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40 Facts about the Church of Satan

Tim Flight August 29, 2019 27 min

33. Sammy Davis Junior was a member

Sammy Davis Junior with Anton LaVey, California, 1960s. Cloud Front

He could sing, dance, do stand-up comedy… and he worshipped Satan. Rat Pack alumnus Sammy Davis Junior (1925-90) met Anton LaVey at a party in 1968. Something of a hedonistic womanizer, it’s perhaps no surprise that Davis Junior and LaVey got on famously. The singer attended Church of Satan orgies, carried a membership card, and was ordained as a ‘Warlock’, a mid-ranking position in the Church. Sammy even reserved seats for Church of Satan members at his shows. He later reconverted to Judaism, but in his 1980 memoir revealed that he still had ‘many friends in the Church of Satan’.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk