Was Charles Manson a maniac and serial killer? Orgies, murders and rapes
Charles Manson became known as the founder of the Manson Family, a pseudo-community that emerged in California in the late 60s. Manson commanded his followers to do terrible things, hoping it would start an apocalyptic race war that he called "Helter Skelter" after the 1968 Beatles song. He interpreted this song as an encrypted prophecy of such a conflict.
(Total 20 photos)
1. Five members of the community, four of whom were women, were found guilty of the murders, and Manson, who, by the way, was not present at the crime scene, was found guilty of organizing the murders. (AP)
2. Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten were sentenced to death for the murders of seven people in Los Angeles on the night of August 8-9, 1969. (REX FEATURES)
3. Among those killed was actress Sharon Tate, the director’s pregnant wife. Polanski was in London at the time, working on another project. (REX FEATURES)
4. Murder scene in the living room of Tate and Polanski's mansion in Beverly Hills. Atkins gave the actress 16 stab wounds, and then wrote the word “pig” in the blood of the murdered woman. (GETTY IMAGES)
5. In October 1969, 24 members of the Manson Family were arrested on charges of arson and robbery. Among them were Charles Manson himself and Susan Atkins. (AP)
6. Another Manson follower, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (center), who was not involved in the 1969 massacre but was jailed for pointing a loaded gun at US President Gerald Ford. She was released early in 2009. (REX FEATURES)
7. Fromm, ex main figure among Manson's followers, was supposed to be released in July 2008, but she had to serve additional time for an escape attempt staged in 1987. She escaped after hearing that Manson had testicular cancer in order to get into his prison. Pictured: members of the Manson Family. (REX FEATURES)
8. Sharon Tate played small roles on television in the 60s, and then appeared in several films on the big screen. (REX FEATURES)
9. After positive feedback For her comedic roles, she was named one of Hollywood's most promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in Valley of the Dolls (1967).
10. Charles Manson was an up-and-coming musician on the brink professional career; he also gained a large following in the hippie community due to his charismatic style. Manson was a violent racist - he appeared in court with a crude swastika tattooed on his forehead. He believed that he and his followers would lead those who would survive the future war. (REX FEATURES)
11. He also had a hypnotic effect on his followers - he used drugs and slept with many women who called him "father." (REX FEATURES)
12. The family lived on a ranch in the desert, where Manson dreamed up his twisted ideas. On August 8, he announced that "it's time for Helter Skelter" and sent four followers to Tate's Beverly Hills home. (AP)
13. That night five people were massacred there. They killed Tate, as well as Jay Sebring and coffee heiress Abigail Folger. The next night, Manson took his six followers to the home of supermarket executive Lenno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary, who were also brutally murdered. (Everett Collection/Rex Features)
14. Charles Manson allegedly had a "death list" that included several notable figures film world, and the main one was Steve McQueen (pictured). After Manson killed five people, including McQueen's friends Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, rumors began to circulate that McQueen was next. (PA)
- American criminal, leader of the “Family” commune, individual members of which committed a number of crimes in 1969 brutal murders.
Photo: http://ipsih.com/post/241_Menson--Charlz-Manson--Charles.html
Biography of Charles Manson
Charles Manson was born in November 1934 in the USA. His mother, sixteen-year-old Kathleen Maddox, shortly after the birth of the boy, broke up with the child's real father, Colonel Scott, and married William Manson, whose last name was later given to Charlie. At the age of six, Charlie's mother went to prison for robbery. The boy remained in the care of relatives.
It wasn't easy for the kid among the adults. The uncle instilled courage in the child by dressing him in a girl’s dress and sending him to school like that. It’s no wonder that his psyche was shaken by this and the boy turned from a “sissy” (as his uncle called him) into a cub.
When the mother was released, Manson was placed in the custody of the state. Next years the boy spent in special. institutions. He was not known for his calmness and diligence. He was remembered there as a bully, a skipper and a thief of cars and bicycles. Once, Charles even tried to cross the Ohio state border in one of the stolen cars, but was detained and served his sentence in various colonies for three years.
Despite his obvious homosexual tendencies, Manson fell in love with and married waitress Rosalie after his release. With his pregnant wife, Charlie wanted to go to California in a stolen car, but was detained by the police. And again prison. The term is three years. Manson's son was born while his father was serving his sentence. The wife visited the prisoner for a long time, but one fine day she met another person, her true love, and stopped visiting her ex-husband.
