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128-410: Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values, and beliefs. The term "brainwashing"

256-781: A CIA agent working undercover. Hunter and others used the Chinese term to explain why, during the Korean War (1950–1953), some American prisoners of war (POWs) cooperated with their Chinese captors, and even in a few cases defected to their side . British radio operator Robert W. Ford and British army Colonel James Carne also claimed that the Chinese subjected them to brainwashing techniques during their imprisonment. The U.S. military and government laid charges of brainwashing in an effort to undermine confessions made by POWs to war crimes, including biological warfare . After Chinese radio broadcasts claimed to quote Frank Schwable , Chief of Staff of

384-603: A Rave magazine article at the time. The two struck a friendship, and over the next few months members of the Manson Family – mostly women who were treated as servants – were housed in Wilson's residence. This arrangement persisted for about six months. Wilson introduced Manson to a few friends in the music business, including the Byrds ' producer Terry Melcher . Manson recorded numerous songs at Brian Wilson 's home studio , although

512-635: A task force called the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC) to investigate whether brainwashing or coercive persuasion did indeed control cults members. The Task Force concluded that: Cults and large group awareness trainings have generated considerable controversy because of their widespread use of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control. These techniques can compromise individual freedom, and their use has resulted in serious harm to thousands of individuals and families. This report reviews

640-626: A Strange Land , the Bible , Scientology , Dale Carnegie and the Beatles , which quickly earned him a following. He may have also borrowed some of his philosophy from the Process Church of the Final Judgment , whose members believed Satan would become reconciled to Jesus and they would come together at the end of the world to judge humanity. Manson began studying Scientology while incarcerated with

768-610: A U.S. Army officer who specialized in military intelligence and psychological warfare during the Second World War and the Korean War) depict brainwashing to remove memories of traumatic events as a normal and benign part of future medical practice. Brainwashing remains an important theme in science fiction. A subgenre is corporate mind control , in which a future society is run by one or more business corporations that dominate society, using advertising and mass media to control

896-402: A bedroom door to the pool area. Krenwinkel pursued her and caught her on the front lawn, where she stabbed her and tackled her to the ground. Watson then helped kill her; her assailants stabbed her a total of twenty-eight times. Frykowski struggled across the lawn, but Watson continued to stab him, killing him. Frykowski suffered fifty-one stab wounds; he had also been struck thirteen times in

1024-667: A car he had stolen in Ohio, Manson was again charged with a federal crime for taking the vehicle across state lines. After a psychiatric evaluation, he was given five years' probation . Manson's failure to appear at a Los Angeles hearing on an identical charge filed in Florida resulted in his March 1956 arrest in Indianapolis. His probation was revoked, and he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Terminal Island in Los Angeles. While Manson

1152-494: A car. He was given five years' probation and his parole was denied. Manson received five years' parole in September 1958, the same year in which Rosalie received a decree of divorce. By November, he was pimping a 16-year-old girl and receiving additional support from a girl with wealthy parents. In September 1959, he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to cash a forged U.S. Treasury check, which he claimed to have stolen from

1280-713: A chart copied from a 1957 Air Force study of "Chinese Communist" brainwashing techniques used to elicit false confessions from American POWs during the Korean War. The report showed how the Secretary of Defense's 2002 authorization of the aggressive techniques at Guantánamo led to their use in Afghanistan and in Iraq , including at Abu Ghraib . In 1983, the American Psychological Association (APA) asked Singer to chair

1408-613: A condemned house where they were living in Topanga Canyon. She was assisted by several of the young women from the fledgling Family. Brunner, like most members of the group, acquired a number of aliases and nicknames, including: "Marioche", "Och", "Mother Mary", "Mary Manson", "Linda Dee Manson" and "Christine Marie Euchts". In his book Love Needs Care about his time at the HAFMC, David Smith claimed that Manson attempted to reprogram his followers' minds to "submit totally to his will" through

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1536-589: A defensive camp, establishing night patrols by armed guards. Watson would later write, "Blackie was trying to get at the chosen ones." Manson brought in members of the Straight Satans Motorcycle Club to act as security. 34-year-old Gary Alan Hinman, a music teacher and graduate student at UCLA , had previously befriended members of the Family and allowed some to occasionally stay at his home in Topanga Canyon. According to Atkins, Manson believed Hinman

1664-522: A ditch; Manson and members of his family, including Brunner and Manson's new-born baby, were found sleeping naked by police. Afterwards, he was again arrested and released only a few days later, this time on a drug charge. On April 6, 1968, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys was driving through Malibu when he noticed two female hitchhikers, Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey. He picked them up and dropped them off at their destination. On April 11, Wilson noticed

1792-463: A dozen people were occupying the premises, most of them young women. By Manson's own account, he had met Wilson on at least one prior occasion: at a friend's San Francisco house where Manson had gone to obtain marijuana . Manson claimed that Wilson invited him to visit his home when Manson came to Los Angeles. Wilson was initially fascinated by Manson and his followers, referring to him as "the Wizard" in

1920-412: A grocery store, at first to simply find something to eat. However, Manson found a cigar box containing just over a hundred dollars, which he used to rent a room on Indianapolis' Skid Row and to buy food. For a time, Manson had a job delivering messages for Western Union in an attempt to live honestly. However, he quickly began to supplement his wages through theft. He was eventually caught, and in 1949

2048-438: A knife. He fought his way out the front door and onto the porch, but Watson caught up with him, struck him over the head with the gun multiple times, stabbed him repeatedly and shot him twice. Kasabian had heard "horrifying sounds" and moved toward the house from her position in the driveway. She told Atkins that someone was coming in an attempt to stop the murders. Inside the house, Folger escaped from Krenwinkel and fled out

