Last Podcast On The Left - Episode 668: Anton LaVey Part III - The Devil's Rain

Episode Date: June 12, 2026

Marcus, Henry, and Ed return to the story of Anton LaVey as the Church of Satan enters the spotlight, crossing paths with Susan Atkins, Michael Aquino, and the heavily borrowed Satanic Bible. But as the rituals get bigger and the followers get weirder, LaVey finally makes it in Hollywood, where his influence reaches The Devil’s Rain and Mr. Show Business himself, Sammy Davis Jr. For Live Shows, Merch, and More Visit: www.LastPodcastOnTheLeft.comKevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Last Podcast on the Left ad-free, plus get Friday episodes a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There's no place to escape to. This is the last hot task. On the left. That's when the cannibalism started. I'm Susie Atkins. I was trying to figure out the Susie Atkins' voice. It's been a while since I even thought of her. You're going to, I.

Or is it more Janus, like, for sure. Oh, yeah, no, sure. I think it's more Janus. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God. I mean, really, the man's.

girls, they're far more, like, tough than, like, when you listen to them and talk, they're like, Charlie Manson is the fucking genius man in this fucking world. Ain't nobody going to take Manson down. It's kind of crazy to see tiny little ladies going like, I'll kill a fucking police officer for Charlie. He's my

Christ. He's my Satan in arms. Yeah, they're all hot chicks that ate rocks. You know, like, they weren't as hot as you, you know, when you look back on, they were... They're a younger man's energy, I'd say. I bet you'll clean them then little Manson Girls up, you take them

anywhere you want. Disgust me. Welcome to the last podcast on the left, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Marcus Parks. I'm here with Henry Zabrowski. And I'm taking a Swiffer to the Manson Girl. That's my job is scrubbing them up,

scrubbing them down, getting them ready for ends consumption. We've got the man who will give any woman a chance. It's Ed Larson. All right. Here comes the hose. They're Twiggy. Who's a one of them?

There's sneaky. Don't be. Yeah, it is a lot of them. You're thinking of squeaky from is who you're thinking of a squeaky. And here we are at Anton LeVay Part 3, Part 3 of 4. We're going to get into it. We are doing Satanism fully. Yeah, and Anton LeVe fully, because it's not just Anton LeVe.

That's the thing about Satanism. It's not just him. It's everybody around him. There's so many fascinating stories within the story of Anton LeVey. Also, if you come to believe him, Anton LeVay, which I do over time, he even positions himself as one of the least

important people within the organization. When he starts it, the whole thing is like, oh no, what have I done? The second, he starts it. It's all like, oh, fuck, these losers are coming, which is where we've hit right now. I really go back and forth

on him the whole time. Like, this guy's a fucking schmuck. And it's like, ah, I get it. Yeah, of course. And you know what? That's by design. Yeah. So when we last left Anton LeVay, the year was 1967, and the Church of Satan had publicly established itself using Anton's infamous Black House as the church's headquarters, right in the heart of San Francisco. But while Anton LeVay's theatrical style and freedom-forward ideas were attracting celebrities like Jane Mansfield,

the Church of Satan also began to cross paths with far more infamous characters entirely by coincidence. See, by 1968, Anton LeVay expanded ceremonies beyond the Black House to public occult ritual performances in other venues. And in February, he chose a lounge club called Gigi's in San Francisco as the site of a highly produced ritual called The Witch's Sabbath. And the key word is produced. Yes. Amongst other moving parts, one aspect of the performance called for a bare-breasted young woman to jump out of a coffin and walk around. acting like a vampire on stage. Fuck yeah.

LeVay thought that he'd found the perfect girl for the role after seeing an 18-year-old dancing at a local topless bar, girl who called herself Sharon King. History, however, knows Sharon King better by her real name. Sharon Stone. Man, oh, fooling. No, no. Susan Atkins.

Yeah, it's mad. Yeah, that's... Just the idea. I know Anton LeVay had a type, but... Just her going like, eh, eh, you bars honey. She buys honey. Sharon King was her group sex name because she was the sharing king. Oh, fun.

Well, if the name Susan Ackins doesn't ring a bell, Susan Atkins, aka Sexy Sadie. I'm the sexy one. I'm the sexy one. I'm the one they bring out for public consumption. Oh, God, here's some listery. Yeah, thanks. Go, go, go, go, go, go.

We got some spicy beer. You're supposed to spit it out. Yeah, they'll say that. She was the only member of the Manson family present at all three murder scenes. It's Gary Hemman, the Tate Massacre, and the La Bianca Massacre. And it was Susan's bragging while in jail on car theft charges that eventually led authorities to link the Tate La Bianca murders to Charles Manson. Central figure in the Manson story. But just a couple of years earlier, Susan Atkins was...

just another abandoned child of the 1960s who'd made her way to San Francisco as a teenager. But instead of joining the love and peace side of the flower generation, Ackins had become a stripper at 17 and lived an extremely reckless life of drugs

and sex. Judgy, judgy, judgey. Right? It's reckless! Do you know how reckless you got to be to get a case of gonorrhea so bad that you've got to be hospitalized? Yeah. The doctor didn't understand. I sold it in my gonorrhea.

My gonorrhea said hi. It's like, this is supposed to be yellow, not green. Yeah, I know. Congratulations to me, I go. Noe. After she was cured and released, of this... They needed to bring in a priest. They had to take a priest, and they came in, and they blessed my kitchen,

and the demon jumped out of me, and into him. After the gonorrhea was cleared up, Susan Atkins met Charles Manson in San Francisco, shortly following Charlie's release from prison. Let me tell. Let me guess. You're just freshly clean, right? I can tell. I have a psychic ability to tell when gonorrhea has just left the body. Man, I can smell antibiotics on a woman. Yeah, I know you're in him. I know you got. You went to a doctor for that. And there was no witch. You're the witch, bitch.

You're the witch, bitch. But this was back when Charles Manson was just an older guy and his early 30s with a guitar and a good line of bullshit. Incredibly, though, not long after Ackins met Manson, Anton LeVay noticed Susan Atkins dancing at her club. And LeVay figured that she'd be perfect for the role of the vampire girl in his new public ritual performance at Gigi, set to premiere in February of 1968. There's a distinct difference between the public performances and the stuff that Anton LeVay and his inner crew would do at this time period.

And that is here really the distinct difference. that he was obviously a PR machine. Yeah. So a lot of this really was straight up performances. Yeah. This is all about advertising. It's attention.

Would he charge a cover? Yeah. Oh, God, yes. $2.50. Oh, so it's a show. Yeah. Oh, it's 100% a show. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, this show, it had reviews. Like, the newspapers came out. You know what you'd call it. The term would be psycho pump. Yeah. It was the idea of doing a public thing that was kind of an example of your magic.

Yeah. So after being invited back, to the Black House to participate in dress rehearsals for the Witch's Sabbath show at Gigi's Susan Atkins reportedly got spooked by all the trappings of the satanic church. That's so funny. She was actually too scared to perform her part on stage until, of course, someone gave her a tab of acid. I mean, my acid, I only perform when I have my acid. I gotta have it.

Oh, God, just fucking her, just so scared. Scared one of the fireplace? Scared of the what? Blue sunshine. I ask for orange sunshine. Get that what I like. I'm allergic to the orange. She's an 18-year-old.

She's an idiot. Wildly hallucinating, Susan Atkins got into a coffin wearing two-inch-long red fingernails and a jet-black wig. And when it came time for her to pop out in the middle of the psychopomp, she did her best as the bare-breasted vampire. Yeah, yeah, blah. I don't drink. Fine.

Miam, yum, yum, meow. I'm sorry, I'm my van. My camera. But yeah, I'm sorry. I know how to do this. But since both audience and newspaper reviews for the Witch's Sabbath were lukewarm at best, that was the end of Anton's working relationship with Susan Atkins and the end of Susan's involvement with the Church of Satan. Soon after, though, the house where Susan Atkins and Charles Manson were living in San Francisco got raided by the police.

So Manson asked Atkins if she wanted to join him for a summer road trip down to Los Angeles. They were going to drive down in a converted school bus with all the other lost souls Manson had gathered in San Francisco since he'd arrived. This, of course, was the first iteration of the Manson family. They would all soon settle at Spawn Ranch, and by August of 1969, just 18 months after Atkins performed in LeVay's show, Atkins was writing the word pig on Sharon Tate's front door with Sharon's own blood. It's all about coming to play where the work is. That's what Hollywood's always been about. It's where the work is.

And that's where you go. So of course you got picked up that quickly because she went where it was. If Sharon Tate was in San Francisco, she'd carve out the baby there. You got to come to Los Angeles. How many people got murdered in Tate? Those five, five or six? You know, it sucks for everyone else that wasn't a hot, blonde, like, movie star. They just, they're just lumped in the tape murders.

Oh, Abigail, yeah, Abigail Folger, Stephen Parent. There was, uh, was that Wojek-Frikowski. Well, because the Sharon Job to fucking know their name. But Sherin's one was really sad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The other ones were just, you know, obviously just acceptable losses. Yeah, Stephen Parent was just there to buy a radio from a guy that lived in the backhouse. Like he was just a completely wrong place of the wrong time.

Oijek Frykowski was kind of in love with Sharon Tate. Abigail Fulger was just, she was an heir. She was the heiress to the Folger Fortune, the Fulger Coffee. And they were just all there hanging out because Roman Polanski was out in, I think, London scouting for, I think, a dolphin movie. Something really stupid. Honestly, I will.

I'm going to take that back immediately because they said, you know, the other ones were acceptable losses. They weren't. The only acceptable loss that's ever been was that. Godforsaken meddling waiter when he got between OJ and Nicole, my favorite couple. Listen, man, I'm not going to take this bad talk on waiters. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been a waiter.

Oh, I know. I was a bad one. But guess what you didn't do? Meddling the affairs of a Hall of Fame. I did not. Now, Anton LeVay certainly commented on his association with Susan Atkins, as he did with any infamous character who crossed his path. Susan Atkins was not even close. to the last one.

Yeah, he probably fucking loved it. Yeah, well, I mean, he said that Susan's downfall came mostly because of drugs, which was a fair point because events with the Manson family certainly would not have gotten as out of hand as they did without the excessive amount of acid that Manson was providing to family members. Of course, whether or not Manson was being provided that acid by the CIA is another matter altogether. Long story. We'll get into it.

We are doing that, though. We are doing it, yeah. Lavey actually... Acid? That's great. Yeah, fuck yeah, bro. Yeah, come on. I want to do some fucking CIA acid. Dude, we have some.

