In the United States, at the age of 84, the famous serial killer Charles Manson, who spent almost half a century in prison, has died. In 1972, he was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murder of director Roman Polanski's pregnant wife and seven others.

Manson's death was reported to TMZ by Deborah Tate, the sister of his most famous victim. According to the woman, she received a call from the prison and was told that at 20:13 local time on Sunday, the maniac died. Staff contacted the families of all of Manson's victims.

Earlier, the media have already reported that the offender is in critical condition: he was diagnosed with intestinal bleeding. He was recently transferred to Bakersfield Hospital on a gurney, accompanied by five police officers. The maniac looked deathly pale, and the doctors declared that he would not survive, death was only a matter of time. They refused to carry out the operation because of the danger to Manson's life.

Charles Manson was the leader of a Satanist sect called "Family": he gave each of the followers a new name and called them brothers and sisters.

In 1969, Family members broke into director Roman Polanski's Beverly Hills home and stabbed to death his wife, actress Sharon Tate, who was then eight months pregnant.

The woman received 16 stab wounds, and the murderers wrote the word "pig" in her blood. Also, four more guests were killed, who were at that moment in the house. Roman Polanski was working on a project in London at the time.

The next day, on Manson's orders, members of his sect killed the director of a chain of small shops Lenno LaBanka and his wife Rosemary: the victims received 169 stab wounds and 7 gunshot wounds. Manson announced that his goal was to start a race war, which he called the helter skelter after the song by The Beatles. Manson once aspired to become a musician and even played guitar in the Beach Boys.

Manson and seven of his accomplices were sentenced to death in a gas chamber, but in 1972 the California Supreme Court declared such a sentence unconstitutional, and it was replaced with nine life sentences.

In 1984, Manson was attacked by another inmate, Hare Krishnaite Jan Holmström. He doused the serial killer with solvent and set it on fire, but he survived.

In 2014, Manson, for the third time, became a 25-year-old Afton fan Helen Burton. For him, at the age of 19, the girl moved closer to the prison, and also shaved her head and carved a cross on her forehead, like all the followers of the maniac.

Manson has become a symbol of absolute evil and the hero of many American films and songs: in particular, the documentary "Manson" in 1973 was nominated for an Oscar. In 2015, the action-packed series Aquarius dedicated to Manson was released.

- American criminal, leader of the commune "Family", some members of which in 1969 committed a number of brutal murders.

Photo: http://ipsih.com/post/241_Menson--Charlz-Manson--Charles.html

Charles Manson biography

Charles Manson was born in November 1934 in the United States. His mother, sixteen-year-old Kathleen Maddox, broke up with the child's real father Colonel Scott shortly after the birth of the boy and married William Manson, whose surname was later given to Charlie. At the age of six, Charlie's mother went to prison for robbery. The boy remained in the care of relatives.

It was not easy for a kid among adults. The uncle brought up courage in the child, dressing him in a girl's dress and sending him in this form to school. It is no wonder that the psyche was shaken by this and the boy from a "sissy" (as his uncle called him) turned into a beast.

When his mother was released, Manson was placed in state custody. The next years the boy spent in special. institutions. He was not distinguished by calmness and diligence. He was remembered there as a bully, skipping classes and a thief of cars and bicycles. Once Charles even tried to cross the Ohio state border in one of the stolen cars, but was detained and served his sentence in various colonies for three years.

Despite his obvious homosexual tendencies, Manson fell in love after his release and married the waitress Rosalie. With his pregnant wife, Charlie wanted to go to California in a stolen car, but was detained by the police. And again the prison. The term is three years. Manson's son was born when his father was serving his sentence. The wife visited the prisoner for a long time, but one day she met another person, her true love, and stopped visiting the ex-husband.

In 1958, Charlie was released, but not for long. Soon he was again behind bars. In between serving his sentences in the place of detention, Manson managed to marry again and give birth to his second child. Then a divorce followed. During this time, Charlie began to study Scientology.

Charlie Manson was released in March 1967. Charlie was not attracted by freedom, perhaps because of habit (he lived most of his life behind bars). The former prisoner even asked to go back to the prison, as he felt comfortable there and liked it better, but was refused.

"A family"

Charlie went to San Francisco, where he met Mary Brunner, later the first member of the Family. Together they toured California, recruiting new people to join the Family. According to Manson, he picked up the "children" abandoned by the society. They were happy to join his community. Charlie gave them new names, new lives, cleansing their souls of pain and injustice. The Brothers and Sisters lived on the Spahn Ranch, formerly a western filming location. There, a friendly family enjoyed a free life: they took drugs, sang, and organized orgies.

