E14 - The Manson Family: Finding the Followers of Charles Manson

In the final year of his life, I spoke with Charles Manson on the phone multiple times. Those conversations became the foundation of a decade-long investigation into the people who once called themselves the Manson Family.

In this episode, I track down the surviving members of the Manson Family — speaking with former followers, examining trial records, and revisiting the places where the group formed, radicalized, and ultimately collapsed.

What emerges is a story far more complicated than the word “cult.” The Manson Family began as a loose commune of runaways and outsiders drifting through the co...