Michaels Backporch: Hardcopy (Feb. 4, 1991) Charles Manson Pirate Prison Tapes

Source:Hard Copy Special Report on Charles Manson & his crime family.

Source:The New Democrat

The Manson murders twenty years later. Actually twenty years after The Manson Family murderers were convicted of those evil murders. I mean when I think of evil serial murderers Charlie Manson and Ted Bundy are at the top of my list at least when you're talking about individuals. The KKK as a group are probably just as bad though. Manson ordering murders of people because they were literally part of the successful establishment. Imagine that as your defense in court. But not only that, but ordering the murders of the wrong people. He wanted Dennis Wilson murdered and wasn't aware that Wilson had moved out and other people moved in. Roman Polanski and his girlfriend Sharon Tate.

Charlie Manson wasn't a dumb person. Certainly uneducated and not educated in the traditional sense. But we're talking about someone who didn't functioned properly mentally. Who lacked moral character, actually didn't really have any. Who believed he was above the law and that somehow these murders was benefiting society or something. Even though again he ordered the murders of the wrong people in the sense that it was Dennis Wilson that he wanted murdered. And his crew didn't realize that Wilson no longer lived there and that new group of people are now using that home. The Manson Family soldiers I guess who were made up of high school and college dropouts and people who were kicked out by their parents, didn't understand that.

Charlie Manson created a cult of evil an even culture of evil. I guess he was pissed off at society after leaving prison for the last time in his life and was looking for a way to get back at the people that he believed wronged him. We're talking about a man who grew up in prison and at 32 in 1967 had spent more than half his life in prison. And even though prison was always the best and most comfortable place for him in life he now believed he was going to punish the people for sending him there. And he finds his societal dropouts in the Manson soldiers with the young women, Tex Watson and others and now had the crew to commit the evil acts that he didn't have the balls to do himself. Charlie Manson is the perfect example of why we have life in prison and life without parole in prison. Because you don't want people like that living freely ever again.

Michaels Backporch: Good Day LA's Steve Edwards Interviews Robin Sax: Convicted Murderer Bruce Davis About to be Paroled?

Source:Michaels Backproch- Robin Sax on Good Day LA.

Source:The New Democrat

Whatever your position on the death penalty is and even if you’re in favor of the death penalty, but agree that forty-five years later not executing the Manson Family murderers other than Charlie Manson himself was the correct decision, I think most of the country can agree that once you intentionally take the innocent life of another human being and are convicted of that murder, or murderers, you forfeit your right to freedom for the rest of your life. I could imagine only anti-use of force at anytime groups, as well as anti-prison advocates, or Anarchists having a problem with that.

Bruce Davis, has never even admitted, or apologized for his role in the Manson murders. The only thing that puts him ahead of Charlie, is that he’s made a productive life for himself while in prison. Which is one of the reasons for having prison. Which is the whole point of rehabilitation which is self-improvement and not just preparing people who have a release date on the outside for life there, but empowering people who are serving life, or very long sentences to make a positive life for them self in prison and allow for them to give back. Which is what she should be doing a lot more with our prisons and would make them a lot more affordable to run. But that’s a different subject.

Once you murder someone, you can’t take that back. Your victim never recovers from that. And because of that why should the murder be able to live freely when their victim, or victims can never live at all? So one should feel sorry for anyone who decided to hook up with Charlie Manson. None of the Manson Family members were kidnapped and all voluntarily joined that group. And they were all eighteen, or older when they got involved and they all knew what they were doing when they committed those murders. And they’re all paying the price for it in prison and will continue to pay that price as long as they’re alive. Because their victims will never recover from their murders.

BIO: Journey Into Evil- The Charles Manson Story

Source:The History Channel- Leader of The Manson Crime Family/Cult, Charles Manson.

"The first victims fell on August 9, 1969, at the home Roman Polanski had rented located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area just north of Beverly Hills. Manson chose four of his most obedient comrades—Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian—to carry out these heinous crimes. Kasabian acted as the getaway driver and was to become the star witness during the trial.

The victims inside the house, actress Sharon Tate; writer Wojciech Frykowski and his partner, the coffee bean heiress Abigail Folger; and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, had returned to the Polanski residence after dining out. Polanksi himself was away in London shooting a film.

The first victim was 18-year-old Steven Parent, who had been visiting his friend William Garretson, who took care of and lived in a guest home on the Cielo Drive property which Polanski and Tate rented. He was spotted by the intruders and was shot as he drove away from the house in the dark early morning hours. Kasabian was horrified by the shooting of the boy, and she remained outside to keep watch. When the other three broke into the house, they herded the occupants into the living room and tied them up. Manson himself took no part in the actual killings but directed his murderous disciples to the address and instructed them to kill everyone.

According to one of the Family member's statements, the Polanksi household had been targeted because it represented Manson's rejection by the showbiz world and society.