Orange, we do. We're in sunshine. Is that what it is? Yeah, that's the CIA. That's CIA made, baby. Oh, right. Well, you know the P.O. box there. You want to send a rainbow.

LeVeigh actually had no sympathy whatsoever for the kids who fell under Manson's spells. Nor did he care for the unwashed masses flocking en masse to San Francisco in the late 60s. time that he was trying to build the church of Satan. Anton called Susan Atkins an average hate street burnout, flaky, and made to order for someone like Charles Manson to control. But really, that is what sets LeVay apart from people like Charles Manson and what makes LeVay just kind of a bad person rather than a figure of evil. From what it seems like, LeVay never wanted to control anyone, or at least he never wanted to control people collectively. Control comes with responsibility. And as the story goes on, we'll see that responsibility was the last thing Anton LeVay ever wanted.

Anton LeVey viewed responsibility as coming hand in hand with hypocrisy, because at some level, as a boss, you're going to have to do things that are against your own rules because you have to set up, oh, because they are for me and not for thee. It's just how it happens. So he specifically never wanted that shit. He never wanted it. He thought this is, we'll get, obviously, as we go, this was all supposed to stay local. Yeah, it was supposed to stay local, and I think it was just supposed to stay theatrical. Yes. Like it was supposed to be like a theatrical thing, but, you know, we're going to get into pretty soon about what happens when you let the nerds in the door.

Always. Yeah. Now, as the Church of Satan grew in popularity and membership, so too did the rituals and the organization. Because Anton LeVay quickly surmised that the rituals were what got him the most press and the most attention. So on May 23rd, 1967, Anton LeVay held the first part. public satanic baptism using his three-year-old daughter zina as the baptizond as it's called according to levy the ceremony was designed to delight the child by welcoming her into a world of indulgence with the sights and the smells that he liked instead of being dunked in water which is

usually a terrifying experience i don't know if the two of you were you know almost drowned yeah i screamed yeah i was a baby i don't think but i watched my uh my my nephew do it recently and he was screaming like a fucking lunatic and I literally looked at Julie and I was like, I get it. I watched my dad do it in his 30s and I was like, I'm not doing that ever. Oh, he got baptized late or he did it? Yeah, yeah, late. No, he got baptized late.

Yeah, fuck that shit. It didn't yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't take. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They tried to do it again to me, but it was hard to get past my fist. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and give it a shot. I'd rather to suck my dick, priest. Instead of a dunk, Zina sat basking in the attention of admirers and the press,

although having a naked woman present during the baptism was, in my opinion, gilding the lily just a bit. There's, of course, nothing wrong with nudity. I do think that Americans have been far too prudish about the human body for far too long. But LeVay had to know that in 1968, having a naked woman present at a ritual involving a three-year-old, it was going to make all the wrong waves in the press if press indeed was his main goal I think he just wanted a naked chick there and you forget man

you know what it is when we were just in Fairbanks right we were just there we went to that great place and they were all talking about how like you forget how hippies live yeah like these guys all like they were all talking about how they're like yeah last night all the babies were upstairs we were partying down here man

you know it's nice because all the babies are up there and you're like you have to forget that was like a thing Yeah. And my parents partied around me. I know Natalie was scarred by their partying around him. And so I feel like it was just different times. Yeah. Also, you live in a counterculture.

You know, it's surprising. You know, when you're like, the press is bad, just like, well, yeah, of course the reaction's going to be bad. I was talking to Henry earlier. We used to have this show at the Creek in the Cave, murder for this called Brown Sabbath. And I had Henry make the flyer. And I was like, hey, can you make a church with a big pile of shit on top of it? And I went around flyer in. I'm out there in Long Island City trying to put this in bike stores and people are like, no, I don't want that up in my store.

And I'm like, why not? This is the funniest thing in the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you just don't understand. Yeah, it's like when I was in college, I was in a band, we called ourselves Hugs a bunch of pedophile. And when we went out to put flyers around town, that's when we realized, not everyone finds that funny. It's so funny. It's not that funny. Of course, now it's stupid.

It's a bunch of kids come up with. But, yeah, no one wanted that in their window. Yeah, exactly. And that's why we're where we're at, man. They should have listened to us, dude. Brown Sabbath is a funny name. That's a funny-ass name, dude. Yeah, and I just played a bunch of, like,

there was like a Black Sabbath, uh, mariachi band. I played their music before the show. It was a lot of fun. Oh, yeah. That's a great band. Live from your play. Now, as the Church of Satan grew in popularity, Anton LeVay's black masses became more ornate.

Although I made a discovery just this last weekend in Pittsburgh at my favorite store in America, Edie's Entertainment, that put the creation of the black masses in a whole new light. See, I'm a collector, and one of the things I collect are the more obscure men's magazines from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, the ones outside of your standard Playboys, Pin Houses, and Hustlers. Playboys too high class. Hustlers too low class. Yeah, you don't like the pissing on the ankles. Yeah, and Pennhouse, it's too middle of the road. And while the pornography contained their end is naturally a bonus, I live in the year 2026, for

Christ's sake. I don't need magazines to obtain pornography. I also kind of feel weird. You know what's funny is that I don't mind pre-fluffing to a woman that's definitely dead, but there's like something about masturbating to completion to a woman that is very much

a skeleton and a grave? I have no problem with that, but that's neither here nor there. Because you're not jerking off to these magazines, are you? No, no, no. Sure. It was funny. It might lead to that, but it's not... Again, it's a bonus. It's a bonus. It's a bonus. It's a bonus. It's a cherry on top.

I went to the store also with Marcus. It was a lot of fun, but we, like, separated, you know, because I, like, got a DVD from, like, Bonnaroo 2008. And I'm walking around and then all of a sudden, there's, like, an area that you can't see, and then all of a sudden, from inside, go out here, oh. Yeah, which is normally

the guy in that pornography section in his pants. I was like, oh, that's Marcus. I found a lot of great shit. You had a full crate that you walked out of there with. I absolutely did. And the main reason why I collect these magazines is because the articles work as a sort of secret history of the 20th century if you know what to look for and if you know the historical context in which these articles were

written. At Edies in Pittsburgh, for example, I found an issue of a magazine called Rogue from 1962, which contained an article by one of Anton LeVay's favorite authors, William Lindsay Gresham, author of Nightmare Alley, who he stole his whole life story from. The content of this article was the history of the so-called black mass, published a full four years prior to the founding of the Church of Satan. Now, the article is filled with exaggerations and half-truths, as many of these articles are,

but I can almost guarantee that Anton LeVeigh read this article. Not only was Anton also a fan of men's magazines. Hell, we got an email from a fucking listener who said that he bought a whole stack of him from Anton LeVe once. He famously was a magazine collector. Yeah, but Greg.

was also one of Anton's favorite writers, and this article was most likely the last thing Gresham wrote before he died that same year in 1962. But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. And a lot of the things that Gresham talked about in this article, it's a fucking fantastic article, talks about fictional 19th century depictions of black masses, talked about historical rumor. They are all the same things that showed up in Anton LeVay's black masses four years later. all the way down to using a naked woman as an altar. It's all there. Yes, I think that he was definitely inspired,

and he knew what to do from it, because he was a collector of all these things, but then he did refine it, because he talked about... He did refine it, absolutely. That's kind of the idea that... He saw it. This fucking article is the framework. Yes, he saw it, because the black mass is really fun.

Yeah. Technically, in many ways, it could be quite funny. I'm surprised nothing ever happened. I mean, like, as a magazine collector, and there's a guy who loves King, handles that much. He really could have lit a fire. You got to be careful. He's super good with fire. He's, you know, the Pope of the Church of Satan.

Okay. You'd think he'd have at least that on lockdown. It's more water. Yeah. I think he had problems with water. Now, while Anton may have taken the framework from the black masses from Gresham's article, he certainly added his own flair, as we can see from this description of a black mass in 1968 when the Church of Satan was firing on all cylinders. LeVeigh read a recitation of the Lord's Prayer,

backwards. Then he inserted a triangular holy wafer into the vagina of a naked woman acting as the altar. You always made that sound. Henry, could you explain for the listeners, like when I say used a naked woman as an altar? Could you explain to them what that means? Legitimately, she's lying

on a, she's lying on a table. She is the thing that you put stuff on. Oh, see, I thought it was going to be her back and she was on all fours. I'm actually glad you said so. No, normally she's lying. No, she's not like playing table. She's not the table. She's normally on a table, and people put things on her. There's also been those where they just stand, because they'll stand next to the two things.

I've seen that, but largely it's that. And then literally they go, all right, damn for here comes the airplane. And then they bring in the host. And they let's open up the hangar. And then they spread her open, and then they just put crackers in her? Yeah, like a pez dispenser upside down. Yes. Yes.

Well, after removing the moist cracker from the vagina, LeVay broke it up into six pieces and placed those pieces on the tongues of six congregants. I want to have that first. All right. Give it, give it, give me. I love the devil. Devil. Devil. I love the devil.

At the same time, because there's a lot going on in a black mass. There's a lot going on in every corner of the room. At the same time that this is happening, a red-headed congregant laid naked across the lap of another naked acolyte who, whip the red head with a cat of nine tails. Not a table. Working up to the table. Working up to the table. Yeah. That's the intern. She still giggles too much.

They're here. Honestly, they're here. It's their semester from UCLA. We love them here. It's just so nice to have you here, Gregory. Meanwhile, another participant, dressed like the Pope, was thrown to the floor by black-robed men who all pulled down their pants and pretended to take a shit on the Pope's stand-in.

That's fun. It is fun. Yeah, a bunch of guys. Brunner. I poop. I poop on the Pope. Poop on the Pope. Poop on the Pope.

Who's putting poop on the Pope? I mean, obviously, I'm into it from what I stated earlier just moments ago about the Brown Sabbath show. Obviously. And even though it's pretend, there was still a lot of stagecraft here. They managed to splatter brown mud all over the Pope's fake Pope's vestments. I don't know they had like a, you know, like one of those like a little squirt. things in the sleeve or if their butts were filled with mud

I don't know. It might have been all been very symbolic. No, no this was literal mud splashed over him. But I mean even the pressing it upon him was probably like a if they all brought the mud in and they brought up and he'd go no the Duke has arrived

and then they have to like smear him with the Duke my hand and then he's just like I'm Duke it well after the man was adequately covered the robed men dragged him out of the room while a Wagner record played, and the whole congregation began the standard shouts of Hail Satan. Hail Satan. Hail Satan.

Hail Satan. And music. I said, hell Satan. Music is by far the single most important thing in every single one of these presentations. Anthemel of they specifically say that because, again, of the presentation of it, everything has to do with classical music. And he said, again, one of the natural Satanist was Wagner, and another one was a guy before Wagner named like, some guy that also did like that kind of music. Carl Orff.

