The Manson Family Murders Part I: The Evolution of Charles Manson
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Few murders have sent such profound shivers of terrified fascination down the spine of our global society as those committed by the Manson family in 1969. Their killing spree was so gruesome, gleefully sadistic, and seemingly random that they gained worldwide notoriety for decades to come. Yet, the slayings weren't random at all.

they were calculated attempts to provoke an apocalyptic race war, prophesied by their psychotic leader, Charles Manson. Manson has since become one of the most formidable criminal minds in human history. Not for his infamous wild-eyed stare, nor the swastika carved between his brows. Rather, the illiterate man's far-reaching impact stems from his astonishing ability to control others. Manson incited the slaughter of nine people,

including that of a heavily pregnant Hollywood sweetheart, as well as torture, hostage-taking, and even the attempted assassination of US President Gerald Rudolph Ward Jr. Remarkably, he did so without shedding any blood himself. His tools? A dedicated following of young, middle-class girls, sucked into Manson's orbit by promises of fully embodying the psychedelic, free-love lifestyle of the 60s,

His groupies were somehow able to ignore his gradual deviation into die-hard racism, unprovoked violence, and paranoia. Stripped of their original identities and manipulated into complete submission, the Manson girls smeared political messages in their victims' blood and helped their leader usher in an era of misplaced neurosis.

The ritualistic nature of the atrocities committed by the Manson family set the stage for the beginnings of the Satanic Panic and put an end to America's idealistic sense of safety. Manson had managed to penetrate the hearts of both vintage Hollywood royalty and middle-class Americans, all whilst posing as an inevitable outcome of the LSD-fueled hippie movement and the prescriptive culture it protested.

Even today, over half a century later and five years since his death, Charles Manson's legacy lives on in pop culture and our collective consciousness alike. His descent into depravity and the series of bizarre events that followed inspired countless media depictions and references. His most notable claim to fame are Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Marilyn Manson's stage name,

which is a combination of Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. The Tinseltown's fascination with Manson's mind reflects a greater morbid curiosity with those of psychopaths in general. Many still wonder how a man so ostensibly disturbed managed to indoctrinate educated, albeit troubled, young girls to the point that they were willing to murder on command. Where did it all begin and why? I'll tell you.

Today, we're taking a deep dive off the edge of the countercultural revolution of 1960s America and submersing ourselves in the story of Charles Manson, the man behind the murders of the century. Part 1: No Name Maddox Today, Charles Manson's name is known all over the world. It inspires fear, disgust, and, sadly, even admiration. That said, it hasn't always been that way.

He came into this world as a nameless, fatherless baby boy. His mother, Kathleen Maddox, was a 15-year-old dropout with a drinking problem and a penchant for crime. She had fled her parents' oppressive religious rule at a young age and began supporting herself through prostitution. Eventually, Kathleen fell for a local conman, Colonel Walker Henderson Scott.

They dated for a short while before she came pregnant with his first child in February of 1934. Although Colonel was his given name and he had no affiliation with the military, the man convinced Kathleen he had been called away to attend to army business. He then promptly abandoned her without ever meeting the monster he helped to create. The unmarried mother-to-be wasted no time moving on, knowing she would never survive with a baby and no stable income.

she met William Manson, the namesake of her unborn son. Within a few months, the couple married in August of that year. Three months later, on November 12th, 1934, Kathleen gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Cincinnati, Ohio. She dubbed the newborn "No Name Maddox." Maybe she hadn't decided on a name yet. Perhaps she was reluctant to acknowledge the bastard son of the man who deserted her.

The latter is more likely, as the young mother preferred joining her older brother, Luther, on days-long drinking sprees to bonding with her baby. Kathleen only gave her child a name several weeks after his birth. She chose Charles Manson, using her husband's surname, and the name that would later be on the front page of every newspaper was born. Kathleen's rampant alcoholism and run-ins with the law eventually ended her marriage.

William filed for divorce in April of 1937, three years after they married, on the grounds of gross neglect of marital duties. Kathleen was a flower child of the 30s, you see, three decades ahead of her time.

The wild child chose a life of crime over that of a submissive housewife, as the times dictated she should be. Now a 16-year-old divorcee and single mother, Kathleen moved back to Kentucky to stay with her parents while she got back on her unsteady feet. Two years later, the troubled teen fell off the wagon once again.