2176-473: A laborer at a dry cleaning business. Maddox often went on drinking sprees with her brother Luther Elbert Maddox (1916–1950), leaving Charles with babysitters. Maddox and her husband divorced on April 30, 1937, after William alleged "gross neglect of duty" by Maddox. Charles retained William's last name of Manson. On August 1, 1939, Kathleen and Luther were arrested for assault and robbery, and sentenced to five and ten years of imprisonment, respectively. Manson

2304-451: A local reputation as a con artist . He allowed Maddox to believe that he was an army colonel, although "Colonel" was merely his given name. When Maddox told Scott that she was pregnant, he informed her that he had been called away on army business; after several months she realized he had no intention of returning. Manson never knew his biological father. In August 1934, before Manson's birth, Maddox married William Eugene Manson (1909–1961),

2432-449: A long nylon rope which he had brought, then slung it over one of the living room's ceiling beams. Sebring protested the rough treatment of the pregnant Tate, so Watson shot him. Folger was taken momentarily back to her bedroom for her purse, and she gave the murderers $ 70. Watson then stabbed Sebring seven times. Frykowski's hands had been bound with a towel, but he freed himself and began struggling with Atkins, who stabbed at his legs with

2560-590: A mailbox; the latter charge was later dropped. He received a ten-year suspended sentence and probation after a young woman named Leona Rae "Candy" Stevens, who had an arrest record for prostitution , made a "tearful plea" before the court that she and Manson were "deeply in love ... and would marry if Charlie were freed". Before the year's end, the woman did marry Manson, possibly so she would not be required to testify against him. Manson took Leona and another woman to New Mexico for purposes of prostitution, resulting in him being held and questioned for violating

2688-669: A minimum security institution in Virginia . His aunt visited him and told administrators she would let him stay at her house and help him find work. Manson had a parole hearing scheduled for February 1952. However, in January, he was caught raping a boy at knifepoint. Manson was transferred to the Federal Reformatory in Petersburg, Virginia , where he committed a further "eight serious disciplinary offenses, three involving homosexual acts". He

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2816-455: A new mind into that resulting void", was not so successful. Controversial psychiatrist Colin A. Ross claims that the CIA was successful in creating programmable so-called " Manchurian Candidates " even at the time. The CIA experiments using various psychedelic drugs such as LSD and Mescaline drew from previous Nazi human experimentation . In 1979, John D. Marks wrote in his book The Search for

2944-785: A newspaperman and foreign correspondent for the old International News Service . From 1926 to 1928, Hunter worked for the Hankow Herald newspaper in Hankou, China , and traveling in Japan and China during the Japanese invasion of Manchukuo and its detachment from China. He reported on the Japanese invasion of Manchuria before spending five years in Spain covering the Spanish Civil War . He later covered

3072-524: A person to exploit this individual for sexual and financial reasons. Earlier scientific debates in the 1980s and 1990s about torture-based ritual abuse in cults was known as " satanic ritual abuse ," which was mainly viewed as a " moral panic ." Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics published by the Church of Scientology in 1955 about brainwashing. L. Ron Hubbard authored

3200-509: A second-hand account, Manson overcame Brunner's initial resistance to him bringing other women in to live with them. Before long, they were sharing Brunner's residence with eighteen other women. Manson targeted individuals for manipulation who were emotionally insecure and social outcasts. Manson established himself as a guru in Haight-Ashbury which, during the Summer of Love, was emerging as

3328-512: A sympathetic judge sent him to Boys Town , a juvenile facility in Omaha, Nebraska . After four days at Boys Town, he and fellow student Blackie Nielson obtained a gun and stole a car. They used it to commit two armed robberies on their way to the home of Nielson's uncle in Peoria, Illinois . Nielson's uncle was a professional thief, and when the boys arrived he allegedly took them on as apprentices. Manson

3456-431: A telephone pole near the entrance gate and cut the phone line to the house. The group then backed their car to the bottom of the hill that led to the estate before walking back up to the house. Thinking that the gate might be electrified or equipped with an alarm, they climbed a brushy embankment to the right of the gate and entered the grounds. Headlights approached the group from within the property, and Watson ordered

3584-547: A threat to kill everyone at Spahn Ranch. In response, Manson shot Crowe on July 1, 1969, at Manson's Hollywood apartment. Manson's belief that he had killed Crowe was seemingly confirmed by a news report of the discovery of the dumped body of a Black Panther in Los Angeles. Although Crowe was not a member of the Black Panthers, Manson concluded he had been and expected retaliation from the Panthers. He turned Spahn Ranch into

3712-478: A wooden paddle or a leather strap. Manson ran away from Gibault and slept in the woods, under bridges and wherever else he could find shelter. Manson fled home to his mother and spent Christmas 1947 at his aunt and uncle's house in West Virginia. However, his mother returned him to Gibault. Ten months later, he ran away to Indianapolis. It was there, in 1948, Manson committed his first documented crime by robbing

3840-580: Is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition or behavioral outcomes," and he suggested that any human being is susceptible to such manipulation. Benjamin Zablocki , late professor of sociology at Rutgers University said that the number of people who attest to brainwashing in interviews (performed in accordance with guidelines of the National Institute of Mental Health and National Science Foundation )

3968-430: Is too large to result from anything other than a genuine phenomenon. He said that in the two most prestigious journals dedicated to the sociology of religion there have been no articles "supporting the brainwashing perspective," while over one hundred such articles have been published in other journals "marginal to the field." He concluded that the concept of brainwashing had been blacklisted . Eileen Barker criticized

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4096-795: The Chicago Tribune ' s Paris edition. Hunter was also active in the Newspaper Guild , the journalists' trade union, which he felt was dominated by communist sympathizers. In January 1964 he began publication of the Tactics newsletter under the auspices of Anti-Communism Liaison, Inc. Hunter served as chairman of the organization and editor of the newsletter until 1978. Historian Julia Lovell has criticized Hunter's reporting as "outlandish" and sensational. By 1956, US government psychologists largely concluded after examining files of Korean War POWs that brainwashing as described by Hunter did not exist, but

