Here are five facts you may not have known about infamous cult leader Charles Manson:
1. Charles Manson was influenced by The Beatles
Manson wasn’t only influenced by drugs, but music like the song “Helter Skelter” off The Beatles’ White Album. Helter Skelter was a word used to describe a war arising from racial tensions between whites and blacks.
2. He spent half of the first 32 years of his life behind bars
Most of the time he spent in prison earlier on in his life was for various petty crimes including stealing cars.
3. Manson’s followers and disciples are thought to have carried out some 35 killings
Manson’s group of followers, also known as “The Family”, is thought to have carried out around 35 murders, including the killing of Sharon Tate and Abigail Folger.
4. Manson himself did not take part in the actual murders but instructed his followers
Charles Manson did not take part in the actual killings, but directed his disciples to the location of his victims and instructed them to kill everyone.
5. Manson and his Family were arrested for vandalization before they were suspected of murder
Manson and his followers were arrested under the suspicion that they had vandalized part of the Death Valley National Park while they were hiding in the Mojave Desert. They were in custody in 1969, but county deputies did not know they were murder suspects at the time. The confession of Susan Atkins, one of his followers, while detained in an unrelated event led detectives to realize Manson and his Family were involved in the Tate and LaBianca killings.
Information from www.biography.com.
