Was Charles Manson a Satanist? The Satanic History of The Manson Cult

Was Charles Manson a Satanist? Conspiracy theorists seem to think that Charles Manson was a Satanist just because of his evil and inhumane nature. He arranged a group of people that would do anything for him, including murdering innocent people.
Just because he masterminded one of the most shocking series of murders in history, does not automatically make Charles Manson a Satanist. Still, somehow the rumors persist and people to this day still believe that Manson was a Satanist.
To find out why people believe Charles Manson was a Satanist, you have to look at the history of some of the people that associated with him, and who they knew, themselves.
Satanism began as a social movement in the late 1960’s, through the work of Anton LaVey. He created the Church of Satan and the Satanic Bible. There are two people whom Anton LaVey had ties with that eventually ended up as part of the Manson family. One of them was Susan Atkins.

Susan Atkins, who eventually became a Manson family member, is perhaps the only definitive link between Charles Manson and Satanism. Atkins met Anton LaVey and worked with him for a brief period before moving on and finally settling with the Manson family.
Susan Atkins, born 1948, was known to her friends as Sadie. When she was 15, her mother unfortunately died from cancer. She was left with family who took care of her and her brother. But later on, her father abandoned them, leaving Susan all alone. She ran away to the city to make a new life.
Susan moved to San Fransisco to start over, where she eventually found a job and a place to live. She worked as a telemarketer for a while, until that no longer satisfied her. When she got another job as a cafe waitress, though, it offered her an opportunity to socialize. She eventually met two convicts who convinced her to hit the road with them. That is when her life of crime began. She went on the road with them, committing armed robberies along the way.
When they were finally busted and she was sent to prison, she returned to San Fransisco after her probation ended. Still seeking more, she decided to become a topless dancer. She wanted to follow in the footsteps of famous topless performers like Carol Doda who made the exotic dancing industry explode during that era in California. Atkins had hoped to cash in on the same thing.
Anton LaVey, Susan Atkins, and the Witches Sabbeth
In the 1960’s Satanism was still a novelty and the public was curious about it. It was then that LaVey found Atkins as she searched for exotic dancers and topless women to perform in his shows and rituals. LaVey’s event, titled the “Witches Sabbeth” was hosted at a topless club called GiGi.
LaVey was paid $250.00 to arrange the choreography and provide the set and actors for this performance of the Witches Sabbath.
The show, created with topless dancers and other actors, was based loosely on some of LaVey’s rituals from the Satanic Bible, and productions at the Black House. This made it somewhat of a public display of the early rituals of the Church of Satan.

Atkins was a part of this performance at club GiGi, playing the part of a vampire witch, rising from a coffin during the height of the ritual performance, and pointing her finger at the audience.
From her 1977 memoir, ‘Child of Satan, Child of God‘, Atkins recalled the dramatic moment that she first met Anton LaVey. The owner of Gigi’s, Mr Garnet, introduced Anton to Susan Atkins after she was done with her routine on stage. LaVey, dressed in all black, appeared with the owner and described to her what a Witches Sabbath production would entail.
“LaVey threw his head back and gave a barking sort of laugh. ‘It’s a time, my dear, when the witches worship their leader – Satan. It’s a marvelous ceremony and will be very colorful for your club. It’s a bit out of the ordinary.’”
According to Susan’s account, she was invited to the black house in San Fransisco for gatherings and rituals.
She spent time with LaVey before he really became popular and got to know him through personal discussions. She stated that LaVey told her that they truly worshiped Satan as a real entity, and that the public face of Satanism that he represented was only a philosophy.
She claimed that he presented this watered down, socially friendly version of Satanism to gain converts, knowing that people would never want to give their lives over to something that had always been seen as evil.


Her experience with Satanism and LaVey had changed her over time, and her lover at the time took notice, asking her to quit doing the stage shows with LaVey. But, she continued on enjoying the attention and danger associated with her lifestyle.
She ended up in a downward spiral, through alcohol, drugs and casual sex, that eventually prepared her for, and lead her to the control of Charles Manson.
How Susan Atkins Eventually Met Charles Manson
Manson’s relationship to Susan Atkins, who became his biggest cheerleader, is the strongest link to Charles Manson being associated with Satanism. However, Manson was not a Satanist himself, never knew Anton LaVey, and was only related to Satanism by association.
Atkins met Charles Manson in 1967. She met him at a house that she stayed at with friends, where Manson would come visit and play guitar with them. Later on when the house was broken up by the police, Manson found her again and he convinced her to join his group.

