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Charles Manson

Artistattributed to Vernon Merritt III (American, 1941–2000)

DateDecember 3, 1969

MediumWire photo

Dimensionssight: 21.5 x 15.8 cm (8 7/16 x 6 1/4 in.)
frame: 43 x 34.6 cm (16 15/16 x 13 5/8 in.)

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Howard G. Davis, III A.K.A. David Davis

Terms

Object number2011.155

Label TextManson was an unemployed ex-convict in the mid-1960s who dreamed of becoming a rock star. In a rural squat near Los Angeles, he gathered a quasi-commune of followers, and preached of a coming apocalyptic race war. Manson hoped to spark the war by directing his “family” to commit a series of grisly murders. This photograph was taken at the Inyo County Courthouse in Independence, California, where he appeared for a preliminary hearing on December 3, 1969. Aspiring to be a pop culture icon, Manson became an emblem of insanity and the macabre.

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