Kathleen and her degenerate brother, Luther, were arrested in August 1939 for a clumsy attempted robbery of a local gas station. Kathleen had only been armed with a ketchup bottle filled with salt, but she was sentenced to five years in prison nonetheless. Charles was just four years old at the time. The tiny Todd was left with his deeply religious aunt and uncle in McMackin, West Virginia. However, he couldn't cope with his perceived abandonment

He grew into a difficult child who lied compulsively, blamed others for his wrongdoings, and brushed off punishment like it was nothing. It quickly became apparent that Charles had an innate cunningness other children couldn't yet fathom. This, combined with his pretty boy charms and charisma, produced a magnetism that few could resist. Perhaps, if he had been ugly and shy, Charles would never have realized his proficiency as a persuasive leader.

Unfortunately, he was made aware of his power far too early in life. Charles began acting out at school, but not in the way one would imagine. At the age of six, he convinced a bunch of girls to jump a boy he didn't like during recess one day. They beat the boy to a pulp. The girls were immediately sent to the principal's office, where they professed their innocence and explained that Charlie had told them to do it. Stunned, the principal brought Charles in to hear his side of the story.

The little boy looked the man dead in the eyes and insisted that it wasn't his fault. The girls had chosen to carry out the beating. He couldn't be held responsible for the actions of others. The six-year-old got off scot-free while his puppets were punished. Needless to say, a sinister seed was planted in his mind. The boy's ability to influence others, especially women, was validated and now he knew how to use it. Interestingly,

young Charles' behavior was reminiscent of the nature versus nurture debate. On one hand, his natural aptitude for manipulation undoubtedly primed him for life as a predator. Yet, on the other, he may never have developed the malevolence needed to use it were it not for his mother's cruelty and criminality. Kathleen was released on parole in 1942 when the little puppeteer was around seven or eight years old. Later,

Charles would describe the weeks following their reunion as the happiest he had ever experienced. The boy's elation would soon be cut short though. His mother was incapable of staying out of trouble or in one place. She moved them to Charleston, West Virginia, where Charles spent his days playing truant and stealing, while Kathleen spent hers drinking. The boy began to feel ashamed of his mother, even so,

he clung to the hope that she would one day become the sober, loving parent he needed. She didn't. Kathleen was inevitably arrested a few months later for grand larceny. Somehow, she avoided being charged with the crime. The tragic pair moved on once again to Indianapolis, Indiana, where they bounced from hotel to motel until Kathleen met her second husband at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The couple married in August 1943.

At this stage, Charles had become warped by his turbulent upbringing and lack of sober role models. He continued to ruin his chances of a better life, skipping school religiously and indulging in petty theft. Eventually, the boy went on to commit his first string of serious crimes, like mother, like son. Part Two: Like Mother, Like Son When Charles Manson was nine years old, he set his elementary school on fire.

The act of arson was inspired by his other uncle, a self-proclaimed outlaw and Kentucky mountain man. His uncle despised what he referred to as "Yankee schools," prompting the young boy to revolt against the modern schooling system. That was the last straw. Kathleen was unable, or unwilling, to control the son she'd failed to raise and tried to have him placed in foster care.

When that didn't work out, she turned to reformatory schools instead. In 1947, the maladjusted 13-year-old was sent to the Gibalt School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana, a reform school for delinquent young boys run by Catholic priests. She hoped the clergyman would raise him right on her behalf, but the institution did more harm than good. The priests were mercilessly strict.

and even the smallest infractions were deemed punishable by beatings with wooden paddles and leather straps. Trapped, abused, and separated from his mother once again, Charles frequently ran away to be with her, despite Kathleen being responsible for his exile. The teenager would escape in the dead of night and embark on the 77-mile trek home on foot. Charles slept in the woods, on the streets, and under bridges, whatever it took to get home.

Each breakout was a desperate cry for the love and acceptance of his mother, but she couldn't see further than the bottom of the bottle were the men who bought them for her. Every time Charles showed up at her door, Kathleen sent him straight back to Gibault without hesitation. He never truly got over his mother's rejection. In 1948, 14-year-old Charles escaped to Indianapolis for good.