In prison, Manson learned to play the guitar. And now, once free, he wanted to become famous with the help of his musical talent - to record an album. Charlie made an acquaintance with The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, who then introduced Manson to Terry Melcher (music producer). It is believed that anger at the producer, who rejected Charlie's talent, was the reason for the murder of the Tate mistress and her guests, despite the fact that Melcher had not lived in the house where the bloody massacre took place for a long time. However, Manson denies this view.

In mid-July 1969, three members of the "Family" went to Gary Hinman's mescaline supplier for money, which they wanted to return to bikers who, in their opinion, bought a low-quality product. The seller refused to return the money. On the same day, Manson arrived and cut off Hinman's ear with a saber. After two days, Gary did not return the promised amount of money, for which he was killed by members of the "Family". At the scene of the crime, the police found an inscription on the wall "Political Pig" and a paw mark painted with the victim's blood, making the investigation think that this was the work of the Black Panther group.

The reason for the subsequent events was the unusual interpretation of the Beatles' album. Manson believed that the members of this group through songs convey to him messages from above, testifying to the war between the black and white races. Helter Skelter - this is the name Charlie gave to the coming revolution. According to him, after the start of the war, the "Family" needs to take refuge in the Valley of Death, until the armed struggle between the races ends. During that period, the number of "Family" will increase to one hundred and forty-four thousand. Then, according to Manson's plan, he and his community will become the masters of the world, because "blacks do not know what whites know."

On August 8, 1969, Manson ordered Tex (Charles Watson) and three other girls to go to the villa that previously belonged to Terry Melcher (Charlie had come there the day before and was looking for Terry, but he was told that the music producer had not lived in the villa for more than a month), to kill everyone and take the money. Accompanying Texa Sadie, Katy (Patricia Crenwinkel), Linda Kasabian. Armed with knives, a pistol and a rope, the executioners went to the appointed place. Manson's last directive was, "Leave the sinister thing."

They drove up to the house in a yellow Ford and climbed over the fence. Seeing the white car approaching the gate, Tex emerged from the bushes and shot the driver (they didn't need witnesses). Then the group of assassins headed for the main entrance. Linda was left on duty at the gate. The rest entered the house through the window. At this time, the hostess with the guests carelessly enjoyed a casual conversation. She did not know that in a few minutes the life of her and the child would end (the woman was eight months pregnant). Members of the “Family” took the money, then tied everyone up (except for the hostess, two more men and two women were present in the house) and made a bloody mess. When the screams died down, Sadie took a towel, dipped it in blood and wrote three letters "P", "I", "G" on the door. The deed was done.

Satisfied and tired, the company went to the ranch to report to Manson how everything went. Charlie asked if he felt sorry for those killed. The four had no remorse. The very next day it became known who were the victims of the three young people. They were Stephen Parent, Jay Sabring (stylist), Wojtek Frykowski (friend of filmmaker Roman Polanski), Abigail Folger (daughter of a millionaire) and film actress Sharon Tate (wife of Polanski).

On the same night (August 9), Manson wanted to show the flock with his own hand how to act. The same four, as well as Steve Grogan ("Clem") and Leslie Van Houten, led by Charlie, went to continue the Helter Skelter that had begun. (Manson said, "you need to show the black ones what they need to do"). The unfortunate victims were the owners of the Rosemary and Leno La Bianca chain stores. Bound and gagged, husband and wife met death. They tortured them for a long time. The killers literally cut helpless people to pieces. The word "WAR" was cut out on the dead Leo's stomach with a knife, and Patricia wrote in blood on the walls of the house and the refrigerator "RISE", "DEATH TO PIGS", "HEALTER SKELTER". It is worth noting that Manson did not take part in the massacre. He drove away with Linda, Clem and Sadie right after they tied Rosemary and Leo.

After the family members were arrested, Linda Kasabian acted as the main witness. It is known that Manson's lawyer appointed by the court did not appear at the trial. Only five months later, his dismembered corpse was found. It has been suggested that this is the work of the "sisters of the Family." As a protest and rejection of society, Charlie and his flock were carved "X" on their foreheads. The court sentenced seven people from the community to death in a gas chamber, but in 1972 the death penalty was abolished, so the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Personal Life of Charles Manson

In November 2014, the most famous serial killer in the United States, Charles Manson, was allowed to marry his young fan.

The prison administration allowed 80-year-old Manson to marry a 26-year-old fan, giving him three months for this. In addition, up to 12 people can be invited to the wedding.

