The Manson Family and the Tate Murders

On August 8, 1969, the city of Los Angeles awoke to the terrible news that Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski, had been murdered in her house, along with four others. It took the police nearly a year to find and arrest the culprits, four young people who belonged to a cult known as the Manson Family. Charles Manson was the leader of the cult. Although he didn’t physically play a role in the deaths, he was considered the instigator. The Manson Family showed the dark side of the hippie counterculture that was starting to reign at that time….