# George Spahn
**George Spahn** was an American rancher, a former Pennsylvania dairy farmer, who owned and operated the Spahn Movie Ranch in the Santa Susana Pass area of [Los Angeles County](https://www.edgepedia.org/los-angeles-county), California, and who allowed [Charles Manson](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-manson) and his followers, the [Manson Family](https://www.edgepedia.org/manson-family), to live on the property in 1968 and 1969[1](https://legalclarity.org/charles-manson-on-a-horse-spahn-ranch-and-bryan-cranston/) • [2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). By the time the Family arrived he was 81 years old and blind[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Property | Spahn Movie Ranch, about 55 acres in the Santa Susana Pass near Chatsworth, Los Angeles County[3](https://aroundus.com/p/4885775-spahn-ranch) |
| Background | Former Pennsylvania dairy farmer who purchased the property in 1953, according to the Chatsworth Historical Society and other accounts[1](https://legalclarity.org/charles-manson-on-a-horse-spahn-ranch-and-bryan-cranston/) • [4](https://www.chatsworthhistory.com/Documents/PastPresent/Spahn%20Ranch%20-%20Curtis%20Automotive.pdf) |
| Ranch business | Western film set and horse-rental operation; productions included "Bonanza" and "The Lone Ranger"[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family) |
| Manson Family years | Manson and his followers lived on the ranch in 1968 and 1969, working the ranch and horse-riding business in exchange for staying rent-free[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family) • [5](https://www.thewrap.com/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-fact-check-did-the-manson-family-give-horseback-riding-tours/) |
| Condition | 81 years old and blind when the Family arrived[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family) |
| End of the ranch | Buildings destroyed in a Southern California wildfire in September 1970; the land was then sold to a developer[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-30-tm-61410-story.html) |
## The ranch and its owner
Spahn Movie Ranch sat in the Santa Susana Mountains near Chatsworth, covering roughly 55 acres in the Santa Susana Pass area[3](https://aroundus.com/p/4885775-spahn-ranch). The acreage was sold to George Spahn in 1953, after which it became known as the [Spahn Ranch](https://www.edgepedia.org/spahn-ranch)[4](https://www.chatsworthhistory.com/Documents/PastPresent/Spahn%20Ranch%20-%20Curtis%20Automotive.pdf). The HISTORY account gives a different date, quoting the author James Buddy Day saying Spahn "had owned the ranch since 1948"[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). Spahn himself was a former Pennsylvania dairy farmer[1](https://legalclarity.org/charles-manson-on-a-horse-spahn-ranch-and-bryan-cranston/).
The property served two businesses. It was a Hollywood set for television and film westerns, with productions including "Bonanza" and "The Lone Ranger"[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family), and it ran horse rentals for tourists, with actors and wranglers working side by side during the 1950s and 1960s[3](https://aroundus.com/p/4885775-spahn-ranch). In a 1970 Esquire article, [Gay Talese](https://www.edgepedia.org/gay-talese) described the row of decaying set buildings along the dirt road, faded signs marking them as a saloon, a barbershop, a café, a jail, and a carriage house, all built as Hollywood settings for cowboy brawls and Indian ambushes[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family).
## The Manson Family at the ranch
After leaving the home of Beach Boys drummer [Dennis Wilson](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-wilson), Manson and his followers made their way to the ranch and came to know Spahn[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). According to Day, it was Susan "Sadie" Atkins who found the ranch sometime in 1967, and the Family moved in gradually, first staying at a nearby church and then squatting in empty shacks along the riding trails[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). Spahn let the Family live there rent-free in exchange for labor and help with the horse-riding business[5](https://www.thewrap.com/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-fact-check-did-the-manson-family-give-horseback-riding-tours/); members cleaned, cooked, made repairs, and cared for the horses, including renting them out to tourists[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family).
**Spahn and Manson.** Day reports that Spahn liked Manson and that the two reached an understanding that Manson and the women would work the ranch in exchange for being allowed to stay[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). Talese wrote that Manson would visit Spahn's shack on quiet afternoons and talk for hours about philosophical questions that bewildered the old man but relieved his loneliness[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family).
**Caretakers.** Spahn lived in a small house near the ranch entrance, did not get out much, and needed a lot of help; the women took turns staying with him, cooking and cleaning[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme became his primary caretaker, assigned by Manson to be his eyes and assistant and to report on his conversations[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-30-tm-61410-story.html). Fromme later said she loved Spahn but compared him to her grandfather, and she denied that her relationship with him was sexual[7](https://www.oxygen.com/manson-the-women/crime-time/did-manson-family-women-sex-george-spahn).
**Trouble on the ranch.** The ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea tried to warn Spahn about the Family and was stabbed and hacked to death; his remains were found in a shallow grave adjacent to the ranch[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-30-tm-61410-story.html). Manson told his followers that Shea, who worked as a ranch hand, was a police informant working with a neighbor to have the Family removed from the ranch[8](https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021-Executive-Parole-Report.pdf). That neighbor, Retz, had spoken with Spahn after June 30, 1969 about getting Manson and the Family off the ranch, conversations often overheard by Fromme; after an August 16, 1969 raid by deputy sheriffs, Manson told a ranch employee that Retz had purchased one-half of the ranch from Spahn[9](https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/71/1.html).
## Isolation and the end of the ranch
The ranch's remoteness shaped what happened there. Manson prosecutor [Vincent Bugliosi](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-bugliosi), in his 1974 book *[Helter Skelter](https://www.edgepedia.org/helter-skelter-book)*, described the property as cut off from the rest of society, where Manson created a tight society of his own with its own value system[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). Day said the isolation left the women without books, clocks, or calendars, increasingly reliant on each other, feeding paranoia that culminated in the murders[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family).
[The Family](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-family) left the ranch after the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, once the group learned it was under investigation for auto part theft[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family). In late September 1970 the Spahn Ranch and much of Chatsworth burned in a brush fire, and the ranch land was then sold to a developer[2](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-30-tm-61410-story.html).
## References
1. [Charles Manson on a Horse: Spahn Ranch and Bryan Cranston, LegalClarity](https://legalclarity.org/charles-manson-on-a-horse-spahn-ranch-and-bryan-cranston/)
2. [How Spahn Ranch Became a Headquarters for the Manson Family Cult, HISTORY](https://www.history.com/articles/spahn-ranch-manson-family)
3. [Spahn Ranch – Movie ranch in Santa Susana Pass, Los Angeles County, aroundus.com](https://aroundus.com/p/4885775-spahn-ranch)
4. [Spahn Ranch History, Chatsworth Historical Society](https://www.chatsworthhistory.com/Documents/PastPresent/Spahn%20Ranch%20-%20Curtis%20Automotive.pdf)
5. ['Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' Fact Check: Did the Manson Family Give Horseback Riding Tours?, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-fact-check-did-the-manson-family-give-horseback-riding-tours/)
6. [POPULATION: 1 Old Rancher and The Manson Family, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-30-tm-61410-story.html)
7. [Did Manson Family Women Have Sex With Ranch Owner George Spahn?, Oxygen](https://www.oxygen.com/manson-the-women/crime-time/did-manson-family-women-sex-george-spahn)
8. [Executive Report on Parole, State of California (2021)](https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021-Executive-Parole-Report.pdf)
9. [People v. Manson, California Courts of Appeal, Justia](https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/71/1.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Applied biology and nonhuman health › Animal husbandry, fisheries, and aquaculture › Animal husbandry (practice and systems)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license