Law Enforcement Guide to Satanic Cults 1994
The “Law Enforcement Guide To Satanic Cults” is a laughable piece of Satanic Panic media that came out in 1994. I’m unsure if it was ever actually used in any law enforcement settings, but if it were, I have my doubts that anyone took it seriously. One of its main failures is to connect the idea of Witchcraft and Satanism to enforceable law. Obviously, the idea of the film was to spread fear of virtually any religion that was different from Christianity. Ironically, the creators to this film showed themselves to be incredibly bigoted in ways they likely didn’t understand.
The film starts out with an admittedly funky and kind of good song, in the 90’s keyboard kind of way. It’s a shame that the music was wasted on such stupid film, because it would have been perfect for a computer sales pitch or even a bad 3D graphic cartoon.
They open with art from different cultures, which is to scare the viewer, which is strange, considering that it’s supposed to be law enforcement watching this, not just the average person. They admit that “unless they catch anyone committing a crime, there’s nothing they can do”. The film tries to connect Satanic cults/crimes to sex crimes, but this seems like a reach just to allow Christian propaganda to but itself into spaces that it doesn’t belong in.
Before we bring up religion or any spiritual beliefs, I think that it’s important we know the facts to what was the actual crime committed. The largest negative contention about this movie, is how it bombards the viewer with things that are supposed to be “evil”, “satanic”, and “witchcraft”, yet…barely connects these things with a criminal offense. In the typical fashion of other Satanic Panic media, we see loads of information about rituals, and the things that these alleged criminals use, but the actual facts about Criminology, Forensic Science, and Victimology are scant, if they even appear at all.
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Of course, begin the film with the categorization of Satanic worshipers. This one categorizes it in 3 groups, Dabblers, Spiritually involved, and criminally involved. This is the same as the other propaganda films from the 80’s; they just stole the information from the films that were nearly 10 years before!
Right after this, we are acquainted with the big Bozo of the film, Eric Pryor, who was an alleged “former High Priest Satanist” that turned Christian, and spent his time now informing people of the dangers of Satanism. It might seem harsh of me to call him a Bozo, but in the first scene with him, he is walking into this park that just so happened to be the pefect place of Satanic worship, with all of the signs coincidentally showing up at the time of filming. Pryor stated that there were two communities that used the park they show in the film (which isn’t named by the way): The Pagan/Occult community, and the Homosexuals! He stated that these communities go hand in hand! I wonder why he said that? Of course, this is Christian homophobia, but if we were to take his words seriously, as an ex-Satanist, would it be wrong to assume that he might have been gay? Is that why he became a Christian again? There are people who conflicted between their sexually and their religious beliefs. While I believe that he just said this stuff in passing, to “prove” his point about the park having ne’er-do-wells, obviously logic wasn’t put into the statements, and how this could apply to him.
Once again, I think of the movie “Satanis”, where Anton Lavey and The Church of Satan admitted, in 1969 mind you, that they accepted homosexuals for who they were. This film came out in 1994, 25 year after. How funny it is, that the Satanists proved themselves to be more loving and tolerant of their fellow man, than the Christians.
Pryor walks into the park and just so happens to see a pentacle spray painted on a tree. He surprisingly calls it by the right name, the pentacle. I found it interesting how it wasn’t a pentagram. Surely the people that made this film spray painted the symbol, desecrating the poor tree. It bothered me that an innocent tree would be violated for the sake of a propaganda film. Other trees are “found” in the movie with spray painted signs on them, somehow magically just so happening to be there at the time of filming.
Next was an inverted cross, which is noted as “fresh” by Pryor himself. For some reason, he calls the inverted cross a Satanic symbol, a common misconception. In reality, the inverted cross is actually known as St. Peter’s cross. The story about St. Peter basically goes that he wanted his cross upside down, as he didn’t feel worthy enough to have his upright like Christ did. This is actually a part of Catholicism…how interesting that this born again Christian, Eric Pryor, didn’t seem to know that. This is the beginning of multiple instances where various parts of Christianity are considered Satanic…by a Christian of all people. I found this amusing and ironic.
