Charles Manson

Charles Milles Manson (born November 12, 1934) was the leader of a group of young followers of both sexes, known collectively as "The Family" in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Manson convinced the youths of his apocalyptic vision and still has a considerable amount of control over some of the former family members who are still alive. He planned and ordered the family to commit several brutal murders, most notably the movie actress Sharon Tate who was pregnant at the time. He was convicted of murder in what came to be known as the "Tate-La Bianca case", named after the victims, although he was not accused of committing the murders in person. He is currently serving a life sentence in a California prison and is up for parole in 2007; however, due to his erratic and arguably dangerous and insane behavior, it is highly unlikely he will ever be released.

Possible motive

The murders were on the surface motiveless and unconnected to Manson, but some key motives were later identified.

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Manson was highly hostile to society, pathologically so, and wanted revenge.

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• Manson had been rejected by the music industry and wanted revenge.

:: In the spring of 1968, Charles was introduced to record producer Terry Melcher, son of actress Doris Day, by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, who had picked up a couple of the Family members as they were hitchhiking. Manson and the Family moved into Wilson's house, where they lived for a year, and the Beach Boys recorded a song Manson wrote, calling it 'Never Learn Not to Love'. At the time, Melcher and his girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen, were living at the Tate house, and it was there Manson met him. Manson auditioned for Melcher, but Melcher decided not to sign him to a contract. Although Manson knew that Melcher and Bergen had moved to Malibu, Bugliosi suggested that he targeted the 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. It is also rumoured Manson auditioned for the Monkees but got rejected, but this is an urban legend as he was in prison at the time of the auditions in 1965-66.

Related Topics:
1968 - Terry Melcher - Doris Day - Dennis Wilson - Beach Boys - Hitchhiking - Candice Bergen - Malibu - Monkees - Urban legend

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• Manson got a "kick" out of death and control.

::During the trial, one witness commented that "he doesn't know about love... love is not his trip. Death is his trip".

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• The killers were attempting to clear the blame from Bobby Beausoleil.

:: This was a motive stated by the killers during interviews with them, featured in a 1972 Manson film documentary. They claimed that the motive for the murders was to clear fellow Family member Bobby Beausoleil, whom they described as a brother to them. Stating that they were willing to sacrifice their lives, (meaning the death penalty) to clear his name, they committed copycat murders to cast doubt on Bobby's guilt. This motive was substantially discredited during the penalty phase of the trial, where it became apparent that the "free Beausoleil" motive was contradicted by other testimony of the killers. Additionally, despite declaring they would die for Manson, the other accused claim to have waited until the main trial was over and the death penalty was being discussed, and then only on redirect, to introduce this as a motive. It was dismissed by the prosecution as an attempt to clear Manson by means of the other defendants taking the blame)

Related Topics:
1972 - Documentary - Penalty phase - Redirect

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• Manson had come to believe Armageddon was imminent, in the form of a global 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 the blacks did not know how to start their role in this war, so he would have to show them.

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Although all five were possible motives, in the trial the prosecutor placed the latter as the main motive, despite its unusual nature. There have been claims that the prosecution abandoned the fourth motive in favor of Helter Skelter, which they purportedly made up in order to connect Manson to the murders. This view has not had much support.

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