up until the time of her death. Once her mom passed away she dropped out of high school and constantly fought with her dad which prompted her move to San Francisco. Once there she ended up with some escaped convicts and began her criminal career by committing armed robberies while traveling with them.
She was arrested and served three months in jail for one of the crimes. Sadie went back to San Francisco and was a street hustler and topless dancer until she met Charlie in early 1967. She was an original member of “The Family” that toured the west coast in the transformed school bus for about a year and a half. In October of 1968 she gave birth to a son and named him Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz, who was later adopted and his name changed to Paul. It is rumored that he was Charlie’s child. In 1969 she moved to Spahn’s Ranch.
The night of the Tate murders she was ordered by Charlie to go with Tex Watson and do whatever he said, and she obeyed. She held down Sharon Tate as Tex was stabbing her and stabbed Wojciech Frykowski herself. After all members of the house were killed, she wrote “PIG” on the wall in blood to signify a supposed racial slur. She was sent with Linda Kasabian and Paul Atkins the next evening to kill a man that they ended up too scared to kill when Linda took them to the wrong apartment. When she was in jail for other charges in Los Angeles, she wound up bragging to a cell mate about her involvement in the Tate murders.
The cell mate proceeded to tell authorities and Charlie and Patricia Krenwinkel were arrested in California, Tex was later arrested in Texas, and a warrant was issued for Linda. She testified before the grand jury hoping to eliminate the death penalty. Sadie claimed that she pleaded with Tex for her life and the life of the unborn baby as she told Sharon Tate “Look bitch, I don’t care a thing about you. You’re going to die and there is nothing you can do about it. ” The jury found her guilty and sentenced her to death for her role in the murders.
Later on down the line in 1991 she retracted her testimony claiming she was there for the murders, but only watched. She continued to be a loyal Charlie follower, but was labeled a snitch by the other family members. She renounced Charlie in 1974 and found God with Bruce Davis through letters. Susan wrote her autobiography along with Bob Slosser in 1977 titled Child of Satan, Child of God. She married a self-proclaimed millionaire who promised her love and pardons in 1981, but divorced him shortly thereafter when she found out he had been married 35 times prior to her and was lying to her about everything.
She married again in 1987 to a man who became her lawyer. Susan was turned down for parole 11 times despite being a model prisoner, and once for a request for passionate release before she died in prison from brain cancer on September 24, 2009. Leslie Van Houten – Leslie was a popular, in spite of being a 15 year old girl that had an abortion. She was voted homecoming queen not once but twice at her high school. Her ability to make the wrong choice seemed to be something that she was good at as she got into psychedelic drugs and was into the “hippy” type of life.
When she graduated from high school, she attended a business college, but was more into studying The Self-Realization Fellowship. It was a yoga based religious sect instead. At 18 she went to San Francisco to visit a friend, met Charlie, had lots of sex and did lots of drugs, and never went back home. “The Family” accepted Leslie for who she was, but Charlie wasn’t too interested in her pretty face or her charming personality. In fact, she was assigned to be Tex Watson’s girl as soon as she got to Spahn’s Ranch.
Leslie was ordered by Charlie to go with Tex, Patricia Krenwinkel and himself to the LaBianca house. She had full knowledge of the Tate murders due to bragging by family members and went along happily. In her mind it was her time to shine for Charlie by doing his bidding. She wrapped a cord from a lamp around the neck of Rosemary LaBianca and then held her down as Patricia Krenwinkel and Tex stabbed her repeatedly. After both of the LaBianca’s were dead, she cleaned up the fingerprints, changed her clothes, ate something and then hitched back to the ranch.
Leslie was arrested during the Barker Ranch raid and told the investigators about Patricia Krenwinkel’s role in the Tate murder and Sadie’s roles in both the Hinman and Tate murders. She was tried for the role she played in the LaBianca murders and consistently fired her attorney’s under the orders from Charlie. The last lawyer that she was assigned in this round of trial made her refuse Charlie’s orders so he could protect himself. He subsequently vanished and his body was found months later. Leslie was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death along with the others.
