A spate of occult-based killings in the United States has an exorcist decrying the rise of the demons
A female serial killer says she “sacrificed 100” in an act of Satan worship. Another says she killed her “antichrist” mother. Two boys carved occult symbols into the body of a girl.
Is this the Rapture?
These occult-driven killings have come to light in the past month in the US, a nation in parts seemingly obsessed with religion, magic and murder.
It’s a culture bombarded with mystic messages, from Creationist advertising to exorcisms, Satanic-cult busting True Detective television series through to Once Upon a Time fairy tales.
One Catholic priest is convinced.
Father Vincent Lampert, designated exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, last week told the National Catholic Register that reports of demonic activity were increasing, keeping the United States’ 50 trained exorcists busy.
“I don’t think the devil has upped his game,” Father Lampert said. “I think people today are more apt to play his game.”
His perspective can be understood: A recent Pew Research Centre study found witchcraft to be the fastest growing religion in the United States and one fifth of its populace embracing atheism.
Father Lampert said he has personally performed five exorcisms, but receives between 10-12 calls a week from people seeking help.
“I saw someone levitate once,” he said. “I saw foaming at the mouth, bodily contortions, superhuman strength, speaking in strange languages and howling like wild animals.”
By all accounts, he expects more to come.
Here’s a quick look at the three occult occurrences that have gripped the nation in the past month alone. February 1 is the Satanic new year. The month is a special one for occult rituals.
MIRANDA BARBOUR
This 19-year-old brunette is the epitome of the modern American woman: Young. Long, lank dark hair. Petite.
“Looks can be deceiving,” she snapped at a local reporter.
She also happens to be a self-proclaimed Satan worshipper and possibly America’s worst female serial killer.
Barbour had been charged with only one murder when she thrust herself into to public eye earlier this month — declaring to all who would listen that she had killed “almost 100” people in the past six years.
For this to be true, she would have had to have started at the tender age of 13.
US detectives are investigating her claims but have so far not made any public statements beyond the single murder charge she has already been issued with.
Three weeks after their marriage, Barbour and her husband Elytte, 22, allegedly consummated their union through the killing of Troy LaFerrara, 42.
Barbour contacted LaFerrara via the website Craigslist. She offered him sex for $100. Instead, she is said to have stabbed him to death.
KATIE NICHOLS
There was also the spontaneous, live-to-air confession by a Tennessee woman. She blurted out in an interview with local reporters that it was she who had stabbed her mother to death in front of her own young daughter.
The 61-year-old had been discovered with stab wounds to her neck, chest and stomach on February 18.
“The Satanic cult in this city has been casting Satanic spells on me for three, four days,” Nichols blurted to WQAD. “I’m exhausted. I came home and found out my mom was the ringleader and was trying to kill my daughter.”
She said she had fled her mother’s home — filled with Satanic symbols “disguised as knick-knacks” — to hide in a rural area and “await a sign” that it was safe to return.
“They were trying to kill me with curses and if I had slept, I might have died … All of the Satanic cult has been rounded up and killed now,” she said.
She is currently undergoing psychological assessment.
TEXAS TEEN KILLERS
Two teens from Houston, Texas, allegedly enticed a 15-year-old girl into a home as part of a human sacrifice ritual to “sell their souls” to the devil.
Jose Reyes, 17, and an unnamed 16-year-old boy have been charged with murder after their victim, Corriann Cervantes, was found dead with an upside-down cross carved into her stomach.
Police say she had been tortured and sexually assaulted on February 5 before she was beaten to death with an ashtray and toilet seat.
“They discussed the fact that Mr Reyes had sold his soul to the devil, and if they ended up killing this teenager, this would allow the 16-year-old to also sell his soul to the devil,” Harris County assistant attorney John Jordan told media.
The ancient practice of exorcism is going mainstream with churches training priests to meet demand.
Many in the US believe it is all part of a bigger picture and demonstrates the influence of the occult.
“People can invite evil in this way; and then, without the component of faith, there is nothing to protect them,” Father Lampbert told the National Catholic Register.
“When someone is possessed, the demon is choosing to act in that body,” said Father Lampert. - news.com.au
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Billionaire claims aging process 'reversed'
Fashion mogul Peter Nygard's investment in stem cell research has allegedly resulted in a cure for aging.
The 70-year-old billionaire who lives in the Bahamas has claimed that a stem cell treatment he has been undergoing over the last four years has reversed the aging process in his own body and that he is literally getting younger by the day.
"Stem cells are being used for anti-aging and the University of Miami is doing a study about that to prove that it is true," he said. "They are looking at me, and my markers have shown exactly that I have been actually reversing my aging and getting younger."
Nygard has already invested millions in stem cell research and is looking to set up a new facility in the near future.
"I started stem cells when I wanted to find a cure for my mother who I loved very much and western medicine was not able to cure her, and if I had discovered stem cells a year before, I think that she would still be here with me," he said. - NineMSN
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Scary Scarecrow
My good friend, JH of Butte, Nebraska has a phobia about clowns. Once, when I presented her with an autographed portrait of the famed circus clown Emmett Kelly for her birthday she refused it. Well for me - it's scarecrows! Growing up in Orlando, Florida my family would go 'back home' to Winchester, Kentucky for a two-week vacation every summer. Those were happy times as my cousins would 'fight over me' - each one wanting me to spend the night with them. So I divided my time with my 'town' cousins and my 'country' cousins. When I was with my country cousins the days were spend riding horses and playing in the barns. Once, when I was spending the night with my cousins Libby and Charles, my cousin Libby - who was ten at the time - woke up the next county screaming in the middle of the night. When my Aunt Margie ran into the girl's bedroom, she sobbed, "Mama, the scarecrow was looking in my window!"
The next morning when Uncle Chester went out into the field on his tractor - the scarecrow was gone! A few days later when I was with my 'town' cousin, ML, we walked to the PDQ to buy an Ale-8 - a popular Kentucky soft drink that is bottled only in Winchester. A lady in the store was telling the clerk, "They're seeing a scarecrow running across the fields out thar in Trapp." My cousin looked at me with eyes as wide as saucers, remembering what I had told her what happened with Libby.
I am curious to know if anyone has ever heard of such 'scarecrow stories'. GM
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Meteor reports light up phone lines, social media
Reports of a colorful fireball dropping vertically from the sky spread like lightning via Twitter and dominated the telephone lines of the American Meteor Society Thursday night.
The AMS said it was investigating more than 200 reports of meteors late Thursday and early Friday. A majority of those reports took place shortly after 7 p.m. ET and came from Virginia and Maryland, but also from as far as Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
A caller from Fairfax, Va., described the fireball as a "momentary flash following the trail of light, but and bright and blue, which very quickly disappeared."
The caller also said, "This was the brightest shooting star I ever saw, seemed like it was coming down almost vertical."
A caller in Springdale, Md., said they thought the meteor was a flare or a fireball and that it "appeared to hit the ground."
A fireball is a meteor that is brighter than the planet venus, according to the AMS. Several thousand meteors that are fireballs take place in the Earth's atmosphere daily, the organization reports.
The society is a not-for-profit research organization based in Geneseo, N.Y.
The society asks that members of the public who see a fireball report it to them via their website. - Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
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