Book review: “ABOMINATION – Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders” by William Ramsey
Paperback: 504 pages Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 1, 2012 AD) Language: English ISBN-10: 1479216631
ISBN-13: 978-1479216635
“Anyone who would do something like this is not like you or me.”
—Fred H. Tinsley, Jr.
William Ramsey holds a B. A. in History from the U of CA at Berkeley and is a member of the State Bar of CA. His book, “ABOMINATION – Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders” is not, nor it is meant to be, an everything you ever wanted to know about every detail of the West Memphis Three case but is a piece of the puzzle. This piece is to be fitted along with many others which form a more complete picture. The book is fascinating, disgusting, engaging, enraging, elucidating, filled with detail, well researched and well cited.
This case, a two decades long saga thus far, has many to take sides both for and against the guilt or innocence of the West Memphis Three (WM3). Keeping in mind that both sides must be considered for consistency, what William Ramsey decided to bring to the table, his piece of the puzzle, is “a significant amount of information about the occult”:
“My interest in the West Memphis Three case began in 2012 while examining the life and works of occultist Aleister Crowley. While undertaking continuing research into Aleister Crowley and those he influenced, I discovered a video on Youtube in which an exchange takes place between a prosecuting attorney…and one of the accused murderers, Damien Echols. Apparently, an enigmatic drawing in two alphabets (one English and one in a secret alphabet unfamiliar to the prosecution) by Echols drew the attention of the prosecutor, who asked why Echols referenced Crowley.”
It must be a happenstance that considering the occult nature of the crimes, the West Memphis Three triple homicide was case file is #93-05-0666.
This case is about three brutally murdered eight year olds—Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and James Michael Moore—and three accused, incarcerated and subsequently released (after circa two decades) teenagers—Damien Wayne Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.
The book’s chapters titles tell a tale of their own: The Murders, The Investigation, Damien, Jesse Misskelley: First Confession, Arrests, Gathering Evidence, Jessie Confesses: Again, Again and Again…., The Trial of Baldwin and Echols, Convicted, History of Witchcraft: The Occult Basis for the Murders, Witches and Witch Hunts: Past to Present, Satanic Killers , Cause Celebre Killers, Pro and Conned, A Dream Team with Star Money, Mage, Magick, Magickian: Damien Echols, Suspects, Jessie Misskelley: Bible, Jessie Misskelley: “Against the Advice of his Attorneys” Confession and Damien Echols and the Sign of Silence.
In investigating the crime:
“Police compiled detailed descriptions of potential suspects of all types: vagrants, mental patients, convicted sex offenders, oddballs, etc….Tips of all sorts kept them busy following leads: hitchhikers, school teachers, drifters, truck drivers, sex offenders and known occultists were investigated.”
In all, circa 71 individual suspects were investigated by West Memphis Police Department plus all the residents of the Mayfair Apartments, located near the murder site. All except for the West Memphis Three (WM3) were removed from suspicion.
A sizeable portion of William Ramsey’s ABOMINATION – Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders consists of official court document, police report, transcripts of interviews with the accused, etc. In other words, a sizable portion allows the accused to speak for themselves (at least, speak for themselves in accordance to that which they had to say at the time; some of which has been ever changing since).
For various reasons Damien Echols have become the public face of the West Memphis Three. Reasons include that he literally is the public face. All three have appeared at various functions and documentary showings but he seems to, more so than not, become the poster child for well, various things according to your take on the case: the misunderstood and railroaded troubled teen, the satanic murdered who all but got away with it, the white magic Wiccan painted as a black magick Satanist by ignoramuses, etc.
He is also the focus because within the context of the case, Ramsey’s book and the occult activity which was taking place in West Memphis at the time of the murders, he appears to have been the ring leader of, at least, the other two (Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.) although Jessie himself claimed (at one point anyhow) that Echols got his marching orders from an older man.
Much gossip abounded before, during and after the murders about occult cult activities in the are: hooded figures with painted faces chanting in Spanish (likely, Latin), strangers who would come into town for rituals, etc. In fact, there was an old abandoned and decrepit cotton gin known as “Stonehenge” (see attached slide show) wherein fires were kindled, animals were sacrificed and various activities were said to have taken place; from drug use to sex magick rituals and from blood drinking to the eating of sacrificed dog meat.
