Al Hunter is on vacation. This is a reprint of an article from 2009.
Charles Manson. The very name alone conjures up images of a drug addled criminal maniac in our culture. What most Hoosiers don’t realize is that many of Manson’s severe psychotic disabilities are rooted here in Indianapolis. Although born in nearby Cincinnati on November 12, 1934, it didn’t take Manson long to migrate to the Hoosier state. Born to an alcoholic mother who Manson himself described as a prostitute who once “sold” him to barmaid for a pitcher of beer, Charlie’s fate seemed pre-ordained. His alcoholic mother could not care for him and in 1947, 13-year-old Charles Manson was sent to a boarding school run by Roman Catholic priests, the Gibault School for Boys, in Terre Haute, a strict school where punishment for even the tiniest infraction included beatings by either a wooden paddle or a leather strap. Eventually, living at Gibault got to be too much for Charles, and he ran away. He slept in the woods, under bridges, and wherever else he could find a place of shelter.
In 1948, Manson committed his first known crime by robbing an Indianapolis grocery store. At first the robbery was simply to find something to eat, but Charley found the cash register change in a cigar box hidden under the counter. It was just over a hundred dollars — more money than he’d ever seen in his life. The first thing Charley did was to rent a room on Indianapolis’ Skid Row, and eat as much as he could possibly handle. Fourteen-year-old Charley actually tried to go straight for awhile by getting a job delivering messages for Western Union, but he quickly began to supplement his wages by petty theft.
It wasn’t long before he was broke and Charley made the choice to steal whatever he could to accumulate a little extra money. After stealing a bicycle, Manson was arrested and the police discovered quickly that he was a runaway. The police located his mother, who brought Charley home, but he quickly ran away again. When caught, Manson was already honing his con man skills by telling the Indianapolis juvenile officials; “I didn’t want to stay where mother lived in sin.”
The authorities fell for his con and sent Charley to live with his aunt in a small house near the corner of West Vermont and North Exeter streets, across the street from the infamous Central State Hospital. A section of the grounds of the mental hospital at the corner of North Warman Ave. and Vermont St. was set aside as a public playground and picnic area. It also served as a hangout for local kids located just outside of the hospital’s north fence; it was within sight of Manson’s boyhood home.
Charles, like all of the kids in the neighborhood, would no doubt hang out in this park. Whether or not the time spent on the hospital grounds contributed to his past (and current) state of mental dysfunction is debatable and I’m not suggesting that psychotic disorders are somehow contagious. However, we already know that Charley was practicing to be a con man, so it’s not a far stretch to believe that this exposure at least enabled him to sharpen his skills for his future mind control games.
During this time, he was frequently detained at the Indiana Boys’ School in nearby Plainfield. It’s been speculated that it was at the Indiana School for Boys that 5 foot tall Charles Manson was beaten and raped repeatedly for over three years. During one of these detentions, young Manson was “discovered” by a local priest, Rev. George Powers. “This particular boy seemed very lonesome, just craving attention and affection,” recalled Father Powers, now an instructor at the New York Theological Seminary. “He looked like an innocent altar boy, and he was so ashamed of his mother.”
Father Powers arranged for Manson to be sent to the famous Father Flanagan’s Boys Town near Omaha, Nebraska. The Indianapolis News ran a front page story on March 7, 1949 headlined “Dream Comes True for Lad; He’s Going to Boys Town.” It characterized 14-year-old Manson as a “dead end kid” who was getting a second chance by being sent to the “last chance” haven for wayward boys. “He won everybody over,” the priest said. “The juvenile court judge was completely taken with his personality. He had ability beyond his years to present himself; he was a beautiful kid for his age.” Young Charley, however, did not turn his life around. Four days after arriving in Boys Town in March of 1949, he ran away, stole a motor scooter, and then a car. He was arrested while robbing a grocery store in Peoria, Ill., and sent back to Indianapolis. Officials here, embarrassed and frustrated, sent him back to reform school in Plainfield.
For the next five years, Manson was in and out of institutions. He escaped from the Boys’ School 18 times in 3 years. In 1951 during one of these escapes, he stole a car and headed west. He robbed 15 to 20 gas stations along the way before being caught in Utah. Instead of sending him straight to prison, Manson conned his way into being sent to the “National Training School for Boys” in Washington, D.C. In 1954, psychiatrists described him as a “slick” but “sensitive” boy. In what would be his last act of violence before the Hollywood murder spree that would make him infamous, while behind bars, Manson sodomized a young boy while holding a knife to his throat.
After his release in late 1954, Manson traveled to West Virginia where his grandmother lived. Almost immediately after arriving, he met and married Wheeling waitress Rosalie Jean Willis on January 17, 1955. Rosalie quickly became pregnant and the couple had a son named Charles, Jr. Again, Manson tried the straight life by getting part time jobs as a busboy and parking lot attendant. Manson couldn’t resist the temptation of easy money and began to steal the contents of the cars he’d been entrusted with and finally began stealing the cars altogether for transport out of state. He was caught and arrested in October of 1955 and sentenced to 5 years. When he was released in September, 1958, his wife had already divorced him. Over the next 11 years, Manson was arrested several times for theft, forgery and probation violations.
Manson left Indiana for good in mid-1950s Eisenhower America. No-one could have known that this tiny, seemingly insignificant Hoosier juvenile delinquent would become the most famous serial killer cult leader this country would ever see. And those wicked con game seeds were planted right here in Indianapolis.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest book is “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
