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1989, Hampson had meticulously recorded 70 cases, most of them clearly suspicious the
list eventually grew to more than 250. Hampson recently presented the Orange County
Board of Supervisors with a 300-page report on the investigation. As of this writing, the
Board has asked the Orange County Sheriff‟s Department to reopen the case, based on
Hampson‟s report.60 But why, we must ask, was it left to private citizens to conduct a
proper investigation of this situation? Given that extreme cruelty to animals by a youth is
universally regarded as an early warning sign of a potential murderer, why have the police
so adamantly refused to pursue an investigation of this sort of crime? Is this what the
authors of the CSER report want -for law enforcement officials to turn their heads away
from any crime, no matter how vicious, that might be associated with “Satanism?”
Error Number Four: Significant Omissions
The fact is that the report‟s authors have obviously lost sight of their subject‟s attributes -if
indeed they ever had them in their sights in the first place. Elsewhere they have described
Satanism as “a symptom of a sick mind” and then, virtually in the same breath, as a
“benign religion”.61 Such contradictory statements detract from the report‟s credibility.
Anton LaVey, whose magical watchword is “Indulgence,” explicitly exhorts his flock toward
total self-aggrandizement. But the published goals of the Werewolf Order, a group related to
the Church of Satan, make LaVey sound like a Boy Scout leader, and dispel any doubts
about the nature of this “benign religion.”
Nikolas Schreck, editor of The Manson File, is the founder of the Werewolf Order. Its motto
is “To Unleash the Beast in Man.” The Order describes itself as “an international network of
men and women of action dedicated to the creation of a new Satanic world order ...an
unholy war for dominion of this earth.”62 It is linked to the Church of Satan, and credits “Dr.
Anton LaVey” with inspiring its mission. Zeena LaVey, who is cited in the CSER report as
official spokesperson for the Church of Satan and a source of “reliable and accurate
information regarding the occult and ritual crime,” is also involved with the Order. Ms.
LaVey, who, the report informs us, “consults with people interested in applying Satanic
principles to their lives,”63 received early childhood training in these “principles” from her
father. As she comments in her introduction to the elder LaVey‟s The Satanic Witch, “My
father taught me how to crack a bullwhip at nine, so by the time I was eleven I was already
attracting boys who needed to be told what to do (a recurring theme throughout my life).”64
Ms. LaVey should be able to put such training to good use in the Werewolf Order, of which
she is listed as co-director. “The warrior priests and priestesses of our Order are lone wolves
who shun the bovine herd of humankind and seek to fulfill their ancient legacy of power and
mastery of the world,”65 declares its recruiting literature. The group appears fixated on
psychotronics and bioacoustics as a tool with great propaganda potential. “We began our
operations in 1984 with the activities of Radio Werewolf, the sonic propaganda unit of the
Order,” the same recruiting material states.66 In an earlier broadside entitled “Radio
Werewolf Indoctrination,” a spokesman for the “Radio Werewolf Supreme Command”
informs readers that the music of Radio Werewolf “is designed to instill the gleam of pride
and independence of the beast of prey back into the eyes of the pitiless youth.” If this
sounds familiar, it should, because the statement incorporates a direct quote from Adolf
Hitler. Pretentious, deluded, and grandiose the Werewolf Order may be, but benign it is not.
In an interview with a Boston reporter, a youthful member of the Abraxas Foundation -
which he described as an “occult-fascist think tank” with ties to the Church of Satan -
named Hider and Charles Manson as among those whose “feral nature” he admires.67 The
Werewolf Order and Abraxas Foundation hardly constitute an “international conspiracy,” but
such details don‟t dampen the enthusiasm of a self-described “flesh and blood incarnation of
the timeless archetype of Loki‟s legions, the avenging army that rises from the underworld

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at the twilight of the gods” armed with a Thirteen-Year Plan” aimed at nothing less than the
triumph of the “Demonic Revolution” by the year 2002.
The growing fusion of some neo-Nazis and Satanists strikes another blow at the image of
the benevolent Satanist. Indeed, fascination with Nazi occultism is a common feature of the
“recognized Satanic churches,” such as Michael Aquino‟s Temple of Set, described in the
CSER report as being “focused on a disciplined approach to magic as a means for
succeeding in life.”68 In a recent exchange with some wary neo-pagans over the Magicknet
computer network, Aquino chides those whose “cozy little house of black and white
morality” prevents them from appreciating the “good and praiseworthy parts of Nazi
ideology.”69 Discussion of such a topic, Aquino sniffs,
“presumes a definition of “goodness” on which we all agree. I doubt that if
you and Heinrich Himmler were discussing morals over coffee, you would be
able to get very far, because what he would perceive as moral behavior would
be quite alien to your notions on the subject. As one indoctrinated by the
social morality of the political and social groups who defeated the Nazis in the
1940s, you assume that your standards are the standards -that, like the
Judaeo-Christian “God,” you know “good” and “evil” because you have the
exclusive prerogative to define them. [And how blasphemous it was when
Set/”Satan” (or in the aforementioned illustration, Himmler) assumed this
same prerogative, much less offered it to humanity! Assuredly deserving of
condemnation and punishment!] In perhaps another 100 years, the profane
world will be ready to consider objectively whether there is anything “good or
praiseworthy” about Nazism ...”70
In the meantime, Aquino suggests, “those who want to see reassuringly 100% evil comic-
book Nazis should go to Indiana Jones movies.”71
Or maybe just rent a video of the Nuremberg trials. Assuming, of course, that one is not too
distressed at all the condemnation and punishment heaped upon those poor, misunderstood
Nazis who had “offered” their peculiar conception of moral behavior to the world.
CSER’s Appendices
It is important to note that the CSER report is accompanied by three appendices, two of
which are the product of law enforcement officials. Dissecting each of these appendices is
beyond this essay‟s purpose. Each, it may be said, uses the same arguments, and much of
the evidence, found in the report itself by contributing to this awesome apologia these
officers, Robert Hicks, a Criminal Justice Analyst in Richmond, and Kenneth V. Lanning of
the F.B.I. Academy in Quantico, VA, underscore the success Satanism has already achieved.
To extend its influence, Satanism need not destroy its logical opponents. It need only
disarm them.
Lanning‟s and Hicks‟ views have been widely disseminated among police officers, several of
whom have expressed to us general agreement with their misconceptions. Although these
comments do not represent a consensus, we have heard other remarks which reflect new
doubts about Satanism‟s importance. In a sense, this may be a healthy development,
because skepticism is a necessary analytic component when addressing such issues,
particularly for those who exercise a potentially punitive authority. Hicks and Lanning do
not, however, merely reflect the CSER report‟s flaws. Where they offer views from their
special realm of law enforcement they are, quite simply, wrong. Hicks extends the report‟s
ad hominem approach to the level of a universal norm. He declares that, “whether or not
people can get criminal ideas from belief systems ...has little to do with the belief system
but rather with a person‟s own psychological make-up.”72 That this statement defies the
root of our nation‟s legal system -recognition of the fact that ideas have consequences -is