Manson Family: Crimes of Charles Manson and His Followers

The Manson Family was a murderous cult led by career criminal Charles Manson. Certain politicians, members of the media, and prosecutors sought to attach the Family to the hippie movement as a whole. Others believed this comparison was unjustified. Regardless, the cult etched the notorious name in history because of a killing spree in Los Angeles in 1969, rocking both the city and the United States as a whole.

Charles Manson was a longtime criminal and attempted musician before becoming one of the most dangerous cult leaders in history and, eventually, a convicted serial killer. He moved around the country as a youth, developing a perverse form of charisma he would use to manipulate people. He settled in California during the late 1960s, taking advantage of the era’s iconoclasm, openness to hedonistic experience, and friendliness to alternative ways of thinking to spearhead a series of horrific murders.

Although there were dozens of people associated with Charles Manson, several played key roles in the brutal acts of violence he unleashed on the world. Among the most notorious members of the Manson Family were:

• Charles “Tex” Watson: As his nickname might suggest, Watson hailed from the Lone Star State of Texas. He participated in the murders of Sharon Tate and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, murders which Manson initiated.
• Linda Kasabian: Although she was at the scenes of the crimes for the Tate and LaBianca murders, Kasabian didn’t kill anyone. She received immunity from criminal proceedings after cooperating as a witness for the prosecution.
• Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme: Years after the 1969 murders, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme—who was not one of the killers herself—tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford. Ford survived the attempt, and Fromme went to prison.
• Patricia Krenwinkel: After arriving at the Tate house on Cielo Drive, Krenwinkel stabbed coffee heiress Abigail Folger dozens of times. She expressed no remorse for her actions at her trial.
• Susan Atkins: Along with Family members Bobby Beausoleil and Mary Brunner, Atkins participated in the killing of Gary Hinman, in addition to helping kill multiple people at both the Tate and LaBianca houses.

Charles Manson began assembling his Family during the 1967 Summer of Love in San Francisco. He drew together a crew of young runaways and misfits by preaching to them about sex and drugs and feeding them lies about an impending apocalypse:

• Heading to Los Angeles: Manson persuaded the group to move to Los Angeles so he could work with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys and music producer Terry Melcher. The latter went on to rebuff his requests to record songs, filling Manson with rage.
• Scoping out Spahn Ranch: Manson followers found an old Hollywood western shooting location called Spahn Ranch in the nearby desert. This is where they set up camp in the months before the 1969 murders they committed. While at the ranch, Manson became obsessive about The Beatles’ self-titled 1968 release (also known as The White Album).
• Talking up Helter Skelter: Manson told his followers the Beatles record featured a panoply of cryptic messages about an upcoming race war—Manson named this war Helter Skelter after one of the songs on the album—in which the Family would fight against the Black Panthers. Manson combined these racist fantasies with his desire for revenge against Melcher in the months and days leading up to the murders.

The Manson Family started as a drug-addled, hedonistic commune, but it morphed into a gang of murderers within just a few years. These are just some of the acts of violence they committed:

• Gary Hinman murder: Susan Atkins and other Family members tortured and murdered Hinman in July 1969 after trying to steal money from him. They smeared the words “political piggy” in his blood on the walls as a harbinger of the political and racial violence they hoped to inspire. Around the same time, Manson Family members Bruce Davis and Steve “Clem” Grogan killed stuntman Donald “Shorty” Shea. Tex Watson also attempted to kill drug dealer Bernard Crowe but was unsuccessful.
• History of 10050 Cielo Drive: Manson knew the house on Cielo Drive once belonged to Terry Melcher, the music producer he believed had wrecked his ambitions of becoming a rock star. Melcher had long moved out of the house, but Manson seemed either unaware or uninterested in this when he sent his followers to enact their next killings there. Director Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate’s husband, rented the house at the time—but he was on location in Europe during the violence that took place there.
• Killings of Sharon Tate and associates: Manson family members descended on 10050 Cielo Drive in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles to act out their most notorious killings. They tortured, stabbed, and shot Hollywood actress Sharon Tate, hairdresser Jay Sebring, heiress Abigail Folger, Folger’s partner Wojciech Frykowski, and caretaker Steven Parent on August 8, 1969. Tate and Polanski’s unborn child, a boy named Paul, died along with his mother in the slayings.
• LaBianca murders: Charles “Tex” Watson, Leslie van Houten, Manson himself, and other Family members infiltrated the living room of Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary LaBianca the night after the Tate killings. After murdering the couple in their living room, they wrote “death to pigs” and “helter skelter” in blood on their walls and refrigerator.

The Manson Family hid out in Death Valley after the Tate-LaBianca murders. They knew they were on the run from the law. The Family’s unrelated previous car thefts and information about the Hinman murder led law enforcement to Death Valley.

From there, connections to the Tate and LaBianca killings materialized due to testimony from Family members Linda Kasabian and Paul Watkins. The trial began in July 1970. Vincent Bugliosi, a Los Angeles prosecutor, secured the death penalty or life sentences for all the murderers.

The State of California Supreme Court overturned the death penalty convictions as part of their larger ruling to abolish the punishment in general throughout the state. The offenders received life sentences in exchange.

Charles Manson died in prison from a heart attack in 2017 at 83 years old. FBI criminal profiler John Douglas interviewed Manson in prison to better understand the minds of serial killers and psychopaths, and in doing so, John played a prominent role in advancing the field of criminal psychology.

Getting to the core of human behavior takes knowledge and skills—just ask former FBI criminal profiler John Douglas. Learn how to spot a liar and uncover John’s tips for identifying other deceptive behaviors when you sign up for the MasterClass Annual Membership.