Cults have been enigmatic since the term was first coined. Perhaps no denomination, however, has captured the public imagination like the Manson Family. The California-based cult was led by Charles Manson in the 1960s and rose to prominence following the summer 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders under Manson’s command.
On Tuesday, former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, who was involved in crimes under Manson, was released from prison after 53 years behind bars. She was arrested at the age of 19 and released earlier this week at the age of 73.
Van Houten was found guilty of aiding the Manson Family in the 1969 Los Angeles murder of Len and Rosemary LaBianca.
© Getty Leslie Van Houten was involved in the murders of Len and Rosemary LaBianco
Van Houten is currently in transitional housing. Her lawyer, Nancy Tetreault, revealed that she will be under parole supervision.
After participating in infamous murders, this former cult member was sentenced to death on March 29, 1971. At the time, she was the youngest woman on death row in the state of California. Manson family members Charles ‘Tex’ Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan ‘Sadie’ Atkins were also sentenced to death.
However, the death penalty was replaced by life imprisonment following the California Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Anderson to annul all death sentences that were in place in California prior to 1972.
© GettySusan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten laugh after receiving death sentences for their roles in the murder of Tate-LaBianco at the behest of Charles Manson.
Initially, the girls of the Manson Family were separated from the general prison community because they were seen as a threat to other inmates. That changed in 1975 when the girls were transferred to the general community at the California Institute of Women.
Van Houten was the first former Manson member to be paroled. Tex Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel are still in prison, while Susan Atkins and Charles Manson died while serving their sentences.
Who are the Mansons?
The Manson Family, also known as The Family, was a cult led by Charles ‘Charlie’ Manson in California in the late 1960s. The group embraced the hippie culture, frequently experimenting with psychoactive drugs, sexually liberated and towards an off-grid lifestyle.
© GettyCharles Manson was a notorious cult leader in the 1960s
Most of the group consisted of young, middle-class California women. The family was originally based in San Francisco during the Summer of Love, eventually moving to Topanga Canyon and eventually living at Spahn Ranch in North Los Angeles County. The farm was originally set in the West, but it burned down in a wildfire in 1970.
© Getty The family lives at Spahn Ranch in North Los Angeles
The Mansons follow the philosophy of cult leader Charles Manson, a former criminal who has been in and out of the prison system since childhood. A mystical figure in popular culture, Manson is considered a communal master, often using sex, drugs, and apocalyptic beliefs to manipulate his followers.
The cult shook the world after the 1969 Tate-LaBianco murders, which marked the end of the golden age of the sixties and the beginning of the much darker seventies.
Who is Leslie Van Houten?
Leslie Van Houten was born on August 23, 1949 in the suburbs of Altadena, Los Angeles to parents Paul and Jane Van Houten. She grew up in a middle-class family with an older brother and two adopted siblings, one brother and one sister, who are Korean.
© GettyManson family members Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie van Houten (right)
When her parents divorced when she was 14, she became addicted to LSD, hashish, and benzedrine. She often ran away from home but still finished high school and secretarial college.
After ‘giving up’, Van Houten lived for a few months in a Northern California commune, where she met Manson followers Catherine Share and Bobby Beausoleil. They lived together for a while, but Chia left to join the commune of Charles Manson, followed by 19-year-old Van Houten.
© GettyLeslie Van Houten, a former follower of Charles Manson, during a parole hearing in June 2002.
Van Houten has lived with his family at Spahn Ranch since 1968, practicing the principles of the cult of free love and drug testing. She was nicknamed ‘Lulu’ by the eccentric musician, who told her followers to erase any remnants of their previous lives outside of the group.
What was the Tate-LaBianca murder?
On the night of August 8, 1969, Manson directed Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to producer Terry Melcher’s former home at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. Melcher is the son of Doris Day and met Charles Manson through his association with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. Wilson picked up two of Manson’s girlfriends while hitchhiking. The two inform them of their ‘guru’ Charlie, with whom Wilson has become close.
© Getty Polish film director Roman Polanski and American actress Sharon Tate (1943 – 1969) at their wedding – she was later killed by members of the Charles Manson cult
Unbeknownst to the family, Melchor rented the house to actress Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski while he was away. The couple are expecting their first child, along with heiress Abigail Folger, hairstylist Jay Sebring and Wojtek Frykowski, who have been visiting Tate while her husband is away directing her latest film. he.
© Getty The actress was 8 months pregnant with her first child when she was murdered
Under orders to kill everyone in the house, cult members entered the house in Benedict Canyon and massacred everyone inside, including eight-and-a-half months pregnant Tate. The gruesome murders shocked the country.
© Getty The murder of a 26-year-old marked the end of the heyday of power in the 1960s
The next night, Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins, Clem Grogan, and Manson went to the home of grocer Len LaBianco and his wife Rosemary. Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Watson brutally killed the couple.
© Getty Manson’s girlfriends arrive in court to continue the trial of the Tate-LaBianca murders
The murder was initially unrelated to the Cielo Drive murder, but while in custody for carjacking, Susan Atkins bragged about her involvement in the Manson murders. Manson was accused of orchestrating both attacks and those involved were arrested.
Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten were found guilty on January 25, 1971. Watson was later convicted.
Will Leslie Van Houten star in a Quentin Tarantino movie Ever been to Hollywood?
Quentin Tarantino reimagined the story of the Manson family for his 2019 film Once upon a time in Hollywood. Leslie Van Houten is played by You actress Victoria Pedretti, who only had a brief role in the film. In the film titled “Lulu”, the character appears in a scene at Spahn Ranch, where Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth sees Manson’s girlfriend Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) back to the ranch.
© GettyStars Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt on the red carpet of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in the UK
Van Houten gets more appearances in 2018 American biopic Charlie said, directed by Mary Harron. Naive Van Houten is played by Hannah Murray, whom Manson (Matt Smith) meets at the ranch.
© Instagram Margot Robbie shares her first look as Sharon Tate
The film illustrates the story of Van Houten’s life in the Manson family, her involvement in the murders, and Karlene Faith’s efforts to decipher her program while in prison.
MORE: How Angela Lansbury Saved Her Daughter From Charles Manson’s Cult
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Categories: Entertaintment
Source: HIS Education