Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're looking
at a name that really became synonymous with
the kind of American nightmare, didn't it? Charles
Mills Manson. Absolutely. His story marks, for
many people, the symbolic end of that whole 1960s
peace and love idealism. It's a collision, really.
A collision of what, exactly? Well, profound
systemic failure, his entire life in institutions
crashing headlong into this cultural explosion
of the counterculture. Right. So we're going
to try and unpack the life of Charles Mills Maddox,
born 1934, a guy who spent, what, over half his
life locked up before he became this infamous
figure? That context is everything. That lifetime
inside before the summer of love, that's what
we need to trace. So our mission today is follow
the timeline, try to get inside that bizarre
ideology he cooked up, look at those weird brief
brushes with Hollywood, and then the cultural
scar left by those horrific 1969 murders. And
we have to start with the conviction itself.
1971, first -degree murder, conspiracy, seven
people dead, including Sharon Tate. But the key
thing was the conspiracy charge, wasn't it? Exactly.
Conspiracy by proxy. The prosecution had to argue
successfully that even though Manson wasn't,
you know, physically at some of the killings.
Like the Tate murders. Right. His words, his
philosophy, his direct orders. That was the overt
act of conspiracy. That's what got him convicted
for all of it. So not holding the knife, but
creating the whole twisted belief system that
demanded the violence. Precisely. And it's that
same sort of. That persuasive rhetoric, that
bizarre charisma that also led him, for a moment,
into the world of L .A. celebrities. Before the
cult leader, the wannabe rock star, you can't
really ignore his attempt to break into the music
scene. It seems almost peripheral, but it's important.
It's incredibly strange. Here's this career criminal,
literally just out of prison, and he somehow
hooks up with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys.
Dennis Wilson. Seriously. Wilson was apparently
quite taken with him at first, called him the
wizard. Even got him an introduction to Terry
Melcher, the producer, Doris Day's son. Wow.
So Manson was really trying for a record deal.
Desperately. And when it fell through, when Melcher
wasn't interested, well, that rejection seems
to loom pretty large, especially considering
where the most famous murders took place. At
Melcher's old house, a house he'd been rejected
from. OK, that adds a layer. It does. But to
understand why that rejection might have hit
so hard, you really have to go back, way back,
to the walls he spent his whole life inside.
Okay, let's dig into those institutional years.
They really are the bedrock of who Manson became.
Born in Cincinnati in 1934, his mother, Ada Kathleen
Maddox, was only 16. And his biological father,
Colonel Walker Henderson Scott Sr., who he never
knew was apparently a bit of a con man himself.
Claimed to be an Army colonel, but colonel was
just his first name. So instability from day
one, basically. Utterly. His mom divorced his
stepfather, William Manson, pretty early on,
37, though Charles kept the name. And then the
big one, 1939, Charles is five. His mother and
uncle get arrested for assault and robbery. Five
years old. And his mom goes to prison. Yep, she
got five years. Charles ended up with an aunt
and uncle in West Virginia. Not exactly a stable
start. His mom got out in 42, and apparently
he said that was the happiest time. But it didn't
last, did it? No. By age nine, serious antisocial
behavior. He even claimed he set his school on
fire. Then it's just truancy, petty theft, the
classic pattern kicking in. And the system's
response was more institutions. Right. Age 13,
1947, he's at the Cabalt School for Boys, a Catholic
place, apparently very strict, beatings were
common. He ran away, predictably. Then his first
real documented crime on his own. 1948, robbed
a grocery store. Just wanted food, supposedly,
but found over $100. Ran in himself a room on
Skid Row. Briefly tried to legit job Western
Union, but that didn't stick. Back to crime.
Grand Theft Auto. Armed robbery. Which landed
him in the Indiana Boys School. Another tough
place. And it's here, sources say, he develops
this defense mechanism. The insane game. The
insane game. What was that? It sounds theatrical,
but it was pure survival. He was small, right?
