Serial What?

Hey, good to see you. Glad you could stop by.

Come in, come in. Make yourself at home.

Say, I'd like to introduce you to somebody. This old geezer right here is Charles Manson. Yeah, he's seen better days. It's been a while since I hung out with ole Charlie and, quite frankly, I thought I was done with him. However, I recently listened to my friends over at the Witch's Hat Podcast discuss serial killers and why are we fascinated by them. I must confess a certain fascination with them myself. What is it that makes a man into a monster? Was he raised this way, did something affect him growing up, or is it just that there a broken switch in his brain? How is this different from me? I've had my fair share of bad life experiences, but I don't go around swinging an axe at other people. Well, not on purpose anyway.


Manson is different. He's not a murderer, not in the traditional sense of the word. He is what was used to be called a twerp. A little guy, a petty criminal, only as big as the weapon he was carrying. He stole cars, forged checks and pimped out prostitutes. The most heinous act of his youth was that he sodomized another kid while holding a razor to his throat. He spent most of his young life in juvie centers and prisons.

He is also a master manipulator. He's charismatic, and despite a shoddy education, he is rather intelligent. His IQ was tested at a range from 109 to 120. That's high average to superior (I looked it up). Now, take this guy and hook him up with a bunch of unwashed hippies, throw in some drugs and all the sex you can handle, and he went from "twerp" to "David Koresh". He finally had power, such as it was. He convinced these flower children that the black man was going to rise up and go to war with the whites, and that the black man would win. He also convinced them that the black man was too dumb to be in charge of the world and would need Charlie and his family (who would hide somewhere in Death Vally until the whole race war thing blew over) to lead them. Wow. Racist hippees. Who knew?  Anyway, Charlie got tired of waiting, and decided that he'd have to show the black man how to get started, so he sent his children on a mission to ignite the race war.

This is the very abridged version. To get the whole story, definitely read Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi.

Well, I think I got Charlie out of my system. Again. Before I go, make sure you check out Root Rot, Misfitboy and Rock&Roll Ray on the Witch's Hat Horror Discussion  on serial killers. http://thewitchshat.podomatic.com/

Hey, thanks for stopping by. Hope you liked it here and that you will stop by again.

I'll let Charlie have the last word: