Charles Manson is the world’s favourite and most prolific serial killer but he never actually murdered a single person.
Charles Manson (if you’ve been living under a rock your whole life) was the leader of “The Manson Family’, a quasi-commune a.k.a a cult. Manson believed in the term ‘Helter Skelter’ which he believed would be an apocalyptic war between the blacks and the whites. He strongy believed that the murders he planned would result in this war; although this has been somewhat disputed by critics as to the reason behind the murders. Manson’s silence during his time in prison meant that we are never going to know the full truth.
Early Life
1934 – Charles Manson was born to Kathleen Maddox, who was just 16 years old at the time and unmarried, and (possibly) Colonel Walker Henderson Scott Sr,
1937 – Kathleen and her then husband William Eugene Manson divorced.
1939 – Maddox and her brother’s girlfriend, Julia Vickers, robbed a wealthy man named Frank Martin; they were found within hours of the robbery and Charles was sent to live with his aunt and uncle.
1942 – Kathleen was paroled and she and Manson went to live in Charleston.
1943 – Kathleen married again.
1947 – Manson was sent to live at Gibault School for Boys in Indiana, which was a catholic school for delinquents.
1948 – He commited his first known crime by holding a store and casino at gun point and subsequently robbing them.
Manson Family
1967 – Charles Manson, 32, was paroled from McNeil Island Prison for prostituting women and forging cheques. It’s this year that he starts to ‘recruit’ for the family in San Francisco.
1968 – Mary Brunner gave birth to Manson’s first child, Valentine Michael. The family
also moved into Dennis Wilson’s – The Beachboys – home; it’s hear that Manson started recording songs and meeting people from the entertainment business. Most notably he meets Rudi Altobelli who rented a house to Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. Then after they were evicted from the house by Wilson’s manager they set up their base at Spahn Ranch.
1969 – Manson shot Bernard “Lotsapoppa” Crowe, a drug dealer whom the family were defrauding to gain money for ‘Helter Skelter’. Manson believed he had successfully killed Crowe, however he had in fact survived the shooting. In the summer of 1969, Mary Brunner and two other family members, Bobby Beausoleil and Susan Atkins, were sent to collect a supposed inheritance from Gary Hinman, an acquaintance of Manson. After his refusal to hand over the money he was held hostage for two days then stabbed to death by Bobby. The three were then ordered to write “political piggy” and draw a panther paw on the wall in Hinman’s blood to frame The Black Panthers, in an attempt to start ‘Helter Skelter’. On the 9th of August, Manson ordered Charles Denton “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel to go to the Polanski/Tate residence and “totally destroy everyone in it, as gruesome as you can”. This resulted in the six horrifically violent death of Sharon Tate and her unborn baby, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent. The following evening on the 10th August the Tate murderers, accompanied by Leslie Van Houten, Steve “Clem” Grogan and Manson himself drove to 3301 Waverly Drive; which was the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca where they were ultimately murdered by Van Houten, Krenwinkel and Watson.
Imprisonment
1969 – In the middle of October Manson was arrested in connection with car thefts and Atkins was soon after arrested for the Hinman murder. On the 1st and 2nd of December, Watson, Krenwinkel and Kasabian were all arrested in connection with the Tate murders and they were also noted as being suspects in the the LaBianca murders.
1970 – The trial begins with Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Kasabian all being charged with seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy. Kasabian, who had not participated in the murders, was granted immunity for her cooperation. Van Houten was charged with two counts of murder and one of conspiracy.
1971 – The four defendants were convicted as guilty on all counts. Manson was sentenced to death but after California abolished the death penalty in 1972 he was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
2017 – Charles Manson had served out his life sentence in California State Prison and on the 19th of November he died of natural causes in hospital.
Charles Manson’s legacy will no doubt live on through generations through pop culture and the world’s fascination with serial killers (in my eyes) is 100% down to him.
Charles Manson was a notoriously difficult man to interview but in 1987 TODAY managed to get an exclusive interview with him whilst he was serving his life sentence in San Quentin prison. Here it is:
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