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On two hot August nights in 1969...
A series of brutal murders in Los Angeles shocked the world and shattered an era's innocence.
And at the center of it all was Charles Manson, an ex-convict turned cult leader, who had dispatched a group of devoted followers to do his dirty work.
And by the time all the bloodshed was over, seven people were dead.
The savagery of the Manson family crimes, coupled with their eerie ritualistic elements, ensured the case would sear itself into the hearts and minds of those who heard it.
And more than half a century later, The Manson family murders remain a cultural touchstone.
They marked in many eyes the moment the 1960s died, bringing an abrupt end to the decade's character of peace and love.
And the idea that a roving band of hippies could become an instrument in an apocalyptic type violence struck deep chords of fear.
And even today, news of Manson or his followers, from parole hearings to rumors, still command attention.
So this enduring cultural and psychological significance begs the question why are we still talking about Charles Manson?
Crime conspiracy cults, serial killers and murder all things that I love to consume, and I know you do too, you sick twisted, intellectually beautiful-minded freak.
And today I have a little buddy.
Since we're talking about a little tiny man, a little evil tiny man, I brought with me another tiny man, but he's not evil.
He is so sweet, baby.
He's a sweet baby and he's my true crime pal.
And for those of you who are just listening, I'm holding Rupert, my little dachshund, up to the camera.
So ready to talk about the Charles Manson cult.
So let's do it.
All right.
So, without further ado, let's unbuckle our seatbelts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes and bust through this windshield into one of the most infamous cults together.
So Charles Manson was not born to be a cult leader, believe it or not, but he was shaped into one by a life of chaos and rejection, like most cult leaders.
He was born on November 12th, 1934, Scorpio, to a 16 year old mother in Cincinnati, Ohio.
And Manson would enter the world unwanted and unnamed.
Ouch.
And his birth certificate would simply list him as Manson.
And his mother.
Kathleen Maddox was a troubled teenager who drunk heavily and spent time in prison for robbery when Charles was just a small boy.
So not a good start.
Apple didn't fall far from the tree.
So young Charles would be passed among relatives and guardians.
And at one point in 1939, after his mother was incarcerated, he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in rural West Virginia.
Although Kathleen was paroled briefly when he was seven years old and she was reunited with him.
But that stability did not last.
Though Manson would later describe this period of his life the happiest he had ever been.
But soon his mother would be back to her old ways of neglect and petty crime.
And Charles would unfortunately be left feeling abandoned yet again.
So by nine years old, Manson began exhibiting some disturbing behavior.
And by disturbing, I mean batshit crazy.
Because, at nine years old, he would set his school on fire, just foreshadowing a pattern of crime yet to come.
And with a childhood just tainted by neglect, transience and abuse, he became a part of the juvenile justice system pretty early on.
So at 13 years old, Manson would be sent to Gibalt School for Boys, a strict reform school where beatings and harsh punishments were routine.
And as you can imagine, this didn't do much for rehabilitating him.
If anything, it just hardened him even more.
And a psychologist who actually evaluated a teenage Manson noted his quote unquote he was aggressively antisocial and he had a persecution complex, attributing these traits to an unfavorable family life, if it can be called family at all.
In other words, Charles Manson basically just grew up feeling unwanted and unloved and learning early on that violence and deceit could serve as survival tools in a very hostile world.
So Manson's childhood and early adult years were a revolving door of correctional institutions.
Because if he wasn't running away from a reform school, he was committing new offenses that landed him in juvenile halls and eventually, federal prison.
And at the age of 17, after escaping a minimum security facility, Manson would be caught driving a stolen car across state lines.
I don't know much about law, but I think that's illegal.
And it was.
It was a federal crime, in fact.
And this is when he would start his first prison stint.
And over the next 15 years, he would be incarcerated for a number of offenses including, but not limited to, car theft, armed robbery pimping, check fraud and others.
So by the time he reached his early 30s, Manson had spent over half of his life behind bars.
And for someone who was unwanted and unloved and really didn't have a place in the world, prison kind of became his home.
In fact, when he was due to be released from Terminal Island Prison in March of 1967, Manson begged not to be let out.
And we actually know that this is a thing that happens to prisoners.
They spend so much of their time in jail.
That's the only place they know.
So it's the only place they're comfortable.
And if they get out, they actually really struggle with real life.
And sometimes they even take their life, but oftentimes they fall back into crime just to end up in the same place that they already were.
But there are some that are rehabilitated and can enter society, but it is not as common as you'd like to think after requesting permission to stay incarcerated.
But of course that request was denied.
And at 32 years old, Manson was thrust back into society during the Summer of Love.
And this was a period during the late 1960s.
And it was a time of radical culture upheaval, especially in California.
Yet for Manson, the world outside of prison was just overwhelming and confusing.
So Manson would get out of prison and he would slowly drift over to San Francisco's hippie neighborhood of Hyatt Ashbury.
And upon release, Manson initially actually reported to a transitional clinic in the Hyatt run by researchers studying the effects of LSD on youth culture.
Sign me up.
Just kidding.
I'm so... I'm kidding.
And I'm definitely kidding because it was covertly funded by agencies like the CIA.
Let me know if you want me to deep dive into the CIA and MKUltra and all that fun stuff, because it's fucked up and i would love to cover it.
So let me know down below if you want me to do that.
If you want me to cover that, put the alien emoji down in the comments.
But anyway, in hyatt manson found himself in the epicenter of free love, psychedelic drugs and anti-establishment politics, along with spiritual experimentation.
So it was just a perfect breeding ground for someone with his particular skill set, and that skill set was manipulation.
So Manson quickly learned how to take advantage of this hippie subculture by adopting its look and its lingo.
With his long hair, scraggly beard and intense eyes insanely intense eyes he's like.
It's terrifying.
He's like...
A little freaky freak.
And some said he even resembled Jesus Christ, which that's a bit blasphemous, but all right.
And, as Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor who put Manson on trial observed, plenty of con men and criminals had committed worse crimes.
Quote unquote.
So why are we still talking about Charles Manson?
But Pelosi would say that Manson quote unquote had an aura.
One thousandth of one percent of people have a near mystical charisma that drew people in.
I don't know exactly what people are talking about, because you hear him talk like in interviews and everything and it's just whack nonsense, you know.
But I guess most people were were on drugs and stuff, so it might make sense, I guess yeah, but anyway, behind bars manson had been a student of human behavior and extreme ideas and he would actually study dale carnegie's how to win friends and influence people, learning tactics to charm and manipulate others.
And prison records show that he actually explored scientology and he would absorb concepts from occultish groups like process, church of final judgment, whose prophecy of reconciliation between satan, jesus christ at the end of the world intrigued him a lot.
And Manson was also deeply impressed by literature, notably Robert A Hindley and specifically a science fiction novel that was named Stranger in Strange Land, which features a charismatic figure who found a spiritual movement of shared women and communal living.
So this combination of self-help Scientology, science fiction and apocalyptic religion blended Manson's mind.
And so he began crafting his own personal philosophies.
And perhaps the most significant influence on Manson was music.
And he actually fancied himself an aspiring singer-songwriter.
And music became both his passion and tool for evangelism.
Because in prison, he actually learned guitar from a seasoned bank robber.
And he would just cultivate his dreams of pop stardom.
And after release, he would constantly talk about the Beatles, whose 1968 white album he believed contained hidden messages that were meant just for him.
This is where the crazy is starting to brew.
And the song Helter Skelter in particular took on a prophetic meaning in Manson's mind.
And Manson's musical ambitions were not entirely delusional.
Because through a chance encounter, he befriended Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys in 1968.
