56 years.
Yes, 56 years since the Manson Family slaughtered ten innocent lives.
In 1978, the Manson Family killers came up for parole. I remember being glued to the news. I lived some 1500 miles away from the killers, and in Canada, but I remember being swallowed up by the fear those monsters would be set free. When they were thankfully denied parole, I began researching the Family and the crimes in earnest and have continued to this day.
The fear in me had started so long ago, the morning after the massacre at 10050 Cielo Drive. It was all over the news, ground and aerial shots, reporters gathering outside the gate. Southern California, really the world, was stunned by the details that were coming out of that property way up in Benedict Canyon, where the Beautiful People lived.
I was only 5 years old at the time but had my father’s photographic memory and a raging imagination. Nothing escaped me on those subsequent days. The live on-site reporting, the newspaper photos of the dead, and the adult conversations swirling around me, whispered, of course. Those adults tried their best to shield me from the fear. But a child can feel fear in others. There was nowhere for anyone to hide. And in my little girl imagination I was positive Charlie and Sadie were coming for me, too.