Vulnerable in these places. So to fend off tougher
inmates, he'd deliberately act crazy. Screeching,
grimacing, making them think he was totally nuts
so they'd leave him alone. Wow. So performing
psychosis as self -defense. Exactly. And you
can see how that kind of performative control
could become a tool later on. with his followers
in the courtroom. And this whole time, he was
basically illiterate, right? But smart. Yeah,
tests showed an above -average IQ, 109. But the
caseworker's assessment was just blunt. Aggressively
antisocial. That gap between intelligence and
social malfunction, that's crucial. The crimes
just kept escalating, even inside. Oh, yeah.
Transferred to a federal reformatory after raping
a boy at knife point. racked up serious disciplinary
offenses inside, including homosexual acts. He
even got married twice during brief periods outside.
To Rothley, Willis had a son, Charles Manson
Jr., and then Leona Candy Stevens, supposedly
another son, Charles Luther. Right, but mostly
he was inside. And a key reason he stayed inside
so long was federal charges. Things like crossing
state lines and stolen cars, forged checks, the
Mann Act. Exactly. And the Mann Act, transporting
women across state lines for immoral purposes,
that plus the interstate stuff, meant federal
time. And federal sentences back then, even for
things that might seem relatively minor now,
were often much harsher, much longer than state
sentences for similar crimes. So he was trapped
in this federal loop. Pretty much. A vicious
cycle he couldn't escape, which makes his reaction
to finally getting out even more chilling. March
21st, 1967. He's 32, spent more than half his
life locked up. And what does he do? He asks
to stay, tells the authorities prison is his
home. He doesn't think he can make it on the
outside. Request permission not to be released.
That's staggering. The ultimate institutionalization.
He preferred prison. It speaks volumes about
his fear of the world, his lack of any real coping
skills outside that rigid structure, and frankly,
about the system's total failure to rehabilitate
or reintegrate him. So they basically kick him
out anyway. And where does he head? Straight
into the whirlwind of 1967 California. Right.
Within a month, he's in Berkeley. Then Haight
-Ashbury, the heart of the Summer of Love. He
starts using LSD. A lot. So the ultimate symbol
of confinement meets the ultimate symbol of,
well, freedom and chaos. And he lands in this
really unique situation. He's still technically
on parole, supervised by a guy named Roger Smith.
A federal probation officer? Yes. But Smith was
also a criminology researcher working at the
Haight -Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. And guess
what? Manson and his early followers became research
subjects. Wait, what? Subjects for what? Studying
the effects of LSD and methamphetamines on the
counterculture. So he wasn't just some random
drifter. He was being observed, documented in
this clinical research context. That's unbelievable.
Did they notice anything? The clinic's founder,
David Smith, later said that Roger Smith felt
Manson's personality change during this period
was the most abrupt, the most dramatic he had
ever seen in his career. So this environment,
the drugs, the attention, it was fertile ground.
Absolutely. Perfect for him to start building
his own thing. And his ideology is this weird
Frankenstein's monster of ideas. What kind of
ideas? Bits from science fiction, like Heinlein's
Stranger in a Strange Land. Pieces of the Bible.
Dale Carnegie's self -help stuff, How to Influence
People. And critically, Scientology. He studied
Scientology. Intensely. While he was in prison.
completed something like 150 hours of auditing.
He learned the techniques, the language of control,
submission, breaking people down. And he started
using this mix on vulnerable people. Exactly.
Emotionally insecure people, runaways, social
outcasts. His first followers were people like
Mary Brunner, a young library assistant, Lynette
Squeaky Frum, who was just a teenager, people
looking for something. And he gathered them together.
Yeah, they ended up living communally, sometimes
up to 18 women packed into one place. And the
manipulation techniques were... What did witnesses
say he did? High doses of LSD were key. Allegedly,
he used that, plus unconventional sex practices,
isolation, intense lectures. All designed to
break down their egos, make them empty vessels,
totally reliant on him. And he stayed in control
during this. That's what Paul Watkins, a former
member, testified. He said Manson often took
lower doses of acid during group sessions. Kept
his wits about him, you know. While everyone
else was tripping, he was consolidating control.
