Cults have mystified since the term was first coined. Yet arguably, no cult has captured the public imagination quite like the Manson Family. The California-based cult was helmed by Charles Manson during the sixties and gained notoriety following the Tate-LaBianca murders committed in the summer of 1969 under Manson’s command.
On Tuesday, ex-Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten, who participated in the crimes executed under Manson, was released from prison after 53 years behind bars. She was jailed when she was 19 and walked free from prison aged 73 earlier this week.
Van Houten was convicted for helping Manson’s clan carry out the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles.
Van Houten is now stationed at a transitional housing facility. Her attorney, Nancy Tetreault, revealed she will be under parole supervision.
Following her participation in the infamous murders, the ex-cult member was sentenced to death on March 29, 1971. At the time, she was the youngest woman condemned to death in the state of California. Fellow Manson Family members Charles ‘Tex’ Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan ‘Sadie’ Atkins were also handed the death penalty.
However, the death sentences were commuted to life in prison following the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision to invalidate all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
Initially, the Manson girls were kept separate from the prison’s general population as they were deemed a threat to other inmates. This changed in 1975 when the girls were moved into general population at the California Institution for Women.
Van Houten is the first ex-Manson member to be granted parole. Tex Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel remain incarcerated, while Susan Atkins and Charles Manson died while doing time.
Who were the Manson Family?
The Manson Family, known also as the Family, was a cult led by Charles ‘Charlie’ Manson in California during the late 1960s. The group embraced hippie culture, regularly experimenting with psychoactive drugs, sexual liberation and leading an off-grid lifestyle.
The majority of the group were young women from middle-class backgrounds in California. The Family were initially based in San Francisco during the Summer of Love, eventually moving to Topanga Canyon and finally residing in Spahn Ranch in Northern Los Angeles County. The ranch was originally a Western movie set but burnt down in a wildfire in 1970.
The Manson Family followed the philosophy of cult leader Charles Manson, a former felon who had been in and out of the prison system since childhood. A mystical figure in popular culture, Manson considered himself as a guru among the commune, frequently using sex, drugs and doomsday beliefs to manipulate his followers.
The cult sent shockwaves through the world following the Tate-LaBianca murders of 1969, which signified the end of the flower power sixties and the beginning of the much darker seventies.
Who is Leslie Van Houten?
Leslie Van Houten was born on August 23, 1949, in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena to Paul and Jane Van Houten. She grew up in a middle-class family along with an older brother and two adopted siblings, a brother and a sister, who were Korean.
When her mother and father divorced when she was 14, the teenager began toying with LSD, hashish and Benzedrine. She would often run away from home but still completed high school and attended secretarial college.
After ‘dropping out,’ Van Houten resided in a commune in Northern California for a few months, where she met Manson followers Catherine Share and Bobby Beausoleil. They lived together for a period of time, but Share left to join Charles Manson's commune and a then 19-year-old Van Houten followed.
Van Houten lived with the Family on Spahn Ranch from 1968, engaging in the cult’s principles of free love and experimentation with drugs. She was nicknamed ‘Lulu’ by the eccentric musician, who told his followers to eradicate any residue of their former lives outside the group.
What were the Tate-LaBianca murders?
On the night of August 8, 1969, Manson directed Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to producer Terry Melcher's former home at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. Melcher was the son of Doris Day and met Charles Manson through his association with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. Wilson had picked up two Manson girls while hitchhiking. The two informed them of their ‘guru’ Charlie, with whom Wilson became close.
Unbeknownst to the Family, Melchor had rented his house to actress Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski while he was away. The couple, who were expecting their first child, were joined by heiress Abigail Folger, hairdresser Jay Sebring, and Wojtek Frykowski who were visiting Tate while her husband was away directing his latest film.
Under instructions to kill everyone inside the house, the cult members entered the Benedict Canyon home and slaughtered all inside, including Tate who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. The gruesome killings created a nationwide sensation.
The following night, Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins, Clem Grogan, and Manson went to the house of grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. Krenwinkel, Van Houten, and Watson violently murdered the couple.
The killing spree was not initially connected to the murders at Cielo Drive, yet while incarcerated for auto theft, Susan Atkins bragged about her involvement with the Manson murders. Manson was accused of orchestrating both attacks and all of those involved were arrested.
Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten were found guilty on January 25, 1971. Watson was sentenced later on.
Did Leslie Van Houten feature in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood?
The story of the Manson Family was reimagined by Quentin Tarantino for his 2019 film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Leslie Van Houten was portrayed by You actress Victoria Pedretti, who only had a brief role in the film. Referred to as ‘Lulu’ in the movie, the character appeared in the Spahn Ranch scene where Brad Pitt’s character Cliff Booth drops Manson girl Pussycat (Margaret Qualley), back at the ranch.
Van Houten was more heavily featured in the 2018 American biographical drama Charlie Says, directed by Mary Harron. A naïve Van Houten is played by Hannah Murray, who is introduced to Manson (Matt Smith) at the ranch.
The film illustrates the story of Van Houten's life in the Manson Family, her involvement in the murders, and Karlene Faith's efforts to deprogram her while in prison.
MORE: How Angela Lansbury saved her daughter from Charles Manson cult
MORE: See Margot Robbie's eerily uncanny resemblance to film star Sharon Tate
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