What did Charles Manson do?
Charles Manson was an American murderer and cult leader who led the infamous Manson Family in California in the late 1960s. Manson instructed members of his cult to commit a series of brutal murders claiming the lives of 9 people in total at 4 different locations in July and August of 1969.
The most famous of these murders was that of Hollywood movie star Sharon Tate, who was married to the movie director, Roman Polanski. She was murdered at her Cielo Drive house on the evening of the 8th of August 1969 alongside former lover, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Anne Folger. Tragically, Tate was heavily pregnant at the time, and her unborn child also died.
What happened at the trial?
Charles Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder of 7 people in 1971.
The prosecution led by legendary attorney Vincent Bugliosi claimed Manson’s ideology led to an overt act of conspiracy without him directly ordering the murders.
Manson was a wannabe musician and would often talk about the Beatles. He misinterpreted their lyrics and adopted the term “Helter Skelter” to describe an upcoming apocalyptic race war. During the trial, Bugliosi claimed Manson’s big plan was to start a race war.
Where is Charles Manson now?
After spending 40 years in prison, Charles Manson died on the 19th of November 2017. He died of cardiac arrest at the age of 83. Manson had been serving his life sentence at the Corcoran State Prison in California.
There have been lots of documentaries about this case but the most recent one was on Amazon Prime Video, The Manson Murders, which was released in 2023.
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