His desperation had reached a dangerous climax and the risks he took became daring to say the least. Starving and destitute with nowhere to go, the teen resorted to robbing a grocery store to feed himself. He also stole just over $100 he found in a cigar box, which he used to rent a room in the city's equivalent of Skid Row. Eventually, he landed a job as a messenger boy for Western Union, but greed soon took over.

Charles wanted to live the high life rather than just survive. So, he followed in his mother's footsteps and stole from local establishments to supplement his wages. It didn't take long before he was caught. The judge overseeing his case took pity on the puppy-eyed boy and sent him to Boys Town, a renowned juvenile detention facility in Omaha, Nebraska. It seemed as though the troubled teen was simply a product of his environment.

However, even after being sent to a structured home that rehabilitated youths just like him, Charles chose a life of crime over reform. He only lasted four days at Boys Town before he got his hands on a gun and escaped in a stolen car with his friend, Blackie Nielsen. The runaways were headed for Peoria, Illinois, where Blackie's uncle lived.

and robbed two stores at gunpoint along the way. Incredibly, their six-hour joyride ended with a pat on the back rather than the appropriate punishment. Blackie's uncle was a career criminal who praised the boys for their recklessness. In fact, his uncle was so impressed with the pair that he took them under his wing to help them refine their skills. Apparently though, he forgot to teach them how to evade the police.

The trio was raiding a store two weeks later when they were caught and arrested by local authorities. The subsequent investigation linked Charles to the two armed robberies committed on their way to Peoria, and the 15-year-old was sent to the Indiana Boys School. The cracks in Charles Manson's psyche began to widen at this correctional institution, and the true extent of his budding depravity oozed out. Once again,

Charles found himself confined within the grounds of a facility designed to control his sociopathic urges. It wasn't the same though. The severity of his crimes saw him surrounded by seasoned criminals with far more extensive rap sheets than his own. He was beaten, bullied, and abused without mercy by both the residents and staff, fueling his infamous hatred of establishments and authority. Soon, the abuse reached horrifying new heights.

Charles was restrained and violently raped by his fellow students while a school official egged them on. And it didn't stop there. He was repeatedly sexually assaulted throughout his time at the Indiana Boys School. The abuse was so relentless that the teenager tried to escape his tormentors 18 times. With no family willing to look after him, Charles was inevitably dragged back to the correctional facility and, unfortunately, his abusers.

it became clear that running away was no longer an option. The teenager decided he had to defend himself instead. There was one problem though. Charles was unusually small compared to other boys his age. He was forced to think outside the box to avoid being assaulted again and came up with a self-defense technique he dubbed "The Insane Game". When an attack was imminent,

Charles would flail his arms about wildly and scream incoherent gibberish to feign insanity and scare off his attackers. It worked for the most part. However, they always came back. Part 3: From Prey to Predator Charles was 16 years old when he finally managed to escape the abuse. In February 1951, he broke out of the Indiana Boys School with two other students.

The fugitives tried to flee to California in cars they had stolen, robbing gas stations as they went to fund their journey. They only made it as far as Utah before they were caught and arrested. Charles was charged with driving a stolen car across state lines, a federal offense, and sent to Washington, D.C.'s National Training School for Boys. The caseworker overseeing his transfer hoped this would set the teen straight. Unfortunately,

it only revealed that he was damaged beyond repair. Once Charles arrived at the school, he underwent a series of aptitude tests that exposed his terrifying potential for a future of violent, calculated crimes. His test results showed that, although he was illiterate, he had an above-average IQ of 109. He was also diagnosed as being aggressively antisocial.

The institution's psychiatrists recognized that an intelligent, violent, antisocial teenager with no healthy coping mechanisms was a ticking time bomb, one they didn't have the resources to handle. They recommended that Charles be moved to a facility better equipped to keep him contained. He was transferred to a minimum security institution called Natural Bridge Honor Camp in October of that year.

The aunt that had tried to raise Charles when his mother was first incarcerated visited him frequently. She was devoted to her faith and firmly believed in forgiveness, leading her to beg for his release. She told administrators he could move in with her and assured them she would help him find a stable job. Eventually, officials agreed and scheduled a parole hearing for him in February 1952.