You know i'm picking up a good vibration.
He's picking up a good vibration.
I, like the beach boys don't judge me and wilson was actually charmed enough by manson and his entourage of free, loving girls that he let them crash at his mansion for a time like i.
Just want to know exactly what he's saying to these people, because it's crazy.
And the beach boys even recorded one of manson's songs and released it.
Unfortunately for Manson it was uncredited, but it was a B-side to a single in 1968.
And it was called Cease to Exist and then retitled to Never Learn Not to Love.
So Manson would see this as just the beginning.
And through Dennis Wilson, he met a music producer, Terry Melcher, and he would harbor hopes of actually landing a record deal.
But when those hopes fizzled, it was a crushing blow to Manson, and rejection by the music industry would soon fester into one of many resentments driving his dark fantasies.
Guy holds a grudge.
So to understand how Manson could attract followers and convince them of wild ideas, one must understand the climate of the 1960s.
The era was ripe with cult formation, as we know if you watch this channel, because the youth were rebelling against mainstream authority, spurning traditional religion and square society in favor of spiritual exploration, psychedelic drugs and communal living.
Free spirit, hippie life, you know?
And San Francisco in 1967 to 1968 was the heart of this counterculture.
And it was just a place where runaways, dropouts and seekers converged, all just desiring connection in alternative families.
And into the scene stepped Charles Manson.
A man with nowhere to go and nothing to lose, armed with a career criminal's cunning and an amateur guru's patter.
And he would just package himself as this guru prophet figure, just borrowing liberally from decades symbols.
And as one cultural scholar observed Manson, quote unquote took on all those signs LSD music, free love, communal lifestyles and reframed them as tools for apocalyptic mass murder.
Totally bizarre, totally evil, and very, very seductive.
Oh.
And ironically, while Manson did appropriate the hippie image, he was never a true believer in peace and love.
And he would just present himself as this kind of Messiah, a Messiah of love.
But beneath that facade he nursed hatred towards society and towards racial minorities and towards the establishment.
Like that one uncle at Thanksgiving that nobody likes.
Still at a time when so many people were desperate for meaning and belonging, Manson's mix of flower child, outward vibes and doomsday intermessage struck a chord with people.
And this was the era of Vietnam war protests, racial conflict, and political assassinations.
So chaos and uncertainty were just filled in the air.
And to souls drifting through the Hyatt or Los Angeles.
His certainty and charisma were just magnetic.
So before long, Charles Manson had gathered around him a very devoted circle of followers, who would come to be known as the Manson family.
So the Manson family did not form overnight and it grew gradually as he roamed California from 1967 to 1968, just picking up the young and seemingly voiceless along the way.
And his earliest recruits would be vulnerable young women.
Classic, classic cult leader stuff.
Who found in Manson the acceptance and attention that they so desperately craved.
And as former family member Diane Lake recalls, quote-unquote, "...they all instantly loved Bomb Me.
It was so emotionally fulfilling to feel so loved and accepted."
And Lake was only 14 at the time she met Manson.
She was a literal child.
And like many others, she saw him as a caring father figure that she never had.
I would have been fucked.
I would have been, I got way too many daddy issues, man.
I would have been, I would have been in it.
I'm kidding.
I'm kidding.
But like, you know, also not.
So Manson deliberately targeted such people.
So mostly women, often in their late teens or early twenties, and many from middle-class backgrounds but with very troubling pasts.
Either family issues, insecurities, or just a hunger for belonging.
And with each new follower, Manson employed the same tactics.
Flattery, affection, and a sense of adventure.
And he would often invite a girl to join the circle, sitting cross-legged on the floor while singing her song and telling her she's the most beautiful girl in the world.
I would have been sucked.
I was like Play-Doh back then, my Lord.
I always think about.
You know, how could these people?
You know, how could these people be so silly and so dumb and like be so this?
Are you kidding me?
You get me at like 17 years old, just wanting to rebel from my family, let alone in the 60s.
You don't have a phone, you don't know anything about the world.
Dude, it's like 80% of us would have been in this guy's hand, all right?
I'm, well, at least me.
At least me, probably.
I would have said no, obviously the murder part.
But I think I would have been strumming an acoustic guitar and doing some LSD back in the 60s, probably for sure.
But anyway, he just had this uncanny ability to probe someone's insecurities and just manipulate their vulnerabilities.
And in the euphoric summer of love atmosphere, young runaways and hippies were just primed to embrace a man preaching free love and utopian ideals.
So from the Hyatt Ashbury scene, Manson's entourage just swelled.
And by 1968 Charles Manson had gathered a core group of two dozen or so followers who believed that he was no ordinary man.
To them, Charlie was a guru.
Even Jesus or the devil incarnate depending on the day.
And though Manson portrayed the family of a tribe of equals, in truth it operated just like a cult hierarchy, with Manson at the apex.
And we see the same thing over and over again with Jim Jones and Heaven's Gate and all these, the children of God.
They all act like it's all super, even this commune, but there's always a hierarchy and it's always a fucking douchebag with a weird stare.
So one of the first to join Manson was Mary.
She was a 23-year-old librarian who Manson charmed and convinced to let him move into her apartment in Berkeley.
And Mary would soon quit her job and hit the road, with Charlie becoming a mother of sorts to the family.
No, not RuPaul. although RuPaul is mother.
And she would actually fall pregnant with Manson's child in the summer of 1967.
And Valentine Michael, nicknamed Pooh Bear, was born April 15th, 1968.
Not gonna lie, kind of a cool name.
And then there was Tex.
And Tex was born an athlete.
He's 6'3 and Tex was Manson's chief enforcer and ultimately the lead killer in the family's most heinous crimes.
And Manson used to say that Tex was his right hand when it came to getting things done.
And it was Tex who Manson would later task in initiating the murder spree.
An unquestioning and very efficient Tex became the family's instrument of death on those infamous nights.
And then there was Bobby, Bobby Beausoleil.
A former member of several rock bands.
His love for music was a deep connecting factor for him and Manson.
And he was a key member in the Gary Hinman murder who Bobby was living with when he met Manson.
And he was intensely loyal to Manson.
He even stated at a sanity hearing along four other Manson associates quote, unquote I'm at war with everyone in this courtroom.
It's nothing personal, but the world has been getting at my brothers and sisters as long as they are ripping off our world, our friends and our children.
You better pray I never get out.
Okay, and then we have Susan Sadie Atkins.
Sadie was known to be street smart and deeply devoted to Manson.
And she also had a wild impulsive streak and desperately sought Manson's approval.
And Atkins would take part in the first murder the family committed.
And she would later brag about her crimes while in jail.
Next, we have Patricia Katie Krenwinkel.
And she was quiet and seemingly gentle in the early days.
But Katie underwent a very dark transformation under Manson's influence, as most of them did.
But she had been a church-going teenager before she met Charlie.
And afterwards, she became one of the most obedient disciples.
And Katie would participate directly in the murders on Manson's orders as well.
And then we have Leslie Lulu Van Houten.
She would be the youngest of Manson's women at 19 years old.
And Leslie was drawn in by the free love lifestyle and LSD trips.
She was in it for the drugs, at least at first.
And though not present for the first night killings, she was one of the killers on the second night.
And then there was Lynette Squeaky Fromm.
And though not involved in the 1969 murders, Squeaky was one of Manson's most fanatically loyal followers.
And in 1975, Squeaky proved her radical devotion by attempting to assassinate U.S.
President Gerald Ford.
Thankfully her gun did not fire, but she did claim it was in service of environmental causes and Manson's teachings.