As with the others it was dropped to life in prison in 1972. In 1977 the jury was at a deadlock after the second trial. A mistrial wasn’t ordered when her lawyer from the first trial went missing. She was released from jail on bail until her third trial in 1978 where she was found guilty. Leslie reformed and took responsibility for her crime. In prison she has earned 2 bachelor’s degrees, wrote short stories, and became editor for the prison paper. She has been denied parole19 times and her next hearing is in 2013. Leslie is currently serving her time at the California Institute for Women.
Patricia Krenwinkel (Katie), Murderer – Katie lived with her dad after her parent’s divorce when she was 17 years old until she graduated from high school. Then she moved in with her mom for only one semester of college in Alabama. She proceeded to move back to California and lived with her heroin addicted step sister that introduced her to Charlie and “The Family”. Since she had lower self-esteem than most of the girls he met, Katie was an easy target for him. Charlie made her feel loved and like she was wanted, so she readily left with them to travel the west coast.
Her main job was as caregiver for “The Family’s” children. Her loyalty to them made her a perfect choice to participate in the Tate and LaBianca murders. She stabbed Abigail Folger at the Tate home, stabbed Rosemary LaBianca, carved the word “WAR” into her husband Leno’s stomach and left a carving fork stuck in it. She showered, ate something, and even stopped to play with the LaBianca’s dogs before making her way home. Katie fled to Alabama on the pretense of being afraid of Charlie finding and killing her, but in reality he had ordered it. She returned to California and stood trial with the others.
She received the death sentence which was commuted to life in prison along with the other defendants in 1972. Katie has since had a perfect prison record, earned a bachelor’s degree, trains service dogs, and counseled young drug offenders. She said in a 1994 ABC interview that “I wake up every day and know that I’m a destroyer of life, and living with that is the most difficult thing of all. That’s what I deserve – To wake up every morning and know that. ” Katie has been denied parole 13 times and is currently serving her time out at the California Institution for Women. The Spahn Ranch 200 Santa Susan Pass Road – In the Simi Hills Charlie moved on to Spahn’s Movie Ranch in August of 1968 when they were all kicked out of Dennis Wilson’s home by his manager. This enraged Charlie because the rest of his Hollywood connections shunned him as well. His songs he was working on getting produced fell by the wayside. Spahn’s Movie Ranch was a deserted old movie set designed to look like a town from the old west. The owner, 80 year old George Spahn, allowed the family to live there for free since the women acted as his guides for him due to his failing eyesight and he was afraid of them..
The girls of “The Family” also took care of any other needs he may have had. Members of “The Family” lived here on and off even after the murders occurred supporting themselves by stealing credit cards and making food grabs from the dumpsters behind grocery stores. They occasionally odd jobs and mechanic work for people too. It is here that Shorty was murdered by Charlie and other family members. His body was not found until several years later. The raid that took place on August 16, 1969 at 6 a. m. , was carried out because of their part in a major auto theft ring and 26 members of “The Family” were arrested.
The Barker Ranch, The Beatles, and Helter Skelter In 1968 the Charlie was looking for an additional place for them to live when Catherine Gillies told him about her grandmother’s ranch. The Myers Ranch and Barker Ranch would be perfect side by side locations for them to move. He gave Mrs. Barker a Beach Boy’s gold records, one of the many that Dennis Wilson had given to him, as payment for letting them stay at the ranch. It was here, that because of his Beatlemania, Charlie’s prophecies were confirmed when he listened to the newly released White Album. Before the White Album was released all Charlie cared about was orgies”, Paul Watkins said. The Beatles and the Book of Revelation were the main influences on his way of thinking. According to members of “The Family”, during his preaching Charlie would quote “The Beatles and the Bible”. (Bugliosi & Gentry, 1974) When Charlie read Revelation 1:9 and it talked about the locusts, the four angels, and “faces as the faces of men” but having “the hair of women” he made his own summations. In his head, who else could the Bible be prophesizing about except for The Beatles?
It also describes the angles having “breastplates of fire” meaning their electric guitars and they “issued fire and brimstone” which was their song lyrics. He assimilated Revelation 9, the book with Revolution 9, the song and thought the sound bites in the song were showing the chaos of the racial revolution. In Revolution 1:1 it talks about a fifth angel that would be given “the key to the pit of the abyss” (Bible, The), he was convinced that this meant he was the fifth angel. Quite a few of the song titles on the White Album spoke to him as well.
