NAUGHTY teenagers dabbling in the ‘occult’ are probably inspired by a never-ending flood of horror movies on our screens.
One can hardly turn on the telly these days without coming across some dreadful vampire series, featuring handsome young boys or pretty girls with elongated eye-teeth dripping with blood-red food colouring.
No wonder we keep coming across ‘pentagram’ graffiti and other telltale signs of Satanism in the ‘burbs’, on our beaches and even in graveyards, as was the case in Scottlburgh last week.
The blame probably starts with acclaimed Irish author Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic novel, Dracula. The classic is loosely based on some medieval character named Prince Vlad the Impaler, of Wallachia (now Romania).
The world has been cursed by blood-sucking movie stars and victims in white, see-through negligees ever since.
People – impressionable young minds in particular – are naturally obsessed with the ‘hereafter’ and summoning the spirits of the dead.
There are any number of websites giving instructions on how to do it, but none seem to advertise any success stories.
Whether the discovery of chicken feathers, coloured candles and… toffees at Scottburgh cemetery has any link to Dracula or even the infamous ‘Wallpurgis Night’ (‘Witches Night’) on April 30 is anyone’s guess.
The latter date is when these fruitcakes are supposed to offer up animal or human sacrifices to some sort of spirit or demon. The Bible mentions Satan, so he’s probably the most popular arch cad.
It’s obviously all hogwash, but the worrying thing is that many people in this country still do believe in ‘witches’ and such, even to the extent of lopping off heads of people in Umzinto recently. Then, virtually an entire family was burnt to death in the Hibberdene area last year, allegedly for practising ‘witchcraft’.
We still talk of ‘witch doctors’, although they are not to be confused with registered ‘traditional healers’, who are perfectly acceptable to the vast majority of our population.
Because of the toffees, the graveyard shenanigans in Scottburgh impel one to suspect that it was naughty or misguided, sweet-toothed teenagers.
(The toffees might even have been an offering to a well known movie badman, named the ‘Candyman’.)
If youngsters insist on playing these scary games with candles, ouija boards and such, they should really do it in a safer place than a cemetery, where they might just bump into things (or people) far more dangerous than ghosts and demons.
Meanwhile, parents and priests, perhaps a word of caution might be in order, but I wouldn’t worry too much.
Most kids usually grow out of being that stupid!
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
For news straight to your phone, add us on BBM 58F3D7A7 or WhatsApp 082 421 6033