But each played a part in the family's functioning, but all revolved around the singular figure of Charlie Manson.
And his girls would do anything for him.
They would cook, they would have sex on command and they would beg on the streets for money for him.
Yet his male followers provided muscle and petty crime skills.
So it was a cult of personality in the truest sense, with Manson's whims dictating the family's every single move.
So how the fuck did Manson transform these young, ordinary like people into blindly obedient extensions of will?
I'll teach you.
I'm just going to teach you.
I'm going to teach you.
I'm just going to tell you what went down.
All right.
But the answer lies in classic cult brainwashing techniques that Manson intuitively employed.
And you guys should already know this.
If you watch my videos, we cover a lot of cults and we know how to make them right.
You're in my cult.
Did you know that?
We're a good cult though.
We don't do anything.
We just have fun, eat snacks, and listen to true crime, right?
Fist bump me.
Awesome.
All right, anyway.
So first, Manson would break down their identities.
His new members were typically high on psychedelics, often supplied by Charlie and encouraged to abandon their egos and inhibitions.
Much easier to keep people in line when they're literal drug zombies.
And in group LSD sessions.
Manson acted like a high priest, administering acid like a sacrament, placing tabs on each person's tongues.
If you've ever been to Catholic church you do the body of Christ.
You get the little cracker kind of the same thing, except you know drugs.
And he would guide their trips with his own narration of cosmic visions.
And Diane Lake would say, Describing how Charlie molded minds in these vulnerable moments.
And Manson also exploited sex and affection as weapons of control, because he would sleep with new female recruits almost immediately, even minors, which is so fucking disgusting.
And he would just frame it as liberating or a sacred experience.
And one 14 year old member recalled that Charlie made love to her in a way that made her feel, quote unquote, like she was a woman, not just a little child.
And she felt wonderful.
Only years later, recognizing it as predatory abuse, obviously.
But by establishing this sexual dominance and fatherly intimacy, Manson bound the women to him.
And they would compete for his favor and saw him as a source of love that they desperately wanted.
And he similarly flattered male followers or bonded through music and philosophical talk to make them feel included in this grand mission.
But crucially, Manson fostered this us versus them mentality.
And he would preach that the outside world was corrupt and that parents and society had failed his followers and only Charlie truly cared for them.
In a group gatherings around the campfire or in their makeshift homes.
He spun elaborate sermons mixing Bible verses with Beatle lyrics, and he would mourn of a coming apocalypse and assure the family that they alone would survive.
It does it sound familiar, kids?
Can you think of anyone else that said that before Exactly?
So under his guidance, everyday life for the family became a process of continuous indoctrination.
So members would renounce their possessions and Manson insisted they give up any money that they had or belongings to the communal pot, just increasing dependency on him.
They would also dress similarly often in dirty jeans or buckskin imitating Charlie.
And they would even move or speak in unison at times.
Really creepy and weird.
They were just slowly all morphing into Charlie.
They were losing themselves completely.
And any sort of original thought or questioning was just not tolerated by Manson.
If anyone questioned Manson, he would just belittle them or make them feel like the butt of the group and ridiculed them until they conformed.
And over time, Manson's tactics would grow harsher.
And what started as love bombing and drugs later incorporated fear and violence.
And once the core members were hooked on his approval, Manson would test their loyalty by commanding ever more extreme behavior.
And he would have the family perform nighttime creepy crawlies, which is horrifying.
And these would be missions where they would break into random houses while occupants slept.
And it wasn't to steal anything.
No, no, nay nay.
But simply to rearrange furniture and creep out unseen.
Basically just psychologically torturing people and just to see if they were capable of doing it.
You know, can you imagine waking up in the morning and just seeing your chase lounge in your kitchen, like what do you do with that?
I don't know, it's i.
I don't know.
I think i would go mad, which i think is what was the point of it.
But it was just this bizarre training of law breaking and daring intended to numb the group to the fear of invading homes and it would just be a rehearsal for the later murders.
So he began enforcing discipline through physical abuse as well.
And several female followers, including Diane Lake and Catherine Sher, later recounted that Manson beat or griped them to control them.
And Sher described being beaten, quote unquote, within an inch of her life over a trivial mistake.
So Manson really understood the power of terror.
And Charlie himself boasted in a recorded interview, I never lose control, I take control.
Just a little man fucking devil freak.
And by mid 1969, the family was effectively under Manson's total domination.
They lived together, they isolated from outsiders, reinforcing each other's beliefs in Manson's vision.
So the stage was set for these indoctrinated followers to follow Manson straight into the abyss when he decided the time for Helter Skelter had come.
So in July 1968, after drifting up and down the California coast, the Manson family found a semi-permanent home at Spahn Movie Ranch.
Spahn Ranch was a rundown 500-acre horse ranch and former Western movie set in the Rocky Hills northwest of LA.
And its owner, George Spahn, was an elderly, blind man and allowed Manson and his motley crew to stay on the property in exchange for odd jobs and sexual favors.
And those sexual favors would come from the Manson girls.
And a gross, not-so-fun fact is that young Lynette Squeaky Fromm got her nickname from the squeaking sounds she made to entertain George Spahn, which is just so fucking gross.
So the setting was rustic and removed from civilization, just how Manson liked it.
Because here he could play the role of frontier patriarch, ruling over his kingdom without much interference at all.
And daily life at Spahn Ranch outwardly resembled a hippie commune.
And the family forged food from dumpsters or made runs into the town to collect discarded produce.
And if you've ever seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino very good movie I suggest you go watch it.
It's a spinoff from this, but he really gets that cult feeling.
I feel really well because I was so uncomfortable watching the Manson family operate in Spahn Ranch.
It was so weird, but I think he got it pretty on point.
But anyway, they would hold campfire songs sing-alongs, with Manson strumming his guitar and singing his original folk songs while everyone joined in the chorus.
All while dropping acid on a frequent basis and just practicing free love.
And new children were born into the Manson family, including Manson's own son with Mary Brunner, and they were raised in the commune.
Yet there was an undeniable dark side to Spahn Ranch.
And family members carried knives and even guns, considering themselves a self-defense tribe preparing for end times.
And Manson and the men just stockpiled stolen cars and converted them into dune buggies, just ready for desert warfare or escape.
And target practice became a form of recreation.
And they would stage bizarre military style drills at Manson's whim.
And all of it was just training for what Manson warmed was imminent.
And that was the great race war of Helter Skelter.
And Spahn Ranch also became the backdrop for the family's earlier crimes.
Because in 1969, Manson became increasingly more erratic and paranoid.
And Tex had been doing some small-time drug dealing, and he was hanging around rock circles.
And in July 1969 a botched drug transaction between Tex and a dealer named Bernard Lotsapapa Crow led Manson to shoot Crow to protect Tex.
And Manson believed that he had actually killed a Black Panther, just heightening his paranoia that the Black Panthers were now after the family.
But little did Manson know that Crow was not actually a Black Panther, and Crow survived the attempt of his life.
But this incident just fed Manson's race war delusions and added a sense of urgency to his helter-skelter timeline.
In one family acquaintance, a musician named Gary Hinman was brutally murdered in his home in late July of 1969 after Manson sent Bobby, Susan and Mary to rough him up over a dispute.
And Hinman had allegedly received an inheritance of around $20,000.
And Manson instructed his family to go and get it.
And Manson himself had actually sliced Hinman's face with a sword during the incident.
And Bobby later stabbed Hinman to death while the terrified man begged for his life.
And at the crime scene one of the family members wrote political piggy in Hinman's blood on the wall.
And they also drew a panther paw, attempting to pin the blame on the militant Black Panthers, because it was one of their symbols.