The song “Rocky Raccoon” meant blacks, “Happiness is a Warm Gun” , known to be about sex, was about going out to acquire the guns for the upcoming Armageddon. Many of the songs had lyrics that Charlie interpreted into his LSD fueled rants that he called sermons. Revolution 1’s lyrics were proving that The Beatles wanted a revolution and Charlie had to let “The Family” know the whole of his plan to escape the chaos that was to come. He though they used the word “rise”, like in the song Blackbird, as a way to say that the blacks should “rise up” against the white government.
The song Piggies was about piggies being the government and “what they needed was a damn good whacking”. (Beatles, The, White Album, 1968). Helter Skelter, the most quoted song by Charlie on the White Album, was all about the craziness that was about to come down on the world. According to Brooks Poston, at the bonfire on New Year’s Eve 1968, Charlie said “Are you hep to what The Beatles are saying? Helter Skelter is coming down. The Beatles are telling it like it is” (Bugliosi & Gentry, 1974) Charlie formed his religious views by mashing together various parts of multiple religions.
He only took the parts that supported his views on the earth, different sexes and races, and how the world will end. The way that he explained “helter skelter” to his followers was in the summer of 1969 there would be a global race war. They were the only ones that would be saved because they would go underground in “the bottomless pit”, a secret city beneath Death Valley. When the ensuing race war didn’t happen, Charlie said they had to start is because “blackie” couldn’t do anything until “whitey” showed him how. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 2002) July 31, 1969 is when Charlie told “The Family” that “Now is the time for Helter Skelter”. They were busy preparing for his Armageddon at the Yellow Submarine House around the bend from Spahn’s Ranch. They had to make it look like a Black Panther attack when they went over to Gary Hinman’s house later that night. After they had killed him, they put a bloody handprint and wrote the words “political piggy” in his own blood on the wall next to his body. The handprint was supposed to look like the signature paw print used by the Black Panthers.
Bobby Beausoleil was arrested on August 7th while driving one of the cars stolen the night of Gary’s murder. Once again the race war didn’t begin as hoped. This only added to Charlie’s anger and frustration. On August 8, 1969, eight days after the speech about beginning “Helter Skelter” and Gary’s death, he assembled his troops again to “go to the house where Melcher,(Terry Melcher, music producer for Dennis Wilson), used to live. ” to kill someone wealthy and white to make it look like the blacks did it and Bobby would be released from jail.
This time Charlie instructed the one picked to do this to “Leave a sign… something witchy” and commit the murders as gruesome and bloody as they could. When they were through shooting and stabbing the five people at the Tate residence 102 times total, they returned to Spahn’s Ranch. The group was criticized by Charlie for being so sloppy. The next night, Charlie went along with three others to drive around looking for more victims. They ended up at the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. There they stabbed Leno 12 times with a knife and 7 with a fork and Rosemary was strangled and stabbed 41 times.
After they were dead, the words “Death to Pigs” and “Healter Skelter” were written on the wall and refrigerator door, again in the victims own blood. One of the girls was instructed by Charlie to leave Rosemary’s wallet in the bathroom of a gas station in a predominantly black neighborhood to try and start the war again. This time, to prove the predictions of Charlie, there was a panic that spread over Los Angeles. Several weeks went by as, to the delight of Charlie, citizens continued to be very edgy. Then came the raid on the Barker Ranch and Sadie’s spilling of her guts to the authorities while in custody.
The murderers, if not behind bars they were soon caught, were where they would live for the rest of their lives. Why Did They Follow Him? There are four words that describe why they followed him: Devotion, manipulative, charismatic, and powerful. The funny thing is that without charisma and manipulation, there would be no devotion or power. Coercive power is described by Woodward and Denton as the “use of punishments or threats to induce desired behaviors” adding that “reward power is to reward for desired behavior”. (Woodward and Denton, 2000, p. 20) Charlie would beat and humiliate selected members in front of the rest of “The Family” to show the power that he had over them, and to put a fear into the onlookers. The members that did things for him in the way that he liked, would be rewarded by special privileges such as being the girl to sleep with him that night, or being able to sit by and interact with him at their nightly bonfires. Charlie used a few tactics to manipulate the minds of his followers. Charlie has been called one of the greatest manipulators of our time. Manipulative people use controls from everyday life and use them to the farthest extremes.
