He Couldn’t Say No To The Manson Family

Part 2 of our story about rancher George Spahn

In the summer of 1968, Charles Manson and members of his Family (a communal anti-establishment group) came to stay at Spahn Ranch, a 500-acre property north of Los Angeles formerly used by film and television studios as a backdrop for Westerns. By the late ’60s however, Spahn Ranch was in poor condition. Westerns had fallen out of fashion with viewing audiences, owner George Spahn was several years in arrears on his taxes and couldn’t afford to pay his hired help, and he was subsisting off of rented pony rides.

The Manson Family came along and asked for a place to stay in exchange for free labor. They promised to help clean up the property and make sure George was well cared-for.

They also helped him with a significant chunk of his tax debt. A woman named Joan Wildebush joined the Family that summer and donated by a van a $16,000 cash — money that was given to George to pay the IRS.

But by the end of that summer, so many people had congregated to Spahn Ranch as part of the collective Manson Family. In early October, after Susan Atkins gave birth to a baby boy at the property, Charlie realized he had tested George’s patience too far. When a new member joined (Catherine Gillies) whose family owned a house in Death Valley, Manson made plans to move his group to Myers Ranch.