4224-653: The Church of Scientology headquarters in London from November 1968 to April 1969. Shortly after relocating to San Francisco, Manson became acquainted with Mary Brunner , a 23-year-old graduate of University of Wisconsin–Madison . Brunner was working as a library assistant at the University of California, Berkeley , and Manson, until that point making his living by panhandling , moved in with her. Manson then met teenaged runaway Lynette Fromme , later nicknamed "Squeaky," and convinced her to live with him and Brunner. According to

4352-624: The First Marine Air Wing admitting to participating in germ warfare, United Nations commander General Mark W. Clark asserted: "Whether these statements ever passed the lips of these unfortunate men is doubtful. If they did, however, too familiar are the mind-annihilating methods of these Communists in extorting whatever words they want ... The men themselves are not to blame, and they have my deepest sympathy for having been used in this abominable way." Beginning in 1953, Robert Jay Lifton interviewed American servicemen who had been POWs during

4480-545: The Folgers coffee fortune and daughter of Peter Folger . Also present on the property were 19-year-old caretaker William Garretson and his friend, 18-year-old Steven Earl Parent. Polanski was in Europe working on a film. Music producer Quincy Jones was a friend of Sebring who had planned to join him that evening before changing his mind. Watson and the three women arrived at Cielo Drive just past midnight on August 9. Watson climbed

4608-550: The Korean War as well as priests, students, and teachers who had been held in prison in China after 1951. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans and Europeans, Lifton interviewed 15 Chinese citizens who had fled after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. (Lifton's 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China , was based on this research.) Lifton found that when

4736-671: The Mann Act . Though he was released, Manson correctly suspected that the investigation had not ended. When he disappeared in violation of his probation, a bench warrant was issued. An indictment for violation of the Mann Act followed in April 1960. Following the arrest of one of the women for prostitution, Manson was arrested in June in Laredo, Texas , and was returned to Los Angeles. For violating his probation on

4864-591: The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) about the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor and served for the life of the organization. After the war he "helped close up shop" and continued his intelligence work under various other agencies such as SSU, the Strategic Services Unit of the U.S. Army . When the CIA was organized in 1947, Hunter joined under journalistic cover. Hunter is widely acknowledged as having coined

4992-582: The Second Italo-Abyssinian War between Italy and Ethiopia and took note of the psychological warfare methods used in all those instances as well as during the preparations by Germany for World War II . He went on to work at several newspapers and periodicals, including The Newark Ledger , The New Orleans Item , and in his home state, The New York Post , The New York American , Tactics , and Counterattack . He later worked in France at

5120-775: The United Nations NGO, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), prompted international awareness of human sex trafficking in her 1979 book Female Sexual Slavery . In his 1986 book Woman Abuse: Facts Replacing Myths, Lewis Okun reported that: "Kathleen Barry shows in Female Sexual Slavery that forced female prostitution involves coercive control practices very similar to thought reform." In their 1996 book, Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and

5248-455: The War on Terrorism , concluding that, in this context, thought reform was possible without violence or physical coercion. He also pointed out that in their efforts against terrorism, Western governments were also using some alleged mind control techniques. In her 2004 popular science book, Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control , neuroscientist and physiologist Kathleen Taylor reviewed

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5376-641: The 1970s, reported on what he called " Nazi brainwashing" of the people of Belarus by the occupying Germans during the Second World War , which took place through both mass propaganda and intense re-education, especially in schools. Romanovsky noted that very soon, most people had adopted the Nazi view that the Jews were an inferior race and were closely tied to the Soviet government, views that had not been at all common before

5504-474: The 1980s there was a wave of 'brainwashing' claims, and then parliaments around the world examined the issue, courts around the world examined the issue, and reached a clear ruling: That there is no such thing as cults…that the people making these claims are often not experts on the issue. And in the end courts, including in Israel, rejected expert witnesses who claimed there is "brainwashing." For 20 years, starting in

5632-487: The Beach Boys recorded Manson's song "Cease to Exist", renamed " Never Learn Not to Love " as a single B-side , but Manson was uncredited. Afterward, he attempted to secure a record contract through Melcher, but was unsuccessful. Manson would often talk about the Beatles , including their eponymous 1968 album . According to Los Angeles County District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi , Manson felt guided by his interpretation of

5760-637: The Beatles' lyrics and adopted the term " Helter Skelter " to describe an impending apocalyptic race war . During his trial, Bugliosi argued that Manson had intended to start a race war, although Manson and others disputed this. Contemporary interviews and trial witness testimony insisted that the Tate–LaBianca murders were copycat crimes intended to exonerate Manson's friend Bobby Beausoleil . Manson himself denied having ordered any murders. Nevertheless, he served his time in prison and died from complications from colon cancer in 2017. Charles Milles Maddox

5888-478: The Family that Black people would rise up and kill the entire White population except for Manson and his followers, but that they were not intelligent enough to survive on their own; they would need a white man to lead them, and so they would serve Manson as their "master". In late-1968, Manson adopted the term " Helter Skelter ", taken from a song on the Beatles ' recently released White Album , to refer to this upcoming war. On March 23, 1969, Manson entered

6016-467: The Family; the members were evicted from his home three weeks before the lease was scheduled to expire. When Manson subsequently sought further contact, he left a bullet with Wilson's housekeeper to be delivered with a threatening message. Band manager Nick Grillo recalled that Wilson became concerned after Manson had got "into a much heavier drug situation ... taking a tremendous amount of acid and Dennis wouldn't tolerate it and asked him to leave. It

6144-505: The German occupation. Italy has had controversy over the concept of plagio , a crime consisting in an absolute psychological—and eventually physical—domination of a person. The effect is said to be the annihilation of the subject's freedom and self-determination and the consequent negation of his or her personality . The crime of plagio has rarely been prosecuted in Italy, and only one person

