CHARLIE WILLIAN MANSON

Manson Family Values

Text from William H. Kennedy, Satanic Crime, pag 29-41, 2006


On March 21, 1967 the State of California Parole Board held a hearing to
determine if a habitual offender in their custody should be set free. Oddly, the
prisoner begged to remain in prison, claiming that it was the only home he knew
and he could not guarantee that he would not re-offend if released. For unclear
reasons, the members of the board decided to free this convict -- a decision these
men would live to regret. When the processing for release was completed, the
newly liberated ex-convict headed for San Francisco where the Summer of Love
was just getting underway. The man’s name was Charles Willis Manson. Two
years after his release, he would become one of the most famous men on Earth,
having ordered several high-profile murders by his band of deranged followers
who he quickly acquired after leaving the penitentiary. (1)


Lost Boy


Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 12, 1934 to Kathleen Maddox, an
unmarried sixteen-year-old alcoholic who had constant run-ins with the law. The
newborn’s father was Colonel Scott of Ashland, Kentucky, who immediately
abandoned his son. Kathleen married William Manson, who gave his surname to
the boy, but the couple soon divorced. (2)

Manson never met his biological father, and the only male role model he ever had as
a child was his uncle Jess who was a bootlegger and tax evader. Kathleen was a
horrible mother with a habit of running off for extended periods, leaving young
Charlie with relatives. When Kathleen and her brother concocted an ill-fated
scheme at armed robbery and were incarcerated, Charlie was again sent to live
with relatives in West Virginia. Upon his mother’s release from jail, she returned to
a life of boozing and neglecting her son. (3)

At nine years old Manson was caught stealing and sent to a reform school. After
his release, he began to commit ever more daring crimes and was sent to a
succession of youth-offender prisons through his teen years, including a short stint at
Boy’s Town. He was released from custody in 1954 at the age of nineteen. (4)

The next year, Manson married and fathered a son but began to steal cars to
supplement his income. He moved to California with his pregnant wife but was
soon sent to prison for auto theft. Charlie’s wife, Roselie, divorced him while he
was incarcerated and disappeared with her son. Charlie never saw them again.
Manson was released in 1958, began pimping women and was arrested for federal
check fraud. The following year, Manson again found himself behind bars -- this
time Charlie was sentenced to a ten-year stint which he served in various federal
houses of correction. (5)

During his time in prison, Manson took up two interests which were to affect his
career after his release. He began to learn to play the guitar and was instructed by
gangster Alvin “Creepy” Karpis (a member of Ma Parker’s gang). Manson
demonstrated a genuine talent with the instrument and was a fairly accomplished
composer of folk songs and blues tunes. His other interest centered on various
self-help programs which were offered to inmates as a means to afford them social
skills so that they could better function in society upon their release. Charlie took
classes in Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People which, in
actuality, teaches people how to manipulate others to their will via subtle flattery.
Manson also took classes in L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology, which taught strategies for
persuading other people to take your side in social situations. (6)

For a prisoner seeking genuine reform, such skills would be extremely helpful in
attaining employment and adjusting to life on the outside. However, for a
manipulating criminal like Manson, such skills gave him the ability to expand his
con-man talents. Manson was given new social proficiency, allowing him to con
people who were better educated and who came from higher social classes.
In 1967, the parole board sent the clearly deranged Manson out into the world
(against his will) with new and sophisticated techniques for conning people.


How to Win Friends and Get Them to Kill People


Charlie was able to blend into the bohemian scene of the Haight-Ashbury
subculture. His destitution actually appealed to the flower children, who
were questioning the middle-class values of their parents. As the Summer of Love
faded and the many young people who crowded the Haight returned home, the
only remaining hippies were mostly hardcore drug addicts. This led 1960s
countercultural icon Alan Watts to observe that the Height-Ashbury area
quickly degenerated into a “freak show”. Charlie Manson was one of “freakiest”
characters to thrive in the Height and gain a following.