Chemical manipulation. So this controlling figure
somehow bumps into actual Hollywood royalty.
The Beach Boys thing still seems bizarre. It's
pure 60s California weirdness. Dennis Wilson
apparently picked up a couple of the family women
who were hitchhiking in Malibu. Just like that.
Just like that. Takes him back to his place on
Sunset Boulevard. Comes home later. And there's
Manson and a dozen or so followers just moved
in. Dennis Wilson just let them stay. A famous
musician housing a cult. For about six months,
yeah. Wilson was apparently fascinated at first.
Saw Manson as this sort of edgy counterculture
guru. Called him the wizard. The women basically
acted as servants. Did Manson get anything musical
out of it? He did record some songs at Brian
Wilson's home studio, though they weren't released
then. Yeah. And there was that whole business
with the song. Cease to exist. Right. The Beach
Boys recorded it as never learn not to love.
Credited only to Dennis Wilson. Manson was furious.
Supposedly there was a deal for like $100 K's
worth of stuff. But Manson felt ripped off. Uncredited.
So the relationship soured pretty quickly. Dramatically.
The family apparently trashed two of Wilson's
expensive cars. When Wilson finally kicked them
out and moved away himself, Manson left a bullet
for the housekeeper. A clear threat. Rejection
equals violence. Again. So where did they go
after Wilson's Place? They ended up at Spahn
Ranch in August 68. This rundown old movie set
used for westerns. Basically derelict. How did
they afford that? They didn't pay rent. The deal
was the women did chores around the ranch and
provided sexual favors to the owner, George Spahn,
who was about 80 and nearly blind. Grim. But
the isolation must have helped Manson's control.
Totally. And it's here at Spahn Ranch that his
main ideology. The really terrifying part comes
into full focus. Hilter Skelter. Named after
the Beatles song, what was the actual idea? It
was his prophecy of an imminent apocalyptic race
war. He became completely obsessed with it. Believed
America's black population was about to rise
up and slaughter the white population. Except
for the family, presumably. Right. He thought
they'd survive by hiding out in the desert in
some kind of bottomless pit he'd read about in
Revelations. But the racism was blatant and frankly...
How so? He believed black people, after winning
the war, would be too unintelligent, in his view,
to run things. So Manson and his followers, his
white followers, would have to emerge from hiding
and take over, become the new masters. That's
profoundly disturbing. And the murderers were
supposed to start this war. That was the idea.
Make them look like they were committed by black
militants, frame them, ignite the conflict. Helter
Skelter was the goal. And just before all this
kicks off, he has that weird encounter at the
house on Cielo Drive. Yeah. March 1969, he goes
to a Bavin 50 Cielo Drive looking for Terry Melcher,
the guy who rejected his music. But Melcher's
already moved out. Who was living there then?
Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. Manson actually
spoke to the owner, Rudolph Elton Belli, in the
guest house. Elton Belli told him Melcher was
gone, asked him not to bother the tenants. Did
Tate see him? Apparently, yes. She later asked
Alta Belli about that creepy looking guy. It's
just... Yeah. Months later, that exact house
becomes the scene of the massacre he orders,
the place of his rejection. Okay, so summer 1969.
Things escalate fast. The first real violent
act that sets things in motion is the shooting
of Bernard Lotsa Papa Crowe, July 1st. Who was
Crowe? A drug dealer. Apparently, Tex Watson
had ripped him off and Crowe threatened to wipe
out everyone at Spahn Ranch. So Manson goes to
Crow's place in Hollywood and shoots him. Did
he kill him? Manson thought he killed him. And
this is critical. Soon after, Manson sees a news
report about a Black Panther member's body being
found dumped somewhere in L .A. He puts two and
two together, wrongly assumes Crow was a Panther,
and totally freaks out. Thinks the Panthers are
going to come after the family for revenge. Exactly.