And for those of you who don't know, the Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 by Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California.
And it was as a response to police brutality and the failures of nonviolent tactics.
And the party advocated for black nationalism, armed self-defense and socialist ideals, positioning itself as a revolutionary force within the black power movement.
So after they killed Hinman, they would head back to Spahn Ranch.
And shortly after, Bobby would actually be arrested for Hinman's murder on August 6th 1969, and Manson became furious and desperate.
So this was the turning point.
And he told his family that they now might need to stage copycat murders to make it look like real killers were still at large and thus get Bobby out of jail.
And this plan just joined with Manson's Helter Skelter prophecy, which he had been preaching, as we know, for months.
At this point,
So the lazy laid back summer days at Spahn Ranch were about to erupt in a storm of violence.
So throughout the family's formation, Manson never relinquished his dreams of musical success.
Guy was determined.
Guy was determined to be the Beatles.
But the stream had major consequences.
Now his connection to the LA music scene was weak, but tantalizing.
And through Dennis Wilson and other contacts, Manson occasionally mingled on society's fringes with entertainers and producers.
And, as briefly mentioned earlier, Wilson introduced Manson to Terry Melcher, who was an influential producer for acts like The Birds.
But despite hints of interest, Melcher ultimately decided not to sign Manson to any record deal.
And Manson would be devastated by this rejection.
And it would bruise that little man's ego deeply.
And making matters worse in Manson's mind at least Melcher had been renting out a house at 150 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, which was a very secluded, luxury home.
But by mid-1969, Melcher had moved out.
And the house was then leased to Roman Polanski and his wife, Sharon Tate.
So Manson was very aware of the house and had actually been there before, when it was Melcher's residence.
But this address would soon become the site of unspeakable violence.
And it was a choice of location that was not at all coincidental.
But then, of course, there was the Beatles.
And Manson just saw them as angelic harborers of the coming apocalyptic war.
And he would just dissect their songs for secret messages all the time.
One of them being Helter Skelter.
And this was the obvious one because he took took the title for his overall prophecy.
And then there was Piggies, which spoke of the downfalls of the establishment, inspiring the family to later scrawl death to pigs in blood on the wall.
And then there was Revolution 9, which Manson interpreted as coding to start the race war and reference to chapter nine of the book of Revelation and to call for black people to rise up.
And then there was Blackbird, which he thought was also a call for black people to take power.
So, in essence, Manson twisted the music industry's output into a soundtrack for his, And when his direct bid for stardom failed, he redirected his energies into making Helter Skelter a reality.
And tragically, it worked.
And Manson would achieve a dark immortality, but at the cost of innocent lives and his own soul.
So Helter Skelter, two seemingly harmless words that Charlie Manson fused with terrifying significance, referred to a spiral slide at a playground or fair.
And Paul McCartney's lyrics allegedly used it as a metaphor for the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
But to Manson, Helter Skelter meant something completely different.
It was the impending apocalyptic race war that he believed would destroy American society.
And Manson claimed Helter Skelter was a message about chaos and revolution.
But Manson himself did not come up with this concept in a vacuum, because the late 1960s were marked by civil unrest, including riots in cities, and militant groups like the Black Panthers advocating armed self-defense against racial injustice.
And newscasts about these events would filter into Spahn Ranch.
And Manson, a lifelong white supremacist at heart, seized on the racial tensions of the time and spun them into a grandiose prophecy.
And it was a ludicrous self-serving fantasy, but the family accepted it.
And ultimately a full on conflict between black and white people would erupt.
And this was the Helter Skelter.
And, as bizarre as it sounds, this was the ideology that Manson drilled into his followers day after day in 1968 to 1969.
He so frequently spoke of Helter Skelter as a coming reality that it became sort of a cult mantra.
And family members would scrawl the words Helter, Skelter on the walls of Spahn Ranch, because it was their great commission and it was the violent purpose that justified their entire existence.
So in Manson's apocalyptic vision, the family itself had a very special role.
They wouldn't actively participate in the race war at first.
Rather, they would go into hiding in the underground paradise.
Because Manson told his followers that somewhere out in the desert, specifically beneath California's Death Valley, you know, the hottest place in the fucking world was a hidden city like Atlantis.
And it was a bottomless pit, described in the Book of Revelation, where the family could wait out the coming conflict and safety.
And the family actually spent time searching for this entrance to the pit in Death Valley, guided by Manson's hunches of biblical references, with some Beatles references thrown in there too.
But alas, they never found such a place.
Who could have thunk?
But that did not dampen their belief.
And while hiding Manson said the family would multiply and be ready to emerge when Helter Skelter had run its course.
And once the dust settled topside, where most white people would just be exterminated by black people, the victors would just be unable to govern, as they had been subject to control for too long and wouldn't know how.
So the family would come back to the surface.
And at this point Manson prophesied black people would turn over the power to Charles Manson, recognizing him as the rightful ruler of the world.
Guy was fucking nuts, dude.
So in essence, Helter Skelter was just a convoluted route for Manson to become king of the world.
And it's important to stress how incredibly grandiose and racially warped this vision was, because it combined Manson's personal megalomania because he genuinely saw himself as destined for Messiah-like greatness with severe racism, with the idea that black people could win this war but would still be inferior and need him to rule over them, which is just fucked up beyond so many levels.
But the family would accept this gospel, whether out of sincere belief or simply because Manson would allow no disagreement.
So to the outside observer, Manson's Helter Skelter doctrine was pure insanity.
But inside the cult, it was sincerely held faith, reinforced by what they saw in the world.
As throughout 1968 and 1969, current events seem to validate Manson's predictions, including the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in April of 1968, which had ignited a lot of riots, and news of the Black Panthers arming themselves in clashes with police were very common, and Manson would just point to these headlines as signs that Helter Skelter was brewing.
And he deliberately excited the family's fears by claiming that the Black Panthers were on their way to Spahn Ranch to get revenge for the black man Manson believed he'd killed, which was Bernard Crowe.
So the family would do things like guard Spahn Ranch at night, convinced that they might be attacked at any given moment.
And Manson also role-played biblical scenarios to cement his status.
And sometimes he would speak as Jesus preaching love and salvation.
And other times he ranted as Satan promising chaos and demanding obedience.
And he'd say that in him, opposite met, Christ and the devil were one being.
And it just gave a semi-spiritual weight to all of his commands.
Because if the family feared what they were about to do, Manson assured them it was predestined.
And on occasion he cited the Book of Revelations imagery saying that they were living in the end times.
And additionally, Manson drew on occult and fringe beliefs to justify brutality.
And then by mid 1969, Manson's preaching had reached a fever pitch.
And the group was on edge, believing any day now the race war would erupt.
And if it didn't start on their own, they may have to teach black people how to do it.
And this was the final logical leap.
The idea that the Manson family could ignite Helter Skelter themselves by committing murders so shocking they would be blamed on black revolutionaries, thus accelerating the chaos.
Just a horrific racially motivated racist crime.
And unfortunately, by July 1969, all of the pieces were in place for Manson to test his theory and his followers were prepared to kill at his command.
So the lead up to the murders involved deliberate rehearsals and a selection of targets, all under Manson's direction.
As mentioned, the family's creepy crawly exercises were essentially practice runs for home invasions.
But these strange night drills served a dual purpose, because they bonded as a group through secret shared crimes and it desensitized them to violating the sanctity of Schrader's homes.
So by the time Manson ordered actual killings, waltzing into occupied homes at night already felt eerily familiar to his minions.
And Manson's control over the family was near absolute.
