Charles Manson

Introduction & Top Questions
Early life
The Family
Tate-LaBianca murders
Trial, motive, and conviction
Wives and children
Films and books

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Table of contents for the Charles Manson article.

Charles Manson with long hair and a beard sits in the back of a police van, wearing a buttoned shirt, looking slightly downward with a somber expression.

Two coroner's office personnel wheel a covered body on a stretcher outside Sharon Tate's home, with a man standing by the entrance in the background.

Susan Denise Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten walk together in prison uniforms, smiling and laughing, with law enforcement officers behind them.

Related Questions

How did California’s abolition of capital punishment affect the Manson Family convictions?
How did Charles Manson become the leader of the Manson Family?
How did Charles Manson control members of the Manson Family?
How did Haight-Ashbury’s counterculture help Charles Manson find followers?
How did Susan Atkins’s statements in jail help solve the Tate murders?
How did drug use contribute to Charles Manson’s control over his followers?
How did the Beatles song “Helter Skelter” become connected to Charles Manson?
How did the Manson Family become associated with the end of the 1960s counterculture?
How did the book Helter Skelter shape public understanding of the Manson murders?
How many murders was Charles Manson convicted of ordering?
What role did Linda Kasabian have during the Tate murders?
When and how did Charles Manson die?
When and where was Charles Manson born?
When did Charles Manson first go to California?
When did the Charles Manson trial begin?
When were Charles Manson and the Tate murderers arrested?
Where did the Manson Family live in California?
Which Charles Manson song did the Beach Boys record under a different title?
Which Manson Family members carried out the Tate murders?
Which Manson Family members killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca?
Which beliefs and ideas influenced Charles Manson’s teachings?
Which crimes led Charles Manson to spend much of his youth in reformatories?
Which former Manson Family members were released from prison?
Which other motives have been proposed for the Tate-LaBianca murders?
Who was Gary Hinman and why was he murdered by Manson Family members?
Who was Steven Parent and why was he at 10050 Cielo Drive?
Who was murdered at Sharon Tate’s home on August 8–9, 1969?
Who was the main witness for the prosecution at the Tate-LaBianca murder trial?
Who were Leno and Rosemary LaBianca?
Who were the main members of the Manson Family?
Why did Charles Manson call his predicted race war Helter Skelter?
Why did Charles Manson move to San Francisco after leaving prison in 1967?
Why did Charles Manson want a career as a musician?
Why did Dennis Wilson stop living with the Manson Family?
Why did prosecutors argue that Charles Manson ordered the murders to start a race war?
Why did the Manson Family move to Spahn Movie Ranch?
Why did the Tate-LaBianca murders cause panic in Los Angeles?
Why was Charles Manson charged with a federal crime in 1951?
Why was Linda Kasabian granted immunity at the Charles Manson trial?
Why was Roman Polanski not at Sharon Tate’s home during the Tate murders?
Why was the house at 10050 Cielo Drive significant to Charles Manson?
What did Charles Manson do?
How many people did Charles Manson kill?
How tall was Charles Manson?
Did Charles Manson have children?
Is Charles Manson still alive?
Where is David Berkowitz now?
Why is David Berkowitz known as “Son of Sam”?
How was Dennis Rader caught?
Who was Richard Ramirez?
How was Richard Ramirez caught?

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External Websites

Crime Museum - Charles Manson and the Manson Family
ABC News - Charles Manson: How the notorious cult leader brought an abrupt end to the 60s
NPR - Charles Manson: Master Manipulator, Even as a Child
BBC News - Charles Manson: Messianic leader of a death cult

Charles Manson

American criminal and cult leader

Also known as: Charles Milles Manson

Written by

John Philip Jenkins

Distinguished Professor of History, Baylor University. Author of A History of the United States, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in America, Synthetic Panics: The Symbolic...

John Philip Jenkins

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026 •History

Charles Manson (born November 12, 1934, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died November 19, 2017, Kern county, California) was an American criminal and cult leader whose followers carried out several notorious murders. Their most famous victim was actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski, who was killed in her Los Angeles home along with four others on August 8–9, 1969. The following night Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were also murdered. Manson and his followers were found...

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