Charlie’s jailhouse education combined with his musical talent made him quite
popular on the streets. He started to draw a group of followers who were
primarily well educated, young women with middle-class upbringings. These
attractive females suffered from deep-rooted psychological problems and took
rebellious stances against their parents and the consumerist economy. They all
used illicit drugs as part of their counter-culture lifestyle. Charlie moved in and
started to manipulate these troubled young people. He worked to destroy their
sexual and social inhibitions and made them reassess normal standards of conduct.

For the most part, Charlie's male followers were likewise gullible and looking for
the security of a domineering leader. Charlie also encouraged illegal drugs as a
further means to break down psychological barriers and assert control over the
hearts and minds of his newly found adherents. (7)

The Family, a name Charlie gave his followers, moved to Polk Street in the Height
and lived just a few doors down from the Process Church of the Final Judgment
(see Chapter One). The Process Church and The Family had much in common
theologically. So much so that Charlie wrote an article for the Process magazine,
which was sold on the streets. Manson also seems to have adopted a form of
Process belief because, like them, Charlie believed that Christ and Satan where
different aspects of the same divine being. However, Manson may have deviated
from their spiritual system in that he thought he himself was an incarnation of this
God/Devil deity. Two Process members visited Manson in jail when he was later
arrested for murder. (8)

Manson and his brainwashed groupies left San Francisco in the Spring of 1968
after purchasing an old school bus. They traveled the West Coast, eventually
gravitating south to L.A. At this juncture, Charlie Manson was their undisputed
leader. They befriended Gary Hinman, a professional musician who admired
Charlie’s guitar style and who let these wanderers use his place as a crash pad.

This turned out to be a fatal mistake. Hinman was so impressed with Charlie’s
music that he contacted his friend Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys to meet and
listen to his new discovery. Manson ordered his girls to please Wilson in every
conceivable way. The Beach Boys eventually recorded Charlie’s song “Never
Learn Not to Love” which appeared on their 20/20 LP. Manson began holding
weird religious rituals in Wilson’s home. The Family eventually moved into
Wilson’s house for what seemed to be permanently. However, the youngest
Beach Boy became leery of Manson when Charlie’s con man skills failed to work
on the streetwise musician. Charlie pulled a knife on Wilson in frustration and the
famous drummer fled the house. Wilson had his business people evict The Family
from his home by selling it and he broke off all ties with Charlie. (9)

In his quest for more followers, Manson always sent some disciples on the road to
recruit and scope out places where they could stay in between their travels.
Members of The Family discovered George Spahn, an elderly ranch owner who
rented his property to the big movie studios to film cowboy epics in the 1940s.
There was a small Western town constructed on Spahn Ranch by movie moguls
who abandoned the set in the early 1960s after the decline of cowboy movies.
Manson charmed the old man into letting The Family live there and sweetened the
deal by having fanatic follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme sexually please the
ornery octogenarian. (10)

Charlie pressed hard to promote his musical career and contacted the record
producer Terry Melcher who refused to sign Manson on his record label after
several auditions -- a fact which upset Charlie because he somehow assumed they
had a recording deal after their initial meeting. This would cause great bloodshed
and misery. (11)

The Neo-Nazi/Satanist Agenda of The Family

Charles Manson is best known for carving a small swastika on his forehead, which
appeared in photos of him in the popular press after his permanent incarceration.
Several of his female followers likewise carved an “X” symbol and later swastikas
between their brows and even shaved their heads, presaging the skinhead neo-
Nazis who would emerge in the late 1970s. This comes as no surprise as The
Family adopted many neo-Nazi teachings into their eclectic hodge-podge of
doctrine. Charlie is often quoted as saying, “Hitler was an in-tune guy who tried to
level the karma of the Jews.” And, “They’ll pray for Hitler to come back, they’ll wish
he had been here.” As well as, “Hitler tied to put order in the world.”

