CHARLES Manson — one of America’s most notorious killers and cult leaders — has died at the age of 83.

Manson was the mastermind behind the brutal slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, and six other people in the Los Angeles area in August 1969. The guru-like maniac had ordered members of his cult — which he dubbed “The Family” to go on a murderous rampage.

Manson, whose name to this day is synonymous with unspeakable violence and madness, died of natural causes at Kern County hospital, according to a California Department of Corrections statement.

TMZ states Debra Tate, the sister of Sharon Tate, said she received a call from California’s Corcoran State Prison prison telling her Manson had died at 8.13pm local time on Sunday.

REVEALED: The evil making of Charles Manson

He was rushed to hospital last week and had been receiving treatment under the close supervision of five attending police officers.

Manson — who exerted a form of mind control over his mainly female followers — had been in prison for four decades. In the 1960s, he surrounded himself with runaways and disaffected youths and then sent them out to butcher members of Hollywood’s elite.

Prosecutors said Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war he dubbed Helter Skelter, taken from the Beatles song of the same name.

The Polanski house in Beverly Hills was targeted because it represented Manson’s rejection by the celebrity world and society, according to one of the Family member’s statements.

Sharon Tate was eight months pregnant when she was killed at her hilltop home in Benedict Canyon on August 9, 1969. Four others were stabbed and shot to death the same night: Jay Sebring, 35; Voytek Frykowski, 32; Abigail Folger, 25, a coffee heiress; and Steven Parent, 18, a friend of Tate’s caretaker. The word “pig” was written on the front door in blood. Director Roman Polanski was in London at the time of the killings, shooting a film.

The next night, Manson rode with his followers to the Los Feliz home of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary, then left three members to kill the couple.

Manson initially was sentenced to death. But a 1972 ruling by the California Supreme Court found the state’s death penalty law at the time unconstitutional, and his sentence was changed to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He has been denied parole 12 times.

The most heinous killing was arguably that of Tate, who despite pleading for the life of her eight-month-old unborn child, was mercilessly stabbed in the stomach by Manson family member Susan Atkins.

One of Manson’s followers, Linda Kasabian, told of Atkins’ chilling last words to Tate before she stabbed her: “Look, b*tch, I have no mercy for you. You’re going to die, and you’d better get used to it.”

Atkins then used Tate’s blood to write the word “pig” on the front door.

MORE: TATE’S SISTER BEARS “NO ILL WILL” TOWARDS MANSON

Atkins, already charged in the murder of Gary Hinman, told inmate Virginia Castro that she killed Sharon Tate, “Because we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice.”

It’s believed the Manson family carried out some 35 killings, however most were never tried due to lack of evidence or because the perpetrators were already sentenced to life for the Tate-La Bianca killings.

Manson was serving nine life sentences for conspiracy to commit the Manson Family murders in 1969 when he died.

CULT KILLER’S EARLY LIFE

Charles Manson was born Charles Milles Maddox on November 12, 1934, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Kathleen Maddox, a 16-year-old girl who was an alcoholic and prostitute.

He lived on the streets and supported himself through petty crime when his mother turned her back on him and later spent time in and out of prison from 1951. He would eventually spend half of the first 32 years of his life behind bars.

In 1955, when he was 21, he met a 17-year-old girl and moved with her to California. She fell pregnant, however Manson resumed a life of crime stealing cars.

In 1956, his estranged wife left with their child and her new lover. Manson later had another child to a different woman while out on probation.

HIS ‘HELTER SKELTER’ OBSESSION

Manson, who was pathologically deluded, considered himself the harbinger of doom regarding the planet’s future.

He was influenced not only by drugs such as LSD, but by art works and music of the time such as The Beatles song, Helter Skelter, from their White Album .

He often spoke to members of his “Family” about Helter Skelter, which he believed signified an impending apocalyptic race war.

He preached that the black man would rise up and start killing members of the white establishment, turning the cities into an inferno of racial revenge.

Manson had also had a strong belief in the notion of Armageddon from the Book of Revelations and looked into obscure cult churches such as the Church of the Final Judgment.

HIS FIANCEE

Manson’s fiancee, 27-year-old Afton Elaine Burton, known as “Star”, sought to obtain sperm from the 82-year-old inmate after expressing a wish to father another child.

MORE: Manson set to be denied bizarre deathbed wish

However officials have refused to allow Burton access to Manson’s DNA, claiming that “just because he may pass away, (it) does not affect that position”.

Burton met Manson on a prison visit when she was 19.

She moved from her home state of Illinois to the tiny Californian prison town of Corcoran 300km north of Los Angeles to be near Manson, who she planned to marry in 2013.

