Searching for satan

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A Twofour Production for LivingTV. An one hour documentary broadcast on 06.06.06.

The show visited six grim locations associated with the Devil, to illustrate where Satan could possibly be found. From the Bronx streets where serial killer Son of Sam swears he was forced to commit his crimes under the instructions of a devil-dog, to the Charles Manson Murder mansion where whisperings of the Devil are believed to have driven the killers into a crazed murdering spree and the Parisian cannibal Nico Claux who claims the Devil was his guide.

The show investigates the many cultural forms the Devil has taken through history including incarnations of him as man, dog and beast.

Six images have been created from six stories that led to the composite; most would agree it looks surprisingly similar to the Satan we would expect.

[edit] Images used in the programme

The dog: The question of whether the Devil can take on any living form has raged for years. Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz, whose bloody reign terrorised New York in the late 1970s, seemed to think so. He claimed his neighbour's dog was a messenger of the Devil that drove him to murder. His attorney, Mark Jay Heller, says: 'The dog's howling was a sign to David. He felt he was an instrument of a greater power.' Before he was captured, Berkowitz taunted police with notes saying: 'I am the monster, I am Beelzebub.'

Charles Manson: The man widely regarded as Satan in human form instructed his followers - The Family - to kill five people, including Roman Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate on August 9, 1969. Manson's followers described him as 'having magical and hypnotic powers' and he often referred to himself as both Christ and the Devil. According to other family members, Manson's right-hand man, Charles Tex Watson, exclaimed: 'I am the Devil and I have come to do the Devil's work' while on the murder spree. Manson's name has since become synonymous with evil in popular culture.

Jersey Devil: The Jersey Devil has been described as a bat/dog/goat hybrid that roams the Pine Barrens of the American state of New Jersey. Witnesses have reported hearing blood curdling screams in the night and bizarre unexplained footprints have been found.

Pazuzu: Pazuzu is an Assyrian demon on which The Exorcist was based. He is said to have the body of a man, the head of a lion, talons instead of hands and a scorpion's tale. Nico Claux, a convicted Parisian murderer, necrophile and cannibal, firmly believes he is one of Pazuzu's servants saying: 'Cannibalism is a communion with the devil. When I die, I will go to hell and sit on his left side. People say I am the devil but I am not, I am just a tool in his hands.' Disturbingly, after serving eight years for murder, Claux is now not only free but has been declared legally sane.

Possessed eyewitness account: In the aptly named town of Wilder, Kentucky, Bobby Mackey's Music World is a nightclub that many think houses the gateway to hell. The club was once a slaughterhouse and a basement tunnel would pour blood from dead animals into a nearby river, while a group of Satanists would practise rituals on the site. Carl Lawson, a former resident caretaker of the club, believes he was possessed by the Devil while working there, saying: 'I firmly believe the spirits were in me. Satan would make me stay up for days on end. I could see his face in the bar mirrors. He had piercing red eyes.' Lawson was later exorcised by a local priest.

Goatman: Maryland in the US has its own forest legend, the Goatman - a beast that looks similar to the Greek god Pan.