Well, I know. He also loved like Archibald Joyce. Like he was big in a Prokofia as Jack Parsons. And Rockmoninoff and DeBuse. So after covering the Pope and mud, LeVay brought out a guy playing Jesus, wrapped in a white sheet and carrying a cross on his back.

Ooh. Ah. Ooh. Mavei would curse Jesus himself, calling him, quote, That valid matrosity that hangs limply upon the cross still. And LeVey then crushed a plastic Christian figure and threw it into a chamber pot, proclaiming, Yeah, don't switch around him. And prove that he had never walked on water, and he never shall again.

LeVay then ambled over to the pot, unzipped his fly, and tried, in vain, to piss on the remains of the figurine. Even LeVay, it seemed occasionally got stage fright. Ah, fuck, ah. You don't even hear your dad in the morning? Like, that's got to be hard to hear that a... Come on. Come on, evil piss. Come on, little devil, let's do it

Why did I piss before this? I knew I had a piss. But while Anton did get a little pea shy during this particular black mass, he still took it in stride and asked the organist to, quote, play him some water music. The organist droly responded

with an Irving Berlin song called How Dry I am, which caused the congregation to break character with various knowing chuckles. This is fucking good comedic piano man. Yeah. But perhaps the levity was needed for Anton's stream did flow

from that point forward. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. And after he finished, the nude female acolytes in the room all took turns as well, including one who pissed in the bucket for what was said to be

an uncomfortably long period of time. Jesus Christ, Sandra. Three and a half minutes ago. Some people don't have to catch a bus. Hey, Sandra, you have a problem. Is that, are you just bleeding? What is happening to you? I don't even understand how you can have that much water inside.

If you're only 70%. It's your mother a camel? All this piss, I'm sure, was much to the pleasure of Anton LeVay, who had figured out how to make his personal sexual fetish, Erophelia, a central tenet of the Church of Satan Black Mass. I mean, he's in charge. But after the urine, part of the ceremony was over, a woman dressed as a nun, came out,

and did a strip tease to a particular waltz by Archibald Joyce, which very much reminds me of the type of music, Jack Parsons listened to when he did magic. Let's listen to some of

that strip tease. Vision of Salamee. It was used in a movie. I can't remember which one. Can we take this

back? We need to do this for strip clubs. We need to go back to this. What if we go back to like Matahari

in like the dance of the seven vans? Hey, it's still there's someone in Los Angeles. Angelus tonight stripping somewhere

to a song like this. You can find it. Yeah. It's out there. Just go to the magic castle and start asking people. That's where you got to that's where that line starts,

unfortunately. I don't know if those magicians know a lot of ladies. Man, those guys love ladies. That's why they get in the magic. Otherwise, they never talk to a woman. Yeah. That's true.

Now, in the conclusion of the black mass, Anton LeVay would open his cape in front of the naked altar and hold his hands in a sign of the horns. Now, if you didn't know, the devil horns,

sign actually has meaning because today the horns of Satan have pretty much evolved into a more intense thumbs up. When you like something, you do the devil horns. But it used to be, it's again, it's never the world's things, it used to freak people out? Yeah, yeah. The two points of your index and pinky fingers represent goat horns thrust

upwards in defiance of heaven. Well, the three fingers turned down are supposed to be in denial of the Holy Trinity. You know, but not everyone does. And if you put the thumb out, that's I love you. Yeah, that's I love you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, everybody. Anybody can do only for deaf people.

You know what, Marcus, that's for you. Oh, thank you. You get nothing. I hear nothing, I see nothing. Back to you. Thank you. I mean, today, it's amazing that this thing that used to be, it's a well-established fixture in American culture.

Like, you see this anywhere and everywhere. You see it at a little flea games, you know? Yeah, Joe Biden did it once. Yeah. But concerning a stroke. Yeah, but concerning the end of this black mass, After three shouts of Hail Satan, LeVay put out a candle, covered the naked woman who acted as the altar in a leopard skin blanket and carried her out of the room. After the ritual was complete, the members of the Church of Satan, including Anton LeVay, retreated to his kitchen where they schmoosed over not alcohol, drugs, nor Virgin's blood, but coffee, tea, and cake.

And not cum cake, either. Regular cake. Just normal ass cake. Yeah, no cakes of light, just tea and cake. This is really what Anto LeVay was trying to strip away from all of the stuff. And then after I read all the Alistair Crowley stuff, he's trying to remind people that the whole magic thing is actually here.

Yeah. It's here amongst us. It's here in this room. Like, yeah, sure. It's we're praying to Satan. But what we're actually doing? It's building a community. Yeah.

And nothing builds community like late night coffee. It really does it in a piece of cake. Yeah. That is just one of my favorite ways to live life. It is one of the things that they did that every other fucking religion. Is that funny? It's like they all do that. He always coffee? Okay.

Now, Anton LeVey was certainly enjoying all this attention because by the end of 1968, he was advertising black masses in San Francisco newspapers. And these gatherings became so popular that he would do the same performance two nights a week. By 1969, Anton LeVay claimed that the Church

of Satan's membership had reached 10,000 worldwide, although the real number was almost certainly far lower. But even so, there were enough people paying attention for Anton to release his first book. This, of course, was the foundational text of the Church of Satan, the infamous Satanic Bible. Now, I didn't read the Satanic Bible until around 2012, but what surprised me most is that while it is incredibly judgmental and more than a little fascist, it basically reads like a guidebook for how to balance being a good person with standing

up for yourself in the modern world. It's actually a great place to start when you're trying to figure out your own personal guidelines for living outside of a Christian framework, because it really is far more of a philosophy book than a religious tone. It also isn't meant to be taken that seriously, nor is it meant to be the end-all be-all. You don't end with the satanic Bible. You begin with it. The key is to read it, because then you can really see what the actual tone is, which is mostly funny. Largely, it is a lot of wink, it's a lot of tongue-and-cheek, mix with passionate belief systems that largely have to be included in context to the Christian church. That's what kind of the main issue about Satanism in general is that even on its own as a

religion, it doesn't kind of like stand up because it's not supposed to. Like if you read all just the stuff inside the Satanic Bible without realizing why it's there or like what the point of it is, it doesn't serve as a bunch of lessons. Well, it really, it's defined by its opposition. Yes. And when something is defined by opposition, then, you know, it really can't stand on its own. And you really need something that stands on its own. Which is why it took a good place.

Which is why it's a good place to start. Yes. And that's why Anton LeVeigh, which we got to, was trying to fight it becoming a huge-ass religion. Yeah. And if you don't got time to read it, you can always read the jump off of cliff notes. Yeah. You fucking got it. Fucking.

The Satanic Bible, however, is also largely plagiarized from many dubious sources. It better be. Who, did someone like, did like Penguin put it out? Like, did someone like buy the... Yeah, it was a publisher, I think Avon was a publisher. It's been, you know, put out through various publishing houses throughout the years. It takes a little fucking balls. It does.

Yeah. See, according to Anton LeVay's daughter, Zena, who later did an expose on LeVay's past after she broke with the church, the Satanic Bible was more of a cash grab meant to capitalize on the recent success of the Roman Polansky classic Rosemary's baby, which had greatly increased the public's happen. for Satanist and occult content. In other words, it's merch. Yeah. But when Anton LeVay and his partner, Diane Hagarti,

gathered everything Anton had written about the Church of Satan for a book. It was far too short, and it was an absolute fucking mess. It's actually said that its editor, a woman named Carol Smith, who mostly did cookbooks. She was the one who made the Satanic Bible readable. Oh, I bet that a hundred pro se. Because, honestly, cookbooks great way to start for the... It's actually really good for...

ritual writing. Yeah. You're going to need like two ounces of blood. One new type. Yeah, it's instructions. But to meet the length requirements laid out by the publisher, LeVey and Hagarti heavily borrowed from authors like the infamous Ragnar Redbeard, author of the anti-Semitic, white supremacist, social Darwinist, garbage book, Might is Right. In this book from 1896, Ragnar argued

that weakness should be met with hatred, and that social Darwinism should be the law of the land. Now, LeVay stripped out the anti-Semitism, the misogyny, and the racism, but large parts of one section of the Satanic Bible, the book of Satan, were lifted from Ragnar Redbeard's writings. In fact, while it has been removed from recent printings, early editions of the Satanic Bible list Ragnar Redbeard as an influence. Might as right, by the way, has since had a resurgence among the more foul, far-right Manosphere influencers who have all spent the last few years absolutely ruining the Internet for reasonable people. like ourselves. I will say as what we're, now that this is, I like that we're getting into this. Of course. This is one of

the big major problems that Satanism has, is this problem, which is this idea of people don't understand fundamentally what all of this means and what Anton LeVay meant by it. So that is, so go through this, you can kind of see, and you can see

why he chose this topic and then stripped it of all the quote and quote hate. I can see why he chose it, but we'll, let's get into it now. You can't keep all that shit in there because he needs women to love it. Oh no, it's not about that. Because again,

it was all, it's not, how do you say this is the problem when something isn't that deep? That's the problem almost is that when something becomes, and Anton LeVay, this is the problem. He set up an issue for himself in the future by not really

thinking about it hard enough. About what it was he was adding without the, later on, in the devil's notebook and speak of the devil, Anton LeVay will couch this, package this more, explain more what he kind of did. Like, he kind of does that over time. But in the beginning, you know. Yeah, Satanic Bible's kind of rushed.

It is. Like, it's just sort of, it's put out because it's like, hey, we can make a lot of money because people are really into this Rosemary's baby shit. Like, let's get this thing out there. So it's, you know, so, yeah, there's a lot of shit in there that probably shouldn't be in there. Yes. Even more than Ragnar Redbeard, Anton LeVey also stole from the much maligned objectivist

writer, Ein Rand, for his nine satanic statements. And those were meant to replace Christianity's ten commandments. And he wanted statements instead of commandments. In fact, LeVey himself said that Leveille and Satanism was, quote, just Ein Rand's philosophy with ceremony and ritual added. Which doesn't, even if you listen to Anton LeVay, I'm sorry, he does no idea what the fuck he's talking about because Antoine, because Anne Ryan specifically doesn't believe, that's what objectivism can't have rituals in it.

