I faced death if I left Manson, former cultist testifies, 48 years after murders

A woman once under the spell of Charles Manson testified Thursday that the violent and manipulative cult leader threatened to have her die a painful death if she left the ranch where they lived.

Catherine Share told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that Manson once severely beat her and got a male cult member to vow that if she ever fled the man would hunt her down and drag her back behind a car.

The unusual testimony nearly 50 years after Manson’s followers terrorised Los Angeles during two nights of bloody rampages that killed seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate, was to support a parole bid by fellow “family” member Leslie Van Houten.

Van Houten’s lawyer wants to show a state parole board that his client was under the sway of the twisted leader and more likely to make bad choices at the age of 19.

“Some people could not leave. I was one of them that could not leave,” said Share, who said she later regretted enticing Van Houten to join the cult. “I don’t think (Van Houten) felt like she was free to leave.”

Share acknowledged in her testimony that she didn’t know for a fact that Van Houten had been prohibited from leaving the cult, or hadn’t actually left at some point. She also acknowledged that others had left the Manson clan without being harmed.