Astonishingly, Charles foiled his own chance at freedom one month before his hearing. The teenager was caught raping a young boy while he held a razor blade to the terrified youth's throat. For the next 15 years, Charles Manson was in and out of maximum security reformatories and eventually federal prisons too.

He was convicted of various crimes that continued to escalate in intensity, such as grand theft auto, fraud, sexual assault, and even pimping out underaged girls to make a living. It seemed as though Manson had grown accustomed to prison life. He thrived within the barbed-wired walls of each institution, surrounded by the dregs of society,

Each time his parole dates neared, Manson would ruin his chances of release. He would suddenly and irrationally act out, committing crimes seemingly without reason. Looking from the outside in, it's hard to understand how one might find sanctuary in a cell. However, the picture becomes far clearer once you realize that prison offered Manson much more than the outside world did. And I'm not just talking about free food and shelter.

In society, he had nothing. In prison, he had the means to make something of himself, whether through state-funded resources or by preying on others. Manson's unhinged disposition and checkered past garnered respect amongst the inmates, while his Machiavellian mind helped him leverage them to further his own agendas. While stuck in the cycle of parole violations and imprisonment, he heard the Beatles for the first time.

They were international sensations. Men listened to them, women worshipped them, and Manson wanted to be them. He craved their power, influence, and fame. So, he bartered for guitar lessons from Barker Karpis gang leader Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, and began playing with the idea of making it big as a singer-songwriter.

Manson was so set on the idea that he even managed to convince then music industry rookie and fellow inmate, Phil Kaufman, to give him the contact of Gary Stromberg, a producer at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Ominously, music wasn't the only skill he picked up in prison. Manson sought control over others and began learning the art of manipulation. He spent his time observing the career criminals who surrounded him, carefully analyzing their behavior.

He learned how to coerce women from seasoned pimps, who even taught him the techniques he would later use to break down his prey's resistance. Manson simultaneously studied social engineering and religion as tools of control and exploitation, with a special focus on Scientology. He also took courses based on Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People," which offered him actionable advice for tricking others into liking him and doing what he wanted.

By 1967, the 32-year-old had spent over half of his life incarcerated. Despite devising ways he could thrive on the outside, the perpetual prisoner didn't want to leave the comfort of his cell at Los Angeles' infamous Terminal Island. Maybe he truly feared the carnage he was capable of. Perhaps he simply wasn't ready to step into the post-prison world he had never experienced. One thing was certain, though. To him, it was home.

which is exactly what he told the parole board. He begged them to allow him to stay in jail, but his request was, understandably, denied. On March 21st, Charles Manson was unleashed into the world as a free man, where he would commit and incite the crimes that saw his name etched into Hollywood history. Part 4. The Summer of Love and LSD

At the time of Manson's release, the summer of love was in full swing up in San Francisco, and the hippie subculture of the 60s had taken over. These free-thinking pacifists openly rejected the political and social mainstream. Instead, they dedicated themselves to a liberated lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Manson was thrilled to find that the outside world mirrored his own unconventional, hedonistic values.

even if he considered the hippies' fixation with peace to be pathetic. He ignored his parole requirements and moved to the San Francisco suburb of Berkeley in April 1967. The now master manipulator managed to convince the San Francisco Probation Office that the move was necessary. Instead of being punished for violating his parole, Manson was transferred to the supervision of Roger Smith, a federal probation officer.

Unfortunately, this would prove to be a disastrous mistake. Smith also happened to be a criminology doctoral student who worked at the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. The researcher thought Manson was the perfect participant for a groundbreaking experiment, if only he had known.

Smith was part of a federally funded program studying the effects of drugs like LSD and methamphetamine on the counterculture movement in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. The program's benefactors included several prominent medical research organizations, such as the National Institute of Mental Health. However,

thanks to a 1976 investigation by the New York Times. It came out that the CIA had been exploiting them to fund its drug research and conceal its involvement. Smith allowed Manson to move to the district so that he could become another unwitting subject of the study. San Francisco may have been the center of 1967's "Summer of Love," but Haight-Ashbury was its heart.