6272-478: The HAFMC became subjects of their research, including Manson and his expanding group of mostly female followers, who came to see Roger Smith regularly. Manson received permission from Roger Smith to move from Berkeley to the Haight-Ashbury District. He first took LSD and would use it frequently during his time there. David Smith, who had studied the effects of LSD and amphetamines in rodents, wrote that

6400-688: The Manchurian Candidate that until the MKUltra program was effectively terminated in 1963, the agency's researchers had found no reliable way to brainwash another person, as all experiments at some stage always ended in either amnesia or catatonia, making any operational use impossible. A bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee report, released in part in December 2008 and in full in April 2009, reported that U.S. military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 had based an interrogation class on

6528-551: The Monkees in late-1965; this is refuted by the fact that Manson was still incarcerated at McNeil Island at that time. In June 1966, Manson was sent for the second time to Terminal Island in preparation for early release. By the time of his release day on March 21, 1967, he had spent more than half of his thirty-two years in prisons and other institutions. This was mainly because he had broken federal laws. Federal sentences were, and remain, much more severe than state sentences for many of

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6656-856: The POWs returned to the United States their thinking soon returned to normal, contrary to the popular image of "brainwashing." In 1956, after reexamining the concept of brainwashing following the Korean War, the U.S. Army published a report entitled Communist Interrogation, Indoctrination, and Exploitation of Prisoners of War , which called brainwashing a "popular misconception". The report concludes that "exhaustive research of several government agencies failed to reveal even one conclusively documented case of 'brainwashing' of an American prisoner of war in Korea." The concept of brainwashing has been raised in defense of criminal charges. The 1969 to 1971 case of Charles Manson , who

6784-547: The United States , Rita Nakashima Brock and Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite report that the methods commonly used by pimps to control their victims "closely resemble the brainwashing techniques of terrorists and paranoid cults." In his 2000 book, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism , Robert Lifton applied his original ideas about thought reform to Aum Shinrikyo and

6912-505: The United States by using a brainwashed sleeper agent for political assassination. The concept of brainwashing became popularly associated with the research of Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov , which mostly involved dogs as subjects. In The Manchurian Candidate the head brainwasher is "Dr. Yen Lo, of the Pavlov Institute." The science fiction stories of Cordwainer Smith (pen name of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (1913–1966),

7040-502: The Unknown , and The Fearmakers . Forbidden Area told the story of Soviet secret agents who had been brainwashed through classical conditioning by their own government so they wouldn't reveal their identities. In 1962, The Manchurian Candidate (based on the 1959 novel by Richard Condon ) "put brainwashing front and center" by featuring a plot by the Soviet government to take over

7168-471: The alias "Charles Willis Manson." Before the end of summer, he and some of his followers began traveling in an old school bus they had adapted, putting colored rugs and pillows in place of the many seats they had removed. They eventually settled in the Los Angeles areas of Topanga Canyon , Malibu and Venice along the coast. In 1967, Brunner became pregnant by Manson. On April 15, 1968, she gave birth to their son, whom she named Valentine Michael, in

7296-431: The anti-cult movement, who were usually psychologists , developed revised models of brainwashing. While some psychologists were receptive to the concept, sociologists were, for the most part, skeptical of its ability to explain conversion. Critics of Mormonism have accused it of brainwashing its adherents. Philip Zimbardo defined mind control as "the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action

7424-462: The attempt to cash the Treasury check was still a federal offense. Manson's September 1961 annual review noted he had a "tremendous drive to call attention to himself", an observation echoed in September 1964. In 1963, Leona was granted a divorce. During the process she alleged that she and Manson had a son, Charles Luther Manson. According to a popular urban legend , Manson auditioned unsuccessfully for

7552-417: The authorities, but he didn't, and the rest of it happened." Manson established a base for the Family at the Spahn Ranch in August 1968, after their eviction from Wilson's residence. The ranch had been a television and movie set for Westerns , but the buildings had deteriorated by the late-1960s. The ranch then derived revenue primarily from selling horseback rides. Female Family members did chores around

7680-421: The authorities. Manson was arrested on July 31, 1967, for attempting to prevent the arrest of one of his followers, Ruth Ann Moorehouse . Instead of Manson being sent back to prison, the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and Manson was given three additional years of probation. He avoided prosecution again in July 1968, when he and the family were arrested while moving to Los Angeles, when his bus crashed into

7808-700: The best-known groups said to practice brainwashing. Barker spent close to seven years studying Unification Church members and wrote that she rejects the "brainwashing" theory because it does not explain why many people attended a recruitment meeting and did not become members nor why so many members voluntarily disaffiliate or leave groups. James Richardson said that if the new religious movements had access to powerful brainwashing techniques, one would expect that they would have high growth rates, yet in fact, most have not had notable success in recruiting or retaining members. For this and other reasons, sociologists of religion including David Bromley and Anson Shupe consider

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7936-518: The brain." As author Dominic Streatfeild recounts, Hunter conceived the term after interviewing former Chinese prisoners who had been subjected to a "re-education" process. He applied it to the interrogation techniques the KGB used during purges to extract confessions from innocent prisoners, and from there, variations were conceived - mind control, mind alteration, behavior modification, and others. A year later, Hunter's magnum opus Brain-Washing in Red China: The Calculated Destruction of Men's Minds

8064-664: The brainwashing defense undermines the law's fundamental premise of free will . In 2003, forensic psychologist Dick Anthony said that "no reasonable person would question that there are situations where people can be influenced against their best interests, but those arguments are evaluated based on fact, not bogus expert testimony." In the 1970s and 1980s, the anti-cult movement applied the concept of brainwashing to explain seemingly sudden and dramatic religious conversions to some new religious movements (NRMs) and other groups that they considered cults . News media reports tended to accept their view and social scientists sympathetic to

