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  Saturday, November 8, 1997 · Page A22   Satanist's Daughter To Keep the `Faith'
Famed devil-worshiper died last week

Susan Sward, Chronicle Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO  Karla LaVey held the hand of a wax statue of her father, Anton LaVey, who died last week in San Francisco of heart disease. Chronicle Photo by Brant Ward

It was a news conference unlike any other: Black velvet curtains kept the autumn sunlight out of the
living room in the Richmond District Victorian. Daggers hung on the wall. A skull perched on top of
the organ.

At the center of the room yesterday stood a wax figure of Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church
of Satan who had died 10 days before. His skin was shiny white, his head shaved, his cape black.
On his chin was a beard usually described as Mephistophelian.

On either side of LaVey sat two of his High Priestesses -- his longtime companion, Blanche Barton,
and his daughter, Karla LaVey.

          The reason for the news conference, the two women explained, was to announce that they will be
          carrying on LaVey's work.

          ``It makes it like old times,'' murmured Karla LaVey, a black- haired woman in her mid-40s. ``We
          haven't done anything like this since the 1960s,'' she told the dozen or so reporters and camera
          people crowded into the musty room.

          It was in 1966 that LaVey first garnered publicity with his founding of the Church of Satan in San
          Francisco. Three years later, he published his Satanic Bible, which followers say has sold close to 1
          million copies worldwide. In 1968, he said he served as a technical adviser for the movie
          ``Rosemary's Baby'' and played the role of the devil in the film as well.

          The San Francisco media went wild for this Chicago-born, self- proclaimed sorcerer who lived in a
          13-room black Victorian.

          It was as if LaVey had been invented to give reporters endless material for stories. He had a lion
          caged in his house until the neighborhood rebelled at the animal's roars and the beast was shipped off
          to the zoo and eventually to a private animal farm.

          Then there was the satanic baptism for his 3-year-old, Zeena. The satanic marriage ceremonies. The
          Wednesday night charm school for witches with aphrodisiac potion recipes. And his alleged affair
          with actress Jayne Mansfield.

          One book detailing LaVey's exploits quoted a retired San Francisco police inspector as recalling the
          night he dropped by LaVey's home and saw Mansfield ``lying naked on (LaVey's) grand piano. I'll
          never forget that sight.''

          LaVey, speaking with the author of the book, said of Mansfield: ``She liked to be humiliated. She
          longed for a stern master.''

          LaVey preached that life should be lived to the fullest, and he complained that he never got enough
          credit for helping start the human potential movement.

          But there was always a sense that LaVey might not be taking himself entirely seriously. Asked by
          Chronicle reporter Jerry Carroll in 1986 what this devil business was all about, LaVey replied with a
          tincture of melancholy, ``It's a living.''

          In recent years, LaVey's name appeared infrequently in the mainstream press.

          The 67-year-old LaVey died on October 29 of heart disease at St. Mary's Hospital, according to
          the San Francisco medical examiner's office. But the media didn't learn of his death for several days.

          Family members said later that they performed a satanic funeral for him on Tuesday in Colma where
          he was cremated.

          In the wake of his death, Barton and his daughter said it was important to understand what LaVey
          stood for -- how he loved to question viewpoints everyone seemed to treasure.

          ``He did believe in the devil,'' insisted Barton, a blonde woman who is the mother of LaVey's four-
          year-old son, Xerxes. ``He believed in magic. He practiced it religiously.''

          At this point, Karla injected: ``He didn't believe in a devil with horns and tails.''

          Details of exactly how LaVey practiced his magic were a bit sketchy. In a 1967 interview, for
          example, LaVey told a reporter he placed a small curse on the Sutro Baths ``and 36 hours later it
          burned down.'' That was in 1966.

          So was he doing these sorts of hexes in more recent times, Karla was asked.

          ``They were more personal in nature,'' she responded enigmatically. ``And they were always
          deserved.''

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