
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994                   TAG: 9406240081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VANDALISM CALLED SATANIC

ARLINGTON - Police investigating vandalism at an Arlington County mausoleum have found dead cats, pentagrams, bloody handprints and other signs of satanic worship.

Arlington police were called to the Abbey Mausoleum last week after a caretaker reported someone had tampered with eight crypts.

Two coffins had been opened, exposing remains, said Detective Stewart Chase. He said satanic rites, random vandalism or a search for valuables are all possible motives. The remnants of satanic practices appear to be several years old, Chase said.

The mausoleum, built in 1927, is in the Henderson Hall Marine Base next to Arlington National Cemetery. It has been broken into at least six times in the last 15 years.

Chase said the most notorious incident occurred about 15 years ago, when 45 corpses were decapitated and the skulls mounted on broomsticks.

|- Associated Press

by CNB