Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson Hardcover (65 page)

Nancy Maddox pulled her granddaughter, Jo Ann, aside and whispered:
Jo Ann interview.

Chapter Two: Moundsville and McMechen

Interviews for this chapter include Jo Ann, Nancy, Lyle Adcock, Virginia Brautigan, Richard Hawkey, Greg Park, Tom Stiles, Don Clutter, Becky Clutter, Jason Clark-Miller, and Fred Brautigan.

Soon after Kathleen was taken away:
In 1986 Grove Press published
Manson in His Own Words: The Shocking Confessions of “The Most Dangerous Man Alive”
by Nuel Emmons. Emmons and Manson knew each other by crossing paths twice as prison inmates long before the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969. After Manson was convicted, Emmons contacted his old jail acquaintance and visited him on multiple occasions. The result was a curious book that Emmons said was written to bring Manson’s own version of his life directly to the public without distortion by intermediaries. Nobody who knew Manson well thought the first-person voice sounded at all like him. Emmons claimed that he never took Charlie at his word, and that he traveled the country interviewing people who had known the now notorious Manson and fact-checked everything—“a long process,” he noted in the book’s Introduction.

Manson subsequently disavowed the book, saying it was something Emmons wanted to do and so he let him. Emmons died in November 2002, insisting to the end that everything he wrote was accurate. It wasn’t. Even the most cursory research proves that many “facts” presented in
Manson in His Own Words
are demonstrably false. Perhaps Manson lied to Emmons and Emmons failed at fact-checking, or Emmons took Manson at his word and did not check facts. I think Emmons did his best to interpret Manson’s semi-incoherent ramblings and produced a mishmash of mostly incorrect blather. I lean toward the third option.

For example, when Emmons relates Manson’s first-person memories of
Charlie’s early childhood, he writes that Charlie went to McMechen to live with his Uncle Bill and Aunt Joanne. Jo Ann was Manson’s cousin. The first chapter also includes a touching passage where Charlie Maddox, Manson’s grandfather, takes the six-year-old aside and explains to him that his mother “wouldn’t be coming home for a long time” because she had been sentenced to a term in prison. In September 1939, when Kathleen and Luther were convicted of robbery, Charlie Maddox had been dead for almost eight years. Manson never met his grandfather.

When it appears that Emmons is reporting Manson’s own words about a specific event in his life, I cite the passage to reflect Manson’s self-serving spin on something. A few times, it appears that Charlie told the truth and Emmons wrote it that way.

McMechen, with a population of around 4,000:
Interviews with Virginia and Fred Brautigan, Tom Stiles, Don and Becky Clutter, Richard Hawkey, and Greg Park.

Little Charlie Manson was a disagreeable child:
Jo Ann and Nancy interviews.

They tried to demonstrate some affection:
Jo Ann interview.

the prison was designed to resemble:
My description of the prison—its physical appearance, its inhumane conditions for inmates, its reputation in the local community—is based on material from Jonathan D. Clemins’s
West Virginia Penitentiary
(Arcadia Publishing, 2010) and two guided tours of the prison, as well as an interview with a manager of the facility in its current incarnation as a public museum. The local legends of the decapitated hanging victim and other mysterious deaths among inmates gained traction until West Virginia Penitentiary gained a national reputation for being haunted that endured even after the prison was shut down in 1995 for overcrowded conditions that an investigative panel ruled to be “cruel and unusual punishment.” When modern-day television networks began broadcasting series about the paranormal, West Virginia Penitentiary and its reputed ghosts were featured on
The Scariest Places on Earth
(ABC),
Ghost Adventures
(Travel Channel), and
FEAR
(MTV).

Whatever love she tried to communicate:
Tom Stiles and Jason Clark-Miller interviews.

longtime McMechen residents still shudder:
Jo Ann, Virginia Brautigan, Richard Hawkey, Don and Becky Clutter, and Jason Clark-Miller interviews.

he consistently attracted the notice of bullies:
Jo Ann interview.

Another incident cemented:
Ibid.

