The darkest depths of YouTube contain some pretty macabre videos, with a spike in interest in dark tourism seeing content creators heading to forbidden zones, meeting with outcast groups, and exploring some of history’s most evil people.
Netflix aired the eight-part Dark Tourist in 2018, but long before then, YouTube was a hotbed of activity looking into grim subject matter. Away from MrBeast trapping a pilot in a plane for 100 days, people exploring toxic ghost towns, and Vitaly Zdorovetskiy's 'prank' videos, YouTubers like Drew Binsky prove that almost no topic is off limits.
Alongside MindSquire going undercover inside the KKK, Binsky managed to infiltrate America's most feared Satanic cult.
The video starts by telling us there are almost 700,000 Americans who identify as Satanists, with many of them belonging to The Satanic Temple. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, The Satanic Temple speaks out against the "intrusion of Christian values on American politics." With congregations in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and beyond, the group's number boomed in the aftermath of 2019's Hail Satan? documentary.
Advert
Binsky met with confessed Satanist Szandora LaVey, who was once married to the grandson of Anton LaVey. He famously founded the Church of Satan in 1966 and is known for publishing the Satanic Bible in 1969. LaVey goes through the methods of how you might curse someone, before telling Binsky that she constantly gets hounded online by people asking her to put them in touch with the Devil – something she says she can't do.
Binksy and LaVey meet with a Satanist called Adam, who walked them through the tragic history of the Salem Witch trials. As for how Szandora got into Satanism, she told the YouTuber: "At 13, I started reading about like occultism and things like that, and started doing little rituals and building that.
"Throughout my lifetime, you know, I use practical magic on a daily basis."
Advert
She went on to defend the idea of Satanism as she added: "Satanism is a para-religion, which means it's an alternative to religion. There's like a lifestyle satanist, right, that believes in the core basis of satanism.
"A lot of people call it a religion because it's the Church of Satan, The Satanic Temple. So it's been there for me every day of my life."
Wanting to know more, Binksy was told there are three types of ritual in Satanism, defined as 'lust', 'compassion', and 'destruction'.
Satanists have their own thoughts on death, as LaVey explained: "In Satanism, the reason we celebrate ourselves is because this is the only life you got.
Advert
"When you die, you're dead. There's no heaven, glory, bright, and no hell where sinners roast, right?"
Ironically, Satanists also don't believe in Satan as an actual person, with the idea being more of a metaphor and the idea of Hell being on Earth. LaVey continued: "Hell is what you make of it, right. Like if you're having a shitty time, I consider that to be hell."
They finally headed to The Satanic Temple, with Binsky shocked at how it resides in a normal-looking neighborhood. Thankfully, the locals refer to them as 'good neighbors' who don't bring any trouble.
Stepping inside the temple for the final chapter, Binsky asked how Satanists are made. A defiant LaVey rounded off by saying: "Satanists are born, not made. When I first read the satanic bible at 13, it made sense to me."
Advert
She ends by reminding viewers that if it wasn't for Satanists fighting for their rights during the Satanic Panic of the '80s, The Satanic Temple wouldn't be what it is today.
Summing up his own thoughts, Binksy concluded: "The people I met today in Massachusetts are thoughtful, organized, and they stand up for something bigger than themselves. And I gotta say, it really isn't that strange after all."