33 Facts About Anton LaVey

Anton LaVey was the founder of the Church of Satan, the philosophy of LaVeyan Satanism, and the concept of Satanism.

Anton LaVey played a minor on-screen role and served as technical advisor for the 1975 film The Devil's Rain and served as host and narrator for Nick Bougas' 1989 mondo film Death Scenes.

Historian of Satanism Gareth J Medway described LaVey as a "born showman", with anthropologist Jean La Fontaine describing him as a "colourful figure of considerable personal magnetism".

Anton LaVey's parents supported his musical interests, as he tried a number of instruments; his favorites were keyboards such as the piano and accordion.

Anton LaVey played piano in a Baptist church as a boy, and played oboe in high school.

Anton LaVey attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California, until the age of 16.

Anton LaVey claimed he left high school at age 16 to join the Clyde Beatty Circus and later carnivals, first as a roustabout and cage boy in an act with the big cats, then as a musician playing the calliope.

Anton LaVey played tunes such as "Harlem Nocturne" by Earle Hagen.

Anton LaVey later claimed to have seen that many of the same men attended both the bawdy Saturday night shows and the tent revival meetings on Sunday mornings, which reinforced his increasingly cynical view of religion.

Anton LaVey met Carole Lansing in 1950, and they married the following year, when Lansing was fifteen years old.

Anton LaVey then attained a job as a photographer for the San Francisco Police Department, where he worked for three years.

Later biographers questioned whether Anton LaVey ever worked with the SFPD, as there are no records substantiating the claim.

Anton LaVey was a publicly noticeable figure; he drove a coroner's van around town, and he walked his pet black leopard, named Zoltan.

Anton LaVey attracted many San Francisco notables to his parties.

Never one for theory, Anton LaVey created a belief system somewhere between religion, philosophy, psychology, and carnival, freely appropriating science, mythology, fringe beliefs, and play in a potent mix.

Anton LaVey began presenting Friday night lectures on the occult and rituals.

Anton LaVey's image has been described as "Mephistophelian", and may have been inspired by an occult-themed episode of the television show The Wild Wild West titled "The Night of the Druid's Blood" which originally aired on March 25,1966 and starred Don Rickles as the evil magician and Satanic cult leader Asmodeus, whose Mephistophelean persona is virtually identical to that which Anton LaVey adopted one month later.

Anton LaVey wrote essays introduced with reworked excerpts from Ragnar Redbeard's Might Is Right and concluded with "Satanized" versions of John Dee's Enochian Keys to create books such as The Complete Witch, and The Satanic Rituals.

In early 1975, Anton LaVey announced that higher degrees of initiation could be given in return for a financial contribution.

Anton LaVey told the agents that most of the church's followers were "fanatics, cultists, and weirdos".

Anton LaVey was taken to St Mary's, a Catholic hospital, because it was the closest available.

Anton LaVey included references to other esoteric and religious groups throughout his writings, claiming for instance that the Yazidis and Knights Templar were carriers of a Satanic tradition that had been passed down to the twentieth century.

Scholar of Satanism Per Faxneld believed that these references were deliberately tongue-in-cheek and ironic, but he noted that many Satanists who had read Anton LaVey's writings had taken them to be literal historical claims about the past.

Faxneld therefore believed that there was a tension in Anton LaVey's thought between his desire to establish prestigious Satanic predecessors and his desire to be seen as the founder of the first real Satanic society.

Dyrendel argued that Anton LaVey partook in conspiracy culture as he grew older, for he was greatly concerned with modern society's impact on individual agency.

Anton LaVey was conservative in his attitude to law and order and insisted that the Church abide by state law in all of its actions.

Anton LaVey supported eugenics and believed that it would be a necessity in the future.

Anton LaVey hated rock and metal music, with or without "Satanic" lyrics, and often expressed his distaste for it.

Historian of Satanism Gareth J Medway described LaVey as "A born showman", with anthropologist Jean La Fontaine describing him as "A colourful figure of considerable personal magnetism".

In 1995, the religious studies scholar Graham Harvey wrote that although the Church had no organized presence in Britain, Anton LaVey's writings were widely accessible in British bookshops.

Anton LaVey appeared on talk shows such as The Joe Pyne Show, Donahue, and The Tonight Show, and in a feature-length documentary called Satanis in 1970.

Anton LaVey claimed that he had been appointed consultant to the film Rosemary's Baby, which revolved around a group of fictional Satanists, and that he had a cameo appearance in the film as the Devil.

Madole and Anton LaVey frequently met at the NRP office and in the Warlock Bookshop in New York.