So this cult of one for all and all for one meant that if Charlie decreed someone must die for the cause, the family members felt it was their duty to make it happen, as agents of Helter Skelter.
And the family members were so steeped in Manson's beliefs at this point that they didn't even question how insanely crazy the plan was.
Because, in their acid fueled worldview, it made sense that butchering innocent people could be a revolutionary act to save the world and fulfill prophecy.
And soon one of the most infamous crimes of the 20th century would occur.
A crime that the family believed would be the opening shots of Helter Skelter, but which, in reality, would mark the beginning of their own end.
So late.
On August 8th 1969, Charles Manson gathered a group of his most trusted followers and sent them on a mission of death.
And their destination was 10050 CLO Drive.
But Manson himself did not go, nay nay.
Instead he ordered Tex Watson to quote unquote totally destroy everyone in the house as gruesome as you can.
And he would be joined by Susan Atkins, Patricia, and Linda.
And Manson would instruct the women to obey Tex's orders as if they were his own.
And shortly past midnight, in the early minutes of August 9th, a vehicle driven by Linda quietly approached the secluded property.
And the occupants had no personal connection to these intruders, but they were about to become victims of horrifying scene meant to jumpstart Helter Skelter.
And when they reached the gate of 10050 Cielo Drive Tex, climbed a telephone pole and cut the phone line to prevent any calls for help.
So they would park down the hill and snuck back up on foot.
And Tex would carry a .22 caliber revolver and a knife.
And the women brought knives and a length of rope.
And as they went across the darkened property toward the main house, headlights suddenly swept across them because a car was coming down the driveway from the house.
And this was an unexpected twist.
And it would be 18-year-old Steven Parent, who was actually a visitor that had just said goodbye to the estate's caretaker in a guest house.
And Tex would immediately spring into action and leap in front of Parent's car with a gun drawn.
And Parent would plead for them not to hurt them.
But Tex coldly shot him four times at point, blank range.
And he would kill the teen before he could even exit the car.
So the first victim had now fallen.
And those in the main house remained completely unaware of the horror creeping toward them.
So Tex would order Atkins and Patricia to push the car further up the driveway out of sight.
Meanwhile, Linda was assigned as a lookout by the gate.
Next, Tex would cut open a window screen and slip into the house.
Then let Atkins and Patricia in through the front door.
And inside the house would be five unsuspecting people.
And the first would be Sharon Tate.
And she would be a 26-year-old Hollywood actress who was also eight and a half months pregnant.
And then there was Jay Sebring, a 35-year-old celebrity hairdresser and friend of Sharon Tate.
And then there was Abigail Folger, a 25-year-old coffee heiress.
And then there was Wojciech Frygowski, who was a 32-year-old man and was also Folger's boyfriend.
And outside in the guest house was the caretaker, William Gerritsen, whom parents the teen had just visited.
And Roman Polanski, Tate's husband, was away in Europe filming a movie.
So that night the friends had spent a casual evening at the house, and as midnight passed some were starting to doze off.
But the killers struck quickly.
Tex encountered Fryofsky sleeping on the living room couch and kicked him in the head.
And this would startle Fryofsky, asking who he was and what he was doing in the house.
And in words that could have been scripted from a horror movie.
Tex replied quote, unquote I'm the devil and I'm here to do the devil's business.
Business.
Oh God, it's so fucking unnerving.
And in an instant any illusion that this was a simple robbery or prank evaporated, because these intruders were here to kill.
So, under Texas direction, Susan Atkins found the other occupants and rounded them up into the living room.
And that's when Tex would pull out a rope that he'd brought and loop it around Tate and Sebring's necks and slung it over the ceiling beam, effectively tethering the two together by their throats.
And Sebring, seeing the rough treatment of the heavily pregnant Tate, started to protest, begging them to ease up on her.
But without hesitation, Tex shot Jay Sebring in the chest, silencing him completely.
And he also stabbed him seven times, as if he hadn't already done enough.
And chaos erupted as the intruders began to take control of the house.
Susan Adkins briefly escorted Abigail Folger back to her bedroom to retrieve her purse, from which Folgers would give her 70.
And this was an attempt to appease the invaders.
And Frykowski's hands were tied with a towel, but in the confusion, he managed to work them free.
And that's when he would lunge at Susan Atkins, grappling her neck and receiving several stab wounds to his legs as Atkins tried to fend him off.
So now injured and bleeding, he stumbled out the front door, desperately yelling for anyone to help.
But Tex would chase him onto the front porch and pistol whip him with a revolver, cracking Frykowski's skull so violently that the gun grip broke.
Tex would then shoot Frykowski twice and continue stabbing him repeatedly.
And it only ended when Frykowski finally fell dead on the lawn with 51 stab wounds and blunt force injuries.
And during this mayhem Linda, standing guard by the cars, heard the horrifying sounds of screams coming from the house.
And terrified and regretful.
She actually ran toward the house and lied to Susan Atkins that someone was coming hoping to halt the murders.
But at this point, it was too late and the violence had its own momentum.
Now back in the house.
Abigail Folger actually left momentarily unattended after fetching the purse because she saw her chance and bolted out of the bedroom door to the pool area.
But that's when Patricia would pursue her across the lawn.
And Folger, dressed in a white nightgown and now splattered with blood, ran.
But Patricia would catch up to her and she would tackle her, stabbing her ferociously.
And Tex would soon join, and together they would stab Abigail 28 times, leaving her lifeless in the grass.
And back inside, Sharon Tate, now the sole survivor, was begging for her and her unborn baby's life.
And she pleaded with Susan Atkins and Tex Watson to spare her, sobbing that she wanted to live long enough to have her child and even offering herself as a hostage.
But there would be no mercy.
And Tex and Atkins stabbed Sharon Tate 16 times, killing both her and her unborn baby.
The brutality was unspeakable.
Even the coroner later noted that Tate may have died after being hanged by the rope Tex had tied, though the cause was massive hemorrhage from the stabbings.
So in the span of roughly half an hour, the Manson family killers had exterminated five innocent human beings.
But their dark work was not even finished.
And Susan Atkins, remembering Manson's instructions to leave a sign.
Specifically, something witchy dipped a towel in Sharon Tate's blood and used it to scrawl a single word on the front door of the house, which was pig.
Pig.
And Atkins would later admit that they wrote Pig to make it look like the Hinman murder and get Bobby out of jail, shifting the blame.
And as news of Tate's murder spread, Los Angeles was plunged into panic because five people were slaughtered in an upscale neighborhood with no clear motive or any suspects.
But little did anyone suspect the nightmare was not over and the Manson family was just getting started.
So after the savagery of the Tate murders, one might think that the killers would now lay low.
Shockingly, the very next night, August 9th, in the early hours of August 10th 1969, they struck again.
Because Manson, allegedly unhappy with the Tate murders, decided to personally supervise the second mission.
So in the evening of August 9th he piled into a car with Tex Watson and Patricia and Leslie, Linda Susan and Steve Clem Grogan.
And Manson told Linda to drive to 3301 Waverly Drive in the Los Feliz District.
This was the home of leno and rosemary la bianca, a couple in their 40s, and the choice was semi-random.
The la bianca house was next door to a home where manson and some family members had once attended a party the year before, and manson remembered the street and decided it would do so.
Manson and tex would quietly approach the house while the others waited back in the car, and manson would enter the home first, waking Leno who was dozing on the couch.
And that's when Tex would tie his hands and Manson would hold him at gunpoint.
And Manson would then escort Rosemary from the bedroom into the living room, also at gunpoint.
And that's when Tex would then use a pillowcase and lamp cords to cover and bind the victim's heads.
