The Manson Murders and the End of the Flower Children Era.
The Sixties remain shrouded in myth, demonology and nostalgia. (Pale Green House 1) That era still recalls something dimly remembered of an expedition into the heart of consciousness. This era ended in August 1969 when the followers of Charles Manson slaughtered Sharon Tate, her unborn child, her houseguests, and the next night repeated the bloody ritual by killing a prominent couple named the LaBiancas. The murders committed by the Manson family were the most horrendous of their time and some people still consider them the most brutal slayings in American history. Maybe they were, or perhaps it was the era in which they were committed that made them so horrific. Charles Manson was a merciless, evil man who led followers to commit atrocious crimes; moreover, he also ended a time of love, peace and happiness. The murders committed by the Manson family concluded the era of the "flower children.".
The Nineteen Sixties were a time of love, peace, happiness and more importantly, trust. The hippie generation, which had engulfed American society by 1968, had given birth to a new sub-culture of people: the flower children. The flower children were hippies who rejected materialism and war and preached universal peace and love as the solution to the world's problems during the Summer of Love (Encarta Online). These flower children trusted virtually anyone allowing their generation to be easily manipulated by outsiders. This wave of trust was to be soon broken. .
Charles Manson is an average white male that grew up in a broken home and consequentially experienced many psychological as well as emotional problems throughout his lifetime. His mother, a prostitute who was always in and out of jail, had shuffled Charles from relative to relative, causing Manson to develop an altered view of family values. He suffered from a childhood filled with abuse and neglect causing his mind to function at a somewhat abnormal level.
