THE FAMILY (CHARLES MANSON)
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Destructive Cults
The Family; Charles Manson
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Quotation:
"You made your children what they are....
These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them. I
didn't teach them. I just tried to help them stand up.... You can project it back at me,
but I am only what lives inside each and every one of you. My father is your system.... I
am only what you made me. I am a reflection of you. You made your children what they are....
These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them. I
didn't teach them. I just tried to help them stand up.... You can project it back at me,
but I am only what lives inside each and every one of you. My father is your system.... I
am only what you made me. I am a reflection of you." Charles Manson:
About "The Family:"
This group is unrelated to a faith group called: the Church
of God, Family of Love and The Family.
Charles Milles Manson was born on 1934-NOV-11 or 12; sources differ. He is a person with an unusual ability to dominate others.
He assembled a destructive, doomsday cult around himself, which
the media later called The Family. At one time, it numbered in excess of 100
individuals at the Spahn Ranch some 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles CA. Manson was
referred to both as "God" and "Satan" by his followers. As the
family's guru, he claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
Manson was concerned about damage to the environment and pollution. He once commented:
"Your water’s dying. Your life’s in that cup. Your trees are dying.
Your wildlife’s locked up in zoos. You’re in the zoo, Man. How do you feel about
it?"
Mass murders perpetrated by The Family:
The first murder by the family was of Gary Hinman, a Los Angeles drug dealer and
musician. His body was discovered on 1969-JUL-31.
The first series of mass murders, called the "Tate" homicides, occurred at
the home of Sharon (Tate) Polanski on 1969-AUG-9. Three victims were shot and/or stabbed
multiple times on the grounds of the estate. These were Abigail Folger, Steven Parent and
Voiytek Frykowski. Sharon Polanski and Jay Sebring were murdered inside the house. Sharon,
8 months pregnant at the time, died from numerous stab wounds, five of which
were by themselves fatal; Jay died of blood loss.
Both had their necks loosely attached by a single rope over a rafter.
The next homicides, called the "LaBianca murders," occurred two days later in
the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. They were found stabbed to death with dozens of
wounds.
Finally, Donald Shea was murdered. He was a former stuntman and hired hand at the
Spahn Ranch.
The police appear to have been stunned by the horrific details at the mass murder crime
scenes. They badly bungled the task of collecting evidence. They were unable to find the
clothing worn by the murderers. A television news crew was able to locate the clothing
later.
Although Manson is not believed to have killed anyone directly, he ordered
his followers to commit the famous Tate, LaBianca and other murders.
Possible motives for the murders:
The murders were on the surface motiveless and unconnected to Manson, but
some key motives were later identified.
 Manson was highly hostile to society, pathologically so, and wanted
revenge.
Manson had been rejected by the music industry and wanted revenge. One
suggestion is that he targeted the Tate house because it represented his
rejection by the show business community he wanted to enter, and that it was
of no interest to him who his actual victims would be.
Manson got a 'kick' out of death and control. During the trial, one
witness commented that "he [Manson] doesn't know about love... love is not
his trip. Death is his trip."
The killers were attempting to clear the blame from their friend, Bobby
Beausoleil, by committing a copycat murder.
Manson had come to believe that Armageddon was imminent, in the form of race war, and believed he was
destined to be the ultimate beneficiary of it. Manson viewed race war as
imminent, describing it as Helter Skelter, "all the wars that have
ever been fought, piled on top of each other." He told his followers
that this was imminent, but that there was a secret underground world
reached by a hole underneath the desert, where they would wait out the war
in bliss. He described this many times, and it was a part of their communal
belief, so much so that they stocked up supplies and searched for the hole
prior to the crimes. Blacks would win the war, but be unable to run the
world through lack of experience, and the Family would therefore emerge and
run it for them as a benevolent autocracy
with Manson at the head of this new world order. The war would be triggered
by "some black people coming out of the ghetto and doing atrocious
crimes... killings... writing things in blood." However, by summer 1969,
Manson was heard to say that blacks did not know how to start its role in
this war, so he would have to show them.
