U.S. mass killer, cult leader Charles Manson dies at 83

[webfact]

U.S. mass killer, cult leader Charles Manson dies at 83

By Diane Bartz and Steve Gorman

 

FILE PHOTO: Charles Manson, the cult leader who sent followers known as the "Manson Family" out to commit gruesome murders, currently being held at California State Prison, Corcoran, California, U.S. is seen in this August 2017 photo released on November 16, 2017. Courtesy California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/Handout via REUTERS/File photo

 

(Reuters) - Charles Manson, the wild-eyed cult leader who orchestrated a string of gruesome killings in Southern California by his "family" of young followers, shattering the peace-and-love ethos of the late 1960s, died on Sunday, prison officials said. He was 83.

 

Manson died of natural causes Sunday evening at a Kern County hospital, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement. It gave no further details of the circumstances surrounding his death.

 

He had been serving a life sentence at the nearby Corcoran State Prison for ordering the murders of nine people, including actress Sharon Tate.

 

Long after Manson had largely faded from headlines, he loomed large as a symbol of the terror he unleashed in the summer of 1969.

 

"The very name Manson has become a metaphor for evil," the late Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson, told the Los Angeles Times in 1994.

 

A recent photograph showed the gray-bearded killer's face still bearing the scar of a swastika he carved into his forehead decades earlier.

 

Manson became one of the 20th century's most notorious criminals when he directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war.

 

GRAFFITI WITH VICTIMS' BLOOD

 

Tate, aged 26 and eight months pregnant, was stabbed 16 times in the early morning hours of Aug. 9, 1969, by members of Manson's cult at the rented hillside house she shared with her husband, filmmaker Roman Polanski, in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles.

 

Four friends of the celebrity couple, including coffee heiress Abigail Folger and hairstylist Jay Sebring, were also stabbed or shot to death that night by Manson followers, who scrawled the word "Pig" in blood on the home's front door before leaving. Polanski was away in Europe at the time.

 

The following night, members of Manson's group stabbed grocery owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary to death, using their blood to write, "Death to Pigs" and "Healter Skelter" - a misspelled reference to the Beatles song "Helter Skelter" - on the walls and refrigerator door.

 

Although Manson did not personally kill any of the seven victims, he was found guilty of ordering their murders.

 

He was later convicted of ordering the murders of music teacher Gary Hinman, stabbed to death in July 1969, and stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea, stabbed and bludgeoned that August.

 

Manson was sentenced to death for the Tate-LaBianca murders, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court abolished capital punishment in the state in 1972.

 

Born Charles Milles Maddox on Nov. 12, 1934, in Cincinnati to a 16-year-old girl, Manson spent much of his youth shuttled between relatives and juvenile detention halls. By age 13, he had been convicted of armed robbery.

 

Newly paroled from prison in 1967, he began attracting members of his "family" in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, which had become a haven for the hippie youth culture.

 

The group moved with his followers to the Los Angeles area, eventually settling at Spahn Ranch, site of an outdoor movie location used for Western films and TV shows. Communal sex and drug use were a way of life as Manson became a messiah to the runaways, outcasts and criminals drawn by his charisma, intimidation and twisted spiritualism.

 

One follower told authorities she had seen Manson bring a bird back to life by breathing on it. Another said he could see and hear everything she did and said.

 

Manson aspired to be a rock star, and through one of his followers befriended Dennis Wilson, drummer of the Beach Boys, who would go on base their 1969 song "Never Learn Not to Love" on a Manson composition.

 

Wilson introduced Manson to music producer Terry Melcher, who later snubbed him. Melcher, along with his then-girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen, had previously rented the Benedict Canyon house.

 

The brutality of the killings stunned the nation.

 

"There was a lot of fear," Bugliosi, author of the chilling book about the murders, "Helter Skelter," told the Times in 1994. "The words printed in blood made it especially frightening for the Hollywood crowd."

 

SENSATIONAL TRIAL

 

Denied his request to represent himself during his 9-1/2 month trial, Manson showed up in court with an "X" carved into his forehead, and would later alter it into a swastika.

