He Was Guru of the Cult of Blood and Fear

Charles Manson, the wild-eyed 5-foot-2 son of a 16-year-old prostitute, and his “family” of middle-class runaways, hung out at the Spahn Ranch above Chatsworth, presiding over orgies to presumably break down sexual taboos and preaching “helter skelter,” his dogma of social chaos.

In August 1969, the Manson family launched a bloody murder spree that left behind nine corpses and paralyzed Los Angeles with fear. Even now, their names are chillingly familiar: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, Tex Watson. All are serving life prison sentences.

Atkins, a former topless dancer who once sang in her church choir, stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate as she pleaded with her killers to spare her unborn son, according to testimony at their circus of a trial, which ended in 1971.

During the trial, Manson and his followers carved Xs into their foreheads; he since has refashioned his into a swastika.

Con man, forger, pimp, thief and erstwhile songwriter, Manson cast himself as guru to his followers, who believed he was Jesus Christ and followed his orders to kill.

A modern metaphor for evil who has inspired an underground market in sinister memorabilia, Manson now is in his 60s and a resident of the state prison at Corcoran, which he has said “beats an old folks home.”