Friday, March 17, 2017

Who was Charles Manson?

Charles Manson, age 13

Charles Manson was born in  November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Manson's mom was only 16 and unmarried when he was born. Charles never knew his biological father. His mother was a prostitute and was arrested for robbing a service station so he spent a lot of his childhood away from her. In an interview, he spoke about how he always dreamed of days spent with her. He was taken in by his very religious aunt and uncle. Although he did not like going to church with them he did enjoy the singing.
Charles started committing crimes at a very young age. He didn't like being told what to do so he set the school on fire when he was 9. When he turned 13, he started committing burglaries. He was eventually caught in the act when he attempted to steal a bicycle and was sent to a juvenile detention center. As he grew older he was still committing crimes. he stole cars, forged checks, burglary, stole mail, and had prostitutes working for him. By the age of 32 he had spent half of his life in prison. It was all he knew. It is said that when he was first released, he had asked them not to. A caseworker declared him to be very antisocial.

After his release date, he was given permission to move to San Francisco. While living there he met a woman named Mary Brunner, who would be one of the first members of the Manson Family. He moved into her apartment and convinced her to let him bring other women to live with them. At one point, they shared the house with 18 other women. Among these women, many of them came to join his group of followers, which was named Manson Family. He taught his followers that they were the reincarnation of the original Christians and he also often implied that he was Christ. To keep his followers interested, they traveled a lot all over the U.S. and Mexico before settling back in San Francisco. It is there where Mary Brunner became pregnant by Manson and gave birth to a son she named Valentine Michael. Her Birth was assisted by several of the members of the Manson Family.

Now, how is any of this relevant? How are Charles Manson and the Manson Family important enough to even know about? Well this group of individuals became widely known when they were found responsible for the deaths of 8 people in California. To this day, Charles and many member of the Manson family are serving life in prison.
Charles Manson in 2012

1 comment:

  1. They were probably responsible for a lot more deaths. Manson apparently only directed the murders so convicting hims was very difficult. Read the book Helter Skelter sometime -- chilling. https://www.amazon.com/Helter-Skelter-Story-Manson-Murders/dp/0393322238

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