In 1958, Charlie was released, but not for long. Soon he found himself behind bars again. In between serving sentences in prison, Manson managed to get married again and give birth to a second child. Then came the divorce. During this time, Charlie began studying Scientology.
In March 1967, Charlie Manson was released. Charlie was not attracted to freedom, perhaps because of habit (he lived most of life behind bars). The former prisoner even asked to go back to prison, since he felt comfortable and liked it better there, but was refused.
"Family"
Charlie went to San Francisco, where he met Mary Brunner, later the first member of the Family. Together they traveled around California, attracting new people to join the “Family.” According to Manson, he picked up “children” abandoned by society. They were glad to join his community. Charlie gave them new names, new lives, cleansing their souls of pain and injustice. The "Brothers and Sisters" lived on the Spahn Ranch, a former location for filming Westerns. There friendly family enjoyed a free life: they took drugs, sang, and had orgies.
In prison, Manson learned to play the guitar. And now, once free, he wanted to become famous with the help of his musical talent- record an album. Charlie made an acquaintance with The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, who then introduced Manson to Terry Melcher (music producer). It is believed that anger at the producer, who rejected Charlie's talent, was the reason for the murder of Tate's owner and her guests, despite the fact that Melcher had not lived in the house where the bloody massacre took place for a long time. However, Manson denies this point of view.
In mid-July 1969, three members of the "Family" went to Gary Hinman, a mescaline supplier, to get money that they wanted to return to the bikers who, in their opinion, bought poor quality product. The seller refused to return the money. That same day, Manson arrived and cut off Hinman's ear with a saber. After two days, Gary did not return the promised amount of money, for which he was killed by members of the “Family”. At the crime scene, police found “Political Pig” graffiti on the wall and a paw sign drawn in the victim’s blood, leading investigators to believe it was the work of the Black Panthers.
The reason for subsequent events was the unusual interpretation of the Beatles album. Manson believed that the members of this group, through songs, conveyed to him messages from above, testifying to the war between the black and white races. Helter Skelter is the name Charlie gave to the coming revolution. According to him, after the start of the war, the “Family” needs to take refuge in the Valley of Death until it ends armed struggle between races. During that period, the number of the “Family” will increase to one hundred and forty-four thousand. Then, according to Manson's plan, he and his community will become rulers of the world, because “blacks don’t know what whites know.”
On August 8, 1969, Manson ordered Tex (Charles Watson) and three other girls to go to the villa, which previously belonged to Terry Melcher (the day before, Charlie had arrived there looking for Terry, but was told that the music producer had not been living in the villa for more than a month), to kill everyone and take the money. Accompanying Tex were Sadie, Kathy (Patricia Krenwinkel), Linda Kasabian. Armed with knives, a pistol and a rope, the executioners went to the appointed place. Manson's final instructions were: "Leave something sinister."
They drove up to the house in a yellow Ford and climbed over the fence. Seeing a white car approach the gate, Tex came out of the bushes and shot the driver (they didn't need witnesses). The company of killers then headed towards the main entrance. Linda was left on duty at the gate. The others climbed into the house through the window. At this time, the hostess and her guests were blithely enjoying a casual conversation. She did not know that in a few minutes the life of her and the child would end (the woman was eight months pregnant). Members of the “Family” took the money, then tied up everyone (except for the hostess, there were two more men and two women in the house) and created a bloody mess. When the screams died down, Sadie took a towel, dipped it in the blood and wrote three letters “P”, “I”, “G” on the door. The job was done.
The satisfied and tired company went to the ranch to report to Manson how everything went. Charlie asked if they felt sorry for those killed. The four felt no remorse. The very next day it became known who the victims of the three young people were. These were Stephen Parent, Jay Sabring (stylist), Wojtek Frykowski (friend of film director Roman Polanski), Abigail Folger (daughter of a millionaire) and film actress Sharon Tate (Polanski's wife).
