Brutal story of Charles Manson's cult
- ZOLA
- 13 lip 2023
- 5 minut(y) czytania
On Tuesday, American media reported that Leslie van Houten - one of the members of Charles Manson's violent cult of the 1960s - was released after more than 50 years behind bars in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Van Houten was found guilty of involvement in the murders of the LaBianca family, and Roman Polanski's friends and wife, Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant at the time. The first sentence sentenced van Houten to death, but in the course of the proceedings he was reduced to a double life sentence. She officially left prison yesterday.
Here is a brief history of Charles Manson, Leslie van Houten, and the rise and fall of the Manson "family", as he used to call his cult.
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson was born on November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of 16-year-old Kathleen Maddox - a woman of a turbulent, criminal nature who struggled with severe alcoholism. Growing up in a world of poverty and crime, Manson spent most of his early life in and out of corrections. After serving a 10-year sentence for forging checks in the late 1950s, he was released, but only to begin the most brutal period of his life.
In the late 1960s, during the counterculture era, Manson began creating what would later be called "The Manson Family." His charismatic and manipulative nature allowed him to attract followers, most of whom were young women with a troubled past similar to his own. An aspiring musician, Manson was initially drawn to California by the promise of a recording contract. However, his dreams never materialized and he began to focus more on developing his cult.
The Manson family, as they were known, was more than just a group of outcasts living together. It evolved into a violent cult whose teachings centered around his interpretation of the Beatles song "Helter Skelter." According to Manson, the song foretold an imminent apocalyptic race war in which he believed his family would not only survive but also emerge as new world leaders.
Manson's charisma, manipulative skills, and power of persuasion turned his followers into staunch believers in this doctrine. The family led a communal lifestyle, collecting garbage and stealing to survive, and committing petty crimes. Their actions escalated when Manson's apocalyptic vision failed to materialize, leading to a series of horrific crimes that shocked the nation.
Leslie van Houten
Leslie Van Houten was born on August 23, 1949 in Los Angeles, California. She had a relatively normal and comfortable upbringing, being a high school cheerleader and prom queen. Nothing foreshadowed her participation in the later gruesome events.
Van Houten joined Charles Manson and his followers for several reasons. Like many young people in the late 1960s, she was looking for meaning and purpose in her life. She was disillusioned with mainstream society and its values and was attracted to the alternative lifestyle proposed by the Manson family.
Van Houten met Manson and his group through her boyfriend, Bobby Beausoleil, who was also a member of the Manson Family. She enjoyed the group's life together, the apparent family warmth, and their shared contempt for conventional society. Manson's charisma and manipulation also played a significant role, as he had a knack for attracting young, impressionable followers.
In addition, Manson's use of drugs, especially LSD, was a key tool for manipulation. It was often used to break down an individual's mental barriers and induce a state of suggestibility, thus making them more receptive to his teachings. This, coupled with the sense of belonging and purpose the group provided, made it attractive to someone like Van Houten who was looking for a place to fit in.
Times of terror
Manson's propaganda caused an uncontrollable increase in aggression and fury in the ranks of its members. At some point, the mental barrier broke and violent events took place in the real world.
The Manson family is credited with several murders in California at the time, but one of the most notorious was that of actress Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski.
Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant, was at her home with four other people: Jay Sebring, a well-known hairdresser and Tate's close friend; Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune; Wojciech Frykowski, boyfriend Folger and Steven Parent.
Late that night, four members of the Manson family - Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian - arrived at the house on Charles Manson's orders. Manson instructed them to "completely destroy everyone in [the house] as gruesomely as possible." Manson believed this act would help ignite the apocalyptic race war he had predicted.
Watson, Atkins and Krenwinkel entered the house while Kasabian, who was less involved in the murders, kept watch outside. Parent, who was leaving the property in his car, was the first to be killed by Watson.
Inside the house, the intruders rounded up Tate, Sebring, Folger, and Frykowski and tied them up. A scene of brutal violence followed, with the intruders stabbing and shooting at the victims. By the end of the rampage, all four victims in the house, as well as Tate's unborn child, were dead.
Before leaving, Atkins wrote the word "pig" on the house's front door using Tate's blood. The brutal and seemingly senseless nature of the murders, coupled with the high status of the victims, caused widespread shock and fear in the Los Angeles area and across the country. The murders at the Tate mansion sparked a two-day killing spree for the Manson family.
The horrific murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca took place on the night of August 10, 1969, just one night after the shocking murders at the home of Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski.
Charles Manson, dissatisfied with the chaos caused by the killings the night before, decided to personally accompany six of his followers on another "mission" - they included Leslie Van Houten, Steve "Clem" Grogan, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Charles "Tex" Watson and Linda Kasabian . Manson chose Leno and Rosemary LaBianca's home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles as the next location for the attack.
Manson and Watson entered the house first, while the rest of the Family waited outside. They woke the sleeping couple and tied them up. Manson then returned to the car and sent Van Houten and Krenwinkel inside to carry out the murders while he and the others left the crime scene. He instructed his followers to “make it look like a chilling prophecy.
At home, Watson repeatedly stabbed Leno LaBianca while Krenwinkel attacked Rosemary. Van Houten then attacked Rosemary. After the killings, either Krenwinkel or Van Houten carved the word "WAR" into Leno LaBianca's stomach. Using the victims' blood, they also wrote "Death to Pigs" and "Healter Skelter" on the walls and refrigerator.
Arrest and prison
In the immediate aftermath of the Tate-LaBianca murders, the Los Angeles Police Department struggled to make headway in the investigation. They initially failed to connect the two crime scenes, even though the similarities were striking.
The breakthrough in the case came about as a result of the Manson Family's involvement in another crime. In late 1969, Susan Atkins was arrested and jailed on charges related to an auto theft operation the Manson Family had been running to support themselves. While in jail, Atkins told a fellow inmate about the murders, bragging about the details of the crimes. The inmate reported Atkins's confessions to the police, which was the first lead directly linking the Manson Family to the murders.
Subsequently, the police were able to corroborate Atkins's statements with physical evidence from the crime scenes. This included matching fingerprints found at the Tate residence to Patricia Krenwinkel, another Manson Family member. Furthermore, they discovered that the gun used in the Tate murders had been found by a child in his backyard near the scene of the crime and had been turned into the police. Ballistics tests confirmed that it was the murder weapon.
In December 1969, the police arrested Charles Manson and several members of his Family, including Krenwinkel, Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Charles "Tex" Watson. The subsequent trial, which began in July 1970, was one of the most high-profile and sensational in American history. All defendants were eventually convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and received death sentences that were later commuted to life imprisonment after California abolished the death penalty in 1972.