However the wedding was called off after it emerged Burton, who is 53 years Manson’s junior, “just wanted his corpse for display”.

Citing journalist Daniel Simone, The Independent reported Burton was hoping she would gain possession of Manson’s corpse through marriage so she and a couple of friends could put it on display in a glass case in LA

They apparently thought the Lenin’s Tomb-esque attraction would draw a huge number of visitors and make them a lot of money.

It’s believed that Manson decided to cancel the wedding when he got wind of her disturbing plan.

Burton appears to run Manson’s websites and Facebook and Twitter accounts in his name and under ATWA, which stands for Air Trees Water Animals.

HIS CULT FOLLOWING

Manson attracted disaffected young people, predominantly impressionable young women, Together, they lived in a commune, followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.

These followers shared his passion for an unconventional lifestyle and habitual use of hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD and magic mushrooms.

“The Family”, as they became know, moved from San Francisco to a deserted ranch in the San Fernando Valley.

There were around 100 followers who believed Manson’s bizarre claims that he was Jesus, and that there would be an imminent race war.



Manson told them he could reach paradise through a cave underneath Death Valley, where they could stay until black people relinquished their power.

MORE: Inside the deluded world of Charles Manson’s fan club

By that time he reportedly estimated the Family would have grown to 144,000 strong and preached that when they all returned to Earth, he — as Jesus Christ — would lead them as the fifth angel (the other four angels being The Beatles).

In December, a two-member parole panel delayed making a decision on whether to release Patricia Krenwinkel, an accomplice of cult killer Charles Manson and the longest-serving female inmate in California, CBS reported.

Krenwinkel, now aged 69, has been denied parole 13 times since she was incarcerated.

Krenwinkel helped kill pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six other people at the urging of Manson 47 years ago.

Krenwinkel contended at her previous parole hearing in 2011 that she is a changed woman. She has a clean disciplinary record, earned a bachelor’s degree behind bars, taught illiterate inmates to read and trained service dogs for disabled people.

Leslie Van Houten, Manson’s youngest follower, is serving a life sentence for the slaughter of a wealthy grocer and his wife more than 40 years ago.

In April last year, a parole board said the now 66-year-old should be freed. However, the Independent reported California Governor Jerry Brown overturned the recommendation in July, saying Van Houten had failed to explain how she transformed from an upstanding teenager into a killer.

Mr Brown wrote: “Both her role in these extraordinarily brutal crimes and her inability to explain her willing participation in such horrific violence cannot be overlooked and lead me to believe she remains an unacceptable risk to society of released.”

Susan Atkins, who served more than 38 years of a life sentence at the California Institution for Women in Chino, died at the age of 61 in 2009.

Atkins’ brutal murder of pregnant actress Sharon Tate was arguably the most renowned crime of the Manson family.

She was convicted of eight murders and was the longest-serving prisoner among women currently held in the state’s penitentiaries, the LA Times reported.

Atkins was repeatedly denied parole despite prison staffers and clergy workers commending her behaviour during the decades she spent behind bars.

THE BIZARRE LIFE OF CHARLES MANSON

1934 — Charles Manson is born on November 12.

1947 — At age 12, Charles Manson is sent to Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana, for stealing.

1967 — Manson tells officials he isn’t ready to be released from prison but is freed anyway. After his release, he moves to San Francisco.

1967-68 — Manson meets Gary Hinman, a music teacher who introduces him to Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys.

July 1969 — Hinman is killed by Manson follower Bobby Beausoleil, accompanied by Manson Family members Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins, over money and property that Manson claimed Hinman owed to the Family.

August 8-9, 1969 — At his command, a small group of Manson’s most devoted followers brutally murder five people at Roman Polanski’s home. The victims are Polanski’s pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, writer Wojciech Frykowski, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and celebrity hair stylist Jay Sebring. Also killed is Steven Parent, who was a friend of the family’s gardener.



August 9-10, 1969 — Displeased at the sloppiness of the previous night’s murders, Manson accompanies a group of followers on a hunt for victims. They murder supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.

November 1969 — Manson Family member Susan Atkins, charged in the murder of Gary Hinman, famously tells inmate Virginia Castro that she killed Sharon Tate, “Because we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice.”

December 1969 — Manson, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Kasabian are indicted for the murders of Sharon Tate and her friends. The grand jury also indicts the five, plus Van Houten, for the LaBianca murders.

June 1970 — Manson’s trial begins along with followers Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten.

1971 — After a seven month trial, jury deliberations begin. The jury finds all the defendants guilty on January 25. Manson, Krenwinkel, Atkins and Van Houten are to receive the death penalty.

1972 — The death penalty is abolished in California. The sentences for all Manson Family members are commuted to life in prison.



2017 — Charles Manson dies.