Charlie was also inspired by General Irwin Rommel and moved between Spahn
Ranch and another spot called Barker Ranch as if he were the Desert Fox
patrolling in North Africa. Under Charlie’s orders, his devotees redesigned stolen
cars into dune buggies, some of which he would sell and others he would convert
into dessert assault vehicles mounted with firearms as if he were preparing for a
major battle. All Family members practiced with rifles, shotguns, and pistols and
studied deadly knife techniques. In a very short time, the group was a highly
trained band of killers proficient in a variety of weapons and knowledgeable of
the basic tactics of organized warfare. They would also take turns in lookout
bunkers they constructed and peer out over an empty desert watching to see if
any enemies were charging them from the wasteland of Death Valley. (12)

Manson also practiced a weird mix of Satanism which is evinced by the fact that he
recruited motorcycle gangs with devilish names and forged alliances with them. This
is not to say that Charlie controlled these organizations but he sought their
cooperation in a variety of legal and illegal operations and looked forward to
future collaboration with them. The following biker gangs were regulars at both
ranches; The Hells Angels, Straight Satans, Satan’s Slaves, and the Jokers From Hell.
Squeaky Fromme designed and produced some biker jackets for the female
members of The Family, which had the words “Devil’s Witches” sewed on the back of
them in large lettering. Manson is quoted later as saying, “Satan means what I want
it to mean. It’s on my forehead.” (A reference to the swastika carved into his skin.)
This really brings the neo-Nazi/Satanist agenda of The Family home. (13)

Manson Worshiped as the “Son of Man”

Much like Aleister Crowley, Manson demanded to be worshiped as both Jesus
Christ and Satan. As mentioned in Chapter One, this is really a form of satanic
inversion wherein the real Judeo-Christian God is replaced or eclipsed. Charlie
often had his followers worship him as both Jesus and Lucifer. In his demented
paradigm, Charlie always made much of his last name claiming that Manson meant
Son of Man, one of the titles of Christ in the New Testament. In a 1989 interview,
Manson said, “Satan is God to me” (14). In the weird world of Satanism, such
contradictions mean very little. Charlie’s drug-addled sycophants were more than
willing to praise Manson as God himself, and it is nothing less than shocking the
extent to which they would carry out bizarre ceremonies to confirm Charlie’s
divinity.

Charlie held crucifixion rites on a cross that was mounted on a skull-shaped rock
formation near Spahn Ranch. In these strange ceremonies, Charlie would mount
the cross and be venerated by his LSD-fueled devotees. These rituals would
conclude with a massive bisexual orgy. This site was once used by another cult
named The Fountain of the World. This weird sect flourished in the 1950s and was
founded by a religious con man named Krishna Venta (Francis Pencovic) who,
like Charlie, thought he was Jesus Christ and demanded to be worshiped as God
in sex rituals. He also asserted that he was 244,000 years old and insisted he was
immortal. Krishna Venta contended he was Christ Everlasting and seduced many
of his female followers. In 1958, he died in a massive dynamite explosion ignited
by the husbands of the women he was using in sex rituals. Whereas Pencovic
only wanted to dominate a few followers for sexual purposes, Manson had much
higher ambitions. (15)

Where did Charles Manson get this notion of being Jesus Christ and demanding to
be worshiped in sex ceremonies? As hard as it is to believe, it may have occurred
at his brief stay at Father Flanagan’s Boy’s Town where Manson was sent as a
teenager. According to John DeCamp in The Franklin Cover-up (1994), there was
an ongoing Satanic pedophile ring at Boy’s Town which eventually was exposed
and brought the downfall of Republican party stalwart Laurence King in a major
scandal. This cabal of rapists was most likely in operation back when Manson was
sent there. According to DeCamp, boys were regularly picked by Catholic priests
to be raped and used by other clerics and politicians in ritualistic sex ceremonies
and orgies. (16)

Since the Catholic priest pedophile scandal broke in 2002, there is even more
proof of a sex magick cult in the Catholic Church where various priests have been
worshiped as Jesus Christ in secret sex rites. According to the Boston Globe,
Father Robert Meffan and Father James Foley both claimed to be Jesus Christ and
initiated young gullible women into a covert sex cult. Each priest had young
women worship him as Jesus Christ much in the same manner as Manson. The
testimonies of Charles Manson and Father Robert Meffan sound similar, and their
evasive attitude is almost identical.

