Horror Prog

meAsoi wrote: verslibre wrote: The single most unintentionally funny thing about LaVey is that he died completely broke. He was living on handouts! While both the aforementioned Aleister Crowley and Anton Szandor LaVey faced financial difficulties towards the ends of their lives, it is more accurate to state that Aleister Crowley was living on handouts at the end of his life, whereas Anton LaVey had some means of support—for instance, he charged membership in his Church of Satan to each of its members at 150 USD per year—but still struggled financially in his final years, since he had to pay expensive lawyers when he faced a palimony lawsuit from Diane Hegarty.  However, despite being the founder and the leader of the Church of Satan, LaVey wasn't really an occultist; Crowley was.

LaVey, unlike Crowley, was more of a savvy entrepreneur than a traditional occultist—think of him as someone who understood the hustle better than the mystical arts. LaVey created a system where members actually paid and got official membership cards of the Church of Satan. And this wasn't just a local thing; he was sending those cards out to folks in Europe and Asia too. This global outreach really helped boost the total membership numbers. It's reported that when LaVey passed away, the Church of Satan had at least 10,000 official members, including those from overseas. That translated to over a million bucks a year just from membership fees! Besides the membership cards—which were pretty stylish and decked out with crimson [sic!] velvet—LaVey also sold to Satan worshippers all over the globe and shipped various other trinkets. For example, with the whole scene of musical subgenres like death metal blowing up, LaVey's Satanic Bible started to sell well again in the 90s and worldwide. Regrettably, Crowley didn't really get to vibe with a resurgence of counterculture's interest in the occult and demonic, and he sadly missed out on the whole revival(s) of his otherwise grandiose writing work.

meAsoi wrote: @Jacob Schoolcraft I love it, man; I love those stories... I love reading about Aleister Crowley, Anton Szandor LaVey, and his Church of Satan in San Francisco and all that crazy stuff from the hippy era.

Members of the Menantico cult were not hippies... I wouldn't consider them to have those characteristics and they definitely didn't dress like they belonged to the times we were living in ( 1970).

They were obsessed with this "One Hundred Year Ritual " which supposedly took place in the Menantico area in 1871 . A High priestess was a hostess in a local restaurant where I worked.

People that I knew began disappearing which wasn't unusual to everyone around me ...as many people thought they must have hitchhiked or lived a vagabond style of existence that was common back then...however I suspected foul play.

Between 30 to 40 members met at Menantico. They would walk calmly down a path leading through the Pine Barrens until they reached the worship site by the water. They wore cloaks and masks and danced. They pounded on oil barrels which emulated drum sounds from a Ben Hur movie.

They often began with a sing-song chanting which later developed into screaming. The sounds would travel across the water and people camping at Menantico would go into a complete panic and begin running. More panic developed when people were unsure if they were running away from the vile chorus or towards it.

There was a lot of dancing and chanting. There was rape . Some people were chased by cult members. Several of these people have come forward over the last 20 plus years and posted their experiences on the internet. It was frightening to the locals but the city officials ignored the reports. There was no investigation until a body submerged in "Clear Pond" Aftewards the authorities began taking it seriously.

It is my suspicion that cult members knew actress Barbara Hutton...whose family owned the Woolworth Five And Dime stores. Frank W. Woolworth that is. The Frank Woolworth mausoleum was eerie. He originally had a mansion built for his sister just outside Pleasantville, New Jersey on the way to Atlantic City.

It overlooked the bay and was known as the Sandcastle. Supposedly Barbara Hutton used to visit and spend hours in the "Spirit Room" located at the top of the structure. She did not live there but Supposedly she spent time there trying to communicate with the dead....

Cult members who were interrogated by the police were wealthy. The cult had a wealthy background. In 1970 there was widespread cultic activity in the area. The ritual was directly tied into Christian/Satanism in the belief that a self-sacrifice would engender the protection of Christian demons. Like a role playing game the entire concept was strictly based on Christian demonology. This sacrifice was a Judeo-Christian concept derived from medieval theologians where demons had hierarchies and legions.

Edited by Jacob Schoolcraft - February 13 2025 at 22:30