About Me
I was born Charles Milles Maddox on November 12, 1934 in Cincinatti, Ohio. My father was rarely at home and my mother was both an alcoholic and a prostitute. When I was thirteen, my mother tried to have me placed in a foster home, but was unsuccessful. Instead, I was sent to Gibault School for Boys in Indiana, a reform school.After a year, I escaped and returned to my mother's home in Cincinatti, but she kicked me out. I ended up roaming the streets and stealing to feed myself, graduating to more serious crimes. I was caught numerous times and spent most of my life in prison between 1947 and 1955. In 1951, I was sent to federal prison for taking a stolen car across state lines and released in 1954.In January of 1955, I married a seventeen year old girl named Rosalie Jean Willis and we moved to California. I was arrested for stealing a car that same year and Rosalie became pregnant in April. My parole was revoked in 1956 after I missed a court date and was sent back to prison. My wife gave birth to Charles Manson Jr. shortly after.While I was in prison, my wife skipped town with a truck driver and divorced me. I was paroled in 1958 after serving two years, but managed to get arrested in 1959 for forging checks. I was given probation, but it was revoked after nine months. During my probation, I met a woman named Crystal Gosser and married her. Unfortunately, it turned out that she was a serial killer and she was thrown in an asylum while I was in prison.After my release, I had an affair with a woman named Leona who gave birth to my second son, Charles Luther Manson. On June 1, 1960, I was arrested yet again for soliciting prostitution and sentenced to ten years at McNeil Island Prison in Washington. I was released on March 21, 1967 despite the fact that I asked to remain in prison.I moved to San Francisco in late 1967, where I began to assemble a group of loyal followers whom I referred to as "The Family". We started a commune and strived to abandon all existing moral concepts. The commune was first located in Haight-Ashbury, but later moved to the Spahn Ranch in San Fernando Valley.I preached to my followers that I was Jesus and had died two thousand years earlier. I dabbled in several religions during that time, including Scientology, the Process Church, and the Church of Satan.The family's size grew quickly, reaching a peak of about one hundred people, although only thirty were totally loyal to me. On August 9, 1969, I ordered members of the Family to kill people and Charles Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins decided to target Beverly Hills. They broke into the home of director Roman Polanski and killed his wife, Sharon Tate. As they entered the home, they killed Steven Parent, a friend of Tate's gardener, and gathered everyone inside into a room.Jay Sebring, a hairstylist, attempted to defend Sharon, but was shot in the process. Two others, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger, attempted to escape, but were beat to death on the front lawn. Tate, still alone in the living room, begged for the life of her and her baby, but Atkins coldly replied, "I have no mercy for you. You're going to die." Following that statement, Atkins stabbed Tate to death and wrote "PIG" on the front door in Tate's blood.The next night, I again called for murder and three more members of the Family murdered Leno LaBianca and Rosemary LaBianca in their home. I decided to join in this time and tied up the victims before departing and telling the Family members to kill them.These were not the only homicides conducted by the Manson family, we later claimed responsibility for 35 different murders. I, and members of my Family were arrested in late 1969 and charged with the murders.The murders were the basis of two separate cases prosecuted by different teams of lawyers. Ronald Hughes was chosen to defend Van Houten and attempted to show that I had influenced Van Houten to participate in the murders. In late November of 1970, Hughes disappeared and his body was found four months later. It is suspected that I ordered the killing in retaliation for being implicated in court.On March 6, 1970, I released a music album entitled "Lie" to fund my defense. During the trial, I carved an "x" into my forehead with a knife, taking advantage of the media attention. My followers did the same, creating a creepy cult appearance. I eventually turned it into a swastika, which eventually became a permanent scar on my forehead.Although I did not directly participate in the murders, I was convicted of first degree murder on January 25, 1971. On March 29, 1971 I was sentenced to death, but this sentence was changed to life in prison after a trial resulted in the invalidation of all death sentences in California.I am still in prison at Corcoran State Prison in California after numerous failed attempts at getting parole.
