News Library
'SATANIC ACTS' LINKED TO WORLDLIER EVILS
Published on March 23, 1990
Author: LINE: By DAVE CONDREN
© The Buffalo News Inc.
TEXT:
Were drugs or the devil behind the removal of an infant's body from a Niagara Falls cemetery this week? Falls police initially described the acts, committed late Tuesday or early Wednesday, as "satanic in nature." Bishop Edward D. Head of the Buffalo Catholic Diocese said Thursday that "there is something diabolical about it." "There is something diabolical about it. There is something very evil here. It is a single, unique burst of evil."Bishop Edward D. Head But authorities on satanism, cults and substance abuse generally agreed Thursday that drugs, alcohol or both, rather than some invisible prince of darkness, were probably responsible for the wanton acts. Capt. Louis Curcione, Falls homicide chief, concurred late Thursday after talking with detectives from other jurisdictions that have dealt with similar, but less bizarre, incidents. "We believe it is youth-oriented. I think they are playing with satanism. They could have been drunk. They could have been high," he said. As police continued the investigation and experts waited for new clues to shape their speculation, there were these other developments Thursday: St. Joseph's Catholic Church, owner of the cemetery, posted a $5,000 reward for the return of the body of the stillborn boy removed from a grave. An additional $5,000 reward was offered by the church for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals who desecrated the cemetery. The Rev. Louis S. Klein, a parochial vicar at the church, and the Rev. Sal Manganello reconsecrated the desecrated sections of the cemetery Thursday afternoon. Niagara County Coroner James Joyce issued a warning that anyone who comes into contact with the missing body faces a "serious health risk" from pathological micro-organisms because the body had not been embalmed. He urged that anyone who has had contact with the body notify Niagara Falls police and seek medical attention. The vandalism and the disappearance of the body were discovered Wednesday morning at St. Joseph's Cemetery, 3806 Pine Ave. The infant, stillborn at Children's Hospital in December, had been buried only about a foot deep in a small metal coffin toward the rear of the cemetery. Police suspected satanic-cult activity because the numbers 666, a devil's sign in satanic lore, were discovered scrawled in the mud about 25 yards from the opened grave. In addition, some crosses had been pulled from the ground and replaced in upside-down, another symbol of satanic activity. Bishop Head conceded in an interview Thursday that he had no way of knowing whether the misdeeds were performed by members of a satanic cult. But he pointed out that "when you disinter a body and open a coffin and knock over monument in a cemetery, there is something diabolical about it." "There is something very evil here. It is a single, unique burst of evil," he added, noting it was the first time in 45 years as a priest that he had encountered the theft of an infant's body from a cemetery. Terming the incident "an act of wanton, really awful vandalism," Phillips Stevens Jr., an anthropology professor at the University at Buffalo, said the evidence indicated to him that "what we've got here is a social problem -- not a supernatural problem." George Thomas, vice president for academic affairs at Erie Community College North, speculated that the cemetery invasion was the work of a group of teen-agers or young adults bent on performing an act that indicates "total rejection of the norms of society." "This act is so offensive that it makes the front page of the paper. It puts them at odds with the rest of us," said Thomas, an authority on cults and their behavior. Stevens and Thomas each stressed that the incident should be viewed as an outgrowth of thebreakdown of institutions and the family in our society rather than some indication that the devil is rearing his head. "It should make us question, who we are, where we are and where are we going as a society," said Thomas. "Satanism is a smoke screen," said Stevens. "Focusing on satanic folklore distracts us from the real problem we should be facing about how we are raising our kids." "We are doing it worse and worse," he said. "Look at the statistics about teen pregnancies and the drug and alcohol problem. Some psychologists are saying now that there are children growing up without consciences -- unable to respond to the pain of others." Stevens said attempts to link the cemetery incident to satanism because it coincided with the start of spring were misguided. "The folklore of satanism calls for fresh human blood. There is no mention of corpse material," he said. However, Remi Gonzalez, executive director of St. Francis Services Inc. of Niagara Falls, an organization that works with youthful substance abusers, said the theft of the body might be liked to the practice of Santeria, a form of voodoo. Gonzalez, who has studied youths and cults, said there is a Santeria rite performed every April 30 that requires the use of a skull obtained 42 days earlier. "It's a hell of a coincidence that they took the body 42 days before April 30," he said. Meanwhile, Curcione said Falls detectives are questioning teen-agers on what they might be hearing about the cemetery incident. So far, he said, there are no suspects.BILL WIPPERT/Buffalo NewsThe Rev. Sal Manganello reconsecrates St. Joseph's Cemetery in Niagara Falls, where acts of desecration were committed.
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