Destructive Cults

The Family; Charles Manson (Part 2:)

This topic is a continuation from the previous essay

The aftermath:

The Family survived the incarceration of Manson. After his arrest, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, one of Manson's shrewdest, toughest and most obedient followers, effectively took command of the management of The Family in his absence. With a handful of other followers, mostly women, she perched on the steps of the Los Angeles courthouse during the trial, shaved her head to protest his conviction and, copying Manson, gouged an X into her forehead as a sign of loyalty. She later explained: "We have X'ed ourselves out of this world."

On 1972-NOV-13, Michael Monfort, James Craig, Priscilla Cooper, Nancy Laura Pitman and Lynnette Alice Fromme were held for the murder of James T. Willett and his wife.

On 1975-SEP-05, Fromme unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald R. Ford in Sacramento, CA. It appears that although she managed to get close to Ford, by mistake the chamber of her .45 Colt was empty. She was heard to say, "It didn't go off. Can you believe it? It didn't go off!" She stated she had committed the crime so that Manson would appear as a witness at her trial, and thus have a worldwide platform from which to talk about his apocalyptic vision. She escaped prison in 1987-DEC, apparently to try to reach California and Manson. She was recaptured two days later.

Manson remains imprisoned until his death in 2017. More than nine applications for parole have been denied, most notably in 1986 when he appeared before the parole board with a swastika embossed on his forehead. During his stay in prison, Manson has received more mail than any other prisoner in the United States prison system. It is said that he gets over 60,000 pieces of mail a year; much of it is fan mail from young people hoping to join The Family.

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Mansion's musical career:

Charles Manson released his album "One Mind" during 2005-APR. Three years later, he made it available under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 2.0 License. This allows anyone to remix the songs for non-commercial purposes, as long as they give proper credit to Manson, and issue it under the same license.

According to WikiNews:

"The web site Family Jams (Manson�s record label), which offers hard-copies of the CD, says that 'ONE MIND is pure Charlie, no additions, no corrections, no added opinions, filters or editing... consisting of songs, trance-poetry, conversations, raps, ramblings, musings and more.' The cover-art is a painting by Manson, liner notes include excerpts from his letters, and, as the sites mentions, song titles and interludes are by friends or editors'. The disc has 16 tracks, totaling almost 76 minutes of Manson's work."

Manson was part of the Los Angeles music scene before his conviction as leader of the Manson Family commune. He was close to Beach Boy Dennis Wilson �Manson wrote the song 'Never Learn Not to Love' for the Beach Boys.

"In 1970, Manson released the album Lie: "The Love & Terror Cult" to finance his trial. The Manson Family also released The Family Jams, with songs written by Manson. Manson has released several albums since." ₁

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Movie about the group:

Lindsay Lohan played the role of Nancy Pitman in an movie called "Manson Girls." She allegedly was fascinated by Charles Manson before she entered rehab for drug and alcohol addiction in 2007: She said: "Yeah, I have a dark side. I watched all those videos on Charles Manson for a while."

Lohan also stars in the movie Chapter 27 about the assassination of John Lennon. ₁

Later developments:

Charles Manson (a.k.a. B33920) remained incarcerated in Corcoran State Prison, in Corcoran, CA. He was engaged to Afton Elaine Burton, 26. However they never married. He was serving nine life sentences. His next scheduled parole hearing would have been circa 2026.

However, he died on 2017-NOV-19 in a Bakersfield, CA hospital of a heart attack at the age of 83. On 2018-MAR-17, a funeral was held in Porterville, CA, followed by a cremation.

The delay between his death and funeral was because of a months-long legal battle among three individuals to obtain control of Manson's body. They are Jason Freeman, Manson's grandson; Michael Brunner, Manson's son with former Family member Mary Brunner; and Michael Channels, Manson's friend and pen pal of 30 years, who is Manson's beneficiary in a 2002 will. Control was assigned to Freeman by the Kern County Court.

About 22 people attended the funeral, which was presided over by Mark Pitcher, pastor of the local Church of the Nazarene. Freeman planned on scattering the ashes "free in the air somewhere."

The photograph of Charles Manson on the Snopes' article that discussed the funeral was cropped just above Manson's eyelashes, perhaps to avoid showing the swastika on his forehead. ₇

Summary:

The Family was a group with Christian beliefs. Total body count (1969): at least 8.

Books about Manson and the Family:

Most recent book:

Book cover image Peter Chiaramonte, "No Journey's End: My Tragic Romance with Ex-Manson Girl, Leslie Van Houten," (2015). Paperback. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store

Amazon.com's description:

" 'No Journey�s End' provides a captivating, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life and romance of convicted Charles Manson Family member, Leslie Van Houten, and Canadian academic, Peter Chiaramonte, as told through Peter�s first-person recollections of their intimate experiences. Learn how Van Houten�a homecoming princess at her California high school�evolved from an intelligent and beautiful young girl into a madman�s puppet, enslaved in a world of drugs and sex under the control of Charles Manson. This bizarre trail of twisted circumstances is set against the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Be transported back in time to experience a new perspective on a story only told by the media, until now..."

Older books, sorted by author's name:

	Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry, "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders," W. W. Norton, (2001). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
	Charles Manson, as told to Nuel Emmons, "Manson in His Own Words," Grove Press, (1988). Read reviews or order this book [Manson denies authorship of this book]
	Nikolas Schreck, "The Manson File," Amok Press, (1988). Read reviews or order this book
	Ed Sanders, "The Family," Thunder's Mouth Press,(2002). Read reviews or order this book
	Michael J. Pellowski "The Charles Manson Murder Trial: A Headline Court Case," Enslow Publishers, (2004). Read reviews or order this book
	Tommy Udo, "Charles Manson: Music, Mayhem, Murder," Sanctuary Records, (2002). Read reviews or order this book
	Edward George, Dary Matera "Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars" St. Martin's Press, (1999). Read reviews or order this book
	Charles Watson "Will you die for me?" F. H. Revell, (1978). Read reviews or order this book
	M. Terry, "The Ultimate Evil," Bantam Books, (1989) Read reviews or order this book

Documentary films:

	Manson documentary directed by Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick (1973)
	Charles Manson Superstar documentary directed by Nikolas Schreck (2002)

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Dramatic films:

	The Manson Massacre directed by Kentucky Jones (1972)
	Helter Skelter directed by John Gray (1976; Director's Cut: 2004, Warner Home Video)
	The Book of Manson directed by Raymond Pettibon (1989)
	The Manson Family directed by Jim Van Bebber (2003)

Internet references:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

"Charles Manson releases album under free license," Wikinews, 2008-APR-06, at: http://en.wikinews.org/
A web site "Access Manson" is dedicated to Manson and is billed as "A real source for Manson Thought." See: http://www.atwa.info/
A list of web sites which deal with Charles Manson and The Family is at: http://www.goto.com/
Buddy T, "Leslie Van Houten Denied Parole: Stabbed Rosemary LaBianca 16 Times as a 1969 Teen on Drugs," at: http://www.alcoholism.about.com/
"Charles Manson." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/ Portions of this essay were copied from the Wikipedia site on 2005-JUL-09
"Charles Manson releases album under free license," Wikinews, 2008-APR-06, at: http://en.wikinews.org/
"Charles Manson Cremated Following Brief, Private Funeral," Associated Press, 2018-MAR-19, at: https://www.snopes.com/