By Flora Grace Martz
Overview
Charles Manson was an American offender and leader of the cult group, popularly referred to as the Manson Family, who committed a series of massacres over a two day period in the San Francisco, California area in 1969 ending in the deaths of seven people. As the leader, Manson committed many acts of coercion and manipulation with the end goal of controlling his followers to the point of committing murder for him in an attempt to ignite a race war that he felt was brewing. Manson is notorious for displaying psychotic behavior such as the belief that he was the key to the planets future and that the Beatles song Helter Skelter was actually directed towards him and held special instructions for him to follow (Watkins). While Manson never committed any murders himself, it is believed that he was the mastermind behind the seven murders carried out by his followers. He is currently serving a life sentence in Corcoran State Prison in California (Mai-Duc).