From Homecoming Queen to Acid Orgies: The Leslie Van Houten Story Part 1

After 53 years in prison, former Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten is now a free woman. This is her story.

Leslie sang in the choir as a little girl and lived to dance, sliding across the wooden floors of the Harmony Ballroom in Anaheim to the surf rock sounds of Dick Dale.

As a teenager she heard the hippie call to turn on, tune in, and drop out, so she did, wandering up to Haight Ashbury in San Fran where she met the travelling minstrel Bobby Beausoleil, the love of her life.

It was Bobby who introduced her to Charlie Manson and the Family.

Within a year she'd participated in a double homicide and abandoned the flower power lifestyle to scavenge the desert as a violent marauder against society.

Join us for part one of our two-part series detailing the fascinating, and at times horrifying and mind-boggling, life of the iconic Lulu, Leslie Van Houten.

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Creepy Amusement Park theme by Brandon Fiechter and Derek Fiechter, used by permission and with many thanks.

References:

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill

The Shadow Over Santa Susana: Black Magic, Mind Control And The Manson Family Mythos by Adam Gorightly

Helter Skelter: the True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi, and Curt Gentry

Manson in His Own Words: The Shocking Confessions of ‘The Most Dangerous Man Alive’ by Charles Manson and Nuel Emmons

The Garbage People: The Trip to Helter Skelter and Beyond with Charlie Manson and The Family by John Gilmore and Ron Kenner

The Family by Ed Sanders

Dick Dale at the Harmony Ballroom in Anaheim:

https://youtu.be/cztu-juq1mw

Bobby and Gypsy in RAMROD: (199) Gypsy and Cupid Charles Manson Family Filmed At Spahn Ranch Backporch Tapes - YouTube

Leslie Van Houten: A Friendship, Part 1 of 5 | HuffPost Latest News

Leslie Van Houten, Ex-Manson Follower, Approved for Parole (nbcnews.com)