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40 Facts About Charles Manson, the Notrious Cult-leader

Tim Flight September 1, 2019 28 min

35. When he got no Christmas presents himself, he burned his peers’ gifts as punishment

Charles Manson in 1947, aged 13, location unknown. All That’s Interesting

Although Glenna and Bill were at least employed and not career criminals, they were still very poor, and Christmas was not a happy time for Charles. One year, the only present he received was a hairbrush from his grandmother, and he was enraged at the sight of the neighborhood kids with ‘toys of all kinds: wagons, trains, cowboy hats and chaps’. Manson couldn’t stand the humiliation: ‘one day I rounded up all of their toys I could find and carted them home with me… I stacked up some wood and threw the toys on top and started a fire’.

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