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

Resources 345
Wolfe, Burton H. The Devil’s Avenger: A Biography of
Anton Szandor LaVey. New York: Pyramid Books,
1974.
Woods, Barbara Allen. “The Devil in Dog Form.”
Western Folklore 13, no. 4 (October 1954): 229–235.
Wright, Lawrence. Remembering Satan: A Case of
Recovered Memory and the Shattering of an
American Family. New York: Knopf, 1994.
Wright, Lawrence. “Sympathy for the Devil.” Rolling
Stone, September 5, 1991.
Zimmer, Heinrich. Philosophies of India. New York:
Bollingen, 1951. Macmillan, 1987.
Nonprint Resources
Films and Videos
Satanism is a popular topic for box office films. The two
top horror movies, The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby,
contain contrasting images of the Devil and Satanism.
The former is theologically quite traditional, while the
later has drawn praise from religious Satanists such as
Anton LaVey. Many such films are reviewed throughout
the main body of the encyclopedia.
There have been a number of good TV
documentaries debunking specific Satanic ritual abuse
cases. For example, a series of three PBS Frontline TV
shows deal with the Little Rascals’ Day Care case:
“Innocence Lost” (July 1993). This episode received an
Emmy and a Silver Baton Award. “Innocence Lost: The
Verdict.” This episode received the Sidney Hillman
Foundation Award, a Silver Baton Award, and Grand
Prize at the 1994 Banff International TV Festival.
“Innocence Lost: The Plea.” These programs were aired
between July 1993 and May 1997. Transcripts are
available from Journal Graphics at 1-303-831-9000.
Videotapes are available from PBS video at 1-800-424-
7963. Another documentary with a comparable title,
“Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood
Hills” (1995) examines the Robin Hood Hills murders.
It was released for circulation and can be found at, or
ordered through, video stores.
The ritual abuse perspective was also frequently
promoted on talk shows. The most famous TV program
of this type was Geraldo Rivera’s the television special
“Devil Worship: Exposing Satan’s Underground,”
broadcast by NBC on October 25, 1988. There is a
complete online copy of this show available at the
“Where the Wild Things Are” website,
http://www.hellroseplace.com.
On religious Satanism, “Speaking of the Devil” is a
documentary videotape on Anton LaVey containing a
potpourri of programs on and interviews with LaVey. A
copy can be obtained from Feral House publishers.
http://www.feralhouse.com.
Websites
For anyone interested in any major aspect of Satanism,
the Internet is a happy hunting ground. However, the
Internet is also in a constant state of flux, meaning that
any guide to such resources is necessarily provisional, as
many websites may have disappeared by the time the
reader picks up this encyclopedia. With that caveat, I
have included a few suggestions:
Although they seem to be phasing out this aspect of
their service, in the past Yahoo included structured
guides to certain topics. If this service is still in place,
typing “Satanism” into http://www.yahoo.com gives one
a useful starting place. Alternately, type “Satanism” into
the Oingo site at: http://www.oingo.com.
On the Satanic ritual abuse issue, the best sites are the
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance site at
http://www.religioustolerance.org and the more specialized
Satanic Media Watch and New Exchange site at
http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc44406/smwane/main.htm.
CESNUR is an important, Italian-based academic
organization focused on nontraditional religions. The
CESNUR website contains some useful information on
Satanism: http://www.cesnur.org. To reach sites
promoting the ritual abuse perspective, one only has to
type “ritual abuse” into any search engine.
Although the “threat” of information promoting the
occult on the world wide web has often been exaggerated,
it is nevertheless true that the Internet has been
influential in reaching individuals potentially interested
in religious Satanism. Many otherwise isolated Satanists
find a community of like-minded fellow religionists in
cyberspace. Because of the unique characteristics of the
electronic medium, it is often difficult to distinguish
substantial Satanist organi-zations from single-person
affairs with a talent for creating extensive, professional
websites. The oldest groups are the Church of Satan and
the Temple of Set (though the Temple of Set no longer
identifies itself as Satanic). The precise status and extent
of other groups are more difficult to determine.
Church of Satan
http://www.churchofsatan.com
Official site of the original Satanist church.
Temple of Set
http://www.xeper.org
Also see Balanone’s Temple of Set Information Site.
http://www.bigfoot.com/~balanone/
First Church of Satan
http://www.churchofsatan.org
This is a large networking group.
Temple of Lylyth
http://www.lylyth.org
This is a Wisconsin group with whom I have had
some direct contact.