Pooh Bear Manson

the story of one of Charlie’s three sons

In March 1967, Charles Manson left Terminal Island, a federal penitentiary in San Pedro. The morning after his release, he left the Los Angeles area bound for San Francisco, the epicenter of the Peace/Love movement. With only a guitar in hand, a small suitcase and $35, Charlie was looking to launch a music career from the Bay Area.

The first couple weeks were spent navigating the Haight/Ashbury district, playing guitar, busking, dropping acid, having sex with runaway girls, listening to the manic street preachers. Charlie was probably sleeping in public parks, or crashing on generous strangers’ couches, and then he met Mary Brunner.

Mary was a 23-year old assistant librarian. She moved to California from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, two summers before. The eldest of four children born to George and Elsie Brunner, good Midwestern Lutheran folk, Mary was scholarly and quiet. She was walking her poodle in the park the day she met Manson. He pretended to kick her dog and Mary got defensive. But when Charlie grew playful, she let down her guard.

Slim, with strawberry-blonde hair and a square jaw, Mary Theresa Brunner wasn’t beautiful. She wore a prim, buttoned-up shirt and nerdy glasses. Mary was intelligent and kind, though and a short chat between the two softened her heart. — The Manson Family: More to the Story by H. Allegra Lansing ©2019 Swann Publications

When Mary learned that Charlie didn’t have a place to stay, she offered her couch for the…