Mitzy Ocampo 1

Mitzy Ocampo Flores

U.S. History 1700
Cassandra Clark
3 December, 2017

Intimidation and Manipulation

Charles Milles Maddox, better known as Charles Manson, was the cult leader for the

Manson Family. Died November 19, 2017 at the age of 83. The formation of his cult, The

Manson Family began when he was discharged from prison in 1967. Charles Manson collected

people from unfortunate events and through intimidation got them to follow his cult. From his

own testimony as well as Linda Kasabian and Paul Watkins they give specific examples in how

Charles recruited them. Going into depth of the recruitment with the Journal of Folklore Institute

focusing on the Manson Family structure. With articles from the Rolling Stones in June of 1970

and The New York Times in August of 1970 there is insight to what the public thought of

Charles Manson and his cult, as well as additional interviews of former cult members.

“Most of the people at the ranch that you call the Family were just people that you did not

want, people that were alongside the road, that their parents had kicked out, that did not want to

go to Juvenile Hall. So I did the best I could and I took them up on my garbage dump and I told

them this: that in love there is no wrong…”1 Charles Manson recognizes that his followers are

those from unfortunate events and that they have no one else, but the cult. This giving him power

over them knowing that they had no one to ask for help other than other cult members. Being in

the cult gave those people the sense of belonging and having a “Family”. Once in the cult, and

living out in Charles Manson's ranch, they had become isolated from society and adapting to

Manson’s ideology. With the idea of that helping out their brothers and sisters is good as long as

1
Manson, Charles. “Testimony of Charles Manson in the Tate-LaBianca Murder Trial,” Famous-Trials.com.
Interviewed by Vincent Bugliosi. November 20, 1970. Transcript.
 Mitzy Ocampo 2

the intention is good, no matter the action.2 Later on, he reference back saying, “If that's guilt, I

accept it . . . These children, everything they done, they done for the love of their brother. . . .”3

Once they accepted that ideology of brotherhood in taking care of one another, he excuse himself

of any guilt since “they do what they want and it isn’t his responsibility. He doesn’t tell people

what to do”.4 He opens the of his ranch to his followers and is seen as the head of “family”, but

when it comes down to it he does not take responsibility for his said “brothers”.

Gary Alan Fine, an American sociologist wrote about the Manson Family cult in 1982.

His journal article goes into detail how people get lured into cults and gives specific example

using the Manson Family. When recruiting for the cult, Phil Kaufman who had lived out on the

ranch with the cult for about two months and experienced first-hand what went on inside the cult.

According to Kaufman, he said that all it took to convince females to join the cult was Charles

talking to them for a while. When he wanted to recruit a female, “Charlie would take her out in

the woods and talk to her for an hour or two. And she would never leave”.5 With having luring in

females first, getting male followers was easy. Once having a “four-female-to-one-male ratio and

the submission of the females drew in more male members…”6 Having male followers meant

that Manson had physical protection and strength. Once following Manson they isolated

themselves from the rest of society, they believed that they had found a deeper meaning by

following Charles Manson’s ideology and in their eyes the rest of society was oblivious to being

“free from any social restrictions”.7

2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Felton, David, and David Dalton. “Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive.”
Rolling Stone, June 25, 1970. Book five.
6
Fine, Gary Alan. "The Manson Family: The Folklore Traditions of a Small Group." Journal of the Folklore
Institute 19, no. 1 (1982): pg 53.
7
Ibid. Pg 52.
 Mitzy Ocampo 3

Linda Kasabian was a member of the Manson Family cult when the Tate-LaBianca

murders took place. When directly examined by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, she stated that no

one ever refused to do whatever Manson wanted. They all gladly obliged by his will.8 He had

intimidated his followers enough to make them want to follow his commands, fearful of what

would happen if they refused. The simple act of letting information slip out about the cult came

with harsh repercussions. For example when the Family feared that a member would testify

inappropriately and incriminate the cult, she was fed a hamburger laced with a deadly amount of

LSD, a hallucinogenic drug.9

The night of the Tate-LaBianca murders, Linda Kasabian had waited in the car as a

lookout, but once hearing the screams of a male she ran out to see what was going on. At that

moment she ran out “Because I wanted them to stop", catching up with another member she said