So it doesn't make any sense for them to have any rituals in. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, ironically, though, considering how much Republicans love Ein Rann because she helped bring their fuck you, I Got Mine philosophy to the modern world, I'd say that today's Christians actually follow Church of Satan philosophies far more than the teachings of Jesus Christ. For example, this blessing written by Anton LeVay as a parody of Jesus' Blessed or the Meek speech, this might as well be the guiding light for the modern Republican Party. Henry, please. Blessed are the strong, for they shall possess the earth. Cursed.

of the weak, for they shall inherit the yoke. Blessed, for the iron-handed, for the unfit shall flee before them. Cursed it are the poor and spirit. For they shall be spat upon. Yeah. But the key is, okay. The church of Satan more than anything is a direct offense against

the hippie movement and the Christian church. So in this world, the idea is God, you're supposed to be afraid of God. And you're supposed to inherently obey God. You're supposed to obey your parents. You're supposed to obey the priests. You're supposed to do all these things. And you're supposed to turn the other cheek when they punish you.

So when they punish you, when something bad happens to you, you're just supposed to walk away. You're supposed to just lay down your arms and just take it. That is the whole thing. And with Christianity, that tenant makes you easy to control. Because eventually it's like, you're just going to do what I say. because I'm telling you to say it. And this, you're literally, you, like, groveling and obeying me is a virtue. Sure.

The idea of that being a virtue. So this is an overcorrection. The whole point of this is to give to dweebbs and nerds the ability to be like, no, like, you know, when your mom, my mom said, would your mom have the same philosophy? I don't want to see you start in a fight, but you can finish a fight. Sure. Right. So it is that idea of being like, no. Fuck God.

So, like, oh, so God plays his little games with me, and I'm not supposed to be fucking angry about it for his lessons. So everything bad he does to me is just a challenge that I'm just supposed to suck up and take. Fuck you. And it's like a genuine, like, all of these people, just because you're wearing a suit. I'm supposed to think you're better than me,

just because you act like you have some moral agency. You act like you are the guy, the arbiter of morality, and I just have to believe you because you're on fucking television. Fuck you. Sure. I mean, to bring the Satanic Bible down to its absolute basics, it really comes down to living a life that makes you happy and successful while doing everything in your power to ensure that your happiness does not come at the expense or the pain of others. And that's despite all of the book's negative influences. In my opinion, Anton LeVay took a lot of really ugly shit.

It made a religion that when you strip away a lot of the edginess, it's actually quite nice. And it's far more realistic than Christianity as Christianity is. is actually practice. Your opinion on that, of course, depends a lot on your opinion about the true nature of mankind. If we're inherently good, inherently bad, or as LeVe sees it, and honestly, how I see it, for somewhere in between.

Because Christians believe we're bad. Do you know that, right? Get that. No, original sin. That's the whole fucking thing. We're born sinful. We're bad. The devil exists to scare them out of doing bad things.

Which, guess what they do? They do bad things, especially the ones that have the mandates. because they've been given God's mandate. They've been told that they're chosen by God. And so they can do whatever the fuck they want. Mike Pence was too scared to be alone with another woman. Yeah, that's how fucking, you know. So, yes, yes, I do understand this and then this will be the thing that will cause problems in the future for him.

This will cause problems. But it's because of the, it's the not understanding it almost on purpose and also where he got it from. Sure. Yeah, and I met a bunch of Satanists when I lived in Tallahassee, and I was pretty close-minded about Satanism at that point in my life because I was like, you know, 23 years old. I just think of like Satanism as evil. Sure. And you're good Catholic boy. I wasn't, at this point, I was an atheist.

But like, but I met a couple of Satanists and they were so kind. Yeah. They were like literally like, help me. My car was stuck in the side of the road and they came and helped me. And then like they helped, a couple of them helped me move. I barely knew him. And then I started working with some of them at Hooters. And they were just like, the guys you showed up to work on time.

He's like, I don't know what to say. The guy you're describing, Eddie, is the guy that just now arriving in the story was Michael Aquino. So Michael Aquino is an example of this, is that in Satanism, the most effective members have an extremely high moral viewpoint of the world. Like that is the only way it works. Annoyingly so. Yes. It is the only way it even works is that you have, the whole point is that the whole point is, is that you are annoyingly moral.

I would say almost aggravatingly normal. Or moral. Yes, that is, you are, because you have believed, you come to believe, which is what I come to believe, that the Christian world is a place of sickness. Yeah. Like, it's like a place of rot and poison. And then until it's fixed from the bottom up, it's not, it's not helping anybody. I've seen way more evil in the Christian church than I have in the Satan church.

Oh, yes. We all have. No, anyone who says any different is. paying attention. No. Now in March at 1969, Anton LeVay's inner circle grew to include a member who would be far more of a pain in the ass to Anton LeVay than he probably

suspected. That man was the future founder of the Temple of Set, Michael Aquino. Hell Satan. He's just, he's my best friend. Anton's just, you don't get it. You made a bunch of rules. You don't follow him. I don't understand.

He was a big old boy, though. You portray him like such a dweeb. He looks scary. No, he's just. He's chunker. He's a chubby man. Close a Army train. We're going to do it. All right.

Reportedly, Michael Aquino met Anton LeVey at a showing of Rosemary's baby when Aquino was just 22 years old. Do you know that story? No. It's so funny because Anton LeVay would just show up things. So, again, an example of why he was just a local character. Anything that was remotely evil, Anton LeVay and his crew would just show up. Oh, literally. It's so funny.

Michael Aquino said he got out of the car. And it was the premiere of Rosemary's Baby in San Francisco. And he said he watched the door fling open. And Anton Levine, his full hood was out with all of his coterie. And he watched them all walk into a hearse. And he got in a hearse and drove off. And it was just Michael Aquino being like, I want to be just like that.

Well, Michael and his wife quickly applied for membership in the church. And before long, they were participating in their first satanic rituals. Aquino, however, does not in any way fit the profile of an average Satanist, or at least how people think an average Satanist would be. When Aquino met Anton LeVay, Michael was an officer in the Army who'd grown up as a conventionally respectable boy. Aquino was an Eagle Scout who joined the ROTC at UC Santa Barbara, graduating in 1968 as a distinguished military graduate. Do you know how much of a fucking nerd you have to be to join the ROTC? in Santa Barbara in the 1960s.

Just go surfing. He's too fat. It was too fat for surfing. He definitely was a Santa Barbara Goth. And for those of you that know other Santa Barbara Goths

or beachside gotts, you know for a fact it's just him just going, all these people, their tight little tummies on their sports. They don't understand that the universe is complicated.

I know many things. Meanwhile, like, everybody's fucking and dancing and having a great time. And he's just sitting there just in like, they don't fucking read like I read. They don't understand all my references. My necklaces are cut, my fishneck gloves. He was in Santa Barbara from 1964 to 1968. And he chose the ROTC. Yeah.

What a nerd. Well, after that. He joined the army. After that, Aquino joined the army and soon found himself as a sci-op special for officer at Fort Bragg during the Vietnam War. Reportedly, Akino's sigh-up ideas included experiments to disorient North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers using amplified sounds, sometimes using so-called demonic screams blared from helicopters overhead.

A lot of them I did myself. It was kind of fun. Just going, see those out, sit-o-s-south, sit-o-south, sit-o-da-o-da-o-so. I speak it up. When Aquino traveled to Vietnam for an active duty tour in June of 1969, he brought a copy of John Milton's Paradise Lost with him. If you'll remember, Anton LeVay based his ideas about the character of Satan on Milton's interpretation. Like LeVay, Aquino saw Satan as the hero of Paradise Lost. And since Aquino was going through a heavy existential and philosophical crisis at the time,

he latched on to the idea that Satan might have better ideas than God. It must be said, however, that his crises had nothing to do with his career in the armed forces, nor did it have anything to do about his feelings concerning Vietnam because Michael Aquino stayed in the military as a powerful and influential figure throughout his entire life up until

the 2000s and that was even with his incredibly goofy eyebrows which were styled into points to mimic devil horns. Is it diabolical? But that really shows you how good Michael Aquino

was at his job. He was so fucking good that the army put up with that. Yeah, but the Army also like scary shit. They like weirdos and they like people patriotic weirdos. Michael Aquino is a patron through and through.

He is very similar to Mormons. Yeah. That's why they use Mormons in the intelligence services and they use Mormons for those types of things because they are, Mormons have an ability to believe in something entirely not real and just be able to dispel reality so hard that it makes them really

good at being a part of the CIA. Who do you think Michael Aquino's more, uh, who likes more, the United States of America or Satan? I would say, I would say America. Well, I'd say he loves that he lives in America, but he wishes that you can understand that the power of set himself would

release you to an ocean of endless knowledge. Boring. Exactly. When Anton LeVe met Michael Aquino at the Rosemary's baby screening, LeVe say simply gave him his card. It wasn't until Aquino was

leave in San Francisco in March of 1969 that he would see an ad in an underground newspaper advertising the performance of a so-called satanic circle at Anton's Black House. They're going to love me there. They're just going to be so happy I came. So excited for my presence. The circle, the Aquino attended,

featured all of Anton's greatest hits, including a robed henchman stationed at the door, who was actually just a history professor, and a grand entrance from LeVay himself emerging from an Egyptian sarcophagus. Now, Aquino was impressed by LeVe's charisma, confidence, and philosophy. So he went all in on the Church of Satan. He later wrote, in the nerdiest way possible, quote,

I reached out and I took the apple. Fucking, God damn it. How do you take it and make it just so not cool? That's the thing. It was just so like, but he knew he needed these guys. That's a problem. He needed the guys.

But did he though? I mean, not with what they would do, but he originally is like, okay, I need guys that aren't just drug addicts and losers and strippers. I need like- Yeah, someone's got to work the books. Yeah. Well, not just intellectuals. Like, that's where it is. Because that's really the people that he's surrounding himself at this point is like, it's intellectuals.

It's, you know, people who say they're magicians, but they're really dentists. But they're people who have other shit. going on, he needed some, he thought at least that he needed someone who could take care of the admin. It was highly curated as well. That's what also people don't particularly understand how curated this environment

was in the beginning. It really was friendly thinkers that were all willing to talk about this in a fun way and then just leave. You know what I mean? It was like very hip people. Yeah, it's like guys who get into like

magic to gathering, but they're cool and then they just got to go deal with these fucking nerds That's how it is. That's what Anton LeVay, he, yes, he was, it was his punishment. Now, within just a few years, Michael Aquino was a major insider at the Church of Satan, although he took on all the nerd roles

that Anton LeVay couldn't be bothered with. Like, for example, editing the church's internal publication, the cloven hoof. Excellent, because I love templates. Yes, and I have two hooves for hands. Just get the fuck out of here. I just feel like there were so many good conversations like, okay, Michael, no, get the fuck out of you.

