Manson Murders - When Hollywood Changed Forever

Tinseltown was rocked by a spree of brutal murders in the summer of 1969

Step back in time and revisit a world before the #MeToo movement, where California still had the death penalty and when man had just walked on the moon.

Fifty years ago, cult leader Charles Manson did more than orchestrate the murders of seven people. He killed the golden age of Hollywood – rocking Tinseltown to its core.

On August 9, 1969, at 9am, a maid called Beverly Hills police in hysterics. She’d just found five people dead in the home of famous film director Roman Polanski. One of the victims was his wife, actress Sharon Tate, 26, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with the couple’s first child. Four other guests – celebrity stylist Jay Sebring, heiress Abigail Folger, writer Voytek Frykowski and visitor Steven Parent – were found sprawled around the luxury property.

The word ‘pig’ had been scrawled in blood on the pristine white front door. Failed musician and pseudo cult leader Manson was the satanic mastermind behind the slayings, as well as the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca – a couple selected at random – the next day.

His followers, known as ‘The Family’, committed the crimes under Manson’s instructions.