The Sword of Horus

The Ultimate Evil is an extremely tedious 512-page book in which Maury Terry subjects the reader to a great deal of shameless padding and redundancy.  At times it reads like a poorly written novel and indeed it seems as if Terry is a frustrated would-be novelist.  At other times so much space is wasted upon personal anecdotes and supposedly verbatim and inane conversations that the book reads like one of the worst written autobiographies in history.  Terry's book is full of the shoddiest reasoning imaginable and one can only imagine that the reasons Maury Terry has been invited to promote his book and the absurd Great Satanic Conspiracy Theory on television are that the producers and hosts either could not get through the whole book to discover just how bad it is, or they could not see how poorly reasoned the premise is, or perhaps they simply did not care about such things and were concerned only with ratings and how the whole sensational topic would boost them.

Concentrating upon David Berkowitz and the Son of Sam murders, although touching upon many other sensational cases of the recent past, Terry's primary premise is that

"There is compelling evidence of the existence of a nationwide network of satanic cults, some aligned more closely than others" [page 511]; that "From every indication and piece of evidence I'd gathered, the ominous signs pointed to a burgeoning cult movement in and around New York, Houston and Los Angeles, at the least.  These cities were part of the organized network, and its membership ranks, I learned, were steadily growing - populated to a large extent by young successful people from professional walks of life.  These, in turn, would align with the successors of David Berkowitz and the Carr brothers.  And beyond the umbrella, parent group, independent cults were springing to life in virtually every state in the U.S.A." [page 509].

Throughout the book Terry employs the word "cult", as many others do, as if it were a filthy word and concept.  Often he would insert the word, "[cult]", when one of his sources is quoted and wrote a word like "group", pushing home the whole cult angle.  I wondered while reading the book just how Terry defines the word "cult" and it was sometime before I could find anything near to a definition in his book:

"If there were more than two in this, we're approaching a cult by definition, and the other indications tell us what kind of a cult it was - satanic" [page 231].  And, "By definition, any conspiracy of more than two people engaged in multiple killings is a cult" [page 500].

Therefore he is saying that if there are at least three people united in some activity they are a cult.  By his definition given on page 231 even the Boy Scouts of America might be considered a cult.  However, on page 500 he specifies that a cult is any group involved in a conspiracy that involves multiple murders.  Having called Wicca and many others cults he has thus slandered a large number of innocent people, claiming that they are involved in a conspiracy and engaged in multiple murders.

Maury Terry is simply asking, nay, begging to be sued by a number of people and organizations and in fact the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. has already taken him and Doubleday to court over the gross slanders published in The Ultimate Evil.  I do so love to see two enemies of human evolution at each other's throats, tearing each other apart.

Dashing over to my Webster's dictionary I looked up the word "cult" and found that the word is derived from "colere" which means "to cultivate, worship".  Nothing sinister there.  A cult, "by definition", is a form of "worship; reverential honor; religious devotion" as well as "the system of outward forms and ceremonies used in worship; religious rites and formalities"; and nowhere did I find any reference to what number of people it takes to make up a cult, nor did I find any reference to murder.  In fact, the genuine definition of cult shows that it is not all that different from "religion", although because the word "religion" comes from "religare", meaning "to bind", implying in part "to restrict", I find the word "cult" far more appealing than "religion".

So we discover that from the start, in talking about a supposed nationwide satanic "cult", our dear Mr. Terry does not even know what a "cult" is - what the word he is using means.

The book begins with the story of Arlis Perry, found murdered in the Memorial Church on the Stanford University campus.  After going into a number of details the subject is dropped and Terry goes directly into the Son of Sam killings on the other side of the country.  Returning to the Perry murder, Terry ties it in with the Son of Sam killings by claiming that both were the work of the same satanic "cult".  There is, however, a more prosaic motive behind the Arlis Perry murder that he ignores but which the meagre details he gives in his book point to - and it had nothing to do with a satanic cult, unless, perhaps, the murderer just happened to have some interest in the occult or satanism.

Arlis was a 19 year old girl married to an equally young man named Bruce Perry and they lived on the campus where they attended university.  We are told that both were "deeply religious" and that

"Their bond was their religion."  Arlis was "also immersed in religious causes", "She was a devout, practicing Christian who swelled with religious ardor", "possessed of an occasional streak of self-righteousness that could grate on the nerves of those less enthralled with the Holy Word than she was.  And more than anything else, religion seemed to dominate Arlis' life."

We have all encountered individuals like Arlis, I am sure, and while she may have otherwise been a very nice person, I have even known truly good, practicing Christians who at least half-heartedly wanted to wring the neck of such people possessed of a holier-than-thou attitude.  It is not surprising then that "'In one letter to North Dakota [from where she came] she lamented:

"Friends are hard to find here.  Many times I've been tempted to go knock on doors asking if anybody needs a friend.  But I guess we just have to appreciate each other and trust the Lord for new friends, too."[NOTE:  italicized inserts within brackets will be mine.]

Arlis Perry's body was found with its legs "spread wide apart ... nude from the waist down" and "The legs of her blue jeans were spread-eagled upside down across her calves, purposely arranged in that manner..." resulting in the pattern of a diamond, as in a pack of playing cards.  Furthermore, her "blouse was torn open and her arms were folded across her chest.  Placed neatly between her breasts was an altar candle ... another candle, thirty inches long, was jammed into her vagina ... she'd also been beaten and choked."  Terry tells us that

"In the words of a church official who later viewed the scene, the sight was 'ritualistic and satanic.'"

Well, certainly that would be the view of a "church official", whether he was speaking from experience or emotion and bewilderment, and perhaps it was even meant to appear that way.  But had Arlis Perry been the victim of a "killer cult", one of Terry's favourite phrases in the book, or was there some more common motive for the killing?  The Santa Clara Sheriff's Department "directed a hunt for a local sexual psychopath" and Terry claims that they were ignoring the "evidence" and so acting with negligence.  In fact, throughout his book, Maury Terry claims that every police department involved in anything anywhere in the U.S. that he was investigating acted negligently, incompetently, refusing to admit to the "evidence" of a single satanic cult at work in all of these cases, and even covering up and burying "facts" that proved that such a cult existed and was the cause of the various murders he had looked into.  It is a very common thing for an "investigative reporter" of Terry's low calibre to make such claims, believing himself far superior to those whose lives are devoted to the kind of work he is merely playing at part-time.  He suggests that the police should be "realistic" and consider his Great Satanic Conspiracy Theory, but anyone looking into the matter with objectivity can see that the police have acted realistically and that Terry is one of the most unrealistic individuals imaginable - at least so far as his obsession with his Great Satanic Conspiracy Theory is concerned.

According to Terry's book these are some of the facts of the Arlis Perry murder case:

"There had been a boy in her life before Bruce" [page 6], and "the day before Arlis died" Arlis received a visitor while at work and was observed as she "and the young man engaged in a fifteen-minute conversation he described as 'serious and intense.'"  The fellow was "in his early twenties ... husky, broad-shouldered and athletic-looking.  He stood about five feet ten and had curly, blondish hair of 'regular' length.  He wasn't a hippie freak."

It should be remembered that both Arlis and Bruce were participants in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  Although Terry describes this person and event on page 13 of his book, he soon dismisses the whole thing apparently as being irrelevant.  Arlis did not tell her husband about this and we are informed

"it wouldn't be unusual for Arlis to keep something from him if she thought the knowledge would be upsetting to him."

Probably an irrelevant fact is that Arlis' temporary grave marker, "two weeks later, around Halloween", was stolen - "Random vandalism was ruled out as no other markers were disturbed."  This was probably the work of simple [and typically disgusting] vandals.  Another possibly irrelevant fact is that

"According to word on the streets in Bismarck, Arlis and a girlfriend - whose name the Perrys didn't know - had crossed the river from Bismarck to neighboring Mandan one day to try to convert members of some satanic cult to Christianity."

First note that this is hearsay, rumour and gossip, that the name of the supposed girlfriend was not even provided, and that it was an absurdly stupid thing to do anyway.  All this aside, there is nothing to connect this incident, if it even occurred, in Bismarck with her much later death elsewhere.  Also,

"There was a young man in Bismarck who frequently followed Arlis around - taking pictures of her."

Terry tells us that there was no evidence directly linking him to the supposed satanic cult mentioned previously,

"but several people said a close friend of his was very interested in occult practices."

Right.  And several friends of mine are interested in the religious practices of the Jewish religion but does that make me a Jew?

Regarding the diamond figure suggested by the way Arlis' jeans had been left laying over her body's legs, Terry offhandedly points out on page 356 that

"a study of Mary College yearbooks revealed that a diamond logo appeared on some official school sweaters",

yet he continued to suggest that this had some satanic significance.  On page 350 Terry tells us that Arlis had "two male acquaintances, both of whom were said to be occult adepts", yet this seems inconsistant with everything else we are told about her and just who, anyway, determined that these individuals were occult "adepts"?  That is a very specific term and it is obvious throughout this book that Terry understands the meaning of "adept" even less than he understands the meaning of the word "cult".  At the same time Terry tells us on page 351 that

"Arlis, the investigation clearly showed, was a sincere young Christian.  We found no dark corners in her life."

What then of the two acquaintances, for instance, who were "occult adepts"?

After being murdered, Arlis Perry's body

"was put right beneath a big cross sculpted into the damned church wall.  There's symbolism in everything these people do" [page 370].

