Heavens Gate Cult

Heaven’s Gate was an American UFO religion based in San Diego, California, founded and led by Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997) and Bonnie Nettles (1928–1985). On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group who had committed suicide in order to reach an alien space craft which they believed was following the Comet Hale-Bopp.

Varg Arrested

“In October 2003, Varg Vikernes failed to return to his low-security prison in Tønsberg, Norway after having been granted a short leave. He was found riding in a stolen Volvo car, which, according to the media, contained an unloaded AG3 automatic rifle, a handgun, numerous large knives, a gas mask, camouflage clothing, a laptop, a compass, a Global Positioning System, various maps and a fake passport (it is thought that Vikernes came to be in possession of this equipment by means of a military barracks). For this thirteen months were added to his sentence, and he was moved to a maximum-security prison in Trondheim.”

Elyse Marie Pahler

Elyse Marie Pahler (April 24, 1980 – July 22, 1995) was a murder victim, whose parents attempted to sue the American thrash metal band Slayer claiming that their music contributed to their daughter’s death.


Fifteen year old Elyse Pahler’s body was discovered near her home in Arroyo Grande, California, in March 1996. She had been raped and murdered there eight months earlier by acquaintances Jacob Delashmutt, Joseph Fiorella and Royce Casey. The trio had lured Elyse from her house with the stated intention of killing her as part of a satanic ritual, although the crime bears many of the hallmarks of similar sexually motivated murders. The perpetrators apparently returned to the corpse and had sex with it on several occasions. The body was located after Casey confessed to the crime following a religious conversion to Christianity.


In their defense, the defendants said they had needed to commit a “sacrifice to the devil” in order to give their heavy metal band, Hatred, the “craziness” to “go professional”. All three eventually pleaded no contest to her murder and are now imprisoned and serving 25 years to life.


David and Lisanne Pahler claimed that the Slayer songs “Postmortem” and “Dead Skin Mask” gave the three killers detailed instructions to “stalk, rape, torture, murder and commit acts of necrophilia” on their daughter. The lawsuit was originally filed in 1996 but delayed until 2000 when the killers’ trial was concluded. Initially the case was thrown out of court as the judge stated “There’s not a legal position that could be taken that would make Slayer responsible for the girl’s death. Where do you draw the line? You might as well start looking through the library at every book on the shelf.”


Undeterred however, the Pahlers launched a second lawsuit claiming that Slayer “knowingly distributed harmful material to minors.” This case too was dismissed, with Judge E. Jeffrey Burke stating, “I do not consider Slayer’s music obscene, indecent or harmful to minors.” Jacob Delashmutt himself stated in a Washington Post interview that “The music is destructive [but] that’s not why Elyse was murdered. She was murdered because Joe [Fiorella] was obsessed with her, and obsessed with killing her.”