Massive retaliation. So he orders Spahn Ranch
turned into an armed camp, defenses up, ready
for war. This paranoia... fueled by his mistake,
makes Helter Skelter feel real, immediate to
him. And that paranoia leads to the next murder,
Gary Hinman. Late July 69, Gary Hinman was a
music teacher, UCLA grad student. Manson somehow
got it in his head that Hinman had money, maybe
a $21 ,000 inheritance, or maybe owed money for
bad drugs sold to a biker gang, the Straight
Satans. The motive is a bit murky. So he sends
people to get the money. Sends Bobby Beausoleil,
Susan Atkins, Mary Brunner. They hold Hinman
hostage for two days. He doesn't have the money
or won't give it up. Then Manson gets involved
personally. Yeah, Manson shows up, takes a sword,
slashes Hinman's face, cuts his ear. Then allegedly
on Manson's orders, Beausoleil stabs Hinman to
death. And they leave a sign, like Crow. Just
like the plan for Hilter Skelter. They write
political piggy on the wall in Hinman's blood
and draw a panther paw print trying to frame
the Black Panthers. And Beausoleil gets caught.
Days later, driving him in his car. Arrested.
And this arrest is the pivot point. Because now,
one major motive for the Tate -LaBianca murders
becomes trying to commit copycat crimes to get
Beausoleil off the hook. See, you've got two
potential motives swirling around now. Start
Helter Skelter and Free Bobby. Exactly. Which
brings us to August 8th, 1969. 1050 Cielo Drive.
The Tate House. What were Manson's specific orders,
according to Watson? Tex Watson claimed Manson
told him, go to that house, totally destroy everyone
inside, and make it as gruesome as you can. And
he told the women with Watson -Atkins, Krenwinkel,
and Linda Kazabian, do whatever Tex tells you.
The victims inside, Sharon Tate, heavily pregnant.
Jay Sebring, a celebrity hairstylist. Wooshee
Krakowski, a writer and friend of Polanski's.
Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress. And outside...
Steven Parent, just a young guy visiting the
caretaker, caught leaving at the wrong moment.
Watson cut the phone lines first. Yes. Then shot
and stabbed Parent in his car. Inside, it was
chaos and terror. Watson reportedly announced,
I'm the devil and I'm here to do the devil's
business. The violence was extreme. Sebring protested
how they were treating Tate. Shot and stabbed
seven times for it. Furkowski fought back hard,
incredibly bravely, but was stabbed 51 times,
beaten over the head 13 times. Folger ran outside
but was caught and stabbed 28 times. And Sharon
Tate pleading for her baby's life. Hanged briefly
with a rope, then stabbed 16 times. Died from
massive hemorrhage. Just horrific. And again,
they left a sign. Atkins wrote pig on the front
door in Tate's blood. Now here's the conflict
again. Was pig meant to incite the race war,
like the prosecution argued? Or was it, as Atkins
later claimed, a direct copycat of the piggy
at the Hinman scene intended to point blame elsewhere
and free Beausoleil? Two very different interpretations
of the same word. Fundamentally different. And
Manthan apparently wasn't satisfied. He felt
the Tate murders weren't messy enough. Didn't
send the right message. So the next night, August
10th, he goes out himself. He drives the car
this time, takes Watson, Krenwinkel, Leslie Van
Houten, and others. They drive around randomly
for a while, then end up at 3301 Waverly Drive.
A LaBianca house. Home of Lino LaBianca, a supermarket
executive, and his wife, Rosemary. And this time,
Manson goes inside with Watson initially. What
did he do? He tied the couple up. Then, and this
is crucial for the conspiracy charge he left,
told Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten what
to do, and then left them to carry out the murders.
More extreme brutality. And anything even more
ritualistic. Lena was stabbed 12 times with a
bayonet. The word war was carved into her stomach.
And Rosemary. Stabbed 41 times. Horrifically,
many of those wounds were inflicted by Leslie
Van Houten after Rosemary was already dead. And
more writing. More signs. Yes. Crinwinkle wrote
rise and death to pigs on the walls. And significantly,
Helter Skelter misspelled on the refrigerator
door. All in blood. They left a carving fork
sticking out of Lino's stomach, a steak knife
in his throat. Pure overkill designed to shock.