That same night (August 9), Manson wanted to show his flock with his own hands how to act. The same four, as well as Steve Grogan (“Clem”) and Leslie Van Houten, led by Charlie, set off to continue the Helter Skelter that had begun. (Manson said: “We need to show the little blacks what they need to do”). The unfortunate victims were the owners of the Rosemary and Leno La Bianca chain of stores. Bound and gagged, the husband and wife met their deaths. They were tortured for a long time. The killers literally cut helpless people into pieces. On the stomach of dead Leo they carved the word “WAR” with a knife, and Patricia wrote in blood on the walls of the house and the refrigerator “RISE”, “DEATH TO PIGS”, “HEALTER SKELTER”. It is worth noting that Manson did not take part in the massacre. He left in the car with Linda, Clem and Sadie right after Rosemary and Leo were tied up.
After the arrest of members of the "Family", Linda Kasabian acted as the main witness. It is known that Manson's court-appointed lawyer did not appear at the trial. Only five months later his dismembered corpse was found. It was suggested that this was the work of the “sisters of the Family.” As a protest and rejection of society, Charlie and his flock carved an “X” on their foreheads. The court sentenced seven people from the community to death in the gas chamber, but in 1972 the death penalty was abolished, so the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
The Personal Life of Charles Manson
In November 2014, the most famous serial killer in the United States, Charles Manson, was allowed to marry his young fan.
The prison administration allowed 80-year-old Manson to marry a 26-year-old fan, giving him three months to do so. In addition, up to 12 people can be invited to the wedding.
He became no less popular pop culture character than The Beatles. Charlie himself did not commit a single murder. Moreover, he is an animal activist, musician and author of some songs. At the same time - lifelong. For what?
"Nobody. I'm nobody. I am a dream. I'm the bomb. I am a car trunk and wine jelly. And a straight razor if you come too close to me” - this is how Charles Manson Mills answered the question “Who are you?” in an interview.
This man with long hair, with a graying beard and a swastika tattooed between his eyes, turned his life into an endless horrifying performance that began with wild ritual murders and continues to this day.
He has been serving a life sentence for almost 40 years, and the legend about him inspires biographers, directors, artists, musicians and poets.
The scandal with the arrest of Roman Polanski in Zurich has been in first place among the most discussed topics on Yandex for three days now. The retribution that overtook the director for a crime committed more than 30 years ago, apparently, deprived of peace not only those involved in the sensitive case.
Many books have been written about him, several films have been made and huge amount television stories. Songs are written and rock bands are named in his honor. He became no less a popular pop culture character than The Beatles...
At the same time, Manson’s actions have not yet found any rational explanation, and his case remains one of the most confusing and mysterious in criminal history USA.
After all, Charlie himself did not commit a single murder. Moreover, he is an animal activist, a musician and the author of some pretty beautiful and famous songs. But at the same time - lifelong. For what?
In 1969, the talented hippie and loser Charlie Manson created a community that would later be called the Manson Family.
Young people who have become outcasts American society, joined this flock, each of them received a new name, and they really lived like one family - brothers, sisters and lovers. In a word, it was a kind of sect.
Manson wanted to make a career as a rock musician, and soon his community moved closer to cultural center- Los Angeles. They settled on the Spahn Ranch, where Westerns had previously been filmed.
And they began to live a free life: drugs, songs, group sex. In general, we were happy.
Manson's influence on the members of the commune was limitless. He certainly had a talent for charming people. In addition, he was filled with a strange energy that required an outlet.
Like artists of all times and peoples who cannot ignore the inspiration that captivates them and therefore create, Manson felt that he had to do something like this. And there simply weren’t enough songs for this...
Soon, members of the Manson Family committed several terrible murders. Their victims were the rich and famous inhabitants of the Hollywood Hills.
The most notorious murder occurred on August 9, 1969 in the house of film director Roman Polanski (who was recently arrested for).
Under the leadership of one of the “brothers,” student Tex Watson, several “sisters” shot and mutilated Polanski’s wife, movie star Sharon Tate, who was nine months pregnant, and several of her guests. The hostess and guests, like their killers, were heavily drugged.
Along with Tate, such “representatives of bourgeois bohemians” as Jay Sebring (hairdresser of Jim Morrison and Bruce Lee) and Abigail Folger (heiress) died along with Tate. multi-million dollar fortune, daughter of the founders of the coffee empire).