In the two and a half years that he lived with the Thomases:
Virginia Brautigan, Lyle Adcock, Nancy, and Jo Ann interviews.

Charlie had only bad memories:
Clara Livsey,
The Manson Women: A “Family” Portrait
(Richard Marek, 1980), pp. 135–37.

Chapter Three: Kathleen and Charlie

One of the frustrations in chronicling Manson’s early years is that juvenile court and reform school records are frequently sealed. During his prosecution of Manson in the Tate-LaBianca murder case, Vincent Bugliosi obtained access to Manson’s juvenile files. He used them as evidence in court and mentioned them in his book about the case. I discussed them with him in a series of phone interviews. This is why many mentions of Manson’s juvenile trials and reformatory assignments and transfers in this chapter are credited to
Helter Skelter.

Chapter interviews include Vincent Bugliosi, Jo Ann, Nancy, Tom Stiles, Jason Clark-Miller, Sara Dolan, Lyle Adcock, Michele Deitch, Volker Janssen, and Gregg Jakobson.

Lots of paroled inmates:
Tom Stiles interview.

Van Watson hired Kathleen:
Charleston Gazette
, September 15, 1971.

One of the first things Kathleen noticed:
Nancy interview.

Charlie ended up stashed:
Jo Ann interview.

Though Van Watson couldn’t remember the fellow’s name:
Charleston Gazette
, September 15, 1971.

Kathleen fell back into another bad habit:
Ibid.

At one she met Lewis:
Nancy interview. Lewis is identified only by his first name to protect Nancy’s identity.

From the first days of their marriage:
Nancy interview.

Kathleen’s concern about her son was so great:
Ibid.

he still scared Kathleen:
Ibid.

she felt sometimes like she was going insane:
Ibid.

She’d heard about foster care programs:
Ibid.

The Gibault School for Boys:
Isaac McIntosh,
Gibault Home for Boys.
Federal Writers’ Project, 1936. This facility changed names several times. When Manson attended it was the Gibault School for Boys.

Charlie claimed he was regularly beaten:
Livsey, pp. 136–37.

Gibault found Charlie’s:
Bugliosi, p. 137.

It hurt Kathleen to send him back:
Nancy interview.

It was Jo Ann’s idea:
Jo Ann interview.

Instead Luther lived with his mother:
Ibid.

When he died in 1950:
West Virginia State Department of Health death certificate.

On Christmas Eve, everyone prepared:
Jo Ann interview.

He once again fled:
Bugliosi, pp. 137–38.

Unlike Gibault, boys at the facility in Plainfield:
William J. Siebold.
The Hill: A History of the Indiana Boys’ School, 1901–1999
(self-published), pp. 3–5, 12, 59, 60–64, 146; Albert Deutsch,
Our Rejected Children
(Little, Brown 1950), pp. 46–50.

“You know, getting raped”:
Marlin Marynick.
Charles Manson Now
(Cogito Media Group, 2010), pp. 71–72.

Reports from teachers indicate:
Bugliosi, p. 138.

Charlie developed a lifelong defense mechanism:
Gregg Jakobson and Volker Janssen interviews.

Kathleen was still trying to salvage:
Nancy interview;
Los Angeles Times
, January 26, 1971.

Charlie joined six other boys:
Kokomo Tribune
, October 20, 1949.

when he was sixteen, Charlie tried again:
Kokomo Tribune
, February 19, 1951, and March 10, 1951; Bugliosi, p. 138.

his IQ score of 109:
Sara Dolan interview.

His scores were satisfactory:
Bugliosi, p. 138.

The most promising students:
Ibid.

But this proved beyond him:
Bugliosi interview; Bugliosi, pp. 138–39.

Modern experts in child psychology:
Volker Janssen, Michele Deitch, and Jason Clark-Miller interviews.

Chapter Four: McMechen Again

Along with research assistant Sara Tirrito, I spent several days in McMechen meeting with people who remembered Charlie Manson. After so many years, they are less reluctant to talk about him than they were immediately after he was arrested and tried for the Tate-LaBianca murders. McMechen still hasn’t changed much; visiting there today feels like time traveling back to the 1950s.

