January 25: On This Day in World History … briefly
Manson was obsessed with the Beatles, particularly their 1968 'White Album'. Guided by his interpretation of the band's lyrics, he adopted the term 'Helter Skelter' to describe an impending apocalyptic race war. He and his followers of mostly young women believed the murders would help precipitate that war.
1971: Charles Manson is found guilty
Macabre cult leader Charles Manson was found guilty of murdering actress Sharon Tate and four others in a ritual slaughter that stunned America in August 1969. Satanist Manson, who led a drug-ridden Californian commune or ‘family’ of disturbed women, warned the judge as the court took the next legal steps to have him and his accomplices sent to the gas chamber:
You won’t outlive this, old man
The trial was punctuated by Manson’s outpourings about race war and Satan. As the death penalty had in fact been suspended in California, Manson and his co-convicts faced life imprisonment instead. From the beginning of Manson’s notoriety, a pop culture arose around him in which he ultimately became an emblem of insanity, violence and the macabre.
After being charged with the crimes of which he was later convicted, recordings of songs written and performed by Manson were released commercially, starting with Lie: The Love and Terror Cult (1970).Various musicians have covered some of his songs.
Manson was originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole after California invalidated the state’s death penalty statute in 1972. He served out his life sentence at California State Prison in Corcoran and died at age 83 in 2017.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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