During the course of events:
“All of the cases were appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, in whose opinion saw no reversible errors in the original trials…Damien Echols’ case went to the United State Supreme Court, which denied a writ of certiorari, which indicates there were no legal issues the Supreme Court deemed worthy of consideration.”
Todd and Diana Moore wrote a letter to Academy Awards Chairman Robert P. Epstein in 2011 AD since “Paradise Lost III: Purgatory” was up for a documentary category nomination:
“Misskelley was tried and convicted in 1994. Baldwin and Echols were convicted by a separate jury later that year. All three entered Alford pleas to our son’s murder August 19, 2011. They are now, as they have been for the past 17 years, guilty as a matter of law.”
They also note the reality TV (read, fake) nature of the documentary and ask that, for example, Epstein, “Consider what happened to John Mark Byers. He was Christopher Byers’ adoptive father. Confrontations between Mr. Byers and Echols’ supporters at hearings were staged” as “Berlinger and Sinofsky were there to film these episodes.” In fact, they “would transport Mr. Byers to the hearings and wire him for sound beforehand” and “maneuvered Mr. Byers and Echols’ supporters in order to film the anticipated confrontations. Later, after the cameras were packed away, Mr. Byers acted like a different person.”
As it turns out:
“When asked about his change in demeanor, Mr. Byers stated that he was supposed to act that way when the cameras were present. Mr. Byers was quoted as saying he received $500 per hour for ‘exclusive interviews.’”
Ultimately, the West Memphis Three (WM3) were released under an Alford plea:
“Scott Ellington, the prosecutor who negotiated the Alford plea allowing for the release of the West Memphis Three, remained convinced that the convicted were indeed guilty, and said as much in an interview with Gentlemen’s Quarterly:
Prosecutor Scott Ellington also says he believes Damien, Jason, and Jessie are guilty. Straight-faced, he insists his decision to take the Alford pleas was a concession to reality, that he couldn’t hope to win three trials based on eighteen-year-old evidence. But he says they did it. ‘The evidence I saw,’ he tells me, ‘makes me believe they did it.’”
For his part, William Ramsey observes:
“Ellington specifically stated that he thought they were guilty, he just said publicly that he didn’t think he could win a new trial. It is the opinion of this author that he wanted to avoid another trial to prevent any negative impact upon his political aspirations. Ellington is currently running for Congress [written in 2012 AD].”
Since William Ramsey’s book ABOMINATION is not an everything you ever wanted to know; neither is this review as it focuses on the book. The spoiler alert is that Ramsey considers that the at law judgments were accurate and that Damien Wayne Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. are guilty.
Thus, he offers some retorts to those who consider them innocent. Consider the following as a partial example:
“There is one common denominator for all the supporters of the West Memphis Three: they all saw one or all of the Paradise Lost documentaries by HBO. They then based their judgment on a 90 minute film and the continued profession of innocence by Echols and Baldwin…”
One specific claim is “The belief that Miskelley only had an IQ of 72”:
“That Misskelley’s IQ has been significantly low-balled is evidenced not only by his 84/88 previous performance scores – actually close to ‘average’ 90-105 range…It wasn’t until his lawyer had told him he might avoid the death penalty if he were judged mentally challenged, that Misskelley began performing poorly on his IQ tests…Footage of his lawyer Stidham telling him about the benefit of being deemed mentally handicapped is in the original Paradise Lost film.”
If there is such a thing as a satanic network then the greatest trick they ever pulled was convincing the world they do not exist. A focus upon satanic crime in the 1990s AD brought about the shrug it off claim of “satanic panic.” Hence, whenever someone make a claim about satanic crime the mainstream media has programmed us to say satanic panic and go back to focusing on Lindsay Lohan’s belly button lint.