The next night, the raging hippies arrived at another villa (the owners of the La Bianca couple's chain of stores) and broke up even more. We will not give details of the massacre; they are even on Wikipedia.
What was that? Anti-bourgeois protest action? The whim of crazy drug addicts? Or a satanic ritual? Answers to these questions were never received during the investigation.
The circumstances of the murder were clearly ritual in nature. All this was more like some kind of terrible sacrifice than an ordinary crime.
Soon Charles Manson and several members of his group were arrested. First on suspicion of car theft, and then again for murder.
And this is where the fun begins...
Despite the fact that some members of the “Family” testified against the murderers, the personal presence of Charles Manson himself at any of the murders was never proven.
Many generally stubbornly refused to testify and covered up their leader in every possible way.
A few days before the trial, Manson's lawyer disappeared. His dismembered body was found five months later, but who exactly committed this murder remained unknown (there was even talk of police provocation).
What happens next? Guided by the testimony of deranged drug addicts from Charles Manson's entourage, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi builds a charge against Manson as the ideologist who planned this whole carnage, and therefore the main culprit. Without any obvious evidence or evidence against him.
Opponents of the prosecution still claim that the case was fabricated. They say that during the proceedings, Manson discovered in himself such a fierce opponent of the American government and the establishment that the authorities simply could not allow his release.
As a result of long trial Manson and several members of the Family were sentenced to death in the gas chamber. In 1972, the Supreme Court overturned death penalty and the sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
The controversy surrounding this story has not subsided to this day. Almost every year some new high-profile artifact dedicated to Manson appears.
For example, in 2008, Robert Hendrickson’s re-edited and digitized film “Inside the Manson Gang,” which depicted the trial, was released on DVD and was a huge success.
And the release is planned for 2010 feature film"Manson's Girls" starring Lindsay Lohan as Manson's lover.
Regarding the concept of “Charlie girls,” one of his “sisters” said: “We all thought we belonged to him and called ourselves Charlie’s Girls. However, Charlie himself always, almost every day, told us that we are people and belong only to ourselves and no one else. But still I thought that I belonged to him.
Charlie had sexual contact with each of us, I was jealous of him until I realized that Charlie made love only for the sake of love. This is how he gave us his all.
We - Charlie's girls - also made love to each other. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him. I love reflection, and the reflection I'm talking about is Charles Manson..."
The beginning of the creative rethinking and formation of the “Manson myth” was given by the prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi himself. The case received such a public outcry that he, either deciding to earn extra money, or to explain himself, published a 500-page work, “Helter Skelter,” in which he meticulously and in all (even the bloodiest) details spoke about the crime of the “Manson Family.”
Researcher of the Charles Manson phenomenon, artist Dima Mishenin, in his essay “Change of Weather and Orange Light,” drew attention to one seemingly insignificant episode of this book. An episode that really allows you to get closer to the mystery of the attractiveness of Manson’s figure and understand why he inspires so many artists who put him on a par with the greatest representatives of the human race.
An accomplice to the crime, a girl named Linda Kasabian (almost the only one who actually testified against Manson during the trial), when asked by the prosecutor if she remembered “anything specific about the service station where she and Charles Manson stopped at the time of the crime” , answered: “There was a house that emitted an orange glow, immersing everything around in this warm orange light.”.
The police searched for this place for a long time. And... finally found it.
Next to the Standard gas station is Danny's Diner with a large neon sign above it. Orange color. And there is nothing orange anywhere else.
The diner's waiter identified Manson and his girlfriend from photographs. “Yes, they sat here with us and drank milkshakes and talked very nicely about something,- said the waiter. - And they also ordered sweet peanuts.".
Everything was peaceful and very cozy. Quiet music was playing, Charles Manson was talking about love.
Meanwhile, in one of the mansions nearby, other members of the “Family” wrote the words “Helter Skelter”, “pigs” and “war” in the blood of their victims.
“I felt unusually good,- said Kasabian. - Manson turned into love itself, I said that I was pregnant from him, and he took me by the hand and made me forget about everything. There was this amazing bright orange light everywhere and I was really happy."
All she saw was Manson, his love and the orange light.
And the investigators saw only a gas station and an orange sign above the entrance to the fast food restaurant where the accomplices in the bloody murders were holed up.
