Theoretical and experimental free vibration characteristics of cantilevered laminated composite beams with single or multiple transverse non-propagating open cracks are investigated. The presence of intrinsic cracks in beams modifies the flexibility and in turn free vibration characteristics of the structures, and the existence of the multiple cracks in an anisotropic composite beam affects the free vibration characteristics in a more complex fashion compared with the beam with a single crack. Also the experimental results are well coincide with the numerical results in the decrease of natural frequencies and the transformation of mode shapes because of intrinsic cracks in the composite or aluminum beams. It is revealed that non-destructive crack detection(NDT) or vibration based inspection(VBI) is possible by analyzing the free vibration responses of cracked composite beams.