…I may have implied on several different occasions to several different people that I
may have been Jesus Christ, but haven't decided yet what I am or who I am. Some
called him Christ… [Manson Trial 1970]

…What I was trying to show them (victims) is that Christ is human and you should
love him as a human being…Don't think he's up there and he's spiritual and he's
not human and physical. He's human, he's physical. That's what I was trying to
point out to them. I felt that by having this little bit of intimacy with them that this is
what it would be like with Christ. [Robert Meffan Boston Globe 12/4/02]
Could Manson have been initiated into a similar Catholic cult at Boy’s Town?
Some more evidence actually points to this. According to Ed Sanders in The
Family, Manson actually visited and confronted a Catholic priest a few days before
the Tate/Labianca killings and made a bizarre and stunning claim:

One Father of the Order of St. Augustine claimed that Charles Manson, or Manson’s
simulacrum, a short hirsute hippie with a new beard, on Sunday, July 27, 1969,
approached the back door of his parish house located about a half-mile from the
LaBianca residence. “I’m Jesus Christ,” announced the short fierce individual,
according to Father Ryan. The Jesus-claimer looked at the father with a cold hard
stare beneath heavy eyebrows. He asked the father why he was a priest and evinced
an intense dislike toward the priesthood. The father shut the door in Manson’s face.
[page 185]

This fact makes sense in light of the new evidence and it is clear that such “Jesus claimer”
cults existed in the Roman Catholic Church, and there was definitely a
pedophile cult at Boy’s Town. Of course, there will be those who take issue with
this, and that is to be expected, but consider that Manson was accused of sexual
assault at virtually every institution he was sent to after he left Boy’s Town and
started identifying himself as Jesus Christ after getting out of prison. This certainly
lends weight to this theory. Hopefully, this new slant on Manson’s motivations
will provoke some debate on this neglected area of Charlie’s troubled early life.

Helter Skelter Rex Mundi

This leads us to Charles Manson’s master strategy for world domination. How he
could get anyone to follow him is hard to comprehend when considering his
absurd plans. The Family’s theology centered on apocalyptic notions of impending
societal destruction. Manson incorporated racist teachings into his cult paradigm.

He preached that African Americans were going to rebel and start randomly killing
whites, which would eventually erupt into urban chaos. This anarchy would
propel the world into a full scale race war which African Americans would quickly
win. According to Charlie, the black man would be too stupid to reorganize
civilization and need the guidance of any surviving whites, which, of course,
would be The Family. Manson dubbed this impending doomsday scenario Helter
Skelter, after a song released by The Beatles. Charlie believed this musical group
was a collection of angelic figures sending him divine messages via their music.
Helter Skelter would begin when black men began to brazenly enter white
people’s homes and brutally murder and rob them. It was these African American
assaults on unprotected whites that would cause the establishment to declare war
on the blacks. Charlie would later try to jump start this race war, with very drastic
and tragic consequences. (17)

The Family would survive this global fracas by retreating into the desert and
hiding in the Bottomless Pit spoken of in the Book of Revelation. Charlie thought
that the entrance to this subterranean safe zone could be found in a cave in Death
Valley which he called The Devil’s Hole. (18)

As hard as it is to believe, Charlie hoodwinked The Family into believing that this
mysterious cavern led down to a utopian City of Gold. It was in this underground
paradise that The Family would live in bliss while the world raged in warfare.
Charlie claimed The Family would eventually number the 144,000 elect spoken of in
Scripture and would be comprised mostly of biker gangs. After the African
Americans won, they would soon mismanage everything, and they would seek
guidance. At this juncture Charlie and his followers would emerge from the
depths of the Earth and the blacks, accepting their innate inadequacy, would turn
the world over to Charles Manson (a.k.a. Jesus Christ) -- who would rule as King of
the World (Rex Mundi). Manson most likely borrowed this notion from various
occult groups who speak of an underground sovereign who would emerge from
the center of the Earth and promote a global utopia. The remaining African
Americans would act as Charlie’s slaves. (19)

