My Uncle and Charles Manson

tempo_n_groove said:

PJPOWER said:

That’s a crazy story!  I have always wondered how many Manson followers are still out there as cults never really just “go away”.  The fact that he still had people willing to do his bidding on the outside like that is a bit frightening.  

Gern Blansten said:

wow...amazing story!  That dude was something else.

I always wondered how Manson got those people to come to my uncle without the cops following up or noticing?  I thought all his mail and phone calls were monitored.  I know he was really smart so who knows.  I always wondered about that though.

tempo_n_groove said:

My Uncle, Richard Rubacher was a pen pal with Charles Manson for a while.  He has a stack of letters from him but not sure if he visited him.

My uncle was a different kind of person.  He almost died becoming a "breatharian".  This was a thing for a while and it fascinated my uncle.  i would tell him that he was the dumbest smart person that I ever met.  That is for another story.

This was from my Uncle and the conversations I had with him.  He thought Manson was interesting so he decided to write him a letter in prison.  My uncle was highly intelligent and could always write.  Charlie liked that.

So my uncle and Charlie wrote back and forth.  My uncle eventually had enough and broke it off.  He said that Charlie was a braggart and a show off and just got tired of it because he was starting to threaten him.

You can find my uncle's recollection of this in a book called Blood Letters and some television series he did in San Francisco.  He even did a play about him.  Not sure if you will find any of this out there in the world anymore, it was 20 years ago?  I may be able to find the book in my place somewhere.

So What else he told me:

One day there was a young gal on my uncles steps in San Francisco.  Confused he asked "Can I help you"!?!
"I'm here for you, a gift"
My Uncle replied "Excuse me"?!?
"Yes I am a gift from Charlie.  He sent me for you.  I'm yours to do what you like with".
My uncle sent her on her way.  Apparently Charlie took a liking to my uncle and wanted to show this.

Another time there was a man following my uncle around.  My uncle approached the man asking what the deal was and he replied "Charlie sent me to watch over you".  Charles Manson had sent a bodyguard to watch over my uncle, lol.

When the relationship turned sour and the letters stopped coming my uncle came home to a large individual sitting at his kitchen table and you guessed it, Charlie sent him.  My uncle came up with some quick gab and talked his way out of getting his ass either kicked in or killed.  The man left without harming my uncle.

My uncle said that Charles was trying to manipulate him in a way and he was having none of it.  He would also say that at first he was enamored by him but that would eventually wear off.

My uncle is deceased now and I had begged him for the stack of letters he had but wouldn't give them up.  Who knows where they are?  He ended up living in Thailand so I am sure they are out there somewhere.

Oh well.

hedonist said:

Damn, I just read up on breatharianism. Yikes!

I remember reading Helter Skelter as a kid, fascinated by the Hollywood ties and sheer brutality. And Steve Railsback, the dude who played him in the movie, nailed those maniacal eyes.

I can only imagine him as lucid but mad. Belied his little stature. Those letters must be a fascinating read, assuming they’re still out there somewhere. 

JW269453 said:

I remember being worried every time he was up for parole when I was young. Probably had something to do with growing up in the America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries era. He was a very interesting man to say the least, sounds like your uncle was as well.