Giorgi Natsvlishvili

Clinical psychologist

Was Charles Manson a maniac and a serial killer

On Sunday, November 19, one of the most famous criminals of the 20th century, Charles Manson, died at the age of 83 in a hospital in Bakersfield, California. He is best known for the activities of his commune, The Manson Family. It was a union of, at first glance, quite harmless hippies, of which there were quite a lot in the 70s. But in reality it turned out that this is not really a commune, but rather a kind of cult, whose members have committed several brutal murders. Manson was the inspiration, ideologue and longtime leader of this cult. But was he, as is commonly believed, a maniac and serial killer?

rising70 / flickr.com

Charles Manson is a versatile personality, and the closer you get to know the history of his activities, the more surprising it seems that he turned around with people involved in the "Family". One of the most notorious crimes committed by his community is undoubtedly the attack on the house of director Roman Polanski and the murder of everyone who was there, including the pregnant wife of the director Sharon Tate. There is no point in retelling the story of Charles Manson verbatim. There are many books, articles and documentaries about him and his sect. I would like, however, to dispel the myth of Charles Manson, who is often called a maniac and a serial killer.

The fact is that the term "maniac" is exclusively literary and journalistic. It is a mix of many other terms, including "serial killer" and "psychopath." Therefore, I propose to abandon this term and move on to discussing the remaining two.

Who are serial killers

The description of the phenomenon of serial murder is highly controversial. If we turn to legal sources, then we will inevitably face reliance on the quantitative factor. If a person has committed three or more crimes with approximately the same modus operandithen this is undoubtedly serial murders.

But it’s not that simple. Take the average hitman, for example. With different time intervals, he commits murders with approximately the same modus operandi... Does this mean that his murders can be called serial, and himself a serial killer? No.

Serial killers are different in that they commit all crimes themselves; them modus operandi, with increasing experience in this matter, gradually develops; murder clearly has a component of sexual gratification, and does not necessarily involve sexual contact; they cannot stop themselves; there is a rest period between the murders, which is constantly decreasing. And also the killer's handwriting may appear - some detail left at the crime scene, which at first glance has absolutely no meaning, for example a flower on a corpse, but allows you to say for sure: "Yes, these crimes were committed by the same person."

In the public eye, there are many myths about serial killers. They supposedly come from dysfunctional families, they have a high level of intelligence that allows them to deceive the investigation and lead everyone by the nose, besides, they are necessarily insane, irrational, unaware of their actions, and the like. It's easier to refer to the classics here - Hannibal Lecter, a character from Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs, played by the brilliant actor Anthony Hopkins.

This is how ordinary people see all serial killers. But this is nothing more than a delusion. Most of the real serial killers are not geniuses, they can grow up in the most ordinary families (not always prosperous, but in the same families where ordinary people come from who do not commit such crimes), and the vast majority of them do not suffer from psychotic disorders.

Basically, serial killers are boring characters, often with paraphilia, increased anxiety, self-doubt and distrust of others. And all this does not in any way interfere with their rationality, the ability to hide evidence and plan their actions (it is important to note here that non-planning schizophrenic criminals also exist and a vivid example is Richard Chase). They have nothing to do with those mysterious geniuses of the underworld that we see in the movies. Basically, they cannot be brought to justice for a long time because of the unprofessionalism of the police and witnesses who found the corpse and trampled on evidence. Based on the foregoing, we can draw the following conclusion: serial murders are not the easiest phenomenon and each case requires a separate detailed study.

Who are psychopaths

As for the term psychopath, it also contains many different meanings that need to be clarified.

The doctrine of psychopathies was developed by the Russian psychiatrist P.B. Gannushkin. He singled out many different psychopathies and wrote the following: “Psychopathic personalities are those who, from the moment of formation, represent a number of characteristics that distinguish them from so-called normal people and prevent them from adapting to the environment painlessly for themselves and for others. Their inherent pathological properties are permanent, innate personality traits, which, although they can increase or develop in a certain direction during life, usually do not undergo any drastic changes.<…> we are talking about such traits and features that more or less determine the entire mental appearance of the individual, imposing their imperious imprint on his entire mental structure.

Summarizing what was said and again referring to P.B. Gannushkin, we will repeat after him three important criteria of psychopathies: their influence is total (they leave an imprint on the entire personality), static (the pathological properties of a person do not change during her life) and cause social maladjustment. Undoubtedly, the teaching of psychopathies has developed greatly since the time they were described by P.B. Gannushkin, but here, unfortunately, it makes no sense to do a detailed analysis of each author and his approach. It is enough to know about these three important criteria described by the author - they will be useful to us in the future.

Charles Manson's "Family"

Back to Charles Manson. He is neither a maniac nor a serial killer. He did not commit crimes with his own hands, modus operandi he did not have - although, in all fairness, he had his own handwriting. All this does not allow us to call Charles a serial killer in the classical sense of the word.

