Random Inside Charles Manson's Messed Up Childhood (12 items)

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  (#1) His 16-Year-Old Mother Didn't Give Him A Name

  The baby who would become Charles Manson was born on November 12, 1934, in Cincinnati, OH, to 16-year-old Kathleen Maddox. His father was likely a transient worker named Colonel Scott, who took off shortly after finding out Kathleen was pregnant.

  When he was born, his mother neglected to give him a real name and simply listed him as "No Name Maddox" on his birth certificate. She later named her son after her father, Charles Milles, and had a short-lived marriage to William Manson, who gave the boy his last name.
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  (#2) His Mother Traded Him For A Pitcher Of Beer

  According to Manson, his mother once traded him for a pitcher of beer. Kathleen brought her young son to a café and was chatting with the waitress, who wanted a child of her own and thought Manson was cute. "A pitcher of beer and he's yours," she said. The waitress assumed she was joking, but gave her an extra pitcher anyway. True to her word, Kathleen finished her drinks and left her child behind. Days later, Manson's uncle tracked him down and brought him home.
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  (#3) He Set His Neighbors' Christmas Presents On Fire

  While Manson's family never had much money growing up - he didn't get many Christmas presents - he recalls his neighbors having toys of all kind.

  One year, the only present Manson received was a Superman hairbrush. His grandmother told him it would make him fly, so he kept brushing his hair, trying to "take off." When the neighborhood kids made fun of him, he gathered up their toys and set them on fire.

  Later in his life, while the Family was living on Spahn Ranch, Manson forced his followers to abandon their possessions, like books, watches, and even eyeglasses.
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  (#4) He Was Sexually Abused At School

  After three escapes from Gibault School for Boys, authorities sent Manson to the Indiana School for Boys in Plainfield, IN. He alleges staff members beat him, and older boys sexually assaulted him during his time there. Manson depicted the abuse in his book:

  I know the school is still in operation, but I hope all the warped, sadistic bastards I met there are now dead.
   
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  (#5) He Got His Female Classmates To Beat Up Boys He Didn't Like

  Jeff Guin - who wrote the 2013 biography Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson - connects events in Manson’s adolescence to the man Manson became. In first grade, Manson persuaded girls to beat up the boys he didn't like. When the principal questioned him, Manson offered the same defense he would later use after influencing his Family to commit the Tate-LaBianca murders:  

  It wasn't me; they were doing what they wanted.
   
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  (#6) His Uncle Made Him Wear A Dress To School As Punishment

  Biographer Jeff Guinn related a story about Manson's childhood. When Manson was 5 years old and living with his family in West Virginia, his uncle reportedly forced him to wear his cousin Jo Ann's dress to school as punishment for crying in front of his first-grade class. In the biography, Guinn shares his perspective: 

  It didn't matter what some teacher had done to make him cry; what was important was to do something drastic that would convince Charlie never to act like a sissy again.
   
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  (#7) He Committed His First Armed Robbery At Age 13

  After one of his escapes from Gibault School for Boys, 12-year-old Manson robbed a grocery store to get rent money. He committed his first armed robbery at age 13. A string of store robberies followed, during which he also managed to steal a bike. Authorities eventually caught Manson in the act and sent him to a juvenile detention center. Manson later escaped.
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  (#8) He Threatened His Cousin With A Sickle

  In an interview with biographer Jeff Guinn, Manson's cousin Jo Ann recalls an incident that took place while Manson was living with her and her parents. Allegedly, Manson found a sickle in the yard and took it to Jo Ann's room, blocking her way out. When she asked him to move, he said, "Make me." She pushed him out and latched the screen door, which infuriated Manson. He slashed the screen, and Jo Ann maintains he would have used the blade on her, too, given the opportunity.
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  (#9) His Only Happy Memory Is His Mother Hugging Him

  In 1942, the prison released Manson’s mother, Kathleen, on parole after she served three years. When she returned home, she gave Manson a hug. He later described this as his only happy memory from childhood.

  His mother rented cheap motel rooms for them to live in, but by the time Manson was 12, she was trying to get him into foster care.
   
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  (#10) He Was Illiterate And Aggressively Anti-Social

  After stealing cars with a group of fellow 16-year-olds in 1951, authorities sent Manson to the National Training School for Boys in Washington, DC. They ordered him to stay there until he turned 18. Upon arrival, he tested with an IQ of 109, normal to average intelligence. Education officials soon realized Manson was illiterate. 

  After further diagnostics, his caseworker deemed him "aggressively antisocial." When psychiatrists examined him, they noted how Manson's sense of inferiority in relation to his mother was so intense, he had to "suppress any thoughts about her."
   
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  (#11) He Ran Away From Boarding School

  When Manson was 12 years old, his mother was desperate to get him under control and tried to put him in foster care. Instead, he ended up at Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, IN.

  According to Manson, his mother visited him sporadically and always promised they would live together again soon. Tired of waiting, he finally ran away and went to his mother's house. She sent him back to school the next day. Manson, who never lived with his mother again, wrote of the experience:

  I was bitter and I knew real hate.
   
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  (#12) His Mother Went To Jail After Robbing A Man For $27

  When Manson was only 5 years old, law enforcement sent his mother to jail for robbery. After meeting a man named Frank Martin, she called her brother Luther to help her rob the new friend. Reportedly, Luther pressed a ketchup bottle filled with salt into Martin's back, pretending it was a gun. He then smashed the bottle over Martin's head, and the siblings stole $27 before fleeing.

  Authorities solved the crime within hours and arrested Kathleen, leaving Manson to live with his Uncle Bill, Aunt Glenna, and cousin Jo Ann in McMechen, WV. 
   

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