THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

To: alt.satanism
From: xeper@aol.com (Dr. Michael A. Aquino)
Subject: Re: Anton's Black House
Date: 28 Jun 2001 17:58:54 GMT

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I spoke with the property owners after Anton had died and
they had finished evicting Densley and her relatives. They
said that 6114 had been nonmaintained for so long that
the disintegrating roof had allowed too much water damage
and rot into the wooden structure. So essentially the building
is significantly past the point where it could be repaired to
bring it up to current SF code. That, coupled with the
extremely high value of residential real estate lots in SF
right now, dictates its demolition and replacement.

Frankly I also think that any attempt to restore or rebuild
6114, for instance as a Satanism museum or memorial,
would be inadvisable, because there are too many
religious nuts around who would regard it as a magnet
for a firebomb or break-in vandalism. [Anton and Diane
used to have regular trouble of this sort even back in the
60s-70s, before the anti-Satanism Fundamentalist
epidemic.] Unfortunately 6114 is not far enough back
from the street to be well-protectable.

Back in the days of the 1966-75 Church of Satan, 6114
consisted of:

(1) Entrance hall [beyond the front stairs], containing
ASLV paintings, a stuffed jaguar, a visitor sign-in book.

(2) To its left [behind the boarded-up bay windows] the
main ritual chamber [originally the living room and
dining room of the house]. The main altar [seen in
numerous photos] is an artificial fireplace against the
left/west wall. Shiny black walls, red ceiling.

(3) At the north end of the entrance hall, a small
sitting room called the Purple Room because of its
flat purple paint. More ASLV paintings, lots of "eye
candy". This was the room visitors and interviewers
spent most time in, and it was also the "social room"
following original C/S rituals in the 60s.

(4) North beyond the Purple Room the kitchen, with
a gloss-black paint scheme and large, colorful gargoyles
on the walls.

(5) West/left of the Purple Room, through a swinging
bookcase, the Red Room (Anton & Diane's bedroom),
containing an elevated bed, small office-den under the
bed, and masks, weapons, other mementos on tables
and on the walls.

(6) South of the Red Room was a small room leading
to a door into the main ritual chamber. This door
[on the MRC side] was covered with a reproduction of
Tut's sarcophagus, with eyes cut out so that you could
see through]. In the floor of this room was a trapdoor
leading to a ladder down to the Den of Iniquity.

(7) West of the kitchen was a bathroom with a
bathtub ornamented with a large, painted octopus
mural. To its north a water-closet containing a
john, a plastic rose, and a WWI surplus gas mask. :-)

(8) A fake fireplace in the PR also concealed a ladder
down to Anton's small office adjacent to the DOI.

(9) Directly below the RR on the ground floor was
the Den of Iniquity, a party-room/wetbar with
Anton's older organ, drums, jukebox, and the
mannequins that he and Eugene Orlando
constructed in the 70s+.

(10) To the north of the DOI was a small room,
originally called the Blue Room, which at that
time (60s, early 70s) contained mirrored walls
and a central coffin platform, suitable for
Elektrischen Vorspiele-type HPL workings.
In the mid-70s Anton turned this room into a
replica of a seedy hotel room, complete with
junky furniture and a lightbox with neon-flickering
sign outside the window.

(11) To the east of the DOI [under the PR and
entrance hall] the Council Chamber, for Council
of Nine meetings and the most private and
serious GBM workings. A simple, small altar
with EV accents such as a Jacob's ladder and
Tesla Coil, etc.

(12) To the South of the DOI the garage, which
usually housed the LaVeys' light blue 3.8l
Jaguar sedan. The Olds Toronado and Buick
Limited were parked in the street, and the
Cord was stored at a garage.

(13) On the top floor of the building, reached
by stairs from the entrance hallway, was
Diane's office [at the south, behind the windows
you can see from the street], and to the north
of that Karla's and Zeena's rooms.

(14) Beyond the kitchen to the north was the
[overgrown] backyard.

End of mini-tour.

The house originally belonged to Anton's parents,
who gave it as a present jointly to him and Diane.
It was never a speakeasy, was never owned by
Mammy Pleasant, and did not have any preexisting
secret passages.

The Anton-Diane lawsuit and subsequent Anton
bankruptcy forced a sale of the house to Grosvenor
Properties, owned by Anton's friend Don Werby.
Werby allowed Anton to live there for the rest of
his life as a kindness.

Sinister anecdote: In the early 70s Anton showed
me a trapdoor in the floor of his groundfloor office
which he said led to ancient SF storm drains,
and ultimately to the catacombs below the old
Sutro Bath ruins out by Seacliff. A great labyrinth
to go exploring for Cthulhu! We did not open the
door, however, and years later Zeena denied any
knowledge of such a door to me. So who knows:
If a wrecking crew ultimately starts to demolish
the building, Nameless Horrors from ye Pit might
come swarming up to devour them loathsomely.

Michael A. Aquino

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP Personal Security 7.0.3

iQA/AwUBOztwLmRWyNykJwrDEQJvRwCdG++XxoBR/9WkE/HzZfyjGKs8RDEAn2j4
Qj2fL0m6yHikFuizShwAoii7
=FYkd
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----