Was that the end of the violence for that night?
Almost. Manson later sent some followers to kill
an actor, Saladin Nader. But Linda Kazabian,
who was the driver in Lookout at Tate and was
present at LaBianca, claims she deliberately
messed it up. knocked on the wrong door on purpose
to prevent another murder. That act probably
saved her later, giving her credibility for immunity.
Absolutely. It positioned her as someone who
finally resisted. But there was one more murder
directly linked to the family that summer. Donald
Shorty Shea. August 26th. Shea was a stuntman,
worked at Spahn Ranch. Manson apparently suspected
him of being an informant or maybe just didn't
like him because she was married to a black woman,
which clashed with Manson's racist views. How
was he killed? Brutally tortured and murdered
by Manson, Bruce Davis, Tex Watson, and Steve
Grogan. Pipe wrenches, knives, bayonets. Davis
later described the horrific scene, how Manson
pressured them, how he himself couldn't bring
himself to use a machete effectively. They buried
him out there. Somewhere on or near the ranch.
His remains weren't found for eight years until
1977, when Grogan finally agreed to lead authorities
to the burial site as part of a deal. So, multiple
gruesome murders, cryptic messages. How did the
police investigation handle all this initially?
Sounds like chaos. It was. There was a huge,
tragic disconnect at first. The detectives investigating
the Tate murders initially... didn't connect
them to the LaBianca murders the very next night.
Why not? They seem so similar. The Tate scene
was incredibly messy, and some victims had connections,
however tangential, to the drug scene. So the
initial theory for Tate was maybe a drug deal
gone bad. They overlooked... the ritualistic
elements initially. So what finally connected
the dots? The hymn and case detectives. They
saw reports about the Tate killings, noticed
the similarities, the extreme stabbing, the writing
in blood, specifically the word pig or piggy.
They reached out to the Tate team. That was the
breakthrough. That cross -jurisdictional communication
was key. Absolutely critical. But even then,
catching the family wasn't straightforward. They
were actually arrested before the murder link
was solid, but for something else. The dune buggy
theft ring. Right. August 16th, a big raid at
Spahn Ranch. They were stealing VW Beetles, converting
them into dune buggies, major auto theft. But
they all got released. Why? A technicality. The
warrant had the wrong date on it. A simple clerical
error let them walk. Unbelievable. So when were
they finally apprehended for good? October. After
they had moved out to Barker Ranch, this isolated
place in the desert, they got noticed after setting
fire to some earth -moving equipment belonging
to Death Valley National Monument. That triggered
another big raid. And they found Manson hiding.
Yeah, a highway patrol officer found him crammed
into a tiny cabinet underneath a bathroom sink.
A pretty ignominious capture. But the actual
evidence linking them to the murders came from
inside the system. Yes. Susan Atkins. She was
in custody for the Hinman murder already. And
she started bragging to her cellmates, giving
them incredibly graphic, accurate details about
the Tate murders. And the cellmates talked. They
did. That information got back to the investigators
and it blew the case wide open. That led to murder
warrants for Watson, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian
in early December 69. And Kasabian turned herself
in. She did. She'd already fled the family right
after the LaBianca killings. Clearly terrified.
She surrendered voluntarily and, crucially, because
she hadn't physically participated in the killings,
she was mostly the driver. And look how she was
offered immunity. In exchange for testifying
against everyone else. Exactly. Her testimony
became the absolute cornerstone of the prosecution's
case. She was the eyewitness who could put Manson
at the center, issuing orders, connecting both
murder scenes, explaining the motives. Without
her, the conspiracy case would have been much
harder. Okay, so the trial starts June 1970,
and it immediately descends into, well, a circus.
A terrifying circus, right from day one. Manson
is denied the right to represent himself, which
infuriates him. So what does he do? Carves an
X into his forehead with his fingernail. An ex?