Jay Sebring was shot and brutally kicked as he tried to defend Ms. Tate. During the terrifying fracas, both Frykowski and Folger managed to escape from the house but were chased and stabbed to death. At the trial, Kasabian described how she saw Frykowski staggering out of the house covered in blood and was horrified at the sight. She told him she was "sorry," but despite her pleas to his attacker to stop, the victim was bludgeoned repeatedly. Folger escaped from the house with terrible injuries but was caught on the front lawn and stabbed 28 times."

Source: BIO

A lot can be said about Charles Manson most of it bad. I mean he was the leader of one of the most evil crime families that America has ever seen. And this wasn’t a crime family that was built around enriching themselves financially off the backs of people who’ve made it in life. But a crime family that was built around destroying the establishment essentially. That if you were successful in life, especially if you were a successful Caucasian-American in society in the Los Angeles area and Charlie Manson knew about you and could get to you, you were a potential target of the Manson Family.

If you were on the Manson Crime Family’s hit list, they were not going to take what you earned in life. They weren’t after the wealth, but the person themselves. That the establishment was the problem in America. And Charlie Manson had this fantasy that if all of these wealthy people were murdered, that these murders would get blamed on African-Americans in Los Angeles. And that Caucasians would be so mad by this, that it would unite some type of race war between Caucasians and Africans in Southern California. This sounds crazy, but that’s the fantasy that Manson had. But what he didn’t realize apparently as well as several other things, that he was in California not Alabama. And race wars just didn’t happen there. People in LA learned to live with each other.

Charlie Manson’s life was tragic enough and to a certain extent society was partially to blame for this. With the way Manson was raised. But the bigger tragedy was, its one thing to destroy your own life, but its another to destroy others. And his family members are responsible for their actions in the Manson Family. But without Charlie Manson the Manson Crime Family never gets created and he targeted young adults in the late 1960s to join his family and show them another way of living.

Manson gave his members what they were missing in life, in exchange for doing Charlie’s evil business. Do the deeds that Manson didn’t have the guts to do on his own, which is murder people. And thank God most people don’t have the guts to murder people, or this would be a much different country. Thats how the Manson Family operated and how they were able to be in business. Charlie Manson was sentenced to prison for the last time in his life in 1970 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder of the people his family murdered.

Charlie been in prison ever since and will never leave prison for what he did. Nor should he, because he’s clearly not rehabilitated. And even the California corrections system recognizes this. But he’s lucky in once sense to even be a live for the murders he’s responsible for. Had the death penalty not have been outlawed in 1973, Charlie and his followers would be dead right now. Probably executed by the late 1970s and early 1980s. And how his members, most of the women anyway have turned out and conducted themselves while in prison and are now rehabilitated, that may have been a tragedy. But Charlie is still the same person he’s always been as an adult.

CNN Spotlight: Charles Manson (2014)

Source:Constantly Sporadic- CNN talking to Jeff Gunn.

Source:The New Democrat 

"CNN revisits the vicious, horrific killings by Charles Manson's followers, 45 years later. CNN Special Report - Face of Evil: The Charles Manson Murders. Tuesday, August 18, 2015." 

From Constantly Sporadic 

"Description:  "CNN Spotlight: Charles Manson" 8/9-10/2014.

Why people still pay attention to Charles Manson-

  By Ted Rowlands, CNN

 Sat. August 9, 2014" 

Source:Michaels Backporch- with a look at The Manson Family.

From Michaels Backporch

I’m not making the excuses for Charlie Manson, because he was and probably still is pure evil. But the fact he was born that way, seems odd to me at the very least. That would be like being born a racist or something. And also the idea that he had a loving childhood and everything else, because he had all of these relatives that took care of him, I mean the fact that he was moved around so much during his childhood says a lot right there. He didn’t have that one or two adult relatives who loved him enough to bring him up right. And he eventually ends up in reform and boys schools to take care of him.

Having said all of that, this man is personally responsible for countless murders. And not just the Tate murders on that horrible hot night in August of 1969, but other murders as well that haven’t been completely tied to him. He knew what he was doing when he put him crime family together and what he wanted these young adults to do for him. Which was to get revenge on society for treating Manson the way he was treated as a young person. And if the Manson Family wasn’t stopped when they were, they would’ve kept on killing into the 1970s.

Charlie Manson is not physically responsible for the murders that his crew committed in the sense that he physically murdered all of those people. But he’s responsible for ordering the murders that we’re committed and motivating his crew to commit the murders that he did. Which is called conspiracy to commit murder. The conspirator is just as responsible for the murders as the murderer who physically committed the murders. That is why Manson was sentenced to death in 1971, I believe along with his crew members who committed the murders. And when their sentences were commuted to life, he was given life as well.

ABC News: Good Morning America- Diane Sawyer: 2002 Interview of Susan Atkins

Source:ABC News- Serial murderer Charles Manson in 2002. 

Source:The New Democrat 

“Susan Atkins is terminally ill and dying of brain cancer and has only 6 months to live. This interview was done in 29002 but James whitehouse gives his first interview in mnay years. This was on GMA yesterday:The Manson Family Today." 