I'm done. I'm done with you for today. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear a single more thing about the email list. If I hear one more fucking thing about an email list, I'm going to fucking sacrifice you to myself. How many empty doorways did Michael Aquino talk through? People just walking away slowly.

There's another part that I want to do. That's fine. I'll save it. I'll save it for when we're on a plane together. Most importantly, though, Michael Aquino was a member of the Church of Satan's governing body, the Council of Nine. This presumably is how Aquino came to be so heavily involved in a short-lived organizational structure called the Grotto System. Now, incredibly, the Grotto System was modeled after the Boy Scout troops that both Aquino and LeVay loved. The idea was that the Grotto

system would give each member a chance to be more than a so-called male order Satanist. Using the Grotto system, members could share in ritual practice and discussion with their own local Satanists outside of San Francisco, wherever in the country they may be. By July of 1970, 25 satanic grottoes have been established around America, with names like the plutonian grotto, the Asmodius grotto, the Babylon grotto, the Karnat grotto, and the Yulgoth grotto. Each grotto, which was required to have at least five members. Can I ask which grotto had a cold brew? That's like my main thing.

Karnak grotto. Okay, I'll be there yet. Whatever one was in Connecticut. Well, each grotto, which was required to have at least five members, who was led by someone who was at least a second degree, witch, or warlock. Each grotto also had to be approved by Michael Aquino and the rest of the Council of Nine, who were all fourth degree witches or warlocks. Oh, I just graduated.

I'm fifth degree now. That easy. You make the rules. Yes, I know. Yeah, that kind of is the problem. That is actually the main problem. When you just make up a bunch of stuff and you say, Okay, all of you individuals.

Former group. So, other than San Francisco, where was the next biggest community? Do you know? I actually don't know, but they were all over the country. Like I said, there were 25 of them. I would guess probably New York. It was New York and the UK. Yeah.

Well, Grotto's also had to make monthly reports about its members. What everyone's up to? How are the rituals going? And some even had their own local newsletters, like Satan Spawn, devil's advocate, children of the night. And my favorite, the Typhon. Tusc. Ooh.

Now, as far as Michael Aquino's role in the Grotto system went, he handled some of the administration and, of course, wrote the Articles of Protocol for the whole system, which outlined the purpose of the grottoes.

Oh, yeah, anytime there's something with the words articles or protocol in it, Aquino's all over. Yeah, Mike, won't you take care of that? I was actually going to volunteer.

This is my fun. This is the fundest thing in the world. I was thinking of a 12-point full-point system. Where you go, that's great. Get the fuck out. Great, Michael, do I need to hear every fucking minute of it? Do I get here every fucking second of it? Basically, Aquino believed, because he was both an Armyman and an Eagle Scout,

the people who work in formal organizations can realize their desires for power more easily. Grottoes allowed Satanus to help each other rather than go it alone, and Black Magic Ceremonies were, of course, far easier to pull off if you had friends helping. But what does that do, Marcus? It creates a series of hierarchies. Yes. And guess what Satanists don't like? Series of fucking hierarchies.

We don't like them. No. I hate them. But they also hate being alone. Well, all humans do. Yeah, but that's the thing. Just because I'm hanging out with a bunch of people, do I have to put a bunch of rules around it? Why we got to fucking all have titles?

Yeah. Can we just hang out? Yeah. But even though things were going swimmingly for, the Church of Satan on paper. It seems like Michael Aquino's influence in the organization took a lot of the fun out of the enterprise for Anton the Vei. And the Vei began getting disillusioned with the whole affair within just a few years. In 1972, Anton LeVay ended his public ceremonies at the Black House. In his mind, he'd wanted the Church of Satan to evolve into a, quote, Kabbalistic underground

instead of the long-running pageant it had become. And that is, of course, his words, long-running pageant. And furthermore, the grotto system under Michael Aquino had, again, in LeVay's words, turned the church into a Satan pen pal club. It's kind of funny. Yeah, it went from like ceremonies to meetings. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But concerning the pageantry, LeVay began feeling embarrassed to be seen with members who wanted to show the whole world that they were Satanists all the time wherever they went. LeVay said that he'd step off a plane and there his dark children would be, huddled together in black velvet.

velvet robes and capes with huge Baphomet necklaces at the fucking airport. Because there's a time in place for this shit and it ain't the fucking airport. I've learned. Yeah, he's got a target on his back. He doesn't need the moment he lands for there to be a crowd waiting for him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, here's the church of Satan guys. Everybody kill him.

Yeah. See, from how LeVay saw it, the grassroots people around the country didn't know much about subtlety or decorum. In other words, LeVe was disappointed that his Satan didn't. They didn't know how to just be cool. Just fucking hang out. It doesn't have to be like this all the fucking time. He said, and this is my favorite Anton LeVay quote.

I was trying to present a cultured manned image. And their idea of protest to shock was to wear their lodge regalia into the nearest Denny's. This is a thing that I think about all the time. Because this is kind of what I've even modeled myself after in a way. because Anton LeVay, he straight up, that's what he kept saying. He's like, the Church of Satan part of me is only like a 20% part of me.

Like, I actually have all these other things. I actually have all these other abilities and all these other interests. And I started this thing. And it was actually never supposed to be a merch-carrying club. Like, this was supposed to go underground for me. This is supposed to be for me.

And for the people like-minded to me. Because Satanus, if you believe how the Satanus, themselves. We're the fucking elite. That's the idea, right? We're supposed to be the fucking top of the top that don't get fucking pulled in the nets of these religions and shit. It makes you naturally very divisive human

being. But the dude fucking just was like, can't you just do it with style? Yeah. Yeah. Or just hang out. He was right about the Denny's thing. I feel like that's wherever I see a Satanus is in like a Denny's or a shitty diner. Well, I mean, I don't know what it is, but just, I mean, it's

a well-known fact that goth kids are drawn the Denny's. It's a safe place. Yeah. Perkins as well. They like Perkins. Yeah. I mean, I don't know how many times you just hung out and it. It was because you could sit, hang out in a Denny's, unlimited coffee, and you could smoke. And they won't kick you out. And it's open 24 hours.

As long as you don't fight nobody, you're good. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Now I am. Now the inevitable backlash against the Church of Satan started getting dangerous by 1974. While the Black House was among the world's first satanic tourist destinations, the crowds of looky-loos and admirers, also

included people who genuinely wanted to hurt or kill Anton and his family. That's what we were talking about in the first episode. That's an inherent problem about being a Satanus is that you're asking people to punch you in the face. Yes. And the star does look like a target. It does. Very much so. Lavey and his family

therefore moved to a house in Sonoma north of San Francisco after enduring a barrage of bricks, eggs, spray paints, bullets, and even a bomb. Lavei became reclusive, fortifying the black house with surveillance cameras and a 10-foot tall, electrified fence, even though

he wasn't even living there anymore. It was more... The Black House basically became like the Church of Satan's office. Yeah. Then, around the Halloween of 1974, LeVe went public with his dissatisfaction. He said in an interview that he wanted to be nowhere near San Francisco during Halloween. I get it.

He didn't want to be the center of attention for a bunch of Satanists. He didn't like a respect. Further explaining that for him, which I totally fucking get, Halloween was like New Year's Eve to a bartender. It's just the truth. It really is. Hang it out with LeVay. A Tuesday night, man, that's

when you want to meet the fucking Pope with the Church of Satan. I want to meet the Pope with the Church Satan on April 14th. Yes. Middle of the day. Actually, no April 14th back because he's going to be, he's in preparations for Volpergis knocked.

Yes. Yeah, I want to meet him sometime in like June. Yeah, what after? During the normal anti-Christian celebration. LeVe also announced that in an attempt to steer the church back to a dignified place, he was done doing performative satanic rituals. He said that the new type of

Satanist is not ostentatious nor garish, but a substantial, responsible citizen who prefers to keep his Satanism on the inside rather than on his sleeve. LeVay had also dismantled Michael Aquino's beloved grotto system, because the majority of the grottoes couldn't get their shit together due to rivalries, scandals, and the general types of antics that Wama would expect more in a high school glee club than in a satanic mini cult can i speak as the charismatic leader of a small group of people that do form side groups and explain that every single time you do that when you form a facebook group or you form a redid group begins to suck and does begin to eat itself because the internet because groups of people in those areas for some reason just slowly become like evil or dark rats

to each other. Oh yeah. Whenever you're like group like chat on their or like text chat like changes names for the fifth time, it's time to go. I'm out. Yeah, it's time to get out of there. Yeah, it's it's really, it's not just Satanous, it's any group of people. Like you get too many people in one place and just for too long, everything has an end.

And you kind of just need to say like, okay, that's enough. But Anton LeVay saying like, we're not doing the grotto system anymore. That was also it seems like the beginning of the split between him and Michael Aquino. Very much so. Because they were also, what he's not telling the world is that he himself was taking magic more seriously on his own personally. And that was like a thing he started understand I wanted to do it for me. And the Michael Aquino and the order of the trapezoid shit, all of that was supposed to be for his own private practice and for him to sort of teach himself

because according to Michael Keeno, that's the idea is that they started doing fake rituals and then one day they met something real. Yes. Now, LeVay did continue as a leader of the church, but he narrowed his focus on the more intellectual and, of course, the wealthier followers. Mainstream fame, as it turned out, resulted in mainstream people all up in your shit. From what it seems like, LeVay didn't want to be a mainstream figure. Instead, it seems like after the Church of Satan began to be far more troubled than it was worth, Anton LeVay became far more concerned with how he could worm his way into Hollywood, because Anton LeVay was, first and foremost, an entertainment.

Oh, yeah, baby. Now, LeVay had claimed that he'd worked as a satanic consultant on Rosemary's baby, and it was rumored that it was LeVay himself who played Satan during the movie's impregnation scene. Neither of those things, of course, are true. But it is interesting. Yeah, it was Roman Polansky himself. Yeah, he did it. No, no, that's not true.

He just, you know, he just, he's just, he's an evil man. Yeah, apparently. Yes, yes. But it is interesting that Anton's detachment from the church does coincide with his increasing involvement in Hollywood productions, even if all of his contributions were in the decidedly B-movie category.

He just wanted to make movies at this point. He knew he knew. He just wanted to make movies. He never wanted to make a religion, really. No. It's entertainment. Yeah, exactly. He wanted to make entertainment. Movies, TV, whatever. Music, yeah. But this is the big lesson here. The big lesson is

that the way all of this magic shit works is that what Anton LeVay did not fully understand even in his creation of it, is that you can't control it. And you really do become what you pretend to be. It is real. That is fucking real.

