Charles Manson was born on November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Manson’s mother was sixteen years old when she gave birth to him. His birth name was Charles Milles Maddox, but was later changed to match his stepfather’s last name name, William Manson. Charles Manson grew up in a very unstable home. His mother was in jail for armed robbery during most of his childhood, so Manson was shifted among family members, foster homes, and eventually reformatories for many years (Baughman). He was raised by his mother, Kathleen Maddox, when she was out of jail, but he never had a relationship with his father. Manson’s mother was very unreliable. In exchange for a pitcher of beer, his mother once traded off her young son to a woman who desperately wanted to have a child. Manson was returned later to his mother after his uncle went off searching for the woman, so he could get his nephew back (“Manson Family Murders”). Manson’s tough, unstable home life may have been what started all his crimes to come.
Starting at age twelve Manson began a dangerous pattern. He was in and out of reform schools and prisons for different crimes during all of his teenage and young adult years. In Manson’s young adult years he married and divorced twice, and