Although all five were possible motives, in the trial the prosecutor placed
the last as the main motive, despite its unusual nature. The police and DA argued that Manson found sections within the Beatles' song
Helter Skelter and within the last book in the Christian Bible, Revelation which he
felt referred to a devastating future race war between blacks and whites. By
murdering some high-profile people, he expected to trigger the "final days"
conflict.
The arrest and trial:
A major break in the case happened in 1969-NOV when thirteen Family members were arrested on a charge of grand theft (auto). Several sources
say that it was Susan Atkins alone who was arrested on a charge of prostitution; this appears to be an error. While in prison, she talked to her
cellmate about having been involved in the Tate murders.
Charles Manson and three of his followers (Krenwinkel, Atkins, Van Houten) were charged
with the Tate/LaBianca murders. The trial was spectacular. Manson spent much of the time
with his back to the judge; his actions were repeated by his co-defendants and other
followers. He shaved his head and carved an swastika on his forehead; his
"family" followed suit. All four were found guilty and sentenced to execution.
Manson and other family members later received death sentences for the Hinman and Shea
killings. The death penalties were commuted to life imprisonment in the 1970's when
California law was changed.
In 1997-AUG, Manson was transferred from Corcoran State Prison to the tougher
Pelican
Bay State Prison as punishment for a drug bust. He was placed in a segregated
Security Housing Unit where he had little contact with other inmates. In 1998-MAR-26, he
was returned to Corcoran where he remains today. His address is: Charles Manson,
B-33920, 4A 4R-23, P. O. Box 3476, Corcoran, CA 93212. He is currently eligible for
parole, although his chances of being freed are slim.
One source found "at least 100 pages of
information from the faithful" on the Internet. 1 One remarkable web site
compares Manson with the Hindu God Shiva. 2 Another site, Access
Manson, appears to be a semi-official Manson web site. 3 It
contains extensive information about ATWA (Air, Trees, Water, Animals) which is Manson's
environmental group.
On 2002-JUN-28, Leslie Van Houten was denied parole for the 14th time. She had stabbed Rosemary LaBianca sixteen times as a drug-crazed
teen-ager. Since then, she has obtained a bachelor's and master's degree and has been a model prisoner, who has not accumulated a single
disciplinary report in the past 25 years. She chairs a drug and alcohol rehabilitation group twice a month. She is now 52. She
is not the person she was at age 19 when she participated in the crimes," Van Houten's attorney, Christie Webb said: "She has
not taken drugs in three decades. She is much more of a leader than a follower in prison. ... And she has insight into how she could have
participated in these crimes and how she can make amends."
Sponsored link:
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The aftermath:
The Family survived the incarceration of Manson. After his arrest,
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, one of Manson's shrewdest, toughest and most
obedient followers, effectively took command of the management of The Family in
his absence. With a handful of other followers, mostly women, she perched on the
steps of the Los Angeles courthouse during the trial, shaved her head to protest
his conviction and, copying Manson, gouged an X into her forehead as a sign of
loyalty. She later explained: "We have X'ed ourselves out of this world."
On 1972-NOV-13,
Michael Monfort, James Craig, Priscilla Cooper, Nancy Laura Pitman and Lynnette
Alice Fromme were held for the murder of James T. Willett and his wife.
On 1975-SEP-05, Fromme unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate
U.S. President Gerald R. Ford in
Sacramento, CA. It appears that although she managed to get close to
Ford, by mistake the chamber of her .45 Colt was empty. She was heard to say,
"It didn't go off. Can you believe it? It didn't go off!" She stated she had
committed the crime so that Manson would appear as a witness at her trial, and
thus have a worldwide platform from which to talk about his apocalyptic vision.
She escaped prison in 1987-DEC, apparently to
try to reach California and Manson. She was recaptured two days later.Manson remains imprisoned to this day (2008).
More than nine applications for
parole have been denied, most notably in 1986 when he appeared before the parole board with a
swastika embossed on his forehead. During his stay in prison, Manson has received more
mail than any other prisoner in the United States prison system. It is said that
he gets over 60,000 pieces of mail a year; much of it is fan mail from young people
hoping to join The Family.