Pryor goes on to say that the colors Red, White, and Black are “traditional Satanic colors”, though there is no proof of this. He just says this in passing. Nothing is cited as a source. I wonder if he claimed this because of how those colors are commonly seen in the movie “Satanis”, for example.
Pryor goes on to coincidentally find a “Voodoo Vivi” spray painted on the pathway. The movie spells Vivi with an I, instead of what is supposed to be an E, once again showing a lack of knowledge of the subject they’re talking about. Pryor tries to connect the usage of Voodoo with Satanism, which was a common talking point in these propaganda films. I find the idea of Voodoo being “Satanic therefore evil” as racist, honestly. It shows a lack of understanding on what the actual belief system is about, and comes off as modern day colonizers trying to attack anything that isn’t Christian.
Pryor shows off more graffiti, where an eye is spray painted, which is claimed to be the “eye of Anubis”. He pronounces Anubis wrong, on top of completely ignoring a swastika that is next the symbol. I found it strange that this wasn’t talked about at all. He claims that the eye was to show that the people who did this weren’t witches, but Satanists. This is said with an inflection that we’re supposed to think of Satanists as being bad. I have to remind you, that this is supposed to be a video for law enforcement. The idea is to help get information about criminals. So far, we just see vandalism, which is a criminal offense, but without catching the culprits in the act, there’s nothing they can do. This is something the movie admitted itself in the intro.
Pryor walks up to two storage containers, calling them dumpsters, to point out more graffiti. He shows a tag and a mushroom. He tries to say that the mushroom spray paint was a way for the cultists to communicate with each other that they had a psyilocybin ritual. All just ridiculous claims, and for what? Nothing.
The next scene shows “Halley Shemhemforash” on a wall. It’s supposed to be “Shemhamforash”, once again, the people who did this had to have done this for the film, and had no idea what they were even doing. What bothers me is that we are seeing actual evidence of vandalism, but it’s excused, for the sake of this film. Ironically, this could have been used as evidence against Pryor, technically. He claims that “halley” was part of the invokation, but there is not proof of that. I looked this up, and there is nothing about Halley at all. He mentions the “Greater Key of Solomon”, but there’s nothing to support his claim in the book. To me, I think that someone named Halley spray painted the mispelled form of “Shemhamforash”.
Pryor just so happens to find a noose in the park, and somehow knows that it was used in a sacrifice for the ritual that allegedly went on at the part. He also goes on to find some form of lidocaine, and claims that it clearly used by the cultists to numb their sacrifices. This is ridiculous, because any crackhead can take their medicine into the park. There’s just no proof whatsoever that evil Satanic cultists came to the park the night before, performed a sacrifice, and yet no body can be found. How does it make sense that they found all of the graffiti, the noose, the lidocaine, yet no blood or body? Pryor claims that there’s blood on the noose, but it doesn’t show up on the camera.
He goes on to show off another desecrated tree, with the number 9 on it. He claims that it’s in connection to the 9 Satanic Statements as created by Anton Lavey. What really annoyed me, was how he couldn’t even pronounce Szander right. If he was going to make Lavey look like the evil bad guy, wouldn’t it make sense to figure out how to pronounce his name? Why not just say Anton Lavey instead? This detracts even further from Pryor’s credibility…not that he really had any. Pryor goes on to say that the graffiti showed that there were Satanists at the park and they were partying…so scary and illegal. The only thing potentially criminal here would be trespassing after park hours, not that-that is mentioned.
They go on to show the 9 Satanic Statements, and I wonder if anyone watched his video, saw the statements, and actually thought that they were bad. I have a hard time finding anything wrong with the statements, because they don’t condone animal abuse, or wasting your time on people that don’t deserve it. If anything, the movie shows it’s ass when doing this! They make it clear less than 20 minutes in, not to take them seriously!
They show a symbol for lead, which is claimed as the “insignia” for The Church of Satan. This isn’t true, though you do see it in various parts of CoS ephemera. But the alchemical symbol for lead is not unique to LaVey, The Church of Satan, or anything like that. In a way, Zeena Lavey of all people actually helped prove that with her fact sheet after father’s death.