And once the LaBiancas were effectively blindfolded and restrained, Manson left the house and Van Houten and Krenwinkel would enter.
Because Manson, he never got his hands dirty.
He never got blood on his hands.
And Manson would take Susan, Linda and Clem with him to find another target the same night, which was a Lebanese actor named Saladin Nader.
And Manson would leave them there at the apartment complex and return to the ranch.
And this meant that he dropped his followers off at two locations to commit murders and then left them to hitchhike home on their own.
Allegedly Linda initially knocked on the wrong apartment door, waking a neighbor and preventing the murder from occurring at all.
Back at Waverly Drive, Tex was again in charge inside the house, with Krenwinkel and Van Houten as his accomplices.
And Tex would send the women back to the bedroom.
And without much dialogue, Tex began to stab Leno, plunging the bayonet he brought into his throat and body repeatedly.
And in the bedroom, Rosemary sprang up from the bed and started wildly swinging the lamp that was still attached to the cord around her neck at the intruders.
And a chaotic struggle began to ensue in the bedroom.
And Van Houten and Krenwinkel tried to subdue Rosemary, as this terrified woman fought like an animal for her life.
And hearing the commotion Tex now done with Leno and Leno at this point was still alive but gravely wounded ran over to the bedroom.
And Tex would see that Rosemary had managed to keep the woman at bay for a moment, flailing the lamp around as a weapon.
But Tex would launch himself at Rosemary, stabbing her several times with the same bayonet he used to kill her husband.
And that's when Rosemary would collapse.
And Tex would then return back to Leno and resume his assault, seeing that he was not yet dead.
And at the end he stabbed Leno 12 times with a bayonet and he would carve the word war into Leno's abdomen.
And Patricia would grab a kitchen knife and begin stabbing Rosemary as she lay on the floor.
And between Krenwinkel and Van Houten, Rosemary LaBianca was stabbed approximately 41 times.
So, with both the LaBiancas dead, the killers now took time to perform the witchy ritual that Manson so desired.
Using Leno's blood, Patricia dipped an old carving fork and worked a message on the walls of the living room saying rise and death to pigs.
And on the refrigerator she scrawled the misspelled words helter skelter in blood.
And not content with writing alone, Krenwinkel physically mutilated Leno's body, to just drive the point home.
And she would take a two-pronged carving fork and stab it into Leno's stomach, leaving it jutting out of the corpse, and also planted a steak knife in his throat.
Oh my God.
Just fucking horrifying.
And after cleaning up a bit, Tex even took a shower in the LaBianca bathroom to rinse off the blood.
Krenwinkel, Van Houten, and Watson then headed out.
And they would meet up as the others, as planned, hitchhiking and driving back to Spahn Ranch under the cover of darkness.
And the LaBianca's bodies would later be discovered on the evening of the 10th by their children.
So in the immediate aftermath of these horrifically brutal murders, law enforcement was scrambling, because the Tate murders were national news.
And initially the Tate and LaBianca cases were investigated separately by Los Angeles Police Department or the LAPD, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department respectively.
But there was confusion, false leads, and growing public clamor for answers.
And for a time the words pig and helter-skelter on the walls meant nothing to police beyond bizarre graffiti.
And the Manson family at first wasn't even on the radar.
Because in those early weeks, the killers returned to semi-normal life at Spahn Ranch.
But a breakthrough would come in a completely unrelated arrest.
Because on August 16th 1969, just one week after the murders, police raided Spahn Ranch and arrested Charles Manson and about two dozen family members on suspicion of auto theft, because the group had been stockpiling stolen Volkswagen Beetles converted into dune buggies on their preparation for a desert escape which attracted law enforcement attention.
However, these charges were mishandled as a warrant was misdated.
And within a few days the entire group was released without anyone connecting them to the high profile murders in LA.
So the family would promptly regroup and actually move out to that Death Valley area at Barker Ranch, thinking the heat was completely off them now.
But unfortunately for Manson, yet another raid was conducted regarding the suspected stolen vehicles.
And he would be found hiding under a sink and arrested like the fucking little tiny, measly piece of shit he is.
And this time, thankfully, the arrest would stick and he would be placed in jail.
And for a while it looked like the Tate and LaBianca murders might become California's great unsolved mystery.
But then the dam broke from the inside.
In October of 1969, a captured family member started talking.
Susan Atkins, who had been implicated by Bobby and arrested in early October for her role in the Gary Hinman murder, ended up in jail, sharing a cell with two other women.
And feeling boastful or perhaps burdened, Atkins confessed in graphic detail to her cellmates about killing people for Charlie.
And she told them about stabbing Sharon Tate, tasting her blood and writing those words on the walls like a fucking idiot.
But I'm glad she did.
And the cellmates reported Atkins' story to the authorities in November of 1969.
And at nearly the same time, an LAPD investigation finally put together one of the puzzle pieces.
And that was a gang of local bikers, told detectives that Manson had been talking about crazy killings and Black Panthers around the time of the murders.
And by early December of 1969, the case cracked wide open.
Because on December 1st LAPD announced warrants for the arrest of Tex Watson, Patricia Cranrinkle and Linda Kasabian in the Tate case.
And Charles Manson and Susan Atkins were already in custody, picked up from the prior raids and thus not named in the initial warrant.
Press release.
And Leslie Van Houten's involvement in the LaBianca wasn't immediately known at this point, but she too had been arrested in October.
Barker Ranch raid of the theft charges.
And soon enough.
Detectives connected Van Houten to the LaBianca murders via evidence, and she was also charged.
And Tex Watson had fled back to his home state of Texas.
Yes Texas, from Texas, not very, not very original.
But he would be arrested on November 30th of 1969 after his fingerprints was matched to one found in the Tate house.
And Krenwinkel had run off to Alabama where she was likewise arrested.
And Linda, who had left the family and had gone to New Hampshire, learned of one of the warrants and voluntarily surrendered herself, eager to tell her side of the story.
So, with the key players in custody, by early 1970 the full story of the family Manson's crime spree began to emerge.
And Susan Atkins initially cooperated and gave a statement to a grand jury recounting the details of the Tate murders.
But she later recanted and refused to testify at trial.
Fortunately for the prosecution, Linda stepped up as a star witness.
And Linda, who had not killed anyone technically, was deeply remorseful and was offered immunity in exchange for testimony.
And she provided a distressing firsthand narrative of both nights' murders, corroborating physical evidence and confirming Manson's role as the mastermind.
And thus, within a few months of the crimes, police and prosecutors had pieced together what had happened exactly. and the links between Manson and the victims, the helter-skelter motive as told by Atkins and Linda, and the identity of all participants.
But the challenge ahead would be proving Charles Manson's guilt, since he had not personally stabbed or shot anyone.
Nonetheless, the stage was set for what many call the trial of the century, a spectacle that would play out in Los Angeles courtroom over many months during 1970 to 1971.
So the trial of Charles Manson and the co-defendants began on June 1970 and quickly became a media circus of unprecedented scale.
And the proceedings were held in the Hall of Justice in downtown LA.
And from day one, it was clear this was no ordinary trial.
So on the prosecution side, it was Vincent Bugliosi, a sharp, unflappable deputy district attorney, determined to hold Manson accountable not only for murder but for commanding others to murder via an elaborate conspiracy.
And the defendants Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten presented a unified front.
And Tex Watson's trial was separated as he delayed extradition from Texas.
And Manson, ever theatrical, initially insisted on acting as his own attorney, Ted Bundy style, although this was before Ted Bundy.
And the judge, William Keene, allowed this briefly.
