An unsigned handwritten letter sent from Green Bay, Wisconsin, politely asks Mayor Carl Hokanson to remove a “Satanic Cult Church from Roselle Park”.
The correspondence – dated May 27th and time stamped by the United States Post Office June 2nd – articulates how Satanism teaches to rebel against the police, local government, and United States law. Additionally, the author tells of how Satanism requires human sacrifice as well as cat and dog sacrifices, claiming that such practice explains millions of missing dogs and cats nationwide. The writer repeats that Mayor Hokanson should remove the Satanic Cult Church, without providing any address or church name, adding that the ‘people of Roselle Park do not want it’. The letter closes by stating that human sacrifice is illegal in America.
Although the missive contains no threatening language such as the nationally reported “Watcher” letters in Westfield, it is still a curiosity.
It should be mentioned that – almost 3,000 miles away – an identical handwritten letter was sent in March of this year to Eagle Rock, a northeast Los Angeles neighborhood, and was published on their Facebook page. That correspondence asked to remove the Satanic Cult Church as well and provided the same reasons as the Roselle Park letter. The only significant difference is that the author added a suggestion on how to help with getting desalinated water from the ocean to Eagle Rock.
Further investigation revealed that there is a connection between the two towns; both had organizations that were listed as cults in 1988 issues of a publication called “Criminal Intelligence Report (America’s Only Professional Crime News Magazine)”. The list mixed Wicca, Paganism, and occult religions in with Satanism and implied that some of the groups may have been linked to criminal activity and that some engaged in satanic rituals without providing any documented resource material. The two organizations of relevance to this article were:
- Order of Osiris P.O.Box 4084, Roselle Park, NJ
- Feraferia P.O. Box 41363, Eagle Rock, CA
Research showed that there is only one reference to the “Order Of Osiris” being a demonic group; it is in a 2012 posting named ‘The Pope Rules Everyone In The E.U.” (link). Almost all other references connect the Order Of Osiris with Mardi Gras.
When reached for comment, Mayor Hokanson stated, ” I almost never respond to anonymous complaints but I did ask the police to look into this. They found nothing.”
The mayor added dryly, “I think if this was happening, we would have heard something.”
Even though it is not as disturbing as the ‘Watcher’ letters, the correspondences appear to be somewhat calculated. Take into account the time it takes to write the same letter by hand and then have it mailed.
The website LAist did an article two months ago, stating that the letter was written by a child (link). According to handwriting expert Karl Schaffenberger, there seems to be a little more to it than first meets the eye. Mr. Scaffenberger is a court qualified, Certified Document Examiner (CDE) who has over 30 years experience as a Forensic Document Examiner and Handwriting Expert (link).
“Who ever is doing this is writing in such a way as to disguise their own writing. This is a very deliberate way of writing,” Mr. Schaffenberger stated after reviewing both documents, adding, “This looks like a fabricated writing. I don’t think it’s a kid.”
So whether it is a sincere plea or an elaborate obscure prank, Roselle Park appears to be on the forefront of someone’s mind, being only one of – as of yet – two towns that have publicly acknowledged being sent such a letter.