While in the park, the film constantly goes to this shot of the park. It’s like they couldn’t figure out what to put on the screen.
Anton Lavey and The Satanic Bible are made out to be the boogeyman, and they claim that Satanists try to get the attention of an evil god, instead of the good god. This is once again not true, as the Church of Satan considers themselves to be atheists. Of course, to Christians, Atheism is just as bad as Satanism.
The film tries to connect actual crimes with Satanists and witchcraft, but there’s no proof of this. They list all types of crimes, claiming that this is done in the name of Satan, which once again takes away the severity of the crimes themselves. They list nearly all sorts of crime, claiming that it has to do with Satanism, or that these crimes are Satanic. At what point does a crime become Satanic? When is a crime just a crime? This is never addressed. There is no real definition as to what makes a crime a “Satanic Crime”. For a video that is supposed to be for law enforcement, you would think that there’d be a legal definition of this. Of course, there isn’t, and never was, because trying to prosecute someone in the United States of America based on their religion alone, is impossible and illegal.
The film goes on to try and scare the viewer by showing how different non-Christians set up their altars of worship. We see Voodoo, Satanism, and Wiccan, which are always the trifecta of evil for these propaganda films. I found it bigoted and disgusting actually. Once again, we see how a White Anglo Saxon Protestant tries to paint the picture that anything unlike their religion is bad, and therefore evil. It’s disgusting to me, how showing the differences in how people worship is supposedly a bad thing. What was really laughable, was how Pryor tried to say that Patron Saint candles were used only in Voodoo, Mecumba, and Santeria, as a part of what is a scary ritual. He then shows an altar oil, that would be used, and it’s depicted like a bad thing. This is so frustrating to see, because anointing oils are something talked about and used in The Bible itself! Christianity has this same thing! Once again, he proves himself to be a fake ex-Satanist, and a fake Christian! He doesn’t even know his own book!
What also bothers me about the Patron Saint candles, is how they are seen as something “strange and weird”. In different parts of Christianity, these are used! Where I live, a lot of Mexican Catholics use these candles for prayer! The candles can be found at any grocery store, and they are typically made in Mexico, the ones where I live. They have a prayer on the back, usually in Spanish, though some have English too. I find Pryor’s condemnation of these candles as a bigoted way to put down other races and how they worship in Christianity. It’s clear that the audience to this film isn’t anyone in law enforcement, or anything that isn’t White either. In the decades since this was created, you really see the subtle racism here.
The description of the altars is a waste of time, surely just to pad out the video. There is nothing described here that would be illegal.
The video then goes on to list “Satanic Symbols” most of which were discussed before with the graffiti. They also show the Anarchy symbol, and the Swastika, which seem pretty out of place. To me those are political symbols. Of course, the Swastika is much different in the west than in the East. I wonder if they were just lumping the symbol as a whole in here, which wouldn’t surprise me, considering how bigoted this video is. They claim that the swastika was used by witches and warlocks for magic, which isn’t substantiated in the film. They provide no source for this.
They bring up a glossary of “Satanic”terms, which consist of blood, cult, coven, and grottos. It’s all just Christian fearmongering, and talks about nothing illegal. They claim that Satanists eat the brains of their sacrifices to gain their powers. This isn’t substantiated either.
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The film talks about Children and Ritual abuse, which are just Christian torture stories. An unnamed, face blacked out woman describes a story of what happened to her as a child in a Satanic cult. They show pictures of art presumably created by children, that are supposed to convince the viewer that these stories are real. The woman admits that she participated in the murder of babies…yet another Christian film that doesn’t seem to understand that such claims should pursued by law enforcement if true. This is a bold thing to admit in a film that was to be viewed by the authorities. Obviously, at this point, what is talked about in the film is fake, because otherwise, the authorities would have to investigate these claims. It is illegal to not do so. Of course, this is likely why the woman in this scene had her face blacked out, so that no-one could potentially identify her as a liar.