Source:The New Democrat- Manson family soldier Susan Atkins. 

From ABC News

I think it is pretty sad the way that Susan Atkins died in prison, especially from brain cancer which must have been horrible for her. And I’m not sure she did turn her life around, because I’m not sure life was ever-moving in the right direction in the first place to end up where she did.

Susan Atkins did build a positive life for herself in prison as far as how she did her time and how she helped fellow inmates and helped people on the outside. Life in prison doesn’t have to be and shouldn’t be torture. Other than the fact that you know you’ll never be free and you’ll always be incarcerated. Which is bad enough and shouldn’t be any worst than that if the inmate does their time well and doesn’t further their criminal career inside of prison.

Life in prison still means life and that the person still has their life to live, just in prison and living in prison for the rest of their lives. But that also means they are alive in prison and that they should be able to make out of that time in prison the best that they can do. That it should be a productive and constructive existence for them, the prison and society.

Just because an inmate is serving life without parole they shouldn’t be in lockdown in a cell most of their days essentially doing nothing. As long as they are behaving themselves and staying out of trouble and taking advantages that are in front of them. Things like education, work, community service, and other rehabilitation programs.

By all counts Susan Atkins did those things in her thirty-seven plus years and prison and made of her life sentence the best that she could and perhaps the best anyone could. Especially considering what she was in prison for and the condition she was in when she entered prison.

I truly believe the only bad if not evil person that is doing time for the Manson Family murders is Charlie Manson. That is his family hadn’t met Manson and not have fallen for some other criminals or criminals, that they wouldn’t of ended up in prison and probably made positive lives for themselves.

But given all of that, the fact is they including Susan Atkins did hook up with Charlie Manson and they did carry out his evil orders. And committed such crimes that their victims will never get over and recover from because they were murdered.

And a life sentence is exactly that. And unless you are paroled and why you would even be eligible for parole when you’re guilty of first degree murder and you’re a serial murderer, is beyond me. But unless you are paroled, you’re still on the hook for the crimes you committed. Which is why Susan Atkins shouldn’t of never been rewarded even a compassionate release from prison, which she wasn’t because of the crimes she committed.

Charles Manson: The Man Who Killed The 1960s

Source:Jack London with a documentary about Manson Crime Family leader Charles Manson.

Source:The New Democrat  

This era the 1960s especially the late 60s is an example of why I wish I was 20-25 years older than I am today. Instead of being born in mid 1970s, I wish I was born in the early 50s or mid-50s. Now of course that would mean I’m either pushing 60, or in my early to mid 60s today, so that would be the drawback. But instead of hearing about the latest celebrity and why they are in jail today, or who they are sleeping with. Or the latest computer or smart phone and what was the coolest commercial Super Bowl, with very little if any mention about who actually won the game, I would be hearing about real true crime stories and people who were at least a certain extent victims of their generation, who were lost and fell to a madman.

The 1960s was an incredibly fascinating for both good and bad. And you could say Charles Manson and his group ended the peace and love anti-establishment decade. But the fact is the 1960s was one of the most divisive and violent decades America has ever experienced before Charlie Manson ever came on the scene. What Manson and his group, his crime family did was to escalate the violence of that decade and take their extreme anger out on completely innocent people. And why they do that? Because their victims were successful and wealthy, unlike the Manson Family. It was almost like a communist or socialist revolution taking out their anger against the rich establishment.

There were people who wanted peace and fought for peace and even died for peace. The great Dr. Martin L. King comes to mind damn fast and perhaps the ultimate tragedy of this decade as far as what happened to him, along with President John F. Kennedy. But the 1960s was not a peaceful decade. There was horrible violence from the early 1960s with a presidential assassination all the way through the decade. And The Manson Family didn’t even strike the biggest blows of the decade. In Los Angeles sure, as far as the amount of people who were killed. But keep in mind U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in the late 60s, 1968. Not to take away from the Manson victims.

What the Manson Family represented was the anti-establishment movement and violence of the 1960s. And they took that to a horrible new evil level that perhaps hasn’t been unmatched by any other crime group in America, at least as far as the amount of people they killed in the amount of time that they killed. The Manson Family really were all about the 1960s and represented a lot of the good and bad. Mostly bad, but the 60s hippie movement, peace and love all of that didn’t die with the Manson Family. Because those things were always just dreams anyway.

The Tomorrow Show, Tom Snyder Interview of Charles Manson (1985)

Source:The New Democrat  

I don’t think there is a lot new here at least from what we already know about Charlie Manson, at least the people who have followed his life in and out of prison. The one thing that is different, is that he’s in a medical facility, instead of hardcore prison and he’s not in solitary confinement. Tom Snyder was granted excellent access of Manson and Manson’s time at Vacuville. It would’ve been nice to know what Manson was doing there, because it did look fairly healthy, at least physically. Mentally I’m not sure he’s ever been healthy and has ever been a right frame of mind, but that is a different story.

