Charles Manson

**Charles Milles Manson** (né **Maddox**; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and leader of a California cult which murdered several people in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His cult of young women and men was known as "The Family."

He planned and ordered the Family to commit several brutal murders. Most known is the August 8, 1969 murder of Sharon Tate by Manson's followers. Tate was pregnant when she was killed. 

The same night, Manson's followers also murdered Steven Parent, a friend of the groundskeeper at the house; Jay Sebring, a hair stylist; Abigail Folger, an heiress and social worker; and Wojciech Frykowski, a Polish writer and actor. 

The next night, Manson and some of his followers murdered Leno La Bianca, a grocery store owner, and his wife Rosemary. Manson and his followers were arrested for stealing cars, but police soon discovered that they had committed the murders.

Manson was convicted and sent to prison for life in California. He and four Family members were sentenced to death, but the death penalty was abolished in California shortly after that. 

Because of his violent, murderous, anti-social behavior and unstable mental state, he was refused parole in 2012 for the 12th time. He was 77 years old at the time. His next hearing was scheduled for 2027.

Manson released an album titled Lie: the Love and Terror Cult. It featured Manson's music. All profits of the 2006 revived ESP-Disk label version go to the family of Wojciech Frykowski. Allmusic rated the album 4 out of 5 stars.

## The Manson "Family"
Manson was a convicted criminal long before the infamous murders. When he was released for the second time on March 21, 1967, he had spent more than half of his 32 years in prisons and other institutions.

On his release day, Manson was allowed to move to San Francisco. With the help of a prison friend he moved into an apartment in Berkeley. While in prison, a bank robber taught him to play the steel guitar. He was living mostly by panhandling, he soon met Mary Brunner, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Brunner was working as a library assistant at University of California, Berkeley, and Manson moved in with her. Someone said in a secondhand report that he managed to talk her into allowing other women to live with them, even though she was against it. Before long, they were sharing Brunner's home with 18 other women.p163–174

Manson set himself up as a guru in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. During 1967's "Summer of Love," it was becoming the most popular place for hippies to live and hang out. Preaching a philosophy that included some of the Scientology he had studied in prison,

### Meeting Dennis Wilson
In the late spring of 1968, in some reports of the events, Dennis Wilson, of the Beach Boys, picked up two hitchhiking Manson followers. They were Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey. Wilson brought them to his house in a rich neighborhood of Los Angeles for a few hours. After an all-night recording session, he came home in the early hours of the next morning. Wilson was greeted in his driveway by Manson, who came out of the house. Feeling afraid, Wilson asked the stranger if he was going to hurt him. Saying no, Manson then began to kiss Wilson's feet.ch4 Wilson spent a lot of time singing and talking with Manson, whose women were treated like domestic workers. He later wrote about this experience with Manson for *Rolling Stone* magazine. He used a fake name of "Lance Fairweather" for the article.

In his book *Manson in His Own Words*, Manson says he first met Wilson at a friend's San Francisco house, where Manson had gone to buy cannabis. The drummer then gave Manson his Sunset Boulevard address and invited him to stop by when he would be in Los Angeles.

### Spahn Ranch
In August 1968, Manson established a base for the group at Spahn's Movie Ranch, not far from Topanga Canyon, after Wilson's manager told the Family to move out of Wilson's home.ch12 Manson was obsessed with the group. At McNeil, he had told fellow inmates, including Alvin Karpis, that he could surpass the group in fame; He had emphasized Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, which had taken place on April 4, 1968.
At the Canoga Park house, while Family members worked on vehicles and pored over maps to prepare for their desert escape, they also worked on songs for their world-changing album. 

#### Hinman murder
On July 25, 1969, Manson sent Bobby Beausoleil, Mary Brunner, and Susan Atkins to the house of acquaintance Gary Hinman to persuade him to turn over money Manson thought Hinman had inherited. The three held the uncooperative Hinman hostage for two days, during which Manson showed up with a sword to slash his ear. After that, Beausoleil stabbed Hinman to death, probably on Manson's instruction. Before leaving the Topanga Canyon residence, one of them used Hinman's blood to write "Political piggy" on the wall and to draw a panther paw, a Black Panther symbol. Some reports suggest Manson was too weak for surgery. He was returned to prison by January 6. There was no report about whether he received any treatment.

On November 15, 2017, it was confirmed that Manson had returned to a hospital in Bakersfield. Four days later, he died at the hospital of natural causes and cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by colorectal cancer at the age of 83. Manson's body was cremated on March 20, 2018.

## Popular culture
* Marilyn Manson's name is from Marilyn Monroe's first name and Manson's surname.
* Manson is a character in the *South Park* episode "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!".

## References
## Other websites
* Official website
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