The makers of Making Manson have found a wealth of new audio footage that adds texture to an infamous figure without absolving him of his terrible crimes

When it comes to Charles Manson, the image we most know and fear – and arguably fixate on – is that of grungy cult leader. It’s complete with the loose hippie shirts that flow like robes and that thick unkept beard covering so much of his face and becoming integral to his messianic antichrist aesthetic.

“But he never had a beard,” says Making Manson director Billie Mintz, pulling on a loose thread. He’s referring to the period when the man charged with orchestrating several grisly murders – among the victims Hollywood actress, Sharon Tate – was leading his young and impressionable commune who came to be known as the Manson Family. At that time, and contrary to the popular image we’ve come to know through mugshots and courtroom footage, Manson was completely clean-shaven. In Mintz’s three-part docuseries, we hear Manson, for the first time in newly released recordings, explaining the very practical reason why he has the beard we’re so familiar with while photographed in police custody: they never let him have a razor.