Fact is, whether we are talking about satanists or anyone else, whether it is conscious or unconscious, there is symbolism in everything that everyone does, although sometimes it is difficult to correctly interpret the symbolism.  In this case phallic symbolism or desecration may have had nothing to do with it.  It may have been intended, consciously or unconsciously, to indicate God's justice or that she was a sacrifice to God or Jesus - of course, in the twisted mind of a psychopath.

I also found it interesting that when the police went to interview Bruce Perry, after Arlis' body had been discovered, that "Bruce Perry was covered with blood", which he explained "was his own ... that he was prone to nosebleeds when upset" and a polygraph and blood test proved that "it was indeed his own blood.  Or at least it wasn't Arlis'."  And what was Bruce upset about?

Arlis had intended to visit the church late one evening alone.  Bruce invited himself along.

"At about 11:30 P.M., apparently in good spirits, the young couple strolled from the high-rise campus apartment building"

and suddenly out of the blue, over some minor, ludicrous matter, the couple began to bicker until

"Arlis halted abruptly, faced him [Bruce] and emphatically stated that she wanted to be alone."

Bruce returned home and Arlis went on to the church alone as she had originally intended.

Forgive me if my scenario is now simplistic, but the only details I have to work with are those given to us by Terry in his book, however, they seem to indicate that a young man, possibly a former boyfriend, perhaps even the fanatic fellow who used to follow her about taking pictures of her, visited Arlis at work, bugged her, but got her to agree to meet him in the church.  There is a very good chance this fellow was a Christian, by the way, and not a satanist - although admittedly not a very good Christian.  The argument between Arlis and Bruce was started by Arlis who had to get rid of him.  Probably this unnamed fellow murdered Arlis, intentionally or in a fit of passion, perhaps because she would not leave Bruce for him.  Time factors involved, which in this case Terry seems to ignore while otherwise obsessed with minutes and seconds in the Son of Sam case, it is even possible that Bruce did not return home immediately, that he followed Arlis to the church, and there witnessed the meeting.  Perhaps he watched as the murder was committed, or perhaps he even confronted them, an altercation ensued, he may have even been punched in the face, causing him to have a bloody nose - that is, if the blood on his shirt was not the other fellow's - and Bruce may even feel partly responsible for Arlis' death.  And of course one is tempted to ask what then happened to the other fellow?  Certainly this is very sketchy and there are a lot of holes in the theory, such as it is, but experience has taught me that the motives and reasons behind such tragedies are usually more basic than those Maury Terry suggests, that Arlis

"could have been killed simply because, as an ardent, vocal Christian, she was an automatic enemy of the [satanic] cult" [page 355].

As I have said, the book primarily focuses upon the Son of Sam slayings which David Berkowitz was convicted of.  It is Maury Terry's contention that David Berkowitz was the member of a satanic cult along with many others including one John Carr, and that not only Berkowitz but several others are responsible for the murders in the Son of Sam case - and, in fact, many other cases throughout the United States.  And who is David Berkowitz?

Physical description, age, and the rest of that sort of information you can obtain in any number of simple ways.  According to Maury's book, Berkowitz was given up for adoption shortly after his birth.  His mother was a Brooklyn resident of the Jewish faith and he was 100% Jewish.  Berkowitz was adopted by Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz.  Nat was serious about his faith and young David received religious training, was bar mitzvahed and supposedly led a basically normal childhood.  "Normal", we might add, is a relative term, and many unbalanced individuals apparently had a "normal" childhood.  Pearl died, David was very attached to her, and the relationship with Nat became strained "due to the father's child-rearing attitudes."  Nat remarried and

"David resented the intrusion of his new stepmother, Julie, who had children of her own."

Berkowitz, at some late date, wrote that Julie's one daughter, unidentified but called "Ann" by Terry, "was very interested in the occult.  He called her 'a witch.'" [Page 141]  It seemed obvious that he was not particularly fond of "Ann" and that when David called her a "witch" he meant to insult her - and that, by the way, would have hardly been considered an insult if indeed Berkowitz was what Terry claims he was.

"Berkowitz, born and raised a Jew, began to attend Beth Haven Baptist Church in Louisville."  "He said he enrolled in every program, and often remained in the church for the entire day on Sundays.  He listened to religious broadcasts incessantly, studied numerous liturgical writings and began to try to convert his fellow soldiers [while in the service] and some of Kentucky's civilian population from a streetcorner pulpit.  This was 'fire and brimstone' old-time religion".  "To most who knew him, Berkowitz, outside of a brush with born-again Christianity that turned some people off, was a nice guy."

Terry's other statements seem to indicate that he more than brushed with born-again pseudo-christianity.  [You will note that I have too high a respect for the teachings of the Nazarene to include fanatics in with the ranks of genuine and sincere Christians.]

Several of his "friends" "from Co-Op City ... professed to have been 'put off' by his religious proselytizing."  And finally, "While in Korea, Berkowitz said, he experimented with LSD".

Berkowitz was considered to be a "friendless loner", but Terry is of the opinion that David Berkowitz was the member of a satanic coven and that he had had many "friends", although he also states that Berkowitz's "friends" set him up to take the fall for all of the murders even though he was not responsible for all of them - according to Terry.  I would hate to have Maury Terry for a "friend" for he probably has a very poor idea as to what friendship is all about!  One of Terry's associates, echoing Terry's own feelings in regard to all of the supposed satanic contacts Berkowitz had, reportedly said

"'Whoever said Berkowitz was a friendless loner was dead wrong.  This guy had a lot of contacts and connections.'" [Page 298]

Perhaps he did have "a lot of contacts and connections", but this is not the same as having a lot of "friends", and without real, true friends, who will stand by you, help you when you need it, one can easily become a very unhappy "friendless loner".  If Maury Terry and associates were mathematicians - or claimed to be mathematicians - they would no doubt argue that 1 is the same as 2 and therefore 1 + 1 = 4!

Maybe David Berkowitz developed an interest in the occult, however, the internal evidence in Terry's own book, despite his assertions, indicates that he was not a member of a satanic cult and that his knowledge of occult subjects was extremely limited by that which he had picked out of a few popular occult books of the late sixties and early seventies, not well known for their accuracy.  At a later date, after his conviction and while incarcerated, he acquired more information on the occult and proceeded to weave a fantastical tale which Terry swallowed hook, line and sinker.  But let us not get ahead of ourselves here.

Whatever the degree of Berkowitz's interest in the occult, it is painfully obvious that the root of his emotional problems which led to the murders he committed is not to be found within the occult, but rather, as is commonly the case, in how he dealt with family problems within the circle of the Judeo-Christian culture.  Unwanted by his own parents, adopted, a stepmother that he grew attached to leaves him through death and is replaced by another that he cannot form an attachment with and she has children of her own that he feels inferior to, at least in the new stempmother's eyes.  Sibling rivalry.  While his stepfather was a devout Jew and probably pushed young David too much to practice the faith he had been born into, at the same time being perhaps rather too strict with his adopted son.

Converting to the Christian faith and, like most converts, becoming a fanatic about it, was a natural form of rebellion and the form of pseudo-christianity that he indulged in, immersed himself in, naturally takes the already warped psyche and twists it further out of shape.  Certainly experimentation with LSD by someone like Berkowitz in no way helped matters!

And John Carr?

"John Charles Carr was born in Yonkers on October 12, 1946.  He shared a birthday with the notorious black magician and cultist Aleister Crowley."

We will, of course, return to this, but you can see here how fragile is the connection between Aleister Crowley and the whole Great Satanic Conspiracy Theory Maury Terry is promoting.

"Carr attended Holy Rosary Grammar School in Yonkers, spent one year at a Catholic high school ... Carr, police said, was a moderate-to-heavy user of marijuana and psychedelic drugs, and he was hospitalized on three occasions in 1976-77 for drug overdoses. ... A bottle of Haldol, a powerful prescription drug used to treat psychiatric disorders, was found in the O'Connor home in Minot.  It was Carr's medicine" [page 208].

On page 252 we are informed that Carr had been diagnosed as a "paranoid schizophrenic".  Carr was also said to have been a heavy drinker and

"'He was into coke, pot, LSD, angel dust, crystal or whatever you want to call it.'" [Page 267]

Carr was once committed to a mental institution, and according to some of Terry's sources,

"John would run around beating on the walls, breaking glass, and screaming something that was incoherent.  John conversed quite often with Abraham Lincoln through a picture, carrying on lengthy conversations with the past president.  He would write all over the walls the letters XXO and XOX [with an inverted cross beneath, as drawn by Gietzen later]."

Terry's words in brackets in this place.

"He would also write, 'There's only 32 days in a month, so go hell.'" [Page 255]  "Detective Getson [Geitzen] stated ... that John C. Carr was known to be a member of a satanistic cult group in his jurisdiction that was drug oriented.  He (Carr) made statements to Getson that part of the ritual was drinking the leader's urine.  This ritual, according to Detective Getson, was satanistically oriented" [page 253].

It should be here noted that John Carr did indeed seem to be interested in the occult - although he was obviously not a sincere student of the esoteric, whose number one priority would be self-analysis and self-control - but it remains to be seen whether he was really involved in a satanic cult.  And if he was involved with such a group, whether it was genuinely satanic or merely played at satanism to dress up the drug trafficking business.  And whether or not Carr was a satanist matters not in the least since he was not Berkowitz and they seemed to be anything but friends.