But it is quite possible to call him a psychopath. True, a personal conversation is necessary to make an accurate diagnosis, which, alas, is impossible. The story of Charles Manson itself is full of various difficulties, both family (an unwanted child, was born to a thief mother who tried to exchange him for a pint of beer), and social (almost two decades, even before the "Family", Charles spent in prison), which undoubtedly left an imprint on his personality. Here, with a certain degree of confidence, we can talk about social maladjustment.

But despite this, Manson skillfully manipulated people, adjusted to different people, from schoolgirls to bikers (which, of course, was influenced by his personal experience of encountering an absolutely unstable social environment), understood how to arrange interaction with his commune in order to force it members to do whatever he needs to do. How did he do it?

The fact is that Manson found and invited into the family the so-called "lost" teenagers and young people who easily succumbed to the influence of charismatic leaders. His cult was a rather closed system, the commune lived separately, on a ranch, where no one disturbed them. Manson introduced various rituals into the practice of members of the commune, which held the commune even stronger.

According to the theory of social systems (which is actively used in systemic family psychotherapy), there are two extremes - open and closed systems. An open system interacts with the surrounding world, its participants are carriers of the foundations of not only this system, but society as a whole. Society influences this system as much as possible, and it is much more difficult to force its members to do something deviant than in the case of representatives of a closed system.

In a closed system, contact with society is minimal, the boundaries of "normality" are blurred, and you can create your own rules and norms in it. To enhance this effect, as Philip Zimbardo showed in his Stanford prison experiment, you can impersonalize the participants in the system. In Zimbardo's experiment, this was done by assigning identification numbers to test subjects and dressing them in the same clothes. In the Manson Family, all of its members except Manson had their hair cut short. This additionally made the leader of the commune stand out from the rest, and his charges increasingly lost the opportunity to be critical of what was happening and agreed to more and more sophisticated crimes.

Undoubtedly, Manson did not need to specifically familiarize himself with Zimbardo's prison experiment, encounter the history of the Abu Ghraib prison, or study theories of open and closed social systems. He understood their laws, so to speak, on an intuitive level.

Manson was an intelligent, well-read person who did not hesitate to state his position on various social issues, politics, and the like. He inspired many artists, such as Marilyn Manson (made his last name part of his pseudonym), the rock group System of A Down (their composition ATWA is dedicated to Manson), Kasabian (its name coincides with the last name of one of the girls - members of the "Family" ) other.

Despite all that has been said, Charles Manson should not be overestimated. He was, of course, a criminal and unworthy of the admiration that serial killer fans earned him. They saw in Manson a leader whose ideas would lead them to a new, wonderful world, while he was an excellent manipulator, a cult leader, but not a new messiah and savior.

Charles Manson was born on November 12, 1934 at the Cincinnati Hospital (Ohio, USA). His mother was 16-year-old unmarried Kathleen Maddox (1918-1973). Soon, his mother married a hospital worker named William Manson (born 1910). The boy was given his last name. The biological father is believed to have been Colonel Walker Scott (1910-1954).

How is this gentleman "famous"? He is considered the cult villain of the 20th century, who organized a religious and terrorist sect called the Manson Family. Prior to that, he spent 18 years behind bars for robbery, rape, pimping, forgery of treasury checks. For good behavior he was released early on March 21, 1967.

Got permission to live in San Francisco, where the hippie movement was fashionable at the time. In prison, Charles learned to play the guitar well and very quickly settled into a new environment for him. With a lot of life experience and knowledge of people, he soon became a leader among the hippies. Then he created a religious circle, in which he began to practice his philosophy. It consisted in the fact that Satan must be reconciled with Christ, and after that they together will judge mankind.

The former criminal gathered around him unsophisticated girls and boys who looked at him as a messiah. He told his flock that a war between the races would soon break out, and the blacks would win it. After that, the victors will join the Manson family, and in the future the family will begin to rule over the entire planet.

However, all this nonsense was taken quite seriously by many. The newly formed family rented an old school bus and began touring America all the way to Washington State, preaching their teachings. In the sect itself, an atmosphere of complete sexual freedom reigned. And what else could you expect from a former convict who served for rape.

Manson family members

Crimes

All these games, in their exclusivity, were flowers. The berries went when the sectarians began to commit murders. The most creepy and famous of them happened on August 9, 1969 in Beverly Hills at the Bel Air Villa.

