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

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Night Stalker 189<br />

The Night Stalker (Richard Ramirez) flashing an inverted pentagram (a symbol associated with <strong>Satanism</strong>) he had<br />

drawn on his palm, 24 October 1985. (AP Photos/Lennox McLendon)<br />

special attention from people concerned about the<br />

negative influence <strong>of</strong> rock music. Ramirez dubbed<br />

himself the Night Prowler after an AC/DC song,<br />

<strong>and</strong> was reportedly irritated when the media<br />

substituted “stalker” for “prowler.”<br />

His trial was a media circus. Ramirez would<br />

engage in such antics as flashing a pentagram he<br />

had drawn in the palm <strong>of</strong> his h<strong>and</strong>, shouting “Hail<br />

Satan!” <strong>and</strong> holding up his fingers alongside his<br />

head in imitation <strong>of</strong> devil’s horns. In his statement<br />

during his sentencing, he was unrepentant:<br />

You don’t underst<strong>and</strong> me. You are not<br />

expected to. You are not capable. I am beyond<br />

your experience. I am beyond good <strong>and</strong> evil. I<br />

will be avenged.Lucifer dwells in all <strong>of</strong>us....<br />

I don’t believe in the hypocritical, moralistic<br />

dogma <strong>of</strong> this so-called civilized society. I<br />

need not look beyond this courtroom to see<br />

all the liars, the haters, the killers, the crooks,<br />

the paranoid cowards....You maggots make<br />

me sick! Hypocrites one <strong>and</strong> all. We are all<br />

expendable for a cause. No one knows that<br />

better than those who kill for policy,<br />

cl<strong>and</strong>estinely or openly, as do the<br />

governments <strong>of</strong> the world which kill in the<br />

name <strong>of</strong> God <strong>and</strong> country....Legions <strong>of</strong>the<br />

night, breed! Repeat not the errors <strong>of</strong> the<br />

night prowler <strong>and</strong> show no mercy. (Carlo<br />

1996, 394–395)<br />

In sharp contrast to most other criminals<br />

labeled satanic, Ramirez consciously identified<br />

with <strong>Satanism</strong>. Thus, unlike other cases <strong>of</strong> socalled<br />

occult crime in which the link to diabolism<br />

is tenuous, the Night Stalker forces one to examine<br />

directly the assumption that <strong>Satanism</strong> somehow<br />

causes individuals to commit crimes. As with the<br />

charges <strong>of</strong>ten leveled at heavy metal music <strong>and</strong><br />

role-playing games like Dungeons <strong>and</strong> Dragons, it<br />

is clear that Satanic ideology is not an independent<br />

motivating factor that somehow transforms<br />

otherwise nice people into criminals. Rather, as<br />

reflected in the remarks Ramirez made at his

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