They were here in Phoenix for a while. I used to go to what my brother and I called 'the river' down to the Rio Verde river and there is a cave there, open and looks out at the river. My brother and I pulled up in his truck and walked up and around the rocks and the river. There were all these hippie kids there, in their 30s or so, this was back in the 80s. They were sitting under this open cave and kind of looking at us, posed and I wondered what they were doing. Years later I realized it was a similar look to when they sat at Spahn together under an open cave. Few years later read that someone from the Manson family had purchased a 'Halloween' house out here and ran it (one of those fake Halloween attraction houses) but the attractions were very bizarre, all dark inside with a play going on, light on the actors acting out someone having an abortion, someone getting robbed and stabbed to death...I think I know where it was. Might've said in the article, can't remember. Out on McDowell and Pima road. That day when we got home we discovered my brother's license plate had been stolen and some papers/info from his truck. Someone got pulled over like a year or two later and the police told my brother about the papers. I think they returned them, not sure.
“So no one knows for sure just how many “Family Members” there were in all?”
Of course not. Charlie was collecting street kids who were runaways or just looking for adventure. It was no more “official” than a ‘60s commune. Or today’s homeless camps. Kids came and went as they pleased, unless Charlie didn’t want someone around.