Yet, satanic crime does exist and, as noted above, there are two relevant chapters in ABOMINATION; Satanic Killers and Cause Celebre Killers. These chapters provide a succinct retelling of the crimes committed by: Richard “Ricky” Kasso aka “The Acid King”; member of “The Knights of the Black Circle.” Robin Gecht (who used to work with of John Wayne Gacy who, in turn, used to rape and murder children while wearing a clown outfit), Edward Spreitzer, Andrew Kokoraleis and Thomas Kokoraleis; members of “The Ripper Crew.” James Ryan Bunnell who “stated in his writings that he was the ‘Son of Satan’ and desired to kill his entire family as a sacrifice to the Devil.” Jacob Delashmutt, Jospeh Fiorella and Royce Casey. Carl Drew and Robin Murphy of the Fall River satanic cult. Alexander Voronovic. Andrea Volpe, Nicola Sapone and Mario Maccione members of the heavy metal band “Bestie Di Satana” the “Beasts of Satan.” Pietro Pacciani and associates; the “Monster of Florence” Roderick Ferrell, Heather Wendorf, Dana Cooper, Charity Keesee and Howard Scott Anderson; the “Vampire Clan” and the “Black Mask.” Jim Hardy, Pete Roland and Ron Clements. Adolfo Jesus Costanzo aka “El Padrino” and Sara Villareal Aldrete. Daniel and Manuela Ruda; the “Beast of Satan killers.” Jack Abbott.
Jack Unterwager; “The Vienna Strangler” aka “The Vienna Woods Killer.”
As it pertains to the West Memphis Three case, Ramsey replies to the claim that, “The West Memphis Three were prosecuted because ‘they wore black clothing and heavy metal T-shirts’”:
“Echols…he had a well documented history of violence, psychopathy and suicidal ideation, leading to jail time and institutionalization in mental hospitals. Damien Echols was known to collect the bleached skulls of animals he found or killed. He assaulted his peers, and threatened to kill a number of people. His association with Satanic practices was known to the police and the community.”
In the end, although this saga is ongoing, Ramsey notes that in his 2012 AD book Life After Death, Damien Echols, “carefully avoids a detailed explanation of his whereabouts on the day of the child murders.”
But do not think that William Ramsey himself has tunnel vision as he notes various problems with the manner whereby the investigations were conducted, such as:
“By the end of this interview [on May 5, 1993 AD], Jessie had been at the police station for over six hours. In a colossal oversight by the presiding officers, only thirty minutes of the questioning was recorded.”
He also mentions other people, some unknown, that may have had something to do with the crimes. For example, there is the odd case of “Mr. Bojangles” so called because a man covered in mud and blood came in and occupied the women’s bathroom of a Bojangles restaurant for an hour. No one knows who he was and before he left, he also smeared fecal matter all over himself and the bathroom. Initially, Police Officer Regina Meek was called out to the restaurant and “talked to the manager out of the window of her car. She never left her police cruiser and drove off after receiving another call.” She had previously been called to take reports from the concerned parents of the, then only missing, boys. By the time Detectives Bryn Ridge and Mike Allen made it to the restaurant the man was gone and the bathroom had been cleaned up with the exception of a spot of what looked to be dried blood. The detectives extracted it as evidence. But evidence of what; they did not know and as the entire murder scenario was just then unfolding neither of them, “considered the evidence material to the current case. Upon his return to the police station, Ridge placed the container with the dried blood into his desk and promptly forgot about it.”
At this time, in the timeline, no one knew enough about the situation at large to connect the dots.
Ramsey also notes:
“A cab driver told of a passenger who paid 390 dollars for the drive from Memphis to Nashville on the night of the killings. The police never found the passenger.”
Be on the lookout for a follow up article based on Echols various interesting and troubling statements from sleep paralysis to the spirits with whom he consorted.
ABOMINATION – Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders by William Ramsey is an invaluable piece of the sorted puzzle which is the West Memphis Three case.
Gregg O. McCrary and Katherine M. Ramsland wrote the following in The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us:
“We must understand how criminals think and realize that they have a fundamentally different view of the world from that of people who are basically responsible.”
“not like you or me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Ramsey is also the author of, “ Prophet of Evil: Aleister Crowley, 9/11 and the New World Order” and “has written, produced, duct-taped and directed” the documentaries, “Occult Hollywood, vol.1” and “Prophet of Evil: Aleister Crowley, 9/11 and the New World Order.”
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