The Criminal Legacy of Charles Manson

THE CHARLES MANSON EFFECT

Charles Manson was born Charles Wilson Milles Maddox on November 12, 1934, to Kathleen Maddox, a 16-year-old girl alcoholic prostitute.

In 1945 she married William Manson a low level petty theif and in short order the marriage ended. Little Charlie was placed in a boys reform school at the age of 12. Rejected in his attempts to return to his mother, Charles was soon living on the streets and getting by through petty crime.

Still just a teenager, in 1951, Manson began spending time in prison. Early on, before he discovered the benefits of being a “model” prisoner, he was considered dangerous. He would eventually spend half of the first 32 years of his life behind bars. When he wasn’t incarcerated, he also attended reform schools.

Manson was described by probation reports as suffering from a “marked degree of rejection, instability, and psychic trauma” and “constantly striving for status and securing some kind of love.” Other descriptions included “unpredictable” and “safe only under supervision.”

His various offenses included pimping and passing stolen checks, and in 1961, he was sent to McNeil Island prison in Washington State for 10 years. It was while he was incarcerated that Manson learned how to read music and play the guitar. He was released from prison on March 21, 1967, and moved to San Francisco.

The Manson Family Cult
“The Family” was a group of around 100 followers of Manson who shared his passion for an unconventional lifestyle and habitual use of hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD and magic mushrooms. The Manson Family eventually moved from San Francisco to a deserted ranch in the San Fernando Valley.

Manson’s followers also included a small, hard-core unit of impressionable young girls. They began to believe, without question, Manson’s claims that he was Jesus and his prophecies of a race war.

Charles Manson and "Helter Skelter"
Manson was influenced not only by drugs, but also by art works and music of the time, most notably The Beatles song “Helter Skelter” from their 1968 White Album. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders was later the title of a best-selling book about Manson and his crimes.

Paul McCartney has said that the playground slide in “Helter Skelter” was a metaphor for the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Manson, however, interpreted the song’s lyrics as incitation to begin a race war. He turned to the album and lyrics to justify his scheme and guide his followers to murder.

The Manson Family—including Manson and his young, loyal disciples—is thought to have carried out some 35 murders. Most of their cases were never tried, in part for lack of evidence. The perpetrators had also already been sentenced to life for brutally killing seven people—actor Sharon Tate and wealthy supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, among them—on back-to-back nights in August 1969.

On August 9, 1969, Manson gathered a group of followers to carry out his massacre among Hollywood’s elite and “beautiful people.” The first of Manson’s victims was murdered at the home director Roman Polanski had rented, located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area just north of Beverly Hills. Polanski was away in London shooting a film, and four soon-to-be victims had just returned home from dinner when they were attacked.

Although Manson himself took no part in the actual killings, he directed four of his most obedient followers—Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian—to the address and directed them to kill everyone. According to one of the Family member’s statements, the Polanski household had been targeted because it represented the showbiz world that had rejected Manson.

Charles Manson died in prison on November 19, 2019
One Week after his 83rd Birthday. November 12, 1934,