Charles Manson is an American criminal who led the religious sect "The Family". Manson commissioned his followers with numerous murders that a religious group carried out without blinking an eye. It was he who commissioned the family to commit a gruesome crime in the villa of Roman Polański. The Manson Clan killed the Polish director's wife, Sharon Tate. Check out the biography of Charles Manson, one of the cruelest killers of all time!
Charles was born on November 12, 1934, in Cincinnati, an American city in the state of Ohio. He was the son of fifteen-year-old Kathleen Maddox and Colonel Scott. Charles's father was much older than Kathleen. For him, the acquaintance with the fifteen-year-old was supposed to be just a fleeting romance - Colonel already had a wife and children. Upon hearing that Kathleen was pregnant with him, he disappeared. A desperate teenage girl met another man, William Manson, during her pregnancy. The man took the child as his own and married Kathleen shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, the idyll of a couple in love did not last too long. The marriage broke up for unclear reasons, so young Kathleen was left alone with the child - without work, love, and hope for the future.
Kathleen started partying every day to help ease the stress of her relationship breakup. The young mother also got involved in drinking alcohol and taking drugs. Kathleen often left her son alone or in the care of random people. Some even confirm that they saw a teenager leave a child to a waitress in exchange for… a pot of beer. One day, Kathleen took part in a robbery and robbed a large sum of money, for which she was sent to prison. Little Charles was therefore sent to West Virginia, where he lived with his distant uncle and aunt.
Kathleen's lifestyle, the presence of alcohol and drugs at home, and being away from his mother made Charles very confused. His childhood psyche was so badly damaged that Charles ended up in a reformatory at the age of 9 - it was then that he made his first theft. The boy was completely unable to cope with his emotions and anger, which grew stronger in him every year. After leaving the correctional facility, Charles showed no signs of remorse and was not about to change. That is why he was constantly in prison for the following years - usually, he was imprisoned for extortion and theft. Charles Manson has escaped from prison many times. Between consecutive arrests, however, he happened to… record music. In 1960, at the age of 26, Charles was sentenced to ten years in prison for pimping - that is, inciting prostitution. After seven years, however, he managed to leave the prison.
Charles Manson left prison in March 1967. A few months later, the famous "Summer of Love" took place - the Hippie Carnival in Haight-Ashbury (San Francisco, California). It was the birth of the hippie movement, which Manson decided to use for his terrible plan. Charles began recruiting hippies from his religious group, which he called "The Family." However, not everyone could belong to the Family. The sect consisted mainly of young white women from wealthy families. How did Manson run his Family? Well, he was telling women about the impending Armageddon and the imminent black revolution. He said that soon the white race would be degraded by African Americans. It was for this reason that Charles urged the Family to come out of the shadows together and take power from "enemies."
The most important figure in the Family was, of course, Charles Manson as the leader. In his self-confidence, Manson surpassed the worst killers, such as Tadeusz Grzesik, Karol Kot, and even Bogdan Arnold. The religious group treated Manson just like God - any member of the Family would follow Charles into the fire. Everyone (thanks to Charles Manson's theory) was convinced that soon there would be a war of races, which only the Family was to survive. The sect's views were permeated with racism and focused on the thesis that "death is nothing." It was these words that the Family repeated to itself every day, getting rid of all moral scruples. All members regularly consumed drugs, which made them even more confusing.
Women liked Charles, which in this whole story is quite surprising and disturbing. He was not a man, neither very handsome nor tall (he was about 160 cm tall). Manson wore long hair and a beard and didn't care for himself at all. But there was something about him that mesmerized other women - Charles's personality and charisma that literally knocked them off their feet. The man used the fascination of the opposite sex to frequent romances. Sex with women has become a great way to attract new family members.
In 1969, the family moved to the isolated Spahn Movie Ranch, a movie ranch in Los Angeles County, California. It was there that Charles Manson spoke to members of the sect and persuaded them to follow his beliefs. The family was united by religious fanaticism and racism, as well as having sex and taking drugs together. The sect led by Manson set the main goal of saving the white race. One of the family's first plans was the attack on the villa of the famous Polish director Roman Polański. If you're looking for more stories like this, also check out this article on serial killer Bogdan Arnold.
