Charles Maddox Manson was born on November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio to parents Kathleen Maddox who was 16 at the time. Kathleen married William Manson briefly but ended up taking his last name. Once they separated Manson was sent to a boarding school and his mother had little to do with him. He ended up being homeless on the streets committing petty crimes which landed him in and out of a jail cell. It is said that, “He would eventually spend half of the first 32 years of his life behind bars” (biography.com). Manson moved to California in 1955 which is when his crime began in that area. Charles Manson was first brought to the public’s attention in 1969 when his followers and himself were put on trial for committing a set of viscous murders. He was the leader of the infamous Manson family cult which carried out at least seven gruesome …show more content…
While the counter-culture stressed drug use as a means to attain a higher consciousness, Manson used psychedelic drugs to control and influence his followers” (sholar.colorado.edu). He convinced his followers into believing an idea called Helter Skelter. Helter Skelter is the name of a song written by the Beatles, who were very prominent pop culture figures especially during this time period, and Manson used the lyrics to the song to convince his followers that there was an unavoidable racial war that would lead to the apocalypse. By committing the murders, the followers believed that they were helping contribute to Helter Skelter because of Charles Manson’s manipulation. Charles Manson made a list of Pop culture figures who he intended for his followers to murder but fortunately they were arrested before his “family” members were able to carry out all of the people on the