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Post by dem bones on Aug 1, 2017 14:33:03 GMT
Peter Haining (ed.) - The Satanists (Mayflower, 1971: originally Neville Spearman, 1969) Editor's Note 'Black Mass in a Park sparks Police Hunt' (short article from The Sun) Peter Haining – Modern Satanism: The Facts
Montague Summers – The Satanic Mass E. F. Benson – The Sanctuary Algernon Blackwood – Ancient Sorceries H. P. Lovecraft – The Festival August Derleth – The Watcher From The Sky Dennis Wheatley – The Black Magician (extract from “The Satanist”) Aleister Crowley – The Initiation Margaret Irwin – The Book Cleve Cartmill – No News Today Robert Bloch – Spawn Of The Dark One (AKA Sweet Sixteen)
Black Magic Battle in the Church (short article from The Sun)Bloch's biker classic is the standout for this reader. Haining’s essay is disappointingly sober in comparison to mighty A. V. Sellwood collaboration, Devil Worship In Britain (Corgi, 1964).
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Post by dem bones on Jan 14, 2020 16:12:33 GMT
"Most of our eternal verities are vicious jokes to keep us unhappy forever" - No News TodayNovick Robert Bloch - Spawn of the Dark One: ( Fantastic, May 1958: Aka Sweet Sixteen). Our juvenile delinquency problems have been attributed to everything from slums to momentary expectation of an all-out atomic war. Any one of these reasons is no doubt potent. But here's a new one out of the fertile mind of our Robert Bloch. Thank heaven it's fiction - or is it?Packs of Hells Angels descend on remote Kettle Moraine County each weekend, building fires on the hill and drinking the bars dry, much to the consternation of aged anthropologist Kerry, who is studying their nihilistic, often brutal behavior for his next paper. He comes to the conclusion that these "psychopaths" are fiends, "the spawn of a union between a demon and a mortal woman ... during the war ... the women had nightmares - the kind of nightmares women have had through the ages. The nightmare of the incubus, the carnal demon who visits them in sleep. It happened before in the history of our culture, during the Crusades. And then followed the rise of the witch cults all over Europe." His young friend Hibbard wonders what this batty old timer on about. I'm sure we can rely on Mr. Bloch to set him straight. The Angel's sure do. E. F. Benson - The Sanctuary. ( More Spook Stories, 1934). Spectacularly ghastly comeuppance of evil Rev. Owen Barton, bent on initiating little Dickie into a Satanic Order. Edd Cartier Cleve Cartmill - No News Today: ( Unknown Worlds, Oct. 1941). You are specifically warned, told and pleaded with not to believe this item - it wouldn't be good for you. Why an entire issue of The Argus has been devoted to an editorial. It began when printer 'Mother' Grace translated a copy of The Sabbaticon, the handbook of the Sons of Satan, and denounced Dr. Evan Scot as Anti-Christ. Editor Buck, wary of a law suit, refuses to print the accusation - surely Grace cannot expect him to risk his livelihood on such flimsy "evidence?" To prove the authenticity of his translation, Mother summons the Devil right there in the office ... Aleister Crowley - The Invocation. Toads. Capture, baptism and crucifixion of. Proper serious ritual Black Sorcery to usher in the Age of Horus, etc.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 14, 2020 17:21:49 GMT
Nice selection. Thanks for including the very cool scans from the old mags.
cheers, H.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 14, 2020 18:24:04 GMT
The evil that spread from its musty pages was real as a clutching hand ... Lawrence Sterne Stevens The Book ( Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Dec. 1951) Margaret Irwin - The Book: ( London Mercury, Sept. 1930). "I died my purpose unachieved - continue, then, the never-ending studies." The rapid degeneration of Henry Corbett, inoffensive solicitor, after his discovery of a Latin History of Black Magic on his late Uncle's bookshelf. Each night an unseen hand adds new instructions to the mouldering manuscript. A suddenly prosperous Henry soon realises is in his best interests to follow these to the letter, no matter how infantile, degrading or increasingly unlawful they may be. The book sours his appetite for all he once held dear, nudging him ever further along the path to murder and damnation. Excellent. Black Magic Battle in Church: Three Satanists fight Vicar, 78: ( The Sun, Dec. 8 1968). Report on a fracas in the chancel of the parish church at Westham, Sussex, where veteran bell-ringer Walter Binsted surprised the Devil-worshippers mid-ritual and raised the alarm. The Reverend Harold Coulthurst told reporters; "I have no doubt that this was one of the Black Magic gangs we have been warned about. They have lit fires and desecrated churches in Somerset."
