On November 1, 2013 AD at exactly 11:11 am, Elytte Barbour celebrated his 22nd birthday and along with Miranda Barbour, posted an ad on “Craigslist in which he invited men who hated their wives and were looking for fun to contact his for companionship” and ended the night being involved in a murder:
“Sunbury police accuse Elytte Barbour, 22, and Miranda Barbour, 19, of Selinsgrove, of murdering [Troy] LaFerrara, alleging Miranda stabbed the engineer 20 times while Elytte was waiting for a sign to pop out from under a blanket in the back seat of Miranda’s vehicle and strangle him.”
“Police contend LaFerrara got into a red Honda CRV that Miranda Barbour was driving, and after a signal was given, Elytte Barbour jumped out from under a blanket and wrapped a cord around LaFerrara’s neck while Miranda Barbour stabbed him repeatedly.”
The Barbours have pleaded not guilty.
Adele Neveling, South African former Satanist and author of the book Bloedoffer, noted the possible numerological significance of the date and time of the ad as Nov. 1 at 1:11 am is a combination of ones: 11/1 and 11/11. As she puts it:
“The relevance to satanism in the Pennsylvania case is that important satanic dates are usually dictated by the satanic calendar, but each satanist’s birthday is also regarded as an important day in satanic celebrations…
All the 1’s are related to the personal satanic date connected to the accused’s birth date. In numerology, the 1 symbolizes strength, determination, unwavering and with specific goals in mind. The 1 can turn dreams and ideas into reality.”
We will add that not only is the number 1 of significance but also the number 11. This number was of the utmost importance within the magickal system of Aleister Crowley (about whom you can learn here). In fact, not only is November an 11 and the time is two 11s but Elytte Barbour’s birthday was 22 which is 11 plus 11.
Moreover, the ad for “companionship” may have played a double role: 1) drawing out a stranger who would not have let anyone know where he was going nor with whom he would be and 2) as Adele Neveling explains it:
“It can include anything from blood and sex rituals to death rituals. Since sex is considered the most powerful act to be used during rituals, since it is believed that sex invokes power…It is possible that there would be many other signs or items found on the crime scene that will show what types of sexual interest they’ve had and practiced.”
One piece of evidence found by police was a copy of the satanic bible by Anton Szandor LaVey according to which “clothing used during a satanic ritual are black robes for men and sexually suggestive garments for women — to stimulate the emotions of the male participants.” The night of the murders, Miranda Barbour was wearing a black dress, black boots and a black skirt with a red jacket.
There is an interesting point made by Neveling which elucidates, at least part, of the reason why many occult / satanic crimes are not reported as such (such as the West Memphis Three-WM3, see here):
“A self-styler satanist is someone who does not belong to a specific satanic coven or church. They do not like to be controlled by rules and leadership. These are considered the most dangerous satanists because they (do) not submit to hierarchy and therefore are loose cannons, doing whatever they want, the way they want to.
It does sound like a satanic crime, although traditional experts will not view them as satanists because they are self-styled and will most likely not belong to a coven.”
Another reason for underreporting of occult / satanic crimes may be that which was stated by Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini as he reviewed, “procedure in determining whether to seek the death penalty in a homicide case” so as to determine if there were “aggravating circumstances” such as “A killing committed while in perpetration of another felony, namely robbery, and a killing committed by means of torture.” Thus, the motive can simply be said to have been robbery.
Yet another reason surfaces as “Police believe the Barbours plotted to kill ‘someone, anyone’ in what has been described as a thrill killing.” Yes, they sought someone, anyone but with a ritualistic and not mere thrill motive.
The satanic bible also specifies that “The weapon of choice in satanism is a sword. However, if a sword can’t be used, then a long knife, cane or staff may be substituted.” Two knifes were found, one of which was the length of forearm (circa 18 inches). Also found was drug paraphernalia.
Elytte Barbour’s former roommate stated that Elytte “was not a Satan worshiper” but his ex-girlfriend confirmed that he was. He specified:
“People will say he was a devil worshipper. That isn’t true. What he believed in was satanism. Satanism isn’t about being scary, it’s about believing in yourself, and not oppress the instincts you were born with.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sources:
Francis Scarcella, “Ex-roommate: ‘Thrill kill’ suspects into satanism,” Daily Item,
January 21, 2014 AD
Francis Scarcella, “Former satanist: 1 a clue,” Daily Item, January 25, 2014 AD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A plea: I have to pay for server usage and have made all content on this website free and always will. I support my family on one income and do research, writing, videos, etc. as a hobby. If you can even spare $1.00 as a donation, please do so: it may not seem like much but if each person reading this would do so, even every now and then, it would add up and really, really help. Here is my donate/paypal page.
Due to robo-spaming, I had to close the comment sections. However, you can comment on my Facebook page and/or on my Google+ page. You can also use the “Share / Save” button below this post.