Editing Manson Family (section)

== Formation {{anchor|Rise of the Family}} <!-- This Anchor tag serves to provide a permanent target for incoming section links. Please do not move it {{subst:Anchor comment}} -->==

===San Francisco followers===
Following his release from prison on March 22, 1967, [[Charles Manson]] moved to [[San Francisco]], where, with the help of a prison acquaintance, he moved into an apartment in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]. In prison, bank robber [[Alvin Karpis]] had taught Manson to play the [[steel guitar]].<ref name="bugliosi">Bugliosi, Vincent with Gentry, Curt. ''Helter Skelter&nbsp;— The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition'', W.W. Norton & Company, 1994. {{ISBN|0-393-08700-X}}, {{OCLC|15164618}}.</ref>{{Rp|137–146}}<ref name="emmons">Emmons, Nuel. ''Manson in His Own Words''. Grove Press, New York (1988); {{ISBN|0-8021-3024-0}}</ref><ref>Karpis, Alvin, with Robert Livesey. ''On the Rock: Twenty-five Years at Alcatraz'', 1980</ref> Living mostly by [[begging]], Manson soon became acquainted with [[Mary Brunner]], a 23-year-old graduate of the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], who was working as a library assistant at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and moved in with her. According to a second-hand account, Manson overcame Brunner's resistance to him bringing other women in to live with them. Before long, the pair were sharing Brunner's residence with eighteen other women.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|163–174}}

Manson established himself as a [[guru]] in San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] district, which during 1967's "[[Summer of Love]]" was emerging as the signature hippie locale. He may have borrowed some of his philosophy from the [[Process Church of the Final Judgement]], members of which believed [[Satan]] would become reconciled to [[Jesus]] and they would come together at the [[Eschatology|end of the world]] to judge humanity. Manson soon had the first of his groups of followers, most of them female;  they were later dubbed the "Manson Family" by Los Angeles prosecutor [[Vincent Bugliosi]] and the media.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|137–146}} Manson allegedly taught his followers that they were the [[reincarnation]] of the [[Early Christianity|original Christians]], and that [[the establishment]] could be characterized as the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]]. Sometime around 1967, he began using the alias "Charles Willis Manson."<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|315}}

Before the end of summer, Manson and some of his followers began traveling in an old [[school bus]] they had adapted, putting colored rugs and pillows in place of the many seats they had removed. They eventually settled in the [[Los Angeles]] areas of [[Topanga, California|Topanga Canyon]], [[Malibu, California|Malibu]] and [[Venice, Los Angeles|Venice]].<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|163–174}}<ref name="Sanders">{{cite book|last=Sanders|first=Ed|author-link=Ed Sanders|date=2002|title=The Family|location=[[New York City]]|publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press|isbn=1-56025-396-7}}</ref>{{rp|13–20}}

In 1967, Brunner became pregnant by Manson. On April 15, 1968, she gave birth to their son, whom she named Valentine Michael, in a condemned house where they were living in Topanga Canyon. She was assisted by several of the young women from the Family. Like most members of the group, Brunner acquired a number of [[Pseudonym|aliases]] and nicknames, including: "Marioche", "Och", "Mother Mary", "Mary Manson", "Linda Dee Manson" and "Christine Marie Euchts."<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|xv}}

=== Manson's self-presentation ===
Actor [[Al Lewis (actor)|Al Lewis]] had Manson babysit his children on a couple of occasions and described him as "a nice guy when I knew him."<ref name="Charles Manson By Simon Wells">{{cite book|last=Wells|first=Simon|title=Charles Manson:Coming Down Fast|publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]]|location=[[London]]|date=April 16, 2009|isbn=9780340919231}}</ref> Music producer [[Phil Kaufman (producer)|Phil Kaufman]] introduced Manson to [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] producer Gary Stromberg, then working on a film adaptation of the life of [[Jesus]] set in modern America, featuring a Black Jesus and southern "redneck Romans." Stromberg thought that Manson made interesting suggestions about what Jesus might do in a situation, seeming to be attuned to the role. He had one of his women kiss his feet and then kissed hers in return to demonstrate the place of women. At the beach one day, Stromberg watched while Manson preached against a [[materialism|materialistic]] outlook. One of his listeners questioned him about the well-furnished bus. Manson tossed the bus keys to the doubter, who promptly drove the bus away while Manson watched, apparently unconcerned.<ref name="Guinn">{{cite book|last=Guinn|first=Jeff|title=Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|location=[[New York City]]|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4516-4518-7}}</ref>{{rp|124}} 

According to Stromberg, Manson had a dynamic personality; he was able to read a person's emotional weaknesses and manipulate them.<ref name="Charles Manson By Simon Wells" /> For example, Manson tried to manipulate Danny DeCarlo, the treasurer of the [[Straight Satans Motorcycle Club|Straight Satans]] [[outlaw motorcycle club|motorcycle club]], by granting him "access" to Family women. He convinced DeCarlo that his large penis helped keep the women in the group.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|146}}