Kick Starting Helter Skelter

A dispute over money would cause Charlie to begin a campaign of murder, which
he believed would help kick start Helter Skelter. Gary Hinman owed Family
member Bobby Beausoleil money for bad drugs he had purchased from the
friendly musician. Several Family members led by Beausoleil went over to
Hinman’s house to collect the money. After mild scuffling, Manson was called,
came over, slashed the side of Hinman’s head with a sword and departed.
Beausoleil and the others tried to get Hinman to pay up, but after several hours it
proved futile. At this juncture, Beausoleil stabbed Hinman twice in the chest,
killing the musician, and The Family members fled the scene -- but not before
using Hinman’s blood to paint a large cat’s paw on the wall, hoping the police
would believe the Black Panthers had killed the music teacher. The group met up
with Charlie back at Spahn Ranch. Hinman’s body was discovered on July 31, 1969
and a formal police investigation began. (20)

Charlie had hoped Helter Skelter would start sometime in mid 1969, but nothing in
the news showed this as happening so he decided to do even more to spark the
race war he was counting on. He sent his crew of now-seasoned killers out to
butcher rich people in the more pricey sections of Los Angeles. Manson planned to
make these killings look as if African Americans had committed them. This, he
assumed, would cause great tension between blacks and the white establishment
eventually leading to wide-scale and extremely violent racial warfare. (21)

For this purpose, he enlisted Family members Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins,
Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, and Linda Kasabian to perform some high
profile murders and try and frame members of the African American community.
They chose Terry Melcher’s house, not seeming to care who they found there and
who they killed. Charlie told them to do something “witchy”, along with
murdering anyone they came across. (22)

When Tex Watson burst into Melcher’s old address at Ceili Drive on the night of
August 9, 1969, it was the home of Sharon Tate, who had some houseguests over.
Watson blurted out, “I'm the Devil and I'm here to do the Devil's business.” Tate’s
houseguests would soon all be dead. All the victims died of gunshots and
multiple stab wounds -- the fatal blows coming mainly from Tex's knife. Abigail
Folger was stabbed 21 times. Voityck Frykowski was shot once and stabbed 51
times. Jay Sebrig was shot twice and stabbed six times. Steven Parent was shot
three times. Sharon Tate was stabbed sixteen times by Susan Atkins who licked the
blood off of her hands. The Family quickly fled the scene. (23)


On the next night, Charlie went with the group and entered the home of grocery
chain owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and tied up the couple while his
cohorts waited outside.

Charlie sent Tex and the gang back inside to murder the middle-aged couple and
Manson left just before they entered the house which once belonged to Walt
Disney. One of them smeared a misspelling of Helter Skelter on the wall with the
blood of the victims. This was the final set of murders apart from Family
associates who were killed because they knew too much. (24)

The meeting of Tate and Aktins at the second murder scene has some very
ominous overtones. Aktins was a priestess in Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan who
had worked under the false strip club name of Sharon King and played the role of a
vampire in Devilish ceremonies. Tate had been in several occult-themed films
including playing the role of a vampire’s victim. The sexy actress also portrayed a
witch in a film and was, in real life, initiated into a witch coven headed by Alex
Sanders. The Church of Satan and Sander’s coven both drew heavily from the
work of occultist Aleister Crowley (The Great Beast 666) who called for a
destructive age. (25)

The Satanic Bible and Sander’s Book of Shadows were both laden with Crowleyian
themes. LaVey and Sanders both were members of Crowley’s organizations as
young men. LaVey was initiated into the Crowley founded OTO and Sanders stole
his Book of Shadows from Gerald Gardner’s witchcraft group Crowley had
designed with Gardner in the 1940s. This links the occult practices of Atkins and
her victim Tate in that they both belonged to the two major branches of Crowley’s
teaching. The E True Hollywood Story episode on Sharon Tate stated she claimed to
have been visited by a ghost that informed her of impending death. When
Aktins stabbed the pregnant actress, she was unknowingly merging the two
schools of Crowley’s occultism in a bloody ritual of death.