It's why the senators change. It's why these people change. It's because as soon as you get to that place, it changes you. Yeah, it does. Well, in 1973, Anton LeVay advised on a script for a TV movie starring William Shatner

called The Horror at 37,000 Fe. Schatner, I suppose, was trying to recapture the magic of his classic Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 feet. Oh! I thought it was the other thing. That's so stupid.

I know. No, it's incredibly stupid. Yeah. And that's also, it's interesting that remember William Shatner's other Twilight Zone episode was the one... The devil creature. You know, we're at the diner. You know, just one more. Just one more.

Yes, which is honestly an incredible allegory for chat boxes and chat GPT. It is. It really is. Yeah. What do I do? Tell me what to do next. Yes. But instead of a gremlin tearing the plane apart, that was nightmare at 20,000 feet. Horror at 37,000 feet.

Completely different. Entirely different pitch. I don't want to hear. It's entirely different. 15,000 yards. Yeah, I like that. I like yards. I like that.

It makes you think of football. Okay. Football goes on a plane. Terror at 30,000 inches. That's what I like. It's a real low one, but I like that. Well, horror at 37,000 feet was a high. concept mess about a bunch of demonic druid ghosts causing havoc from an airplane's baggage compartment

by torturing the passengers with demonic visions. It is considered to be William Shatner's worst film, which is saying a lot. Just the idea of when like, okay, all right, now you had a ghost. Yeah, absolutely. All right. When he goes to the plane, go, or he had a grandma on this, fine. When he goes to the plane, it's fine. Druids, perfect.

Yeah, exactly. Boom. Irish, done. British. It's so scary. Absolutely. Where did a Druid ghost? Where did British ghost go?

Baggage. In the baggage, it's in the bags. Yeah, because that's where crazy shit. No one knows what's in the backs. Nobody knows it's under the plane. Yeah, that's the scariest part of the plane. Aren't we all mentally carrying a lot of life? That is what I'm saying.

It's right in itself. It's right in itself. You know, people say you can't do art with TV. It's just wrong. We're doing it. It's wrong with doing it. But even though horror was a fucking flop, LeVey also consulted on a movie called

the Mithisto waltz about a dying Satanist piano player who transfers his soul into the body of a younger man. That younger man was played by Alinalda, you know, for MASH. Wow. Do you see it? No, I haven't seen the poster from Mephisto Waltz is fucking awesome. It's very cool. It's got a girl

on the floor and she's drawn a pinagram. It's very cool, but I hear like the set is really cool, but overall, like, they say Alinada is the worst part of the movie. Yeah, they say he flubs it. I can. now, not all done. Yeah, he's young.

Well, I will say, if we're saying that the set is good, it's not a good movie. You know what I mean? For at that point being like, you know, I just, I'm proud of them for getting it all together. Yeah. You know, wow. I just can't believe.

You know, wow, they really put a lot of work in that, huh? Well, I'm a massive B movie guy. So, like, whenever someone says, like, the set is incredible, I'm like, watch that. And this one got better reviews, but the praise was mostly focused on the occult imagery, the set, you know, all the various, you know, things in the background.

That, of course, was all LeVay's doing. Critics, however, were less kind about The Car, which involved a possessed Lincoln Continental that runs people over for no good reason and was parodied many years later in an episode of Futurama called The Honking. Oh, we had everything do with Christine. Yeah, well, I think it was somewhere around the same time as Christine. But while LeVay bragged that the car was filled with a cult symbol, The film's writers denied all that, saying that they had simply written a quick rip-off of Jaws using a car instead of a shark and a few vague occult elements.

That's Dule! No, no. No, no, no. That's the movie. No, no, no, no. Listen to me, asshole. No, no, no. It's called the car.

Duel, you know, that actually kind of mansions, that's two cars. This is not what about several cars. It's a car. It's the car. Duck car. It's a duck car. And it's a Lincoln, which is nice. and it goes on his

song. And we all know what Lincoln did. Sucked a dick until he's going to happen. But out of all the movies, Anton LeVay was involved with, in ways big and small, none were more insane, more satanic,

more entertaining, nor more incoherent than the devil's reign. Oh, it's awesome. Yeah, starring again, William Shatner, as well as Tom Scarritt

as the hero, and Ernest Borgnein in one of his best roles as a manic satanic priest. Dude, it was awesome. Marcus made me watch it last night. And I can't tell if I know more or less about Satanism now. You know less. You know less. Ernest Borgnein is amazing in this movie.

Yeah, he really enjoyed him. And he disavowed it afterwards. Although, you know, he said later, oh, I hid my trailer the whole time. He didn't. He had a fucking great time. Everyone on the set had a great time. except William Shatner. And the only reason why William Shatner had a bad time was because it was filmed in Mexico

and nobody in Mexico knew who the fuck William Shatner was. No one seen Star Trek. And so he was jealous. The set was nice. The set was amazing. Yeah. Oh, and bonus horror movie fact. A plastic mold was made of William Shatner's face for the big climax in the devil's reign.

And that mold was turned into a mass-produced Halloween mask. And that same model of mask was later painted white and turned into the face of Michael Myers for the Halloween movies. Hell yeah. Fascinating. So it did lead to something good. Yeah, it did. Actually, we're going to get to here a second. It led to a lot of shit.

Now, concerning the devil's reign, the plot barely makes sense. And I've seen it like a few times. Yeah. They melt. Because of the rain. That's because of the dunes of the rain. Well, best as I can tell it, Ernest Borgnion plays a satanic priest

who's been trying for hundreds of years to obtain a book from a family of former followers. The book is filled with the names of followers Borg Nain has obtained for Satan. You know, remember all the Salem Witch Trial stuff, you know, that put the name in the devil's book. But those souls cannot be claimed by Satan

until Borg Nguer gets the book back and therein lies the plot. Oh, it's kind of like when you left all your Marlboro Miles, like if you had left them behind and you can't get them. So that's what he needs. Oh, that's what it is. Yeah, yeah. Because you don't count. No, it don't count. No, no Marlboro miles in heaven. No.

Oh, hell. You can smoke as much as you want, but if you don't turn them in, you ain't getting the windbreaker. Now, the devil's drain was a full-on production, and Anton LeVay was present for the entire five-week shoot down in Mexico. He did set design, costume design, and his name is prominently displayed in the opening credits as technical advisor and high priest of Satan, which, I mean, it's more of a publicity stunt than anything. I'm happy for him. This was his dream. It was. But Anton LeVay did put quite a bit of Satanism into the movie. and he did work both as an advisor and as crew when needed.

During the filming of one scene, for example, LeVay led the local Mexican extras playing satanic cult members in a recitation of actual magical rituals from the lesser key of Solomon, which were also printed in the Satanic Bible. But since the extras didn't speak English, LeVay wrote out syllable-by-syllable cue cards for the scene, and he stood next to the cards during the filming, pointing to each syllable for the extras benefit.

This actually happened. There are pictures of him doing it. All right, so everybody, I just want to say, first of all, I'm so happy you all here. I'm very contento. Este apprehendo, est la Sieno. And just want to say, okay, here we go. We do it from something.

Regiae. Regia. Regia. Very good. Satanus. Say. Say, say, say, say. Seine.

Seine's no, bueno. No, no. No. Yeah, no, no, no. I know why you're saying that. But today, Satan is his, bueno. They did actually have to search, like, far and wide for locals who were willing to be in the movie because most of them were scared shitless. Yeah.

The whole thing, the whole production being around him. I had to, you know, we have our handyman, Arturo, we talk with him quite a bit about the devil imagery. Now he understands quite a bit about it. That's good. That's really good. I did once have a cleaning lady leave my home halfway and through the job after she cleaned my office. Actually, she just walked into the office and then just left without saying work. The lady that came in cleaned our house, we have a wonderful lady.

I don't want to name her by name because, you know, she's wonderful. She works for her at the network, too. But I'll always say that after that murderfish show we did on the 20th anniversary, and I didn't know I'd left the dildo inside of my pants for this scene. You know, it's like a whole thing. It was like a dildo just there amongst my pants. And she cleaned a bathroom. taken out when the scene's over.

Didn't even think about it. Was the nacho cheese still on it? Yeah. And she cleaned it all off and left it on top of the sink. That's so nice. That was one of the nicest things because I know it wasn't on the sink before

and then I came back and it was definitely just on the sink. That's a fucking Ray's move. Oh no, I gave her, I gave her a little bit more. You can get a bonus for that one. No, I gave her just being like a shoo shoo,

you know, like we don't always fuck my ass, you know? You don't have to clean the dildos, but if you do. Could you use the sings? Scented oil. Not satisfied to stand behind the camera. LeVay even talked his way into cameos in a few scenes.

But interestingly, when you watch those scenes, Anton LeVay looks uncomfortable, almost nervous, which is why I think Anton LeVay never quite made it in Hollywood. See, LeVay could hang with intellectuals, magicians, and even movie stars one-on-one. But in the end, I think that Hollywood as a whole, it may have been just a little too intimidating of an experience for the dirty pope to handle. Everybody thinks they can do it. Everybody thinks they can do it. They really do.

And then you step on stage sometimes and you realize, oh, what have I done? And I think that he's used to being the coolest guy in the room. Yeah. And then when you're there and you're the very... With Ernest Borgnein, you ain't going to be the coolest guy in the room.

No, sir. Not on a movie set. Especially not Ernest Borgnan when he puts on that fucking amazing devil makeup. Oh my God. It's incredible. Dude, so cool. The makeup of that movie is really good.

It's insane. That's so incredibly good. Movie star. That's not just, that's Ernest, we forget at the time. That's, that wild bunch. That's fucking movie star. Oscar winner, Marty. You know, like, so he's, I can feel him being like, oh, I'm second fiddle here. Yeah. And he's, yeah, he does the

Beijing, Mr. Herman. Like, he does that, where he's like, looking down the pie. No, it's, there's, the first scene that he's in, he's kind of in the background, and his, you can see his eyes darting around. He's, like, looking at the members of the production. He even has a giant gold helmet on. He still, like, fucking can't do it.

Yeah. But the most interesting bit of trivia about the Devil's Rain concerns the actor who played the head henchman in the satanic cult. He only had one line, but the Devil's Rain was indeed the first movie to ever feature John Travolta. They gave him billing, too, even though he had one line. Well, they gave him billing because of the job that he booked after filming was done. Oh.

