Related Articles
Who said retro couldn’t be scary? During the 1980s, «Scream Greats» conducted numerous interviews with some of the most recognized personalities in the paranormal world, and people associated with all things terrifying such as American prosthetic makeup artist Tom Savini, co-founder of the Church of Satan Diane LaVey and of course paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Scream Greats consists of three different volumes, in which the second unleashes and discovers the rise of devil cults, witches, and other elements of the black arts. In Vol. 2 Satanism and Witchcraft, during an interview with Ed and Lorraine Warren it is mentioned the way in which a new wave is born in society, the worship of the macabre, of Satan and his demons but what was the origin of it all?
God is the creator of everything: good and evil, war and peace, light and dark as mentioned by Owen Rachleff, occult historian but this came to change during the sixth century B.C when the Persians introduced «Satan» into the world. They believed in a beneficial force that represented the good, Ahura Mazda and an adversary force that represented the evil, Ahriman. During this period, the Persians had several Hebrews captivated and when interacting with the Persian’s beliefs the idea of this » adversary» appealed to them.
The Hebrews then adapted a word for an adversary, which later on would be adapted by Christian theology into what we know now on days as: Satan. Over time, the church decided to create a department of Demonology, in charge of structuring Satan’s forces to make easier the identification of demons and evil forces bothering people.
With the acknowledge of Satan and other demons, a new revolution in religion was born: satanism. Paul Valentine, founder of the Church of Satanic Liberation shares his personal motivation that led him towards the satanic movement » I’m into this for power, my own self-gratification.» when becoming a follower of this movement, it is believed that the demons have the power to grant any of their followers power and this is the main reason why demonologists think that this type of movements has gained numerous worshipers around the world.
However, one thing that must not be forgotten is that those demons that some might worship, have enough power to do favors as well as harm people, so you always have to be careful. Ed and Lorraine Warren address the problems that arise when demons have become too powerful for people to deal with by themselves.
«When we go into a home and you tell me that the refrigerator which weights 400 pounds moved across the room. I know we are not dealing with a human spirit, I know we are not even dealing with a demon, but we could be dealing with a devil…» – Ed Warren
People don’t fully comprehend what is happening to them when they become haunted by a devil, as it is an invisible and powerful force. The Warren would often receive calls asking for professional help as demonologists, and each case will be filtered with the help of police officer Roger Coyle and the «skeptical» brain in their team. It is important for people to acknowledge the existence of devils, as this is the first step for getting rid of them: «If there is one thing I’ve learned in 40 years of investigations: Devils exist, demons exist.»
The Warren knew that Satanism was becoming more and more popular, but they also knew from experience, that getting too close when worshiping a devil can become dangerous: «If you play with mud, you are bound to get dirty and in these cases, it won’t come off easily.» Lorraine Warren
Here you can watch the entire documentary if you are interested on learning more about satanism and witchcraft:
What do you think about Screams Greats’ documentaries?
