When I was 19 I was a Goth, because at that time, a sunny outlook on life wasn’t hip enough. I wasn’t a very scary Goth, at least outwardly. I was just your regular, clad in black, angst ridden, melodramatic Goth. My friends were other Goths and we would all listen to Sisters of Mercy together and do girly things like paint our nails black.
Now, my Goth friends used to live in an area of Athens that is renowned for gathering many people who practise the occult in many ways. Some of these ways are illegal. That Saturday night we went to a party in the area. I was dancing to a merry old song by Christian Death when a friend whispered in my ear "a sorcerer wants to see you privately upstairs". Would I go upstairs if you whispered that to my ear today? I most definitely would, so I can’t blame alcohol or folly, just my curiosity.
There he was in the dark room, standing near the bed, a boy not older than 17, tall and from what I could see, handsome. I remember, the fashion conscious voice inside me shouted "he is wearing the reversed cross, that’s so last year." Only cheap rock bands would wear the reversed cross as an emblem of Satanism, which to my mind was a ridiculous thing to believe in. I had a hard time believing in the existence of God, let alone satan. He said some silly things. That he had felt my presence from afar, that he needed to know me but then knew he would harm me, things I laughed at. A little before I left he tore a little paper with my telephone number in pieces and scattered them around the room. He was furious. It was the first and the last time I ever saw him. I didn’t need to ask about him. Everybody knew he was practising black magic and was killing roosters. As a vegetarian I was appalled. I didn’t pay attention to the black magic part. A few days later, he called me really late. He asked me if I could feel his presence around me. He said he was in my room and was sitting by my bed. He certainly wasn’t and I said I couldn’t feel anything.
Being a Goth, I had tasted a bit of my own blood and had used it to write a couple of words in my diary, but this is something Angelina Jolie did a few years later too, so it is rather mainstream in my mind. But seeing people that aren’t there was beyond me. I didn’t believe a word he was saying and frankly he looked amateur to me. He said he wanted to meet me and then he would explain everything. I never went on that date, nor did I answer any of his phone calls. And I forgot completely about him.
A few years later, he was arrested, stood trial and convicted, along with a couple of his friends, for the ritual killings of two young women he had offered to the devil. One wasn’t even a virgin. She was a mother. I am not going to write his name -and if greek readers know it, please don’t write it either, I don’t want my blog to be connected to him in any way- but anyone familiar with the most sensationalist trials of the last 50 years in Greece, knows him. He serves life and from what I read in newspapers he receives fan mail in prison.
When I was 19 I was a Goth, because at that time, a sunny outlook on life wasn’t hip enough. I wasn’t a very scary Goth, at least outwardly. I was just your regular, clad in black, angst ridden, melodramatic Goth. My friends were other Goths and we would all listen to Sisters of Mercy together and do girly things like paint our nails black. 
April 12th, 2006 at 7:26 am
OH MY GOD! Chloe!
I didn’t expect this ending to your story at all. It serves as an example of how the type of innocent intentions of many youth can end up in tragic situations and outcomes.
How will we be able to let our children be independent and free once they become teenagers?
Other than that, I am at a loss for words; too scary.
April 12th, 2006 at 7:31 am
Great post chloe.
I’ve always been a punk. Young, gifted and punk!.
‘Black’ is only Jamaican music in my book.
thank nature, i’ve never been a goth.
love,
xxx
April 12th, 2006 at 7:33 am
Gosh, Chloe … I think you were very lucky not to get involved with him … that could have been you murdered.
Makes me shiver, just thinking about it.
Take care, my friend … Meow xx
April 12th, 2006 at 7:34 am
Cathy
his intentions were not innocent from the start. People knew he was killing animals and frankly, what kind of normal 17 year old kills animals to offer to satan?
unfortunately for him and for his victims, this happened at a time when pretending to be dark and evil was fashionable.
I don’t know the answer to your question. I can only say i wasn’t interested in him because i wasn’t easily impressed and because i had my own, very individual set of beliefs. Maybe that’s what our kids are going to have as a weapon.
April 12th, 2006 at 7:37 am
joe
i know.
still, i was a goth he wasn’t. i don’t think he was interested in music at all.
meow
yes it could have been me.
i read that he lured one of his victims to her death by pretending he was a policeman. he was very scheming.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Didn’t see that coming. I’m glad you got out of that scene. Hard to understand his motivation, his real motivation. But perhaps not impossible.
I’m also shocked that Greek people are rude, although I guess I should’ve realised given the way Socrates habitually accosted unsuspecting people in the streets.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:20 am
That’s a really sad story because frankly, people should have seen that coming. People never learn.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:41 am
I can’t imagine you as a goth.
I’m more of an alt-country punk pirate.
April 12th, 2006 at 9:13 am
I know who you mean. One of my friends was in charge of him for a while when he did his national service, before the arrests.I’m pleased you didn’t take him seriously.
April 12th, 2006 at 9:28 am
Reminds me of my first ex-girlfriend, Heather. She was a self-proclaimed witch. From the look of her, you’d think she was the “innocent girl-next-door” (atleast until she broke up with me and changed her looks to that of the “five dollar hooker”,) but she firmly insists that she made a pact with the devil, and over in the town where she lived, she was part of a cult that sacrificed farm animals. She said I could never meet her friends because they would probably try to sacrifice me…
Whether or not she actually ran with the cult, I don’t know. The parts about her being a witch or successfully making a pact, I seriously doubt. But if she put a curse on me when she broke up with me, it would reaaaally explain a lot since then. Hehe.
In the past 12 years since then, I have occasionally wondered where she could be. Jail? Locked up in a mental institution? Street corner? Ah well. Que sera sera.
