Charles Manson

CHARLES MANSON AND HIS FOLLOWERS

Charles Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 12, 1934 to Kathleen Maddox. At the

time, she was a promiscuous sixteen year old who drank too much and got into a lot of trouble. Two years

later, Kathleen filed suit against Charles' dad, Colonel Scott of Ashland, Kentucky, for child support,

which she was awarded but never received. Kathleen was briefly married to William Manson who gave his

name to Charles. Kathleen had a habit of disappearing for days and weeks at a time, leaving Charlie with

his grandmother or aunt. Charles Manson in Nuel Emmons' book, MANSON IN HIS OWN WORDS

describes his family: "Kathleen was the youngest of three children from the marriage of Nancy and

Charles Maddox. Her parents loved her and meant well by her, but they were fanatical in their religious

beliefs. Especially Grandma, who dominated the household. She was stern and unwavering in her

interpretation of God's will, and demanded that those within her home abide by her view of God's wishes."

( Emmons pg 32) When Kathleen and her brother were both sentenced to the penitentiary for armed

robbery, Charlie got sent off to live with his aunt and uncle in McMechen, West Virginia. The aunt was

very religious and strict in true contrast to his mother's permissiveness.

When Kathleen was released from jail, she was not responsible enough to take care of Charles,

preferring her life of promiscuity and hard drinking to any kind of normal lifestyle. Charles had no stability

in his life. Always being passed around to someone new, he moved from one dingy house to another, the

only stability he had were the friendships that he made on the streets. Manson tells the story that circulated

within his family: "Mom was in a cafÐ"© one afternoon with me on her lap. The waitress, a would-be mother

without a child of her own, jokingly told my mom she'd buy me from her. Mom replied, "A pitcher of beer

and he's yours." The waitress set up the beer, mom stuck around long enough to finish it off and left the

place without me. Several days later, my uncle had to search the town for the waitress and take me home."

( Emmons and Manson pg 86). John Gilmore, in his book called, THE GARBAGE PEOPLE describes how

Charlie adapted to this life of emptiness and violence: "He kept to himself. Though friendless, his young

mind bypassed the loneliness of his surroundings. He watched, listened, pretended his imaginative

resources knew no limit. And he began to steal, as if to hold onto something that continually flew away.

There was a consistency and permanency to the habit of stealing and it became easier. With everything

transient, the thefts and goods he carried with him offered a sense of stability, a kind of reward. An object

owned gave identity to an owner, an identity that had yet to be acknowledged."( Gilmore pg 74)

At the age of nine, he was caught stealing and was sent to a reform school, and then later when he

was 12, he was caught stealing again and sent to the Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana, in

1947. A year later, he would run away from the school to find his mother who didn't want him. Living by

stealing and burglary, he lived on his own until he was caught and sent to Father Flanagan's Boys Town. A

few days after his arrival, thirteen-year-old Charles and another kid committed two armed robberies. A few

more episodes like that landed him in the Indiana School for Boys for three years.

From 1951 to 1954, Charles Manson bounced back and forth between institutions, though in 1952,

he was sent to a more secure institution in Chillicothe, Ohio, and for some reason, here is where Charles

suddenly changed his attitude. He was more cooperative and genuinely improved educationally so that he

was able to read and understand basic math. These improvements lead to his parole in May of 1954 at the

age of nineteen. At first he lived with his aunt and uncle, then his mother for a short period of time. Early

in 1955, he married a waitress who bore him a son, Charles Manson, Jr. Charles worked a various of low-

paying jobs and increased his income by stealing cars. One of them he took to Los Angeles with his then

pregnant wife. He was caught and eventually found his way to the prison at Terminal Island in San Pedro,

California. His wife had the good sense to divorce him after he spent three years in jail. In 1958, he was

released on parole.

From 1959 to 1964, he would continue in and out of prison, without much changing. During these

times, he would bounce back and forth in religious philosophies pursuing to try to "find" himself, touching