Thousands of free-spirited teens descended into the district that year in search of free love, consciousness-expanding drugs, and an alternative to the mainstream. This marked the birth of the counterculture revolution. The area was heaving with utopian enclaves of heedless hippies who were ripe for the picking, and Manson was in his element.

the wayward man with shoulder-length tangled hair, love and hate inscribed on opposing hands, and anti-establishment ideology slotted effortlessly into the nonconformist scene. Manson quickly realized that he could reframe its symbolic use of acid, music, sex, and communal lifestyles as a means of control.

His unbridled confidence and charisma captivated other like-minded outcasts with malleable minds. They gravitated toward the 32-year-old's carefully constructed aura, and he quickly amassed a group of friends who idolized him. Manson's entourage was mainly vulnerable young women, desperate to belong, a need he filled with supportive but manipulative bonds. As the group grew,

He dubbed them the Manson family, giving them a sense of belonging and solidifying his role as their leader. In a sense, he wasn't wrong. They were a family. For Manson and the kids that flocked to his side, it was the only family they had ever had. Manson began bringing his posse with him to the clinic. It had become a sanctuary of sorts for the unstable man.

His psyche was corrupted during this time, tainted by the potent, mind-altering drugs he indulged in almost daily. One researcher noted that the shift in Manson's personality was the most abrupt and acute he had ever seen. Manson felt invincible. This was only worsened by the unofficial immunity offered by his crooked probation officer, who prioritized the study over reporting Manson's many parole violations. Thanks to Smith,

He remained hooked on mind-bending drugs and free to manipulate the weak. Manson molded himself after whatever each lost soul was searching for. He masqueraded as a father figure, guru, and reincarnated Christian messiah to keep them by his side and under his control.

However, the situation soon turned sinister. The CIA's irresponsible LSD research worsened Manson's eccentric behavior and deteriorating mental state, and he became overcome by paranoia and delusions of grandeur. The madman's friends morphed into followers, and his family quickly transformed into a cult. Part 5: Madness and the Manson Family

Manson initially survived on the streets of San Francisco by begging. However, the 32-year-old quickly leveraged his magnetism and high IQ to persuade his followers into bankrolling his lifestyle instead. It started with Mary Brunner, a 23-year-old librarian who would later fall pregnant with his child, the first of many Manson family babies. Manson manipulated her into letting him stay at her house for a few nights. That was all the time he needed.

Mary became captivated with the short but rugged man, and their arrangement turned permanent. Soon after, 18 other young women and a few men joined the pair, turning Mary's residence into a commune of devotees who hung on Manson's every word, all of whom were far younger than him.

The Manson family's inner circle eventually grew to conclude Charles Tex Watson, Robert Bobby Boussoleil, Stephen Clem Grogan, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten. They viewed Manson as something akin to a god. The Cadre was so devoted to their charismatic leader that they renounced their former lives and identities to embody his dangerously hedonistic beliefs fully.

Manson attributed their submission to a spiritual awakening rather than his scheming, and even baptized a lucky few with new names. He tended to their misconceptions with meticulous precision, planting teachings inspired by the ethos of the 60s and cleverly corrupted by his own radical interpretations. The Manson family practiced extreme free love at the behest of their leader, indulging in bizarre sexual rights fueled by copious amounts of drugs.

Manson would never lose himself though. He encouraged his devotees to take potent doses of acid and immerse themselves in group trips. He, on the other hand, deliberately took far less to keep his wits about him. Manson's followers were so spellbound by the sweet-talking parolee that they were blinded to his flagrant racism, violent temper, and taste for sexualizing women.

Drugged up and high on the thrill of revolting against the time suffocating societal standards, Manson's following of young runaways and addicts became empty vessels in the palm of his hand. They submitted totally and without hesitation to his will, ready to soak up his soon to be deadly doctrines. In the summer of 1967,

Manson's influence spread like a virus as he charmed his way across California recruiting young women. He approached them in hippie hotspots such as San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and Los Angeles' Venice Beach. The 32-year-old portrayed himself as a guru of sorts and spouted spiritual wisdoms that mirrored the egalitarian sentiments of the countercultural revolution. Manson urged the girls to join his family,

many eagerly obliged, unaware that, like many hippie communities of the 60s, they would be subjected to the same misogynistic gender norms and sexualization they were protesting. A tragic example of this is Diane Lake, Manson's youngest known follower. Diane's family, like many others, had relocated to California to experience the free love lifestyle for themselves. They put down roots at a commune called Wavy Gravy's Hog Farm.

where the preteen took drugs and began having sex with her parents' permission. By the time Diane was 14 years old, she had met and become mesmerized by Charles Manson. She jumped into a sexual relationship with a 32-year-old and joined his cult of indoctrinated flower children, where the women were inevitably used for sex in the name of empowerment.

