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August, 1997

An Associated Press retrospective on legendary Liberian Joshua Milton Blahyi, 25, caught him roaming Monrovia in a suit and tie, preaching for his Soul-Winning Evangelistic Ministry. However, for the previous several years, he was the country's most famous, fearless, and vicious warrior, widely known because he and the battalion he headed waged war in the nude, and hence his moniker, Gen. Butt Naked.

He says his transformation occurred one day in 1996 when he was standing nude on the front lines waiting to kill some people, and God told him to stop.

However, putting on clothes was Blahyi's own idea, he said.

Schmoozed With The Beach Boys

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• The Word "PIG" Carved Upon A Young Girl's Breast

November 25, 1993

Imprisoned mass murderer Charles Manson struck two deals for himself this month.

He will receive 10 cents' royalty for every shirt sold by a vendor who uses his likeness on "Charlie Don't Surf" T-shirts.

Also, the new Guns N' Roses album contains an unpublicized song, "Look at Your Game, Girl," recorded by Manson before he was imprisoned. A source told the Associated Press that Manson's royalties could reach $60,000 if the album sells a million copies.

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• Cult Leader Manson Gets Royalties

Guns N' Roses isn't the first Rock band to cover a song written by cult leader Charles Manson. The fun-loving Beach Boys recorded a Manson tune during the 1960s. Manson's song, "Cease to Exist," appears on the Beach Boys' album "20-20" under the title "Never Learn Not to Love Me." Credit for this song is given to the late Dennis Wilson who had, during the Manson Family heyday, befriended Manson. Wilson also altered Manson's Tibetan Book of the Dead sentiments, "Cease to exist / Just c'mon and say you love me" and converted them to a love song, of sorts, saying, "Cease to resist / Just c'mon and say you love me."

Versions of both "Look at Your Game, Girl" (later covered by Guns N' Roses) and "Cease to Exist" (later covered by the Beach Boys) appear on Manson's album "LIE" which was originally published on ESP Records. Reports from the era said that Manson had wrecked Wilson's limousine, and Manson gave the song rights to Wilson as conpensation. "LIE" was published after Mainson's arrest, and has as its cover photo the cover of Manson on "LIFE" Magazine, with the word "LIFE" altered to read "LIE." "LIE" is still available as a CD on Awareness Records, and bootlleg copies of the LP enjoyed brisk sales during the 1970s and 1980s.

Oh, did you know that musician and cult leader David Koresh also recorded a CD in 1993 called "Voice of Fire"? It's on OTEL Junior's Records, from Otho, Ohio, and is a real hoot. We won't but mention that music albums were also recorded by cult leaders Jerry Bernard and Tammy Fae Bakker.

Molested by Christian as a Child

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A satanist who stabbed and seriously injured an elderly woman, wounded two police officers and laid siege to a vicarage was jailed for life yesterday.

Geoffrey Adams, 27, discovered the occult while previously in prison. He committed his latest offences a month after being released early for good behaviour. Cardiff Crown Court was told that Adams, in black clothes, with latex gloves taped to his hands and carrying a knife, climbed out of the window in his mother's home in Risca, Gwent, "hell-bent" on murdering the vicar.

As he crept towards the vicarage, he came upon Maisie Downs, 80, walking her neighbours' dogs. Mark Lewis, prosecuting, said that Miss Downs saw the shaven-headed Adams approaching and turned in the opposite direction. "She had almost reached the relative safety of a lit street when Adams appeared in front of her, blocking her path.

"He struck out with the knife in a frenzy. He was slashing her face and head and she raised her arms in a vain attempt to protect herself," said Mr Lewis. Passers-by who found her thought she had been hit by a lorry. Although doctors saved her life she lost an eye.

Reaching the vicarage, where the Rev Richard Pain lived with his wife, Juliet, and their three children, Adams began banging on doors and windows. "Adams claimed to be very depressed and in need of spiritual help," said Mr Lewis.

"The Rev Pain spoke to Adams through the letterbox while Mrs Pain called the police. Adams seemed to calm down and told Mr Pain he needed to be forgiven for treating his grandmother badly. He begged to be let in.

"It was an elaborate ruse to get into the house -- one which the Rev Pain fortunately didn't fall for." Sgt Andrew Adams and Pc Robert Barber arrived within minutes. "Adams immediately lunged for the two officers, stabbing them before being disarmed."

Adams pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to endanger life, wounding, and possession of an offensive weapon.

Hilary Roberts, defending, said Adams had been sexually abused as a child and thought it wrong that the man responsible should be forgiven. "Because of this he developed a deep hatred for his home town and Christians in general."

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Prison to Furnish Robe and Incense

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October 13, 1994

In Denver, Colorado, U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham ruled that imprisoned kidnaper Robert James Howard should be allowed to practice certain rituals associated with his religion of Satanism, and that the prison should perhaps furnish Howard with a robe and incense.

