The Charles Manson Murder Trial by Michael J. Pellowski is a book going through the events, investigation, and court case of The Charles Manson Murders. It goes through the crimes of Charles Manson and his cult which he called “The Family”. This book also talks about his odd thought process and why he went through with his plan. It also portrays a little bit of his traumatic childhood that made him the way that he is.
The eight brutal murders happened in the summer of 1969. The bodies were found at three different scenes, a Malibu Beach house, a house in Beverly Hills, and a house in the Los Feliz district. The victims were six men and two women. One of the women was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. Gary Hinman, Steve Parent, Voytek Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Sharon Tate, Leno LaBianca, and Rosemary LaBianca were the eight victims. The victims were brutally murdered. One body was discovered impaled with a fork. Others were choked with plastic rope. The murder scenes all had bloody messages smeared on the wall. For example, the LaBianca house had “Death to all Pigs” written on the wall using the blood of one of the victims.
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The first section of the book goes into a very detailed description of Charles’s childhood. The section talks about how his mom was a drunk prostitute, how he lived with various family members, and how he was in and out of boys' homes. Charles lived with his aunt and uncle. His uncle believed Charles was too timid, so he tried to fix him. “He sent Charles to school dressed as a girl. The purpose was to humiliate the boy so he would fight anyone who dared to insult him” (pg. 16). Charles ran from the law his entire life. He was put into foster care and ran away. During his time on the run, he had to commit various crimes to survive. “He was caught during one of his many burglaries and sent to a juvenile center in Indianapolis, India” (pg. 16). Charles was in and out of these centers and eventually ended up in prison.
The book also shows how Charles found his cult “The Family”. Charles Manson never really had a family, so he took it upon himself to form his own. Once he was released from prison he went on the streets of California and found young women and musicians to join his group. Once he started the group he began to gain followers. “The young followers enjoyed listening to Charles Manson talk about his predictions for society and the world” (pg. 22). The group lived in an old school bus for a bit, but then found an abandoned group of buildings. “Squeaky Fromme” discovered the perfect place: an empty group of buildings known as the Spahn Movie Ranch” (pg. 24).
Charles Manson had odd thoughts. His ideas were peculiar and psychotic. He and his followers considered him as a prophet or savior” He also had strange views on murder. “He thought killing and death were a part of nature's laws. According to Manson it was all right to eliminate people for a purpose” (pg.25). “He believed that murder was not a crime; it was a natural act” (pg.25).
Charles had a plan called “Helter Skelter”, named after a Beatles song. He believed that the Beatles’s song had secret messages that only he could decode. “He claimed the lyric ‘Blackbird arise’ was a call for a race war in America” (pg. 26). Thus he believed the war would start with a series of murders. Charles thought that only he and The Family would survive, and African Americans would go to him for guidance. “Manson believed that he would seize control of the world, and rule the earth” (pg. 28). He was so eager to gain power he attempted to start the war himself. His committing these murders was his way of starting the war faster.
Manson and his “Family” committed eight murders. What every murder scene had in common was the bloody messages on the wall. Some Wrote “Political Piggy” or “Death to all Pigs.” These messages were written to try to frame an African American rights group. He wanted the media to think black people were to blame for them. At the scene of the LaBianca murders, Charles stole a wallet from the house. “Charles Manson stopped at a gas station in an African American neighborhood
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