April 12th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Wow, that’s… freaky. Uh… Hmm…
April 12th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Sort of a reverse celebrity story, and very spooky! I wonder how people like that become like that; nature or nurture?
April 12th, 2006 at 9:59 am
excellent writing Chloe-
and scary brush with
fate - or the avoidance of it…
April 12th, 2006 at 11:13 am
FREAKY!! Me thinking he was a true amateur…God, that’s scary! But well written indeed because you made us think that he was just a silly kid and he wasn’t.
Being a Goth seems like a lot of trouble and also very boring, always wearing the same black clothes. I especially pity goths in the summer, when they keep wearing their black coats and boots!
April 12th, 2006 at 11:14 am
Chloe,
That is such a scary story. We can all look back at situations when we were young and thank God we had an angel with us that night. So glad you got away from him.
Those poor women and their families. What a tragedy.
Take care and hugs,
Connie
April 12th, 2006 at 11:27 am
It’s amazing how one demented person can touch and hurt so many lives. I had relatives involved with a (in)famous incident in the UK in the late 1950s and these things get woven into collective history.
I think the key thing to remember is that there was nothing anyone could have done. There are thousands of people that dabble with these things, and not all of them go on to kill.
April 12th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
That is frightening. We have a lot of Goth here but I never imagined how into it they could get. Wow!
April 12th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
kieran
i think his motivation was to be adulated, to be worshipped and feared and admired. That’s all.
As for greeks, yep, rude, rude, rude.
miss jay
i think so too. at least parents and teachers should have suspected something.
chris
steve has seen my goth photo. thou shalt believe.
fuff
i didn’t take him seriously and up to this day i still believe he was silly and was doing things just to impress people.
kain
i really think people abuse the term witch. And i have nothing against witches and pagans and shamans. Many Wiccan traditions are wonderful.
But i have a problem with people who are ignorant, just like your ex girlfriend seemed to be.
erikku
it’s okay erikku, i wasn’t fooled
kimananda
i believe in both.
maddy
see? i wrote the story!
devil mood
it was great being a goth. people would read Baudelaire or other poets, they were interested in art, they were sensitive.
I know about the DocMarten’s i used to wear them during the summer too.
This person i am talking about wasn’t a goth, he was just demented.
Connie
he was especially brutal to his victims, merciless. i often wonder what would have happened to me had i gone on that date.
Jack
i think his parents, or teachers maybe could have done something about him. But i agree, thousands of people are interested in such things and don’t become criminals. I think it is possible to be interested in those things (not black magic) positively.
Skyeblue
no no no, goths are generally not like that. that person wasn’t a goth, wasn’t interested in goth music or fashion etc. He happened to be there because he lived in the area the party was held. In fact, he was very clean cut, even his reversed cross was worn inside his clothes and he pulled it out to show it to me).
April 12th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
yikes. what a sick MF. I really have a hard time believing a lot of “black magic”. I figure my God is bigger than that . whatever that was, it was scary and glad you never came in contact with him again. freak.
April 12th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Oh, she wasn’t a Wiccan, just a witch.
While it’s true that many Wiccans use the term witch to describe themselves, “witch” also means simply a woman who’s a practitioner of magic and sorcery.
Just like the term “clerical worker.” I’m a clerical worker, as in someone who works in an office; a clerk. But also, clerical workers apply to those who work in a clergy; a cleric.
April 12th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Ouuuuu, six hundred sixty six, ouuuuuuu!
April 12th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Your article gave me shivers. I remember him and his friends when they were arrested, in cold blood describing how they cruelly murdered the young mother…
Just call yourself lucky for avoiding him.
April 12th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
at first I chuckled about your story. it reminded me of some people I’ve known in my life and they were equally hillarious. the end of the story made me shake my head. what makes people think that “sacrificing” anything will bring them closer to stuff that doesn’t even exist? apart from them being… not right in their head. hysteric, too.
some people….
April 12th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
!?
Somehow I cannot really imagine you as goth. These things have happend in Greece?
I am shockt not having heard anything about it…
but I am really glad we didn’t get involved with him.
Take care of you and your family
April 12th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
I remember when that was in the news! Scarey stuff.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Wow, I’m so glad for you Chloe, it’s terrible to think what could have happened. xox
April 12th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
wow- that’s pretty freaky. i know you must be so glad you were smart enough not to fall for his chirade.
April 12th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Wow, that is a first. I’ve had certain experiences with things supposedly occult, but nothing like this.
Thank the good lord, you never got involved with this dude and he deserves to be where he is
April 12th, 2006 at 11:38 pm
Your post gave me chills… I had a similar experience when a friend went off to what turned out to be a commune/cult of some kind, got involved with the wrong guy there and within 6 mos. she was found stabbed in a parking lot, left for dead… within two days we found out that it was him. He went crazy when she tried to leave. I never went because I got a strange vibe. I felt that while they seemed nice enough, there seemed to be a facade, something lurking behind that didn’t make sense. Now I just wish I could have convinced her not to go…
April 13th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Amazing story,Chloe! Ending is superb!!
April 13th, 2006 at 12:49 am
Wow, that gave me chills as well.
April 15th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
Do you feel my presence around you? I am hiding in your son’s toy truck. Don’t believe me? Just ask me to honk. If it doesn’t work ask me again, and again and again.
April 16th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Hmmm….I’m an ex-Goth too, Chloe.
But fortunately I never ran into anything nasty like that. Some interesting people with far-out-there ideas, but nothing too disturbing really.
I’m glad you managed to ignore that guy. I’m glad you weren’t “impressed” with his claims to power. Sounds like he was probably more mentally ill than anything.
As I mentioned in my profile, I’m way too cheerful to be a goth nowadays. I still like the clothes and the look upon occasion though…