Charles Manson apparently confessed to participating in killings before he ever brought together his murderous group “The Family” in the late 1960s, according to recordings revealed in a new documentary.
“Making Manson” premieres on Peacock next Tuesday. It includes clips from 20 years of never-before aired phone conversations with a friend, as well as insight from people who knew him.
“There’s a whole part of my life that nobody knows about,” Manson revealed in one clip. “I lived in Mexico for a while. I went to Acapulco, stole some cars. I just got involved in stuff over my head, man. Got involved in a couple of killings. I left my .357 Magnum in Mexico City, and I left some dead people on the beach.”
According to Britannica, Manson was born Nov. 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio to a 16-year-old mother and a father he never met. When his mother was arrested for armed robbery he moved to West Virginia, where he lived with his aunt and uncle. From the age of 9 years old, Manson was in and out of reformatories and prison for crimes that included petty larceny, armed robbery, burglary and auto theft.
He eventually made his way to San Francisco, Calif., in 1967, known as the “Summer of Love” due to the migration of between 75,000 and 100,000 youth interested in counterculture who headed to the city that year. Manson developed a devoted group of followers from the bohemian youth culture. They became members of “the Family,” his communal religious cult. Manson’s teachings based on science fiction, the occult and fringe psychology.
“He preached the coming of an apocalyptic race war that would devastate the United States and leave the Family in a position of dominant power,” said Britannica. This is linked to his “Helter-Skelter” philosophy, Vox explained.
In 1969, the Family went on a murder spree that included the killing of pregnant actress and Dallas, Texas, native Sharon Tate – wife of director Roman Polanski – and her three guests.
“The leader of the Manson family cult didn’t commit the murders himself — he persuaded his followers to carry them out,” said The Los Angeles Times. Per the outlet, his confession of the Mexico killings marks the first time Manson is known to have taken credit for a murder, noting that he long maintained that he did not order the killings following his conviction in 1971.
After the 1969 murders, the Manson trial was held in 1970. Although Manson was sentenced to death in 1971, the state abolished the death penalty in 1972 and he spent most of rest of his life in prison, though he died at a hospital in 2017 at 83 years old.
A description of the “Making Manson” documentary said that the notorious criminal described cruelty he suffered in reform school and how childhood experiences that made him who he was in the newly released recordings.
He also discussed previous crimes, Helter Skelter and more.
“I’d kill you all if I had the chance,” Manson can be heard saying in the trailer for the film, directed by Billie Mintz.