Charles Manson, Cult Leader Of Brutal 1969 Murders, Dies
The murders of actress Sharon Tate and six other people in a span of two nights gave Manson a unique and infamous position in the American cultural imagination.
Charles Manson, the cult leader who drew lasting infamy for directing mass killings in 1969, has died at the age of 83.
Manson had been removed from prison in Corcoran, Calif., where he had been serving nine life sentences, and placed in a nearby hospital for a serious illness. It was the second time this year the mass murderer had been hospitalized.
For nearly five decades, Manson has occupied a unique position in the American cultural imagination — a figure of dystopian fascination and horrifying malice.
This violent legacy can be traced principally to two late-summer nights in Los Angeles in 1969, when Manson orchestrated a series of gruesome murders. The attacks left seven people dead — including actress Sharon Tate, who was 8 1/2 months
