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

Black Mass 27
tortured with fish hooks—was taken from the
popular horror films Hellraiser and Children of the
Corn. One of the accused was later quoted on the
Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance
website as observing that, “Those were two of the
films, along with a cartoon where characters are
seen bowing down before a kind of god, which the
alleged victims have seen. It seems a lot of what
was said in statements was copied from these films
and that expanded the youngsters’ imaginations.”
After the charges came out, the accused were
harassed by abusive phone calls, acts of vandalism
against their automobiles, and bricks thrown at
their homes.
In the initial police investigation, no evidence
was found to support the charges, which had
become increasingly bizarre. The girls who had
leveled charges of sexual abuse were examined and
discovered to be virgins. A pediatrician with a
special “expertise” in Satanic ritual abuse provided
support for the families of the accusing children.
Despite these negative indicators, the investigation
was pushed forward by public opinion and
certain segments of the police force. As in earlier
ritual abuse cases, numerous personnel and departmental
resources were committed to the investigation.
A team of policemen and social workers were
eventually able to marshal formal allegations. The
couples were arrested, though they were able to
obtain release on bail. Their defense attorney noted
that, “It is the most worrying and frightening case I
have seen. The allegations against good people are
horrific and in other circumstances would be
dismissed as ludicrous. But in the present climate of
hysteria and fear the most absurd allegations are
taken at face value by the authorities.” In early 1995,
the senior prosecutor dropped the case because the
evidence was ambiguous and the charges unbelievable.
The parents of the allegedly abused children
subsequently brought a civil suit against the
accused couples.
See also Satanic Ritual Abuse; United Kingdom,
Ritual Abuse in
For Further Reading:
Hicks, Robert. In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the
Occult. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1991.
Victor, Jeffrey. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a
Contemporary Legend. Chicago: Open Court,
1993.
The Black Hole
An obsessive scientist (played by Maximilian
Schell) explores a black hole in deep space where
lost souls wander into a portal seething with fire
and billowing smoke. This was Disney’s first PGrated
movie.
Black Mass
In Catholicism, a Black Mass is a requiem mass at
which the priest is dressed in black vestments. As
commonly used, however, this expression refers to
the blasphemous parody of a conventional Mass
that was traditionally thought to be the central rite
of Satanism. However, like Satanism more generally,
it is unlikely that such rituals were anything
more than the literary inventions of church
authorities. Although there was much variability
in the details found in traditional folklore, Anton
LaVey’s account of the Black Mass in The Satanic
Bible is a generally accurate description of this
Christian fantasy:
The popular concept of the black mass is
thus: a defrocked priest stands before an altar
consisting of a nude woman, her legs spreadeagled
and vagina thrust open, each of her
outstretched fists grasping a black candle
made from the fat of unbaptized babies, and a
chalice containing the urine of a prostitute (or
blood) reposing on her belly. An inverted
cross hangs above the altar, and triangular
hosts of ergot-laden bread or black-stained
turnip are methodically blessed as the priest
dutifully slips them in and out of the altarlady’s
labia. Then, we are told, an invocation
to Satan and various demons is followed by
an array of prayers and psalms chanted
backwards or interspersed with obscenities...
all performed within the confines of a
“protective” pentagram drawn on the floor. If
the Devil appears he is invariably in the form
of a rather eager man wearing the head of a
black goat upon his shoulders. Then follows a
potpourri of flagellation, prayer-book
burning, cunnilingus, fellatio, and general
hindquarters kissing—all done to a
background of ribald recitations from the