Charles Manson and The Family 1968 to 1970

Charles Manson

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I first became aware of Charles Manson and The Manson Family in 2013 when I watched a TV documentary about them which I can’t recall the name of. I’ve enjoyed watching Horror Movies since I’ve been a kid and I know some things about dysfunctional families, so the Manson Family really interested me. Don’t get me wrong, I totally don’t condone the Manson Family murders which occurred in late 1969, but I find some of what the Manson Family got up to from 1968 to 1970 minus the murders to be both very interesting and degrading towards people. The following is information which I found on the Internet minus the murders about what happened with the Manson Family from 1968 to 1970 when they were living at Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys and at Spahn Ranch and what they were doing after the August 1969 murders. (I obtained the mostly true (I think?) information from various sources on the Internet) and included are some of my opinions.

Charles Manson and The Family lived with Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys in early 1968. It’s interesting to note that the Family turned Denis’s home into a Party Palace and Denis’s home life was filled with sex, drugs, and the philosophical musings of Charles Manson. In addition, the Manson girls cooked and cleaned in his house.

Dennis Wilson from The Beach Boys and the house he used to live in in 1968 when Charles Manson and The Family were living with him.

The Family cost Dennis up to $100, 000 which was money spent on the parties held at his house, his clothes, food, penicillin shots for the Family’s persistent gonorrhoea and for when the Family totalled Denis’s $21,000 uninsured 275 GTB/6C / 1966 Ferrari and Mercedes. Regarding the totalled Ferrari The Family’s Steven Grogan, aka “Tufts Clem” and Charles Denton Watson, aka “Tex” borrowed Denis’s $21,000 uninsured 275 GTB/6C / 1966 Ferrari, took it for a joy ride and crashed it while driving on Santa Susanna Road in downtown LA. the car having rolled twice, only the trunk lid, the right rear fender and right door were not damaged. They managed to get out of the car thru the right window, the roof being crushed all the way to the steering wheel.

dwilsondamagedferrari-2 — Denis Wilson’s 275 GTB/6C /1966 totalled Ferrari

In September 1968, Denis Wilson and The Beach Boys recorded a version of Charles Manson’s song “Cease to Exist,”, changing the title to “Never Learn Not to Love” and the song was released in December 1968. However, they did the opposite of everything Charles had asked them to do. They changed the music from its bluesy twang to a more refined pop sound, they changed the lyrics, they changed the title, and Dennis Wilson was credited as being the sole writer for “Never Learn Not To Love,” which infuriated Manson. According to Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks: “One day, Charles Manson brought a bullet out and showed it to Dennis, who asked, ‘What’s this?’ And Manson replied, ‘It’s a bullet. Every time you look at it, I want you to think how nice it is your kids are still safe.’ Well, Dennis grabbed Manson by the head and threw him to the ground and began pummelling him … I heard about it, but I wasn’t there.”

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Denis Wilson in the forefront and Charles Manson in the background.

In my opinion, Spahn Ranch, the place where the Manson Family lived from 1968-1970 looks like it’d have been an exciting place to live in. The ranch owned by George Spahn, was a massive, dusty ranch with a Western themed movie set in San Fernando Valley, California. The ranch was built in 1947 and George Spahn bought it in 1953. The town set had been used in movies and TV shows (today, the ranch is a state park). A wildfire destroyed all of the Spahn Movie Ranch’s film sets and residential structures on September 26, 1970.

Spahn Ranch in 1969

According to James Buddy Day, author of Hippie Cult Leader: The Last Words of Charles Manson it was Susan “Sadie” Atkins, one of those convicted in the August 9, 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, who discovered Spahn Ranch sometime in 1967.

Susan Atkins on Spahn Ranch

Also, according to Day “The Manson Family moved onto the ranch gradually, first staying at a nearby church, then squatting in the empty shacks along the riding trails from time to time,” he says.

One of the shacks which The Manson Family lived in, in 1969

Some of The Family slept in the saloon on the movie set, others slept in shacks behind the saloon, some in a trailer nearby, and two girls slept in the home of George Spahn, the 81-year-old owner of the movie ranch.

The inside and outside of Spahn Ranch in 1969

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gettyimages-667084160-1024x1024-1 — Spahn Ranch August 29, 1969.

The ranch offered several scenic trails through the mountains and valleys that predominated the area. The remains of the stage coach trail built in 1861 still ran though the property and was bordered on its southside by a dry creek. There was also a corral located adjacent to the western town that was used for riding instructions.

The family did maintenance work and occasionally rented out horses there in return for being allowed to stay. While the Manson family were living at the ranch from 1968 to 1970, the ranch mostly made money by occasionally renting horse rides through the property.

Spahn Ranch horses.

