The Manson Murders - Term Paper Example

He got to know Mary Brunner, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and moved in with her. He made her agree to his bringing other women to her resident and soon they were sharing her residence with 18 other women. Manson established himself as a guru in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury which was emerging as the signature hippie locale in 1967’s Summer of Love. He had many followers who travelled with him in an old school bus which they had re-wrought in hippie style.

They travelled as far north as Washington state, then southward through Los Angeles, Mexico, and the southwest. They picked up many other proponents of their beliefs who joined their group from all over the places that they had travelled. The group is known as the Manson family. In the late spring of 1968, Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys picked up two hitch-hiking girls of the Manson Family. This resulted in his meeting with Charles Manson. The two became well acquainted soon and Wilson allowed him to stay at his house in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, with his “family”.

Wilson paid $100000 that was accrued to him due to the family. He also paid for Manson’s recording sessions and introduced him to Gregg Jakobson, Terry Melcher, and Rudi Altobelli. Rudi Altobelli owned a house that he soon rented to actress Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski. The family was asked to move out of Wilson’s house by his manager and the whole family relocated to Spahn's Movie Ranch not far from Topanga Canyon in August 1968. They did helpful work at the ranch with the women giving sexual pleasure to George Spahn, the 80-year old owner of the ranch.

The group was joined by Charles Watson who was a Texan and had moved to California after quitting college. He met Manson while he was hitch-hiking and Watson gave him a ride. Manson had established the family at alternate headquarters in the surroundings of Death Valley during the first days of November 1968. They had acquired two more ranches. One of them was Myers which was owned by the grandmother of a new woman in the family. Second was Barker which was owned by an elderly, local woman. The family had represented themselves as musicians to that woman and she agreed to let them stay if they would fix up things.

(Sanders, 2002) The Beatles’ “White Album” had a great impact on the Manson family. Manson thought that the Beatles had given a hidden message to all the whites and the racial tension was going to be intensified in America. He convinced his group that the blacks were soon going to rise in rebellion against the whites. He predicted a disaster and told his group that they were intimated in the album that they were chosen to preserve the worthy in the upcoming catastrophe. In early January 1969, the Family positioned itself to monitor L.A.'s assumed tension by moving to a canary-yellow home in Canoga Park, near the Spahn Ranch.

By February 1969, the family created an album containing songs similar to those of The Beatles’ album. Manson’s vision was thought of as completed and the family had established that the murders of whites by blacks would not be devoid of retaliation by whites. In short, the family was anticipated a riot and was looking to play an active part in the favor of whites. They made plans to cause harm to the rebellious blacks with escape strategies. Manson named the impending apocalypse "Helter-Skelter.

” They were told that Terry Melcher was coming to listen to their