The Night the Devil’s
Disciple Met the Ghost of Marilyn Monroe During
a Dark of the Moon Ritual
By Brad Steiger
and Sherry Steiger
Artwork Ricardo
Pustanio
Bob Slatzer met Norma Jean (alternately Jeane)
Baker in the summer of 1946. As a correspondent
for an eastern newspaper, he was writing some
stories on major movie celebrities. Norma Jean
was a young model trying to get work by making
the rounds. She had begun using the name Marilyn
Monroe, but had not yet legally changed her
name.
One day as they were each waiting to see prospective
clients in the lobby of Twentieth Century-Fox
Studios, Norma Jean and Bob struck up a conversation
and made a date for later that evening. Thus
began a long relationship that Slatzer claimed
led to their brief marriage in 1952.
Norma Jean had landed only minor appearances
in a couple of films in 1947, but by the time
audiences began to notice the actress in two
popular 1950 films, All About Eve and The Asphalt
Jungle, Fox had decided officially and legally
to rename her Marilyn Monroe.
According to Slatzer, when Darryl F. Zanuck,
the czar of Fox, learned of their marriage,
he put pressure on his budding sex symbol to
get a divorce. Zanuck was about to give her
star billing in Niagara with Richard Widmark,
and he intended to spend a lot of publicity
dollars transforming Marilyn Monroe into the
next Hollywood Love Goddess. Fans don’t
worship at the altars of cinematic sexual fantasy
figures if they find out they are married--especially
to writers who are not big name authors.
Slatzer resolved not to stand in Norma Jean’s
path to fame. He accompanied her to Mexico where
they held a small ceremony on a beach and burned
their wedding certificate. Slatzer told us that
Marilyn remained his closest friend, and he
felt that the two of them maintained a special
relationship until her death in 1962.
Since her passing, many strange things manifested
in his life.
"I began to notice that particular odors
would suddenly become apparent in my home, seemingly
out of nowhere, " he said.
The first time he remembered this occurring,
the pungent smell of roses filled the air in
the room. He looked all around but saw no flowers.
He even opened his patio door, but no odor of
roses drifted in.
Bob knew the smell of roses. He used to grow
roses as a hobby and had worked his way through
college by working in a funeral parlor. This
particular rose smell was funereal, different
from a floral shop or a garden smell.
The phenomenon began to occur periodically,
sometimes twice a week, sometimes once a month.
If other people happened to be in his home,
they wouldn't smell a thing. This occurred about
sixteen or seventeen times from about 1963 until
about 1981; then just as mysteriously as it
came, the funereal scent of roses went away.
In 1973, Bob told us that he had participated
in a ritual that had actually caused Marilyn
Monroe's spirit form to materialize in front
of witnesses.
He had met Anton La Vey, the controversial
High Priest of the Church of Satan in San Francisco,
and his wife at the home of a movie studio publicity
man in Los Angeles. During their conversation,
he learned that La Vey was fascinated with Marilyn
Monroe.
"We socialized for dinners and such over
a period of about two years," Slatzer said,
"then Anton contacted me and told me the
following: About every eleven years astrologically,
a cycle would repeat itself and the 'dark of
moon' would come back on Saturday, August the
4th, just as in 1962 when Marilyn had died.
La Vey needed someone who knew Marilyn
very well to help manifest her."
Bob agreed to La Vey' s making all the arrangements
and picking him up about 10:30 P.M. La Vey had
received permission from the then-current owner
of Marilyn's home to be there. Although she
would be closing the gate, they were welcome
to sit in the cul-de-sac.
[We (Brad and Sherry) have visited the former
home of Marilyn Monroe, and its location is
such that if an interloper were to intrude,
there would be no place to run and hide without
scaling a six-to-seven foot fence on either
side. The car with Slatzer and the La Vey was
positioned against the gates, looking out.]
Marilyn Monroe's House. "Marilyn's
last home, where she allegedly committed suicide,
was located at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, Brentwood.
Bob detailed his memory of that night for us:
I was sitting in the front seat on the passenger's
side with Anton; his wife was in the backseat.
From inside the car gazing at the night, it
was like looking out into a tunnel, with a perfect
line of vision, as each side of the street was
dark. We were completely alone.
Anton had a tape recorder with prerecorded
songs from Marilyn's pictures. At about 11:45
P.M., he turned it on a little more than audible.
He also had a very weak penlight that he held
down low by the steering column, and he began
reading something he had written. It was sort
of like tongues or a chant or something. I didn't
recognize it.
About 12:15 A.M., the night was still. Not
one single blade of grass was moving. The leaves
on the eucalyptus tree by the corner of the
house were still. All of a sudden, a terrific
wind came up!