We've mentioned this many times before, but it was on the set of the Devil's Rain that someone gave the stressed out young actor a book that they said would help manage his life. That book was, of course, Dianetics. And it was that book that set Travolta down the path towards Scientology. I just got to say, thank you so much for giving me

this book. It's one of the nicest things I've ever read. But you think that maybe you could give me one of them, gay hand jobs. Come on, Mr. Cock. It is, because devil's rain is like Anton Lefei's Battlefield Earth. Yeah, a little bit.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Interestingly, though, even though Travolta's role was a smaller one, it was, and even though John Travolta was at this point, it was his first movie, he was not a star in any way whatsoever,

it was said that he and Anton LeVay became fast friends. And a picture does indeed exist of the two of them standing together in a candid moment. And it really shows you, Anton LeVay is like, he's sitting there wearing a fucking t-shirt.

Anton LeVay, everybody says, was the most charming man in the world. the room when you met him. And that when you met him, he's the exact, he's everything you wouldn't think he's be. He's like warm and ingratiating and sweet and like, like memorizes your name. This is all the stuff. He's a carny.

Yes. He's really good at it. See, Travolta was fascinated by old Hollywood, particularly Marilyn Monroe. And LeVay claimed to have known Monroe biblically. But Travolta's obsession with Marilyn was not about her looks or her gnashing and farting during orgasm, as LeVay had put it. Instead, LeVay said that John Travolta wanted to know how Marilyn

Mood and acted because Travolta could do the most convincing and realistic Marilyn Monroe impersonation that Anton LeVe had ever seen. Straight as an arrow that John Travolta. I just like to see it. I just like to see a straight guy give a lady a shot. Straight as a dildo.

Oh, wow. That John, Trowolta, man. I mean, I mean, I mean, hairspray. He's an incredible. drag queen. Oh, really is. Incredible in hairspray. Yeah. Oh, happy birthday. I'm trying to figure out.

You know, Lou, Leveille also said that he took such a shining to Travolta that he did a satanic success ritual for John Traud during filming. And sure enough, shortly after, Travolta did indeed book the role that would make him famous. That's when he booked Vinny Barbarino on Welcome Back Carter. And that is why John Travolta is

in the opening credits because between the filming of the movie and the release of it, he got on Welcome Back Carter and was immediately famous. Wow. It happens all the time. Such a funny thing to do a ritual for a giant satanic ritual to get Welcome Back

Connor. It's such a great to become a sweat hog. Let me just hear that name. Let me hear you do it one more time. I just need to hear it to make sure of us. Mr. Cart. Yes. I can see it now. Volta was brutal in Kerry, though.

He was. He very much was. Yeah, but that wasn't brutal and welcome back, Cotter. No, he should have been. That would be awesome. But, you know, he got, he had his little taste of Satanism. I think he was able to channel it in the other place. There's many people that have had a run in with both. Mm-hmm. But while John Trauss' encounter with

Anton LeVay is one of those forgotten pieces of Hollywood trivia, the celebrity relationship that has become legendary over the decades is Anton's long friendship with the singer, actor and entertainer, Sammy Davis Jr. Mr. Bo Jangle.

I love Sammy Davis Jr. Oh, how could you not? I love him. He's amazing. Now, I always thought that Sammy Davis Jr.'s reputation as a Satanist was a joke, a passing fancy, overblown throughout the years, because it is objectively insane that a member of Frank Sinatra's rap pack

was a devoted Satanist. But while it is insane, it is also very true. And it shockingly makes a lot of sense. It does. Was it public? At times, yeah. He would talk about it.

He wrote about it in his books. So Sinatra knew. Well, we're going to get to that here in a bit about Sinatra's opinions on it and how it may have affected Sammy Davis Jr's relationship with Anton LeVay. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's interesting because it also brings Anton LeVeux one step closer to Don Rickles again. Yeah, right? Weird.

By the way, the information about Sammy Davis Jr. and Anton LeVey mostly comes from this fantastic role. Rolling Stone article written a couple of years ago called Inside Sammy Davis Jr.'s Secret Satanic Past by Alex Bata Chargie. It's a really great read. And I watch a great documentary on him. And he really, Sammy Davis Jr. is just one. What a complicated figure. Extraordinarily complicated.

His song The Joker is a must for any comedian. It is. Mr. Bojangles is incredible. I love, I love the song Mr. Bojangles. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, but Sammy Davis Jr. was a singer, not a writer. He just did a fantastic version of Mr. Bojangles, and his version of Mr. Bojangles was sad.

Yes. Yeah. That was nitty, gritty dirt band, I believe, the real Bojangles? That's who I'm going to say it is without Googling. Good. It was either them, Jerry Jeff Walker, or maybe Bob Dylan. I don't know. But to understand how and why Sammy Davis Jr. was so drawn to Satanism, you got to understand Sammy Davis Jr.

And in understanding Sammy Davis Jr., you might understand why a lot of people are drawn to the Church of Satan. See, more than even most performers, Sammy Davis Jr. was driven and defined by a constant and desperate need for acceptance, which came mostly from the complications and humiliations that he had to deal with as a black American born in 1925. Hailing from Harlem, Sammy Davis Jr.'s parents were both vaudeville entertainers. But while his dad was black, his mother was Cuban and strangely, incredibly racist. Sammy's own mother would hurl racist remarks at Sammy from birth, telling him that he looked like a little monkey and not in a cute way. And his mother never let him forget how dark his skin really was.

She did it. It's a lot. Complicated. Complicated. Complicated. And he was one of those where he never went school. No. He could barely read or write.

Natural entertainer. Started performing at the age of three. You'd say natural entertainer, but they also kind of for, said on him, but he also was natural. Man, fuck school. Exactly. Babe Ruth was good at school. You think Bruce Lee fucking

did math? It's 2026. People need to go to school. Fuck that. Schools. Good now. I ain't going no fucking schools. We know you're not anymore.

You went to elementary school, junior high and high school. I did graduate high school. You did graduate high school. You went to a bunch of, like, way too many years of community college. I went there for a couple years and did nothing. Yeah. I wrote on the school paper. That was my only class.

That's nice. Yeah. Well, Sammy Davis Jr. Tored extensively throughout his childhood until he was drafted to fight in World War II in 1943. But after spending years, absorbing cheers and applause from crowds, he was now dealing in the army with racial slurs and physical violence from white soldiers. Davis's nose was broken repeatedly.

That's what gave him, you know, he's got that flat bridge on his nose. It came from soldiers breaking his nose over and over and over again. Motherfucker. He had to eat a hard time in the Army, man. He was also a small guy. He was 5'4. He was a very small guy. That wasn't even close to the worst of it.

Soldiers would cover his body in white paint. They'd write the N-word on his chest. Once they even soaked him in urine. The only time he wasn't abused, he said, was when he was performing for those same soldiers, which has got to fuck you up. Also, it's crazy that he just ran with white dudes. Like, it's bizarre.

Well, this is a part of the complicated thing of Sammy Davis Jr. By the time... He should hate us! Savvy Davis Jr. wanted to make it in show business. And he knew the complicated a relationship he would have to

string in order to make it. Make it, make it. Which means he would need to be entered into, which is at this point a barred off white person's world. And he would need to be invited into it, which did happen. And there were a couple of guys.

There was that one that put his whole family on. They put him on when they were younger. and it was the first guy to ever touch a black man. It was this guy, I forgot his name. It was his host where he took Sammy Davis Jr. And he kissed him on the cheek. And it changed everything. It was a segregated show.

But it took, you had to ingratiate himself with a bunch of people who hated him to do it. He made a lot of compromises. And, you know, as we're about to get into, like it gave him a really bad fucking reputation. It did. Now, after his discharge, Sammy Davis Jr. returned to the stage and soon, Sky.

I rocketed to stardom. But after the near fatal car crash in 1954 that gave him his trademark glass eye, Sammy started questioning the nature of God and spirituality, because Sammy Davis Jr. was a seeker of spiritual knowledge. And he automatically understood this idea of, oh, God gives me these challenges, these are just challenges and shit. Fuck you. Why?

Now, he started with Scientology, but thankfully moved on to Judaism with all due speed. But reportedly, after, he told his Jewish friend, the comedian Jerry Lewis, that he'd converted to Judaism. Lewis said, and I'd like you to take this one, Eddie. Well, you don't have enough problems already? Which is an incredibly funny Jewish thing to say. He is, and apparently, he learned Hebrew. Yeah.

Billy Crystal said he would call him for challenges of the soul. Yeah. He would call him as his rabbi. No, he was really good to Billy Crystal notoriously. Yeah. But while Sammy's fame was still rising, he continually had to put up with bullshit from people who didn't accept him for who he was. When he joined Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the rest to form the rat pack in the 50s,

Davis found himself the butt of many a racist joke. Sinatra routinely called Davis Smokey, and he said that Davis had to smile to be seen in the dark. Dean Martin was fond of picking up the diminutive Sammy Davis Jr. saying that he would like to thank the NAACP for this wonderful trophy. He was a prop. Yeah, and he knew that he served a function within the... the rat pack and it became, at first he thought he had power over it, but then the bigger the

rat pack got, the more it became like aimed at him. Yeah. Yeah, well, those old Roast, those old Dean Martin Rose were so racist. He was barely a part of him though. Yeah, he didn't do any of that really. Yeah. Sammy Davis Jr. had also married a white woman and his interracial marriage had caused quite the stir amongst the establishment. So when Sammy Davis Jr. entered the 1960s, he was seen as too forward-thinking for the whites, but because of his association with the rat pack, he he was seen as too much of an Uncle Tom for black radicals. But he was a hardcore, like, guy before that. No, I mean, he joined Martin Luther King, Jr. at the March home Washington.

And in Selma, he was on the KKK's kill list. But the black power radicals of the 60s, they saw Sammy Davis, Jr. as an assimilationist. And they were none too fond of him marrying a white woman either. So after divorcing his wife, for unrelated reasons, Davis chased acceptance in the black community by growing his hair into a big afro, buying a few. designer Dashikis'is, and dating a black woman named Altavis Gore, whom he eventually married. Now, it must be said at this point that Sammy Davis Jr. had an insatiable sexual appetite. And Alta Viz Gore was fully accepting when Davis told her that the only way it was going to work is if they had an open marriage. Which is Satanic.

Damn, that's must have both jangles. You can't just let him have one late. But despite his efforts, Sammy Davis Jr. still spent the 60s as a pariah amongst his own people and a prop amongst the whites. Plus, because he wasn't a songwriter, he didn't have any money from royalties. All of his movies also flopped because his audience was aging. And the kids in the 60s,

they didn't give a shit about Sammy Davis Jr. So, in a desperate bid to be wanted by anybody, Sammy made an extremely ill-advised appearance at the 1972 Republican Convention, where he hugged a visibly uncomfortable Richard Nixon on stage. Which, you know, that fucker should have thinking his lucky stars that Sammy Davis Jr.

wanted to be standing next to him. And it's really fun. It's sad because it did. It fucked up Sammy Davis Jr.'s whole life. Oh, God. And the whole rap pack was there, I imagine. No. It was just Sammy Davis Jr.