Manson apparently still living on his own planet. Tom Snyder asked him point-blank, “why do people follow you”? And he does this little dance and does all of these vibrations, like he’s a god or something. And Snyder asked Manson about Vince Bugliosi’s book, the man who prosecuted The Manson Family and his book about those trials. And Manson said that Bugliosi got the times and dates right. And that was essentially Bugliosi’s version of what happened back then. But nothing about whether Bugliosi was accurate or not.

Charlie Manson has been in prison for his last crimes for now forty-five years. The man is now eighty-years old and when he went to prison for the last time back in late 1969 or early 1970, he had already spend half of his life in either juvenile hall, jail or prison. That is all he knows. And even today he still doesn’t take any responsibility for his crimes. So why would he of bothered to do that back almost thirty-years ago. The man belongs in hell and if he’s going to be allowed to live he should and is in hell on Earth.

Warner Brothers: Helter Skelter (1976) Story of The Charles Manson Family

Source:Warner Brothers- Looks like part of the filming of the 1976 Helter Skelter movie.

Source:The Daily Press

"Helter Skelter - Trailer"

From Warner Brothers 

"The investigation and trial of the horrific Tate-LaBianca mass murders orchestrated by the psychotic pseudo-hippie cult leader, Charles Manson."

Source:INDB- "Helter Skelter (TV Mini-Series 1976)"

From IMDB

In 1976 there was a two-part TV mini-series I believe on CBS about the Manson Crime Family from the late 1960s and even after their leader Charles Manson was arrested in late 1969 for his role in the Tate murders and other murders during the Manson Family murder spree from the summer of 1969, a summer Los Angeles will never forget.

The Manson Family was still in business so to speak in the early 1970s and even up to 1975 with Lynette Squeaky Frohm's attempt to assassinate President Gerald Ford.

And this mini-series was about the murders of the Manson Family in the Summer of 1969 and other business about the Manson Family. It was not a religious cult, there was some spirituality in it. But it was basically about a petty thief, pimp, career criminal who was never very good at staying out of prison. Who would get released from prison for the last time in the mid 1960s and work his way to the San Francisco area, pick up some girls in their late teens early 20s who ran away from home.

These were young adults late teens for the most part who seemed somewhat lost and build a family made up of high school and college dropouts. People that they believed were kissed off from society and Charlie Manson finally found a group of people who seemed like him, somewhat lost in the World. That didn't seem to fit in with mainstream society and he founded his soldiers that would take out their anger against mainstream society.

Charlie Manson wasn't intelligent in the sense that he was well-educated, he didn't get through high school or make it to high school. He grew up in prison basically, in juvenile hall and probably didn't spend much time in school there. He never knew his father and his mother was a prostitute who didn't spend much time with her son and Charlie got moved around a lot as a kid. And probably didn't feel very loved, as an FBI profiler once said about Manson on NBC Dateline: "Charlie Manson is an example of what happens when we don't raise our kids well".

Society in a sense has some blame here for creating Charlie Manson. Not to excuse Manson because he's exactly where he belongs and will and should never leave prison. But society isn't innocent here in the creation of Charlie Manson.

And what Manson had in his crime family were the people who would take out revenge for him against society: "If you were part of the establishment and successful in life, living in the Los Angeles area and they knew about you, you were a target of the Manson Family". To paraphrase Vince Bugliosi who prosecuted the Manson Family. Charlie wasn't stupid but he wasn't educated either.

Charlie Manson had talent to play and write music, but also to read people and know how they work and how he could work them up to the point where he could make people kill for him, Charles Watson, Patricia Krenwenkell, Leslie Van Houten, Susan Atkins and others. And they found their targets in actress Sharon Tate, Karen Folger and others and killed them.

The Manson Family murders were some of the worst murders ever committed. Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein would've been proud of these murders.

The Manson victims literally being stabbed and hanged to death in their own homes and their blood being spread around their homes. The Manson Family literally left their mark and were begging for the death penalty with their murders. And we're given the death penalty before the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty in I believe 1973. The only reason why these serial murderers are alive today. Their lives being spared something they didn't do for their victims and they are the poster children for why we need to raise our kids well.

And the Manson Crime Family had to be stopped for them to pay their debt to society. But to put them out of business so they couldn't strike again. 

The Today Show: Charles Manson (1987)

Source:The New Democrat

Charles Manson has made a couple of admissions of guilt. I'm not a lawyer but this is what it sounds like when he says perhaps he should've killed more people. I'm paraphrasing here, but that is pretty close, and perhaps the closes, he's come to taking responsibility for the brutal Manson Family murders of 1969 of people the Manson Family didn't know or had ever heard of. The interviewer asked a basic straightforward question and got a fairly straight answer from Charlie.