But Manson's antics, such as submitting nonsensical motions and attempting to make bizarre opening statements, led to that privilege being revoked.
And Keene was replaced by Judge Charles Older after Manson filed an affidavit of prejudice against him.
And security at these trials was extremely tight.
And the family members who were not on trial, such as Squeaky Sandy and others, gathered daily outside the courthouse.
And they would just support from the sidewalk.
And they would have their heads shaved and X's carved into their foreheads to match the mark Manson had made on himself.
And often chanted and sang in the street.
You know, like a cult.
And prosecution, worried that these devoted family members might try to influence or harm witnesses, took an unusual step.
And they subpoenaed many of them as prospective witnesses just so they could be legally barred from the courtroom, as witnesses are excluded until testimony.
But despite these efforts, the family found ways to make their presence felt.
And at one point, family members attempted to intimidate a key witness, Paul Watkins, a former member who had defected, and another, Juan Flynn, by threatening them.
And Watkins even suffered a suspicious fire in a van that burned him, which he believed was a relation to the family.
And another member, Barbara Hoyt, who knew incriminating details, was lured to Hawaii by family member Ruth Ann Morehouse.
And she was nearly killed when Morehouse slipped her an LSD-laced hamburger.
But Hoyt survived, and the attempt only made her determined to testify even more.
And inside the courtroom, the defendants engaged in continuous disruptions.
And one bizarre episode occurred when Manson dramatically held up a Los Angeles Times front page with the headline Manson guilty.
Nixon declares in front of the jury.
And Judge Older had to individually ask jurors if they could be impartial.
And they all said yes, averting as a mistrial.
And the female defendants tried to exploit Nixon's comments by standing on saying essentially see, the president says we're guilty, so why go on?
But the stunt also failed.
Yet one of the most dramatic moments came on October 5th, 1970.
Frustrated that he couldn't directly cross-examine a witness, Manson suddenly leaped over the defense table and lunged at Judge Older.
And chaos ensued as bailiffs tackled Manson to the ground, which didn't take much, because he's really fucking short.
And the female defendant stood up and began chanting some kind of gibberish, which was possibly Latin, further freaking out the courtroom.
And after this incident, Judge Older started carrying a 38 revolver under his robes for protection which like yeah, rightfully so.
So it was that kind of trial, a fucking chaotic shit show of a trial.
And the defense attorneys, for their part, were in a bind.
Because each woman had her own lawyer and Manson had one after his self-representation ended.
But the defendants often seemed to be sabotaging their own case on Manson's behest.
So the defense team was just like, we can't. fucking wrangle these fucking psychos.
So the women's lawyers revealed to the judge in a private conference that their clients wanted to testify, that Manson had nothing to do with the murders and that they did it all on their own.
Brainwashed.
Essentially, martyring themselves to save Manson.
And one attorney, Ronald Hughes, who was Leslie's counsel, refused to go along with the perjury plan, saying that he would not push a client out of the window by allowing her to take the blame.
And this would just create conflict between Manson and the lawyers.
And on November 16th, 1970, the prosecution rested after presenting months of evidence.
And shockingly on November 19th, the defense rested without calling a single witness.
And the defendants shouted in protest at their own lawyers, demanding the right to testify.
And the tensions would just run high as a trial edged toward conclusion.
The courtroom atmosphere was so volatile that one of the defense lawyers, Ronald Hughes, disappeared toward the ends of the trial.
And he would actually go missing during a short recess and was later found dead in early 1971 under suspicious circumstances, possibly a victim of retaliation by remaining family members because he defied Manson's wishes.
Nevertheless, the trial pressed on to the verdict phase.
And on January 25th 1971, after a trial that lasted about nine months, the jury returned its verdict.
Guilty on all counts for Charles Manson, Susan Adkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten.
And specifically Manson, was convicted of first degree murder and conspiracy of the killings of seven people the Tate victims and the LaBiancas.
And the three women were convicted of murder in those cases as well.
And it was one of the most headline grabbing convictions in US history.
Yet there remained a penalty phase to determine their sentences.
And here, more drama unfolded.
Because during the penalty phase the defense actually unleashed a copycat motive story in a last-ditch effort to save Manson from the death penalty.
And Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten took the stand against their lawyer's advice and testified that the murders were solely an idea to copy the Hinman killing and free Bobby.
And the plan was supposedly made by the lovestruck Linda, the one who came forward eventually.
And they claimed that Manson had nothing to do with ordering it.
But no one really believed this, thankfully.
And the prosecutor easily highlighted the obscurities.
For instance, Susan Adkins couldn't explain why she had written political piggy in blood at the Hinman House to begin with, if these were all separate copycat actions.
And the woman effectively fell on the swords for Manson, but it was too late and not believable at all.
And the jury did see it.
As for what it was, which was a last ditch effort by three of his brainwashed followers,
And then the final act of theater, Charles Manson dramatically altered his appearance mid-trial.
And he shaved his head completely and trimmed his beard into forked devilish style, saying to reporters I am the devil, and the devil always has a bald head.
Okay, buddy, lock him up.
But it was one of the many surreal visuals of the trial.
So Manson, glowering with a shaved skull and carved forehead, staring down a jury, as if daring them to condemn him.
And on March 29th, 1971, that jury did just that.
And they returned with a verdict of death for all four defendants.
And Judge Older formally sentenced Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten to death on April 19th 1971.
However, none of them, as it turns out, would be executed because in 1972, the California Supreme Court abolished temporarily the death penalty, commuting all existing death sentences to life imprisonments.
Thus Manson and the three women escaped execution and instead faced the prospect of decades behind bars.
And Tex Watson, who was tried separately in 1971 after being extradited, was also convicted and sentenced to death.
But his sentence also became life in prison after 1972.
But the trial's legacy was enormous.
It was one of the longest and most expensive trials in American history at that time.
And it fundamentally shifted how the public viewed the late 60s, because no longer was it an age of innocence, but one that bred monsters.
And it also set legal precedents affirming that a person could be found guilty of murder for directing others to kill, even if they hadn't personally wielded the knife.
And the Manson conspiracy conviction was a key in that regard.
And Vincent Bugliosi emerged a bit of a celebrity prosecutor, later writing a best-selling book, Helter Skelter, which further cemented the Helter Skelter motive in popular lore.
And as the convicts were shipped off to prison, one might think that that was the end of the Manson family saga.
Nay, nay.
Because in many ways it was just the beginning of this family's strange afterlife and prison cells and crime history.
So in the wake of the convictions, the Manson family's reign of terror officially ended.
But the fates of its members would continue to unfold over decades. often making headlines.
And Charles Manson, once again, became an inmate.
Initially sent to San Quentin's death row, he was moved into Gen Pop, which is general prison population, after his sentence was commuted to life.
And he would spend the next 46 years behind bars, bouncing between facilities and periodically emerging into public view through interviews or parole hearings.
And Manson proved to be a troublesome little prisoner at times.
In 1984, our fellow inmates set Manson on fire for allegedly spouting racist remarks, causing burns to a significant portion of his body.
Boo hoo.
But still, Manson survived and continued to spread his wild ideas from prison.
And he would be denied parole at every single hearing, a total of 12 times.
And famously in the 2010s, he had a swastika tattooed on his forehead.
How charming.
But Charles Manson would fortunately die on November 19th, 2017 at the age of 83.
And it would be of natural causes in a California hospital.
And he was still an inmate and still extremely notorious, and with him passed one of the most infamous figures of the 20th century.
A criminal who quote unquote, occupied a unique position in the American cultural imagination, as NPR observed.
And in the early years of incarceration Atkins remained devotely loyal to Manson, even carving an X into her forehead in prison to match him.
