Local Character – Friend Of The Devil, Salako Kalfou

By Michael Talbot, CityNews.ca

Like most suburban kids my age in the early 80s, my first confrontation with the occult came in the form of heavy metal music.   I can vividly recall staring at the tape cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Diary Of A Madman’, frightened and enthralled by the nightmarish imagery.

I didn’t understand the significance of the upside down cross until a wise old teen from my neighbourhood informed me of its sinister symbolism.

Raised in a Roman Catholic home and attending Catholic grade school, the revelation filled me with a sense of queasy guilt and fear — feelings that were strong, but not as powerful as my morbid curiosity and the stomach-churning thrill of youthful rebellion.  Not long after, Motley Crue’s ‘Shout At The Devil’ began making the rounds amongst my peers.  Its emblazoned downward-pointing pentagram, another Satanic symbol, assured it joined the ranks of weathered Playboys and Ozzy tapes in an ever-growing mattress stash of ill-repute.

 

Unlike my unwavering predilection towards buxom blonds and centrefolds, my ‘devilish metal’ stage proved to be just that — a stage — and what was once shocking eventually became watered down as artists continued to challenge norms and expand the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

But I must admit, I felt like a nervous kid again staring at a demonic tape cover when I walked into Rue Morgue headquarters on Dundas West to meet Salako Kalfou, Satanist and Director of the Occult Research Bureau.

Kalfou has teamed up with Rue Morgue, creators of Canada’s leading horror entertainment magazine, to assure their Halloween event at Revival, Ceremonia Satanica, is infused with dark authenticity.  Together they will reenact a black mass and other satanic rituals, while burning Breath Of Lucifer incense and likely scaring the wits out of anyone who naively shows up expecting a slew of Lady Gaga and Naughty Nurse costumes.

I walk past ghoulish mannequins and mock tombstones on my way to the backroom at Rue Morgue, where Salako sits on a leather couch waiting for me.  A giant Clive Barker painting of a winged beast hangs overhead.  Speaking of heads, his is cleanly shaven and he’s dressed all in black, with his black shades, arched eyebrows and silver skull rings completing a somewhat menacing look.

Before I can greet him, he stands up and says, “Talbot, that’s a very interesting name.”

“How so?” I ask, my curiousity piqued.

“Talbot, Lawrence Talbot, is the name of the Wolfman,” he explains, referring to the classic monster horror film.

Lawrence Talbot was also the name of my long-deceased Grandfather, a Pentecostal Minister.

With that somewhat eerie, terse prelude, the interview gets underway.

Throughout our talk, Kalfou, who was born in Sardinia but now calls Toronto home, is quick to dispel numerous myths and misconceptions concerning Satanism and the occult.  The first of which concerns his own background.  We often hear accounts of those raised in strict, religious households embracing the dark side as the ultimate form of rebellion, but for Kalfou, it was intellectual curiousity, not a rejection of ingrained values, that led his explorations.

“I’ve had a rather academic interest in the occult,” he explains.  “I believe the first book of the occult that I actually purchased was ‘Materials Towards A History Of Witchcraft’ by Henry C. Lea in three volumes.  My parents didn’t seem too happy about it but they didn’t really object.   I think I was born with the interest.”

“But I learned at a very early age to keep my interests, my esoteric interests private.”

And for good reason.

Kalfou blames Geraldo Rivera for inspiring a modern-day witch-hunt after making bold, unfounded claims concerning Satanism on his trashy day-time talk show.

“You had Geraldo claiming there were two million Satanists and all kinds of children were sacrificed, there’s no evidence of it whatsoever, the FBI investigated it thoroughly, but with that kind of buzz, you don’t want to upset your neighbours because a lot of people have very little understanding about what the occult is about and they tend to have a knee jerk reaction.”

These days, Kalfou and the Occult Research Bureau, which was established in 1923, are often hired to work on film productions in the horror genre as consultants.

He sees a long-standing connection between the occult and entertainment.  At the same time, he realizes that it’s often film depictions which bolster negative stereotypes and allow depravity to overshadow the inherent intellectual and philosophical aspects of the occult.

“The Puritan fire and brimstone sermons…people would travel in snowstorms, sometimes walk 10 miles in a snowstorm just to hear it.  So at some point it scares you into being moral, I mean you hear one of those and any lustful thoughts are gone because you are afraid, very afraid.  But at some point it became entertainment rather than religious and that’s the interesting transition because in today’s society horror is a very popular genre, people like to be frightened, they enjoy it, they find it titillating. There has always been a relationship between entertainment and Satan.

“Certainly the more lurid aspects of ‘Satanism’ are what is depicted in horror films.  What happens in the real world is something very different.”

“The Church of Satan has a definite law and order stance, anti-drug, rather conservative in their outlook and have a stabilizing effect on people that become interested in Satanism, just the opposite of people overturning headstones in cemeteries and desecrating churches.  All that stuff is really frowned on by the Church of Satan.  I mean there are members of police departments, law enforcement, and members of the armed forces who are members of the Church of Satan, and so it’s part of the establishment.”

“In terms of what happened during the middle ages, during the witch craze…let’s face it, once the tongs and the branding irons and the wrack come out and are applied, I doubt either us would resist, “Tell me what you want me to say! I’ll say anything!”

“Did you have sex with the devil?”

“Sure I did of course I did!”

“Did you sacrifice a new born unbaptized baby?”

“Yes, I did it, what else do you want to know? I did it all!”

As our interview continues, I become more comfortable in Kalfou’s presence.  Much like that old Ozzy album cover, the shock is wearing off.  His appearance, although admittedly a bit spooky, fades into the background as he tells me about his family.

“I have seven children,14 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren,” he says, before transitioning into an unveiled rant against God.

“If one of my children does something to displease me would I kill them?  Would I condemn them to exile?  Would I do that?  No I wouldn’t.  Why would I expect whoever created me to do that?”

“And I might add I don’t tempt my children, I try to encourage them to do the right thing.  A father who tempts his children and then punishes them, violently condemning them to eternal torture and punishment, why would any father do that to his children?”

I ask him what he believes will happen upon his death.

“Probably the same thing that happened the last few times I died.”

‘Do you believe in God?’

“We live in a world of dualities so when we are distressed we see an angel as a demon, and when we are at peace we may see a demon as an angel but they are one in the same thing.  In the ultimate sense I would ask you is there any real difference between the two, or is it all just one?”

‘Should we be afraid of you?’

“All people really have to fear is themselves, if I mirror what they fear then they must look for the source of their fear within themselves.  If you approach anything with an open mind and with will and compassion what do you have to fear?”

michael.talbot@citynews.rogers.com

Kaflou’s favourite portrayals of Satan in the movies:

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The Omen III The Final Conflict (1981)

Angel Heart (1987)

The Ninth Gate (1999)

Constantine (2005)