Watching "The Mind of Manson" on MSNBC

[Va Lefty]

I remember reading Helter Skelter in the summer of '77. I knew nothing of the Tate-La Blanca murders before the book. I can still remember lying in my bed, petrified, terrified, listening to every creak that the house would make. I was certain that crazy people were coming to kill me and my family. Years later I talked to my mother, who never censored anything I saw or read at that age, and told her I didn't think I was ready to deal with Manson at that age. My mother said "I was 41 when I read "Helter Skelter" and I had nightmares." Made me feel better. There are some things you are never old enough to deal with

[liberalnurse]

1. He's all talk now....

it's easy for him to run his jibs, since he is kept safe in prison. He was just another manipulator of women...His cult group only had one other male in the group....all the rest were weak minded women..... He would just be another drunk under the bridge if he was on the streets today.

[JenniferJuniper]

7. Actually, there were a fair number of guys

hanging around with the group. Only Tex Watson was involved in the two sets of famous murders, but Bruce Davis (who goes to the parole board tomorrow as it happens), Bobby Beausoleil, and Steve Grogan were all connected to Manson's group, and Beausoleil and Davis remain in prison to this day.

Manson is evil but I don't think he was really insane. Just a seriously twisted, albeit intelligent guy who enjoyed seeing what he could get these kids to do. He hardly ever got his hands dirty, but functioned as murderous Fagan, manipulating others with remarkable skill while he kicked back at the ranch and enjoyed the show.

I find the followers far more fascinating than Manson. How does someone get to the point where a Manson can get into their head like that? LSD and the 1960's can only be blamed for so much.

[texastoast]

2. Creeps are everywhere

Manson dealt (insanely) with the concepts of control, "Hollywoodism," over-indulgence, and deep consumerism.

He still creeps me out even though I saw it on the news a long time ago.

[w8liftinglady]

3. OMG-I remember reading Helter Skelter as a teenager,too

scared the living shit out of me...especially when I babysat..

[hlthe2b]

4. LaBianca

Yes, that was an incredible period and just seeing a photo of Manson terrified me. He truly is the face of evil.

You should read about Jeffrey McDonald, since he was convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife and daughters in a very horrendous manner, blaming drug seeking hippies--supposedly inspired by Manson. My mother was captivated by true crime and the book on the crime,Fatal Vision really horrified and fascinated her. Some argue to this day that he was innocent. I have gone back and forth a bit but remain unconvinced that he is innocent.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. The pattern that seems to emerge over and over, the children and wife dead, the father/husband

has a survivable wound or flimsy alibi, and McDonald fits it to a tee.

I recall a recent murder like this out here. A father who killed his family, while they were moving from one house to another.

He spent the night in the old house, ostensibly to keep burglars away, and his wife and children were killed in in their new house.

A toddler daughter survived, two other children and their mother killed.

Later, it came to light that he was in severe financial straits, in spite of his "upscale" lifestyle.

Mom and the kids had life insurance.

MKJ

[WinkyDink]

10. John List, Charles Stuart (Boston), Scott Peterson, Jeffrey MacDonald, and some NBA guy:

it's an old tragic story.

Waiting here for the other shoe to drop in the recent Dr. William Petit case in CT: husband/father slightly wounded (forehead); wife and daughters viciously murdered.

[LibDemAlways]

18. About the Petit case. I haven't heard any discussion of

the possible role of the father. All of the coverage I've seen indicates that the two suspects randomnly chose the daughters and followed them home. Still, the wife and daughters were brutally murdered, the house set on fire, and the husband escaped with relatively minor injuries. Has there been any speculation that the husband had anything to do with it? That was my suspicion from the beginning. The case seems to have dropped off the radar, though.

[WinkyDink]

21. Just my speculation. E.g., why the killings only here, when prior to them the perps had only B&E'ed?

[JenniferJuniper]

8. Yes, Dr. McDonald's pregnant wife and two babies

were hacked up with an ice pick but he ended up with only one very carefully placed stab wound. Believing that one, I am.

[lonestarnot]

12. He's a nutball in the wrong institution.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. When I first saw Charles Manson's face on my TV,

right after his arrest, I was high on acid. Talk about nightmares!! That guy scared the crap out of me, especially since he was part of the milieu that I was involved in at the time. Two years later I was living in a tipi two canyons over from where the family lived near Death Valley, but, of course, they had all been arrested or scattered by then.

[lonestarnot]

9. ack the stench from even two canyons away.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. Yes, they were a bad, bad bunch...

Even with as many psychedelics and other stuff that I took in those days, and the strange adventures I had, I could never in a million years imagine myself being as gullible as those girls were. It's a shame they threw their lives away for that scumbag.

[Disturbed]

13. Someone on DU said that Charles Manson was dead.

I researched the Net & could not find any evidence that he is dead.

[uppityperson]

14. He was alive recently, he had a parole hearing last May

Wiki: Manson did not attend his most recent parole hearing (May 23, 2007). He was denied parole.<178> His next hearing will take place in 2012.

I read Helter Skelter as a 20 yr old, stayed up all night in the bed furthest from every window, creeped me out a whole bunch.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. I'm quite sure that he's not.

It seems like everyone would have heard if he had died.

[Nomad559]

16. Manson Voted For Dubya

[sandnsea]

17. I read a multi serial killer book

about 5 years ago I guess. A woman psychologist corresponded with serial killers. I will tell anybody - DO NOT read it, ever. I've read Helter Skelter, a couple of Gary Gilmore books, a bunch. But reading these letters straight from these killers - oh lord, creeeepppy.

They LOVE what they do. And the only reason they talk to anybody about what they do is for the thrill of reliving what they did. And when THAT reality hits you - oh mega heeby geebies. :scared:

Yeah, nobody is ever ready to deal with these psychopaths. I wish there was some way to diagnose them early and spare the world the gruesomeness. I think if we could remove them earlier, it would help to turn the insanity back the other direction, for a while anyway.

[Raine]

19. I was 19 and here in Los Angeles

when the Tate and LaBianca murders happened and people here were scared, in fear that a maniac was on the loose and anyone could end up a victim. People were right...a maniac was on the loose. x(

[Disturbed]

20. America was warned about Busholini but voters didn't

pay attention.