But by the late 1970s, she had an apparent change of heart.
Oh, how wonderful.
Becoming a born-again Christian and renouncing Manson.
Which, you know, that's good, at least.
And she would actually marry twice in prison.
Once to a self-proclaimed minister and later to an attorney, James Whitehouse.
And Atkins became California's longest-serving female inmate.
And she would be repeatedly denied parole.
And she would be turned down over a dozen times.
And, in 2009, terminally ill with brain cancer and partially paralyzed.
Atkins made a compassionate release plea.
But... it would be denied.
Ooh, that's karma.
And then she would die in prison in September of 2009 at the age of 61.
And Krenwinkel also eventually distanced herself from Manson and had been described as a model prisoner.
And she earned a degree behind bars and expressed remorse saying in one parole hearing, quote unquote, I wake up every day knowing I'm a destroyer of the most precious thing. life but still the heinous of her crimes had made the parole board unwilling to free her and for decades any mention of parole for krenwinkel was met with public outrage and lobbying by victims families especially by sharon tate's family and patricia krenwinkel remains incarcerated in california she's also the state's longest surviving female prisoner after atkins death but van hooten's story is somewhat different because many view her as the most redeemable of the trio because she was the youngest, 19 at the time of the crimes, and she did not participate in the Tate murders, and by all accounts, reformed herself in prison.
Leslie became a model inmate and earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree and worked in rehabilitative programs.
And, starting in the 1990s, some parole boards actually recommended her for release, citing her exemplary behavior and apparent genuine remorse.
However, California governors repeatedly vetoed those recommendations, partly due to the gravity of her crimes and public sentiment.
But finally, after over 20 denials, in July of 2023, Leslie Van Houten was released on parole at the age of 73, after she had served 53 years in prison.
And her release stirred some controversy to say the least.
Some felt it was justice long overdue from a reformed woman, and others were dismayed that a Manson follower walked free.
But Van Houten has since been living under a parole supervision and she's just a frail elderly woman whose youth was spent under Manson's dark shadow.
And then there's Tex.
And after being extradited and convicted separately, Tex initially faced a death sentence, like the others, as we know.
But when that became life in prison, he underwent a jailhouse conversion to born again Christianity and even became an ordained minister behind bars.
And Watson actually fathered four children via conjugal visits in the 1980s.
How is this guy allowed to procreate?
What the fuck?
And these types of visits were later barred for lifers.
But despite religious demeanors, Tex has never been granted parole and he's been denied roughly 18 times.
And he remains in California prison now in his 70s.
And, as mentioned earlier, in 1975 Squeaky Fromm attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, pointing a Colt 45 at him at close range, but the gun did not fire.
But it had a loaded magazine, it just didn't have a round in the chamber, thankfully.
So she was tackled and arrested, and she smiled in custody.
And Fromm would be convicted of attempted assassination and sentenced to life in federal prison.
And she would serve 34 years before being paroled in 2009.
And now in her 70s, Fromm moved to upstate New York and lives quietly.
But she never renounced Manson.
In fact, she repeatedly said after his death in 2017 that she still loved him.
And perhaps the single family member who achieved an unexpected mercy was Clem.
Because Clem was convicted alongside Manson for the murder of Spahn Ranch stuntman Donald Shorty Shea.
He was killed in late August of 1969.
But Clem was often described as slow-witted and completely under Manson's sway.
And remarkably, in prison.
He cooperated and revealed the location of Shay's buried body to authorities in 1977.
And partly due to that cooperation and reportedly showing genuine remorse, Clem became the only prisoner convicted of Manson-era murders to be paroled.
And he would actually be released in 1985.
And he has kept a low profile ever since and believed to be currently working as a musician.
And then there's Bobby.
Convicted of the Hinman murder, Bobby has spent over 50 years in prison.
He's a talented musician and artist, and he has composed music and created visual art behind bars.
And he has been denied parole multiple times, though in recent years, some parole boards recommended him only to be voted out by governors.
And as of 2025, Bobby remains incarcerated in California, and he's now in his mid-70s.
And then there's Mary, Manson's first follower and mother of his child.
And Berner was involved in the Hinman robbery, holding him at one point, but made a deal for immunity to testify in the early Hinman proceedings.
However, she did later participate in the 1971 plot to hijack a plane to demand Manson's release, but the plan was foiled and also of an armed robbery in a surplus store.
So she would serve several years in prison for those, but be released in the late 1970s.
And since then Mary Brunner has completely withdrawn from public life and she reportedly lives under a new name in the Midwest.
And then there's Diane Lake.
She was the youngest family member, at age 14, when she joined.
Lake was not involved in the murders and eventually testified at the prosecution as a witness, and she just went on to lead a normal life, marrying and raising her children, and later authored a memoir in 2017 called member of the family.
And lake just became a symbol of how someone could recover from cult indoctrination, and she eventually became a school teacher and openly denounced manson's manipulations, which is metal.
So charles manson's family effectively died as a group when he was arrested, but its individual members carried pieces of that dark legacy with them through the decades.
So the Manson murders didn't quietly enter the bowels of true crime.
They exploded into the public consciousness and stayed.
And media coverage was immediate and overwhelming.
And Manson became a cultural symbol referenced in headlines, TV specials and documentaries for decades.
And Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter remains one of the best seller true crime books still with adaptations and renewed interest surfacing during anniversaries and cultural milestones, like tarantino's once upon a time in hollywood.
But the case really marked a symbolic end of the 1960s.
Idealism, a killer cult rising from the hippie movement, triggered public fear And Manson, dubbed the most dangerous man alive, became a boogeyman of peace and love generation.
And pop culture just leaned into it with songs and shows, and even Marilyn Manson's stage name echoed this.
And the Beatles distanced themselves from Helter Skelter to say the least.
While Bono famously declared, we're stealing it back.
But this attention just provoked ethical concerns.
Because victims' families, especially Doris and Deborah Tate, pushed back against Manson's infamy, advocating for victims' rights and parole reform.
And Manson also sparked debates on brainwashing and cult influence.
And in the 70s, fears of mind control and dangerous gurus spurred the rise of deprogrammers and changed how cults were viewed legally and psychologically.
In Manson's interviews, bizarre, rhetoric, and wild-eyed persona fascinated the public.
And some subcultures mythologized him, sparking backlash.
And parole hearings just became media events, with society often viewing at any potential release as unacceptable.
But pop culture in and of itself at that time just became darker.
Music, films, and public attitudes all reflected just a loss of trust.
And as one writer put it, he was the man who killed the 60s.
The Manson murders weren't just a crime.
They were a rupture.
Manson's power came not from physical dominance obviously, because he was really fucking small and weak and stupid but belief.
His followers weren't monsters.
They were transformed by manipulation.
And the case still resonates because its lessons remain urgent.
Evil can be seductive and utopias can mask control.
And ideology can be weaponized, but so can memory.
And Sharon Tate's family turned pain into advocacy.
And some family members actually found remorse, and Manson tried to tear society apart.
But by studying him, we fortify it.
The danger isn't gone, it's just evolved.
But so is our understanding.
And in remembering the victims, we reject myth in favor of truth.
And Manson's story just warns us that belief without question is perilous and that the line between peace and chaos is far thinner than it seems.
And with that, that is the end of the video.
This was a big one.
This was a big one.
A lot of people asked for it.
I hope this was, I don't want to say good, but I hope you got something out of it.
If you have any other cases you want me to deep dive into, please let me know down below.
I always read the comments.
And until I see you again, please stay safe.
And I will see you beautiful face in the next video.
All right.
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