Biographies: Charles Manson

I have never heard of this man before the "Biographies" brief, and it was therefore fascinating (and a little frightening) to discover that Charles Manson (born 12.11.1934) is an American criminal, convicted of conspiracy to commit numerous murders. He has formed a group, known as "The Family", which had numerous members (mostly women) prepared to carry out any of Manson's instructions.

Some of the Family members (top, left to right):

Charlie Manson, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten,

(bottom, left to right): Charles "Tex" Watson, Bruce Davies, Pat Krenwinkle

MOTIVE: Manson is associated with "Helter Skelter", a term he borrowed from a Beetle's song title. He used this term to describe an apocalyptic race war that he believed would happen. After this war, he said, the black people would take over the world, but being unable to take leadership, they would turn to Manson and his family for guidance. The murders he instructed were supposed to precipitate this war. He believed that war should be started by killing wealthy white people.

MURDERS: The most famous (and horrifying) case is the Tate murder (August 8, 1969), which was carried out by Tex Watson, Pat Krenwinkle, Susan Atkins and Linda Kasabian under Manson's instructions. The victims were Steve Parent, who got in their way, Sharon Tate (who was 8 months pregnant), Jay Sebring (her friend and former lover), Wojciech Frykowski (a friend of Sharon Tate's husband) and Abigail Folger (Frykowski's lover). Tate was stabbed 16 times and Frikowski was stabbed a total of 51 times during the assault, shot twice, and hit over the head with a gun handle. Manson has instructed the girls to leave a sign, "something witchy", and Atkins wrote the word "Pig" in Tate's blood on the front door.

Another well-known murder by the Family was the LaBianca case (August 9, 1969). Mr and Mrs LaBianca were brutally murdered the next night by the four members of the group mentioned above, plus Leslie Van Houten and Steve Grogan. Leno LaBianca was stabbed 12 times with a bayonet, and Watson has carved the word "war" on the man's exposed abdomen. Rosemary LaBianca was stabbed 41 times.

Other known victims include Gary Hinman, Bernard Crowe, James and Lauren Willett.

I have found a lot of information about Charles Manson and the Family, and watched many interviews with him. I am not sure where I could go with this right now, but what struck me most was that so many people followed Manson and carried out his most brutal instructions without any apparent reason! He didn't even have to commit any of the murders himself. When asked if he felt guilty after all this time in prison, he said:

"Guilty, hmm... I wouldn't do anything that I felt guilty about. There is no need to feel guilty, I haven't done anything I'm ashamed of. May be I haven't done enough. May be I should have killed four, five hundred people, then I would have felt better. Then I would have felt like I really offered society something."