When people think of Charles Manson they think of a psychotic man that killed many people, but that is not entirely true. He is a psychotic man, but he never actually killed a single person. He used his powerful leadership skills and ability to take advantage of people so they would do the killing he wanted done. Charles Manson never actually killed a single person, but had his loyal followers do it for him. Manson was a born criminal for the most part. From the beginning he was not wanted by his mother, father, and stepfather. He was sent to live with many different relatives all over the country because his mother did not want him anymore. He was sent to many different boarding schools, but often would run away or get kicked out after a short period of time. He was also in and out of juvenile prison for stealing and assaults. When he was fourteen he finally ran away from home and got his own place to live (crass.com). A few years later he got married and had a child, but he was sent to prison again for auto theft and never saw his family again. .
While in jail he became the person that we know today. He started to read philosophy and began to write and play music. When he was released he moved to Berkeley and started to play his guitar at the University of California. While there he met a girl named Mary Brunner. She was a normal ethical girl, but Charles convinced her to let him stay with her and he ended up changing her personality of a good ethical person into a law breaking one. She was the first person to become part of what would become to be known as "The Family". Together Charles and Mary would travel around California in stolen cars trying to get more people to join "The Family". They were able to find many people that wanted to join and at one point there were over one hundred people in "The Family". All the members soon moved into an old Hollywood home, the Spahn's movie house, which is about thirty miles outside of Los Angeles (Erickson, 1991).