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Post by dem bones on Jan 15, 2020 12:31:00 GMT
Montague Summers - The Black Mass: "Worldwide thefts of Sacred Hosts are responsible for the new legislation concerning the safe custody of the Blessed Sacrament. It has been known for many years that attacks upon tabernacles are not inspired by the value of the sacred vessels.". A brief history of same, condensed from the the entry in Summers' Witchcraft & Black Magic (Rider, 1946). Handy beginners manual for exhibitionists keen to join like-minded folk in getting their doodahs out and having a swift desecrate. For all his wilful (?) credulity, Summers is seldom dull. "Every action of the Mass which I saw celebrated at the Sabbat', confessed Madeleine Bavent, 'was indescribably loathsome.'. Dennis Wheatley - The Black Magician: Extract from To The Devil - A Daughter (Hutchinson, 1953). Canon Copey-Syle explains to Colonel 'Conky Bill' Verney why Aleister Crowley is a spent force and has been ever since his disastrous attempt to raise Pan saw him confined to a private asylum in Paris for six months. An oft-repeated anecdote of Wheatley's, apparently there is little or no truth in it whatsoever.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 15, 2020 17:08:59 GMT
Great cover.
It's all good camp fun until one reflects upon how many people's lives were ruined by the dreadful "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, here in the US--don't know if the mania spread to the UK as well. Unfortunately some prominent public "Witches" were involved in fueling the flames of fear around all of this nonsense.
Montague Summers' best book as I know I must have posted here in the past is his posthumously published memoir, The Galanty Show (out of print alas). I can't read his witchcraft books because they bring out certain unattractive areas of his personality and personal neurosis to a degree that still has the power to make me nauseous. He pioneered a particular style of self-loathing, posturing public closeted homosexual, a style that was given a banal new twist in the later 20th century by various members of the US Republican Party and more recently, the truly loathsome public personality Milo Yiannopoulos.
H.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 15, 2020 19:11:38 GMT
Great cover. It's all good camp fun until one reflects upon how many people's lives were ruined by the dreadful "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, here in the US--don't know if the mania spread to the UK as well. Unfortunately some prominent public "Witches" were involved in fueling the flames of fear around all of this nonsense. Oh yes, it spread alright! If I remember, the Evangelical Alliance flourished around that time, certain MPs jumped the bandwagon, all sorts of unfounded allegations were bandied around - in Rochdale, for example, twenty kids were removed from their homes by social services and their parents charged with Satanic child abuse. There doesn't appear to have been a shred of evidence to support this, and the case was thrown out of Court. John Parker wrote a particularly excellent commentary on the Satanic Abuse hysteria, At The Heart Of Darkness: Witchcraft, Black Magic And Devil Worship In Britain Today (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1993: would give it a thread, but it was a library loan way back when, and I've no copy to hand). I was quite a regular visitor to a Religious megastore at Holborn around the time, as their shelves were full of this nonsense, one such example, Satanism & The Occult. Or perhaps we could interest you in one from our I Was a Satanic Survivor range?
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Post by sabenaravna on Jan 16, 2020 13:36:53 GMT
Great cover. It's all good camp fun until one reflects upon how many people's lives were ruined by the dreadful "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, here in the US--don't know if the mania spread to the UK as well. Unfortunately some prominent public "Witches" were involved in fueling the flames of fear around all of this nonsense. Oh yes, it spread alright! If I remember, the Evangelical Alliance flourished around that time, certain MPs jumped the bandwagon, all sorts of unfounded allegations were bandied around - in Rochdale, for example, twenty kids were removed from their homes by social services and their parents charged with Satanic child abuse. There doesn't appear to have been a shred of evidence to support this, and the case was thrown out of Court. John Parker wrote a particularly excellent commentary on the Satanic Abuse hysteria, At The Heart Of Darkness: Witchcraft, Black Magic And Devil Worship In Britain Today (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1993: would give it a thread, but it was a library loan way back when, and I've no copy to hand). I was quite a regular visitor to a Religious megastore at Holborn around the time, as their shelves were full of this nonsense, one such example, Satanism & The Occult. Or perhaps we could interest you in one from our I Was a Satanic Survivor range? Ban this sick filth! Seriously, "therapist" who has sex with her client and then the result is Michelle Remembers...
