If there's one thing that can be depended on to scare the bejeezus out of just about anyone, it's Satan worship. Every few years, another round of Satanic panic takes hold of housewives and youth groups, letting their minds run amok with defilements made in the name of the Prince of Darkness. When people pledge allegiance to the big red guy, they're capable of pretty much anything. Or at least they think they are. Mostly they're capable of drawing crudely rendered pentagrams and listening to heavy metal. While many satanic crimes actually turn out to be horribly overblown, there are some that are so grisly that they really give the whole pagan thing a bad name. These are some of the worst crimes ever perpetrated in the name of the devil.
We're totally sure that your cousin Peggy who babysat you all the way through grade school, and who also happens to worship Baphomet "every once in a while" is a really nice girl, but just by judging her from the people on this list, you should watch your back. You never know when she's going to try to make a goblet out of your skull thanks to a demonic possession.
When it comes to devil worship and possession, things can get very messy very fast; it's hard to tell someone that they weren't possessed when they totally believe they wore. And who are we to say that an evil deity didn't come to you in your sleep and tell you to sacrifice all the children in your village? In any case, each possessed killer on this list blamed their crimes on the devil, not that that helped them get away with the acts.
Whether or not the people on this list were telling the truth about whatever caused them to commit their crimes doesn't matter. What does matter is that they all committed some truly heinous crimes, supposedly because the devil told them to.
People Who Blamed Their Crimes on the Devil,
David Berkowitz
In 1976, the people of New York City were terrorized by a serial killer known as the "Son of Sam." For more than a year, the killer led police on a wild goose chase, leaving behind taunting notes at the crime scenes. After he was apprehended, David Berkowitz confessed to all of the shootings and claimed that he was commanded to kill by a demon who had possessed his neighbor's dog.
Source: NY Daily News
Ricky Kasso
You should all know this by now, but we'll say it again: don't do PCP. After reportedly stealing some PCP from Ricky "Acid King" Kasso, Gary Lauwers was led into the woods, stabbed multiple times, and had his eyes gouged out by Kasso, who demanded that Lauwers say that "he loved Satan." After the event, Kasso told some people that Satan had appeared as a black crow and ordered him to kill Lauwers. The 17 year old ended up hanging himself in his cell after being arrested.
Source: Skeptic Tank
NSFW, Seriously
Moises Meraz-Espinoza strangled his mother, Amelia, and then mutilated her lifeless body before skinning her, removing her organs, and cutting the body into pieces with a circular saw. Slices of skin and flesh were later found stacked in a freezer. Amelia’s head, which was found in a backpack, received some special treatment. All of her teeth were plucked out, her eyes were removed, and two upside-down crosses were carved into the bone. Moreover, the date of Amelia’s horrid death matched a day of human or animal sacrifice in the Satanic calendar.
Source: Huffington Post
The Curious Case of Sister Margaret Ann
Sister Margaret Ann was one day short of her 72nd birthday when she was strangled and then stabbed between 27 and 32 times. Nine of those stab wounds were in the shape of an inverted cross. The priest who led her parish, Fr. Robinson was a suspect from the start - a factor that did not prevent him from officiating at Sister Margaret Ann's funeral. The case was cold for 20 years before an unidentified woman came forward and alleged Robinson had sexually assaulted her, and forced her to participate in Satanic rituals like being placed in a coffin crawling with cockroaches, being forced to eat a human eyeball and being penetrated with a snake to consecrate her orifices to Satan.
Source: Rense.com
Russian Goth Murders
You know what Satan loves? Blood sacrifices. Seriously, give that guy a good sacrifice and you guys are gonna be tight. In 2008, Nikolai Ogolobyak lured four teenagers into the woods outside of Yaroslavl (this all went down in Russia, in case you hadn't caught on by now) and proceeded to stab each one of them exactly 666 times before cutting off their genitals, scalping them, and removing some of the most tender meat to cook and eat over a bonfire.
Source: The Daily Mail
Pentagrams Really Tie the Room Together
Not sure how to tie your heinous murders together? Just throw up some pentagrams!. In 1998 Mark Valera murdered David O'Hearn, decapitated the him, left the head in a kitchen sink, and put the bowels on a silver platter. He also cut off O'Hearn's hand and used it to daub Satanic symbols on the walls. His second victim was beaten and throttled and had lapel pins stuck into his eyeballs. Valera turned himself in and is serving life without parole.
Source: Murderpedia
True Romance
Back in early 2002, lovebirds Manuela and Daniel Ruda (who met through a heavy metal magazine's advertisement section) stabbed their buddy Frank Haagen 66 times, beat him with hammers, drank some of his blood, and stuck the lifeless, decomposing body, which had a scalpel poking out of it and a pentagram carved on the chest, in a coffin that rested next to Manuela's bed.
Why? Because Satan wanted them to, obviously.
Source: The Telegram
In His Ponytail Lies His Power
In the '70s, The Fall Rivers Cult was lead by Carl Drew, a pimp who used Satanism to terrify the prostitutes who worked for him. He claimed to be the son of Satan himself and demanded that his orders be followed without question. Between 1979 and 1980, Drew held several rituals in the woods that involved human sacrifices. In all he murdered three women, one of whom had her head kicked off by Drew. Yikes. The Cult was finally rounded up with most of the members receiving a life sentence.
Source: South Coast Today
Exposed Brick Is Very Hot Right Now
In northern Bangladesh, unidentified owners of a brickfield were displeased because their bricks weren't as red as they'd like them to be - a common complaint we're sure. A fortune teller was brought in (not a good sign) and he advised the owners to sacrifice a human to ensure the desired color. The owners of the brickfield passed the instructions on to their workers, and a 26-year-old bricklayer was beheaded, his head was burned in a kiln. The police have never found the brickfield owners, but their bricks have turned a rosy shade of red.
Source: News Info
Human Sacrifices Rarely Make Things Better
In 2006, Sumitra Bushan and her two sons began having nightmares of the goddess Kali. After visiting a traveling priest who told her to sacrifice a boy from her village, she and her sons abducted three-year-old Aakash Singh and murdered him in their home. The next morning, Sumitra lied to the villagers, saying that she found the mutilated body of Aakash near her house. The villagers, however, weren't born yesterday and didn't buy this story. They attacked and beat her sons until one of them confessed.
Source: BBC News