 

Co-defendants Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel cut "X"s in their foreheads, shaved their scalps, sang Manson-written songs and giggled through chilling testimony.

 

At one point, Manson tried to leap over the defense table at the judge, snarling: "In the name of Christian justice, someone should cut your head off." The judge began carrying a gun afterward.

 

Manson ultimately was brought down by his followers. Atkins told two inmates about the Tate-LaBianca murders while she was jailed in an unrelated killing, then testified to a grand jury before recanting. Prosecutors then persuaded another follower, Linda Kasabian, to testify against the rest of the group in exchange for immunity.

 

Convicted along with Manson, his three co-defendants, Atkins, Van Houten and Krenwinkel, also had their death sentences reduced to life terms.

 

Manson long maintained his innocence, telling Rolling Stone magazine that follower Charles "Tex" Watson was responsible for the Tate-LaBianca killings. Watson was tried separately and is serving a life term for his role in those killings.

 

Still, Manson seemed resigned to a life of incarceration, ceasing to even attend his parole review hearings after 1997.

 

"What would I want out for?" he said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times. "This beats an old folks home."

 

In April 2012, Manson was quoted by parole officials as having told a prison psychologist the previous fall: "I have put five people in the grave. I've been in prison most of my life. I'm a very dangerous man."

 

(Writing by Diane Bartz, Bill Trott and Steve Gorman; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Diane Craft and Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-20

[vogie]

[Khun Han]

RIH Charlie.

[Luckysilk]

This monster didn’t deserve to die from natural causes.

[tifino]

 

yesterdays' antihero

 

tomorrows' crocodile poo

[Somtamnication]

Don't know what to say really, except that I hope he burns in hell?

[bdenner]

IMHO, the insane prick and his stupid, brain washed flock should have been put down immediately to (1) save the tax payer heaps but more importantly (2) stop his ability to continue his cult incognito.

 

I can see it now, the hand wringers and social engineers up in arms at my comments - may they and their loved ones lead a safe and secure life!

[worgeordie]

Just think of all the money that has been wasted,keeping the turd in prison,  they should have put him down long ago,and saved taxpayers money.

regards worgeordie

[transam]

Reckon a party is in order.....

[tifino]

 

 a whole lot more money to be wasted;

 trying to determine where to bury the carcass incognito?

 

 

sure as the mark on it's head, there'll otherwise be worshippers to the mock shrine.

Nazi emblems seem to attract that sort of thing...

[Here It Is]

5 minutes ago, tifino said:

 a whole lot more money to be wasted;

 trying to determine where to bury the carcass incognito?

 

 

sure as the mark on it's head, there'll otherwise be worshippers to the mock shrine.

Nazi emblems seem to attract that sort of thing...

Ian Brady recently died in the UK.  He was cremated and his ashes dumped in the sea.

[dogpatch55]

30 minutes ago, Here It Is said:

Ian Brady recently died in the UK.  He was cremated and his ashes dumped in the sea.

They should have dumped him in the sea in the first place and saved a lot of money, same with Manson.

[YetAnother]

3 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Just think of all the money that has been wasted,keeping the turd in prison,

they should have put him down long ago,and saved taxpayers money.

regards worgeordie

in thailand, he wouldnt have lasted long:;disappeared in custody'

[Jingthing]

It's all been said already about him.

He's a cultural icon of evil cults.

There was recently an episode of American Horror Story Cult that did kind of a dark tribute episode featuring him. 

Helter Skelter. Schmelter Skchmelter. 

Ba - bye. 

Edited November 20, 2017 by Jingthing

[spidermike007]

Do not rest in peace, Charlie boy. You deserved to die decades ago. You consumed valuable oxygen, that you did not deserve to breathe. Though I tend to be rather centrist, I do think the death penalty is a wonderful thing, in certain instances, such as this one. He is a great example of someone who deserved to be put to death, way back when. And how much money has been spent keeping this worm alive? For what?

[Dumbastheycome]

This  is  a  reminder  of  the  ridiculous  " humanitarian "  argument  on  behalf  of  proven  deranged irrecoverably damaged social  hazards.

