Charles Manson Found Dead at 80-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Charles Manson was found dead from an apparent suicide at Corcoran State Prison.
The Truth:
A fake news website is behind false reports that Charles Manson has been found dead.
Now 8 News falsely reported that Charles Manson had been found dead after slitting his throat at Corcoran State Prison. Within a day, the story had been shared nearly 38,000 times on social media sites:
News 8 – Corcoran, California – Charles Manson, leader of the 1960’s cult group the ‘Manson Family’ was found dead in his Corcoran State Prison cell early Monday morning. Correction officers approached Manson’s cell after they heard strange noises of banging and hollering at approximately 3:17 AM on September 14. When they arrived at Manson’s cell, they found him on the ground with a slit throat – alongside him, a suicide note which read:
“As I write this letter on September 14 at 2:20 AM, I feel my soul rising to greatness. I am God, a great leader. These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them. I didn’t teach them. I just tried to help them stand up. But you will see, I am immortal. My body may lay here right now, but in less than 24 hours I will rise from the dead just like the great Lazarus, exactly like Jesus – because I am God!”
Now 8 News is designed to look like a local news channel, but it’s not. The website publishes stories that are submitted by readers, and many of them are complete works of fiction.
Still, just to be sure, we checked online prison records, and Charles Manson was still listed as an active inmate at Corcoran State Prison. That means this one is a hoax.