Henry Zebrowski

In 1972, Anton LaVey ended his public ceremonies at the Black House.

In his mind, he'd wanted the Church of Satan to evolve into a, quote, Kabbalistic underground instead of the long-running pageant it had become.

And that is, of course, his words, long-running pageant.

And furthermore, the grotto system under Michael Aquino had, again, in LaVey's words, turned the church into a Satan pen pal club.

Yeah.

But concerning the pageantry, LeVay began feeling embarrassed to be seen with members who wanted to show the whole world that they were Satanists all the time, wherever they went.

LeVay said that he'd step off a plane and there his dark children would be, huddled together in black velvet robes and capes with huge Baphomet necklaces at the fucking airport.

Because there's a time and place for this shit, and it ain't the fucking airport.

Yeah, yeah.

From how LeVay saw it, the grassroots people around the country didn't know much about subtlety or decorum.

In other words, LeVay was disappointed that as Satanists, they didn't know how to just be cool.

Just fucking hang out.

It doesn't have to be like this all the fucking time.

He said, and this is my favorite Anton LeVay quote.

Well, I mean, I don't know what it is, but just, I mean, it's a well-known fact that goth kids are drawn to Denny's.

It is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I mean, I don't know how many times you just hung out and it was because you could sit, hang out in a Denny's, unlimited coffee, and you could smoke.

And they won't kick you out.