Charles Manson’s funeral service kept with a “hippie vibe,” including an ironic chanting of songs by The Beach Boys, the funeral home owner said.
Les Peters, the owner of the California funeral home where Manson’s family and friends gathered on Saturday, told the Porterville Recorder that after the open casket service, guests gathered to watch his cremation. They then went outside to sing songs by Manson and Guns N’ Roses.
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The sing-along also included songs by The Beach Boys, recalling Manson’s former friendship with the band’s drummer Dennis Wilson. Wilson allowed the cult leader’s followers to move into his home in 1968 and became close friends with the aspiring singer, taking drugs, participating in group sex and playing music together.
The Beach Boys recorded a cover of one of Manson’s songs during their career, renamed “Never Learn Not to Love” from its original name “Cease to Exist,” though Wilson’s friendship with Manson ended after he pulled a knife on Wilson’s music producers.
“As long as I live, I’ll never talk about that,” Wilson told Rolling Stone in 1976 of his relationship with the Manson family. Wilson died in 1983 by drowning in waters off of Marina del Rey.
Pastor Mark Pitcher of Porterville Church of the Nazarene in California presided over Manson’s intimate funeral service, which he claimed to do with a clear conscience.
Pitcher told TMZ that while he might normally have a conflict performing a funeral service for Manson, he made an exception because Manson’s grandson, Jason Freeman, is a Christian who was in need of a pastor.
Pitcher said he was approached by the funeral director with what he called a “unique situation.” Pitcher agreed to meet Freeman and his wife, Audrey, the day before the service, where he told them he wouldn’t touch on certain aspects of Manson’s life, like the Manson Family murders.
At Freeman’s request, he read a few scriptures during the ceremony and Freeman also reportedly spoke.
Manson had an open casket funeral on Saturday and was cremated upon the service’s ending. His ashes were reportedly taken to a nearby forest and spread along a creek bed.
TMZ reported that Manson’s body required significant makeup to cover up all the decomposing that had taken place between his death in November and the funeral service, which was attended by about 30 people.
Aside from Freeman, among those present were former Manson Family member Sandra Good and Manson’s former fiancรฉe, Afton Burton.
The funeral came nearly four months after Manson’s death from natural causes thanks to a legal battle for the rights to the infamous killer’s remains.
A judge ordered his body to be kept on ice until the legal matter was settled. Freeman was awarded the right to his grandfather’s body earlier in March.
