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Charles Manson is Dead But There is Still More to Learn in a Riveting New Memoir: Member of the Family

dorriolds — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 16:29:13 +0000

Charles Manson Is Dead But…

Charles Manson is dead at age 83. The news release issued by the California Department of Corrections said he died of natural causes in a hospital.

Eerie Timing to Meet a Manson Family Member

The timing is eerie. Manson died and right after that I came face-to-face with a Manson Family member. Her name is Dianne Lake. She was in attendance at one of my Manhattan speaking events for writers. It was October 28 when we met near Penn Stations. The venue was inside the Hotel Pennsylvania.

After giving my talk on journalism in today’s media, and a Q&A afterwards, I headed for the elevator. After pressing the down arrow, I noticed two women beside me, also waiting. One had a hardcover book tucked under her arm. The cover photo of Charles Manson captured my gaze, as did the title, Member of the Family. I’ve been obsessed with true crime books since seventh grade when I discovered Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and devoured it in two days.

Member of the Family by Dianne Lake, the youngest member of the Charles Manson Family

Helter Skelter & New Manson Book

Curious, I struck up a conversation. “I’ve read Helter Skelter three times,” I said with a smile. The woman who was holding the book turned out to be Lake’s co-author Deborah Herman. After introducing herself, Herman said, “Guess who this is.” She pointed to Lake and said “This is Dianne, the youngest member of the Manson family.”

I must’ve looked startled because Herman explained, “This is her story.” Then handed me the book.

Intrigued, I immediately read the subtitle: My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties.

Meeting Manson Family Member

Although eager to read the jacket, I didn’t want to be rude so I looked up and extended my free hand to Lake. Hesitatingly, as if in slo-motion, Lake took my hand and we shook. She offered a polite hello in almost a whisper. Her cautious manner and the way she looked me in the eyes for only a moment before her gaze darted away, gave me the impression she was either shy, tired, or at the very least, uncomfortable in the moment. A feeling came over me that she too was a rape survivor.

The cliche, “It takes one to know one,” proved true as I read her heart-wrenching account.

I don’t want to give any spoilers because I highly recommend this book.

Member of the Family

My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties

by Dianne Lake and Deborah Herman

At age 14, I became one of Charles Manson’s Girls. At 17 I helped put him in prison. This is my story.

— Diane Lake

At fourteen Dianne Lake—with little more than a note in her pocket from her hippie parents granting her permission to leave them—became one of “Charlie’s girls,” a devoted acolyte of cult leader Charles Manson. In this poignant and disturbing memoir of lost innocence, coercion, survival, and healing, Dianne Lake chronicles her years with Charles Manson, revealing for the first time how she became the youngest member of his Family and offering new insights into one of the twentieth century’s most notorious criminals and life as one of his “girls.”

Being Charlie’s Girl

Over the course of two years, the impressionable teenager endured manipulation, psychological control, and physical abuse as the harsh realities and looming darkness of Charles Manson’s true nature revealed itself. From Spahn ranch and the group acid trips, to the Beatles’ White Album and Manson’s dangerous messiah-complex, Dianne tells the riveting story of the group’s descent into madness as she lived it.

The Gruesome Crimes

Dianne Lake never participated in the group’s gruesome crimes. She was purposely insulated from them. However, Dianne was arrested with the rest of the Manson Family. When Diane learned more about the heinous Manson Family Murders, she joined the prosecution’s case against Manson.

She received help from the cop who arrested her and took her into his home. She met other good Samaritans along her journey. And that’s how the courageous young woman eventually found redemption and grew up to lead an ordinary life.

While much has been written about Charles Manson, this riveting account from an actual Manson Family cult member is a chilling portrait that recreates in vivid detail one of the most horrifying and fascinating chapters in modern American history.

Member of the Family includes 16 pages of photographs.

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Will that be a Psychopath or Sociopath for Dinner?

dorriolds — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 23:02:51 +0000

Yes, a good man is hard to find. All these Internet chat rooms are great, but women still go hungry. One of the downsides is that dating sites are a feeding ground for predators and attract the dregs of society. On the other hand, many women have been known to fall in love with murderers, so here’s my list of favorite serial killers to have dinner with.

