Charles Manson is the subject of another online death hoax that is still making the rounds on social media, even after the popular hoax-debunking site Snopes has corrected the rumors . United Media Publishing shared the false news of Manson’s death on Friday morning, and the post immediately went viral on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, among other places. No other media sources are reporting that the convicted killer is dead.
The satire site fooled social media on Friday by declaring that Charles Manson was found dead on the floor of his cell in the middle of the night. The hoax report declared that a cause of death is not yet known. Well, a cause of death isn’t known because the man simply is not dead. A source within the California prison system has confirmed that Manson is alive and that any reports declaring otherwise are simply false.
This, of course, isn’t the first time that Charles Manson has been killed off for the sake of internet giggles. It’s also not the first time a hoax has been printed about the notorious inmate in general. Last summer it was falsely reported that the elderly convict would be released by the CDCR. The hoax had gained so much attention that mainstream news sources had to let people know that Charles Manson would not be getting out of prison based on his age, or at all.
Even though Friday’s reports on Manson’s condition were completely false, it should be noted that there have been attempts on his life in the past. In May 2014, another inmate reportedly tried to set him on fire in an attack that left him injured, but alive. He is also an 80-year-old man, which is possibly why people believe these death hoaxes about him so easily.
Did you fall for Friday’s death hoax, or did you know right away that Charles Manson didn’t really die? So many people shared and circulated the hoax report that it’s hard to tell how many people actually believed the lie. Of course, people fall for internet celebrity death hoaxes all the time. It’s common for Twitter hashtags containing RIP and a celebrity name to trend for no reason other than to shock and attract unnecessary attention. Meanwhile, actual celebrity deaths slip by while everyone fusses over the hoaxes — such as the recent passing of B.B. King.
Photo: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation mugshot