Some of the personal effects of the murdered victims, including credit cards, were
taken by The Family and left in African American areas. Charlie hoped some
unsuspecting black person would find and attempt to use one of the credit cards
and get framed for the high-profile murders. This would trigger copycat crimes by
other blacks and help ignite Helter Skelter. (26)

The Second Crucifixion of Christ

Ironically, as the Los Angeles police sought leads and witnesses concerning the
gruesome murders over the next few weeks, they had some of the primary
suspects in custody for unrelated offenses. After the Hinman, Tate and Libianca
murders, Manson fled to Barker Ranch, but Charlie’s illegal dune buggy business
caught up with him, and he was arrested for grand theft auto and arson at the
ranch while hiding in a cabinet under a sink. He set a vehicle on fire that blocked
off a road to the ranch. Other members of The Family were also hauled in for
being part of this auto theft ring. It was in prison that the murderous dingbat
Susan Atkins gave the police the break they needed. Atkins was implicated in the
Hinman murder and sent to a different prison. (27)

Atkin’s faith in Charlie was deep and heartfelt. She was so convinced of the
unfolding of Helter Skelter that she began to spread The Family’s message to her
cellmates, not realizing most incarcerated individuals are more than willing to
share information with the authorities to get a break on their own cases. (28)

Court TV’s crime library best sums up Atkin’s weird behavior in jail:

While she was awaiting trial for the murder of Gary Hinman, Susan Atkins was
placed in the Sybil Brand Institute, L.A.'s women's house of detention. Her bed was
next to that of 31-year-old Ronnie Howard. Another inmate, Virginia Graham, was a
close friend of Ronnie's. Susan Atkins was a real talker. She had an almost
unbelievable story that Ronnie and Virginia listened to with absolute amazement.
Atkins acted like a nut case: dancing and singing at the oddest times, oblivious to
the seriousness of the charges against her and bubbling over with laughter and
delight without any apparent reason.
In the course of conversation, Susan told Virginia that she was in for first-degree
murder.
“Did you do it?” Virginia wanted to know.
“Sure,” Susan answered as though it were the most natural response in the world.
But the police thought that she only held Hinman while Bob Beausoleil stabbed
him. In reality, Susan said, it was she who stabbed Hinman while Beausoleil held
him.
She also told Virginia that her lover Charlie was Jesus Christ and he was going to
lead her to a hole in the Earth in Death Valley where there was a civilization down
there. After hearing that story, Virginia was convinced that Atkins was completely
nuts.
Several days later, on November 6, Susan was again in a talkative mood and
mentioned the Sharon Tate murder. “You know who did it don't you?”
Virginia said she didn't.
“Well, you're looking at her.”
Aktins still clung to the belief that Charlie was going to save her and take her to
the subterranean paradise under Death Valley. Manson never denied being Jesus or
telling others that he was Christ.

After Susan Atkins’ cellmates informed on her to the prison authorities, the police
had enough evidence to indict Manson and the four women who were at the
murders. Tex Watson had fled to his native Texas and was fighting extradition
back to California. Deputy District Attorney Vincent T. Bugliosi was assigned the
prosecution of Manson and the four women. His task was, from a legal
perspective, nearly impossible as he had to convince the jury that Manson had
instructed the women to commit the murders, and they would not have done so if he
had not directly commanded to do so. In other words, he had to prove
beyond reasonable doubt that Manson was a manipulative leader of a destructive
cult who ordered his followers to kill. (29)

Soon his job became much easier when Linda Kasabian testified against the other
four defendants and received immunity for doing so. The atmosphere around the
courthouse was circus-like and somewhat morbid. Family members, led by
Squeaky Fromme, held a vigil outside the court and performed publicity stunts in
the hope of helping Charlie’s cause. They sang songs, walked around on their
hands and knees, and often screamed to reporters, “This is the Second Crucifixion
of Christ!” From what we have seen, this was no metaphor; The Family thought
Charlie was God. In 1970, they joined forces and recorded a LP of Charlie’s folk
songs to raise money for their savior’s defense. (30)

