As Charles Manson was on his death bed after being locked up for almost 50 years for masterminding some of the most brutal crimes in American history, RadarOnline.com spoke exclusively with the creator of the #1 rated podcast Young Charlie who revealed dark secrets about the Helter Skelter killer, including the šš½šøšøšš¾šš fact that he was a Scientologist.
āIf there is a term āthe worst of the worst,ā these murders qualify,ā the podcast writer Larry Brand told RadarOnline.com, explaining that he tried to show how Manson got āfrom being a 5-year-old to being a 35 year old who sent these people out to šš¾šš.ā

The gruesome crime spree that the Manson family members went on took place in the summer of 1968, terrorizing Los Angeles after killing nine people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate.
āI wanted to find out how did a petty criminal become this evil mastermind?ā Brand told RadarOnline.com. āTo get young kids, how did he get them to murder people? It is kind of a grotesque, but I wanted to show his early experiences right to the night of those murders.ā
Brand told RadarOnline.com: āBy the end of the series there will be no mystery about Manson. It is horrifying, grotesque, macabre. I wanted to find out what allowed him to have that astonishing manipulative quality.
Manson was born in 1934 and Brand studied his whole life beginning in childhood, where Manson ended up from an early age in trouble with the law.
āI did not know how influenced he was as a young con in reformatories and prisons, but later he was profoundly influenced by Dale Carnegie. It was fascinating how he wound up using these principals. Charlie was profoundly influenced by this guy. He read about him. Took a course. He incorporated these ideas into his own life.ā
Brand claimed to RadarOnline.com that Manson may have been a member of L. Ron Hubbardās Scientology cult from the beginning.
āHe was a Scientologist,ā Brand claimed.
Brand explained his involvement with the controversial religion embraced by Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
āYou canāt quite blame Scientology for it. He was attracted to pseudo-science and pseudo-religious aspects, and he used that to manipulate people in his criminal career.ā
Brand said Manson was an āExtraordinary speaker and had an extraordinary ability to manipulate people.ā
Manson āCreated a philosophy. If youāre not sophisticated, you can see how an impressionable young kids could find that compelling.ā
Brand told RadarOnline.com he was ācreating a spoken novel version of the Charlie Manson story.ā
He detailed the depths of deception from Manson. āHe presented himself as a boy whose mom was a teenage prostitute. That wasnāt true. That was one of his many, many lies. She was doing it at the behest of her criminal brother, Luther.ā
Brand said his intention was not to āhumanizeā Manson. āWeāre all human. My only interest was telling an honest story as well as I could. I was trying to get into Charlieās head to explain him, his thought process and his ability to manipulate normal middle class kids.
āDo I want people to think of him sympathetically? No. I donāt think of him sympathetically.ā
Young Charlie, the 6-part series that investigated Manson from troubled childhood to the night of the Helter Skelter murders is available on iTunes.