Mansion's musical career:
Charles Manson released his album "One Mind" during 2005-APR. Three
years later, he made it available under the Creative Commons Attribution
Non-Commercial Share-Alike 2.0 License. This allows anyone to remix
the songs for non-commercial purposes, as long as they give proper credit to
Manson, and issue it under the same license.
According to WikiNews:
"The website Family Jams (Manson’s record label), which offers
hard-copies of the CD, says that 'ONE MIND is pure Charlie, no additions, no
corrections, no added opinions, filters or editing... consisting of songs,
trance-poetry, conversations, raps, ramblings, musings and more.' The
cover-art is a painting by Manson, liner notes include excerpts from his
letters, and, as the sites mentions, song titles and interludes are by
friends or editors'. The disc has 16 tracks, totaling almost 76 minutes of
Manson's work."
Manson was part of the Los Angeles music scene before his conviction as
leader of the Manson Family commune. He was close to
Beach Boy
Dennis Wilson —Manson wrote the song 'Never Learn Not to Love'
for the Beach Boys.
"In 1970, Manson released the album Lie: "The Love & Terror Cult"
to finance his trial. The Manson Family also released The Family Jams,
with songs written by Manson. Manson has released several albums since."
8
Movie about the group:
Lindsay Lohan will play the role of Nancy Pitman in an movie called
"Manson Girls." She allegedly was fascinated by Charles Manson before
she entered rehab for drug and alcohol addiction in 2007: She said: "Yeah, I
have a dark side. I watched all those videos on Charles Manson for a while."
Lohan also stars in the movie Chapter 27 about the assassination
of John Lennon. 8
Summary:
The Family was a group with Christian beliefs. Total body count (1969): at least 8.
Books about Manson and the Family:
Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry, "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders," W. W. Norton, (2001).
Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online
book store
Charles Manson, as told to Nuel Emmons, "Manson in His Own Words," Grove Press, (1988).
Read reviews or order this book
[Manson denies authorship of this book]
Nikolas Schreck, "The Manson File," Amok Press, (1988).
Read reviews or order this book
Ed Sanders, "The Family," Thunder's Mouth Press,(2002).
Read reviews or order this book
Michael J. Pellowski "The Charles Manson Murder Trial: A Headline Court Case," Enslow Publishers, (2004).
Read reviews or order this book
Tommy Udo, "Charles Manson: Music, Mayhem, Murder," Sanctuary Records, (2002).
Read reviews or order this book
Edward George, Dary Matera "Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars" St. Martin's Press, (1999).
Read reviews or order this book
Charles Watson "Will you die for me?" F. H. Revell, (1978).
Read reviews or order this book
M. Terry, "The Ultimate Evil," Bantam Books, (1989)
Read reviews or order this book
Documentary films:
Manson documentary directed by Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick (1973)
Charles Manson Superstar documentary directed by Nikolas Schreck (2002)
Dramatic films:
The Manson Massacre directed by Kentucky Jones (1972)
Helter Skelter directed by John Gray (1976; Director's Cut: 2004, Warner Home Video)
The Book of Manson directed by Raymond Pettibon (1989)
The Manson Family directed by Jim Van Bebber (2003)
Sponsored links:
Internet references:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
Deborah K. Fillmer, "Forensic science and the Charles Manson murders,"
at: http://www.cris.com/
"Astonishing similarities between Charles Manson and the Hindu God Shiva,"
at: http://members.aol.com/
"Manson Family Murders, 1969-1971" at: http://www.umi.com/
A web site "Access Manson" is dedicated to Manson and is billed as
"A real source for Manson Thought." See: http://www.atwa.info/
A list of web sites which deal with Charles Manson and The Family is at: http://www.goto.com/
Buddy T, "Leslie Van Houten Denied Parole: Stabbed Rosemary LaBianca 16
Times as a 1969 Teen on Drugs," at:
http://www.alcoholism.about.com/
"Charles Manson." Wikiepdia, the free encyclopedia, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/ Portions of this essay were copied from the
Wikipedia site on 2005-JUL-09
"Charles Manson releases album under free license," Wikinews, 2008-APR-06,
at:
http://en.wikinews.org/
Portions copyright © 1996 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-APR-07
Part author: B.A. Robinson
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