Understanding that cults have changed, but victims of cults look like you and me

Mary was an assistant librarian. Ruth Ann was the daughter of a pastor. Lynette was kicked out of her father’s house. Patricia was a file clerk for an insurance agency. Bruce dropped out of college to search for himself. Susan was 14 when her mom died of cancer. Ella lived in a commune. Dianne was molested as a preteen. Bobby was a musician. Nancy was a surfer. Sandra dated an older college student. Paul liked to smoke marijuana. Charles worked as a baggage handler at the…

The relationship between Charles Manson and Susan ‘Sadie’ Atkins

In November 1967, Charles Manson was just six months out of federal prison. The 32-year old was granted permission to be paroled in San Francisco and spent the next several months getting to know the Bay Area. By the following autumn, he was living a nomadic life, in an old school bus with three women (Mary Brunner, Lynette Fromme and Patricia Krenwinkel). But his primary goal that season was to get signed to a record deal, and requested permission to relocate his parole down to the Los Angeles area. …

But she missed, after Charlie broke her jaw

Charles Manson and about a dozen of his so-called ‘followers’ moved to Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth, California in the summer of 1968. The property, once home to a number of Western film and television show shoots, had fallen on hard times. Owner George Spahn was 79-years old, blind and broke that season. He allowed the Manson Family to live there because they offered to help around the place, and he had no idea how dangerous they would prove to be.

George was a kindly character, who had moved from Pennsylvania years before…

The forgotten Manson Family victim

Warning: disturbing crime scene images are included in this article…

Ohioan William Garretson, 19-years old, was living at 10050 Cielo Drive in posh Benedict Canyon, Bel Air, in the summer of 1969. He was hired to work as the property caretaker, and lived in small one-bedroom guest house at the rear of the property, behind the pool. Property owner Rudy Altobelli, a talent agent, had hired Bill Garretson that spring. For his services he was paid $35 weekly and his responsibilities included caring for Altobelli’s three dogs: two poodles and a Weimaraner.

On Friday, August…

She paid the price for testifying against Manson

In October 1969, members of a hippie commune/cult known as the Manson Family were arrested in Death Valley for arson. Little did police know, some of those arrested were the same culprits who committed the brutal and sensational murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others two months before.

One of those arrested, 17-year old Kitty Lutesinger, had an APB out for her. She had run away from her mother’s home weeks before. Kitty, who was pregnant, was the girlfriend of another member of the Manson Family who had been picked up…

The story of feisty Ruby Pearl

Charles Manson crossed paths with a lot of interesting people during the late 1960s. Most of those who found themselves in conflict with Manson wound up worse for the experience. Just ask Bernard Crowe, who Charlie shot in the aftermath of a botched robbery. Or those kids, who are spending their lives behind bars because, high on acid and speed, they committed a series of brutal murders at Manson’s command.

But one person that went head-to-head with Manson and survived, was a former rodeo queen named Ruby Pearl. …

end of times for the Manson Family

Charles Manson was a quasi-spiritual leader, a musician, sex trafficker and dangerous charlatan who convinced a sizeable group of young people to follow his teachings, during the late 1960s.

Manson, an ex-con who had served time for auto theft, burglary, armed robbery, check fraud and pimping between the ages of 14 and 32, was released from prison in the spring of 1967 in California. By the summer of 1968, Manson and about two dozen of his followers (ages 14 to 26) had been living north of Los Angeles at Spahn Ranch, a 500-acre…

The First Responders at Sharon Tate’s home

Just before eight-thirty on the morning of Saturday, August 9th, Winifred Chapman arrived at Cielo Drive. Winifred lived in an apartment in the Central Alameda neighborhood of South Los Angeles. She had to ride at least two buses to get to her employer’s, followed by either a short car ride or taxi from the bus stop at Sunset Boulevard and Benedict Canyon Drive. That morning after the murders, she hailed a ride from an acquaintance.

As she approached the gate at 10050 Cielo, she spied a downed telephone line. Concerned and distracted, she…