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40 Facts About Charles Manson, the Notrious Cult-leader

Tim Flight September 1, 2019 28 min

25. He soon attracted a group of followers known as ‘The Manson Family’, who went to live at the Spahn Ranch, California

Family members Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten attending court in Los Angeles, 1971 during the Tate-La Bianca murder trial, still under the influence of Manson. The Guardian

Manson reluctantly moved to San Francisco to pursue a musical career, and his strange aura soon attracted a group of besotted and psychologically damaged people. Setting himself up as a guru of sorts, Manson attracted mostly middle-class women from broken homes, and announced that he was the Second Coming. He ordered his followers to recruit male members through sex, and soon had sway over around dozens of people, a cult that swallowed his pseudo-Buddhist spiritual teachings line and sinker. After years of drifting, they eventually moved to the Spahn Movie Ranch in exchange for free labor.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk