Video:Profile of the Manson Family

Transcript:Profile of the Manson Family

Hello. I'm Dr. Charles Heller, a clinical and forensic psychologist. Here, for about.com. I’m going to tell you about the crimes and history of The Charles Manson Family.

Facts About the Manson Family

Well, Chalres Manson was born in 1934 in Cincinnati and his mother was 16 years old. She was briefly married to a man named William Manson and they gave the last name, Manson, to Charles. But he never really knew his father. His mother was an alcoholic and actually once tried to trade infant Charles for a pitcher of beer to a waitress. He moved to live with various relatives and he was subjected to fanatical religious life by his grandmother. He grew up in a home for boys.

More Facts About the Manson Family

Eventually, and the story is that he was raped while in reform school.He became a career criminal and spent a number of years in the penitentiary. Eventually, a girlfriend of his, named Mary Brunner, enticed other young women to join what they called The Manson Family. And a few men. Who basically lived in a commune situation with Charles Manson.

Manson Family Crime

This was not a commune of the free love and caring generation. Charles Manson was very violent and he controlled his group through threats as well as a charismatic figure. And, a lot of people in his group thought that he was actually Jesus. Christ. Eventually, he was influenced by The Beatles by their White Album, and the song Helter Skelter. And he came up with a revelation that he could create a race war between blacks and whites. That eventually the blacks would win the race war, but they would not have the intelligence to govern themselves and they would come to Charles Manson, and the family, to help govern the world.

More About Manson Family Crime

They started to kill, wanted to kill successful, highly visible movie stars, wealthy white people and then hopefully those deaths those killings would be blamed on black people. He learned how to play the guitar in prison and started writing songs. And, made some connections with someone on The Beach Boys, and hoped to get his music published, his songs published. And he became very frustrated because that didn’t happen and held grudges against the people he thought who could help him.

And one of those people lived on the grounds of the Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski estate, where he eventually sent four or five of his family members to start this race war and to kill these people. Manson was found guilty, first of all of murder and conspiracy and sentenced to executed in California. But state law commuted it to life in prison without parole. The other Manson Family members, Charles "Tex" Watson, he’s still in prison and he became a born again Christian. And, Susan Atkins was given a life sentence and died in prison. Leslie Van Houton is still in prison. Patricia Krenwinkle is the longest incarcerated female in the California Penal System. There was also Lynette Fromme. She was not involved in the Tate Labianca Murders. But she attempted to assassinate the former US president Gerald Ford in 1975. She was released in 2009.

The family members were also his victims. Their lives were destroyed as well as them destroying and killing other people. Thanks for watching.

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