American cult leader Charles Manson was the head and founder of a hippie group known as the Manson Family, involved in several high profile murder cases. Manson also happens to be the child of a notorious prostitute and he was linked to several cases of burglary during his formative years.
More so, the notorious criminal was a firm believer in the philosophy of Scientology and preached the same to his hippie loyalists who consider him their leader. They actually believed him to be “Jesus” as he usually claimed, along with his prophecies of a possible race war.
Apart from his criminal side, Manson was also a singer and he is associated with founding member of The Beach Boys – Dennis Wilson, who paid for studio time for recording Manson’s songs. Later, Wilson introduced him to the likes of Terry Melcher and Gregg Jakobson. After his conviction, his recorded tracks hit the music scene and bands such as Guns N’ Roses, White Zombie and Marilyn Manson covered many of his tracks.
Charles Manson – Biography
The notorious criminal was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA on November 12, 1934. His mother, Kathleen Maddox, was an unmarried teenager who became pregnant after an affair with Colonel WH Scott. Sr. Charles is an American citizen, but her ethnicity is not known as it is believed that her biological father was a light-skinned black American. Records also indicate that he was originally named Charles Milles Maddox, but went by his surname, Manson, when his mother married William Manson.
Charles Manson never had a rosy childhood as his mum made a living as a prostitute and she was a heavy drinker who once dumped him with a waitress for a pitcher of beer. Afterwards, he went to live with his aunt in McMechen, West Virginia when his mother was arrested for robbery in 1939. Manson was found in 1942 when his mother was finally granted parole and they began to live in dilapidated hotel rooms.
His student years can be described as tumultuous, due to the relentless crimes and juvenile delinquency that orchestrated him, he was sent to the Gibault School located in Terre Haute, Indiana – a school exclusively for delinquents of male gender managed by priests of the Catholic Church. There was even a time when Charles Manson escaped from school but his mother took him back there.
Family: wife and children
Charles Manson went through two marriages and divorce during his lifetime and his first foray into marriage was in 1955 with a hospital waitress called Rosalie Jean Willis, but they divorced two years later in 1957 despite having a son called Charles Manson Jr. His second marriage was to a prostitute named Leona Candy Steven in 1959 and the union lasted until 1963 before their separation and final divorce.
After his second marriage ended, Manson didn’t step into a third, instead he was content with a series of affairs. He even had a third child – a son named Valentine Michael with Mary Burner – one of the Manson family members. When the notorious gang leader was arrested, Michael was placed with another family as an adopted child.
More so, it is known that while he is still in prison, Charles Manson had a relationship with one of his followers, Afton Elaine Burton, to whom he got engaged in November 2014, but the couple did not s never married.
What did he do?
The head of the Manson family is best described as one of the most notorious murderers in the United States and he has been convicted of nine murders. However, there was no actual evidence that Charles Manson was physically involved in the murders, but he directed them all, but carried out the physical act through his loyal followers, who were the real killers.
Notable among his murder cases is the murder of Sharon Tate – Director Roman Polanski’s wife, who was eight months pregnant at the time of his murder. In addition to Sharon’s murder, Manson also murdered Sharon’s visitors Voytek Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Jay Sebring. The long list went further and included Steve Parent who had come to visit Willam Garretson, Sharon’s gardener, that day.
Interestingly, the tapes have it, Charles Manson didn’t touch any of his victims, however, the accomplice liability rules found him as guilty as the people who carried out his instructions. He was sentenced to death but was commuted to life imprisonment in 1972 by the state of California.
Is Charles Manson dead or alive?
The notorious criminal, however, is no longer so his death occurred on November 19, 2017 due to natural causes. Prior to his death, Charles Manson had been admitted to a hospital in Bakersfield, California, but details of his condition were never released for safety reasons.