What did that mean? He declared he had exed himself
from the establishment's world, cut himself off,
and almost immediately, the female defendants,
Atkins, Krenwinkel, Van Houten, they copy him.
Carve exes on their own foreheads. And the family
members outside the courtroom. They start showing
up with exes too. Loitering outside the courthouse,
sometimes openly wearing sheathed knives. It
was pure intimidation theater. Were witnesses
actually intimidated or harmed? Oh, definitely.
Paul Watkins, a key former member who testified
against Manson, his van mysteriously burst into
flames, leaving him badly burned. Another witness,
Barbara Hoyt, was lured to Hawaii by family members
who tried to silence her by giving her a hamburger
laced with a massive dose of LSD. She survived,
but they were clearly trying to stop her testimony.
And Manson himself was disruptive in court. Constantly.
At one point, President Nixon made a comment
to the press saying Manson was guilty, essentially
convicting him before the verdict. Manson managed
to get a newspaper with the headline, Manson
Guilty, Nixon Declares, and flashed it at the
jury. Caused a huge uproar, motions for mistrial.
And he physically attacked the judge. He literally
leaped over the defense table and tried to attack
Judge Charles Older. After that... Rumor has
it Judge Older started carrying a revolver under
his robes. The tension was unbelievable. Even
the defense lawyers weren't safe. The most chilling
incident involved Ronald Hughes, Leslie Van Houten's
lawyer. During a weekend recess near the end
of the trial, he went camping and just disappeared.
Vanished. Completely. His badly decomposed body
was found months later. While never officially
proven, the suspicion has always been that the
family murdered him. Sandra Good, another family
member, later referred to Hughes' death as the
first of the retaliation murders. It cast a pall
over the whole proceeding. Did Manson ever testify
directly to the jury? No. The judge wouldn't
allow him to represent himself, and he largely
refused to cooperate with his appointed attorney.
He did give a long, rambling statement outside
the jury's presence, basically doubling down
on his helter -skelter philosophy, blaming society,
saying things like, the music is telling the
youth to rise up against the establishment. But
he maintained deniability about the actual orders.
So the whole trial boils down to the prosecution's
motive versus the defense's. Helter -skelter
versus copycat. Exactly. Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi,
hammered home helter -skelter. The bizarre race
war motive, the pig writings, the attempt to
frame black groups, the wallet supposedly left
in a black neighborhood. That was the narrative.
Manson masterminded these killings to ignite
chaos. And the defense, what was their argument?
Fragmented. Especially after Hughes disappeared.
But the core idea they tried to float was the
copycat motive. That the women, maybe led by
Kasabian before she got immunity, planned and
carried out the Tate -LaBianca killings primarily
to mimic the Hinman murder scene and get Bobby
Bousselet freed. A much more mundane, albeit
still horrific, motive. So grand apocalyptic
delusion versus cynical legal strategy. That
was the choice facing the jury. They ultimately
believed Bugliosi and the helter -skelter narrative.
rejected the copycat theory. January 25th, 1971,
guilty verdicts. Guilty on all counts for Manson,
Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten, all sentenced
to death. But they weren't executed. No. In 1972,
the California Supreme Court briefly ruled the
state's death penalty unconstitutional. So all
their sentences, along with others on death row
at the time, were automatically commuted to life
in prison, but with the possibility of parole.
And that's where Manson stayed for the next...
What, 46 years? Life in prison? 46 years. And
it wasn't exactly quiet. He remained a volatile
figure even inside. In 1984, another inmate threw
paint thinner on him and set him on fire. Set
him on fire? Why? Apparently, Manson had objected
to the other guy's Hare Krishna chanting. Caused
second and third degree burns. Just constant
conflict. Did he ever engage with the parole
process show remorse? Rarely. After 1997, he
pretty much refused to even attend his parole
hearings. The reports always cited the same things.
Zero remorse, ongoing controlling behavior, significant
mental health issues, diagnoses shifted over
the years, schizophrenia, paranoid delusional
disorder, later assessments suggesting bipolar
disorder, psychopathy. But the core assessment
was always unreformed, still dangerous. Parole
was consistently denied. Did he still try to
connect with the outside world? Oh, yeah. In
2009, they caught him with a smuggled cell phone.
