Killer Minds: Inside the Minds of Serial Killers & Murderers
MURDEROUS MINDS: Charles Manson & The Manson Family Cult Pt. 2
Thu, 20 Mar 2025
In the summer of 1969, Charles Manson believed the world was about to descend into an apocalyptic race war he called “Helter Skelter.” But when his prophecy failed to materialize, Manson decided to start it himself… by convincing his followers in the Manson Family cult to commit some of the most horrific murders in true crime history. Murderous Minds is a Crime House Original. For more true crime content, follow us @crimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What changes are happening with the podcast?
we have an exciting update. Mind of a Serial Killer is now Killer Minds, expanding beyond serial killers to cover cult leaders, crimes of passion, spree killers, and more.
Nothing else is changing. Same expert analysis, same deep storytelling, now twice a week.
New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday right here. No need to do anything, just stay tuned. Now enjoy the episode.
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Chapter 2: How did Charles Manson manipulate his followers?
Loyalty is a powerful thing. The willingness to stick by someone's side through thick and thin creates a deep sense of trust. You know someone will be there for you, no matter what comes your way. It's an unbreakable bond. And in the case of Charles Manson, he used that bond to deadly effect. Charles' followers were so loyal, they obeyed his every order without question.
They left their families, took all kinds of drugs, had sex with whoever he said, and of course, committed murder. But that wasn't all Charles asked of them. In the end, he wanted them to take the blame for what he asked them to do, even if it meant losing their own lives. The human mind is fascinating. It controls how we think, how we feel, how we love, and how we hate.
And sometimes the mind drives us to do something truly unspeakable. This is Killer Minds, formerly known as Mind of a Serial Killer, a Crime House original. Every Monday and Thursday, we'll be taking deep dives into the minds of history's most notorious serial killers and murderers. The show is still the same, the name just changed.
And if you're interested in more true crime stories from This Week in History, check out CrimeHouse The Show. Every episode covers multiple cases, unified by the same theme, so every week you get something a little different. At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible.
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You'll get every episode ad-free, and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two-part series, you'll get access to both at once, plus exciting Crime House bonus content. I'm Vanessa Richardson.
And I'm Dr. Tristan Ingalls. As Vanessa takes you through our subject stories, I'll be helping her analyze what drove them to commit their crimes as we try to understand how someone can do such horrible things.
This is the second of two episodes on Charles Manson. Some call him a cult leader, some call him a serial killer. Some wonder if he can even be considered a killer at all, because even though he went to prison for murder, Charles didn't deliver the fatal blow to any of his victims. His followers were his weapon of choice.
Last time, we went through Charles' early life and the road that led him to form the notorious Manson family cult. Today, we'll follow Charles' obsession with fame, his descent into madness, and the tragic murders that still haunt society today. And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?
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Chapter 3: Why was Charles Manson obsessed with music and fame?
By the time Charles Manson was 32, he'd spent half his life in a correctional facility, from abusive reform schools to federal prisons. He used that time to become an expert manipulator, using psychological techniques, religion, and his natural charisma to bend people to his will.
After being released from prison in March 1967, Charles headed for the San Francisco Bay Area, where he started building the cult known as the Manson family. Surrounded by the love and devotion of his followers, he was showered with the attention he'd always wanted. But that wasn't enough for Charles.
He had big dreams of becoming a famous musician, and that wasn't going to happen in the Bay, so in November 1967, he and a handful of followers bought an old bus and drove it down to LA.
We talked about his many failed attempts at breaking into the music scene in part one, but let's break down why, despite this, he is still so dedicated to making it big. Obviously, he's seeking fame, he's seeking notoriety. But remember, he was fascinated by the Beatles, and he was primarily attracted to them because of the cult following that they had.
They had an intense fan base that was worldwide. The footage of Beatlemania showed women in a frenzy, even fainting at the sight of them. This is what Charles is attracted to. He wants that scale of devotion. And even though he has been told by people in the industry he's essentially not what they're looking for, and maybe not as talented as he might believe he is, Charles is extremely grandiose.
He believes he can control people's minds. He started his own cult and his own religion, so to speak, and he is simply not capable of rational thinking.
Well, unfortunately for Charles, no amount of self-belief could make up for his lack of musical talent. Even with the backing of his friend, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, nobody was willing to give Charles a record deal, including an influential producer named Terry Melcher. His move to L.A. wasn't a total bust, though.
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Chapter 4: What psychological traits did Charles Manson exhibit?
Within a year of getting to L.A., the family had grown to about three dozen people. To keep the group together, Charles moved them to an old Western movie set outside the city called Spahn Ranch in the fall of 1968. The days were filled with ranch working in the morning, LSD trips in the afternoon, and group sex at night. But it wasn't all fun and games.
Charles used these activities to remind everyone that he was their undisputed leader, selecting work assignments, overseeing the drug trips, and choosing who slept with who. But throughout it all, he continued to preach the same New Age philosophy that he'd developed in San Francisco. And as winter approached, Charles added something new into the mix.