On page 254 Maury Terry tells us that one source claimed that

"John C. Carr acted in strange ways, always talking of Berkowitz and stating they were friends."  "One of the 'strange ways' Car acted," Terry then informs us - according to "another report" - "was to cover ten-dollar bills with mayonnaise and eat them."

Berkowitz, however, often declared his dislike for John Carr.

"Carr closely resembled the Son of Sam composite drawing released after the Lomino-DeMasi shooting ..." and he "expressed a 'passing interest' in witchcraft and that his brother, Michael, 'counseled people in Scientology.'" [Page 204]

Before Carr could be located and questioned, he had been found shot to death in North Dakota.  Naturally it is claimed that he had been executed by the supposed satanic cult to silence him, but all of the evidence indicates that he had either committed suicide or had been murdered in relation to the drug trafficking he was involved in.

One fellow claimed that

"He kept a list of demons of hell on him.  And to gain power over people, to put a curse on them, he'd go out and bury shit on their lawns.  He thought this was some black magic curse.  He was a Satanist." [Page 263]

And on page 264 it was pointed out that Behemoth and Beelzebub were two of the demons on Carr's list and the excrement he had used was dog manure.  The names of the demons were supposed to tie Carr in with the writing of a letter written by the Son of Sam and the use of dog manure is supposed to indicate that he was one of the people responsible for the supposed ritual slaughter of German shepherd dogs - although anyone living in the city can unfortunately find a wealth of this lovely substance just by walking anywhere an inconsiderate citizen has walked his dog.  Dog shit is hardly a rare substance that can only be obtained by ritualistically bred and murdered dogs!

The demonic names, by the way, are extremely common names - Beelzebub can be found in II Kings 1:2, Matthew 10:25, Mark 3:22 and Behemoth in The Book of Job 40:15 of the Judeo-Christian Bible - and this again points not so much to an occult influence as it does to the influence of the Judeo-Christian culture and religions.

Michael Carr has been mentioned and so briefly, according to Terry's book again:  In an interview with Berkowitz [page 228] when asked if Michael Carr worshipped the devil, Berkowitz answered "I believe he did."  Which certainly does not sound as if Berkowitz was very certain of it and seems to indicate that there was no "cult" connection between the two men.

"Michael Carr ...[was] born in 1952, [and] was a year older than David. ... He'd had a number of drug- and alcohol-related problems, as did his brother, and later became active in the Church of Scientology." [Page 278]  "Michael Carr fancied himself an exiled Russian nobleman, even to the point of creating his own coat of arms." [Page 285]  "He hated his father so much that he wanted to torment the hell out of him.  That's what all that was about ... And John Carr, Sam [Berkowitz] told me, also hated the old man because the father liked Michael more than him."

This source was then asked if that's where the term "Son of Sam" began, and the source replied,

"Yeah, but it had another meaning too, to the group.  Something like 'Servants and Master'- SAM." [Page 385]

Might I suggest that Mr. Terry and his supposed sources, mostly unidentified while those identified are hardly as credible as he claims, do a little more study and train their bankrupt imaginations.  Although I do not think it is the case, the "Sam" from "Son of Sam" could be short for Samael, "a combination of 'sam' meaning poison and 'el' meaning angel.  In rabbinic literature, Samael is chief of the Satans and the angel of death."  Et cetera.  [A Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson]  And Samael is often identified, however characteristically incorrectly, with Satan.  Seriously, I think I could concoct a much more believable and factual appearing conspiracy theory than Maury Terry has out of a number of unrelated facts, rumours, gossip, and plenty of hearsay "evidence".

Anyway, Michael Carr died in a car accident when his "Buick plowed headlong into a streetlight stanchion" ... he was twenty-seven at the time, and Terry says that

"What actually happened to Michael Carr may never be known." [Page 283]

Terry hopes!  Chances are the fool was simply too drunk and/or high to make accurate judgments and he drove himself into the streetlight stanchion accidentally.

What do I think?  Glad you asked!

I agree with Maury Terry - maybe - upon one point:  I do not think that Berkowitz was guilty of all of the Son of Sam murders.  Probably Berkowitz and Carr, rivals in a way, were playing a sick game of I-can-do-better, trying to outdo one another in the "game" of murdering innocent unsuspecting people.  That's it.  No big plot hatched by a nationwide satanic cult.  Just two sick puppies killing people for a kind of sport, although certainly there was more to it for both of them psychologically.

As usual, Terry faults the police in every way, for the most part unjustly, but he may have been right when he claimed that the police purposely ignored the possible John Carr involvement in the Son of Sam slayings.  It was not that they feared or disbelieved in the whole satanic cult scenario, but simply that by the time Berkowitz was caught, he gladly taking credit for all of the murders, Carr was dead, or would be before his part in it could be discovered, and the important thing was to get the remaining lunatic off the streets to protect everyone else, therefore a conviction was necessary, and there was absolutely no sense in mucking up the whole thing with the John Carr aspect or the satanic cult nonsense.  Complicating an essentially simple case might have given Berkowitz an opportunity to escape conviction and allowed him to go free to kill again - and again and again.  And even if he had never killed again, allowing Berkowitz to go free would have certainly been a miscarriage of justice.

As for the rest ...

In this letter written by the Son of Sam, most probably David Berkowitz, there is mention of "The Duke of Death", "The Wicked King Wicker", associated with a film out at the time called The Wicker Man, and "The Twenty Two Disciples of Hell".  Actually there was nothing in the text of the letter to necessarily indicate any real occult knowledge, as one would expect from a genuine satanist.  Things like "The Twenty Two Disciples of Hell" could simply refer to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, considering Berkowitz's probable antagonistic attitude towards his Jewish heritage and upbringing.  Of course Terry believes it refers to the supposed satanic cult.  We are probably both wrong, and the genuine meaning is no doubt so trite as to put a smile on one's face.

There was a symbol drawn on the letter something like this:

and while "The Police said they believed the graphic symbol at the letter's end utilized the universal signs for male and female," Terry said that

"This was incorrect.  The symbol had its origins with nineteenth-century occultist Eliphas Levi.  And the 'signs' were actually the astrological renders of Mars, the god of war, and of Venus - goddess of the Roman sewers, who was also known as Placida." [Page 51]

Terry reproduced the Levi drawing in the book - it was printed upside down - and you can find it on page 259 of The Book of Ceremonial Magic by Arthur Edward Wait, published by the Citadel Press in 1971 E.V., copyrighted in 1961 by University Books, Inc., a very common and popular, easy to obtain book at the time.  Plate IX, the drawing, is captioned "THE GOETIC CIRCLE OF PACTS", and another and simplified version of it can be found on page 244 captioned "THE GRAND KABALISTIC CIRCLE".  Terry points out that one of the names around the circle is "Berkaial" and that Berkowitz was sometimes called Berkie, and that another name around the circle is "Amasarac", relating to Sam Carr, the father of John and Michael - even though it would actually be, scrambling it as best as one can to fit Terry's theory, SAM CAAAR.  However, it is possible Berkowitz had a copy of this then common book and was inspired by this drawing by Levi, but when all is said and done we have nothing but further gibberish from a real sick piece lost in a fantasy world in which he was something greater than he could ever become in real life.  It certainly does not prove that he was privy to any great knowledge or that Berkowitz was a member of a nationwide satanic cult.

[1997 E.V. A new edition of Waite's book is currently available for a low price in the popular Barnes & Noble bookstore chain.]

When asked about it

"Berkowitz acknowledged the symbol had 'significance.'  He added:  'I believe somebody put it in my mind to write that.'" [Page 220]

And Terry obviously chooses to interpret this as a confession that that somebody was another member of the supposed cult coaching Berkowitz.  Maybe that "somebody" was merely the long deceased, devoutly Christian magician Eliphas Levi? [Just joking.]  Maybe it was just a fractured aspect of Berkowitz's own mind.

[1997 E.V. NOTE:  Take note of the fact that Terry avoids identifying Venus, the Roman form of Aphrodite, as the Goddess of Love, how she is most commonly known.  And this sinister goddess, Placida, whose domain was the Roman sewers - how nasty!  At least that is what Terry was trying real hard to make his readers think.  However, the name is also a word from which our word in English, PLACID, is derived, a word which means "peaceful, mild, calm, serene" - you know, the way one generally feels after making one's deposit, as it were, in the sewers.  A necessary function for the health of the body.  And the symbol, well, off the top of my head I could easily interpret it in less than sinister, biblical terms thusly:  The Tree of Life or Knowledge, equated with the Cross, at the four rivers of Paradise, the male/Mars symbol representing Adam, the female/Venus symbol representing Eve, and the S being the Serpent (Samael) or Satan.  Hmm.  Do you think Berkowitz may have been a member of a Judeo-Christian Murder Cult planning to send us all, one by one, back to Paradise?]

Terry decided that publication of the Breslin letter at the time he acquired it would have been unwise and it "would open the door to charges of speculative reporting", and he was right.  Unfortunately for him, even with its publication in this book, along with all his supposedly illuminating verbiage, it still indicates, at best, "speculative reporting".  His "break down" of the letter in which he, for instance, interprets "Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C., which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine, and blood" as "elements ... used in the satanic Black Mass" does seem speculative at best.  The sentence should be interpreted just as it is written:  "stale wine" means stale wine and not "animal urine" as Terry suggested [page 168]so forth - such is the nature of a city gutter.