Same events, same place, same time. And such different views... “Some people see orange light, and others see orange signs,” writes Mishenin. - And the one who sees the orange light cannot resist and not do what the people ask of him, thanks to whom this light pours, twists and radiates, no matter how scary, monstrous or difficult it is... And those who do not sees, comes up with explanations for the Orange Light, such as the use of powerful hallucinogens or states of hypnosis.”
That makes all the difference. This is the whole secret.
Charles Mills Manson - American criminal, leader of the “Family” commune, some members of which in 1969 committed a number of brutal murders, including the famous film actress Sharon Tate, wife of Roman Polanski.
Born November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother, Kathleen Maddox, gave birth to him at age sixteen. His father appears to have been "Colonel Scott". However, Charlie adopted the surname from the man whom his mother, shortly after the birth of the child, married - William Manson. When Charlie was six years old, Kathleen was jailed for five years for armed robbery. He was forced to live with relatives during this time. Among them was an uncle who considered him a “sissy” and sent Charlie to school in a woman’s dress on the first day of school.
After his mother's release, 11-year-old Manson did not live with her for long; Kathleen placed him in state custody. He spent the following years in special institutions for boys, from which he constantly ran away and tried to hide by stealing cars and bicycles. One day he decided to cross state lines in a stolen car, but was caught and spent the next three years in various correctional facilities.
In January 1955 married seventeen-year-old Rosalie Jane Willis. The couple decided to go to California. Three months later, Charlie was arrested in Los Angeles for crossing state lines in a stolen car. Rosalie was pregnant, and the court gave Manson three years probationary period. Soon Manson committed an offense again and went to prison. After the birth of the child, Rosalie left her husband and left the city. Once freed, Charlie became a pimp for several girls in Hollywood.
In May 1959, he was arrested while attempting to cash a $37.50 check stolen from a mailbox. The court sentenced him to 10 years of probation. Around this time, Charlie married a certain Leona, but a year later he again violated the law, this time about crossing state lines for the purpose of prostitution, and was sent to prison.
As a result, Manson was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the $37.50 check. Leona gave birth to her second son, Charlie, and filed for divorce. Right here Manson became interested in Scientology. He was finally released in March 1967 and went to San Francisco, where he met a girl named Mary Brunner, who became the first member of what would become the Manson Family.
In prison, prisoner Alvin Karpis, convicted of bank robbery in the 30s, taught Charles play the guitar. Widespread received a rumor that Manson was trying to become a member of The Monkees, being among 400 applicants (Pete Tork won the competition), and even then he boasted that he would become “bigger than The Beatles.” John Gilmore, author of Manson - The Unholy Trail Of Manson And The Family,” questions the very possibility of such participation, since Manson was still in prison at the time of the audition.
"Family"
Charlie and Mary started traveling around California, and that's it more people became members of the "Family". As Charlie said, the “children” whom society had thrown into the trash heap came to him themselves. He gave everyone a new name. “Family” made them “brothers and sisters.” Manson's quest for musical career sent them to Los Angeles. Their home was the Spahn Ranch, which had previously been used for filming Westerns. The family lived a “free” life on the ranch. They used drugs, sang songs, and had group sex.
During a trip to San Francisco, Charlie met Dennis Wilson, drummer for The Beach Boys. They began to communicate closely, with Wilson often allowing "The Magician" and "The Family" to stay at his mansion. He also introduced Manson to music producer Terry Melcher, who was at one time interested in recording his album. According to the version of the prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi (set out in his book “Helter Skelter”), a hidden grudge against a man who rejected his music led to the murder of Tate and the guests of her house, since Melcher once lived here. Manson (in a prison interview) strongly denied this claim.
Hinman
In late July 1969, three members of the "Family" - Bobby Beausoleil, Susan Atkins (also known as "Sadie") and Mary Brunner - went to the home of a man named Gary Hinman to obtain the amount of money with which Bobby had bought mescaline from him for groups of bikers who, in turn, were dissatisfied with the quality of the drugs and demanded their money back. Hinman refused to return the money. After calling the ranch, he came to the house with Bruce Davis. Manson cut off Hinman's ear with a saber, and he and Davis soon left.