I believe a borderline silly question has to be asked of Charlie Manson: Do you feel responsibility or remorse for the murders?  It is a silly question because you know what he's going to say:  Remorse for what, what murders, what about everything you've done to me and so forth.  It has to be asked because he's the one man who knows exactly how many people he's responsible for killing and you are looking for new information here and, if nothing else, to get a new reaction out of him.

This is not much of an interview but certainly entertaining. The interviewer is not asking many questions but really just letting Charlie do his shtick, his routine, and letting him go off on the world and what he thinks of things and letting him speak and make up for lost time spending so much of his time not just in State prison but in solitary confinement, during which the world that is still fascinated by the man gets to see how he is doing and what he is thinking.

CBS News NightWatch: Charlie Rose 1987 Interview of Charles Manson

\

Source:The New Democrat

I can feel a certain sympathy for Charlie Manson because it is easy to see why he is so pissed off at a society that provided only the corrections system as an early home for him. Never knowing his biological father, with a criminal mother who rejected her son, being shipped around from aunt and uncle to aunt and uncle, and then ending up in reform school, he received no encouragement as a child or the emotional and physical skills to tackle life's demands.

I am not excusing Manson's crimes, but many career criminals in the United States emerge from similar rough beginnings. Ted Bundy would be an exception to that, as well as Manson's soldiers, but the life of Charles Manson is a lesson for society that it shouldn't give up on the younger generation, because it could come back to bite them if young people end up looking for an avenue to express their resentment or hatred for the society that neglected them.

I'm not sure there's someone more qualified than Charlie Rose to interview Charlie Manson, because of his intelligence, the work he puts into his interviews, and his vast knowledge about so much that is news-related.  His interviewing skills are unmatched.  He knows when someone is being straight with him and knows when they are leaving out important facts.  His bullshit radar is superb, and Charlie Manson found himself up against someone who was more than his match in Charlie Rose in this interview.

ABC News: 20/20 Dian Sawyer 1994 Special On The Manson Family

Source:The New Democrat 

The Manson Crime Family, which is what I call it instead of a cult, because of all the crimes they committed and people they either seriously hurt or killed, is one of the worst crime families of all time with regard to their large number of victims.  Charlie Manson, the leader of this family, was a professional criminal and, until he put the Manson Family together, wasn't a very successful criminal because of all the time he had already spent in prison.

Charlie Manson, even though he was not an educated man (I believe he didn't even make it to high school) is very intelligent and talented, has a quick mind, and knew how to use his mental skills, charm, and narcotics to make people do exactly what he wanted them to do as in the case of middle class, talented, educated, and intelligent people like Tex Watson and the Manson women.

Charlie Manson felt he had been screwed his entire life and searched for a way to express his anger and get his payback.  He found the perfect cast of characters to do his evil work, a group of people who felt lost, didn't fit into the establishment, and were looking for a leader.  They found Charles Manson instead and he led them to ruin their lives and those of the victims and their families.

History Channel: The Manson Family Murders

Source:Lana Hodges- Welcome to the world of Helter Skelter?

Source:The Daily Press

"The first victims fell on August 9, 1969, at the home Roman Polanski had rented located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area just north of Beverly Hills."

From Lana Hodges

Source:FRS FreeState- Manson Family chief prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi.

Charles Manson had the perfect group to do his evil deeds, )so to speak). Because his group was similar to him in the sense that they didn’t seem to fit in very well in mainstream society. Even though Manson’s soldiers all came from solid middle class backgrounds and could’ve all ended going to college before they went to prison for their murders. But instead ended up with Charlie Manson, because they felt for some reason that their families no longer wanted them.

Charlie, had just gotten out of prison for the last time, in 1967-68 and ends up in the San Francisco area. And meets up with these very young women and Tex Watson, in their late teens. And sees that they are lost and offers them his love and takes them in. And they embraced him and the Manson Crime Family is formed as a result.

A&E Biography: The Manson Women

Source:A&E- 3 of the Manson Family women.

Source:The Daily Press

“The women who latched on to Charles Manson in California’s hippie climate of the late 1960s tended to be young, damaged and sexually willing. But that’s not all. They were also impressionable enough to readily comply when the charismatic commune leader ordered them to commit brutal acts of murder. During a two-night rampage in August 1969, several members of Manson’s ragtag “family”—most of them female—slayed pregnant actress Sharon Tate, 26, and four others at her Benedict Canyon rental home in Los Angeles. The next night, they murdered Leno LaBianca, a successful supermarket executive, and his wife Rosemary, in their Los Feliz home.

Manson, who died in prison in 2017, commanded his followers to commit these acts of savagery to incite a race war he called “Helter Skelter,” named after the Beatles’ song. The lives of his female followers are explored in the Lifetime movie “Manson’s Lost Girls.” Here’s a glimpse into the stories of five Manson girls—and what became of them after they were separated from the man who had so thoroughly dominated their psyches.” 

From A&E 

“The Manson Women – The Family That Kills Together – Biography Documentary Films.

Welcome to BIOGRAPHY DOCUMENTARY FILMS – home of the best documentary films and documentary movies on life, biography and people.