The antics inside the court were just as surreal. On one occasion the three women
lifted their skirts up and exposed themselves to the judge and sang, “The Old Gray
Mare”. They sporadically burst out and chanted hexes in Latin, carved “X” marks
on their forehead and shaved themselves bald when Charlie did so. At another
session, Manson flew across the room in a rage and nearly assaulted the presiding
judge (who wore a revolver for the rest of the trial). (31)

Other strange instances which occurred during the trial seem uncanny and beyond
explanation. There was the time when Charlie got hold of a newspaper which
headlined Nixon’s statement that the President thought Manson was guilty and
flashed it before the jury hoping to cause a mistrial. Defense attorney Ronald
Hughes was found murdered after he refused to let any of the girls testify as to
vindicate Charlie. Bugliosi feared for his life and that of his family during the
proceedings. The Family would badger and hex him in and out of court, and he
would have to predetermine a safe place for his wife to pick him up after court
recessed for the day. (32)

Manson and Bugliosi engaged in long staring contests in the courtroom, and the
length of these sessions seemed eerie. On one occasion, Bugliosi’s watch stopped
during one of these gazing sessions and the young lawyer wondered if Charlie had
used magical powers to stop it. In a January 2005 interview with this author,
Bugliosi stated that if his watch had stopped again, then he would have really
been frightened.

The distinguished jurist never understood how Manson could
engage in prolonged staring contests, not knowing until thirty-six years after the
case that Charlie was using a technique taught in Scientology. Manson took L.
Ron Hubbard’s Communication Course in prison, which teaches how to make eye
contact and how to gaze at someone without blinking for extended periods.
However, Bugliosi generally beat Charlie in this strange game of staring until the
other fellow blinked.

Despite all the fanfare and even bloodshed, the jury found all four defendants
guilty, and they were sentenced to death. California did away with the death
penalty, and the sentences were reduced to life in prison. Tex Watson and Bobby
Beausoleil were likewise sentenced to life in separate trials. After his
incarceration, some of Charlie’s disciples carried on the work of their God while
others have found other religions.

Squeaky Fromme was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for attempting to
assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975. In 1987, Fromme briefly escaped from
jail, sending a wave of fear throughout the film-making community. She was
captured a few days later near Manson’s prison and had broken out when she
heard a rumor that her God was near death. Currently, she is held in the Federal
Medical Facility at Carswell, Texas -- an institution for the criminally insane.
Family member Sandra Good served ten years in prison for sending threatening
letters to corporate executives. Currently, she runs Manson’s official website
ATWA -- an ecological group which seeks radical means to end pollution. (33)

Susan Aktins became a born-again Christian, as did Tex Watson. They have
sought release under the contention that their new faith has changed them and
they no longer pose a threat to society. Sharon Tate’s mother never believed them
and fought against their ever being released until her passing, and now other
relatives seek to keep them incarcerated. (34)

Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten are still in prison and most likely will
never be released. Family member Steve “Clem” Grogan was released from prison in
1986 after serving time for the murder of ranch hand Donald Shea. Bruce Davis
remains in prison for his complicity in the murder of Hinman and Shea. (35)

Charles Manson currently resides in disciplinary custody (solitary confinement) in
Corcoran State Prison for threatening staff members. Charles Manson claims that
when he is released, he will relocate to distant India and shine like the sun and be
his own Mahatma! (36)

Charles Manson Superstar

The allure of Charles Manson is astounding. No other convicted mass-murderer
has had the press coverage and pop culture following as Charles Manson. This is
quite disturbing considering the pure evil that emanates from this man and his
followers. There has been a cottage industry around Manson and fans spend huge
sums of money on Manson-related products. Even a cursory examination of the
Manson phenomenon is astonishing.


Manson t-shirts, mugs, posters, greeting cards, calendars, and bumper stickers can be
found for sale on the Internet. Manson-related movies, books, documentaries, and
magazine articles flood the major retail outlets. This fascination is not healthy as a
great deal of this material glorifies Manson and makes him out to be a
worthwhile thinker. Charlie receives thousands of letters a month in his prison.
This is quite sick considering the brutal murders he ordered against innocent,
harmless people. Such a fascination could easily lead to a copycat cult which
might begin a new campaign of death.