They all often took lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) before he gave one of his nightly sermons to them. While taking LSD, or acid, people are said to be “on a trip” or “tripping”. They are very easily manipulated and their hallucinations can be ideas put in their heads and then told that they see them. The effects of acid usually start within 30 to 90 minutes after taking it and can last up to 12 hours. There is no way to predict or counteract the effects of acid on a person. People have been considered to be in “diminished capacity” in court when they do things while tripping on acid.
People on an acid trip honestly believe the things they see and hear, and will remember them when they become sober. In this way, he could easily become Jesus Christ in their impaired eyes with his long hair and goatee. He would bear a striking resemblance to Jesus. If you add in his sermon-like ranting’s, they would think they are actually hearing “The Word”. It is also possible to have a “bad trip” where people become very “dark”. They see horrific images and hear terrifying sounds that either scare or anger them. There are many reports of people that have injured or killed themselves and others while in the grips of a bad trip.
Some people have no recollection of what they do during a bad trip. Without Charlie being able to get into their heads, good or bad, the way he did, the murders never would have happened. The murderers were young kids from average American families…and then Charlie. He has been called Satan and God by “The Family” members. His response to the public about this after the trials was “Mr. and Mrs. America, you are wrong. I am not the King of the Jews nor am I a hippie cult leader. I am what you have made of me and the mad dog devil killer fiend leper is a reflection of your society…
Whatever the outcome of this madness that you call a fair trial or Christian justice, you can know this: In my mind’s eye my thoughts light fires in your cities’…statement issued by Charles Manson after his conviction for the Tate-LaBianca murders. ” (Dana, 2002) He was seen by the press and most of the world as a madman, but there were the select few that jumped on the bandwagon and are still there today. Having distorted moral values does not make you insane or crazy. Charles Manson was the same kind of crazy as Hitler was. As a matter-of-fact, Hitler was Charlie’s greatest hero.
He quoted and talked about him all the time saying Hitler had the answer for everything and was tuned-in to the workings of the world. This doesn’t make him crazy though. He is a purely evil and truly sophisticated con artist. So it is evil that runs him, not being mentally ill. There have been many psychiatric studies over the decades that have proven this. Charles Manson Today There is no other murder case in the United States history, save for maybe President Kennedy’s that have had the press coverage or marked anniversary to-do’s.
Many reports have been made of this being the most bizarre of the mass-murders on record in the U. S. as well. It is the murders that linked hippies to murder and violence, instead of the peace-loving potheads they were. There is still a “Family” following out there and it is global. Most of the meetings are online and kept secret. Eviliz runs a blog that keeps members supposedly up-to-date on what Charles Manson wants and says. She claims to be in direct contact with him and she was one of the people he was texting before he got caught with the cell phone in prison.
He is still ordering people to do things for him. He has continued to try and find Terry Melcher and have him killed. Despite the current members’ arrests for these attempts, people are still fascinated by Charlie. In 2007, MSNBC re-aired the 1987 interview with him at San Quentin Prison called The Mind of Manson, in its entirety. It had phenomenal ratings for the show. Charlie will have followers even after he is dead and he will probably be smiling up from hell– just like Hitler!
References
Bardsley, M. (2002). Charles Manson. Retrieved from http://www. crimelibrary. com/manson/mansoncha. tml Bugliosi, V. (1974). Helter Skelter. New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company. Dana, C. (2002). Charles Manson. Retrieved from http://www. inch. com/~sadie/danasite/dandacharli. html University of Missouri, Kansas City. (2012). The Defendants in the Charles Manson trial. Retrieved from http://law2. umkc. edu. edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/manson/mansondefendants. html Watson, C. (2002). Abounding Love Ministries, Inc. Retrieved from http://www. aboundinglove. org/ Woodward, G. C. , & Denton, Jr. , R. E. (2000). Persuasion & Influence in American Life (4th ed. ). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