She recites a poem that she allegedly wrote about the torture, and near the end she says: “”I do not see, nothing happened/ don’t remember, helter skelter, now dismember, witches chant and babies burn mustn’t talk”. This is surely a nod towards the fear put into the masses after the Tate-LaBianca murders, where it was claimed that the victims were murdered in accordance to the Helter Skelter race war theory. This was a low blow, because those deaths had nothing to do with Satanism and whatever crap this movie was talking about.
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The film goes on to identify symptoms of sexual abuse in a child, which are true, but they associate all of this with Satanism. This is disgusting to me, because it minimizes the abuse in turn to focus on religion. There is so much emphasis on the Satanism thing, that the actual victims are tossed to the side.
The film goes on to say that there are teens who dabble in Satanism, but this isn’t substantiated, and we have to take some random people by their word. Then, a calendar of so-called Satanic holidays is listed. There is no source from where these holidays came from, and it’s all made up. It’s fake.
They later describe various criminals that have committed alleged Satanic crimes, but they don’t delve further into any of them. People like Richard Ramirez are mentioned, but only with a couple of sentences. For a video that is supposed to be for law enforcement, they don’t focus on the legal side at all.
The one crime that I suppose we can give them, is that of Clifford St. Joseph, who really did seem to think that his crimes were part of a Satanic initiation. I found it interesting that this was the only film that seemed to have any pictures of St. Joseph. But, I still don’t condone associating his crime as “Satanic”, because it’s clear that there was severe mental problems with the man. There was nothing ever mentioned about the case and forensic Psychology. Of Course, if there had, it would likely detract from the Christian argument that it was a true Satanic crime. Even still, St. Joseph committed his crimes over half a decade before the film. Despite all of the Satanic Panic, it seemed that Christians could only ever come up with 1 good, or at least decent, example.
The end of the film shows how a victim would be cut when sacrificed. There isn’t any source to prove this, it looks like something that they made up. What was really interesting to me, is that they claim the victims would be cut on the feet. I wonder if this inspired by the film “Mardi Gras Massacre”. This is the only film I have ever seen, where someone was sacrificed, and cut on the feet. To me, there is no other place that this idea could have come from, than a movie like that, if not that one in particular. To me, the people that created these Christian propaganda movies watched too much film, and wanted to create a cash grab based off of these things. This seems to be proven, considering how Eric Pryor turned out to be a phony, in the very least.
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There are various articles out there about Pryor in the 90’s, that talk about how insufferable and weird he was as a person. Pryor had a bench warrant issued for his arrest in 1993, after beating on his ex wife. He claimed that the organization NOW, also known as the National Organization for Women, was a “Satanic Inspired Organization”. One article talked about how he had a female assistant that would drive him to his “sermons” if you will, and he would bark orders at her. Pryor never did any of the driving, because he had anxiety.
One source states:
“ Pryor maintains that domestic violence laws are slanted against men.
Men get arrested and taken to jail, he says, even when they are the victims. And when men are the instigators, he says, the authorities neglect to look at what motivated the attack.
"Why are men snapping?" he asks.
"Statistics show women are more inclined to start the physical violence," he adds.
Pryor claims that his ex-wife attacked him with a knife last year in their Mountain View apartment. When the cops showed up, he says, they refused to listen to his side of the story. He was handcuffed and taken to county jail, where he spent the next five months before copping a no contest plea to two felony charges.
The incident began early on the morning of August 20, 1994. According to court documents, the police were dispatched to the apartment he shared with his then-wife Shelly Kolt to investigate a report of domestic violence.
Pryor maintains that he was the one who called 911.
When they arrived, the cops said, Pryor appeared drunk, and was holding a miniature bottle of Vodka in one hand. The police had already responded to an earlier disturbance call around 4:00 am--a call Pryor also says he made--but no arrests were made. When the cops arrived the second time several hours later, they quickly focused on an 8" knife lying on the floor. "She chased me around with that," Pryor told them.
Pryor claimed that he was the victim, and not his wife.
His wife disagreed, telling the cops that Pryor had held the knife to her throat and said, "I'm going to kill you." Then, she said, he knocked her to the ground and proceeded to hit and kick her some "20 or 30 times."
