Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

188 Netherworld
Mesopotamian area in later centuries. His
marriage to Ereshkigal, queen of the underworld,
led him to be identified as king of the underworld
in later, syncretistic religions, such as in certain
strands of Gnosticism. In certain reference books,
such as in Davidson’s definitive Dictionary of
Angels, he is mistakenly identified with one of the
great winged centaurs of ancient Mesopotamia,
which explains his association with angels in
certain writers’ minds. Also, in at least a few occult
books, Nergal is identified as chief of the secret
police in the infernal regions, thus causing him to
be associated with fallen angels.
See also Ereshkigal
For Further Reading:
Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels Including
the Fallen Angels. New York: Free Press, 1967.
Ronner, John. Know Your Angels: The Angel Almanac
with Biographies of 100 Prominent Angels in
Legend and Folklore, and Much More.
Murfreesboro, TN: Mamre, 1993.
Netherworld
In this 1990 film, Corey Thornton, seeking to
know more about his family’s past, visits the
swampy old Louisiana plantation where his
decease father lived. He soon discovers that he has
stumbled into a realm saturated with black magic
and devil-worship.
Newcastle Ritual Abuse Case
Like many previous Satanic ritual abuse (SRA)
scares, the Newcastle case revolved around abuse
charges at a child-care facility, in this case a
nursery run by the Newcastle Council in northeast
England. After social workers received a report of
suspected abuse from the mother of one of the
children, a nurse was suspended. (Later, a young
woman would be implicated as well.) At the
prompting of social workers who had also been
involved in earlier SRA scares at Nottingham and
Cleveland, parents began getting together to share
information and experiences. Eventually, a local
pediatrician became involved by diagnosing abuse
in more than a few children.
Based on numerous bizarre abuse allegations,
charges were made and the case went to trial in
June 1994. When both defendants were acquitted
because the evidence was judged unreliable,
outraged parents attempted to assault them in the
courtroom. Later, they took to the streets with
banners that read “Believe the Children” and “We
Believe the Kids.” More action was demanded.
Eventually an internal independent inquiry was
authorized. One of the inquiry’s advisors was a
therapist who was also an evangelist and prominent
SRA lecturer. A team of “experts” charged
Newcastle £400,000 (about U.S. $670,000) to write
a report that was never issued because the insurance
company would not underwrite its cost.
See also Satanic Ritual Abuse; United Kingdom,
Ritual Abuse in
For Further Reading:
“Abuse probe panel costs council 400,000.”
http://www.newcastle.tory.org.uk/news.htm
Night Stalker
Richard Ramirez, better known as the Night
Stalker, was a burglar, rapist and sadistic serial
murderer who terrorized the Los Angeles area in
the mid-1980s. He also made a brief sojourn to
San Francisco during his crime spree. He was
captured by civilians on August 31, 1985, following
an all points bulletin in which his mug shot
was broadcast on television and printed in newspapers.
After a fourteen-month trial, he was
convicted of thirteen murders and thirty other
felonies on September 20, 1989.
A self-identified Satanist who had actually read
relevant works like Anton LaVey’s The Satanic
Bible, Ramirez’s crime spree was one of the few
cases that might legitimately be called “Satanic
crime.” His “calling card” was the inverted pentagram
traditionally associated with Satanism,
which he left drawn on a wall, or, in one case,
carved into the body of a victim. In 1983, he made
a special trip to San Francisco to meet LaVey
personally. LaVey was later reported as commenting
that, “I thought Richard was very nice—very
shy. I liked him.”
Because Ramirez was a fan of the rock group
AC/DC—a group that at one stage of their career
adopted Satanic imagery and incorporated infernal
references into their music—the case was given