“Sadie, please make it stop” then added “I hear people coming”.10 She had realized that she had

to make up that lie, that people were coming to get the other members to stop. If she would have

just told them she wanted them to stop, because she did not like the fact that they were killing

these people with no real reason, she would have had to face the cult. When getting into the car

that night Bugliosi stated “...you did not know there was going to be any killing, is that correct?"

in which she responded, "Yes, that's right.".11 When asked about the murders the following night

she agreed that she knew the killings would take place. When directly questioned why she went

along she stated that she went, "Because Charlie asked me and I was afraid to say no.”12 The

8
Kasabian, Linda. “Testimony of Linda Kasabian in the Charles Manson Trial,” Famous-Trials.com. Interviewed by
Vincent Bugliosi. 1970-1971. Transcript.
9
Fine, Gary Alan. "The Manson Family: The Folklore Traditions of a Small Group." Journal of the Folklore
Institute 19, no. 1 (1982): pg 42.
10
Kasabian, Linda. “Testimony of Linda Kasabian in the Charles Manson Trial,” Famous-Trials.com. Interviewed
by Vincent Bugliosi. 1970-1971. Transcript.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
 Mitzy Ocampo 4

amount of fear that Linda had towards Charles was greater than her morals. He had broken Ms.

Kasabian down enough for her to go against her will.

Paul Watkins, another cult member’s testimony mainly explained the meaning of Helter

Skelter, Manson believed that there was going to be a race war between the white community

and the black community where in the end the Manson Family would end up taking over and

rebuilding society. At the end of his testimony the topic of death comes up. Paul explains that he

had taken LSD and that Charles had asked him to die. Since Paul did not die that moment

Charles ended up choking him. Frightened by such actions, he was overpowered and accepted

death. In which Charles responded with “jumping off and he sitting back and smiling and saying,

“Then if you are willing to die, then you don't have to die.”.13 This was a way of testing his cult

followers, to see if they still remained loyal and held the value of fear.14 This method was not

only used for cult members, but also potential recruits by seeing their reaction to orgies and flat

out asking them to die for him.15 The value of fear came from Manson’s belief in “coyotenia”,

fearing everything lead to being completely aware of everything.16 He encouraged and

implemented fear by telling followers to go pick up rattlesnakes and watch explicit movies that

showed murder.17 Having his followers practicing his beliefs they would be connected not only

physically, but “spiritually” to Manson and his ideas. Further drilling his ideology into them.

In the Rolling Stones article covering Charles Manson, the final book explains life on the

ranch. On the ranch they would hold sermons, which the members take turns leading, that night

it had been eldest female member turn to speak. A former cult follower explained that “The

13
Watkins, Paul. “Testimony of Paul Watkins in the Charles Manson Trial,” Famous-Trials.com. Interviewed by
Vincent Bugliosi. 1970-1971. Transcript.
14
Fine, Gary Alan. "The Manson Family: The Folklore Traditions of a Small Group." Journal of the Folklore
Institute 19, no. 1 (1982): pg 51.
15
Ibid. Pg 49.
16
Ibid. Pg 52.
17
Ibid.
 Mitzy Ocampo 5

words would come from Gypsy’s mouth, but it is Charlie who is speaking”.18 With this follower

recollecting events of that night they said, “It was as if the Gypsy’s own identity had been

erased.”19 That everyone on the ranch had become a version of Charles, no one thought for

themselves. These members chose to blindly follow Charles for one reason or another, but with

the member explaining what went on that night they recognized the manipulation taking place.

Others as well could have recognized they were being force fed Charles’ ideas, but just went

with it, they had grown accustomed to their lifestyle on the ranch and for some it can be said they

preferred it than their previous life.