One of the rituals was a "destruction ritual," during which, according to Howard, he would visualize the death of an enemy and then convince himself, he would hope, not to carry out the killing.

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February, 1997

Two inmates serving life sentences at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola filed a lawsuit claiming officials have denied them the chapel space and equipment necessary to observe their religion of Satanism. Even though they allegedly cannot practice faithfully, their credentials for the Satanic afterlife seem substantial: One plaintiff is in for first-degree murder and the other for rape, robbery, and kidnapping.

Neo-African, Voodoo-Chanting

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August , 1993

In Illinois inmate Jesse Loden, 49, filed a lawsuit against the state claiming that his religious freedom has been restricted. Loden wants to cover his cell door for a few minutes a day so that he can pray in the nude, which he says is a requirement of his Technicians of the Sacred religion, which is described as "neo-African, voodoo-chanting."

Loden is white and bears a confederate flag tattoo.

"I'm not really sure why I have to be naked," Loden told reporters. "It brings me closer to God."

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August, 1997

A judge in Des Moines, Iowa, turned down two inmates' petitions for Jewish ceremonies, citing the facts that the men were not Jews when they came to prison and don't know much about Jewish traditions, and the suspicion that the men were only interested in Jewish ceremonial fruits and shawls, which are helpful to inmates in, respectively, making wine and strangling people.

Courtroom Lights Dimmed

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July 27, 1995

In Payson, Arizona, in a pretrial hearing on a slander lawsuit, Judge Michael Flournoy permitted "testimony" from a man who had been dead for 500 years, as presented by channeler Trina Kamp, who contacted him from the witness stand after courtroom lights were dimmed.

Kamp's Church of the Immortal Consciousness needed the long-dead Dr. Pahlvon Duran (its spiritual leader) to "explain" that a local couple's attack against it was wrong.

Judge Flournoy said later he allowed the seance because he thought Kamp would drop the lawsuit once Duran's testimony was heard.

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June 21, 1994

In London, lawyers for convicted murderer Stephen Young filed an appeal after learning from one juror that three other jurors had conducted a Ouija board seance during jury deliberations and "contacted" the dead man, who named Young as his killer.

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October 17, 1993

In West Palm Beach, Florida, a judge was forced to declare a mistrial for religious leader Clarence "Brother Bill" Williams, who had been accused of having sex with a teenage girl.

The girl testified that Williams is circumcised, but Mrs. Williams testified that he is not, and juror Peggy Kiltau attempted to resolve this conflict by quoting for jurors Genesis 17:10, which calls on all men to be circumcised, thus indicating that Williams must be guilty.

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July, 1998

A juror in Judge Esmond Faulks' court in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, eagerly asked the judge for the defendant's date of birth so he could draw up a star chart to help him decide the case. He was removed.

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May, 1998

Residents of Qiongshan village in Guangdong province, China, blew up a brand-new bridge on a main artery because they believed it had been constructed in violation of the principles of feng shui, the spiritual beliefs about the arrangement of objects in a space.

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July, 1998

New York feng shui authority Eliza Arekelian told The Independent of London that the scaffolding collapse in Times Square was caused in part by the Concorde jet's nose on a nearby billboard, pointing the wrong way.

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May, 1998

Newsweek reported that business was booming for New York City "smudger" Eleni Santoro, who charges real estate agents $200 an hour to erase the negative energy from a property.

At $300 to $2,500 a Job

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December, 1995

Elle magazine reported recently on the services of Eleni Santoro, a New York City "psychic house cleaner" who rehabilitates hard-to-unload real estate by neutralizing the evil auras and "balancing the energy" in the house -- at $300 to $2,500 a job. She specializes in homes in which there had been a death or in which the inhabitants fought a lot.

Cow Soils Living Room

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November 30, 1994

In Singapore, a couple brought a cow and a calf on the elevator to their apartment, along with 40 relatives, to bless their new home in an ancient Hindu ceremony.

The cow rental fee was $480, and the couple paid an additional $200 in cleaning costs when the cow soiled the living room during the ceremony.

Extra Info Gathered To Avoid Error

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April 17, 1995

According to a May story by Reuters columnist Sherwood Ross, psychic advisors Phyllis Schwartz and Hy Kaplan of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, have been retained by nearly 100 firms, including several of the Fortune 500, to "read" the vibes of applicants for employment.

According to Kaplan, they need to know nothing more than name and position applied for, but they also note age, gender, and residence so they won't "read" the wrong person of the same name.

Goatish Market

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March 21, 1995

Pakistani stock brokers led ten goats through the Karachi Stock Exchange out to the parking lot, where they were slaughtered in a sacrifice intended to end the recent slide of the Exchange.

At the next morning's opening, the Exchange's index continued to fall -- 12.57 points to a 16-month low of 1,683.