When I was a teenager, I went through an extremely rebellious phase. Being a child of the eighties, and "dabbling in darkness", Manson came to my attention. I hadn't given him much thought, aside from reading Dave McGowan's book Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon, until his recent death. I have watched every interview on YT with Manson family members in the past few days. The murders were grisly. The commune was bizarre. The media would have us believe that Charlie was just a nut leading a band of murderous kids for his own perverse thrills. But is that really the case?
After watching interviews of Charlie, the media seem content to paint him as a psychopath. While he most certainly was, in one particular interview that contained behind the scenes footage, Charlie can be seen acting cordially until the interview begins. At this point, "crazy Charlie" emerges. In virtually every interview, what comes across as psycho babble, is actually esoteric teachings and beliefs. The most obvious question at this point is how did Charlie come across this knowledge? He was illiterate, grew up dirt poor, mostly in foster care, and spent his formative years committing petty crimes and serving jail time. That's not exactly the type of lifestyle that leads itself to the persuit of "higher knowledge".
Which leads to another question: How does a petty criminal who can not read or write, leap to cult leader? How would such a lowly criminal, locked up for most of his life, gain the knowledge to use drugs, mental manipulations, and violence to lead a murderous cult? When most criminals of this caliber are released from jail, they are usually locked up for another petty offense. And, if Charlie did indeed want to stay in jail, why didn't he simply commit another offense and return?
It seems very unlikely that a guy that wants to go back to jail would move to California, recruit a legion of kids, supply them with drugs, and manipulate them into committing crime. The pieces don't add up. Charlie was a guy from nowhere, going nowhere. How did he learn to recruit these kids? Where did he get the drugs? How was he able to make connections throughout Hollywood?
Everyone in the music business knew him. Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys not only tried to get him a record deal, he let them stay at his house. Charlie had been in the Cielo Drive house on at least one occasion, and at the very least partied at the house next door the Labianca's. Other music celebs including Mama Cass had not only partied with them, but had visited Spahn Ranch. Charlie was a popular guy in Hollywood circles.
Another dynamic I found interesting were the roles some of these people played in the cult. Tex was Charlie's right hand man. Susan would keep an eye on things and report them to Charlie. Patricia would help sooth weary members when they sensed that something wasn't right. Leslie was devoted follower. These people along with Lynette Fromme and Sandra Good, seemed to form the backbone of the family. Contrary to popular belief, the entire Manson "family" weren't privy to more "sensitive" operations that Charlie was involved in. Even Charlie knew who he count on, and who he couldn't.
There are some very strange connections as well. Lynette Fromme's family was involved in the marketing and publicity business. Bruce Davis spent a year in England working for the Church of Scientology. Manson was connected to the the Process church (an offshoot of the Church of Scientology) which, curiously enough, also had links to the Son of Sam murders. Tex once worked at a Beverly Hills wig shop. The family seemed to have connections in LA, and beyond.
The Manson Family will remain a mystery. We will never get answers or motives behind the killings that took place. Once past the sheer horror of the crimes themselves, a deeper look into them provides many more questions than answers. By design? Maybe. Or it just be that the events that unfolded in August of '69 are just too horrific for most people to grasp. Charlie took every answer to the grave. I'm not sure the remaining members would have enough pieces of the puzzle to put everything together. Cults such as these operate within a compartmentalized structure. Each member knows only what they need to know. Couple that with mind altering drugs, and the true picture is lost to posterity.