When interviewed by Diane Sawyer in 1992, Charles said they needed to get a member

out of jail, they had no money to get a lawyer, but he needed to get his “brother out of jail”. He

called everyone in and said pay me back what you owe me. No one at that moment having

money, said how do we pay you back in which he responded, “Get him out of jail”.20 He told

them that they had to figure it out and that he was not going to get involved in any

“conspiracies”, but if it doesn’t get done he would go and take care of it himself. He reassured

his follower that they didn’t want that happening “because I got the confederate sword in the

kitchen, don't invoke me. Do it, get it done”.21 He never says what he would do with the sword,

and transitions to how he doesn’t like violence, less kill people. The confederate sword is a threat

of what he is capable of, if he would want to, and if he “had to”. Letting his followers if push

comes to shove, he will be the one doing the shoving. No was not an option when Charles gave

orders to his followers. Even the location of the confederate sword is intimidating, having it

18
Felton, David, and David Dalton. “Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive.”
Rolling Stone, June 25, 1970. Book 6.
19
Ibid.
20
Manson, Charles. “Charles Manson Interview with Diane Sawyer 1993.” Interview by Diane Sawyer. Hezakya
Newz, Youtube.com, 1993. Audio, 19:51.
21
Ibid.
 Mitzy Ocampo 6

present where everyone knew its location, not squirreled away, but there as a reminder of who is

in charge. Diane was not the only well-known name, talking about Manson. Charles Manson and

his followers had reach infamy by 1970, that even “President Nixon made his statement on the

Tate-LaBianca murders… and said that Charles Manson “was guilty, directly or indirectly, of

eight murders,”.22 At the time local writers were confused with Nixon giving a statement on the

matter since there was more pressing matter the President should be focusing his attention on,

such as “invasion of Cambodia and the economy”, not the Manson Family.

Manson’s use of manipulation to gain followers and to keep them on his side were all

mind games and was maintained through intimidation. Continuously testing recruits and his

followers alike to ensure their loyalty to the “ideology” he had created and bent to his whim.

Having lead them with the ideology of brotherhood, and taking care of one another over

everything, he had become the leader. Feeding his followers his ideology, though their own

mouths in sermons on the ranch, repeating his beliefs as if they were their own. Having never

said anything about repercussions about not following his orders, he always had threats present.

He said that everyone on the ranch did what they wanted and that he had no followers, “There

was no leader”.23 Even after 22 years since the Tate-LaBianca murders, Charles refused to take

responsibility for manipulating his followers to commit those murders. Charles died knowing

that he used those people for his belief in Helter Skelter, yet never took the blame while living

out his days in California State Prison.

22
Roberts, Steven, V. “Problem Of a Fair Trial for Manson.” The New York Times, August 9, 1970.
23
Manson, Charles. “Charles Manson Interview with Diane Sawyer 1993.” Interview by Diane Sawyer. Hezakya
Newz, Youtube.com, 1993. Audio, 19:51.
 Mitzy Ocampo 7

Bibliography
Primary Sources

Felton, David, and David Dalton. “Charles Manson: The Incredible Story of the Most
Dangerous Man Alive.” Rolling Stone, June 25, 1970.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/charles-manson-the-incredible-story
of-the-most-dangerous-man-alive-85235/.

Kasabian, Linda. “Testimony of Linda Kasabian in the Charles Manson Trial,” Famous
Trials.com. Interviewed by Vincent Bugliosi. 1970-1971. Transcript. http://www.famous
trials.com/manson/257-lindatestimony.

Manson, Charles. “Charles Manson Interview with Diane Sawyer 1993.” Interview by Diane
Sawyer. Hezakya Newz, Youtube.com, 1993. Audio, 19:51.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb4nK3KK0KU.

Manson, Charles. “Testimony of Charles Manson in the Tate-LaBianca Murder Trial,” Famous
Trials.com. Interviewed by Vincent Bugliosi. November 20, 1970. Transcript.
http://www.famous-trials.com/manson/258-mansontestimony.

Roberts, Steven, V. “Problem Of a Fair Trial for Manson.” The New York Times, August 9,
1970. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/09/archives/problem-of-a-fair-trial-for
manson.html.

Watkins, Paul. “Testimony of Paul Watkins in the Charles Manson Trial,” Famous-Trials.com.
Interviewed by Vincent Bugliosi. 1970-1971. Transcript. http://www.famous
trials.com/manson/259-paultestimony.

Secondary Sources
Fine, Gary Alan. "The Manson Family: The Folklore Traditions of a Small Group." Journal of
the Folklore Institute 19, no. 1 (1982): 47-60. doi:10.2307/3813962.