The Family

By then, Charles was going by the name Charles Willis Manson, which when pronounced slowly sounded like “Charles’ Will is Man’s Son.” His informal “family” consisted of roughly 8 or 9 people. They traveled across the country in a school bus. They removed the seats and replaced them with rugs and pillows, making it feel more like a home. At the end of their trip, they found themselves in San Francisco, CA.

The Manson Girls

Although Manson had a sleuth of followers, he had 3 known girls who were his most loyal groupies. Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel all played crucial roles in the 5-week killing spree that began on July 1, 1969, that would eventually go on to kill 9 people. The most gruesome, and well-known of them all, was the murder of Sharon Tate. She was an American actress and wife of director Roman Polanski. Manson instructed his cult to go to their residence and murder everyone in the house. At the time of her murder, Sharon Tate was 8 months pregnant.