Two members of the Charles Manson “family”, Pat, left and 
Rocky hold three Appaloosa horses at the George C. Spahn 
ranch where Manson and his followers once camped, shown in 
March 1970. At the time only a few of the members remained 
at the ranch where Manson had been on trial for in the 
slaying of Sharon Tate and seven others.

Spahn Ranch 1971 Pat Rocky (3)

On Spahn Ranch

While they were living at Spahn Rach girls from the Family did garbage runs which involved scavenging trips to the rear of Los Angeles supermarkets and restaurants, where they’d be in search of edible castoffs. I’m a meat eater so I’m not happy that meat was not a favoured item, even if obtainable. However, what was favoured by the Manson Family was Brown rice, salad, cooked vegetables, candy and ice cream .

Manson Girls (left to right) doing a garbage run Lynette 
Fromme, Sandra Good, Mary Brunner and Ruth Ann Moorehouse

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Interestingly whilst at Spahn Ranch. The Manson Family would frequently take LSD and have orgies. According to Diane Lake who was one of the Manson girls whose nickname was Snake stated that “Manson would orchestrate the orgies and use of drugs. “According to Lake, Manson planned the “love-ins” to minimize infighting between the predominantly female members” of the Family.

Diane Lake in 1969

Charles Manson and The Family would also have nightly bonfires outside Spahn Ranch. Apparently, Manson’s ravings were often delivered at these nightly bonfires accompanied by heavy drug use.

On August 16, 1969 Spahn Ranch was raided were the police sized and impounded vehicles which were mostly VW dune buggies, a couple of motorcycles and most importantly John Swartz’s 1959 Ford (registration plate GYY 435). The Ford had provided transportation for the Tate and La Bianca murders.

The Spahn Ranch Raid on August 16, 1969

George Spahn during the Spahn raid on August 16, 1969.

The Ford that had provided transport for the Tate and La Bianca murders.

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The Family participated in late afternoon sing songs. Some of The Manson Family recorded an album called The Family Jams which was recorded in 1970. The album was recorded as The Charles Manson (Tate-LaBianca Murder) murder trial was ongoing and was released in 1997.

In early 1970, the Manson Family got everyone together, including Bruce Davis (then wanted by the FBI), in the Spahn Ranch saloon, to record music for Robert Hendrickson’s MANSON film. This was the beginning of the Family Jams, but the original audio tapes remain buried in a vault.

Robert Hendrickson – Inside The Manson Gang (2007)

Most of the male vocals are sung by member Steve “Clem” Grogan. Other members appearing on the album are Sandra Good, Lynette Fromme, Catherine
“Gypsy” Share, Catherine “Cappy” Gillies, Nancy “Brenda” Pitman, and
Ruth Ann “Ouisch” Moorehouse.

I like these songs

The Family Jams – Love’s Death (The Fires Are Burning)

The Family Jams – Ride Away!

It seems to me as though the girls living at Spahn Ranch were used as slaves as from conducting research on the Internet only the girls or women were sent out to panhandle and also according to Linda Kabastian, Family Member at Spahn Ranch in 1969 who stated during the Manson trial and who was the chief prosecution witness in the Tate-LaBianca murder case “The girls did everything and anything there was to do. They served the men, took care of the children, cooked and sewed, but always were on service for the men.”

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Personally, I really don’t like having to kowtow to men, so that would have really irritated me if I had of lived with the Manson Family back then. However, I admire and like how the Manson Girls used to sew and cook as I’d like to become good at doing both of those which I’m ok at doing now.

Some of the Manson girls sewing a top for Charles Manson in 1969

Branching off from the Manson Family, I love how during the 60’s people didn’t rely on mobile phones like people do today. Due to this people in the 1960s must havespoken and communicated with each other a lot more than what they do today!!! I hate how people today are always on their mobile phone or on social media such as Facebook etc and don’t seem to talk to each face to face as much as what they did before they came
about.

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Today’s (2019) mobile phone obsession.

Caves at Spahn Ranch

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After the Tate – La Bianca murders in August 1969, The Manson Family fled to Death Valley in their green and white early fifties Chevrolet school bus, where the bus was driven somewhere near Barker Ranch. The interior was converted to living space with floor space to sleep and a wood burning stove. It would seem more than likely that the bus never made it to the ranch but was abandoned before traversing the jeep trail to the Barker Ranch.

Abandoned Charles Manson and The Family bus near 
Barker Ranch in 1969

Bus near Barker Ranch in 1969

In 2004 the bus sat in a remote corner of Death Valley a few miles away from its last bus stop. Most of the glass had been broken and it had quite a few bullet holes, but it was still in fairly good shape. There were many old cars and trucks in Death Valley, Charlie’s bus was being one the best preserved and the most infamous of them all.