The rock-and-roll world has embraced Manson, with such mega-bands as The
Beach Boys, Nine Inch Nails, The Lemonheads, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Psychic TV, Sonic
Youth, White Zombie, and Ozzy Osbourne recording songs by or about Manson.
Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson takes his last name from Charlie. Several recordings by
Charles Manson are available for sale including one that was recorded in and
smuggled out of his prison. These pro-Manson recording artists influence millions of
young people all over the world. Even the elitist culture of opera has felt
Manson’s influence with composer John Moran writing a full-length opera
centering on the grisly Manson murders.

It is perilous for the above-mentioned celebrities to support and promote Manson’s
teaching. As mentioned, Manson’s plan was to kick start Helter Skelter by brutally
murdering successful people and copycat cults could emerge and take up this
cause. According to the Manson Family Values website, Susan Atkins related some
weird events surrounding the Sharon Tate murder:

Sadie [aka Susan Atkins] really enjoyed killing Sharon Tate. She later claimed that it
was the most exciting sexual experience in her life. She recalled how she felt an urge to
drink her blood. ‘It was slick and I brought my hand to my face and I could smell the
blood. I opened my mouth and licked it on my fingers...’ She thought of carving out
Tate's unborn child and bringing it to Charlie wrapped in a towel. ‘How proud
Charlie would be if I presented him with the baby cut from the womb of the
woman?’ She also considered cutting out the heart and eating it, and skewering
the baby and roasting it in a bonfire.

Musicians and actors who promote Charles Manson, like Axl Rose, Evan Dando,
and Ozzy Osbourne, should consider what the Manson Family planned to do after the
Labianca murders. If Charlie and company had not been caught, they planned
further celebrity murders; let’s all hope some copycat Manson cult does not decide to
go after the above-mentioned pro-Manson stars, which would be their first
logical targets. This is not just conjecture. In 2004, actress Catharine Zeeta Jones
was harassed by a Manson fan named Dwanette Knight who threatened to butcher
the pregnant actress in the same manner as Sharon Tate.

For those who consider this sick killer a hero just consider what Charlie was
planning if he and his followers were found innocent of the murders.
The Family planned to kidnap Frank Sinatra, skin him alive, and make purses out
of his skin to sell at hippie shops. Steve McQueen was to be murdered. Tom
Jones was to be raped and then have his throat slit. Richard Burton was to be
castrated and his severed testicles were to be mailed to Eddie Fisher. Elizabeth
Taylor was to have her eyes gouged out and have the words Helter Skelter carved
into her forehead. (37)


End Notes
1) Bardsley, Marilyn, Charles Manson: Serial Killer, Court TV Crime Library:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/manson/16.html?sect=1
2) Schreck, Nicolas, Charles Manson Superstar, Screen Edge DVD 2002.
3-5) Bardsley: Court TV.
6) Bugliosi, Vincent, Helter Skelter, Bantam 1995 p. 241.
7) Bardsley: Court TV.
8) Mamatas, Nick, The Process Church of the Final Judgment, Disinfo 2002:
http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id275/pg1/
9-11) Ronnie, Charles Manson: A Musical Motive? 1994:
http://earcandy_mag.tripod.com/rrcasecharlesmanson.htm
12-15) Schreck: 2002.
16) The Law Party, The Franklin Cover-up, 1999:
http://www.thelawparty.com/FranklinCoverup/franklin.htm
17) Bardsley: Court TV.
18) Schreck 2002.
19) Bardsley: Court TV.
20) O’Mahony, Bernard, Death in Los Angeles: http://www.bernardomahoney.com 21-
22) Bardsley: Court TV.
23-26) Schreck 2002.
27) Bardsley: Court TV.
28) Schreck 2002.
29-35) Bardsley: Court TV.
36) Denver Post 2/9/03.
37) BBC Infamous Criminals : http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/caseclosed/charlesmanson.shtml