8192-415: The change in Manson's personality during this time "was the most abrupt Roger Smith had observed in his entire professional career." Manson also read the book Stranger in a Strange Land , a science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein . Inspired by the burgeoning free love philosophy in Haight–Ashbury during the Summer of Love , Manson began preaching his own philosophy based on a mixture of Stranger in

8320-419: The check-cashing charge, he was ordered to serve his ten-year sentence. Manson spent a year trying unsuccessfully to appeal the revocation of his probation. In July 1961, he was transferred from the Los Angeles County Jail to the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island , Washington. There, he took guitar lessons from Barker–Karpis gang leader Alvin "Creepy" Karpis , and obtained from another inmate

8448-463: The chest and abdomen, killing him in the front seat of his white 1965 AMC Ambassador coupe. Watson ordered the women to help push the car up the driveway. Watson next cut the screen of a window, then told Kasabian to keep watch down by the gate; she walked over to Parent's car and waited. Watson removed the screen, entered through the window and let Atkins and Krenwinkel in through the front door. He whispered to Atkins and awoke Frykowski, who

8576-538: The communists' advantage in propaganda and psychological manipulation . He felt that the West lost the Korean War for being unwilling to use its advantage in atomic weapons . He saw no difference between the various communist countries and warned that both Yugoslavia and China were as bent on communist world domination as was the Soviet Union . He died in Arlington, Virginia on September 24, 1978. Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson ( né   Maddox ; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017)

8704-502: The concept of brainwashing because it functioned to justify costly interventions such as deprogramming or exit counseling. She has also criticized some mental health professionals, including Singer, for accepting expert witness jobs in court cases involving NRMs. Barker's 1984 book, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? , describes the religious conversion process to the Unification Church (whose members are sometimes informally referred to as Moonies ), which had been one of

8832-417: The concept of brainwashing. In 1999, forensic psychologist Dick Anthony criticized another adherent to this view, Jean-Marie Abgrall , for allegedly employing a pseudoscientific approach and lacking any evidence that anyone's worldview was substantially changed by these coercive methods. He claimed that the concept and the fear surrounding it was used as a tool for the anti-cult movement to rationalize

8960-425: The contact information of Phil Kaufman , a producer at Universal Studios in Hollywood . Among Manson's fellow prisoners during this time was future actor Danny Trejo , with the two participating in several hypnosis sessions together. Manson's mother moved to Washington State to be closer to him during his McNeil Island incarceration, working nearby as a waitress. Although the Mann Act charge had been dropped,

9088-635: The court that they intended to rely on an insanity defense , using the theories of brainwashing and the expert witnesses of Singer and Richard Ofshe to claim that the Church of Scientology had practiced brainwashing on him, which left him unsuitable to make independent decisions. The court ruled that the use of brainwashing theories is inadmissible in expert witnesses, citing the Frye standard , which states that scientific theories utilized by expert witnesses must be generally accepted in their respective fields. Since then, United States courts have consistently rejected testimony about mind control or brainwashing on

9216-558: The early 1950s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. Department of Defense conducted secret research, including Project MKUltra , in an attempt to develop practical brainwashing techniques; These experiments ranged "from electroshock to high doses of LSD ". The director Sidney Gottlieb and his team were apparently able to "blast away the existing mind" of a human being by using torture techniques; however, reprogramming, in terms of finding "a way to insert

9344-450: The evolution of brainwashing from its origins in the Cold War through to today's War on Terror. The author, Dominic Streatfeild , uses formerly classified documentation and interviews from the CIA. In George Orwell 's 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four , the main character is subjected to imprisonment, isolation , and torture to conform his thoughts and emotions to the wishes of

9472-491: The experiences of Korean War POWs. (In 1996, Singer published her theories in her best-selling book Cults in Our Midst .) Despite this defense, Hearst was found guilty. In 1990, Steven Fishman , who was a member of the Church of Scientology , was charged with mail fraud for conducting a scheme to sue large corporations via conspiring with minority stockholders in shareholder class action lawsuits. Fishman's attorneys notified

9600-469: The federal crime of driving a stolen car across state lines, Manson was sent to Washington, D.C. 's National Training School for Boys . On arrival he was given aptitude tests which determined that he was illiterate but had an above-average IQ of 109. His case worker deemed him aggressively antisocial . On a psychiatrist's recommendation, Manson was transferred in October 1951 to Natural Bridge Honor Camp,

9728-465: The front porch to ask him what he wanted. Manson said that he was looking for Melcher, whose name Hatami did not recognize. Hatami told him the place was the Polanski residence and then advised him to try the path to the guest house beyond the main house. Tate appeared behind Hatami in the house's front door and asked him who was calling. Hatami and Tate maintained their positions while Manson went back to

9856-456: The grounds of 10050 Cielo Drive , which he had known as Melcher's residence. He was not invited. As he approached the main house, Manson was met by Shahrokh Hatami, an Iranian photographer who had befriended film director Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate during the making of the documentary Mia and Roman . Hatami was there to photograph Tate before she departed for Rome the following day. Seeing Manson approach, Hatami had gone onto

9984-572: The grounds that these theories are not part of accepted science under the Frye standard. In 2003, the brainwashing defense was used unsuccessfully in defense of Lee Boyd Malvo , who was charged with murder for his part in the D.C. sniper attacks . Allegations of brainwashing have also been raised by plaintiffs in child custody cases. Thomas Andrew Green , in his 2014 book Freedom and Criminal Responsibility in American Legal Thought , argues that

10112-407: The guest house by the persons in the main house; Altobelli asked Manson not to disturb his tenants. Altobelli and Tate flew together to Rome the next day. Tate asked him whether "that creepy-looking guy" had gone to see him at the guest house the day before. Tex Watson became involved in drug dealing and robbed a 22-year-old rival named Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe. Crowe allegedly responded with

10240-419: The guest house without a word, returned to the front a minute or two later and left. That evening, Manson returned to the property and again went to the guest house. He entered the enclosed porch and spoke with Altobelli, the owner, who had just come out of the shower. Manson asked for Melcher, but Altobelli felt that Manson was instead looking for him. It was later discovered that Manson had apparently been to

