The Devil in Disguise (Part 2 of 2)

Satan comes to 1890s America. Americans shrug. The conclusion.

Part 1

Americans were taken in by the “Diana” scam as well. In the spring of 1897, Diana was scheduled to regale New York crowds with her harrowing adventures in diabolism. Perhaps in an effort to gin up excitement for the speech, an announcement for the event warned that members of her ex-cult had already infiltrated parts of NYC.¹

Unfortunately, Diana never materialized in the Big Apple. On April 19, 1897, the hoax’s author, Jogand-Pagès, confessed that his tales about Masonic devil cults were nothing but hogwash—simply a test of the public’s gullibility. His personal vendetta against the Vatican also meant that he was hoping to embarrass any Catholics who fell for the outrageous narratives.

Last, but not least, Jogand-Pagès desired to make money—which he did. The author’s “stupid books had a boom” because of the publicity his deception generated.²

Diana’s dubious dalliance with demons jaded the public against the reality of organized Satanism. After Jogand-Pagès’ admission, the well was sufficiently poisoned, and any story involving Devil worship became suspect. As a result, people little to freak out about, and confidently suppressed any sense of panic that might otherwise have taken hold.

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More U.S. Scares

Between Progressive Era priorities and make-believe cults, it’s easy to see why the country turned a blind eye to the notion of creeping Satanism in the late 19th century—but not everyone was oblivious to the evil materializing in their own backyards.

The Los Angeles Herald took note of an “outbreak” of devil worship spreading across Europe. France seemed to be especially afflicted.³ After personally attending a Black Mass, one Parisian journalist admitted that he had “no doubt of the wide existence of Satan worship.”⁴ Things got so bad by 1899 that a “A Real School of Wichcraft [sic]” opened in downtown Paris.⁵

Most of the ceremonies were so “indescribable and shameful” that they were left up to readers’ imaginations. They usually involved women dressed “like Eve before the fall,” drinking the blood of sacrificed babies, sleeping with demons—and worst of all—desecrating the priest’s stash of Communion wafers.⁶

With the King of Darkness slinking around the City of Light, what made Americans think these things weren’t happening back in the United States?

The truth is, they were.

In 1895 the Meriden Weekly Republican revealed that “a branch organization of the Devil Worshipers of Paris has been formed in New York.” The paper hastened the authorities to move against them before the situation got out of hand.⁷

The author of an 1899 article titled “Devil Worshippers in the United States,” was convinced that there existed “men and women in this world today that not only believe in the devil, but who worship him.”⁸

Newspapers at the time ran some pretty cool graphics alongside their Satanist stories.

Another exposé documented the secret late night services conducted by a “New York Sect that Worships the Devil.”⁹ Everyday people—police, politicians, “doctors of medicine and of divinity, professors holding chairs in big colleges and whole troops of persons of wealth and social position”—were rumored to be practicing Satanists.¹⁰

On January 11, 1901, The Providence News provided further evidence for American diabolism when they reported the theft of 39 Communion wafers from a Catholic church in Unionport, New York. Heralded as “the first case of the kind” in the country, the church’s pastor believed the culprit was likely “a renegade Catholic” due to the criminal’s knowledge of the chapel’s interior layout. Another article published around the same time connected the crime to “the Order of Satanists or Luciferians recently active in Paris.”¹¹

Then in 1904, headlines announced the arrival of a “Band of ‘Devil Worshippers’ at Work in the Bronx,” with four Catholic churches burglarized within the year.¹² Public response to these events was noticeably muted. There were no witch hunts; no Salem 2.0.

Why weren’t people freaking out about Satanists?

Perhaps the overall absence of panic was the byproduct of burgeoning societal optimism. Standing on the cusp of the 20th century, humanity’s future looked increasingly bright. Spurred on by developments in transportation and engineering, America changed rapidly in the late 19th century. Scientific discoveries combined with human ingenuity to create a Second Industrial Revolution, sparking innovations like the airplane, motion pictures, and the telephone.

There was a strong belief in mankind’s ability to positively shape the next 100 years.

Society’s shared enthusiasm coincided with an adoption of materialist attitudes and a demand for empirical evidence. This had an effect on the way people viewed the Devil. Any “serious belief in radical evil” was “over- helmed” by prevailing secular opinion.¹³ Supernatural ways of thinking about That Guy Downstairs were rejected in favor of a positivist worldview. As a result, no “Satanic Panic” ever materialized.

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The Devil’s New Disguise

Was Officer Hawley in league with the Devil when he detachedly gunned down his entire family? A former friend told reporters that the troubled policeman flat-out admitted he was “going to the devil fast.”¹⁴ Witnesses allegedly overheard him repeating the phrase “I’ll fix them all,” right before he snapped—perhaps reciting a mantra given to him by his devilish totem. He was known to talk to the demon “as if its ears were human.”¹⁵ These facts suggest a malevolent force at work—what contemporary occultist and author A.E. Waite described as “devil-worship pure and simple.”¹⁶

Nonetheless, most citizens remained unfazed.

Maybe the Devil was easily forgotten during the late 19th century because of his ability to blend in with his surroundings. Writing in 1896, Evening Star columnist Pauline Pry explained that the historical Satan had been “easily detected and comparatively easy to avoid.” The “new devil” of the 1890s wasn’t as conspicuous. He was a formless entity prowling about in “the stronghold of human consciousness.”¹⁷ Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.

Why weren’t people freaking out about the Devil in the late 19th century? The answer lies in a combination of factors that influenced public perception about the authenticity of Satanism and its ability to impact a nation brimming with hope.

Despite evidence that an evil shadow was growing long in pockets of the country, intellectual progress and scientific advances “helped undermine belief in the Devil throughout society.”¹⁸

Come to think of it, that sounds exactly like the outcome the Old Sly One would’ve wanted. Perhaps the greatest trick the Devil ever played was convincing us that he no longer holds sway over our increasingly rational minds.

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1. Daily Public Ledger, Mar. 23, 1897.

2. Collier’s, Vol. 19 No. 7, May 5, 1897.

3. Los Angeles Herald, Aug. 11, 1895.

4. Evening Times-Republican, Nov. 28. 1903.

5. The Age-Herald, December 31, 1899.

6. The Indianapolis Journal, May 6, 1894.

7. Meriden Weekly Republican, Sept. 5, 1895.

8. Daily Inter Mountain, Feb. 25, 1899.

9. The Ordway New Era, October 14, 1910.

10. Johnstown Daily Republican, Jan. 5, 1901.

11. The Utica Observer, 9 January 1901.

12. The Post Express, Dec. 1, 1904.

13. The Prince of Darkness (1988), Jeffrey Russell, p. 241.

14. New-York Tribune, Aug. 12, 1898.

15. Wheeling Register, Aug. 12, 1898.

16. Devil Worship In France (1896), A.E. Waite.

17. Evening Star, Feb. 29, 1896.

18. The Prince of Darkness, Jeffrey Russell, p. 240.