Editing Charles Manson (section)

=== The Manson Family, Killings, and Capture ===
Manson often preached about a racial holocaust that would start when the blacks began a rebellion against the whites. He named the event "Helter Skelter" after a song on the Beatles' ''White Album'' (the inspiration came from the lyrics "Look out Helter skelter Helter skelter Helter skelter/She's coming down fast/Yes she is/Yes she is").<ref name = skelter></ref>

In addition to the lyrics of other songs from the ''White Album'', which he interpreted as a prophetic warning of Helter Skelter, he also cited chapters from the Book of Revelations, even drawing parallels between both and his own life and calling himself "Jesus Christ". He intended for the group to make another album filled with "hidden messages" about the impending racial Armageddon. Before long, they began a plan to start a racial war between blacks and whites by committing [[murder]]s on members of either race and pinning it on the other, sparking retaliation from the former side, and repeating the process until a war broke out. While racist and non-racist whites fought among each other and brought themselves down, the Family would wait out the conflict in a "bottomless pit" (an alcove in Death Valley near the Barker Ranch) before bringing the blacks down and rising to power themselves. In addition to working on their album, the Family also planned an escape in the "pit" with maps and prepared vehicles.<ref name = Legacy></ref>

One day in 1969, the Family members were told Terry Melcher would visit the compound, but he didn't come. On March 23, Manson went alone to the last address he'd known Melcher to live at, 10050 Cielo Drive. By that time, Melcher had moved and the house had two new tenants, director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant with his child. He met Shahrokh Hatami, an Iranian photographer, and friend of Tate, and asked him for Rudi Altobelli, the landlord. Hatami said he didn't recognize the name and sent him to the guest house. When Manson came back later, Altobelli was there and told him that Melcher had moved to Malibu.

On May 18, the Family's ranch was visited by Melcher, who came to hear the members sing. In July, the Family took its first murderous steps towards Helter Skelter. A member, [[Charles "Tex" Watson]], had scammed a black drug dealer named Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe for a sum of money the Family intended to use for the Helter Skelter scheme.

On July 1, after Crowe had threatened to strike back at the Family, Manson shot him in his apartment and fled. The next day, Manson heard a news report about a Black Panther member being killed in the area and assumed it was Crowe. In actuality, however, Crowe, who was not really a Black Panther, survived the shooting but didn't report it. On July 25, Manson and a pack of Family members went to the home of Gary Hinman, an acquaintance, and tried to rob him of a sum of money Manson thought he had inherited. After being held hostage for a few days, Hinman was killed.<ref name = timeline></ref><ref>[https://allthatsinteresting.com/gary-hinman The Forgotten Murder Of Gary Hinman, The First Manson Family Victim], ''All That's Interesting''</ref> On August 6, one of the involved Family members, [[Bobby Beausoleil]], was caught driving Hinman's car with the murder weapon, a sword, in his possession and was arrested.

Two days later, Manson told the rest of the Family that it was time to begin the Helter Skelter officially and sent some followers to 10050 Cielo Drive with the instructions to kill everyone there. Just after midnight, they arrived at the house. The four people in the house were Sharon Tate (Polanski was in London at the time), hairstylist Jay Sebring, aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski, and Abigail Folger, heiress to Folger's Coffee and Frykowski's girlfriend. During the night, all four were murdered, after which the Family members drew in the victims' blood the phrases "DEATH TO PIGS" and "RISE" on two walls in the living room and "HEALTHER SKELTER" [sic] on the refrigerator door. Earlier in the night, they also stopped Steven Parent, an 18-year-old student who was giving William Garretson, the house's caretaker, a ride. Garretson lived in the guest house and didn't hear anything because his stereo was being played at a loud volume. Parent, on the other hand, was killed. The bodies were found in the morning when the maid came to work. The next evening, Manson sent the same pack, along with two more members, to 3301 Waverly Drive, the home of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary, both of whom were stabbed to death in the night.<ref>[https://abc7.com/manson-family-murders-charles-sharon-tate-tex-watson/782755/ Manson Family murders: Key players in the Tate-LaBianca killings], ''ABC7''</ref>

On August 12, 1969, the Manson Family was arrested as a "major auto theft ring", having stolen several cars and converted them into dune buggies, but they were released a few dates after due to a mistake with the warrant. On August 26, the Family killed Donald "Shorty" Shea, a farm hand at the Spahn Ranch, because Manson thought he was a "snitch".<ref>[https://www.oxygen.com/martinis-murder/brad-pitts-once-hollywood-character-real-donald-shorty-shea?amp Who Was Donald ‘Shorty’ Shea And How Was He Linked To Brad Pitt’s Character In ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood?’], ''Oxygen''</ref>

A dorm mate of Family member [[Susan Atkins]] told the police about her when she talked about the Hinman murder. In custody, she talked to her cellmates about the Family's other murders, in which she had been involved. More arrests followed and the Family members were connected to the murders with physical evidence, including fingerprints and the murder weapons. [[Linda Kasabian]], who had been present during the murders but not committed any herself, was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony. In the end, all Family members involved in the killings were found guilty on multiple counts of first-degree murder.<ref>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/manson-and-followers-convicted Charles Manson and his followers convicted of murder], ''History Channel''</ref>

Initially, everyone in the group was sentenced to death, but in 1972, the state of California revoked capital punishment.<ref>[https://www.upi.com/amp/Top_News/2022/03/29/On-This-Day-Charles-Manson-sentenced-to-death-for-Tate-Labianca-murders/6061648478508/ On This Day: Charles Manson sentenced to death for Tate-Labianca murders], ''United Press International''</ref>

Manson himself was found guilty through the joint-responsibility rule, having directly ordered the murders, and served his sentence at the Corcoran State Prison. Since 1978, he has been denied parole eleven times. He was notoriously a bad prisoner who was reviled, having started fights, spitting in guards' faces, threw hot coffee at a staffer, hid cellphones, possessed weapons, and set his mattress on fire. 
[[Image:MansonB33920 8-14-17 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Manson's 2017 mugshot.]]
On April 11, 2012, he was denied parole for the twelfth time and won't be eligible again for another fifteen years, meaning that he would never leave prison.<ref name = timeline></ref>

On January 1, 2017, Manson was taken out of prison and transported to Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding. Some sources report Manson was too weak for doctors to perform surgery and any treatment he had received was never disclosed. By January 6, he returned to prison. On November 15, days after his eighty-third birthday, Manson was again reported to have been transported to a hospital in Bakersfield, although the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not initially confirm this.