10368-412: The head with the butt of Watson's gun, which bent the barrel and broke off one side of the gun grip, which was recovered at the scene. In the house, Tate pleaded to be allowed to live long enough to give birth and offered herself as a hostage in an attempt to save the life of her unborn child. Instead both Atkins and Watson stabbed Tate sixteen times, killing her. The coroner's inquest found that Tate

10496-695: The help of fellow inmate Lanier Rayner, and in July 1961 listed Scientology as his religion. A September 1961 prison report argues that Manson "appears to have developed a certain amount of insight into his problems through his study of this discipline". Another prison report in August 1966 stated that Manson was no longer an advocate of Scientology. Upon his release in 1967, Manson traveled to Los Angeles where he reportedly "met local Scientologists and attended several parties for movie stars". Manson completed 150 hours of auditing . His "right hand man", Bruce Davis , worked at

10624-447: The history of mind control theories, as well as notable incidents. In it, she theorized that persons under the influence of brainwashing may have more rigid neurological pathways, and that can make it more difficult to rethink situations or to be able to later reorganize these pathways. In 2006 Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control ( ISBN   0-340-83161-8 ) is a non-fiction book published by Hodder & Stoughton about

10752-523: The house and "totally destroy" everyone in it, and to do it "as gruesome as you can". Manson told the women to do as Watson instructed them. The occupants of the Cielo Drive house that evening were Tate, aged 26, who was 8 1 ⁄ 2 months pregnant; her friend and former lover 35-year-old Jay Sebring , a noted celebrity hairstylist; Polanski's friend 32-year-old Wojciech Frykowski; and Frykowski's 25-year-old girlfriend Abigail Anne Folger, heiress to

10880-462: The idea that "cults" are brainwashing American youth to be implausible. Thomas Robbins , Massimo Introvigne , Lorne Dawson , Gordon Melton , Marc Galanter , and Saul Levine , amongst other scholars researching NRMs, have argued and established to the satisfaction of courts, relevant professional associations and scientific communities that there exists no generally accepted scientific theory, based upon methodologically sound research, that supports

11008-522: The impact of his reporting was significant, and helped shaped public consciousness about the threat of Communism for decades. Lovell argues that Hunter created "an image of all-powerful Chinese 'brainwashing' ... [that] supposed an ideological unified Maoist front stretching from China to Korea and Malaya", but declassified US documents show a much more complicated and contested picture of Chinese influence and international aspirations in Asia. Hunter provided testimony to Senator Keating stating that he joined

11136-507: The literature on this subject, proposes a new way of conceptualizing influence techniques, explores the ethical ramifications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control, and makes recommendations addressing the problems described in the report. On 11 May 1987, the APA's Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected the DIMPAC report because the report "lacks

11264-699: The mind". Meerloo's view was influenced by his experiences during the German occupation of his country during the Second World War and his work with the Dutch government and the American military in the interrogation of accused Nazi war criminals . He later emigrated to the United States and taught at Columbia University . His best-selling 1956 book, The Rape of the Mind , concludes by saying: The modern techniques of brainwashing and menticide—those perversions of psychology—can bring almost any man into submission and surrender. Many of

11392-483: The murders, his ideology constituted an overt act of conspiracy . Before the murders, Manson had spent more than half of his life in correctional institutions . While gathering his cult following, he was a singer-songwriter on the fringe of the Los Angeles music industry, chiefly through a chance association with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys , who introduced Manson to record producer Terry Melcher . In 1968,

11520-516: The new Chinese social system. The term punned on the Taoist custom of "cleansing/washing the heart/mind" ( Chinese : 洗心 ; pinyin : xǐxīn ) before conducting ceremonies or entering holy places. The earliest known English-language usage of the word "brainwashing" in an article by a journalist Edward Hunter , in Miami News , published in 1950. Hunter was an anticommunist and was alleged to be

11648-499: The persecution of minority religious groups. Additionally, Anthony, in the book Misunderstanding Cults , argues that the term "brainwashing" has such sensationalist connotations that its use is detrimental to any further scientific inquiry. In 2016, Israeli anthropologist of religion and fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Adam Klin-Oron said about then proposed "anti-cult" legislation: In

11776-482: The population's thoughts and feelings. Terry O'Brien commented: "Mind control is such a powerful image that if hypnotism did not exist, then something similar would have to have been invented: The plot device is too useful for any writer to ignore. The fear of mind control is equally as powerful an image." Edward Hunter (U.S. journalist) Hunter was born in New York on July 2, 1902. Hunter began his career as

11904-409: The possibility of brainwashing being a factor when lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was used, or in the induction of people into groups which are considered to be cults . Brainwashing has become a common theme in popular culture especially in war stories , thrillers , and science fiction stories. In casual speech, "brainwashing" and its verb form, "brainwash", are used figuratively to describe

12032-432: The property on earlier occasions after Melcher left. Altobelli told Manson through the screen door that Melcher had moved to Malibu and said that he did not know his new address, although he did. Altobelli told Manson he was leaving the country the next day, and Manson said he would like to speak with him upon his return. Altobelli said that he would be gone for more than a year. Manson said that he had been directed to

12160-472: The ranch and, occasionally, had sex on Manson's orders with the nearly blind 80-year-old owner, George Spahn ; the women also acted as guides for him. In exchange, Spahn allowed Manson and his group to live at the ranch for free. The Manson Family evolved into a doomsday cult when Manson became fixated on the idea of an imminent apocalyptic race war between America's Black minority and the larger White population. A white supremacist , Manson told some of

12288-474: The recordings remain unheard by the public. Band engineer Stephen Desper said that the Manson sessions were done "for Dennis [Wilson] and Terry Melcher". In September 1968, Wilson recorded a Manson song for the Beach Boys, originally titled "Cease to Exist" but reworked as " Never Learn Not to Love ", as a single B-side released the following December. The writing was credited solely to Wilson. When asked why Manson