The Manson Family was a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s, led by Charles Manson. They gained national notoriety after the infamous murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others on August 8, 1969 by Tex Watson and three other members of the Family, acting under the instructions of Manson. Group members were also responsible for a number of other murders and assaults, and the attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford.”

Source:Biography Documentary Films- left to right: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten.

From Biography Documentary Films 

“Part 1 of Biography’s Manson Women – Diane Sawyer can be heard interviewing the monsters.” 

Source:Helter Skelter Forum- the Manson Family women.

From Helter Skelter Forum 

“The Manson Family (known among its members as the Family) was a commune, gang, and cult led by Charles Manson that was active in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[1][2] The group consisted of approximately 100 followers, who lived an unconventional lifestyle with habitual use of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD.[3] Most were young women from middle-class backgrounds, many of whom were radicalized by Manson’s teachings and drawn by hippie culture and communal living.[4]

Soon after release from prison in 1967, Manson, who had been institutionalized or incarcerated for more than half of his life, began attracting acolytes in the San Francisco-area. They gradually moved to a run-down ranch, called the Spahn Ranch in Los Angeles County.[5] The ranch burned down during a Southern California wildfire in September of 1970. According to group member Susan Atkins, the members of the Family were convinced that Manson was a manifestation of Jesus Christ and believed in his prophecies concerning an imminent, apocalyptic race war.[6][7]

In 1969, Family members Susan Atkins, Tex Watson, and Patricia Krenwinkel entered the home of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and murdered her and four others. Linda Kasabian was also present, but did not take part. Members of the Manson Family were also responsible for a number of other murders, assaults, petty crimes, and thefts.” 

Source:George Vreeland Hill- with a simplistic take on the Manson Family.

From Wikipedia

The Manson girls were the female members of the Charles Manson’s family what was known as the Manson Family which was basically a cult. But it wasn’t a religious cult, but a crime cult, a crime family, a gang. They were basically a criminal gang that included murder but also robbery and even torture to get things they wanted because they didn’t have the character to work for it or earn it. And these somewhat smaller crimes eventually led up to murder, but not random murders.

Even though the Manson Family didn’t know who they were murdering, because the people they murdered to them represented what they wanted to eliminate, which was the establishment or the power-structure in America that the Manson Family especially Charles Manson believed were holding the Manson Family down and why they needed to come together to move away from mainstream society. Where they were failing to make it, especially Charlie who already at this point in his early and mid thirties, had already spent more than half of his life in prison in one form or the other.

Charlie Manson just getting out of prison in the late 1960s and ending up in the San Francisco area and not knowing what to do with the rest of his life, sort of catches onto the Hippie movement that was going on then. And saw these people or some of them as his chance to get back at society for all the things he believed were done to him. That cost him half of his life in prison and sees these young women and men late teens and early twenties who were somewhat lost and not knowing how they fit into society.

These young people struggling to make it on their own and showed them the respect and love they weren’t getting in life and formed this family or gang. And now had the soldiers he needed to get back at society. The people he believed were holding him down as well as his cult members. And ended up brining in people who otherwise would’ve been in college at that point and all had the skills and knowledge to of done very well in college and been successful in life.

In Leslie Van Houten’s case, she was beautiful and intelligent, probably could’ve made it in Hollywood or in college and had a very successful career in entertainment or business or something had she never of met Charlie Manson and never fallen into his cult. But she made a really bad decision early on in life which led to even worse decisions later on in the Manson Family. Which can sum up the rest of the Manson Family and all the waste that they represent. And what could’ve been had they just made better decisions in life.

The Tomorrow Show: Tom Snyder Interview: of Charles Manson (1981)

Source:Fat Hawaiian Man- serial murderer and cult leader Charles Manson, being interviewed by Tom Snyder in 1981, for NBC News.

Source:The Daily Press

“The infamous Snyder interview from 1981 uploaded in full for the first time- Snyder spends most of the time chain smoking and goading Manson on in any way possible, while a somewhat sedated Manson rues having to talk.” 

From the Fat Hawaiian Man

I’m glad that Tom Snyder would be wiling and even wanting to interview Charlie Manson. And that Charlie would be willing to do an interview like this and probably wanting to do this interview in the first place. Perhaps looking for the limelight and the chance to show Americans what he was about and what he’s been up to and so-forth, so the country could see what this guy was about and how people can end up like this if they aren’t given a good opportunity to be successful in life.

The Manson Family felt that society was against them and so-forth, with all that anger building up and once he gets the opportunity to strike back at the people he believes have done him harm and so-forth and his chance to get those people back which is a lot of what the Manson Crime Family was about: taking on the establishment and bringing them down. And that there are people like this in society and this not how you want to end up.

No good reason for Charlie ending up the way he did and how his cult ended up. But when kids aren’t raised right like in Charlie’s case and always moved around from home to home with no one seeming able or willing to love them and raise them right, it is really hard to come from an environment like that and not be angry. To not get involved with people with similar backgrounds growing up. And feel now it’s their turn to strike back or get back at the people they believe did them harm.