=== Involvement with Wilson, Melcher and others ===
{{See also|Never Learn Not to Love|The Beach Boys bootleg recordings#Manson sessions}}
[[File:Dennis Wilson 1968.jpg|thumb|321x321px|[[Dennis Wilson]] with [[the Beach Boys]] in 1968]]
In late spring 1968, [[Dennis Wilson]] of [[the Beach Boys]] picked up [[Patricia Krenwinkel]] and Ella Jo Bailey when they were [[hitchhiking]], while under the influence of [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] and [[LSD]].<ref>"The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter", 2009 Documentary</ref> Wilson took them to his [[Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles|Pacific Palisades]] house for a few hours. The following morning, when he returned home from a night recording session, he was greeted by Manson in the driveway, who emerged from his house. Wilson asked the stranger whether he intended to hurt him. Manson assured him that he had no such intent and began kissing Wilson's feet.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|250–253}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|34}} Inside the house, Wilson discovered twelve strangers, mostly women.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|250–253}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|34}}

The account given in ''Manson in His Own Words'' is that Manson first met Wilson at a friend's San Francisco house where Manson had gone to obtain [[marijuana]]. Manson claimed that Wilson gave him his [[Sunset Boulevard]] address and invited him to stop by when he came to Los Angeles.<ref name="emmons" /> Wilson said in a 1968 ''[[Record Mirror]]'' article that when he mentioned the Beach Boys' involvement with [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] to a group of strange women, "they told me they too had a guru, a guy named Charlie."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Griffiths|first1=David|title=Dennis Wilson: "I Live With 17 Girls"|journal=Record Mirror|date=December 21, 1968}}</ref>

Over the next few months, the number of women doubled in Wilson's house. He covered their costs, which amounted to approximately $100,000. This total included a large medical bill for treatment of their [[gonorrhea]], and $21,000 for the destruction of his uninsured car, which they borrowed.<ref name="watkins4">{{cite book|last1=Watkins|first1=Paul|author-link=Paul Watkins (Manson Family)|last2=Soledad|first2=Guillermo|date=1979|title=My Life with Charles Manson|publisher=Bantam|isbn=0-553-12788-8}}</ref> Wilson would sing and talk with Manson, and both men treated the women as servants.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|250–253}} 

Wilson paid for studio time to record songs written and performed by Manson and introduced him to entertainment business acquaintances, including [[Gregg Jakobson]], [[Terry Melcher]] and Rudi Altobelli. Altobelli owned a house which he rented to actress [[Sharon Tate]] and her husband, director [[Roman Polanski]].<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|250–253}} Jakobson was impressed by "the whole Charlie Manson package" of artist, life-stylist and philosopher, and he paid to record Manson's material.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|155–161, 185–188, 214–219}}<ref name="watson12"/> Wilson moved out of his rented home when the lease expired, and his landlord evicted the Family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/news/charles-manson-dennis-wilson-friendship|title=Charles Manson and Dennis Wilson Had a Brief and Bizarre Friendship|last=Ott|first=Tim|website=Biography|language=en-us|access-date=2019-08-14|archive-date=August 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814140417/https://www.biography.com/news/charles-manson-dennis-wilson-friendship|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Spahn Ranch ===
{{See|Spahn Ranch}}

In August 1968, Manson established a base for the Family at the [[Spahn Ranch]] after Wilson's landlord evicted them.<ref>[http://la.curbed.com/2014/10/22/10032594/the-story-of-the-abandoned-movie-ranch-where-the-manson-family The Story of the Abandoned Movie Ranch Where the Manson Family Launched Helter Skelter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160709124920/http://la.curbed.com/2014/10/22/10032594/the-story-of-the-abandoned-movie-ranch-where-the-manson-family |date=July 9, 2016 }}. Retrieved March 10, 2016.</ref> It had been a [[movie ranch|television and movie set for Westerns]], but the buildings had deteriorated by the time the Family first appeared at the property. By the late 1960s the ranch had derived revenue primarily from selling horseback rides.<ref name="NME">{{cite news|url=https://www.nme.com/news/bryan-cranston-had-run-in-with-charles-manson-2161985|title=Bryan Cranston had a very close run-in with Charles Manson in the 1960s|last=Reilly|first=Nick|date=21 November 2017|work=[[NME]]|accessdate=17 October 2022}}</ref> Female Family members did chores around the ranch and, occasionally, had sex on Manson's orders with the ranch's nearly blind 80-year-old owner, [[George Spahn]]. The women also acted as guides for him. In exchange, Spahn allowed Manson's group to live at the ranch for free.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|99–113}}<ref name="watkins4"/>{{rp|34,40}} [[Lynette Fromme]] acquired the nickname "Squeaky" because she often squeaked when Spahn pinched her thigh.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|163–174}}<ref name="watkins4" />

[[Tex Watson|Charles Watson]], a small-town Texan who had quit college and moved to California, soon joined the group at the ranch and Spahn gave him the nickname "Tex", due to [[Texan English|his accent]].<ref name="watson12"/>