He'd recently become obsessed with The Beatles' latest record, known as The White Album. He was fixated on one track in particular, Helter Skelter. Charles was convinced the song foretold an apocalyptic revolution triggered by a massive race war. Of course, he had a plan to keep his family safe from the violence.
They would move to Death Valley, a stretch of unforgiving terrain in California's Mojave Desert. There, he believed they'd find shelter in an underground city of gold, outside of time and space. And by early 1969, there were signs that his prophecy would actually come true. Violent protests erupted in LA and all around the country, fueled by racial tensions and the Vietnam War.
Charles told the family that the apocalypse would be upon them by the summer.
For some time now, Charles has been exhibiting signs of delusions. The earliest delusion is the delusion of grandeur. And that is when someone has an inflated sense of self and believes that they are superior to others and they often have unrealistic wealth or power in their mind.
Often, delusions of grandeur manifest with a religious theme, which we have definitely seen here, but his belief that he can control the thoughts of others is also a delusion of grandeur. Now, he's exhibiting possible delusions of reference, which is when someone believes that ordinary events have personal significance.
The fact that he believes he's getting a message of an impending apocalyptic revolution only to him from the song Helter Skelter is an example of a delusion of reference. Now, does he really believe that the message he is getting is actually true or is he using that as a means to instill fear into his family to control them? That's the question.
Charles has been a very difficult individual for professionals to diagnose because he is such a master manipulator. And it's been very difficult with Charles to discern what is a genuine psychiatric symptom from manipulation for secondary gain.
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Chapter 5: How did drug use affect the Manson Family's dynamics?
That's an excellent question. And the fact that their drug of choice appears to be LSD, which is a hallucinogen in terms of its classification, it is very possible and very likely that the substance has been inducing persistent psychosis. Substance-induced psychosis happens very frequently and it is a condition recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
There are cases in which someone may have a predisposition to a psychotic disorder and the use of substances awakens that. And then they end up having a psychotic disorder and the condition itself can become fixed or settled as a result of persistent substance use.
Whether or not Charles actually believed any of this, he was certainly acting like it. To prepare for Helter Skelter, he taught the family how to fight with knives. He also took them out on what he called creepy crawling expeditions, where they practiced breaking into people's homes without getting caught. He even found a place for them to stay in Death Valley for when the apocalypse started.
It was an isolated property in the middle of the Mojave Desert known as Barker Ranch. The place was completely off the grid. Charles sold it to his followers as the ultimate spot to ride out the apocalypse while they found the fabled underground city.
Conveniently, it would also make them completely reliant on him with nowhere else to go, especially if they started to have second thoughts about their plan. Or maybe it's not so convenient. But Charles seemed to be all in. Down in LA, he got a cheap dune buggy and told his followers to get it ready for more rugged terrain.
He made them gather extra supplies and even taught them desert survival techniques. However, all of this cost money. Money Charles and the Manson family didn't have. Most of the time, they got by with panhandling around L.A. and scavenging around grocery stores. But if Charles' plan was going to work, they needed a lot more. So he turned to a more reliable income stream. Drug dealing.
To do this, Charles connected with a biker gang called the Straight Satans. They were happy to help him get the drugs he wanted, as long as they could come to the ranch and enjoy them. Before long, the Straight Satans were a constant presence at Spahn Ranch, and so were their drugs. But the bikers used substances more potent than marijuana and LSD.
They especially liked amphetamines, and they gladly shared them with the family. Charles didn't seem happy about it. These new drugs made his followers moody and tense, harder to control. But with Helter Skelter on its way, he was willing to put up with it.
So let's remember that Charles first learned how to groom, recruit, and maintain women from the pimps he was incarcerated with, and that he spent most of his life in and out of institutions learning how to be very criminally versatile. So it's no surprise that he would bring in a biker gang to help them make money.
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Chapter 6: What led to the Manson Family's criminal activities?
It really is a case-by-case basis, and it depends on a number of variables, including the age of onset. Someone with an early onset of psychosis or delusions has a much less successful prognosis in the long term than someone with a more standard statistical age of onset.
Well, it seems like Charles dealt with the disappointment by refocusing on his Helter Skelter prophecy. As the summer of 1969 began, the 34-year-old pushed his family even harder to prepare for the upcoming apocalypse. Their creepy crawling expeditions turned to outright thievery, and his LSD-fueled sermons focused primarily on death.
Before long, Charles started asking his followers if they'd die for him. They assured him they would. But as the days crept by with no sign of a society-ending race war, the family started to get antsy. Charles knew he had to do something. If the apocalypse didn't happen, then his followers might lose their faith in him.
That's when Charles realized, if the apocalypse wasn't going to happen on its own, maybe he needed to start it himself.
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As the summer of 1969 began, 34-year-old Charles Manson decided he wanted to kickstart the helter-skelter apocalypse himself. Inspired by a track from the Beatles' White Album, he was certain that an impending race war would drive the world into chaos. But so far, it had failed to materialize, and Charles was going to do something about it.
