Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

Reader 1

Andrew Aisenberg

Reader 2

Nicolette Rohr

Reader 3

Jessica Christian

Rights Information

2025 Rebecca K Allen

Abstract

Though an extreme aberration from most of the hippie counterculture of the 1960s, Charles Manson’s ultimately murderous cult arguably represents something particular about American culture in the late sixties, in which youthful hostility towards the status quo sometimes grew radical, and in the case of the Manson Family cult, extremely violent. By the mid-sixties, more and more young people began to feel alienated by a culture they felt no longer embodied their larger aspirations, and as a result, were drawn to the emerging counterculture that embraced alternative lifestyles that frequently clashed with the traditional sensibilities of their parents’ generation. After the Manson Family murders in 1969, media coverage increasingly emphasized the relationship between the counterculture and the murderous cult, articulating that the countercultural expression of many young people might be dangerous. In this way, the media’s equation of the Family with hippies displayed the duality of images of the counterculture: that of idealism and horror, highlighting the tension between the movement’s utopian visions and the darker possibilities of such aspirations. Thus, amidst popular images of California as a land of promise and opportunity, media portrayals depicted another California story closely related to violence and the occult. By investigating the media coverage of the Manson Family and the murders it committed, I examine the emergence of this alternative California, which challenged popular notions of the counterculture by juxtaposing images of peace-loving hippie idealism with those of horrific violence, exploring how these media narratives displayed views of California culture and the counterculture.

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