Manson Family

Manson Family

The year is 1967 and Charles Milles Maddox, later to become known as Charles (Charlie) Manson is released from Terminal Island Penitentiary in California after serving a 7-year sentence for forging cheques and pimping. He claims to be a Scientologist and has adopted some of the teachings of L. Ron Hubbards’ that lends themselves to manipulating others (Guinn, 2013). Manson is said to have “deep-seated personality problems” by the prison psychiatrists (Law2.umkc.edu, 2015). He tells prison officials that he does not want to be released because he didn’t feel that he could adjust to the world “not after all my life had been spent locked up and where my mind was free”(Library, CNN. (2015).

During his 7 year incarceration Manson learns how to read music and play the guitar, giving him a delusional belief that when he gets out of prison he will become a famous rock star, which will give him the fame, fortune and all the female followers he desires.

After being released from prison Manson moves to Haight Ashbury, a place explained by Dr. David Smith as a hippie mecca of San Francisco; a place where there was lots of woman, drugs, and psychic energy. A place that was morally deficient, a place of youth and vulnerability, and the perfect place for someone like Manson to prey on its youth.
Plans of being a rock star are put on hold for the next two and a half years as Manson transforms himself from a criminal into a leader that people are not only willing to follow but to kill for.

In April of 1967 Manson meets a woman named Mary Brunner, while she is out walking her dog. The two hit it off and shortly thereafter he soon moves in with her and she will become the first member of his “Family”. Brunner’s life will change greatly now that Manson is on the scene. She accepts his desire to sleep with other woman, she starts doing drugs and eventually quits her job at the University of Berkley as a librarian.
In May 1967 Manson meets an 18-year old girl named...

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