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rob4
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 104
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Post by rob4 on Jan 16, 2020 16:39:22 GMT
Great cover. It's all good camp fun until one reflects upon how many people's lives were ruined by the dreadful "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, here in the US--don't know if the mania spread to the UK as well. Unfortunately some prominent public "Witches" were involved in fueling the flames of fear around all of this nonsense. Oh yes, it spread alright! If I remember, the Evangelical Alliance flourished around that time, certain MPs jumped the bandwagon, all sorts of unfounded allegations were bandied around - in Rochdale, for example, twenty kids were removed from their homes by social services and their parents charged with Satanic child abuse. There doesn't appear to have been a shred of evidence to support this, and the case was thrown out of Court. John Parker wrote a particularly excellent commentary on the Satanic Abuse hysteria, At The Heart Of Darkness: Witchcraft, Black Magic And Devil Worship In Britain Today (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1993: would give it a thread, but it was a library loan way back when, and I've no copy to hand). I was quite a regular visitor to a Religious megastore at Holborn around the time, as their shelves were full of this nonsense, one such example, Satanism & The Occult. Or perhaps we could interest you in one from our I Was a Satanic Survivor range? i knew someone professionally that was caught up in that particular debacle (not the Rochdale one, this was in the north-east) and had his kids taken into care. he visibly aged over a matter of months and needed counselling. as you say the whole thing had no evidential basis and was eventually dropped, but I fear alas, the damage was done.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jan 16, 2020 17:44:41 GMT
Great cover. It's all good camp fun until one reflects upon how many people's lives were ruined by the dreadful "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, here in the US. I was at an impressionable age when the Satanic Panic was in full swing over here, fueled by the likes of Geraldo Rivera and Jack Chick. I remember my friends telling me stories of human sacrifice at the local devil-worshiping spot--Clack Mountain in our case, though I'm sure every small town had its own demonic nexus. I never took it seriously, being the sort of kid who played D&D and listened to heavy metal, and neither did my parents, but some folks bought into the fear-mongering. I hope there's never another Satanic Panic--my kids spontaneously sing lyrics about Lucifer, the number of the beast, and so forth that they hear me playing on the car stereo, so I'd probably find myself in hot water. Coincidentally, I recently finished Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism, which is set in the 1980s and draws heavily from the Satanic Panic. It's a fun novel; I liked it enough to order his follow-up, We Sold Our Souls (I gather he likes the theme).
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Post by sabenaravna on Jan 17, 2020 6:56:23 GMT
Exactly. I get it, people like Satan worshipping, torture, child rape, baby sacrifice, conspiracies. But Jesus, there is fiction labeled as fiction to give that thrill. Stop being Montague "Witch hunt is good" Summers. Well, at least Summers´mix of fact and fiction (I look at you, Vampire in Europe!) could be entertaining as hell.
Still - speak about "battening upon filth and foulest passions of the age!"
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Post by Dr Strange on Jan 17, 2020 11:50:23 GMT
i knew someone professionally that was caught up in that particular debacle (not the Rochdale one, this was in the north-east) Cleveland was the first big one in the UK, in the 1980s. my kids spontaneously sing lyrics about Lucifer, the number of the beast, and so forth that they hear me playing on the car stereo, so I'd probably find myself in hot water. Early 90s there was one in Orkney. From wikipedia: "Objects seized during the raids... included a videotape of the TV show Blackadder, a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh, and a model aeroplane made by one of the children from two pieces of wood, which was identified by social workers as a wooden cross".
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Post by sabenaravna on Jan 17, 2020 13:47:21 GMT
Blackadder, you say? Hmm, Witchsmeller Pursuivant, anyone? No wonder...
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Post by dem bones on Jan 17, 2020 21:49:10 GMT
Had a rummage through filing cabinet earlier, exhumed photocopies of the two relevant chapters - 16 and 17 - in the aforementioned John Parker classic, At The Heart of Darkness. To my way of thinking, the author is commendably even-handed (though the Evangelists may not agree). Here's a taster; Four years later, Rosie Waterhouse had opportunity to hammer a stake through the heart of the Evangelical Alliance: Satanic abuse dismissed as 'myth' by government inquiry: Report blames Evangelical Christians and 'specialists' for the scare which led to investigations. The British SCA hysteria had already run out of steam by then, the media having embarked on a crusade against 'video nasties' (again) instead. Rosie Waterhouse's unpublished doctoral thesis, Satanic abuse, false memories, weird beliefs and moral panics, is available for free download HERE
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Post by helrunar on Jan 18, 2020 1:04:37 GMT
Rosie Waterhouse is a very brave lady.
The unpleasant but extremely well documented reality is that Christian (and other Abrahamic) religious fanatics have killed, maimed, tortured, psychologically abused etc etc boatloads of people over hundreds if not thousands of years ... modern day Satanists/Pagans/whatever would have to be far more organized and NUMEROUS to make even a minor dent in that track record. Most of them would far rather spend time slinging verbal poo at one another, judging from various web spaces devoted to alternative/"new" religious practices...
cheers, H.
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