Charles Manson Murders Spark Unusual Friendship

On the night actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and three others were murdered by the Manson family, an unlikely friendship began to manifest between a member of the Manson family and the little sister of murdered Sharon, Debra Tate. According to Barbara Hoyt, the Manson family member whose testimony helped seal a fate behind bars for the convicted killers, the two have “got a lot in common.”

That’s right, Debra Tate is friend with a former Manson family member, Barbara Hoyt. In regard to their odd friendship, Tate was quoted by Detroit Free Press having said:

“She makes sure I am holding my head up high and I do the same for her.”

The unlikely friends are now both roughly sixty-years-old and share a lifetime of memories pertaining to Charles Manson and his “family” of murderers as the two have fought tirelessly to keep those responsible for the slayings behind bars.

Both woman claim to continually receive threats from Manson’s supporters, most of whom are white supremacists whose philosophies coincide with those of Charles Manson who allegedly provoked the killings in an attempt to incite a race war dubbed Helter Skelter.

In regards to those behind the murders, Hoyt said she testified out of fear that the killers would exact their revenge upon her were they ever released on parole, something that Charles Manson himself was recently denied. These days, after becoming a registered nurse, Hoyt thinks quite differently as she was quoted having said:

“It’s a descent into hell and then having climb back out again. I think about it and I feel I was simply there to be a witness, because that has been my role. God gave me that role, and that’s my reality.”

What are your thoughts on the unlikely friendship which has blossomed over the years between a relative of murder victim and member of the cult responsible for the murder, Debra Tate and Barbara Hoyt?