In this letter from the Son of Sam were sentences like

"I am deeply hurt by your calling me a wemon [sic] hater."  "I am the 'Son of Sam.'  I am a little 'brat.'"  "Sam loves to drink blood."  "I am the 'monster' - 'Beelzebub' - the 'Chubby Behemouth.'"

And Terry even thought upon seeing the letter

"'Catholic schools,' ... remembering the police belief that the writer of the Borelli letter had received a Catholic education."

In fact, the indication seems to be that there was here more influence from the Bible than any occult source.  One of Terry's associates, and again Terry obviously agrees, said that "Whoever did these letters knows a lot about satanism and witchcraft." [Page 165]  However, as one who does know a good deal about satanism and witchcraft, having been a serious student of the so-called "occult" now for at least two decades, [2000 E.V.:  over three now], I can definitely say that there is nothing whatsoever in the Borrelli letter to indicate any great knowledge of any esoteric or occult subject, be it satanism, the Craft, or anything else.  Yet Maury Terry, whose knowledge of these subjects is worse than nonexistent, wrote that

"As we had discussed, the Sam letters were sprinkled with occult references.  In the Borrelli letter, they include 'wemon,' as in demon; 'brat,' as in imp or small devil; 'outsider,' the title of an occult book; 'Beelzebub,' the demon known as the Lord of the Flies; 'the hunt,' a reference to the goddess Diana, queen of the Black Sabbath and leader of the Wild Hunt; and 'I'll be back, I'll be back,' words identical to those spoken by Satan in the book Black Easter.  In addition, the Borelli letter contained obvious references to blood drinking, a satanic practice."

The phrase "I'll be back, I'll be back" can hardly be said to be unique unto satanism.  [In fact "I'll be back" has become a phrase closely associated with actor Arnold Schwartzenegger as the Terminator.]  We've probably all used it at one time or another.  Associating "wemon" with "demon" is absurd as it is probably a simple mistake, transposing the "e" and the "o" - another common thing we have all done at one time or anethor ... see!  "Brat" probably means "brat" - perhaps something his second stepmother used to call him.  The occult book referred to was written by a man who parades himself as an expert in occult matters but constantly proves himself to be an idiot.  And Terry practically slanders the Moon Goddess [due to an identification with Selene, and thus called Phoebe], Goddess of the Hunt, Diana, also known as Artemis, "defender of all wild animals, children, and weak things".  As for the drinking of blood, it is also the practice of vampires and at the time Christopher Lee as Count Dracula in the Hammer films was very popular - maybe it proves that pudgy little David Berkowitz was a vampire!

The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology was one of Terry's reference books.  Probably the book written by Rossell Hope Robbins, a popular volume at the time, but one which deals mostly with the old witch trials and the beliefs and superstitions of the time rather than the actual facts pertaining to these subjects.  Terry wrote [page 172] that

"Initially, I was surprised to learn that most of the occult writings I perused were bereft of any substantial information about the cult.  Most references were vague."

The reason for this is simple:  the "cult" he is referring to simply does not exist and the books he was relying upon were, for the most part, popular rubbish lacking in accurate and in-depth factual information.

After his conviction and imprisonment, Berkowitz began collecting a great deal of information from inmates through the prison grapevine as well as newspaper clippings, books and other material being sent to him from outside sources at his request.  Needless to say, the whole satanic cult story blossomed with more material at Berkowitz's disposal.  Berkowitz, for instance, sent a copy of The Anatomy of Witchcraft by Peter Haining to an associate of Terry's.

"On the dedication page, in Berkowitz's unmistakable printing, was a message:  'The Book of the Black Curse and those not fearful to administer it.  Never to be caught!  The evil which has permeated one's soul.' ... On each of those [32 pages he drew attention to], Berkowitz highlighted what was, in effect, his story and that of the cult."

In short, Berkowitz's imagination was so bankrupt that he had to essentially plagiarize.  Also, on page 305 Terry wrote that Peter Haining

"related that much of his own occult knowledge was derived from the novels of Dennis Wheatley.  Berkowitz underscored only 'Den Wheat-ey' - the home of John Wheaties Carr.  He was saying that much of his occult knowledge came from that source."

Maybe so, but obviously both men were extremely ignorant of the genuine esoteric philosophies.  However, we have here again a bit of obscure speculation.  And the book, its author, and the author's statement puts the matter in perspective.  Peter Haining was [is?] a hack writer and his books on the occult are full of gross errors and absurdities.  The fact that his occult knowledge, and I use that phrase loosely, was derived from the NOVELS, i.e. FICTIONS, of Dennis Wheatley is hardly surprising since Wheatley apparently had next to no genuine knowledge of the occult, his novels are extremely and laughably silly and full of his obsession with the Judeo-Christian Devil, and have no bearing whatsoever upon reality.

Berkowitz, "enmeshed" in an occult book while in prison, was caught off guard and had his throat slashed by another inmate.  It was not fatal.  Yeah ... I know ... too bad.  Anyway, Berkowitz wrote that he

"was getting these negative feelings from this book ...  If you could have seen this book, then you'd understand.  It was full of satanic symbols, prayers, and most of all, pictures.  Do you know someone by the name, Eliphas Levi? [He] had this picture drawn up.  It was a picture of a goat head attached to the body of a man.  It was called BAPHOMET.  I did stare at this picture for hours on end."  And finally he "grabbed that book, and tore it into shreds."

This is not the member of a satanic cult speaking.  If he had been a satanist, not only would he not have been so distrubed by the pictures in the book, but they would have been familiar to him - especially the drawing of Baphomet, which is commonly and erroneously associated with the Judeo-Christian Devil.  You will see it in practically any Hollywood movie about satanists and Witches.  Yet obviously Berkowitz had never seen it before, or had any cause until after he was incarcerated to concentrate upon and remember it.  Apparently, before his incarceration the picture of Baphomet had no meaning for him, yet I do not know a single satanist or would-be satanist who is not familiar with this drawing, readily accepting it as a depiction of Satan.

When, in a newspaper article, it was mentioned that the members of the supposed cult, and that included Berkowitz, probably suffered from "latent homosexuality",

"Berkowitz did confirm that some of the group members were homosexuals.  His gripe was that he would be lumped in with them ... Now, too, women emerged as suspects." [Page 326]  "Matter of fact," Berkowitz supposedly wrote, "plenty of straight women were present, too.  [This was a major revelation.]  Probably more women than men.  Muff - nuff said?" [Page 324]

However, I have found in my twenty years or more of serious study and involvement in the occult community, the "women's spirituality circles" aside which exclude all men as well as Wiccan covens which tend to attract more women than men, the ratio of males to females in groups is uneven in most cases, the men far outnumbering the women.  'Tis a pity...

As I read The Ultimate Evil, and it was a most difficult and annoying read, I did as I normally do when reading a book - I began to analyze the psyche of the author.  Here, I decided, was a man looking to make a name for himself - a man obsessed, his obsession so overpowering that he was easily manipulated by anyone who would seem to substantiate his obsession, so overpowered that irrationality would supplant reason, logic and common sense.  Maury Terry may really believe his own nonsense!  In the introduction he states that his files are under lock and key in a secret location and that if anything happens to him a list of names will "come under rapid and intense scrutiny."  Obsessive behaviour often leads to a certain degree of paranoia.

Terry wrote that he

"was a partner in an investigative sports journalism TV project that almost - but not quite - made it to the air."

That no doubt frustrated the would-be celebrity.  However, with his articles and this book he finally got his fifteen minutes of fame and more, appearing on numerous television talk shows and video tabloids.

"Throughout the probe, I appeared on a number of radio and TV programs." [Page 297]

He must have been in seventh heaven.  Finally a celebrity!

It amused me to read that Terry - promoter of the Great Satanic Conspiracy Theory that seems to involve every murder case in recent history - said that the New York Post was

"At times ... guilty of sensationalism, but so were the rest of the media."

Right.  And Maury Terry was not guilty of sensationalism ...

On pages 241 and 360, for instance, Terry admits that he had gotten personally and emotionally involved in his investigation and thus had lost his objectivity.  In fact, he had gotten completely and obsessively caught up in his developing fantasy and it carried him further and further away from reality.

One of his associates, Mitteager, admitted that "My goal is to get a job at the Post", and so he was going for the most sensational story possible.  With "friends" like this on his side, Terry did not need enemies.  Mitteager and others reinforced his obsession.

Another associate, Dunleavy, "believed [Terry] was too methodical, and too willing to consider fragmented data as relevant to the investigation."  Terry believes he proved Dunleavy wrong, but in fact Dunleavy was dead right and Terry's book proves it.

It is also worth noting that during the time Terry began his so-called investigation he had been having marital problems and eventually, during the investigation, he and his wife separated.  Thus Maury Terry experienced an uncomfortable and unaccustomed void in his life that had to be filled.  Perfect breeding ground for an obsession.  And this obsession, naturally, interfered with his ability to reason clearly.  For instance, towards the beginning of the book when he is discussing the Son of Sam murders, he places a great deal of reliance upon the statements of the so-called witnesses, most of whom did not actually see the murders but merely noticed someone hanging around about the time of the murders who may or may not have had anything to do with them.  One of the reasons he developed his cult theory was that the police sketches made of the various suspects as described by the so-called witnesses - suspects not necessarily being culprits - were so dissimilar that he theorized that a number of people and not just one man had to be guilty of the murders.  However, not all of the men [and maybe one woman] necessarily had anything to do with the murders.  Walk through any city or neighbourhood and you will find people loitering about.  Furthermore, he is assuming that each of these supposed witnesses were perfect observers with perfect memories, and that simply is not very realistic.  It was dark to start with, the men described to the police artists were sometimes seen in shadow, and people generally do not have perfect recollection, plus if you take any three people, have them glance at something for a few minutes and then write down what they saw a day or so later, you will find that they will probably recall the details of that thing so differently from one another that the resulting descriptions will seem to be of three different things - or three different people as the case may be.  Furthermore, Terry also places a great deal of reliance upon the times given by people of when they saw so-and-so doing such-and-such a thing - again relying too heavily upon the memory of others.  He then walked distances, timing them, and because of discrepencies of minutes and sometimes seconds, he concluded that Berkowitz could not have been here or there at such and such times to commit this murder or that murder.  Again, take three people, ask them to consult their watches, and chances are you will get a variance of at least a few minutes with each watch.  And of course there are other factors to take into account as well that Terry simply ignores.

