Charles Manson

10 Pages 2561 Words

mself, and he soon became very

good at it. When just a child, he became a criminal and spent his last years of childhood in

a correctional facility. After his release from the training school in 1954, a new period of

Manson's life began. He went to West Virginia and soon married a girl named Rosalie

Jean Willis. She became pregnant and Manson had a child. This was Manson's first real

family, but he didn't stray from the criminal lifestyle. He started stealing cars to make the

money necessary to support his new family. By the time the baby was born, Manson was

in prison on Grand Theft Auto charges. In 1958 Charles was released from prison. His

wife and child had left him, leaving Charles alone once again. Several arrests for car theft

and pimping followed; in 1960 Charles was given ten years imprisonment for forging

government checks. While he was serving his ten year sentence at McNeil Penitentiary, he

studied philosophy, took up guitar, and taught himself sing and compose songs. His

newfound musical skills would later attract followers. His study of philosophy helped

create some of his outlandish ideas that later appealed to his would-be followers. Manson

was released in March, 1967 after serving seven years. By the time Manson was thirty-two

years old, he had spent seventeen years, more than half of his life, in prison. This long

stretch of incarceration had left its mark. "If Charlie has any roots, they're in the penal

system," 1 said one acquaintance. "Inside, you have to be aware of everything, and when

he came out, Charlie was like a cat. Nothing got by Charlie if something happened within

a hundred miles of him, he made sure he knew about it. Everytime he came into a room,

he cased it, like an animal. Where were the windows? What was the quickest way out? He

never sat with his back to the door." Soon after his release, Manson traveled to Haight
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