He'd been calling people all over the U .S.,
even Canada. And then there was the whole engagement
thing. Right, to star Afton Alain Burton. Yeah,
this young woman who started visiting him became
convinced of his innocence, maintained a relationship
with him for nine years. They actually got a
marriage license in 2014. But they never actually
got married. Nope. The license expired. There
were reports, like from journalist Daniel Simone,
claiming Manson called it off because he found
out her real motives was... Well, grotesque.
She supposedly wanted to marry him just to get
legal rights to his body after he died. To put
it on display, like a tourist attraction. That
was the allegation. Who knows the real truth,
but the wedding never happened. Classic Manson
weirdness right to the end. And the family's
influence didn't just vanish either, right? Squeaky
from... Exactly. Even years later, the family
echo was there. 1975, Lynette Squeaky Frum, one
of his earliest followers, points a gun at President
Gerald Ford in Sacramento. Her stated reason
was basically to gain attention for Manson, to
be closer to him. She was tackled, the gun didn't
fire properly, but it was a major incident. And
Sandra Good, too. Around the same time, yeah.
Sandra Good was convicted for sending threatening
letters related to environmental issues, but
again, seen as acting under Manson's lingering
influence. It kept the fear alive, kept the family
in the headlines. So Manson finally dies in prison,
November 19, 2017. How old was he? 83. Died of
cardiac arrest, complications from colon cancer.
But even his death wasn't the end of the story.
The fight over his body. Right. A bizarre three
-way legal battle erupted. His grandson, Jason
Freeman, wanted the remains. A pen pal named
Michael Channels produced a will supposedly leaving
everything to him. And another guy, Matthew Roberts,
claimed to be Manson's son, though DNA tests
later disproved that. Who ended up winning? The
court sided with the grandson, Jason Freeman.
He had Manson cremated in March 2018 and scattered
the ashes somewhere on a California hillside.
So looking back, what's the cultural impact?
He looms so large. Undeniably. Musically, he
was this outsider figure. His own album, L .I
.E., came out during the trial. Artists from
Guns N' Roses covering Look at Your Game Girl
to Marilyn Manson taking his name that connection
to dark counterculture is potent. And in film.
The sheer brutality, the randomness, the Hollywood
connection. Yeah. It definitely influenced movies.
Some argue it ushered in an era of increased
gore and sexual violence and horror and crime
films and that weird Star Wars connection. Luke
Starkiller. Yeah. George Lucas apparently changed
the hero's name to Skywalker, partly because
with renewed Manson coverage after the From attempt,
Starkiller sounded too much like celebrity killer.
The name itself had become toxic, associated
with that specific fear Manson generated. So
this deep dive really shows a perfect storm,
doesn't it? A life shaped by institutional failure
colliding with the wild energy of the 60s counterculture.
And creating this uniquely American monster,
crafting a racist apocalyptic ideology out of
scraps of pop culture, the Bible, and prison
yard psychology. As we wrap up, let's go back
to that core question from the trial. The conflicting
motives. Was it all about the grand, insane plan
of Helter Skelter, this elaborate scheme to start
a race war? That was the prosecution's narrative,
the terrifying, almost epic delusion. Or was
it the defense's alternative, something almost
more chilling in its banality, that these horrific,
headline -grabbing murders were just... A calculated
tactic. A copycat crime designed simply to get
their friend Bobby Bussolet out of jail. A cynical,
strategic move using extreme violence as legal
leverage. So the final thought for you to consider.
What's ultimately more disturbing? The idea of
a cult leader driven by a vast, racist, apocalyptic
fantasy? Or the idea that such brutal, infamous
murders could be committed for a reason as relatively
mundane, as strategically cold, as trying to
spring a buddy from prison? How does knowing
that both of these starkly different motives
seem plausible, even equally plausible given
the evidence and the players involved, shape
how we understand cults, manipulation, and the
potential for violence?