Watts
Dylan Watts
Mr. Miller
Honors Psychology
25 October 2010
Charles Manson
Charles Mason was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 11, 1934. His mother was
sixteen when she had Charles. Charles spent most of his young life with his aunt and uncle in
West Virginia, especially while his mother was in jail for auto theft. His aunt and uncle were
very strict on him and also quite religious. Manson was in and out of boys homes. Charles was
sent to the Federal Reformatory in Virginia after sodomizing a boy with a razor blade to the
boy’s throat. He was let out on parole when he was 19 and then married a waitress. After moving
to California with his wife and new born child, he began his new career as a pimp.
According to some, Charles was never a “normal” child. His aunt and uncle, of whom he
stayed with, often punished him severely. Manson clearly had a problem with authority and tried
to get away from it as much as possible by getting himself into trouble. Psychiatrists said that
Manson was a “very emotionally upset youth” but “extremely sensitive” and “dangerous with
homosexual and assaultive tendencies.” In 1966 they said that Charles needed a large amount of
help to even make the leap from the institution to the real/free world.
Finally, once he was released after his ten year sentence for a forged Treasury check, he
started “the Family”. The Family was a group started by Charles Manson that interacted in
sexual activities with each other, hallucinogenic drug experiences, and speeches by Manson
himself on the coming of Helter Skelter. Members of the Family looked at Charles Manson as a
“Christ like” person. They would never question anything he said as he virtually controlled the
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group and all of the individuals. The Family eventually all moved in to neighborhoods nearby
each other in the Los Angeles are in 1969, called Spahn Ranch. Manson then began to create his
series of murders to set off the Helter Skelter idea.
“Now it is time for Helter Skelter.” On August 8, 1969 Manson came out to three of his
Family members saying just that. He sent out the three women with a change of clothes, a knife
and a driver’s license. He didn’t tell them what they were doing or where they were going. They
soon pulled up to the home of Sharon Tate, a famous actress. Within minutes the killings began.
A total of 4 people died that night, including 102 stab wounds. The following night the next
murder had occurred. Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were found dead and stabbed in their home.
Written on the wall in blood was “DEATH TO PIGS” “RISE” and on the refrigerator “HELTER
SKELTER”. These two murders were known as the Tate-LaBianca murders when they finally
made it to court.
The investigation of the Tate-LaBianca murders began a couple months after the murders
had happened. At first it was two separate cases but they were put together after talking with
several witnesses and people who had overheard members of the Family’s and Charles himself
talking about the murders indirectly or directly to their faces. Susan Atkins (one of the murderers
in the case) was sent to jail in Dormitory 8000. She told her inmate everything. All about the
murders and what happened, who was involved and how it was all done. Eventually this story
reached the LAPD through one of Atkins inmate’s friends. Around the same general time the
LAPD investigated and interviewed Al Springer, a member of the Straight Satan bike gang.
Springer was recruited by Manson to become a member of the Family. Springer stated many
instances when Charles Manson himself had bragged about the killings and writing something in
the refrigerator in blood, which really showed the LAPD that they had a case with Charles
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Manson. After interviewing Springer the LAPD interviewed another member of the bike gang,
Danny DeCarlo. DeCarlo told the police that Manson once asked him “what to use to decompose
a body”.
Vincent Bugliosi was selected by the District Attorney to be the chief prosecutor in the TateLaBianca case. Bugliosi joined on the investigation search at the Spahn Ranch were the police
found bullet shells and casings from a target practice area. The following day they investigated
the Barker Ranch, the home that the Family lived in after the Spahn Ranch. On a bus located at
the Barker Ranch magazines from World War 2 were found, containing solely articles about
Hitler and his tactics. After all of the investigation the LAPD finally identified the five people
guilty in the Tate and LaBianca murders. The suspects were Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel,
Leslie Can Houten, Linda Kasabian and Charles “Tex” Watson.
A deal was meet with Susan Atkins in the case that she would give information on the
murders in exchange for no death penalty and consideration for a reduction in charges if she
cooperated during the trial. On December 5th, 1969 Atkins got in front of the Grand Jury and told
them everything. After barely twenty minutes of Atkins speaking the grand jury had reach the
indictments against Manson, Watson, Krenwinkel, Atkins, Kasabian and Van Houten.
On July 24, 1970 the trial had begun. Charles Manson walked into the courtroom with a
bloody X carved into his forehead stating that he had “X’d” himself from the world. After
twenty-two severe weeks of testimonies and investigations, the prosecution had finally rested its
case on November 16, 1970. Manson himself finally testified after all of the girl Family
members wanted to do so. He did so with no jury present, but he told the prosecutor everything.
