Inside
the Legend: Sin City
When
I first found the strange deaths in the little half-dead
factory town of Elizabethville OH, I had no clue what
I was letting Dean and myself in for. I'd thought demonic
omen, possession, but certainly not a community turned
from a once God-fearing group into a regular den of inequity.
Of, course, Dean being Dean, part of him fit right on
in there, but even he saw the place for what it was -
a town that needed help. The question was did it need
our kind of help? I took out my trusty laptop
and began to delve into similiar cases...
The
Real Sin City
If
you're like Dean, you might be thinking the 'real' Sin
City is a series of comics or the 2005 Robert Rodriguez
movie, but as I told him as he stuffed in a huge fried
breakfast at the local diner, the real Sin City
was much more - and dated back much further.
Sodom
and Gomorrah were two towns that belonged to a group of
five. In Bibilical days the towns were given the collective
name of 'The Cities of the Plains,' and it was here that
the first real immoral towns grew.
The
people of Sodom and Gomorrah were said to have commited
such unspeakable sexual acts, violence against their neighbors,
greed and so much more that God not only turned his back
on them, but he destroyed them.
Sounds
like God was pretty quick to condemn? Well, not according
to the texts. First he sent two angels to the town, asking
them to find just ten righteous men. The only problem
was, it was pretty much an impossible task - only one
was found! The towns were deemed wicked and thus destroyed
by fire and brimstone.
Genesis
19:24-25 (New International Version)
24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and
Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain,
including all those living in the cities—and also
the vegetation in the land.
The
remains of Sodom and Gomorrah have recently been rediscovered,
and evidence bears out that they were truly burned, but
by God's wrath? Maybe I'll let you make your own minds
up on that one.
Sodom
and Gomorrah
Plains
Cities Rediscovered
So,
what does this have to do with the town Dean and I were
investigating? Well, digging deeper I discovered that
the people of the 'Cities of the Plains' worshipped a
creature called Ashtoreth - a Goddess who had a male equal/counterpart
named Baal. Sound familiar? Could the same two creatures
who currupted Sodom and Gommorah be our priest friend
and his barmaid mate Casey, in Elizabethville?
Ashtoreth
And
if these were our two demons did they really make a difference,
or was it sheer human greed, gluttony, lust and all that
go with them surfacing again? Certainly Trotter's behavior
bears out this theory.
I
can tell you, Dean and I saw that only a few weeks ago
back in Illinois, and I'm beginning to agree with my slightly
warped brother's view.
"Demons
I get. People are crazy!"
Amen
to that...
Oh,
and just for the record, Dean "the movie buff of
the century" pointed out that Sodom and Gomorrah
is a 1962 movie too, although how that helps solve the
case is beyond me...
Other
Corrupt Towns
Throughout
history and across the world many immoral towns and cities
have sprung up and as quickly vanished. One such place
is Bodie in California. Bodie began it's fall into immorality
in 1876, when a huge gold strike brought hordes of people
flocking to the little town.
Long,
harsh working days in high temperatures made the miners
feel the need to relax - mostly by drinking far too much
alcohol, gambling and womanizing! Sound familiar? Yup,
Dean would have fit right into that place too. Although
I just don't see him with a horse and cart replacing the
Impala.
In
it's heyday, Bodie had 65 saloons along its Main Street
and had 7 breweries running 24 hours a day! Murder, Bank
robberies, stage holdups, and general lawlessness were
everyday occurances.
The
town's reputation grew until one little girl being taken
there with her parents wrote in her diary:
"Goodbye
God, I'm going to Bodie."
This
phrase came to be known throughout the west as did the
town.
To
this day, the 'ghost town' remains of Bodie hold supernatural
significance. The town is kept and protected by the California
Department of Parks and Recreation and many visitors journey
there every year. Taking souvenirs is forbidden, and yet
some still dare to take what isn't theirs...
"The
curse of Bodie" says that if anyone so much as takes
a rusty nail from the town's streets they will suffer
bad luck and worse. Many have tempted fate and suffered
the consequences. Some even return the stolen items in
the hopes their bad luck or illness will fade.
Spirits
have also been seen in abundace in the old town, although
so far, nothing malevolent enough to warrant a hunter's
attention. Maybe some day Dean and I will get around to
the town, just in case...
Bodie
State Historic Park
The
Curse of Bodie
The
Lawless Ghost Town
So,
do Dean and I really think demons are the sole players
that cause once good towns to go bad? Was Casey lying
when she blamed the human element? In truth - I don't
think so. While I'll never trust a demon, it has to be
said the last few Dean and I have spoken too have a point.
Humans
have made some pretty big, and very bad mistakes during
the last century. I guess it's time we learned from them,
huh? Before the likes of Azazel one day gets the better
of us. Maybe that's what my newfound demon friend who
calls herself a 'fallen angel' on my shoulder is really
upto?
Fallen
Angels
Fallen
angels are beings that once worked with God in heaven
but have since been cast out. There is little reference
to them in the Bible, but it's generally understood that
this creatures have been cast out or exiled for defying
God or rebeling against him. The most famous 'fallen one'
is Lucifer/Satan.
Revelation
12:7-9 (New International Version)
7
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought
back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their
place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that
ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads
the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and
his angels with him
Fallen
Angels
Angel
or Devil?
Basically,
some of the creatures Dean and I hunt were once the good
guys. It's a scary thought...
Inside
the Legend by Sam
Winchester
