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- In early August 1969, followers of the cult leader Charles Manson took the lives of seven people.
- One of the victims was the pregnant actress Sharon Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski.
- More than 50 years later, a California appeals court ruled that one Manson family member should be granted parole.
The Manson murders closed out one era for the US, and heralded the arrival of another.
No more guaranteed innocence or safety. No more children playing on the streets late at night. From then on a shadow would hang over the counter-cultural movement. It was the end of the "flower-powered" 1960s.