It was a real. The picture is really, like it's Sammy Davis Jr. He's hugging Richard Dixon. He's got his eyes closed and Nixon looks like, he's like, get the fuck off of me. Yes. It looks bad for everybody. And the backlash, of course, nearly ruined Sammy's career. But after he appeared on an effort.

episode of the controversial sitcom All in the Family in which he ad-libbed a shocking kiss with Archie Bunker, the show's resident bigot, Sammy Davis Jr. had a little bit of cultural cachet. And he wrote that whole thing. Yes. He didn't. He surprised all of them. Davis, therefore, got a meeting with NBC to discuss projects. And Davis pitched an idea about a guy who worked for Satan. Dude, he did your pretty face going to hell. We're going to get to that in a second. We're going to get to that here and a second. I have some questions about that. And coincidentally, NBC already had a comedy with a similar concept with a working title,

Beat the Devil, written by the same guys who'd helmed Bewitched. So, you know, they already knew a little bit about witchiness, Satanism, so on and so forth. Their idea was folded into Sammy's idea of a satanic comedy. And thus a show called Poor Devil, starring Sammy Davis Jr. as a damned soul named Sammy was born and put into production. Yeah, he couldn't be and bewitched because if he winked, he would have fell over. Now, poor devil is, in essence, a satanic version of It's a Wonderful Life. Davis plays a damned soul working the coal furnace who wants a promotion in a business-like hell

in which he's been working for over a thousand years. To earn his satanic wings, so to speak, he has to convince an accountant at a department store on earth, played by Jack Klugman from the odd couple, to sell his soul to the devil, played by none other than Christopher Lee. Incredible cast! It sounds incredible. Also, Adam West is in it. I love Adam West.

Yeah. But aside from a few entertaining moments, it is surprisingly bland. It has good ideas, but it's still written like a 1973 NBC TV movie. It's got terrible pacing, way too much filler, and a lot of bad jokes. I bet they made them cut all the cool shit. Of course! But the way hell... No piss rivers?

No piles of rapists playing basketball? Speaking of piss rivers, the way hell is structured on this. show is more of a business. It's fairly similar to how your show, your pretty face is going to hell, is set up. So, do you know if fucking Dave Willis and Casper Kelly, do you know if they ever saw a poor devil?

I'm literally emailing him right now. I want to know. I'm going to ask him right now. I like how you were like mad when Marcus was describing the plot, but it's just like this obviously came out way before. It's 73. 1973. What was it call again? Poor devil.

devil, right? Yeah. And it's, you know, it's an hour, it's about an hour, 10 minutes long and it's fully, like, it is, like, Sammy's character, his, you know, damned soul character, uh, he even has, like, a girlfriend who works reception, you know, there's offices.

It's pretty face. It's a great idea. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's a great idea. Yeah. It's almost like a show that should still be on television. It's almost like a show that could have continued for a bunch of years of the entire network continued to exist. They can't now, because they destroyed the network and they, they, they They took the building down. They tore the building down where we did it all.

Someone said it ran its course. Ah, you fucker. It did. I loved it. I could have seen more. I could have seen much more. It's definitely, you know, your best work. Thank you.

Yeah, it is. Including this. Yeah. You know, I actually have no problem agreeing with that. Yeah, it's my best work. No, well, poor devil is not good. It does have far more satanic overture. than anyone watching at home may have realized.

And that was all due to Sammy Davis Jr. The most entertaining part of the whole show, in fact, is Sammy Davis Jr. mugging while flashing the devilhorn salute. He's even got one little fingernail painted red. The executive producer of the show was impressed by these little details that Sammy Davis Jr. put into the show, thinking that Sammy had merely done extra research for the role. But what nobody knew was that Sammy Davis Jr.

had been dancing around the Church of Satan for years and had even participated in satanic rituals in the late 60. Hollywood used to be so much more fun. Hollywood used to be better. Sammy Davis Jr. himself wrote, he wrote in 1968, back when the Church of Satan was still hip, he got an impromptu invitation from a group of young actors who were all attending a Church of Satan ritual in the Hollywood Hills.

At the ceremony, Davis saw a hooded priest insert a massive dildo into a naked woman lying atop an altar and much to the approval of the famously horny Sammy Davis Jr. Who also enjoyed his substances quite a bit. The whole thing ended in a drug-fueled orgy. Yeah, I like the way this is going here,

cat. That's why Sammy Davis Jr. I'm trying to get it. Yeah, it's hard to do it. I was trying it on too. Yeah. Yeah. Davis wrote, quote, It was all fun of games, Dungeons, dragons, and botry. Okay, I can't understand what you're saying.

I can't understand what you're saying at all. All right, I'll try. It was all fun in games, and it's all fun in games, and it's all fun in games and dungeons and dragons and debauchery. And as long as the chick was happy and wasn't really going to get anything sharper than a dildo stuck in the way. I wasn't going to walk away from it. That sounds like Sam. It does. That's a real low bar.

Yeah, yeah, it is a low bar. It's a sharper than a dildo. As long as we're not going to murder it. I'm here. Anything else? Play ball. And as long as she's into it. As long as she's happy.

But besides the sex, the point here was that the Church of Satan had a policy of radical acceptance for better or worse. And Sammy Davis Jr. was a man who had spent his entire life searching for a place where he could be accepted and wanted for who he actually was rather than what people thought he should be. Well, you know we went through Scientology first even before Judaism. Yeah, I mentioned it. Yeah. Were you listening? Yeah. No, I don't know if you said, he went, he got hardcore slightly into Scientology very first. Then the Judaism hit and he liked Judaism and then he did that. Yeah. And then he really was just like, oh, he was just truly like, I just love this guy, the old school Hollywood guy. He was just like spiritually seeking. Yeah, and super mixed up and dropped into an incredibly hard situation, an incredibly hard time to be, you know, a black American. And the church of Satan made. him happy.

Yeah, and they're saying, come here. And they accepted him. Yes. Now, Sammy was, as we said, a natural-born seeker. So he learned what he could about Satanism and later put those details into poor devil. But when the TV movie finally aired in 1973, set in San Francisco, no less, there was someone down at LeVay's Black House watching Poor Devil with rapt interest. That viewer was Diane Higarty, co-founder of the Church of Satan.

And when Jack Klugman's character is trying to find Sammy halfway through the show, Klugman reached for the phone and exclaimed, The Church of Satan downtown, they'll know how to reach them. And with that mention of the Church of Satan on a mainstream TV show, Diane Higarty later said that she nearly fell out of her chair. Two days later, Higarty got a letter from Michael Aquino. He had also seen poor devil, and he gave a gushing review, calling the program, quote, A magnificent commercial for the church.

LeVay agreed and began formulating a plan to recruit Mr. show business into the Church of Satan. And that is where we will pick back up next week for our conclusion to our series on Anton LeVay. And that's what we'll sew at a couple of these nerds, small little mistakes and little, like, let's just say the things that they left out that should put it in would lead to a lot of devastation in a way. We would actually see this will turn into, you've got the Church of Satan on one hand that will turn into some form of political organizations, largely neutered. And then the temple of set that will spawn a bunch of evil fuckers. And we will get there. Oh, yeah. Well, this has been a lot of fun.

I appreciate you guys. I always wanted to learn about Anton LeVay, but never cared to crack the book myself. There we go. That's why we do this. Yeah, that's why we're here. Go to Patreon. com slash podcast and Lufflin. You can listen to the show ad free.

You can also see last stream on the left live every Tuesday, 5 p.m. PSD. It's on the Patreon. You can also go over to LP on the left and both of the social media's. I'm going to say both. Yeah, both of them. Because I'm going to do it more than this. No.

We're doing TikTok and Instagram. That's it. If that. No, I'm not doing anything else. Don't forget to watch it on Netflix as well. Please. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And check out LPN TV on YouTube.

We have HGX2 is about to reach the final. And it's going to be Henry versus Julie and you're going to see all of your judges come back. It's going to be a fucking blast. I know you. No mercy at your wife. I dare you to try and fight her because she will whoop both of our asses. Intellectually is where I'm safe. Physically she could take any of the three of us.

No, no, no, no. She's quite strong. I've seen her with the rocks. Very, very strong. Yeah. And if you watch the stream on YouTube, it premieres directly after that. And that's going to be 7 p.m. PST. on YouTube.

And the stream, of course, comes out every Thursday at 6 p.m. Great. Good. Oh, yeah. And we're hitting the road. We got three J.K. Ultras left. That's it, you fucking animals. All right.

So June 27th, Grand Rapids, Michigan, GLC Live at 20 Monroe. And then the next night, Henry and I are going off to London, Ontario to do some side stories. Check that out. Sweet, sweet Ontario, murder capital of Canada. Oh, great. July 17th Tulsa, Oklahoma, Keynes Ballroom, July 18th, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and that's going to be at the Tower Theater.

And then I'm hitting the road. I'm doing a lot of stand-up. I got a show the very next night in Plano, Texas. I got a shit ton of shows in July. I'm going to be in Bethlehem, Newark, New York City, Plano, and then I'm going to be all over the place. Go check it out. Just come see me live.

Oh, here in L.A. Henry and I are going to do the Comedy Store. Yes. That's going to be a blank. We're going to do the belly room. They let us in. We're going to go in there and we're just going to impress the hell out of these standouts. Yeah, it's going to be for Ed Larson and Friends on July 26.

Go check that out. And then I'll be in Chicago after that. Go to nattietoos.com for all tickets. Thanks. Hail Satan, y'all. Oh, hell again. Hail Tutsi. Oh, yeah.

Why do they always go so young? Yeah, only 19. Oh, God. She had so much time to live. I can't believe it. But honestly, you did good, and you treated it well, and you sent her off in a nice way. I did, I did. It was a good baby girl.

And when I get the ashes back, I'll shoot him out of a cannon on Instagram or something. Do they send those in the mail, or is there a courier? Sometimes they send them in the mail, but it depends on where you go. I got to go pick mine up. Okay. Yes. And I did not. Dude, God, these at home people who come and, like, they charge like a motherfucker.

I took her to the vet. 82 bucks. At home, like, euthanasia is like $1,000. I was like, I was on hold or like make your decision in the next 10 minutes. I was like, go fuck yourself. And the key is you need to have an awning that you can put a noose over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I'm a fucking smotherer myself.

I thought you meant at home cremation. No, no, no, that'd be fun. Yeah, yeah. Whoa, just like a fucking ceramic, like thing that you could just toss animals in? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fun. The floor of it had one of those. It'd probably be a truck.