It was the night of August 8-9, 1969. Several family members, incl. Linda Kasabian and Susan Atkins murdered Sharon Tate - the wife of director Roman Polański. The brutal murder took place in a villa Polański rented on Cielo Drive in California. The Polish director was already a highly respected artist in Hollywood at that time, so Manson's crime immediately shocked the entire film world. Charles was then hailed as one of the worst psychopaths in history. Not only because he ordered the murder of a pregnant Sharon (the woman was then nine months pregnant). The Manson family also murdered four of Sharon's guests who were staying in the villa at the time (including Wojciech Frykowski).
The murderers decided to make a real show of the committed crime, as befits Hollywood. With the blood of the murdered, they created an inscription "PIG" ("PIG") on the front door. Tate's housekeeper discovered the victims' bodies. All (except Steven Parent) died from multiple stab wounds. At first, the police suspected the caretaker of the house, William Garretson, who was the only one to survive. When Polański returned to California, he was asked about everything he knew about his wife and the murdered people. After the funeral of the murder victims, the investigation was still ongoing, but the police failed to find the trail of brutal murderers. It was only a few months later that ... a coincidence helped to resolve the matter.
When Susan Atkins was arrested for another crime, the woman boasted about the feat in Polański's villa. Thanks to the testimony of Atkins, it was possible to reach the family and the perpetrators of the cruel murder. The murderers were sentenced to life imprisonment - there was no death penalty in California at that time. What was the motive of the crime? Until today it is not known. Some people believe that the family chose Polański's house because it was inhabited (according to the sect) by people spoiled by the Hollywood world. There is, however, another theory that the villa previously housed a producer who rejected Charles Manson's songs - so the killer wanted to take revenge on the producer. Charles Manson for the murder at Polański's villa was inspired by the songs of The Beatles, which he confessed while already in prison. It was they who supposedly controlled the psychopath's feelings.
Before Manson was imprisoned, the night after the murder of Polański's wife, he ordered another murder for the family. This time he accompanied his "friends" to be able to show exactly what the sect was to do. It fell on Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, who was killed by a teenage Leslie Van Houten.
The family heard the sentence of life imprisonment in 1971. Even though the cult members had committed terrible and unforgivable deeds, staunch admirers of Manson fought for his release. They even sat in court to fight for freedom for a psychopath - of course, they failed to do so. Charles had a tremendous influence on women. In 2014, he seduced 26-year-old Afton Burton, whom he met by letter. The woman moved to the vicinity of the prison to be close to Manson. The couple did not get married because Manson was afraid that Afton would someday want to use his "fame" by showing the man's body for cash.
The murderer had many followers. Devoted followers followed Manson's forehead when he tattooed the X on his forehead. When the killer changed the "X" tattoo to a swastika, the followers did exactly the same. It was the same with Manson shaving his head - the women in love with him were also bald. The man cut his hair because "the devil always has a bald head". And his loyal fans because they were fascinated by Manson. One can only guess how influential this figure must have been. It is terrifying that such a cruel killer was able to manipulate the minds of young women.
Charles Manson at the age of 78 unsuccessfully applied for early release. In November 2017, at the age of 83, Manson died in prison. The story of the terrifying murderer did not end with his death, however. Here are some interesting facts about Manson who still lives in pop culture.
- Marilyn Manson took over his stage name in part from Charles Manson, using the name of the murderer.
- The Kasabian band was named after Linda Kasabian - one of the participants in the murder of Polański's wife.
- One of the songs by System of a Down is called "A.T.W.A.". It stands for the environmental organization that Charles Manson once belonged to.
- Paradise Lost voiced Manson on the song "Forever Failure". The voice of the killer also used the band Death Grips in the song "Beware", and Mount Salem in the song "Good Times".
- In Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino used the story of the murder on Polanski's house.
Bibliography:
- Ray Black: Secret Cults of Evil, Bellona Publishing House, Warsaw 2010
- Stephen J. Giannangelo, Jarosław Groth (trans.): Psychopathology of Serial Murder, If P to Q Publishing House, Poznań 2007
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