After being surrounded by a lot of death hoaxes, Charles Manson died of natural causes at a hospital in Kern County, California on Sunday, Nov. 19. He was 83. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed the news.
The infamous criminal was known for being one of the most notorious murderers in the 20<sup>th century. In fact, he had spent most of his life inside the prison. He rose to fame as the leader of the murderous group in California called the Manson family.
"He was the dictatorial ruler of the (Manson) family, the king, the Maharaja," former Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi told CNN in 2015. The group members were following his every order, even if they asked them to kill for him.
Manson orchestrated the seven brutal killings called the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969. It was done by his followers on two consecutive nights of August in the mentioned year. One of the victims at the time was the actress and Roman Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate. She was eight and a half months pregnant when she was killed by four of his people at her Benedict Canyon home.
Within the two nights of killing-spree, the murderers caused 169 stab wounds and seven gunshot injuries. There were even images of the crime that revealed the executioners used their victims' blood to write the word "pig" on the casualties' walls and doors.
Another phrase, "Helter Skelter," was also seen, although it was believed to be misspelled as "Healter." According to a prosecutor, these phrases were written to ignite a race war, which Manson wanted to happen. He wanted the Black Panthers to be blamed for the killings done by the Manson family.
With that, he was set to serve nine life terms in California prisons and got denied of having a parole for 12 times. His bad reputation was even heightened by books and films that made him a known cult leader.