Worst of all, perhaps, is that Terry places a great deal too much reliance upon Berkowitz's testimonies, pointing out contradictions and discrepencies as if they were terribly important - and how stupid of the police not to have noticed these.  The truth of the matter is, Berkowitz several times during one interview admitted that he had lied during previous interviews.  He was always lying and changing his story and playing games with Terry and his associates.  The police were not the fools.  Maury Terry is the fool.

The police, more experienced in police work than Terry is, realize that witnesses are not perfect and that generally their powers of observation are poor and faulty, their memories, especially of events that did not at the time seem important, equally faulty.  The police knew that Berkowitz was a game player and that is one of the reasons they did not waste too much time in questioning him.  They wisely chose not to play the fool and be manipulated by David Berkowitz.  Maury Terry, however, surrendered himself entirely to the whims of David Berkowitz and allowed himself to be led around by the nose.

And not only was Berkowitz one of Terry's primary sources for his information about this supposed cult, but so too were two or more prisoners incarcerated with Berkowitz, who, after Berkowitz tired of the game, not getting out of it what he had hoped for, became silent, these prisoners, called "Vinny" and "Danny" by Terry, claimed to be communicating with Berkowitz and passing information on to Terry.  Incarcerated criminals.  Hardly what I would call credible sources of information.  And they had a grand old time playing further with Maury Terry.

Most of Terry's sources in the book were unidentified and often he was receiving the information from a person who got it from another person who heard it from so-and-so who was told the story by yet another unidentified source.  Occasionally Terry assigned pseudonyms to his sources, supposedly to protect them from harm.  Or was it to protect him from embarrassment or discovery?

And those associates that he named:  "Ted Gunderson, a retired senior special agent [with] his private investigation agency in Los Angeles." [Page 280]  We have dealt with this man in TNN VI.1 and found him to be less than credible, to put it mildly.  And there was Veronica Lueken, "a 'strange woman' who wore 'long robes'" [page 195].

"In a real way, Veronica Lueken was in fact famous.  Since 1970, the heavyset, middle-aged housewife and mother had been known to countless New Yorkers and others in the United States and Canada as the woman who periodically packed the former World's Fair grounds in Queens with devout believers who listened to the Virgin Mary and Christ speak through the mouth of - Veronica Lueken." [Page 198]

Her "lurid tales of a satanic cult to which she insisted Berkowitz belonged" [page 191] led Terry on an extremely silly wild goose chase, and a supposed cult victim turned out to be very much alive and bewildered by it all.  Still, Terry relied upon her at a later date.

Terry also associated himself with one Henry [Hank] Cinotti:  a Bronx homicide detective with jet black hair,

"mustache and a prominent goatee, wearing black clothes, with a large gold crucifix draped around his neck.  He also was openly, devoutely religious - to a fault, some said ... [and] he was a follower of Veronica Lueken." [Page 242]

Going out on a stakeout with others including Cinotti in the hopes of coming upon satanist in action - it was, by the way, a predictably dismal failure

"Hank arrived with two companions wielding baseball bats, handed out religious medals, and began to discuss demonology and religious topics in a manner that caused Bartley to back out of the surveillance and convince Mitteager half the world had gone totally crazy." [Page 244]  Later, according to Terry, the NYPD "were out to portray Cinotti as a rogue, unbalanced cop with an unreliable informant - Lueken." [Page 294]

Gee ... I can't imagine how the police could say such a thing ...

And on page 404 Terry said "I'm just saying what I hear, that's all."

On pages 294-5 Terry quotes an unidentified "Michigan college professor who was an occult expert" as saying

"I believe you are dealing with a sadomasochistic group with strong undertones of latent homosexuality.  This is an evil group that turned to ritualistic killing, using the occult as an excuse for their own latent homosexuality.  They borrowed from satanism, from magic and from whatever they saw and liked."

I find myself reasonably suspicious about unidentified sources, and even more suspicious about so-called "experts" in the occult as nine times out of ten they turn out to be very bias individuals with no inside information on the subject and extremely ill-informed and inaccurate.  The constant harping on "latent homosexuality", tying it in with murder and satanism, seems to me just a wee bit homophobic, and this too leaves me rather cold.  However, the part about borrowing from satanism, magick, et al, seems correct enough, that is, that they, or at least Berkowitz and Carr, were not actual satanists or magicians, but merely playing at it at best.

On page 234:

"I asked Hamilton about theories which suggested a 'split personality' in Berkowitz might have produced a work superior to his known writing, thinking and graphic abilities."

This in reference to one of the Son of Sam letters, and

"Hamilton simply said, 'No.  You cannot assume or become a personality or intelligence that is so much greater than your own.  It can't be done.'"

I might have considered this statement a little more seriously if Charles Hamilton was a psychiatrist, but in point of fact this particular "expert" is a handwriting expert!  And in an important way he is wrong.  The term "split personality" is naive, but it is possible, although not necessarily so, that Berkowitz suffered or suffers from "multiple personality disorder", and it may be that one of his personalities, so to speak, is capable of writing, thinking and graphic abilities that are superior to the personality that Berkowitz usually manifests.  And in this matter of intelligence - what about savants?  Child prodigies?  And other bewildering displays of talent and intelligence that seems superior to that of the personality it is manifesting through?  The psychological evaluation of the handwriting expert is absurdly simplistic, and Terry is either a simpleton for accepting it or he thinks very little of the intelligence of his readers and assumes it will simply be accepted at face value and not be challenged.  Furthermore, as an amateur graphologist myself I can assure you that distinct personalities, one of superior intellect and one of inferior intellect, in the same individual, is quite possible and distinguishable in their handwriting.  My favourite example is that of the fellow who, after paying me a surprise visit, returned home and wrote a letter to me on a torn out colouring book page announcing that he is really the ancient Egyptian god Horus, and when he wrote his own name, his real name, in the body of the letter, it was in an entirely different handwriting - and one was superior to the other.  Of course I find all of this rather unnecessary speculation as, in my humble opinion, not one of the Son of Sam letters displayed superior intelligence in any way, shape or form.

Lee Chase is another person mentioned.  That, of course, is not her real name.  She became Berkowitz's "self-appointed Christian counselor" while he was in prison and is described by Terry as

"an intelligent, dark-haired woman of forty-one, [and] was an expert in the study of 'demonology' who began writing Berkowitz shortly after his arrest ... Her goal was to convert him to Christianity." [Page 302]

Another bloody "expert" in a subject she no doubt had no real personal experience with.  And this influence may indicate why Berkowitz, from his prison cell, embellished endlessly upon the supposed satanic cult story.  He may have been encouraged to do so for reasons less than Christlike.

If I seem to jump around at times it is because this book, The Ultimate Evil, is so loaded with rubbish, and written in such a scattered and disorganized manner, that it is most difficult to deal with and completely comment upon and review in an orderly fashion.  In fact, to completely comment upon it and reveal all of the idiocies of Terry's 510-page book it would probably take a book at least twice that size.  It is easy to spread rumours and gossip, lies and absurdities, but it is a more complex job sorting it all out and correcting matters.  At least, that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Terry participated in interviews with Berkowitz, usually remaining quiet while others asked the questions, some of which, especially the conspiracy questions, were supplied by Maury Terry.  These interviews were the height of absurdity.

In the beginning, Berkowitz

"said he did it all and was commanded to do so by old Sam Carr, who was really a six-thousand-year-old man who spoke to David through his demon dog, Harvey." [Page 115]

Later Berkowitz claimed that this was a lie, a head game.

"'David always liked to play word games.'" [Page 121]

"Q. Did you have anyone in mind at the time [referring to the victims chosen] - or anyone you might come across?

A. Whoever would just come around - when I was told who to get.

Q. Who told you who to get?

A. Sam Carr.

Q. Who is Sam Carr?

A. My master. ...

Q. How long have you known Sam, approximately?

A. Probably - well, as Sam, I'd say just a little over a year; a year and a half. ...

Q. Do you want to tell me how you got those orders?

A. Yes, he told me through his dog, as he usually does.  It's not really a dog.  It just looks like a dog."

And in a footnote:  "Berkowitz claimed in 1977 that his relationship with Sam Carr was only 'mystical' - that he didn't actually know him.  Yet even in this early post-arrest comment, he acknowledged knowing that Sam had a daughter named Wheat." [Page 122]

I know that ex-president Jimmy Carter has a daughter named Amy, and if I overhear a conversation or talk with the son of a certain man, I might learn that that man has a daughter, learn quite a bit about her, and still not know the man himself.  So what?

"'How did you know John Carr?'

'I don't want to talk about it.'