I would be bored by psychotics (as opposed to psychopaths) because they are the nut jobs who have lost touch with reality. I could also use a break from reality so I’m sympathetic, but they’re just not good conversationalists. If you don’t believe me, check them out on YouTube. As much as I love talking about dogs, the Son of Sam (David Berkowitz) would bore me if I had to listen to stories of his neighbor’s “possessed” dog. Charles Manson would be a total drag; he can’t even put together rational sentences, and the Jesus Christ thing would be a total buzz kill. Fictional character Norman Bates holds some interest because his tales about mommy could entertain for a while.

I’d be irresistibly drawn to sitting down with Dexter Morgan. I always rooted for Dex because he got away with murdering people who really deserved it. And how could I not have empathy for anyone who, as a kid, sat in his murdered mother’s blood? Plus, forensics makes my heart beat, so we’d have plenty to talk about over foie gras. But besides all that, he is so introspective. Over appetizers I could listen to his self-diagnosed sociopathy — he couldn’t be a psychopath because he has emotional attachments to his sister, Debra, and son, Harrison.

Hannibal Lecter would be my first choice, but I’d have to meet him in a restaurant where I know the cook. I wouldn’t want to be wondering what’s in my chicken kabob. His brain is reptilian, and I’ve always liked lizards and frogs. Besides that he’s a Renaissance man, capable of waxing lyrical on any topic, which goes a long way toward attraction. It’s hard to decide which Hannibal I’d choose — Anthony Hopkins or Mads Mikkelsen — but either one would be a treat.

Joe Carroll of The Following is a bit of a mystery. It’s only been one season so far, so it’s not clear yet if he’s a psychotic or a psychopath. I love Edgar Allen Poe and writers are my favorite people, so he’d have that in his favor. But the bottom line is, if he’s psychotic, I have a feeling I’d get a monologue instead of a dialogue.

Walter White of Breaking Bad would be worth considering, but only for our shared obsession with crystal meth. In all other areas of social interplay I fear he’d be a bore. What a nebbish.

Patty Hewes from Damages would fascinate me if she were forthcoming, but I’m sure she’d be just as deceitful as she is with Ellen Parsons, so I wouldn’t get to know her. Sharing dinner repartee just wouldn’t do it for me, and besides, her condescending attitude would be a big turnoff.

Let’s swing back to true-crime characters. There are so many to choose from. Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy stand out.

Ted seemed to enjoy talking about the details of his crimes and I’d find that enjoyable as long as we stuck to burying the bodies. I couldn’t stomach any talk of rape or torture; I’d lose my appetite.

Jeffrey Dahmer would prove interesting because he’d have a lot to share about his peculiar habits, like dismembering bodies and saving the meat in the fridge for later. If I had the chance I’d probably steer the convo over to necrophilia. That would hold my attention until dessert and aperitifs.

I’d be curious to hear what drove John Wayne Gacy to enjoy fundraising events. I can understand the clown costume, but why would a serial killer care about charitable causes? Yes, a dinner with Gacy would be memorable, but it’s so hard to socialize in a crawl space.

Who is your favorite psycho?

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‘Life After Manson:’ Patricia Krenwinkel’s Journey from Monster to Mentor

dorriolds — Thu, 22 May 2014 12:17:40 +0000

The camera takes you inside a gray room, with gray walls, gray chairs, and a gray rug and reveals an inmate support group. A nondescript woman with gray hair is heading the discussion. Her hunched posture indicates a woman who thinks little of herself. Her face holds the harsh lines of a farmer who has spent a lifetime in the beating sun, but her coloring is as pasty as the gray room.
“I met her as Krenny in a prison support group,” said filmmaker Olivia Klaus. “I was volunteering at the California Institution for Women and knew that all of the women in the group had committed some sort of crimes, but I’d known Krenny for five years before another inmate told me she was Patricia Krenwinkel.”
Krenwinkel was a member of the Manson Family and, with a handful of other Charles Manson followers, killed seven people in August 1969. Krenwinkel has been an inmate for 45 years and is the longest incarcerated female in the history of California prisons.