The tree seemed to have an isolated wind blowing
on it. It looked as if it were in a hurricane
for three or four minutes, yet nothing else
on either side of the road was moving. It looked
as though the wind was blowing toward us; but
we didn't feel it in the car at all.
Then from out of nowhere (I didn't even turn
my head or blink, and I have twenty-twenty vision)--this
woman appeared! It was just like somebody set
her there.
She had on white slacks with a little black-and-white,
splash-pattern top, little white loafers, and
I could see a shock of blond hair. She started
walking toward the car. I had goose bumps all
over!
Then my second thoughts were from my journalist's
mind. I wondered if this was a setup by Anton.
I knew he had been in town for a couple of days,
but I didn't think he'd do anything like bring
in a double. He seemed too intense and serious
about his work, and he didn’t seem to
be that kind of person.
So all we had was the light of the night, so
to speak, and this figure began walking slowly
toward the house--or it seemed toward our car
since we were sitting in the driveway in front
of the house.
I asked Anton if he wanted to turn a light
on. He sort of tapped me on the knee to keep
quiet! I noticed that he was sweating profusely.
The figure came slowly toward us and stopped
about thirty feet in front of the car.
Anton had dimmed the music a little and finished
his chant when she was about halfway to us.
All of a sudden, she veered off to our left.
There used to be a big tree there, and she just
stood there, almost as if she were made of cardboard,
with kind of a wooden look, but the figure was
highly. Recognizable as Marilyn Monroe!
Then I really became a believer! She was so
real!
Anton's wife exclaimed something. I looked
around at her. She had practically turned white
and looked almost petrified!
Anton? Well, his breath was taken, I can tell
you that!
Marilyn hesitated for a minute, her hands clasped.
It didn't appear that she was looking directly
at our car, but she seemed to be looking at
an angle past us. It appeared to me as if she
was looking past the gates, as if she wanted
to enter the gates and go in but didn't want
to pass the car.
Then she turned to her left and slowly started
to walk down the middle of the boulevard.
She was about halfway when I said to Anton,
"Turn the lights on." He said no and
appeared as if he was frozen and stuck in a
fixed position.
Anton had the car doors and inside lights rigged
so that they would not interfere when the doors
were opened. I had the door ajar so in case
I wanted to get out, the door would not make
a disturbing noise when opened.
By now, Marilyn was about three-fourths of
the way down the street. Without saying anything
to Anton, I decided to get out. I was going
to walk after her.
I took off and walked as fast and as quietly
as I could.
When I was about one hundred and fifty feet
away from her, she turned, and as she turned,
walked to the middle of the street and
vanished into thin air! I saw this happen with
my own eyes!
I noticed a little ditch where water was coming
down from drainage ditches. The ditch on
either side of the street was about two and
a half feet wide.
When I had hurriedly walked through the water,
I noticed that my footsteps left imprints on
the other side. The apparition, or Marilyn,
had been taking short, small, measured footsteps
on the other side of the road. There were no
other footprints.
If the "being" had stepped over or
walked across the water, it would have made
a very noticeably different movement from the
small steps it had been taking.
I'm not saying she walked on water, but if
even her heels had touched the water or walked
through it, there would have at least been a
dripping of water.
Almost simultaneously upon my noticing that
phenomenon, Anton and his wife came up to me
with a couple of flashlights, and their additional
light further proved that my original examination
and observation was true.
Anton said that he was shaken by the whole
experience. He begged off dinner, saying that
he was completely drained and that he had no
appetite. All he wanted was to go back to his
hotel, take a shower, lie down, and go to sleep.
Bob Slatzer told us that he had repeated the
story of the materialization of Marilyn Monroe
only to one person besides psychic-sensitive
Clarisa Bernhardt and that was to the well-known
author Norman Mailer.
"He's interested in these types of things,"
Bob said. "To him; I said, 'Norman, I'm
only telling you this because I know you are
into things like this a little, and you are
not a disbeliever.' When I got through telling
it to him, Mailer (who died in November 2007)
said, ‘I do not disbelieve it. I do believe
these things--and that is quite a strange experience!'
Clarisa, who has long been a good friend, recently
confirmed the account that Slatzer gave us of
the materialization of the ghost of Marilyn
Monroe during the dark of the Moon ritual on
August 4, 1973.
“Yes, I remember Bob sharing that experience
with me as clear as if it was yesterday,”
Clarisa said. “I was delighted that he
felt comfortable speaking with me about it.”
Anton La Vey
Anton La Vey, the author of such works as The
Satanic Bible (1969) and The Satanic Rituals
(1972), died on the day before Halloween in
1997.
Bob Slatzer
Bob Slatzer would later write The Marilyn Files
(1992) and The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn
Monroe (1974). He died on March 28, 2005.
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