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Chapter 7: Was Charles Manson's prophecy genuine or manipulation?
After cycling through a few options, Charles landed on Gary Hinman, a music teacher and drug dealer he'd met when the family first moved to LA. Charles believed Gary was flush with cash. He had a couple of cars, and Charles knew he had a big vacation to Japan coming up. Plus, one of Charles' best friends, a guy named Bobby Beausoleil, had it out for Gary.
He apparently sold Bobby a bad batch of a hallucinogen called mescaline, and Bobby was happy to help Charles shake Gary down. On the night of July 25th, 1969, Bobby and three of Charles' most loyal followers went over to Gary's house.
The group included Charles' first recruit, Mary Brunner, the first male family member, Bruce Davis, and Susan Atkins, who joined the family in that first summer in the Bay Area. When they showed up at Gary's door, he didn't suspect a thing. He invited them right in. But Bobby didn't waste any time. He demanded Gary pay him back for the bad drugs.
Gary swore he didn't have any money to give them, and that made Bobby angry. But even after he beat Gary to a pulp, he swore he didn't have the kind of money they were after. When Charles found out, he told the group to keep working on Gary until he gave everything up. For almost three days, Bobby Beausoleil beat Gary within an inch of his life. Eventually, Charles told Bobby to kill him.
So this is the first time that Charles Manson was able to get another person to kill at his command. And this is a level of power and superiority that he has not yet had. A line has been crossed now with his family where they've shown their loyalty and now they're further trapped in his grip, especially knowing that they could become a target themselves if they disobey or challenge him again.
They are now sort of further entrapped in this cycle of psychological and physical abuse that is the Manson family cult.
However Charles felt at that moment, by killing Gary, he realized they had an opportunity to get more than money out of the situation. It was the perfect moment to begin helter-skelter. Remember, Charles was convinced the apocalypse would start with a massive race war. After Gary Hinman was dead, he had Bobby draw a paw print on the wall with Gary's blood, along with the words, Political Piggy.
It was the symbol of the Black Panthers. Charles hoped it would seem like the Black Panthers viciously murdered an innocent white man, and then the uprising would start. Gary's body was discovered three days later on July 31st. But the race war didn't materialize. Charles' plan was falling apart. A few days later, Bobby was pulled over while driving Gary Hinman's stolen car.
The police searched it and found a bloody knife in the wheel well. And Bobby matched a fingerprint they'd pulled from the crime scene. He tried to make some excuses, but the cops weren't buying it. Bobby was arrested and charged with murder. When Charles found out, he knew time was of the essence.
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Chapter 8: Who was Gary Hinman and why was he targeted?
When they got there, Charles noticed the place next door. It was pretty nice, and Charles spotted an older man sleeping inside on his couch. His name was Lino LaBianca. Charles had his followers break in. Then they killed Lino and his wife, Rosemary, in the same violent fashion as their other victims.
After the bodies were discovered, the murders were linked to the victims at Cielo Drive, but the attempted connection to the Black Panthers went unnoticed once again. There was no denying it. Charles' plan was a failure, and eight innocent people had paid for it with their lives. But Charles didn't spin it that way to the family. He used all the press coverage as proof that it was a success.
The true apocalypse might not happen immediately, but the process had begun. That meant it was time to get out of town. The family packed their things, and in early September, he and over two dozen followers drove north to Barker Ranch out in Death Valley. To keep the Helter Skelter story alive, Charles sent his followers out into the desert.
Their job was to go on foot to look for the entrance to the underground city of gold. For the time being, the family was still devoted to Charles, though it was split between true believers and those who were just too tired from searching the desert to question him.
I think at this point we really need to start exploring the impact of trauma on his followers. He recruited people who already had pre-existing familial trauma. This is well documented in their own interviews on the matter. Most of them lacked family or family support. They had come from dysfunctional homes and the majority of them were women who were quite oppressed in that time.
Now they are experiencing varying degrees of witnessed and experienced violence, coercion, and some of his followers have even since admitted to having been sexually assaulted during their time with the Manson family. And when it comes to trauma reactions, many people are aware of the fight, flight, and freeze response, But very few are aware of the lesser known response known as fawning.
And that was certainly not something that was identified back then. Fawning is a coping mechanism that is usually developed in childhood and predominantly experienced by women due to societal norms and pressures. It's a series of people pleasing behaviors that are used to avoid conflict and any perceived danger. People who experience fawning are overly agreeable.
They have difficulty saying no or setting boundaries. They're overly reliant on others, and they do not know how to prioritize their own needs over another person's. All of these behaviors are done out of fear or conflict or disapproval and to appease their aggressor. They are no doubt living in fear of Charlie.
fear of being caught, fear of being retaliated against by the Black Panthers or others, and of this impending doom of an apocalypse that they themselves have started. And I think it's important to consider that their loyalty has also become a form of psychological and physical survival.
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