He gave her a new name – ‘Sadie Mae Glutz’, after she had a fake ID made for her by a mutual friend. Sadie was back – living her old wicked ways again, it seemed. The Manson gang, under the direction of their deranged leader Charles ended up on a killing spree, beginning with Gary Hinman, their first victim.
Susan was involved with the plotting and murder of Gary Hinman. Gary was a close friend of another Mason member, Bobby Bouseoli, leading us to the second connection between Charles Manson and Satanism.
The murder of Gary Hinman wasn’t the only crime she was convicted of. She was also, tragically, involved in the infamous Sharon Tate and LaBianca murders in 1969, as well.
LaVey’s Opinion on Atkins, Satanism and Charles Manson
From LaVey’s interview with the publication “Birth of a Tragedy”, LaVey describes his time with Atkins and his opinion on Charles Manson. He thought that she was strung out most of the time on drugs while he worked with her, often making health-related excuses while she was at the night club during rehearsals.
LaVey also believed that Atkin’s account of her time with the Church of Satan was a ruse to blame Satanism and LaVey for her own personal descent into madness. This same madness that eventually lead her to the arms of Charles Manson.
Atkin’s confessions in her 1977 tell-all book, Child of Satan, Child of God, LaVey claimed, were nothing but a public showing of atonement, a device to try and get herself off parole by seeming to turn her life around to Christianity.
When it came to the matter of Charles Manson, Lavey remarked that even though Satanism was about creativity and deviance, it shouldn’t be something that is ‘socially disruptive or destructive’. After all, how can a person enjoy their personal freedom and enjoyment of life as a Satanist from behind bars?
Another Distant Second Link Between Satanism and Charles Manson
The other, less discussed link between Charles Manson and Satanism is Kenneth Anger, and Bobby Beusoleil. Bobby was a musician who had played in several bands in the 60’s. He was hired by Kenneth Anger to play a role in an occult-themed film.
Kenneth Anger, an experimental filmmaker, is notable for being one of the first openly gay directors in Hollywood. With his own unique style of film making, his focus was often on homoeroticism, surrealism and the occult. Many of his films are centered on the themes of Aleister Crowley. He created and produced dozens of experimental films and documentaries throughout the 70’s.

In his own way, Kenneth anger saw his male lovers as a kind of muse, they inspired him and helped him to create his film fantasies. One such person was the musician, Bobby Beausoleil, who offered to play a part in Anger’s film and create a soundtrack in exchange for an opportunity to stay with Anger at his compound, known as the Embassy.
Beausoleil did not lead the same lifestyle that Anger did, and being only interested in women, Beausoleil often had his girlfriends visiting. He also helped as a chauffeur to Anger and attended social counter-cultural events with Anger during that era. For his work in Lucifer Rising, Beausoleil also arranged a musical group, titled the Magick Powerhouse of Oz to accompany the film.
Through his interest in the occult underground of the 1960’s and his rise to fame, Anger eventually met and befriended Anton LaVey. LaVey eventually named Anger as a godfather to his daughter, Zeena Schreck.
The Lucifer Rising film ended up being cut and put into a different film all together, starring the footage of Beausoleil and Anton LaVey. In searching for financing for his project, over the next 5 years, Anger left Hollywood to find a more international scene, eventually hooking up with musicians from the rolling stones and led zeppelin. Re-titled, “Invocation of My Demon Brother”, the film was finalized in 1969.
Beausoleil’s music is featured on the Lucifer Rising: The Soundtrack Album.

