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Charles Manson: How the Famous Killer Ended Up Dead

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at FIU chapter.

Charles Manson, possibly one of the most famous mass murderers ever, was found dead in his hospital room on November 19th, 2017. He was admitted a couple days before due to chest pains and there are a couple stories that give insight about his death.

One is that he died of natural causes, and the other was that he was found early in the morning with a slit throat, 5 dead nurses around him and with a suicide note that said: ““As I write this letter, I feel my soul rising to greatness. I am God, a great leader. These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them. I didn’t teach them. I just tried to help them stand up. But you will see, I am immortal. My body may lay here right now, but in less than 24 hours I will rise from the dead just like the great Lazarus, exactly like Jesus – because I am God!”.

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Charles Manson was the wide-eyed cult leader that brought together a “family” of young runaways and dropouts who became so obsessed with him that they believed every word that came out of his mouth and would do anything for him. And that “anything” lead to the deaths of 7 innocent people. These brutal murders started on August 9th, 1969 at the home of the famous actress Sharon Tate. The killings were split between two nights. The first night’s victims were Tate, who was eight months’ pregnant, a writer named Wojciech Frykowski, a friend of the family’s caretaker named Steven Parent, a coffee fortune heiress named Abigail Folger and a famous hairsylist named Jay Sebring. The next night’s victims were Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary, who were killed in their home as well.

Manson was obsessed with Armageddon and what he thought was an oncoming race war, so he planned these murders to start the war. The word “pig” and “ Healter Skelter” were written in the victim’s blood on the walls of one of the homes and the front door of the second one. Both crime scenes were brutal and violent. Manson never took part in the acts, but his followers were lead by his charming words to inflict 169 stab wounds and seven .22-valiber gunshot wounds.

In an interview Manson admitted that he didn’t feel guilty, stating “I haven’t done anything I’m ashamed of.”

In 1971, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder for the two sets of killings and was sentenced to death. But the California Supreme Court decided to outlaw capital punishment, which turned Manson’s sentence to life behind bars.

Manson’s haunting life has made him very famous all over the world and has captivated people’s interest long after he was put in prison. His face is all over shirts and he has many movies and books written about him or inspired by him. 

 

 

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