Rural Exploration: Where the Satanists roam!

 image source Derelict Harvest

Satanists love rural homes! If I worshiped “The Beast”, I suppose the desolate rural setting of an abandoned house at night would be the ideal place to do my thing, whatever that may be!

As back road explorers we have definitely come across our fair share of abandoned homes marked with graffiti in homage to the “Devil” himself. It adds creep factor to the already eerie tone of the explore and sometimes makes you wonder what occurred in the place you’re now standing in. Most of the “satanic” graffiti we find is old and faded, I suspect having been tagged in the late 80’s or 90’s during the rise of the great “Satanic Panic”. A time when metal bands mixed dark content with satanic imagery and games like Dungeons and Dragons were turning us all into Devil worshipers! The more rebellious teenagers were told it was a bad influence on them the greater they would embrace it.

The inverted pentagram or upside down cross is a fairly common symbol to find and is often accompanied with the name of the “Prince of Darkness” himself, Ozzy Osbourne (cue raised index finger and pinkie). It’s often apparent that most Satanic graffiti you come across is committed by a teen with a spray can. It can be amusing at times as many of these devotees are often confused on the spelling, perhaps a little to inebriated or high at the time, and rarely seem to get it right. “Satin” seems to be a common misspelling as well as “Sattan”. We’ve even managed to find a “Stan”! There seems to be some confusion on drawing the pentagram as well. I am not an occult expert but I do know Satanism is represented by the inverted pentagram. The two upright points representing the horns of the satanic goat. I don’t think Beelzebub would be too pleased in having been represented by the Star of David or the pentagram not facing the right way.

 image source Derelict Harvest

After having explored so many homes only two have stood out that made me go “ummmmm”! One home, which we dubbed the “Illuminati” house, had well-made occult symbols on the wall and floor. The “magical circle” on the floor was not simple graffiti having obviously been drawn with care and attention to detail. It spanned the entire circumference of the living room and contained various symbols within it. I almost didn’t see it as it was covered in a thick layer of dust and was partially hidden with a carpet. The other place was at a small barn we had found far off a rural road. The home nearby was overgrown with trees and brush and had partially collapsed making it not safe to enter. What stood out in this particular instance was a simple red inverted pentagram beside the door leading into the barn. Almost as if it were a sign to indicate a gathering place. Inside the barn was another simple inverted pentagram on a wall by an open area with an exposed dirt floor. While the rest of the barn floor was covered in straw and debris this was the only area with the earth floor fully exposed. There was no other graffiti or anything else to suggest it was a place to “party”. The simplicity of the arrangement suggested more had occurred at this location in the past.

  image source Derelict Harvest

While I hate finding graffiti in the locations we explore it can certainly add to the creep factor at times. It is one of the many things that I enjoy about rural exploration.