As far as this interview: Tom Snyder was about as good as anyone when it came to doing the difficult interview. Which are interviews where the person being interviewed is not there to talk about them self. Even though that is why the interviewer is talking to them in the first place. And Snyder got Manson to talk about things he probably didn’t want to talk about. Like his cult and how he came up and why he’s been in prison for so much of his life. Which makes for an interesting interview because the interviewer keeps coming. And is so tough and gets the person to say things about themselves that they normally wouldn’t.

A Current Affair: The Current Affair- Linda Kasabian: 1988 Special Interview

Source:A Current Affair- Manson Family Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi.

Source:The Daily Press

"20th Anneversary Special on the Manson murders. Linda Kasabian is interviewed for the first time in 20 years. This is the only television interview that Linda Kasabian ever did after the trials. FOX Televsion. 1988."

From A Current Affair

It’s hard to feel sorry for anyone no matter how long they are in prison who receive the same pleasures that people in free world get. At taxpayers expense that some of the Manson Crime Family members have gotten while in prison. Like having sex and fathering babies which is what Charles Tex Watson has been able to do. There’s nothing about The Manson Family that any decent sane person should feel sorry about. They made their beds in life and now are sleeping in it. Actually they are sleeping in much better beds than they made for themselves. Serial murderers don’t tend to get the privileges that some of the Manson Family members have received.

For the crimes that the Manson Family committed, Charlie and everyone else most murderers who were diagnosed as sane and knowing what they were doing when committing their murders would’ve gotten the death penalty. Actually they did get the death penalty before their sentences were commuted to life in prison. And generally when serial murderers are sentenced to life in prison, it is life without the possibility of parole. They all are getting opportunities at parole, but probably none of them will ever get parole for their crimes. Because they are still lucky to be just alive, unlike any of their victims.

John Aes Nihil: Charles Manson Interview

Source:Aes Nihil Productions- American Family Horror Movies, at least when they're about Charles Manson.

Source:The Daily Press

“MansonBlog.com had the distinct pleasure of spending a day with John Aes-Nihil. John directed (among others) a film called “Manson Family Movies (1984)”. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

Aes-Nihil is an archivist, collector and broker of all things Manson (among many other subjects). His Manson archives alone covers 3 buildings, so we only scratched the surface of this magnificent collection. Today we present you with a small taste of what we saw. If you are looking for a particular item you can contact him through his website.”

From The Manson Family Blog 

“Charles Manson John Allison rare San Quentin Interview taped from television in a (3) part series from 47 Eyewitness News 35 years ago.”

Source:Michaels Backporch- convicted serial murderer Charles Manson being interviewed in 1986.

From Micahels Backporch

This is from a different Charles Manson interview, but the video is not currently available, but I still have the cover photo of it.

Source:Bernard Gibson- convicted serial murderer Charles Manson, being interviewed at San Quentin Prison.

As evil as Charlie Manson might have been or still is and he was clearly and evil man, whose responsible for the murders of a lot of innocent people and even seem to draw pleasure from them, that’s not the whole story about Charlie. You don’t put together a crime family like the Manson Crime Family if you don’t have some leadership ability. That not only draws people to you, but you can make them do things they normally wouldn’t do. Like good middle class teenagers, people who should be in college, going out and murdering innocent people, people who are complete strangers to you. Because you see them as part of some establishment that’s holding down the rest of the country.

Charlie Manson blamed his situation in life, on society and to a certain extent he was correct. Coming from a broken home, never knowing his father, barely knowing his mother, being shipped around as a kid. Doesn’t excuse the fact of all the people he had murdered, but he got off to a real bad start in life. And once he became an adult and got out of prison for the last time in life, he decided that he was going to takeout his frustrations on society, as much as he can for as long as he can. Charlie Manson and his young Baby Boomer soldiers, against the rest of the world.

What we saw from Charlie Manson’s power was not only the ability for him to make people do things they wouldn’t normally do, like things as evil as murdering people, but people who basically fell in love with him. And saw him as a God or Jesus Crisis, people who idealize a murderer. Which is what we saw in this interview. Even though people who are doing life sentences in prison, partially for hooking up with Charlie Manson. Who see him for exactly what he is. A cold-blooded murderer that would manipulate people to do what he wouldn’t do himself.

Mike Atkinson: Stan Atkinson- Interviews Susan Atkins in 1976: Acid Made Her Do It?

Source:Mike Atkinson- Stan Atkinson, interviewing Manson Family solider and killer Susan Atkins, in 1976. 

Source:The Daily Press

"Stan Atkinson interviews Susan Atkins"

From Mike Atkinson

Source:FRS FreeState- Manson Family soldier and killer Susan Atkins, in 1976. 

