NOW IT CAN BE TOLD! Mass-murder mastermind CHARLES MANSON was set on fire by vicious prisoner, who boasted he’d kill the “Helter Skelter” madman!
And convicted killer Jan Homstrom nearly made good his threat –igniting the infamous cult leader.
“Manson survived, but he could have easily been killed!” says a now-retired corrections officer who was one of the first guards at the scene of the 1984 assassination attempt.
Few details of the horrific incident have ever been released, but the source says Manson’s skin actually melted, and he was just a heartbeat away from death after being turned into a human torch.
Caged for life for inciting the 1969 “Helter Skelter” rampage slayings of actress Sharon Tate and eight others, Manson conducted a reign of terror in prison in the years after his January 1971 convictions, say sources.