12416-591: The residence, Beausoleil or one of the women used Hinman's blood to write "political piggy" on the wall and to draw a panther paw, a Black Panther symbol. According to Beausoleil, he came to Hinman's house to recover money paid to Hinman for mescaline provided to the Straight Satans that had supposedly been bad. Beausoleil added that Brunner and Atkins, unaware of his intent, went along to visit Hinman. Atkins, in her 1977 autobiography, wrote that Manson directed Beausoleil, Brunner and her to go to Hinman's and get

12544-428: The rulers of the book's fictional future totalitarian society. The torturer representing the authorities says, "We make the brain perfect before we blow it out...Everyone is washed clean." Orwell's vision influenced Hunter and is still reflected in the popular concept of brainwashing. In the 1950s, some American films were made that featured brainwashing of POWs, including The Rack , The Bamboo Prison , Toward

12672-502: The same offenses. Telling the authorities that prison had become his home, he requested permission to stay. Less than a month after his 1967 release, Manson moved to Berkeley from Los Angeles, which could have been a probation violation. Instead, after calling the San Francisco probation office upon his arrival, he was transferred to the supervision of criminology doctoral researcher and federal probation officer Roger Smith. Until

12800-525: The same two girls hitchhiking again and this time took them to his home at 14400 Sunset Boulevard . Wilson later recalled that he "told [the girls] about our involvement with the Maharishi and they told me they too had a guru, a guy named Charlie [Manson] who'd recently come out of jail after twelve years." Wilson then went to a recording session; when he returned later that night, he was met in his driveway by Manson, and when Wilson walked into his home, about

12928-532: The school eighteen times. Manson developed a self-defense technique he later called the "insane game", in which he would screech, grimace and wave his arms to convince stronger aggressors that he was insane. After a number of failed attempts, he escaped with two other boys in February 1951. The three escapees robbed filling stations while attempting to drive to California in stolen cars until they were arrested in Utah . For

13056-402: The scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA imprimatur" and concluded that "after much consideration, BSERP does not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue." Joost Meerloo , a Dutch psychiatrist, was an early proponent of the concept of brainwashing. "Menticide" is a neologism he coined meaning "killing of

13184-476: The signature hippie locale. Manson soon had the first of his groups of followers, most of them female. They were later dubbed as the "Manson Family" by Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and the media. Manson allegedly taught his followers that they were the reincarnation of the original Christians , and that The Establishment could be characterized as the Romans . Sometime around 1967, Manson began using

13312-626: The spring of 1968, Smith worked at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic (HAFMC), which Manson and his family came to frequent. Roger Smith, as well as the HAFMC's founder David Smith, received funding from the National Institutes of Health , and reportedly the CIA , to study the effects of drugs like LSD and methamphetamine on the counterculture movement in San Francisco's Haight–Ashbury District. The patients at

13440-463: The supervision of Roger Smith and many of the staff at the HAFMC. The core members of Manson's following eventually included: Brunner; Charles "Tex" Watson , a musician and former actor; Bobby Beausoleil , a former musician and pornographic actor; Susan Atkins ; Patricia Krenwinkel ; and Leslie Van Houten . Supervised by his ostensible parole officer Roger Smith, Manson grew his family through drug use and prostitution without interference from

13568-493: The supposed inheritance of $ 21,000. She said that two days earlier Manson had told her privately that, if she wanted to "do something important", she could kill Hinman and get his money. Beausoleil was arrested on August 6, 1969, after he was caught driving Hinman's car. Police found the murder weapon in the tire well. On the night of August 8, 1969, Watson took Atkins, Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian to 10050 Cielo Drive. Watson later claimed that Manson had instructed him to go to

13696-478: The term brainwashing in a 1950 article for Miami News . He first used it publicly in an article for the Miami News on September 24, 1950. In this article and in later works, Hunter claimed that by combining Pavlovian theory with modern technology, Russian and Chinese psychologists had developed powerful techniques for manipulating the mind. It was Hunter's variation of the Chinese term "xinao", meaning "cleaning

13824-464: The text and alleged it was the secret manual written by Lavrentiy Beria , the Soviet secret police chief, in 1936. When the FBI ignored him, Hubbard wrote again stating that Soviet agents had, on three occasions, attempted to hire him to work against the United States, and were upset about his refusal, and that one agent specifically attacked him using electroshock as a weapon. Kathleen Barry , co-founder of

13952-526: The use of propaganda to sway public opinion . The Chinese term xǐnǎo ( traditional Chinese : 洗腦 ; simplified Chinese : 洗脑 lit.   ' wash brain ' ) was originally used by early 20th century Chinese intellectuals to refer to modernizing one's way of thinking. The term was later used to describe the coercive persuasion used under the Maoist government in China, which aimed to transform "reactionary" people into "right-thinking" members of

14080-521: The use of "LSD and … unconventional sexual practices" that would turn his followers into "empty vessels that would accept anything he poured." Manson Family member Paul Watkins testified that Manson would encourage group LSD trips and take lower doses himself to "keep his wits about him." Watkins stated that "Charlie's trip was to program us all to submit." By the end of his stay in the Haight in April 1968, Manson had attracted twenty or so followers, all under

14208-462: The victims of thought control, brainwashing, and menticide that we have talked about were strong men whose minds and wills were broken and degraded. But although the totalitarians use their knowledge of the mind for vicious and unscrupulous purposes, our democratic society can and must use its knowledge to help man to grow, to guard his freedom, and to understand himself. Russian historian Daniel Romanovsky , who interviewed survivors and eyewitnesses in

14336-413: The women to lie in the bushes. He stepped out and ordered the approaching driver, Parent, to halt. Watson leveled a .22 caliber revolver at Parent, who begged him not to hurt him, claiming that he would not say anything. Watson lunged at Parent with a knife, giving him a defensive slash wound on the palm of his hand that severed tendons and tore the boy's watch off his wrist, then shot him four times in

