Called The Black Pope by many of his followers, Anton La Vey began the road
to High Priesthood of the (lurch of Satan when he was only 16 years old and an
organ player in a carnival:
On Saturday night I would see men lusting after halfnaked girls dancing at
the carnival, and on Sunday morning when I was playing the organ for tent-show
evangelists at the other end of the carnival lot, I would see these same men
sitting in the pews with their wives and children, asking God to forgive them
and purge them of carnal desires. And the next Saturday night they´d be back at
The carnival or some other place of indulgence.
I knew then that the Christian Church thrives on hypocrisy, and that man´s
carnal nature will out!
From that time early in his life his path was clear. Finally, on the last night
of April, 1966 -- Walpurgisnacht, the most important festival of the
believers in witchcraft -- LaVey shaved his head in the tradition of Ancient
executioners and announced the formation of The Church Of Satan. He had seen
the need for a church that would recapture man´s body and his carnal desires as
objects of celebration. Since worship of fleshly things produces pleasure,
he said, there would then be a temple of glorious indulgence . . .
