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

Séance 245
Victor, Jeffrey. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a
Contemporary Legend. Chicago: Open Court, 1993.
Wakefield, Hollida, and Ralph Underwager. Return
of the Furies. Chicago: Open Court, 1994.
Satan’s Cheerleaders
In addition to being the name of a very forgettable
music group, Satan’s Cheerleaders (1977) was also a
B movie. Although classified under horror films, it
is hardly frightening. Rather, Satan’s Cheerleaders is
more of a mild, quasi-sexploitation movie aimed at
a PG audience. The story revolves around the
adventures of four cheerleaders from Benedict
High (located in the town of “Arnold”) and their
cheerleading coach, Ms. Johnson. While the four
girls casually throw around sexual innuendos and
at one point strip down to their bras, the only
sexual action is the unseen rape of Johnson by the
leader of a Satanic cult.
Everyone, especially the four cheerleaders,
make fun of the stuttering, overweight school
janitor. But the janitor is a Satanist who lusts after
the girls and decides to avenge himself against
them. When they drive to a game with Johnson,
the janitor follows. Chanting “Audi praecus meos
Satana blessed be!” while rubbing his pentagram
medallion, he magically forces the cheerleaders off
the road and causes their vehicle to have engine
problems. The janitor arrives and offers them a
ride to the game, but takes them to his Satanic
alter instead. There he is prevented from raping
them by some unseen force (presumably the
Devil) that strangles him with his own medallion.
The group then seeks out the local sheriff,
B. L. Z. Bubb, at his secluded home office in Nether,
California. Bubb and his wife are the leaders of the
local Satanic cult. No one seems to notice that his
name is quite unusual, nor does anyone appear to
take more than casual interest in the names of his
two dogs, Lucifer and Diablo. As it turns out, everyone
in the vicinity is also a Satanist, as the girls
discover to their horror when they try to run away
after discovering that they are to be sacrificed that
very evening. Bubb, however, makes the mistake of
raping Ms. Johnson, the only virgin in the group,
which ruins the ritual. Bubb is then slain and one of
the cheerleaders takes over as head of the cult.
See also Film
Satan’s Princess
A burned-out former policeman searching for a
runaway girl stumbles across a cult of devilworshiping
Satanists responsible for the missing
girl’s disappearance in this 1990 film. Sound
familiar
The Screwtape Letters
The Screwtape Letters is the record of a fictional
series of communications between the Devil
Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood, an aspiring
tempter-in-training. Composed by the prominent
Christian writer C. S. Lewis during the
second world war, the Letters focus on the foibles
of humankind. The core principle that Screwtape
conveys to Wormwood is that it is unnecessary to
persuade human beings to commit heinous sins.
Instead, people should be led down more subtle
paths to perdition, prompting them to pursue
their own self-interest over their duties to God in
the context of little pleasures. As Screwtape writes,
“the safest road to hell is the gradual one—the
gentle slope.” Lewis concludes his cautionary tale
with the assertion that “There are two equal and
opposite errors into which our race can fall about
the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence.
The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and
unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are
equally pleased by both errors.”
See also Demons
For Further Reading:
Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters. New York:
Macmillan, 1961.
Messand, George. The History of the Devil. London:
Newell, 1996.
Séance
A séance involves a group of people who come
together in order either to communicate with
discarnate spirits or to produce and witness paranormal
phenomena. A professional medium is
usually, but not always, present. Because of a longstanding
association between disembodied spirits
and demons, séances were traditionally regarded
as diabolical activities in which “sitters” (people
attending the séance) contacted agents of the