Modern Era · North America · Politics

1969

Manson Family murders

August 9, 1969

Members of Charles Manson's cult broke into the Los Angeles home of director Roman Polanski and brutally murdered five people, including Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate. The next night they killed two more. The crimes ended the 1960s counterculture's sunny self-image and became a permanent image of the dark side of the Summer of Love.