For  every  month  of  his  incarceration  the  cost   involved  in that  would /could  have  provided  more   meaningful  assistance for  a large  number who genuinely  deserve  it  because  of the impact  of  his  ilk.

 

 

[Blackheart1916]

And not a moment too soon.

[Boon Mee]

Imagine all of the wasted taxpayers dollars spent on keeping that POS alive. He needed the electric chair long ago. 

[hawker9000]

14 hours ago, tifino said:

 

 a whole lot more money to be wasted;

 trying to determine where to bury the carcass incognito?

 

 

sure as the mark on it's head, there'll otherwise be worshippers to the mock shrine.

Nazi emblems seem to attract that sort of thing...

How about the very bottom of some big-city landfill.   Let his worshippers have their black mass there...   He could do the world a whole lot more good as worm-feed than he ever did alive.   But if they do put him in an actual grave somewhere (a public park with no restrooms where the homeless hang out might be a good choice...),  I hope the location gets wikileaked so his "worshippers" can go pi$$ on it.

 

Hey, Charlie!  Were those last moments painful?  Agonizing and drawn out?  Pure torture?   Gosh, I hope so.

 

48 years the taxpayers had to pay for this vile creature's care & feeding.  Over $2M they say.   'Couldn't execute him though.  Oh my no.  The bleeding hearts would scream that they might have gotten the wrong guy...

 

He might've had a mark on his forehead, but I doubt even the Nazis would have him.

   

[DM07]

17 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Just think of all the money that has been wasted,keeping the turd in prison,  they should have put him down long ago,and saved taxpayers money.

regards worgeordie

Aaaaahhhh...the myth, that an execution is soooo much cheaper, than keeping a prisoner alive!

Read up a bit on that and you may find out, that an execution is more expensive than a life- sentence! 

[worgeordie]

17 hours ago, DM07 said:

Aaaaahhhh...the myth, that an execution is soooo much cheaper, than keeping a prisoner alive!

Read up a bit on that and you may find out, that an execution is more expensive than a life- sentence! 

Is electricity that expensive in USA  or are they paying too much for the chemicals, of course a rope is better,cheap and reusable . 

regards worgeordie

[tifino]

15 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Is electricity that expensive in USA  or are they paying too much for the chemicals, of course a rope is better,cheap and reusable . 

regards worgeordie

...it is all about the Court Cases against the Penalty, supported by the Dudley duhh! do-gooders...

[balo]

It is my understanding he did not kill anyone himself? He ordered his cult followers to kill .  So maybe there was some human in him after all , and not only a beast . 

  

 

 

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, balo said:

It is my understanding he did not kill anyone himself? He ordered his cult followers to kill .  So maybe there was some human in him after all , and not only a beast . 

  

 

 

Yeah, right, dude.

 

 

[maddox41]

Wow I just saw on you Tibet he other day of the pics of he

[Blackheart1916]

6 hours ago, DM07 said:

Aaaaahhhh...the myth, that an execution is soooo much cheaper, than keeping a prisoner alive!

Read up a bit on that and you may find out, that an execution is more expensive than a life- sentence! 

No it's the endless appeals that cost money, lethal injection costs USD$1300

[MyFriend You]

He should be cremated and his ashes flushed down the toilet - there are f'n idiots in California that worship this guy and would make his grave site a holy shrine.............flush him!!!

[rodney earl]

He should never been allowed to live this long. Good riddance. The world is a better place without this scum alive.!!!

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, rodney earl said:

He should never been allowed to live this long. Good riddance. The world is a better place without this scum alive.!!!

Perhaps. 

There was something kind of pleasing about hearing his periodic denials of parole. 

Edited November 21, 2017 by Jingthing

[greatwhitenorth]

 But the mass murderer, with at least seven killings to his credit, is likely pleased with himself for the ride he has taken the state on by living to the ripe age of 82. To cover his extended stay in prison, California has paid double the amount that it would have cost to execute Manson after his conviction.  That means the state’s taxpayers may soon finally stop paying to keep him alive -- a tab that has easily already exceeded $2 million.

 

www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-manson-cost-millions-to-keep-in-prison/

 

Should have been put to death in 1971.  No ifs, ands or buts.