After Bugliosi finished he asked Manson if he would like to say the same in front of the grand
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jury. Manson replied back to him “I have already relieved all the pressure I had.” Charles
proceeded to leave the stand, as he walked by the counsel table he told the three co-defendants,
“You don’t have to testify now.”
On January 25, 1971 the jury found all the defendants guilty for each count of firstdegree murder. Shortly after, more evidence came out and Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten
and Atkins were all sentenced to death. The trial became the longest and most expensive trial in
American history.
I have many different feelings about Charles Manson. The psychological aspect of the
Charles Manson case was that he was crazy. Psychiatrists everywhere agreed that he was not all
together. They often said that he would need a huge change of heart to be able to live in the real
world. My view on Manson was that he was a leader. He was a complete psycho but he was a
leader in many ways. I feel that he deserves at least life in jail, which he is getting, if not the
death penalty. Manson tormented with people’s minds to get them to do what he wanted. His
cult, “The Family”, was a crazy group of people that would do anything for him no matter what
the cost was. Manson will forever go down as one of the most remembered serial killers of all
time, his tactics and actions were outrageous and they were completed until he was arrested.
Charles Manson was flat out a psycho.
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Work Cited
1. L i n d e r , D o u g . " T h e C h a r l e s M a n s o n ( T a t e - L a B i a n c a M u r d e r ) T r i a l . "
An account of the Charles Manson Trial . N.p., 2002. Web. 27 Oct
2 0 1 0 . < h t t p : / / w w w . l a w . u m k c . e d u / f a c u l t y/ p r o j e c t s / f t r i a l s / m a n s o n
2. R o s e n b e r g , J e n n i f e r . " C h a r l e s M a n s o n . " C h a r l e s M a n s o n Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct 2010.
< h t t p : / / h i s t o r y1 9 0 0 s . a b o u t . c o m / o d / 1 9 6 0 s / p / c h a r l e s m a n s o n
3 . " C h a r l e s M a n s o n B i o g r a p h y. " C h a r l e s M a n s o n - B i o g r a p h y B i o .
N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct 2010.
< h t t p : / / w w w . t h e b i o g r a p h yc h a n n e l . c o . u k / b i o g r a p h i e s / c h a r l e s manson.html>.
4 . " C h a r l e s M a n s o n B i o g r a p h y. " C h a r l e s M a n s o n B i o g r a p h y . N . p . ,
n.d. Web. 27 Oct 2010.
< h t t p : / / m a yh e m 4 4 . t r i p o d . c o m / m a n s o n b i o . h t m l > .
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Serial Killers
1. Edward ‘Ed’ Gein was known as one of the most inspirational killers to some. His
killings happened between 1947 and 1957. Gein was known for skinning his victims and
using their skin for furniture and clothes. Gein began robbing graves to get body parts so
that he could experiment with sex changes and the female anatomy. He wanted to turn
himself into a woman and put all women parts on him. Also Gein believed that the only
way for a sex change to happen would be for fresh bodies. Edward Gein’s killing spree
began. After his killing spree ended the police counted 15 total women as victims, and
was admitted to Waupan State Hospital where he eventually died of cancer.
2. Ted Bundy was known as a handsome and charming man to most. He would lure his
victims but gaining trust with them. He would either approach the women with a sling on
or come up as a police officer or fire department personnel. He would then lure them into
his car, knock them out and rape them before strangling and killing them. Bundy would
often visit the body dump site and sleep with his victims after he applied makeup to them.
In 1989 Bundy confessed to 40 murders and was executed. One of Bundy’s famous
quotes was “We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, and we are
everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow.”
3. Jeffrey Dahmer, known as Monster, was a serial killer from Milwaukee who killed boys
of Asian and African descent. Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee for fondling a 13 year
old boy, which he was then released and he began his killing spree. His murder happened
at the age of 18. Dahmer was accused of 15 murders, and sentenced to 15 life terms in
jail. But while in jail he was beaten to death by his inmate.
4. Gary Ridgway was a serial killer who killed prostitutes. His killings happened on the
banks of the Green River where tons of prostitutes would wait upon work. He pleaded
guilty to 48 charges and claimed to have killed 71 women. He did not receive the death
sentence because he helped the police find all of the bodies. Instead he was sentenced to
48 life sentences in the Washington State Penitentiary.
5. Charles Manson was a serial killer who was known for psychological manipulation on
people to make them murder those who he wanted. It was said that he would turn
people’s minds into blank slates for him to redesign and put thoughts into people’s
minds. He went for runaway girls and wealthy couples.