After a falling out with Anger in 1969 Beausoleil met Gary Hinman, whom he began living with. It was during this time that Beusoleil was caught up in the Manson family, just like Susan Atkins was. Later on, Beausoleil took part in the first of a series of murders involving Gary Hinman, initiating the ‘race war’ that Manson had created for his followers.
While Beausoleil was not a member of the Church of Satan, or a Satanist, he played a starring role in Kenneth Anger’s film featuring Anton LaVey, and was a companion to Kenneth Anger during the 60’s.
Later Connections: The Satanic Panic Conspiracy Labels Manson a Satanist
The 1980’s was a crazy time for Satanism and Satanists, due to social panic that swept across the nation. Beginning at the McMartin Preschool, and the publication of Michelle Remembers, kangaroo courts began prosecuting innocent people based on recovered memory syndrome. This type of interrogation seeks to make people please their inquisitors instead of telling the truth. It is no longer admissible in court as a questioning technique.
Counselors, lawyers, judges, writers, and even priests cashed on the craze to blame Satan for everything imaginable. Even prominent media personalities jumped on the bandwagon. In 1988, Manson was interviewed for Geraldo’s two hour prime time special on Satanism.
Geraldo Rivera on Satanism: Manson is a Satanic Superstar!
Millions of people tuned in to watch Geraldo Rivera describe how popular culture, rock and roll, fashion, serial killers and various crimes somehow were all related, and were sourcing America’s underground group of over 100,000 Satanists.
Rivera introduced Manson as “Today’s top Satanic celebrity”, claiming that all of the Manson family murders were Satanic in nature. Possibly, he took a cue from Kenneth Lanning, one of the main perpetrators of the myth of Satanic crime. Rivera seemed to have ignored the fact that the Manson murders had nothing to do with Satanism, either past or present. He later recanted in 1995, years later after the social damage had been done.
Years later, Rivera recanted his documentary, admitting that most, if not all of what he had presented was conspiracy theory, and false accusations.
Perhaps Satanists latched onto Manson as a way to shock and outrage society. Satanists seemed to have an interest in Charles Manson through popular subculture even though Manson wasn’t a Satanist himself.
Nicholas Schreck, husband of Zeena LaVey, and front man of the Werewolf radio band, made a documentary about Manson and interviewed him for portions of that documentary. Schreck’s documentary, titled “The Manson File“, presented a look into Manson’s philosophy and spirituality, and his religious interest in the Gnostic god, Abraxas.
Nicholas Schreck, former leader and co-owner of the black magic order, The Werewolf Order was familiar with LaVey and worked closely with him throughout the 1980’s.
Manson is Guilty of Satanism Only by Association
Charles Manson is only guilty of being a Satanist by association. The web of people that surrounded him were Satanists or knew people who were friends with Anton LaVey, but Manson wasn’t part of that inner circle. The crimes that he helped to perpetuate were horrific, but in the end, they were not Satanic in nature. We can thank Geraldo Rivera and other talk show hosts of the 1980’s who perpetuated this myth which persists today.
References:
When the Devil was hot: how Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey seduced Hollywood: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-witch/satanism-anton-lavey-hollywood/ [accessed 11/22/17]
From the Church of Satan Archives: by Magistra Peggy Nadramia http://www.churchofsatan.com/from-the-cos-archives.php [accessed 11/22/17]
The Satanic ’60s: When Manson Follower Susan Atkins Danced Topless For Anton LaVey: http://crimefeed.com/2017/05/the-satanic-60s-when-manson-follower-susan-atkins-danced-topless-for-anton-lavey/ [accessed 11/22/17]
Child of Satan, Child of God Her Own Story – Susan Atkins Menelorelin Dorenay’s Publishing (December 15, 2011)[available at amazon]
Susan Atkins on Anton LaVey: https://www.scribd.com/document/63873680/Susan-Atkins-on-Anton-LaVey [accessed 11/22/17]
Anton LaVey, by Eugene Robinson, Birth of Tragedy, Issue No. 4, November ’86 – January ’87 http://www.churchofsatan.com/interview-birth-of-tragedy.php [accessed 11/22/17]
Anger: The Unauthorized Biography of Kenneth Anger Bill Landis, Harpercollins; 1st edition (July 1, 1995) [available at amazon]
Bobby Beausoleil’s Official Fan Page: http://bobbybeausoleil.com/ [accessed 11/22/17]
When Geraldo Rivera took on Satanism (and a very confused Ozzy Osbourne), Cyriaque Lamar, 08/09/11 https://io9.gizmodo.com/5829171/when-geraldo-rivera-took-on-satanism-and-a-very-confused-ozzy-osbourne
The Manson File, by Nikolas Schreck, Amok Pr (March 1, 1988)[available at amazon]