Wednesday, October 26, 2011

"Wierd Negro Order Raided": Human Sacrifice In The News

Coverage of the much hyped trials of Casey Anthony and Amanda Knox both involved accusations of "human sacrifice":

Amanda Knox described as 'she-devil,' 'witch' (kabc, los angeles)

Minister Says Enquirer's 'Casey Anthony Human Sacrifice Ritual' Story Defamed Him (courthousenews.com)

Inspired by the recent headlines above, and also by a string of hysterical stories in the mainstream media about an "epidemic of human sacrifice in Uganda" (if you don't know what I'm talking about look here), let's take a little random walk down memory lane and look at some other notable instances (all from the 20th century and all from the United States) of Human Sacrifice In The News:

Mysterious Negro Cult Performed The Rite Of Human Sacrifice Biddeford [Maine] Weekly Journal, April 5, 1912

Woman Confesses Killing 17 Negroes; Leader of Church of Sacrifice Explains Creed Which Called for Wholesale Murders. NYT April 2, 1912

The Occult Murders by Al Profit
"The year is 1929 and Detroit is bursting at the seams, immigrants from the edges of the world burrowing their way into the city’s flesh ...."

"Human Sacrifice by Cult: Wierd Negro Order Raided" Vancouver Sun, Nov 22, 1932
[Story about a murder in Detroit connected to a cult led by a guy calling himself "Ugan Ali, God of the Asiatic Nation".]

RAIDED TEMPLE BARES GRIP OF VOODOO IN CITY Detroit Free Press, Nov 23, 1932
"Detectives investigating to learn the scope of Voodooism among ignorant and superstitious Detroit Negroes spent Tuesday night running down the myriad leads uncovered earlier in the day when they raided a fantastic "temple" and arrested a Negro who styled himself "God of the Asiatic Nation."

The Voodoo Murders David A. Spitzley's "Mythic Detroit" (collection of news items about the case)

David A. Spitzley's overview of "The Voodoo Murders"
(Wherein it is explained that, well, there was just one murder. Oh, and it had nothing to do with "Voodoo".)

Human Sacrifice Offered As Part Of Odd Ceremony Held By Cult In Kentucky St. Petersburg, Florida, Evening Independent, Feb. 9, 1933

Woman's Life Taken During Weird Rites: Sacrifice Causes 8 Arrests In Kentucky St. Joseph [Missouri] Gazette, Feb. 9, 1933

Three Convicted In 'Human Sacrifice' Trial St. Petersburg, Florida, Evening Independent, April 12, 1933

Child Slayings Linked To Cult: Mother Hunted: Girl, 5, Believed Victim Of Cult That Practices Human Sacrifice Miami News, Feb 20, 1940

Mother of Slain Tot Captured: Grandmother Claims Parents Belong To Sacrifice Cult San Jose News, Feb 19, 1940

"The Doctor Prescribes Additional Human Sacrifice" (racist cartoon from 1960 in the Sarasota Journal)

"Five bodies found believed to be part of human sacrifice" (Portsmouth [Ohio] Daily Times, Jan 5, 1990)
[Thsi story involves a "cult" that was, supposedly, a Mormon splinter group.]

13 Face Charges In Family Killlings NYT, Jan 6, 1990 (same case as above)
"Thirteen former members of a religious commune were charged with murder or conspiracy yesterday after the bodies of a family of five were found buried at an Ohio farm in what a prosecutor called a human sacrifice."