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"What took place that evening, Linda, at the ranch?" asked Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor involved in the case.

"I remember I was standing out front at this one point and Charlie came up to me and pulled me off the porch, and I was standing at the very end of the porch, closest to George Spahn's house, and he told me that-" replied Linda Kasabain, a witness of the Tate-LaBianca murders, who was a member of the Manson Family, a cult lead by the infamous Charles Manson.

"He told you what?" interrupted Bugliosi.

"He told me to get a change of clothing, a knife, and my driver's license,” Linda said, finishing her previous statement (Linder, “Testimony of Linda Kasabain in the Charles Manson Trail”).

This exact dialogue between prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and Linda Kasabian occurred during the testimony Linda gave while telling her part in the Family, and her part in the Tate-LaBianca case (the murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, others in the Tate mansion, and the retired LaBianca couple in their home). Throughout her testimony, Linda talks about the murders themselves, and the part that each member of the Family played in the murders. One person that Linda is questioned most about is Charles “Charlie” Manson, the leader of the Family. Charles Manson was a hippie cult leader of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Charles Manson is also well known for being a serial killer, even though he did not kill anyone at the most famous of the cases, the Tate-LaBianca case; he was merely a director or a leader of the killings. The Charles Manson murders had a large impact on society and caused a public change in the perception of hippies and tainted the feeling of personal safety all around the country, especially in the Los Angeles, California area.

By stereotypical definition, Charles Manson can also be considered one the most infamous hippies of the hippie movement. When people think of hippies they tend to associate them with things such as peace, the peace sign, lava lamps, the old Volkswagen vans, music from bands such as The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, and guitar-wizard Jimi Hendrix (Yahoo! Answers, “Hippie Bands”), tie-dye shirts, flip-flops, and cargo pants; but three off-putting things that people associate hippies with are drugs, cults, and negative protesting. According to [|www.dictionary.com] the political definition of a hippie is “a person, especially of the late 1960s who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness…” (Dictionary.com, “Hippie”). What this means is that a hippie is just a person who does not wish to live like the everyday citizen, but instead lives the way he thinks is right; sometimes this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

By stereotypical judgment, Charles Manson can be thought of as one of the most famous hippies from the hippie movement, also known as the anti-war movement, in the late 60’s, early 70’s. The reason people classify Manson as a hippie is his involvement with drugs, the conspiracy of the musical influence from The Beatles, and just about all things associated with hippies, except one major aspect of the hippie world: peace. However, the biggest thing that ties Manson to the hippie movement is his involvement of cults. Manson had his own cult, The Family; one of the most infamous, most terrible cults of history. The most famous of the charges the members of The Family faced were the murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, the other’s in the Tate mansion, and the retired LaBianca couple.

The murders of Tate and the LaBianca couple caused much terror across the United States, especially in the Los Angeles area – where the murders of these victims took place. Over the weekend of the 40th anniversary of the murders, prosecutor and author of the nonfiction book, __Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders,__ Vincent Bugliosi talks to interviewers at newsweek.com about the terror they caused and said, “But the killings tapped a feeling of dread, if you’re not safe if your own home, where are you safe? And the very thought of young women dressed in black, armed with sharp knives, entering the house of complete strangers in the middle of the night and mercilessly stabbing them to death…its difficult to even contemplate a thought like that. The other thing that terrified the nation so much is when the identity of the killers became known. And who were they? Young kids from average American homes with fairly good backgrounds. There was a feeling that this could be our own children” (Bugliosi). Other news articles were also published about the 40th anniversary of the murders and started out talking about the terror such as “It was 40 years ago this weekend that a group of young people led by Charles Manson sent a wave of terror through the hills and valleys of the L.A. area” (Aradillas) and “The gory slayings 40 years ago left the public stunned” (Aradillas).

These murders caused people to develop new self protective measures, new ways of protecting homes (being armed at home, keeping doors locked at all times, and in newer times, using security alarms), self-defense, watching peer’s actions closely, people started being careful of what, and who, they became involved with (Bugliosi). People did this to protect themselves from getting harmed or even killed by potential members of The Family or other possible cults like The Family.

These murders also caused people to think a lot differently about hippies. People knew that some hippies were involved with cults, but they never feared that it would be that bad. Some people began thinking of hippies that were associated with cults as fanatic anarchists, and they gained a negative attitude towards hippies since Charles was thought of as a hippie and he was very clearly associated with a cult.

Charles Manson and the murders associated with him had a very large impact on society. The murders caused people to become more cautious about the others around them, and they caused people’s negative views and opinions on hippies to worsen. Manson caused people to think this way because he was a well known hippie who was a cult leader and manipulated people to kill others, take drugs, and do many other awful, terrible things. Because Manson was a hippie cult leader, people began to associate all hippies with cults, and began to think more negatively about this stereotypical social group. Just like in everything, media groups latched on to every bit of evidence they could to make matters worse, and make things sound even worse than they really were, and people still believed everything the media set out to the public; this also had a large impact on the already worsened mindset people had about hippies. Charles Manson is now 76 years old and is still living in the Corcoran Prison (Linder, “The Manson Trials: A Chronology”) in California ( “Adult Facilities Locator” ). He has been denied parole eleven times since May of 2007, and will be up for parole again in 2012 (Linder, “The Manson Trials: A Chronology).





 Works Cited Aradillas, Eliane. "40th Anniversary of the Charles Manson Murders." //People// // Magzine // 9 August 2009: n. pag. Web. 16 Apr 2011. <__http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20296856,00.html__>.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Bugliosi, Vincent. //www.newsweek.com//Intervew by Tom Watson. 31-07-2009. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">www.newsweek.com, July 31st, 2009. Print. 16 Apr 2011. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><__http://www.newsweek.com/2009/07/31/the-manson-murders-at-40.html__>.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"CDCR - California State Prison, Corcoran (CSP - COR)." //Adult Facilities Locator//. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">CA.gov California Department of Corrections and Rehibiltation, 2010. Web. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">16 Apr 2011. [].

"Hippie." //Dictionary.com//. Ask.com, 2011. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <span style="color: #333333; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> < [] >.

"Hippie bands, what are some bands from the 60s, 70s?." //Yahoo! Answers//. Yahoo!, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">2009. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <span style="color: #333333; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> < [] >.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Linder, Douglas. "Testimony of Linda Kasabian in the Charles Manson Trial ." // Famous Trials //. University OF Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School Of Law, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">2011. Web. 11 Apr 2011. < [] >.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Linder, Douglas. "The Manson Trial: A Chronology." //Famous Trials//. University of <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law, n.d. Web. 16 Apr 2011. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><__http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/manson/mansonchrono.html__>.