Why is Charles Manson such a bogey-man to society?

Look, I'm not supporting the guy or trying to justify his actions. But if you look at the cold straight facts, he only killed one person in his life (a black guy named "lotsapoppa"). And the girls he directed to kill killed, what, less than a dozen people all together? It was only a few nights of rampage.

Lots of other people killed lots more. Look at Ted Bundy or Wayne Gacy or the BTK people. Their body counts are into the dozens and (perhaps even hundreds for Bundy if you count the disappeared people he might have done away with).

So why is Manson seen as "the king of serial killers" or whatever? To put it bluntly, he's kind of little-league in terms of actual numbers compared to others.

I suppose you could say he was the first one to get public exposure like that, but actually that's not true. Albert Fish, Jack the Ripper...Serial killers have been with us for a long time.

I don't get it.

Charles Manson had some powerful mind control abilities. Some people think that the "family" was merely on drugs and out of their senses. I believe he was more like James Jones and possibly a modern day sorcerer. There was a special on Manson several years ago and it showed that he controlled the time on a clock in the court room. He talks in a babbling nonsensical manner like "Mr. Crowley", and certainly not your typical serial killer, his "family" shaved their heads , cut crosses in their foreheads and lived with him. Serial killers don't habitate with their victims or followers. If you haven't read any books, or even if you have, I would suggest read the book entitled "The Family", I have forgotten the author but it is not Vincent Bugliosi, his book is slanted and not a very good book at all.

[edit on 1-5-2009 by catamaran]

People like to think that they are in control of their own actions. When someone like Manson demonstrates the power of convincing the "innocent" to commit murder... it gets into places society does not want to go.

In Manson's mind it was to start a war (Helter Skelter), and war could be seen as similar to what I stated above. Things start getting confusing then.

Manson loves being in prison, I don't think he'd last a day outside even if he was left alone by everyone else.

Mind Control. That's why all the others are different from him.