On that day, in a cozy house, people who had a certain fame in Hollywood gathered for a party. The party was organized by the young and talented actress Sharon Tate (1943-1969). She was 26 years old, since 1966 she successfully starred in films. In January 1968, she tied the knot with director Roman Polanski. The girl was predicted a bright future, but fate decreed otherwise.

Her friend and former lover Jay Sebring, screenwriter Wojtek Frykowski, artist Steve Perent, daughter of a wealthy businessman Abigal Folger came to visit her. Polanski himself was not there. He was working in London on a project for another film.

Actress Sharon Tate, killed by the Manson family killers

Charles Manson sent his 4 assistants to this house, armed with knives. Moreover, 3 of them were women. Former athlete Charles Watson led the team. It was he who cut the wires on the telephone pole, and after that the bandits broke into the house.

A bloody massacre began. Sharon Tate was 9 months pregnant. She was stabbed 16 times, her stomach was ripped open and her breasts cut open. A similar fate befell her guests. They were all brutally killed. As they left, the bandits wrote the word "pigs" on the door. They didn't know whose house it was. They chose him by chance to get hold of money. Only the next day did they find out from the news who had been killed.

Prior to that, on July 25, 1969, Manson himself, with two members of the sect, Robert Beausoleil and Suzanne Atkins, killed the musician Harry Hinman. He allegedly received an inheritance of 20 thousand dollars, and the sectarians decided to take possession of this amount. Before that, they tortured the man for 2 days, but he had no money. In the end, the poor man was stabbed to death and the inscription "political pig" was written on his chest in blood.

The very next night after the murder of actress Sharon Tate and her friends, the messiah himself and three of his henchmen went in search of the next victims. They entered through an open back door into the house where the chain store owners, husband and wife of La Bianca, lived. The bandits tied up the owners (Leno and Rosemary) and began to torture. They cut off body parts from people using knives and forks. When the victims died, the sectarians left, leaving forks stuck in their bodies.

After the brutal murders, the police began to stubbornly search for bandits. Her ardor was fueled by public opinion. We must pay tribute to the guardians of the law, since the first arrests of members of the sect began on August 16, 1969. Charles Manson himself was arrested in October of the same year.

Charles Manson arrested by the police

Retribution

The trial of these fanatics became a sensation. It began on June 15, 1970 and ended on March 29, 1971. On this day, the jury of the San Francisco District Court found the leader of the Manson Family sect and his henchmen guilty. The judge sentenced the accused to death. They were to be strangled in a gas chamber. But in 1972, the state of California abolished executions, and the mobsters received life sentences.

Since then and to this day, the creepy monster Charles Manson whiled away his days in a California state prison. But he was not forgotten. The killer of innocent people are filled with letters from notorious people who have not found themselves in this life. He writes absolutely mediocre songs, and they are recorded, and they become hits of sales. In 1988 he published his book entitled "Manson About Himself".

His accomplice Susan Atkins became very devout and married within the prison walls. Another accomplice, Leslie Houten, graduated from college in prison and became a certified art critic. Linda Kasabian, escaped a prison sentence, as she made a deal with the investigation. She lives quietly and unnoticed in New Hampshire and spends a lot of time with her grandchildren.

This is what Charles Manson looked like these days

At the end of 2013, Manson gave an interview to one of the American magazines. He stated that he has many fans, and one of them wants to marry him. His chosen one, Afton Elaine Burton, who took the pseudonym Star, settled near the prison to regularly see her beloved.

Someone may wipe away the tears of affection and sigh enviously, but in our practical and rational world, there is less and less romance. In early 2015, it was revealed that Star was not at all in love with a bloodthirsty maniac. She conceived an insidious plan, hoping to cash in on the corpse of her future old and decrepit husband.

Afton Elaine Burton, who agreed to become the wife of Charles Manson

After his death, she planned to put the deceased in a glass sarcophagus and show him for money to everyone. She has a roommate Craig Hammond, with whom she developed this cynical plan. And everything could work out, because according to the laws of California, close people can do whatever they think is necessary with the body of the deceased.

However, such unsightly behavior of a young woman, who is not even 30 years old, was smelled by journalist Daniel Simon. He brought this information to the public. Charles Manson also learned about the bride's plans. It is not known how he felt about female deceit, but the marriage license expired in early February 2015, and the lovers never got married. Well what can I say: "Not all the cat is Shrovetide." It is a pity only for the innocent people killed. They could live for many years and bring many benefits to this world.

Charles Manson himself died on November 19, 2017 at the age of 83. He did not live to see the next petition for early release, which he could have filed in 2019. The killer died in Bakersfield, California, after 47 years in prison. But it is unlikely that over the years he experienced a feeling of remorse for the atrocities he committed..

rising70 / flickr.com