Was Charles Manson more skilled than we thought?
Did Charles Manson hypnotize those around him to do his dirty deeds?
Manson knew the secrets to mental manipulation.
Read on to find out what made him tick.
Early Life
On November 12, 1934, Charles Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. A mere 16 years old, his mother was not the perfect role model. A drunk and a thief, she would often leave young Charles with various babysitters.
Charlie’s mother was arrested and sentenced to a ten-year prison sentence for robbery when she was 21 years old.
Charlie was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in West Virginia.
The young Charles Manson would often be truant from school. Not having a stable upbringing, Charles became a troublemaker at a very young age.
By the age of 13, Charlie would be sent away to a school for delinquent boys in Terre Haute, Indiana. The school was rigorous and often dished out punishments with wooden paddles and leather belts. Charles soon ran away from this school and lived in the streets for a short time.
Caught at age 15 for petty theft, Charlie again was sent to a boy’s home, located in Omaha, Nebraska. He became friends with one of the boys in this reform center. They both escaped a short time later and went on a crime spree.
Being arrested two weeks later after his escape, he again was sent to another boy’s school for adolescent troublemakers in Plainfield, Indiana.
Charles seemed to wander the country even at a very young age. He had no sense of direction and no role models. Other than other delinquents who would often teach him how to rob and steal.
During his stay at the Plainfield, Indiana boy’s school, it was said that Charles was beaten and raped by the other students.
The “Insane” Game
Charles Manson being of small stature, had to develop a way to protect himself. He learned in his teens that if he would scream and wave his arms like a lunatic, people would think he was insane. They would often leave him alone.
This “insane” game would continue for the duration of his life. This “insane” game is undeniable in many of his filmed interviews throughout his life.
Institutionalized by Age 16
Charles’s life was out of control. His first taste of institutionalized life started in the early 50s. He was 16 when sentenced to a minimum-security institution in Petersburg, Virginia.
Charles would commit various offenses and eventually get transferred to stricter institutions for teenage boys.
Homosexuality
Charles Manson had committed various acts of homosexuality during his confinement. Including raping a young boy at knifepoint.
Charles was caught performing various homosexual acts with other inmates while incarcerated.
Charlie’s life of crime continued.
Marriage at 21 and a Child
In 1955, 21-year-old Charles Manson would marry Rosalie Jean Willis. She gave birth to Charles Manson Jr. three months later.
Rosalie Jean Willis would leave Manson for another man in 1957.
Eventually, Manson filed for divorce in 1958.
10 Year Sentence and 2nd Marriage
In 1959 Manson forged a U.S. Treasury check he reportedly stole from the mail. He was caught and charged with a federal crime. Manson was sentenced to 10 years, but a known prostitute known as Leona pleaded for leniency if she married Manson.
Charles Manson received a ten-year suspended sentence and probation.
By the end of 1959, Leona and Charles were married. The attempt for a lenient sentence did not last for long.
The following year in 1960, Charles Manson would violate his probation and be sent to jail for ten years for the previous charge of forgery of a U.S. Treasury check and new charges of human trafficking for prostitution of his new wife and another woman.
1961: Los Angeles County Jail : Danny Trejo
During his time in the Los Angeles County Jail, Charles Manson met, now famous actor, Danny Trejo. Charles Manson would practice hypnosis on Danny Trejo and other inmates.
Charles Manson was said to have hypnotized Trejo and other inmates to get them high. Manson would put them under hypnosis to make them feel like they were smoking weed and high on heroin.
1967: Release
Manson was released early from his ten-year sentence on March 27, 1967. He left Los Angeles and moved to Berkeley, California.
He became associated with a federal probation officer who worked at the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic and was studying the effects of LSD and methamphetamines on the anti-establishment culture in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.
Charles Manson was allowed to use LSD for clinic study.
Cult Creation
Manson understood hypnosis and mind control. Soon he had followers that got sucked into his cult leader persona. He developed philosophies that were a mixture of a sci-fi fiction book titled “Stranger in a Strange Land,” the Bible, the Beatles, and Scientology.
Manson would target emotionally troubled outcasts. These were the types that were easy to manipulate.
Through LSD and sex, Manson would mold these followers into a small group of 20–30 followers who idolized him.
The most well know of these followers were Mary Brunner, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Susan Atkins, Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten, among others.
Hypnotized to Murder
Manson was a white supremacist who believed that the blacks would rise against the whites. Charles Manson had plans to incite a race war. Manson’s hypnotic control would soon cause brutal murders.
In August 1969, Manson had instructed his followers to go out and murder. The victims of this murder spree included the then famous actress Sharon Tate, Leo, and Rosemary LaBianca.
Others would also lose their lives at the hands of the Manson family.
Manson and his murderous cult would not be arrested for their deadly crimes until months later, in November 1969. All were eventually sentenced to life in prison.
Death in Prison
Charles Manson would spend the rest of his life in prison, dying while still in prison, on November 19, 2017, at age 83.
The little man who learned to survive by mental manipulation has become one of the most iconic criminals in modern history.
Thanks for reading!
-Joey E