In just a few months, Manson had attracted around 20 similarly young, dedicated followers, all while under the supervision of the clinic staff, researchers, and Roger Smith, his parole officer. While the Manson family was initially deemed a harmless hippie cult, their leader actually rejected the hippie stereotype created by the media at the time. He believed hippies were weak.

Despite their characteristic groovy appearances and bohemian lifestyle, Manson coined the term "Slippies" and christened his followers as such. It differentiated them as individuals who lived a similarly sex and drug-fueled lifestyle, but preferred pilfering and violence over peace. Smith, who frequently saw the Manson family at the clinic, was well aware of this.

However, he never raised any alarms for fear of scaring off potential subjects for his CIA-funded experiments. Left to do as he pleased, Manson leveraged the power he had over his followers and lured them into the life of crime he had been raised on. He convinced them to burglarize the homes of the rich and even persuaded several acolytes into prostitution to fund the family's nomad lifestyle.

Thanks to Manson's connection to Roger Smith, authorities rarely interfered. He was even arrested that July for trying to prevent the arrest of one of his followers, but was never charged with obstructing justice. Instead, the career criminal's charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, and he was given three more years of probation under the care of, you guessed it, Roger Smith.

By the fall of 1967, Manson and his ever-expanding gaggle of groupies left the Haight-Ashbury district to wander up and down the West Coast, preaching to anyone who would listen. During this time, Manson's teachings took a dark turn. Part Six: The Descent Into Doomsday Delusions

Charles Manson's already unstable psyche unraveled at a ferocious pace. His incessant drug use, volatile nature, and shameless racism proved to be a dangerous combination. The ideologies he preached began to deviate from the peaceful movement his family was founded upon, and the darkest corner of his maniacal mind were exposed.

the madman had been deeply affected by his conservative family and childhood and religious reformatory schools. So much so, that they influenced his delusions and brought about a God complex. Manson likened himself to Jesus Christ and convinced the Manson family that they were the reincarnations of the original Christians destined to follow him.

He added that the establishment was the modern embodiment of the Romans, who had persecuted and slaughtered his first disciples. Manson organized graphic reenactments of the crucifixion to get his point across to his followers, whose pupils seemed to be perpetually dilated. The result? A small army of drugged up young adults who believed they were above the law and about to be martyred by it.

the supposed Messiah's paranoia intensified as the Black Power movement swept the nation. Despite initially preaching unconditional love, Charles Manson was no egalitarian. He was, in fact, a bigot and a racist. He became fixated on the idea of an imminent race war, a fictional apocalyptic clash between races that white supremacists have harbingered since the Antebellum period.

Drunk on his delusions, Manson warned his followers that the black population would revolt against the whites, causing a cataclysmic war that would decimate the white race. According to him, the victorious black population wouldn't be intelligent enough to organize themselves and would seek out the last surviving white man to lead them. Manson claimed that he would be that man.

More so, he would be their master, accompanied only by his most dedicated followers, of course. The Manson family was originally drawn to him because of his like-minded disdain for racial, ethnic, and political injustices. Now, they lapped up his racist ramblings and mentally prepared for the war to come.

His silver tongue led them to believe they were the chosen ones, an elite group of enlightened whites who would be spared to preserve the worthy for the post-apocalyptic world. When Manson claimed they needed to record an album to trigger the race war and fulfill their destinies, they obeyed. In a matter of months, the Manson family had deteriorated into a doomsday cult.

brainwashed and desperate to survive Armageddon. Manson's followers were now little more than weapons at their disturbed leader's disposal. Around December of 1967, he packed up the family and moved them to Los Angeles. He hoped to leverage the music industry connections he had wangled in prison to reach Hollywood stardom. Manson wanted to use his music to add fuel to the fire of the already heated racial tensions of the time. Instead,

the broken little boy in a madman's body, would go on to point his now fanatical followers at Hollywood and pull the trigger.