She told the cops he said, "I'm going to mess up your face so no one else will want you."
The officers believed Shelly's version of the events and arrested him on two felony counts, assault with a deadly weapon and spousal abuse. Despite a "large bump" above her left eye and assorted scrapes and bruises, she declined medical attention. Pryor's cowboy boots were booked into evidence. The cops say he became combative during the booking process, requiring the use of restraints and shackles.
In November of last year, Pryor was sentenced to eight months in county jail and three years formal probation. He was credited with 152 days of jail time already served and ordered not to have any contact with the victim, his wife.
Court records show that Pryor moved to have the marriage annulled last June, citing as the couple's separation date 8-20-94, the day of the previous year's incident. They were married, according to the records, just one month before, on 7-16-94. The marriage, Pryor says, lasted a total of 34 days. “
So, likely after this film was recorded, he got in trouble with the law for beating on his wife. How ironic, really. He created a film for law enforcement, yet because booked by law enforcement himself. You’d think that he’d have at least obeyed by the 9 Satanic Statements…he could have avoided trouble with the police!
I don’t want to turn this into a biography for Pryor, but in the article from Metro Active, it stated that he got into Paganism when growing up. I will be honest in saying that I don’t believe much anything this man said was true, but this is how the story allegedly goes:
“ He was born on July 16, 1959, "amidst the feuding of his parents,". Seeking relief from an abusive upbringing, he often escaped to the library, where he discovered the occult section. That led him to the Earth Star Temple in Manhattan, where he spent a short period of time "exchanging sex for training in Occult Sciences."
At the age of 14, according to his uncle Paul Roefs, who pleaded with law enforcement officials to keep Pryor in jail after his '94 double felony arrest, Eric left home "to live a life of debauchery, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, violence, vandalism and Satan worship."
At 17, he joined the U.S. Army, only to be later termed unfit for duty because of "chronic LSD use." He claims to have taken in the neighborhood of 5,000 trips, using for his launching pad either acid or (psilocybin) mushrooms. After bouncing around places like Nicaragua and Arizona, he wound up in San Francisco, where he founded the Satan worshiping “New Earth Temple”.
The New Earth Temple, however, came to a fiery end in the parking lot of Jubilee Christian Center when he held a bonfire and burned its contents after his 1990 conversion.
It was around that time, according to his uncle's statement, that Pryor stopped seeing his psychiatrist, discontinued his medications, and returned to "alcoholism and destructive behavior."
Pryor denies his uncle's account, saying the relative was just trying to build an insanity case to help his nephew avoid a jail sentence.
That's also when he began to embrace Christianity, what he boasts as the "most highly publicized conversion in 100 years." His defection did generate a huge amount of publicity, and media attention is something he thrives on. Pryor keeps a huge portfolio of his press clippings, and he seems to seek out press coverage the way a moth is drawn to a flame.
"Power," he admits, was always his "thing."
"And Christians are the most powerful people on the face of the earth," he points out. ”
There’s some more to the article, but I want to end that portion there. It seems clear to me that people like Pryor were the type to get into trouble when they were younger, as a misguided soul, and for whatever reason, they decide to become “Christians”, and start proselytizing to others. Of course, I doubt the authenticity of Pryor’s conversion to Christianity, as this film shows that he doesn’t know much about the Bible at all.
Pryor has since passed away, dying on June 7th, 2009. He apparently ran in front of a truck, trying to beat traffic while on his way home to the Koontz Lane mobile home park. One article states that he had lived in the trailer park for about 4 years before his death.
There is a find a grave page for him, and it states that he was buried at the Artists Cemetery in Woodstock, New York. He was 49 years old.
[https://groups.google.com/g/alt.satanism/c/NUNWVUS5Q3Y
https://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/01.11.96/pryor.html
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2009/jun/10/carson-man-killed-crossing-highway/
https://mycharisma.com/charisma-archive/wiccan-turned-bible-teacher-eric-pryor-dies/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40025259/eric-john-pryor ]
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All that said, this was a terrible film. I give it an F.
My video: https://youtu.be/AqcWOCxrnVU