This was a major confirmation of my suspicions." [Page 217]

And throughout the interviews it seems that when Berkowitz did not want to talk about something it confirmed Terry's suspicions!  Typical answers for David Berkowitz were:

"I don't know."  "I'd rather not say."  "I'd rather not talk about it."  "Well, it is hard to explain.  I don't really want to go into it."  "He might have been."  "I might."  "There is a possibility."  "I had an idea."  "I'm not surprised."  "It is possible."

And so forth.  The more evasive Berkowitz was, the fewer questions he answered, the more convinced Maury Terry was that his suspicions were correct.

It is patently absurd.

"'Would you say that you answered all my questions honestly?'

'To a degree.  I mean, there are certain ones that I didn't wish to answer.'" [Page 403]

Asked if he liked John Carr, Berkowitz replied

"No.  I hated every one of them.  I hated their guts."

He was asked if it was true that John Wheaties is John Carr and Berkowitz replied "It is a strong possibility", then admitted to deliberately using his name in one of the Son of Sam letters to point the finger of suspicion at him or at least get him into trouble.  When it was pointed out that parts of the Breslin letter "refer to the Black Mass" and he was asked if he knew what that is, Berkowitz merely said "I have heard of it before."  A satanist would have more than heard of it, he would have practiced it - or at least some caricature of a black mass.  When Berkowitz again became evasive - when wasn't he evasive! - and started denying his earlier responses and stating that he had committed the murders alone, Terry said "We put little credence in his denials."  That is to say, Maury Terry and his associates chose to believe only what they wished to believe.

Out of the blue the question was suddenly put to him, "Do the words 'witches' coven' mean anything to you?"  Berkowitz merely replied "I have heard it before."  "Were some of these people [suspected conspirators] involved in the witches' coven?" he was asked.  "I believe they were.  Yes."  Note that Berkowitz did not seem all that certain about what a coven is or if some of the people named earlier were Witches or not.  "Were you in that same coven?" he was then asked, upon which Berkowitz replied "Yes."

"Berkowitz then said some people had dual natures and were part 'spirit,' making it difficult to bring them to justice.  Gilroy snickered. ... This was a devastating series of comments.  Berkowitz acknowledged that a satanic cult existed and that he blonged to it."

The only thing devastating about this is the stupidity of Terry and his associates.

Up until this time talk of the occult was extremely minimal.  After notifying Berkowitz of what they wanted to hear with the questions about witches' covens, Berkowitz was only too happy to oblige by providing them with what they wanted to hear.  Unfortunately, what he had to offer was pitifully silly and it was not until he was in prison, where he wrote

"letters.  requests to religious organizations asking for material on demonology" [page 154]

and obtaining information, books, pamphlets and newspaper clippings about various murder cases and such from outside sources, that he really began to embellish upon the story Maury Terry wanted to hear.  At one point Berkowitz showed Terry that he had knowledge of the Arlis Perry murder, which he claimed had been committed by members of his cult, and Terry and his associates said

"They can't figure out how Berkowitz ever heard of this case" [page 307]

although elsewhere he admits that newspaper clippings were being sent to Berkowitz, and of course the prison grapevine is extremely informative about criminal matters, and we cannot be sure exactly what "Lee Chase" was up to - was she really looking to use Berkowitz to spread the kind of rumours he was spreading for the purpose of "putting the fear of God" in people?

And I love this reasoning:  Berkowitz says, yes, I was a member of a coven of WITCHES and Terry claims that that "acknowledged that a SATANIC cult existed and that he belonged to it."  Capitalization mine for emphasis.  Apples and oranges.  That is like one man saying, yes, I am a Christian, and another man taking that to mean that he is a Jew.  [No inference that Judaism is at all similar to satanism intended.]  A WITCH is a member of a pre-christian, not anti-christian, pagan, i.e. rural, not godless, religion that worships God/dess manifest in nature, does not believe in a Devil, does not even have devils in its belief system, and which is concerned for the good of the community often at the expense of one's own personal desires.  A SATANIST is a member of an anti-christian, godless, pseudo-philosophy that admits to worshipping the ego and the "things of the flesh", and satanists either believe in a literal Satan or Satan is a symbol for their unrestrained desires and ego, the gratification of which, often at the expense of others, being their only concern in life.  If one cannot here see the difference between WITCHCRAFT and SATANISM, then one is mentally impaired to a very great and institutionalizational degree!

Undeniably, Berkowitz was playing games with Maury Terry and Terry was a willing participant.  At one point Berkowitz was asked why he did not wish to discuss things and he answered

"Some people I have spoken with gave me the idea that you may have some sinister motives to this. ... Perhaps you are trying to write a book or make a movie or something. ..."

Asked, "There is no reason for you to feel that we are out to take advantage of you, is there?" Berkowitz replied, "I believe there is."  And finally "Gilroy then told Berkowitz that his refusal to answer left us with a strong impression that he was part of a conspiracy."

All voids, and there were many throughout the investigation, were filled by Terry and his associates with what they wanted to believe.  Obviously the plan to write The Ultimate Evil is an old one and existed early on during the "investigation" and while Berkowitz was playing with Terry for his own reasons, manipulating him, trying to use him, Terry was taking advantage of Berkowitz, using him, and he has indeed written a book that has not only been published but has recently come out in paperback as well, and I would not be surprised if Terry received something from the producers of the debut of the now defunct Gideon Oliver, or that a film version of Terry's book may be in at least the early planning stages.

At this stage I am literally throwing out a large collection of notes from Maury Terry's book.  However interesting it may be to point out his idiocies, we simply do not have the space here, and this review and commentary has already gone well beyond the boundry of "easy reading".  Still, there are things that must be touched upon and illustrations of Terry's idiocy to discuss.

David Berkowitz continually refused to answer questions, and Terry concluded, "I think that says a lot, just like ducking the questions about who wrote the Breslin letter." [Page 152]  The less Berkowitz said, the more Terry concluded.

After one of the Son of Sam shootings

"Diel himself leaped from the Firebird and began shouting:  'They shot her!  They shot my girlfriend!'  witnesses reported.

"'Why,' I asked Diel, 'did you use the word "they"?'

"'I don't know,' he replied.  'It was just an expression'

"Maybe so." [Page 430]

What utter nonsense.  Of course it was just an expression - an expression we all use from time to time and one Terry himself probably uses, referring to an unknown person or persons generally as "they" collectively.  You know what THEY say ...

Because the shooter in one murder was observed running off with the gun in his left hand it is positively concluded that the murder was lefthanded [page 261].  However, I happen to be righthanded, for instance, and yet when walking or running I tend to move things from my right hand to my left hand to keep the hand I tend to favour, my right hand, free for whatever may come my way.  Perhaps the same was true for the shooter in this particular instance?

After a time, Berkowitz no longer dealt directly with anyone and he would "send clues and leads to different people".  Playing.  Bloody playing with people's heads.  And there is no guarantee that all of those so-called clues and hints came from Berkowitz.  Others may have had reasons to promote the Great Satanic Conspiracy Theory.  It might have even been a prison game among bored convicts who would have certainly had a grudge against people like Maury Terry - self-proclaimed investigators who stuck their noses in everyone's private business.

The prison sources Terry refers to as "Vinny" and "Danny" supposedly

"agreed to submit to polygraph tests, but Tom Russo in Queens said they weren't necessary." [Page 409]

Too bad, huh ...?

Here's a good one:  According to Terry on page 457

"while you can have drugs without a cult, you will not have a cult without drugs."

I did not find any mention whatsoever of drugs in my dictionary when I looked up the word "cult".  Where does Terry get these ideas?  And how would he explain me?  I am a devout Thelemite, a follower of Aleister Crowley, the Beast 666, the Antichrist, and I do not use drugs, find no particular value in their use, I disapprove of drugs in general and encourage others, especially adolescents, to stay away from drugs as use can too easily turn to abuse with most people.  I do not smoke.  I drink only a little when it is the socially polite thing to do.  And yet according to Terry I am a member of a "cult".  It doesn't scan.

Even in The Book of the Law, the cornerstone of Thelema, "drugs" are only mentioned once [II.22] and then it is qualified as "strange drugs", implying something other than what the word "drugs" commonly implies to people, and it should be noticed that according to the dictionary definition, even granny's chicken soup can be considered a "drug".

On page 185 Maury Terry tells us of how a salesman from Westchester at a business dinner, was "inexplicably engaged ... in a discussion of mysticism and black magic" with a friend of his, then out of the blue he lowered his voice and said "Son of Sam was in a satanic cult in Yonkers and they helped commit the murders".  To me the whole thing smells fishy - as if someone knew where Terry was heading with his "investigation" and that someone wanted very much that he would remain in that direction.  Someone wanted him to promote the Great Satanic Conspiracy Theory, and Terry was only too happy to go along with it.