The next day, Hinman continued to refuse to hand over the money. Two days later, Bobby killed Hinman, stabbing him twice in the chest while Atkins and Brunner smothered him with a pillow. Finally, Beausoleil wrote “POLITICAL PIGGY” on the wall and drew a “paw” sign with Hinman’s blood to make the authorities think that ““ was involved in the murder.” Bobby was soon arrested, which brought a certain atmosphere of panic to the Family.
Tate and La Bianca
One of the main motives for subsequent events was Manson’s peculiar interpretation of The Beatles’ “White Album.” He said that the Beatles were talking to him, that the album contained a message warning him of the coming war between the black and white races, which he himself called "Helter Skelter", and that the group wanted him to release an album that would start impending revolution. Charlie had a "plan" for this, in which the "Family" would go to Death Valley and hide underground until the race war was over. By that time, their number should have grown to 144,000, and they would begin to rule the world, since “the little blacks only know what the little whites told them.”
On the evening of August 8, 1969 Manson called Charles Watson (aka "Tex") and said, "The time has come, the time to take a black man by the hand and show him how to kill." He ordered Tex to take with him three girls, go to the house where lived before Terry Melcher, kill everyone who will be there and take all the money (the day before, Charlie went to this house to find Terry, but, as it turned out, he had not lived there for more than a month). Then he instructed Sadie, Patricia Krenwinkel (also known as "Katie") and Linda Kasabian to ride with Tex and do whatever he said - "The time has come, Helter Skelter."
Taking several knives, a gun and rope, the foursome got into a yellow 1959 Ford to go to a house on Cielo Drive. Charlie finally told the girls to leave a sign there, “something sinister.” Tex and the girls drove up to the house and climbed over the fence. They saw a white car approaching the gate and hid in the bushes. When the car stopped, Tex stepped out of the shadows and shot an eighteen-year-old guy with glasses who was sitting behind the wheel. The four went to the main house. Linda was left on guard at the gate in case the shots woke anyone. Tex carefully climbed through the window and let the girls in. They found four more people in the house: two men and two women, one of whom was pregnant. After the killers demanded all their money, they tied them up and then carried out a brutal massacre. Finally, Sadie wrote the word “PIG” on the door with a bloody towel.
Returning to the ranch, they found Charlie and one girl dancing naked under the moon. Manson asked them if they felt any remorse, to which they replied that they did not. The next day they learned from television news that their victims were eighteen-year-old Steven Parent, who had come to stay with his friend who worked there as a janitor, Jay Sabring - famous stylist men's hairstyles, Abigail Folger is an heiress to a wealthy fortune, Wojciech Frykowski is a friend of film director Roman Polanski, and Polanski's wife is film actress Sharon Tate, who is nine months pregnant.
On August 9, Charlie decided to show himself “how it should be done.” Together with Tex, Linda, Katie, Sadie, as well as Leslie Van Houten and Steve Grogan (aka "Clem"), they set out to find the house where Helter Skelter is about to collapse again. It became the home of the owners of a chain of small stores, Leno and Rosemary La Bianca. Charlie and Tex broke into the house, tied up the owners and gagged them. After which Charlie, Sadie, Linda and Clem left, and Katie and Leslie joined Tex. The three carried out a bloody massacre. This time, the police were greeted with the words "RISE", "DEATH TO PIGS", Patricia's misspelling of "HEALTER SKELTER" and "WAR" carved into Leno's stomach.
Arrest
On August 16, 1969, Charlie and "The Family" were arrested at the Spahn Ranch for car theft, but were released due to the fact that the search warrant for the ranch was illegal, having been executed just two days before the raid. However, the police confiscated all weapons, cars and buggies. Charlie "felt" that one of the people working on the ranch, Donald "Shorty" Shea, was informing on him - that night he, Tex, Bruce and Clem killed him, cut him into pieces and buried him. The “family”, in buggies and jeeps prepared in advance, went to the Barker ranch, not far from Death Valley; at night along the way they set fire to the digging equipment they encountered, for which they were arrested during the second raid in October 1969. By this time, the police already had some assumptions about the connection between the Manson Family and the Tate and La Bianca murders.
Many members of the Family testified against Manson and the killers. Some chose not to testify as a protest. Linda Kasabian acted as the main witness at the trials and rehearings of the case. Susan Atkins was also initially going to act as the main witness, in the hope of mitigating the punishment, but before the start of the trial she abandoned her testimony.