Susan Atkins represents what can happen when people who are not sure where they are going in life, perhaps somewhat lost and need to and is term is used over and over, but to find themselves. Perhaps take a trip to Europe after high school or something. The way Susan Atkins life turned out, probably doesn’t happen that way if she never meets Charlie Manson.

Not to excuse Susan’s role in the vicious crimes of Sharon Tate and others, because she’s clearly responsible for her actions in these crimes. But she represents the damage that Manson not only did by ordering all of these murders, but the damage he did to his followers.

Charlie Manson, picked up all of these young adults were somewhat lost and didn’t feel needed and felt unwanted and assembling them into his cult, what I call the Manson Crime Family. That Charlie Manson assembled in the late 1960s, starting in the Bay Area and moving down to the Los Angeles Area.

Susan, was one of the Manson Family members that managed to make a life for herself behind bars. And hopefully her criminal career would’ve been over had she ever been released from prison. She was sentenced to life and died in prison in 2009.

And to some extent Susan’s life in prison sparked a debate in whether or not she, Pat Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, should ever be paroled or not. Me personally I don’t believe that convicted murderers, especially serial murderers, should ever be paroled. That they should be officially held responsible for the crimes they committed. Which is what you get with life sentences, because their victims will never recover from their crimes and it’s that simple.

But these three women do represent the potential of prison rehabilitation not just for lifers, but for inmates who will eventually be released from prison. The lives of some of the Manson Family members, except for their leader and perhaps Tex Watson, is a damn shame. Because some of these people are very intelligent, articulate and had a lot of potential that they could see come to life. Had they not ended up part of the Manson Family and ended up going to college, getting educated and living a productive life instead.

Charles Manson: 'Denied Parole, With Next Parole Hearing Set For 2027’

Source:CNN- convicted serial murderer Charles Manson.

Source:The Daily Press 

“Corcoran, California CNN —

Notorious killer Charles Manson, 77, was denied parole Wednesday after a California parole panel “could find nothing good as far as suitability” for his being paroled, a commissioner said.

Manson didn’t show up for his parole hearing, which was held at a state prison in Corcoran, California, where he is serving a life sentence.

Manson’s next parole hearing was scheduled for 15 years from now, meaning he could die in prison.”  

From CNN 

"Charles Manson once more was put up before the California parole board and was denied freedom."  

Source:Daily Worldwide News- convicted serial murderer Charles Manson.

From Daily Worldwide News 

“Infamous mass murderer Charles Manson just lost his last real shot at freedom … the parole board just denied his latest request for release.

The hearing took place at Corcoran State Prison in CA…where Manson– who was convicted of 7 murders in 1969 … including Sharon Tate’s– was previously denied parole 11 times.

Now … at the ripe old age of 77 this is most likely the murderer’s last stand…since his case cannot be heard again for another 15 years … putting him well into his 90s.

Only one Manson Family member convicted of murder has been paroled — Steve Grogan–who was granted his freedom in 1985 for aiding the authorities and good behavior.

If you recall…Manson was originally sentenced to death in 1972 but it was commuted after the California death penalty was declared unconstitutional." 

Source:TMZ- convicted serial murderer Charles Manson has been exactly where he belongs the last 42 years.

From TMZ

Charles Manson has been in prison for his current sentence of forty-two years. After being convicted for his part in the Manson Family murders of the late 1960s. He is now 77 years old, so just for is current prison sentence alone, he’s been in prison for more than half of his life.

The last time Manson was a free man from the mid 1960s, after being paroled from prison in Washington State, to the time he was arrested in 1969, for his role in the Manson Family murders, that’s really the longest stretch he’s ever been free at any point of his life.

It’s not just that Charlie Manson has spent most of his adult life in prison he’s spent most of his life period in prison. He’s exactly where he belongs, he’s never shown the ability to be productive on the outside, without hurting innocent people, or having them killed. Charlie Manson is not in Prison for actually physically committing the murders. He’s in Prison for conspiring the murders, for inspiring others to do his evil work.

Charlie Manson was originally sentenced to death for the role in the Manson Family murders from 1969. So were his co-defendants Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, Charles Watson and others. But then California outlawed the death penalty shortly after their sentences. So their sentences were changed to life in prison with the possibility of parole. None of the convicted murderers have been paroled and they will never be.

Imagine that you are responsible for intentionally killing not just one innocent person, but innocent people and not only is your life spared, but you actually have a shot as small as it is, of one day being free. Even though your victims will never be free from the crimes you committed against them.

The Manson Family is lucky to even be alive right now and that’s the best they’ll ever do. You can make a good case that sparing the lives of Leslie Van Houten and Pat Krenwinkell, was a a good move. Both have made productive use of their prison sentences. Both completed college in prison, both hold good prison jobs. Both have shown they are now rehabilitated and probably no longer represents a threat to society. And both have shown remorse for their crimes.

Charlie Manon is exactly where he belongs and is lucky to have whatever time he has left to be alive in Prison. He’s shown no remorse or admitted any responsibility for his crimes.