Dennis Carl Wilson was born December 4, 1944 to Murry and Audree Wilson in Inglewood, California. Dennis is best known as a founding member of the band The Beach Boys.
The Beach Boys was formed by Dennis along with his brothers Brian and Carl, their cousin, Mike Love and a friend, Al Jardine.
Dennis abused drugs and alcohol. By November 1983, he was homeless. In December, he drowned off the coast of Marina Del Rey, California after drinking all day. He was 39 years old.
Dennis’s wife, Shawn Love, told his family that he wanted to be buried at sea, but they were opposed to having him cremated. Civilians are only allowed to have their ashes spread at sea. President Ronald Reagan made special allowance for Dennis’s body to buried at sea without first being cremated.
Shawn was Dennis’s second cousin. She was the daughter of his cousin, Mike, the only original member of The Beach Boys still in the band today.
Charles Milles Manson was born November 12, 1934 to Kathleen Manson. At the time, his mother was married to William Manson. The baby was given the last name Manson, even though William was not his biological father. The couple divorced in 1937.
Charles spent the first 30 years of his life in and out of juvenile facilities and prison. He was released from prison for the second time in 1967. He requested to remain in prison as it had “become his home.”
After his release, the Manson Family formed. It was a cult and by 1969 there were approximately 100 members.
In 1968, Dennis was driving through Malibu, California. He picked up 2 hitchhikers, Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey. The women told Dennis about Charles as he drove them back to his house. He left Patricia and Ella at his home and when he returned, Charles was in his driveway. Inside the mansion were more than 10 members of the Manson Family.
Charles and Dennis became friends and members of the Manson Family stayed in Dennis’s home for several months. The group engaged in wild parties, drug use and group sex. When gonorrhoea became prevalent in the group, Dennis paid for everyone’s doctor visits and medication.
During this time, Charles taught Charles how to play guitar. Dennis invited Charles to record some songs Charles had written in his brother’s home studio. Several completed recordings were made by Charles and Dennis.
This was where Charles met Terry Melcher, a music producer.
Dennis purchased a song written by Charles called Cease to Exist. The song didn’t exactly fit The Beach Boys’ vibe, so Dennis changed some of the lyrics and the beat. He changed the name of the song to Never Learn Not to Love. When the song was released on the album 20/20, Dennis was given sole credit for the lyrics.
Charles was infuriated by the fact that Dennis had changed his lyrics. Dennis cut all ties with Charles who attempted to remain friends with Terry in the hopes of securing a recording contract with him.
When Terry made it clear that he was not interested in working with Charles, he sent Family members to the home Terry was renting in Benedict Canyon telling them to kill everyone inside.
When Krenwinkel, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins and Linda Kasabian showed up at the house on August 8, 1969, they killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Wojciech Frykowski, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and Jay Sebring. Charles would later learn that Terry had moved and Sharon was now renting the house with her husband Roman Polanski, who was not home at the time of the murder.
Charles was originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was modified to life in prison. Charles died on November 18, 2017.
Charles released an album of his original music on March 6, 1970. This album included Cease to Exist and other songs recorded with Charles. Every track on Charles’s album, Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, was re-recorded by Charles. The original recordings made with Dennis have never been released to the public. Dennis’s remaining brothers denied their existence, so the likelihood of them ever being released is close to none.
A video summary of this week’s post can be found at
I Can't Believe It's NonFiction 
I don’t understand what the mystery is here…
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I just thought it was interesting that they had a relationship at all and I’d like to know what happened to the recordings. Not necessarily a mystery, I guess, just something I thought was interesting.
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