A few days before the trial, Manson's court-appointed lawyer, Ronald Hughes, disappeared. His dismembered body was found five months later (there is speculation that the “Manson girls” were involved in the murder). During legal proceedings Charlie and other members of the "Family" carved a swastika into their foreheads as a sign that they had cut themselves out of the establishment world.
At the court hearing Manson came with his head half shaved and half shaved.
As a result of a lengthy trial, seven members of the "Family" were sentenced to death in the gas chamber. In 1972 Supreme Court abolished the death penalty and sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
"International Human Court of Retribution"
Lynette Fromme in 1970
In 1975, one of Manson's most devoted followers, Lynette Fromme (also known as "Squeaky"), pulled a gun on Gerald Ford while he was walking in a Sacramento park. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate the President (released in 2009). Along with his girlfriend, Sandra Good, also a member of the Family, they were "nuns" of Manson's religion, which he called the Rainbow Law, and ardent followers of his own philosophy of maintaining environmental balance, which he called ATWA (Air, Trees). , Water, Animals). The two of them sent letters with death threats to “corporate polluters” - CEOs and heads of polluting enterprises. environment. Good was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Currently
He is being held at the California State Penitentiary in Corcoran as B33920. Before this, he was transferred from one institution to another many times. He spends 23 hours in solitary confinement, he is prohibited from communicating with other prisoners. In prison Manson was attacked twice: the first time by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, the second time by a Hare Krishna. The latter doused Charlie with solvent and set him on fire, as a result of which Manson received second and third degree burns, mainly to his face and head.
Charles Manson
release was repeatedly denied. His final plea is due in 2012.
Located in Mule Creek Prison. He became an active Christian and wrote an autobiography entitled " Will You Die For Me?”, married and became the father of four children. Maintains its website.
Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten are at the California Institution for Women in Chino. Susan Atkins was also kept there until her death. She became a Christian, wrote an autobiography entitled “Child of Satan, Child of God,” and she also married twice (her second husband set up a website in support of his wife). In March 2008, Atkins was admitted to the prison hospital, and in June it became known about her impending early release from prison.
It is also known that she suffered from progressive brain cancer and, as of June 2008, she had no more than six months to live. On May 29, 2009, Susan Atkins' request for early release was reviewed by the California State Commission, but was denied. The next hearing date for her case was scheduled for September 2, 2009, but she was denied early release for the thirteenth time, and on September 24 of the same year, Atkins died of brain cancer.
Krenwinkel leads in prison as far as possible active life. Her last hearing took place in January 2011, where she was denied parole for the thirteenth time and she will be able to submit her next application only after 7 years. Leslie Van Houten fights for her release, which she has been denied many times. On September 7, 2006, she was denied a hearing for the sixteenth time. The last hearing was supposed to take place in August 2009, but it was postponed to August 2010. A hearing was finally held on July 6, 2010, where she was denied release for the 19th time. She can file her next petition no earlier than 2013.
Bobby Beausoleil is being held at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. He got married, plays music, and runs his own website with his wife. His request for early release was rejected in 2010, and the next one may not be submitted until 2015.
Bruce Davis is at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. While a prisoner, he became a Christian, and also helped Susan Atkins to do so.
Steve Grogan cooperated with police in the search for the remains of Donald Shea and was released early in 1985.
Lynette Fromme in 2009
Lynette Fromm was held in various institutions. In 1979, she was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, where she attacked another inmate with a hammer. And in December 1987, she escaped from the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia, when she heard a false rumor that Manson dies of cancer. Two days later she was caught and placed in the Federal medical center(prison) Carswell in Fort Worth (Texas), where she was kept until her release. Since 1985, she has repeatedly applied for early release, but was refused each time. In July 2008, another request was granted, but due to her escape, she was released only on August 14, 2009. Lynette Fromm now lives in the New York suburb of Marcy.
Sandra Good was released in 1985. She also remains committed to ATWA and believes that was not involved in the murders. In the mid-1990s, together with another person, they created a website in support of Charles Manson . On at the moment the website has been taken down and the domain name atwa.com is up for sale.
Himself in November 2017, due to illness gastrointestinal tract. He died right there hospital bed in the prison hospital, at the age of 84.