When cult leader Charles Manson and his "family" carried out their infamous nine-person killing spree in 1969 Los Angeles, the events sent shockwaves across America.
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Charles Manson was sentenced to 9 life sentences for orchestrating 7 gruesome murders with his cult 'family' — here's his life story
Starting out as a petty criminal, Charles Manson became a murderous yet iconic cult leader. Here's a look at his life, which ended a week after he turned 83.
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Born from the the hippie scene of late-60s California, Manson's murders landed him a life sentence in prison. That sentence ended on Sunday, when the cult leader died at age 83 at a hospital in Bakersfield, California.
Here's a rundown of his turbulent life, his violent crimes, and the aftermath of the Manson Family murders:
Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1934 to a 16-year-old mother who was an alcoholic with a criminal record. He lived a troubled childhood growing up in various boys' schools, and likely never knew his biological father.
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Manson bounced around from boarding schools to foster homes starting when he was five years old, soon after his mother was convicted of armed robbery and given a five-year prison sentence.
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Manson displayed violent and manipulative tendencies even when he was very young. He was known to manipulate his classmates in the first grade into hurting kids he didn't like. As a problem child in the foster care system, he soon fell into a life of petty crime, and starting in 1956, spent years in federal prison for a variety of offenses, including forging government checks.
Manson did his first stint in prison in 1951, and was in and out of jail throughout the '50s and '60s.
A probation report from this period says Manson displayed a
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After his release from prison in 1967, Manson initially arrived in California to pursue music, and became influenced by LSD, hippie culture, and The Beatles.
Having learned to play guitar in prison, Manson arrived in Los Angeles with hopes of securing a recording contract through some of the big names in the industry at the time.
While he did his best to wow artists like
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Manson created a cult around himself called the "Family" that he hoped to use to bring about Armageddon through a race war. He named this scenario "Helter Skelter," after the 1968 Beatles song of the same name.
Manson believed that once African-Americans rose up against white people in an end-of-times race war, he and his Family, which consisted mostly of women, would be the only ones left standing at its conclusion.
The Family sought to quicken this apocalyptic timeline by carrying out prominent murders of celebrities and pinning them on African-Americans so that people would take notice.
Manson compelled his followers to believe him by exhibiting many qualities common to gurus and spiritual leaders around the world, and also used LSD to influence their thinking.
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In August 1969, Manson commanded four of his most loyal followers to embark on a two-day massacre. Seven people were killed, five of whom on a single night at the home of Hollywood director Roman Polanski and his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate.
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Manson targeted Polanski and Tate because they represented the rich show business elite that he felt had rejected him. Although Manson himself did not take part in the murders, he was among those ultimately held responsible.
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Manson and members of his Family were arrested in Death Valley not on suspicion they were involved in the murders, but because they were suspected of committing vandalism in the national park. Only once in custody did police identify them as the killers.
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Throughout their trial, Manson and the women who were charged alongside him showed no remorse for their crimes, often giggling in the courtroom. They each carved X's into their foreheads during the trial to mimic Manson, who had done the same.
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Manson's followers defied the charges and publicly supported his defense during the trial.
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Manson released an album during his trial to support his defense, and captivated the American public, appearing on the cover of "Life" magazine in December 1969. He was eventually convicted of first degree murder in January 1971 along with one of his accomplices, Susan Atkins, for the murder of nine people.
Manson became an immediate cultural icon, LA county prosecutor Stephen Kay told People Magazine.
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Throughout his life sentence in prison, Manson had captivated the dark sides of peoples' imaginations, giving frequent interviews, cryptic statements, and predictions.
The dark impressions he left on people inspired musicians like Guns 'N' Roses, and led people to send him fan mail hoping to join the Family.
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"He gets an average of four fan letters a day," Kay told People Magazine. "People want to join the 'family' and want his autograph. I remember one of the parole hearings at San Quentin and the devil worshippers turned out. He had become the focal point of satanic worshippers. They view him as the devil."
However, Debra Tate, Sharon Tate's surviving sister, sees Manson and his Family in more realistic terms.
"They're not supernatural, they're not the devil, they're nothing special, they're just little creeps," she said.
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