1971: Manson and Family convicted of Tate LaBianca murders January 25, 1971 Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle, and Leslie VanHouten are convicted on 27 separate counts, including seven counts of murder. In August of 1969 members of the now infamous “Manson Family” committed two grisly murders. The first, on August 9, took place at the home of Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. Polanski was out of town on business at the time of the murder, but Sharon, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was having a house party. Members of the Manson Family, including Susan Atkins, Tex Watson, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkle, broke into the house and murdered Tate, as well as Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski (seriously everyone spells his name differently, don’t email me about the spelling of a name that is pronounced “voy-tek”), Abigail Folger, and gardener Steve Parent. The scene was gruesome—blood spattered the walls, the bodies were badly mutilated, and words were written on the walls in blood. The next night, August 10, another murder took place at the home of Leno and Rosemary Labianca. The Labiancas were Italian immigrants and wealthy grocers and were similarly mutilated. A cooking fork was found sticking out of the stomach of Mr Labianca, and the word “Pig” was carved into his chest. Initially, the police had few leads until Susan Atkins, arrested for an unrelated crime, started spilling her guts in the LA County Lock up. Atkins wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box. Several of the Manson family members were arrested and tried for the crimes. The trial is famous for the interruptions of Manson and his co-defendants—the girls and Charlie would sing, chant, etc and Charlie once even attempted to attack the judge. On March 29, 1971 the whole group was sentenced to death, however this sentence was commuted when the death penalty was abolished in the state of California. Today, Charles Manson is still in jail, having been denied parole over a dozen times, though he has recently married. Manson himself is a fascinating figure and a cautionary tale of how dark things can get when charisma, mental instability and childhood abuse all collide within one person. Susan Atkins died in prison in 2009, denied parole even after her conversion to Evangelical Christianity. Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie VanHouten remain in prison. Both are currently tied for the title of “longest serving female inmate in the California corrections system”, now that Ms Atkins has passed away. Linda Kasabian turned state’s evidence and was granted immunity for her part in the murders. Other members of the Manson family still reside in California, one such member, Squeaky Fromm, made headlines in the 1970s when she tried (unsuccessfully) to assassinate Gerald Ford. The Manson Family murders are still considered one of the biggest crimes of the 20th century, and many old hippies mark this event as the true end of the Summer of Love. It’s pretty common knowledge that the Manson Family heard “hidden messages” in the Beatles’ White Album. Especially Helter Skelter—which they thought hinted at the coming of an apocalyptical race war that would lead to the family taking over the country-- here’s a remix of the song from my favorite move “Across the Universe”. Enjoy, my nerdy friends! https://youtube/watch?v=qhknKwk3V3M
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 12:29:01 +0000
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