14464-538: Was aged 9, he set his school on fire . He also got repeatedly in trouble for truancy and petty theft. Although there was a lack of foster home placements, in 1947, at the age of 13, Manson was placed in the Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana , a school for male delinquents run by Catholic priests. Gibault was a strict school, where punishment for even the smallest infraction included beatings with either

14592-593: Was an American criminal, cult leader , and musician who led the Manson Family , a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a series of at least nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. In 1971, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people , including the film actress Sharon Tate . The prosecution contended that, while Manson never directly ordered

14720-472: Was arrested and charged with bank robbery and the use of a gun in committing a felony. Her attorney, F. Lee Bailey , argued in her trial that she should not be held responsible for her actions since her treatment by her captors was the equivalent of the alleged brainwashing of Korean War POWs (see also Diminished responsibility ). Bailey developed his case in conjunction with psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West and psychologist Margaret Singer . They had both studied

14848-541: Was arrested two weeks later during a nighttime raid on a Peoria store. In the investigation that followed, he was linked to his two earlier armed robberies. He was sent to the Indiana Boys School , a strict reform school outside of Plainfield, Indiana . At the Indiana Boys School, other students allegedly raped Manson with the encouragement of a staff member, and he was repeatedly beaten. He ran away from

14976-508: Was born on November 12, 1934, to 15-year-old Ada Kathleen Maddox (1919–1973) of Ashland, Kentucky , in the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center in Cincinnati , Ohio. Manson's biological father appears to have been Colonel Walker Henderson Scott, Sr. (1910–1954) of Catlettsburg, Kentucky , against whom Maddox filed a paternity suit that resulted in an agreed judgment in 1937. Scott worked intermittently in local mills, and had

15104-433: Was difficult for Dennis because he was afraid of Charlie." Writing in his 2016 memoir , Mike Love recalled Wilson saying he had witnessed Manson shooting a black man "in half" with an M16 rifle and hiding the body inside a well. Melcher said that Wilson had been aware that the Family "were killing people" and had been "so freaked out he just didn't want to live anymore. He was afraid, and he thought he should have gone to

15232-408: Was ever convicted. In 1981, an Italian court found that the concept is imprecise, lacks coherence and is liable to arbitrary application. Recent scientific book publications in the field of the mental disorder " dissociative identity disorder " (DID) mention torture -based brainwashing by criminal networks and malevolent actors as a deliberate means to create multiple "programmable" personalities in

15360-512: Was first used in English by Edward Hunter in 1950 to describe how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them during the Korean War . Research into the concept also looked at Nazi Germany and present-day North Korea , at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers . Scientific and legal debate followed, as well as media attention, about

15488-443: Was in prison, Rosalie gave birth to their son, Charles Manson Jr. (April 10, 1956 – June 29, 1993). During his first year at Terminal Island, Manson received visits from Rosalie and his mother, who were now living together in Los Angeles. In March 1957, when the visits from his wife ceased, his mother informed him Rosalie was living with another man. Less than two weeks before a scheduled parole hearing, Manson tried to escape by stealing

15616-590: Was not credited, Wilson explained that Manson relinquished his publishing rights in favor of "about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of stuff". Around this time, the Family destroyed two of Wilson's luxury cars. Wilson eventually distanced himself from Manson and moved out of the Sunset Boulevard house, leaving the Family there, and subsequently took residence at a basement apartment in Santa Monica . Virtually all of Wilson's household possessions were stolen by

15744-792: Was placed in the home of an aunt and uncle in McMechen, West Virginia . His mother was paroled in 1942. Manson later characterized the first weeks after she returned from prison as the happiest time in his life. Weeks after her release, Manson's family moved to Charleston, West Virginia , where he continually played truant and his mother spent her evenings drinking. She was arrested for grand larceny , but not convicted. The family later moved to Indianapolis , where Maddox met alcoholic Lewis Woodson Cavender Jr. (1916–1979) through Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and married him in August ;1943. In an interview with Diane Sawyer , Manson stated that when he

15872-612: Was published, warning of a vast Maoist system of ideological "re-education." The new terminology found its way into the mainstream in The Manchurian Candidate novel and the movie of the same name in 1962. In March 1958, Hunter testified before the US House of Representatives ' House Committee on Un-American Activities . He described the US and NATO as losing the Cold War because of

16000-477: Was said to have brainwashed his followers to commit murder and other crimes, brought the issue to renewed public attention. In 1974, Patty Hearst , a member of the wealthy Hearst family , when 19 years old was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army , a left-wing militant organization. After several weeks of captivity, she agreed to join the group and took part in their activities. In 1975, she

16128-410: Was sleeping on the living room couch. Watson kicked him in the head, and Frykowski asked him who he was and what he was doing there. Watson replied, "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business." On Watson's direction, Atkins found the house's three other occupants with Krenwinkel's help and forced them to the living room. Watson began to tie Tate and Sebring together by their necks with

16256-580: Was then moved to a maximum security reformatory at Chillicothe, Ohio , where he was expected to remain until his release on his 21st birthday in November 1955. Good behavior led to an early release in May 1954, to live with his aunt and uncle in West Virginia. In January 1955, Manson married a hospital waitress named Rosalie "Rosie" Jean Willis (January 28, 1939 – August 21, 2009). Around October, about three months after he and his pregnant wife arrived in Los Angeles in

16384-434: Was wealthy and sent her, Brunner, and Beausoleil to Hinman's home to convince him to join the Family and turn over the assets Manson thought Hinman had inherited. The three held Hinman hostage for two days in late July 1969, as he denied having any money. During this time, Manson arrived with a sword and slashed his face and ear. After that, Beausoleil stabbed Hinman to death, allegedly on Manson's instruction. Before leaving

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