According to Maury Terry in The Ultimate Evil, involved in his Great Satanic Conspiracy are police in various states, hospital employees, Samuel Utermyer who purchased land in 1903 E.V. that he claims is the site of satanic rituals today, partly because "a British magazine labeled (him) a satanist", The Process Church of the Final Judgment [at least this is a likely candidate], The Church of Scientology [Terry claims that they planned a smear campaign against him, but the evidence in Terry's own book indicates that just because Michael Carr was a member of Scientology, Terry was going to drag them into his nonsense and they were merely looking into ways of countering what might have been an unfair action against them.  I might note that I myself have never thought highly of either Scientology or its founder L. Ron Hubbard, but that is beside the point.], The John Profumer-Christine Keeler prostitution scandal, and supposedly Dr. Stephen Ward "was an occult adept" [again, by whose standards was he considered an "adept"?], and naturally Charlie Manson is dragged into it - yes, Crazy Charlie was a member of this nationwide satanic cult, according to the warped imagination of Maury Terry.  I personally like the Manson II angle.  Supposedly this individual, a real occult celebrity whose true identity is unknown, was involved with the original Manson family.  Yeah.  Right.  Sure.  Also involved in this Great Satanic Conspiracy according to Terry, was the Atlanta Child Murders, Sirhan Sirhan, murderer of Senator Robert Kennedy, the infamous Westchester Dartman and the Westchester Child Rapist, the 1979 crash of an Air Force F-106 jet in Montana, the modern day Druids are part of it, as well as Ted Bundy, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was essentially a Christian oriented Rosicrucian order, by the way, started by 33° Freemasons - the Basque witches of Portugal and Spain, etc., etc., etbloodycetera.  When you put it all together like this it reads like an Illuminati farce by Robert Anton Wilson!  If Terry writes a sequel to his book [God forbid!] I would not be surprised if he insisted that Jack the Ripper was once a member of this supposed satanic cult and that Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat [or would that be Buckwheaties?] and the rest of Our Gang were all the product of satanic baby breeding!  Hmm.  I might have something there.  Note the satanically phallic hairstyle on Alfalfa ...

And all this after seeming to begin well enough on page 163 where Terry wrote:

"There has been no census of the number of witchcraft and satanic cults active today in the United States.  But the number is certainly in the thousands.  Fortunately, the majority of these groups are benign, or 'white,' witchcraft covens, as they are often termed.  But not all of them."

"As indicated, the preponderance of these are relatively harmless.  Purists point out that a murderous devil cult should not be confused with the numerous benign covens which dot the landscape of the United States.

"To an extent, that admonition is accurate.  Not everyone who smokes marijuana advances to heroin addiction; nor does every social drinker become an alcoholic.  But just as addicts are initiated on pot and alcoholics emerge from the cocktail party set, hard-core satanists frequently earn their stripes in the lower ranks of occult curiosity or 'white' witchcraft.

"Witchcraft, per se, is not illegal, and most covens ostensibly operate within the law.  There has been an ambitious public relations effort undertaken in recent years to present witchcraft in an acceptable light.  But the fact remains that while some groups claim to celebrate 'nature,' many others pay homage to Satan.  That is their tradition; and they honor it."  Et cetera.

The type of mind-set that attracts a person to the Craft is violently repelled by satanism, and satanists tend to think of Wiccans, Witches, as wishy washy simpering idiots.  A devout Jew is more likely to convert to Fundamentalist pseudo-christianity, than is a Witch to become a satanist or even the other way around.  The one is hardly a stepping stone to the other.  The philosophies and psychologies of Witches and satanists are completely different, almost diametrically opposed.  We are talking apples and oranges here.  The whole idea that Terry proposes is absurd in the extreme, although we might admit that there are individuals who may be looking for satanism without knowing it, begin with an involvement in the Craft or a pseudo-coven, find it not to their liking, quit and move on until they find that which will satisfy their petty egotistical desires, but this is not at all the kind of progression Terry is speaking of.  He is either grossly ignorant of what Witchcraft and satanism are all about, which is very possible, or he has rather sinister motives behind what he writes.  It almost seems that he disapproves of the "ambitious public relations effort" that he mentioned - after all, it is not a matter of presenting the Craft in "an acceptable light", but rather a shedding of light upon the Craft, so long kept in the dark, so that the truth of it may be seen by all and known.

[It should be kept in mind, since I am placed in a position of defending the Craft, that I am often at odds with Witches because too often they too quickly agree with those, very often their persecutors, who maliciously slander Aleister Crowley and his work, simply because it is easier than learning to understand Crowley and his writings, his philosophy, and far easier to side with his detractors than to defend the man.  Nevertheless, truth is of primary importance, as is fairness and honesty, and so I cannot take the easy way in life that far too many Wiccans, Witches and neo-pagans do.  There is, for instance, the Law of Karma to consider, the law of cause and effect, and of course one should always strive to be a better person, as intelligent, honest and fair as possible.  It is neither honest nor fair to consider Witchcraft and satanism as being virtually the same thing, nor is it fair to casually slander Crowley and his work simply because everyone else is doing it out of ignorance or maliciousness and going against the common ill-informed current of opinion is a little difficult.]

On pages 236, 275, 386, 389, 390 and 503 the number 666 is misinterpreted and misrepresented.  Readers of The Newaeon Newsletter [and now the Castle of the Silver Star] will already know the true significance of this blessed solar number in holy trinity, how it is the numeration of the Titan Iapetos' name, the father of mankind, the father of Prometheus who brought Light to mankind, and so forth.  You should know by now that 666 is nowhere in the Bible referred to as "the Devil's number", but merely the number of a man, and if satanists use it, it is simply one more thing that they take from legitimate esoteric philosophies, pervert the true meaning of, and proceed to misrepresent.

The Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. [simply and erroneously referred to by Terry as "the OTO"] is dragged in and referred to as part of the Great Satanic Conspiracy, a branch of the supposed nationwide satanic cult.  See pages 180-1, 239, 240, 304, 306, 307, 337, 344, 386, 388, 413, 416, 420, 474, 476, and 486.  This group which I am a well known "opponent" of as it is not, in my humble but terribly well informed opinion, the legitimate Ordo Templi Orientis, which in all probability died in 1947 E.V. with Aleister Crowley.  However, the group may very well be getting a bad rap from Maury Terry - as so many others have been slanderred.  Then again, to a certain degree, the Caliphate psuedo-o.t.o. may have themselves to blame.  First there was the idiocies of the last Thelemic O.T.O. Lodge, the original Agape Lodge in Pasadena in the thirties and forties.  Crowley was separated from them by a great distance, he being in England, by poverty, and by World War II, and the only members of the group that he had even personally known were Karl Germer, who stayed clear of the rest and apparently wanted the Agape Lodge to die out quietly and cease being so troublesome and becoming a further embarrassment to Thelema; Jane Wolfe, whom Crowley always considered an undisciplined flake; and only through some letters and a few brief visits at most, young but now deceased Grady McMurtry - a glorified errand boy who waited for everyone who might oppose him to pass away or out of the picture before he unlawfully claimed to be the O.H.O. of the O.T.O., only to continue the absurdity of the Agape Lodge with its collection of back-stabbing, gossiping, even thieving crackpots and worse, more concerned with quantity rather than quality, accepting anyone as an "Associate Member" of their gang willing to pay the price.  There is no evidence that they hurt anybody with their monkey antics but themselves and anyone unwise enough to associate with the group, while perverting the memory and work of Aleister Crowley and the image of Thelema.

"Berkowitz, whose 'Golden Dawn' reference linked his cult to the OTO" [page 304] is absurd to say the least since the Golden Dawn was just the opposite of satanic and there is no connection between the G.D. and the O.T.O. other than that Crowley was once a member of the original Golden Dawn and later became a member and then Frater Superior of the genuine Ordo Templi Orientis.  They are two very separate entities.

"Carol was asking people about the O.T.O. a year prior to the murders" [page 337] - a YEAR PRIOR - and certainly this in no way links the Order with any murders.  She probably asked a lot of people about a lot of things in that year's time.  Why was it only this that was picked out?  Sounds like selective persecution to me!

"Process members, using the name 'Process,' and mingling with existing OTO factions, were seen openly in New York City as late as 1973." [Page 344]  There really wasn't much to the various "OTO factions" in 1973 E.V., but I have always strongly criticized the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. for its focus upon quantity instead of quality in regards to membership, and for the other groups that they associated with.  Now it has come back to haunt them.  Perhaps they should have heeded my words and then they would not now be found guilty by association.  On the other hand, in the rare gatherings I have attended, bookstores and the like, I have "mingled" with Christians, Jews, criminals, cops, and yes, a satanist or two, but the only thing that that implies is that I judge each individual I meet upon an individual basis, that I do not necessarily condemn a person by the old guilt-by-association rule, and I am interested in various points of view and opinions different from my own.  Must I then be condemned a "satanist" because of this?

Finally, one of the main reasons I have had to deal with this piece of utter garbage that Mr. Maury Terry has entitled The Ultimate Evil - and it certainly is that with the spreading of lies, sensationalizing at the expense of truth, fuelling the fires of prejudice and hatred - is that in this book Aleister Crowley and so Thelema are slandered and it is my duty to defend these to the utmost of my meagre abilities.

Page 180:  "Master black magician Aleister Crowley, who died in 1947, had written of the unification of God and Satan.  That precept, and other Crowleyisms, found their way into Process doctrines."  Terry obviously does not know the difference between a so-called "black magician" and a "white magician".  The black magician is one who practices magic for the purpose of pure ego-gratification at the expense of "higher" things.  There is nothing wrong with enjoying the things of this world, certainly, but the primary focus should be upon discovering and doing one's True Will, which is the Will of the Universe or the Will of God, and that often means ignoring the desires of the petty ego or false self, and this is the essence of so-called "white magic/k", and this is what Aleister Crowley both practiced and preached.  He was not a "black magician".  The term is just tossed about carelessly by Terry without in any way defining it throughout his book.  As for the rest, he overly simplifies matters to the point of misrepresenting something that Crowley said and furthermore, if some of Crowley's words or ideas were adopted by some group long after his death he can hardly be blamed for it or how that group may have misinterpreted his words.  And if indeed the Process did do this, they no doubt also perverted the original meanings of Crowley's ideas - ideas which are probably more common among scholars and theologians than Maury Terry realizes, and ideas which he is incapable of comprehending.

