Ep 170 | Manson Family Murder Anniversary | Guest: Dianne Lake

If you’ve seen ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, you’ll know Dianne as the lookout when Brad Pitt’s character visits Spahn Ranch.  The scenes on the Ranch are striking, given the sheer amount of young women who were living on the ranch and enthralled with ‘Charlie”.  Through her own experience, Dianne explains just how Charles Manson recruited, trained and manipulated these vulnerable young women: PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ABUSE: For the first time in detail, Dianne lays out the full extent of Charles Manson’s physical abuse, which started early in her time with the Family. Detailing how Dianne was a frequent target of his beatings, she explains how Manson wielded violence to control the girls, frequently combining it with mental abuse, sexual manipulation, and rape. TRAINING THE GIRLS: Here Dianne takes you inside Manson’s process of indoctrination, explaining not only how he kept the girls with him, but also how he taught Family members to become con men and women of their own. He would teach them how to manipulate others, using these skills to recruit new members to the group and often prostituting the girls out to men for his own gain. A 14-YEAR-OLD IN AN ADULT’S WORLD: Underage for the entirety of her time in the Family, Dianne explains the lies and deceptions—from fake IDs to lying to the authorities, to convincing her to stay out of photographs, that Manson engaged in to help keep her age a secret. With the anniversary of the Manson Family murder of Sharon Tate and her friends approaches, I wanted to remind you of Dianne Lake’s eye-opening memoir that was released just two years ago. A poignant and compelling memoir of survival, MEMBER OF THE FAMILY is Dianne Lake’s disturbing and powerful testament of her time with one of the 20th Century’s most notorious criminal figures: Charles Manson. If you are planning any coverage tied to the anniversary, I hope you’ll include Dianne’s memoir in your plans.  She will also be featured on Oxygen’s special “Manson: The Women” on 8/10. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices