According to the Associated Press, California's director of prisons is recommending that former Charles Manson follower Susan Atkins' request for a compassionate release be denied. Officials at the Californian Institution for Women in Corona, where Atkins was housed from April 1971 until March, when she was transferred to a local hospital, recommended Atkins for early release due to medical reasons. Her attorney, Eric Lampel, has confirmed that Atkins has brain cancer and that doctors have......

Rumors have always been floated that bodies have been buried at Charles Manson's Death Valley hide-out and place of arrest. Then, this last February, Detective Paul Dostie of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department and a pack of cadaver-sniffing dogs with a black Labrador named Buster in lead smelled something afoul, eyebrows were raised and dirt samples were analyzed, according to the LA Times. Now, today is the day that Inyo County sheriff's and scientists head......

Maybe we should take things like this more seriously, but last week "vandals" broke into a vacation home in Palm Springs and caused some eyebrows to rise when they turned over furniture (very nicely), arranged foliage and sticks to create pentagrams and clog toilets, and wrote words like "Pigz" and "Helter Skelter" on a window and on the fireplace... with soap! It was right around the 38th anniversary of the Manson Family murders of......

36 Years Ago Today...The Manson Family began their killing spree, murdering Sharon Tate and four friends in a house hidden away between Beverly Hills and the Valley. The BBC News article that reminded us of this notes that the Manson trial was the longest murder trial in US history. Is that still true? And, we're curious, do you think it is still the most well-known California murder trial or does the OJ trial now......

Terry Melcher, the ultimate California kid, died of cancer last Friday night in Beverly Hills. The Los Angeles Times described him as a "surfin'-era singer, songwriter and recording executive who produced the Byrds' No. 1 hits "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn, Turn, Turn" and co-wrote the Beach Boys' "Kokomo." Melcher provided the template for the Angeleno archtype: the Celebrity Scion who thrived behind the scenes of the entertainment world and made a lasting impact on......