Paula Kniefel, a caretaker and tour guide at the long-abandoned building in Belmont, said that the carving -- "Charlie Manson + family 1969" -- appears to have been made with a pocket knife, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The carving is in the entrance of the county recorder's office.

The building is now a state historic site. But Rose Walter, the only resident of the town in 1969, said before her death 20 years ago that Manson and his murderous followers squatted in the courthouse for several months.

Kniefel says that Walter "swore up and down" that Manson did not bother her.

Henry Berg, who operates the Belmont Inn, said that Walter gave him a slightly different version -- that she ran the group off with a shotgun.

Manson is serving a life sentence in California for several killings. This week, the Barker Ranch near Death Valley in California where Manson was arrested, was searched for long-buried bodies, without result.