Page 181:  "In fact, many believe that the entire occult underground in America today can be traced back to the formation of that Crowley OTO operation in Pasadena."  This is absurd since other groups like the Theosophical Society had a hand in the "Occult Revival" here and in Great Britain.  Furthermore, Crowley had little control over the monkey antics of that "operation in Pasadena" and he was very disturbed by all of the tale-telling of its members and the weird ways they were all going - the results of their antics actually effecting no one but themselves and of course the image of Thelema and Crowley.  And this supposed "occult underground" is very much above ground and right out in the open.

Page 208:  "John Charles Carr was born in Yonkers on October 12, 1946.  He shared a birthday with the notorious black magician and cultist Aleister Crowley."  Page 307:  "John Carr's birthday, and Aleister Crowley's birthday, too."  Page 344:  "It should be remembered that Arlis Perry was murdered on the fifth anniversary of Manson's arrest - a day which was also the birthday of black magician Aleister Crowley, whom Berkowitz had already tagged as an inspiration for the cult."  On the strength that a murder happened to occur on the same date as the late Aleister Crowley's birthday, and that a lunatic perhaps guilty of one or more of the Son of Sam killings also had his birthday on October 12th - COLUMBUS DAY - Aleister Crowley is implicated in Terry's nonsense.  Exactly how Berkowitz implicated Crowley hardly matters since he is a proven liar and game player, and it is obvious that his inspiration comes more from the Judeo-Christian Bible, Maury Terry, and other sources like this than it does from Crowley's writings - if indeed Berkowitz even read anything by A.C..  Perhaps Luciano Pavarotti, Susan Anton and Jessica Grace, the daughter of Joe Namath, should be implicated in the fictious Son of Sam cult because they too share the same birthday as Crowley and Carr - October 12th.

Page 239:  "The Borelli letter contained the phrase 'honour thy father,' using the British spelling of 'honor.'  The Process was founded in Britain, as was Aleister Cronley's [sic] OTO chapter."  And elsewhere, in an effort to prove that Berkowitz did not write the Borelli letter, "I don't know who printed it.  But I'd bet you anything one of them provided the words, at least some of them.  He spelled 'honor' the British way, too, with an o-u-r.  Does that sound like Berkie from the Bronx?"  I don't know, does that sound like G.M.Kelly, a farm boy from Pennsylvania?  You will have probably noted that for some reason I employ some British spellings, "honour" being one of them, as well as "colour", "cheque", and so forth.  If I do it, why can't a Jewish boy from the Bronx?  And anyway, it was one word spelled that way one time - perhaps it was a simple error.  As for the statement of page 239, the fact that the phrase "honour thy father" was used points to a Biblical instead of an occult influence, and the idiocy of where the Process and O.T.O. were founded [and the O.T.O., by the way, was actually founded in Germany - or the Holy Lands if one is to believe O.T.O. history] is almost not worth commenting upon, but it is worth noting that in a sense, the United States of America was founded or has its roots in England.  What does Maury Terry make of that?

Page 303:  "This group contained a mixture of satanic practices which included the teachings of Aleister Crowley and Eliphaz Levi."  So?  Voodoo practices a mixture of African religions and Roman Catholicism - does that mean the Pope sanctioned the adoption of Christian saints and such into the Voodoo religion?  Get real.  Every effort to tie Aleister Crowley into the supposed Son of Sam satanic cult is a thread so thin and fragile that it cannot stand the least little bit of stress.

Page 306:  "Further down, he underlined:  'The shade of Aleister Crowley looms large in the area [L.A.], but his excesses pale into insignificance compared to today's devil worshippers.'"  This was in the book by Peter Haining already mentioned and since Haining is one of the most sensational and inaccurate writers of occult matters it is hardly worth even commenting upon.  However, the implication is that Crowley was one of yesterday's "devil worshippers" and in point of fact he worshipped no devil.  Like every other sincere student of the esoteric, A.C. considered the very concept of the Judeo-Christian Devil repugnant in the extreme, an insult to God, and his focus was upon the True Self or Supraconscious Mind/Self and the True Will, which is God's Will.  He was not a satanist and he would not have approved of modern day satanism which did not even exist in his time [1875 - 1947 E.V.].  Although I will agree that his so-called excesses were nothing compared to what satanists and whackos may be doing today, or even what some of us or our friends were doing in the sixties!

Page 310:  "It was Aleister Crowley who said, 'I want blasphemy, murder, rape, revolution, anything bad.'  Surely you will agree that death literally followed Crowley's footsteps."  No, I will not agree to that.  Death was no more or less a part of Crowley's life than it is anyone's life.  And this statement by Crowley was a poet's expression of frustration, boredom and anger - and if we are all to be taken literally at such moments then we are all in trouble ["Sing one more verse and I'll kill ya!" for example] - and no doubt this also includes Maury Terry!  Blasphemy is relative.  Murder and rape entirely unthelemic and strictly against the teachings of Aleister Crowley as these would certainly "restrict" another and interfere with his or her attempts to discover and accomplish his or her True Will.  And generally speaking, there certainly isn't anything wrong with revolution - our country was founded upon a revolution.  Bad is also a relative term and it should be remembered that Crowley was raised by a fanatic pseudo-christian sect called the Plymouth Brethren in Victorian Christian England.  Almost anything fun and "good" was considered "bad".

Page 388:  "... the Process actively sought alliances with existing occult groups such as the Crowley-worshipping OTO."  Crowley is not worshipped by members of the O.T.O. or the various pseudo-o.t.o.s or any Thelemic group or genuine Thelemite.  Crowley, however, is highly respected and revered by genuine Thelemites.  As for what the Process did or did not do, it is not my concern here.  Probably the Process did seek alliances with various occult groups, and any groups that allied themselves with the Process probably proved their stupdity and/or their insincerity.

Page 486:  "Saunders [Witch Alex Sanders], who said he studied under master black magician Aleister Crowley himself, was connected to OTO and other cult activity in Britain."  My only comment here is that I sincerely doubt that Sanders did indeed study directly under Crowley, and the way Terry connects people, groups and things invalidates any connections he may note.

Page 495:  "On September 21, 1967, a rock group called the Magick Powerhouse of Oz [with the word "magic" deliberately spelled with Aleister Crowley's k on the end] played the Straight Theater to celebrate something occultish known as the 'equinox of the gods,' September 21 being the first day of autumn."  Because someone or some group, these days especially, spells the word "magick" as A.C. did should not be taken as a sure sign that they accept and follow accurately or otherwise the teachings of Crowley nor that Crowley would approve of them and whatever it is that they do.  Many affectatious dabblers and armchair occultists these days, some spurning Crowley and his teachings, affect the spelling of the word with the K on the end - generally without even knowing the full meaning of the use of this archaic spelling.

Page 180:  Following the first statement dealt with at the head of this section, Terry wrote:  "By sharing Crowley's beliefs, the Process also blended those of the Order of the Golden Dawn.  The Golden Dawn was an English occult society to which Crowley belonged in the late nineteenth century.  The Golden Dawn believed in cabalistic magic and taught that the will could be trained to accomplish paranormal effects, including astral projection.  The Golden Dawn also strongly believed in symbolism, teaching that certain symbols or thoughts, had the same meaning for all human beings."  The ideas about symbolism are common to basic psychology.  Training the will is common to many programs of self-improvement, although Terry simplifies matters in regards to "paranormal effects" to the point of inaccuracy.  Astral projection is merely a means of altering one's state of consciousness, which even laughter, sadness, other emotions, eating and so forth do to one extent or another.  And again, if indeed the Process did share some of Crowley's beliefs, the group no doubt misunderstood some of those so-called "beliefs", misinterpreted and misrepresented them.

And that is about it for me, folks.  The first attempt to write this my editor [ahum!] did not like and it was tossed out.  I have been working all day, it is 3.30 A.M., I have been eating nothing but peanuts and chocolate while working, and I am bloody tired.  So let us wrap up this godawful long review and commentary and be content with what "little" we have touched upon here.

So much of what Maury Terry has written in The Ultimate Evil is like the murders he mentions on page 189.  Just because a twenty-two year old woman who was found shot to death wore "an occult coiled-snake ring and another ring police euphemistically described as being 'popular with gypsies.'" he concludes that she was a victim of his Great Satanic Conspiracy - never mind the fact that such a ring is a very common design for cheap rings made in the sixties and seventies and I have seen them worn by a number of people with no interest whatsoever in the occult.  He also mentions that six years later - get that, SIX BLOODY YEARS LATER; he is really stretching to find material to "prove" his nationwide satanic cult theory - another woman is found dead of a stab wound, rather distant from the first woman, and because "another coiled-snake-ring" was worn by the victim as well as "a satanic pentagram type of ring, which had a crescent moon mounted beheath the star-shaped pentagram", she too is considered to have been the victim of his fictitious Son of Sam satanic cult.  Again, both rings are of a common design and the latter ring he has described is that of a crescent moon and a simple, non-occult star.  There is a vast difference between a pentagram and a star - but as usual, Maury Terry is absolutely ignorant of almost everything he pretends to be an expert on.