Charles Manson

Murderer / Convict

Name at birth: Charles Milles Manson

Charles Manson was a would-be musician and charismatic petty criminal who found his way to San Francisco when the 1960s drug culture was at its height. By the end of the decade, he and several members of his "family" settled on borrowed land outside of Los Angeles. Believing he was a modern incarnation of Jesus Christ, and figuring he could benefit from a race war in America, Manson convinced followers to go on a murderous spree in 1969, during which they killed seven people. The most prominent victim was actress Sharon Tate, the wife of film director Roman Polanski. The subsequent murder trial lasted seven months (at the time the longest and most expensive in U.S. history), and resulted in guilty verdicts and death sentences for Manson and his followers. In 1972 California outlawed the death penalty, and Manson was sentenced instead to life in prison.

Extra credit: Many biographies list his name at birth as "No Name Maddox," but a copy of his birth certificate shows he was given the name Charles Milles Manson several days after his birth... Vincent Bugliosi, the district attorney who prosecuted Manson, wrote a best-selling book about the case titled Helter Skelter... Manson was fascinated with The Beatles and used the title of their song "Helter Skelter" as a name for his expected apocalypse... Manson was played by Steve Railsback in the 1976 film Helter Skelter and by Jeremy Davies in the 2004 TV movie of the same name.

One of Manson's followers, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, tried to kill President Gerald Ford after she was released from prison. Read more about it in our loop Almost Assassinated... Manson also appears with Marilyn Monroe in the loop Autopsy by Noguchi.