Town residents were deliberately insular:
Richard Hawkey interview.

Wheeling a few miles to the north was widely recognized:
George T. Sidiropolis, Bill Miller, Richard Hawkey, David Javersak, and John Catlett interviews.

Charlie’s immediate concern:
Virginia Brautigan, Jo Ann, and Nancy interviews.

He was finally hired at Wheeling Downs:
Lyle Adcock and George T. Sidiropolis interviews.

McMechen parents tried to provide their youngsters:
Fred Brautigan, Becky Clutter, and Don Clutter interviews.

Newcomer Charlie, with no social skills to speak of:
Virginia Brautigan interview.

He was allowed to live with Nancy only:
Virginia Brautigan interview. Nancy Maddox was close friends with Virginia’s parents.

many did not consider the small cinder block church:
Becky Clutter interview.

though, in her own way, she still believed:
Nancy interview.

Since he was out of Nancy’s sight:
Virginia Brautigan interview. She attended the Nazarene teen Sunday School with Charlie.

Charlie mistakenly tried to glorify it:
Virginia Brautigan interview.

teens in McMechen had some familiarity with sin:
John Catlett and Fred Brautigan interviews.

they were sometimes allowed to buy:
Richard Hawkey interview.

They’d never heard the word “marijuana”:
Richard Hawkey and David Javersak interviews.

The Nazarene kids closed ranks:
Virginia Brautigan interview. During the sensational Tate-LaBianca murder trial in 1970, the national media descended on McMechen, frantically seeking lurid tales of Charlie Manson’s time there. To prevent residents from being overwhelmed by reporters banging on their doors, county official George Sidiropolis arranged for individual McMechenites to grant interviews. After only a few days, the outsiders left—dismayed, Sidiropolis says, by the lack of juicy revelations. Many longtime residents claimed that they didn’t even remember Charlie. Those who did described him as a minor-league thug who was not at all notable in town history. Sixteen years after Charlie bragged to his Nazarene Sunday School classmates about shooting up, the shunning was still in place.

Jo Ann was astonished:
Jo Ann interview.

The thing about the prostitutes that most interested Charlie:
Phil Kaufman interview.

Clarence Willis was nicknamed Cowboy:
George T. Sidiropolis interview.

“the baby came early”:
Virginia Brautigan and David Javersak interviews.

Nancy gave a reception:
Virginia Brautigan interview.

Jo Ann and her husband stayed away:
Jo Ann interview.

Ethel Miller, whom everybody in town loved:
Bill Miller interview.

Charlie finally made a few friends:
John Catlett, Richard Hawkey, and Jason Clark-Miller interviews.

Somehow Charlie got his hands on a guitar:
Jo Ann interview.

particularly liked Frankie Laine:
Phil Kaufman interview.

Charlie’s attempt to fit in:
Virginia Brautigan interview.

the Wheeling mob wouldn’t wait:
George T. Sidiropolis interview.

she thought it was in some way poignant:
Jo Ann interview. Most Manson legends have Charlie going to California first, his mother following after Charlie went to prison for violating the Dyer Act. In fact, Kathleen went west first.

He called Jo Ann back in Ohio:
Jo Ann interview.

The judge ordered psychiatric testing:
Bugliosi, pp. 140–41; Ed Sanders,
The Family
(Da Capo, 2002), pp. 3–4.

Chapter Five: Prison

The fact that the Dale Carnegie Institute and the Church of Scientology are frequently mentioned in this chapter should not imply that their teachings and printed materials are in any way responsible for criminal behavior by Charlie Manson or anyone else. Charlie used what he learned from these sources in ways that the Dale Carnegie Institute and the Church of Scientology never intended.

Lyle Adcock has done groundbreaking research on the subject of Rosalie Willis’s life after her divorce from Charlie, and I thank Lyle for sharing the information with me for this book.