California Screaming: The Satanic Sixties: Occultism, Glamour & Death

California, with the decadent allure of Hollywood glittering at its epicentre, has long been a primary hotbed for new cults, religions and underground movements. From Crowley-inspired occult lodges in the 1930s, to the formation of the Hell's Angels in the 1940s and the Church of Satan in the 1960s, the so-called Golden State has given birth to many groups which have thrived on the darker fringes of society. It has also witnessed a long catalogue of crime, suicide, and murder which reached its most notorious apogee in two events of 1969: the Tate-LaBianca killings in Los Angeles, and the slaying of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont free rock festival, near San Francisco. CALIFORNIA SCREAMING documents how key figures in the California underground recur throughout four bizarre, and bizarrely interlinked, case histories culminating in the final, violence-torn months of the 60s: 1. Strip Nude And Die For The Devil : The strange case of Jayne Mansfield and the Church of Satan. 2. Surfin' With Satan : The strange case of Charlie Manson and the Beach Boys. 3. Blood Curse Of The Devil's Witches : The strange case of Polanski, Manson and "Rosemary's Baby”. 4. Lucifer Unchained : The strange case of Kenneth Anger and the Rolling Stones. Illustrated by over 250 images of occultism, tainted glamour and death, CALIFORNIA SCREAMING is a requiem for the Satanic 60s, unravelling the meshes of cinema, pop culture, drugs, black magic and sex which brought that decade crashing to its brutal termination.