Olivia Klaus. Photo by Dorri Olds.

I am very familiar with the story, having read the book, “Helter Skelter,” by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor at Manson’s trial, and Curt Gentry. Since I was a kid in elementary school, I’ve been fascinated by stories of true crime. It’s my favorite genre, and I’ve read “Helter Skelter” at least four times. It is a deeply disturbing tale of a madman who was able to manipulate the minds of his followers and turn them into killers.
Krenwinkel was 18 when she hooked up with Manson. She was already taking drugs and drinking, as was typical of the times. When I was 18, it was a decade later, but I was high, too. Krenwinkel fell in love with Manson the night she met him. I often fell for guys that same way. She was insecure, and so was I. In the film, Krenwinkel estimates that she did up to 500 LSD trips during the year and a half she was with Manson. I can believe it. My acid trips add up to around 300. It is scary to think that what happened to her could’ve happened to me.
Klaus’s movie, “Life After Manson,” was one of my favorites at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, so I was thrilled when she agreed to an interview. The two of us met in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, a couple of blocks from my apartment.
The last interview Krenwinkel did was with Diane Sawyer more than 20 years ago. “She gets a lot of media requests, but the corrections department won’t let that happen,” Klaus said. “They censor the high-profile inmates from being interviewed. But since I was already documenting her support group, I was able to capture her. We set up cameras, and she just let the floodgates open. After 45 years in prison, she’s had more than enough time to reflect on where she went wrong. This was her opportunity to share with the world what happened to her.”
Klaus knows Krenwinkel as “Krenny, a model inmate who mentors other inmates, who trains dogs for the disabled, who goes to all of these support groups to help other women. For these 12 years I’ve gotten to know her, I know she is no longer a threat to society. She has changed.”
Many things Klaus said left an impression on me. One of them was that Krenwinkel has gone up for parole 13 times. In the film, there’s a powerful scene at a parole hearing. “She is belittled and degraded and made to be a puddle on the floor having to apologize,” Klaus said. “She can’t turn back time. What happened happened, and she is paying for it with 45 years in prison.”
I asked Klaus about Krenwinkel’s prison record. “She’s been a model inmate and gotten no disciplinary write-ups in all that time, which is unheard of in that hostile environment,” Klaus said. “You can get a write-up just for looking at a guard the wrong way or not being in line straight enough.”
I thought about how Krenwinkel and the other Manson girls threw their lives away before they were even old enough to make sound decisions. These days scientists agree that the part of the brain that makes decisions isn’t even fully formed until you’re 25.
“She is going to pay for her crimes for the rest of her life,” said Klaus. “She is a changed woman who has gone through the criminal system, which was set up to rehabilitate, and she has been rehabilitated.”
On my way home from the interview, I found myself leaning toward wanting Krenwinkel paroled. Many lifers get out after half the time she has spent locked up. But then I found myself having an argument in my head. What about the families of the victims? How would I feel if I were one of them? Surely I’d want her locked away until she’s dead.
When I got home, I went online to reread about Krenwinkel’s part in the murders. The truth is impossible to ignore:
Patricia Krenwinkel stabbed coffee heiress Abigail Folger over and over and over. To the point where Folger pleaded with Krenwinkel, “Stop, I’m already dead.” But Krenwinkel continued to stab her. The following night, Krenwinkel participated in tying up grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary and then torturing them. Mrs. LaBianca could hear her husband’s screams from the other room. Krenwinkel attempted to stab Mrs. LaBianca, but the kitchen knife was too dull. So Krenwinkel and the others stabbed her with a bayonet they had brought with them. Then Krenwinkel repeatedly stabbed the already-dead Leno LaBianca and left a carving fork embedded in his abdomen and a small steak knife protruding from his neck.
I realized that no matter how many drugs I was on, I cannot imagine myself capable of that sort of brutality, and I can’t find a way to reconcile the possibility of parole for Krenwinkel. What I do know is that it is a heartbreaking story and a masterfully and beautifully shot film.
Watch the trailer for “Life After Manson”:

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