Satanic Circle

What if the scariest thing about your business wasn’t the burglar you were waiting for, but the gathering happening just beyond your wall at 2 a.m.? We follow a true account from 1973 Seattle: a teen opens a pool hall near the University of Washington, neighbors a tiny living-room theater on one side and a Wicca and pagan bookstore on the other, and learns the hard way that curiosity can cut both ways. A break-in pushes him to sleep at the shop with a plan to catch the thief. Instead, a rainy Friday leads to quiet footsteps, robed visitors, a key turning next door, and a candlelit ritual that bleeds through a shared vent.

We take time to clarify terms—to separate Wicca, paganism, and modern Satanism—so that beliefs aren’t reduced to rumor. Then we sit with the details that won’t let go: low chanting, a voice that seems to split and deepen, a musty-sweet haze of burning sage, and a green silhouette hovering in the corner of the dark pool hall. The temperature drops. Pins and needles take over tired legs. And a line repeats until it carves itself into memory: There is someone here who does not belong.

What follows is aftermath and meaning. The pool hall is sold, the loan is repaid, and the dreams arrive at 3:14 a.m., each one ending with a flash of the same shape. Decades later, the story is told without sensationalism and with a hard-earned respect for other people’s faiths—and for personal boundaries you don’t cross twice. This is a slow-burn paranormal tale grounded in a specific place and time, amplified by careful research and an ear for the unsettling.

If you crave true, atmospheric storytelling—occult history, eerie encounters, and the thin line between skepticism and surrender—press play, subscribe, and share with a friend who loves the strange. Then tell us: would you have stayed in that dark room, or walked out into the rain?

Transcript

The Party Next Door Begins

Building A Pool Hall In 1973

Odd Neighbors And A Tiny Theater

Inside The Wicca And Pagan Shop

Defining Wicca, Paganism, Satanism

Break-In And A Plan For Revenge

Midnight Gatherings Next Door

Candles, Chanting, And A Circle

The Green Silhouette And Cold Fear

A Voice That Knows He’s There

Aftermath: Dreams And Departure

Reflections, Boundaries, And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome to Creep Radio, where we dive deep into the dark, the bizarre and the unexplained. Dim the lights and lock your doors. Prepare to get creeped out. Because the unknown is calling and we're about to answer. I'm your host, the Master of Creep. Tonight's episode is called The Party Next Door. In nineteen seventy-three, I borrowed five thousand dollars from my mother to start a small pool hall in Seattle, Washington. I was only eighteen years old at the time, and back in nineteen seventy-three, five thousand dollars would go a long ways. I rented a small storefront on Fiftieth Street, just a mile down from the University of Washington. I had a great location and my little business was pretty successful right away. I owned two pool tables, two foosball tables, an air hockey table, and contracted another company to provide eight pinball machines. Now I got to keep all the money from my tables, and I split the profits from the pinball machines fifty fifty. There was a very unusual movie theater across the street. It was very small, almost like watching a movie in someone's living room. Remember, in nineteen seventy three we didn't have videotapes, so this movie theater only held about fifteen people, and I often wondered how is this theater ever gonna make a profit? There was another business next door that sold witch supplies. I don't remember the name of the business, but I do remember going into their shop a few times. Most of the stuff they sold were incen burners and incen holders, crystal balls, and a lot of books about Wicca. This was really more of a bookstore than anything else. The owner of the store was always nice to me and we never really had any issues except for one time I had my music up a little bit too loud. My little pool hall consisted of several rooms, so I placed the games in each room and then I would name the rooms after the game, such as the pool room and the pinball room. I also purchased a Coke machine. After several months I was earning a pretty good profit from my little business. I went to work every day more than twelve hours a day. I was generating more than a hundred dollars a day, which was pretty good in nineteen seventy three. From time to time I would go next door to the Wicca store and buy incense for my business. I never bought anything else, but I usually took the opportunity to look around. The Wicca store had lots of different types of candles and white sage for smoldering burners. They had lots of Wicca books, and large assortments of daggers, robes of all colors and a lot of Wicca jewelry. I had no idea what all this was about, but it was very interesting. I was always amazed by the different flyers posted in the windows at the Wicca store. I realized that the store is more than just a Wicca store, it also is a store that hosted several different beliefs, such as paganism and Satanism. I assumed that the Wicca store catered to different beliefs because it increased their customer base, allowing them to make more money. Before producing this podcast, I did a little research and I found a website called Learn Religions at learnreligions.com and according to them, Wicca is a tradition of witchcraft that was brought to the public by Gerald Gardner in the nineteen fifties. There is a great deal of debate among the pagan community about whether or not Wicca is truly the same form of witchcraft that the ancients practice. Regardless, many people use the term Wicca and witchcraft interchangeably. Paganism is an umbrella term that is used to apply to a number of different earth based faiths. Wicca falls under that heading, although not all pagans are Wiccan. So in a nutshell, here's what's going on. It seems that all Wiccans are witches, but not all witches are Wiccans. All Wiccans are pagans, but not all pagans are Wiccans. And finally, some witches are pagans, but some are not, and some pagans practice witchcraft while others choose not to. So you can see it gets pretty confusing, and when you add Satanism into the mix, it just gets too muddy to figure out all the different beliefs. Now, according to Wikipedia, Satanism is a group of ideological beliefs based on Satan. The contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the Church of Satan in 1966. Prior to public practice, Satanism existed primarily as an accusation by various Christian groups toward perceived ideological opponents rather than self identity. Satanism and the concept of Satan has also been used by artists and entertainers for symbolic expression. Accusations that various groups have been practicing Satanism has been made throughout much of Christian history. During the Middle Ages, the Inquisition attached to the Catholic Church alleged that various Christian groups, such as the Knights Templar, performed secret satonic rituals. One morning I arrived at my pool hall and I noticed that one of my windows was broken. This particular window was on the side of the building and it had a latch on it just like a house window. Once unlocked, the window could be raised and lowered. When I unlocked the front door, I noticed that something just wasn't right. Someone had broke into my business and stole my money out of the cash register which was bashed in. Now they only got about two hundred dollars and mostly in quarters, but the cash register that they broke cost me more than four hundred dollars. And of course I was very upset. I wanted to catch the person responsible. I believed that the person who broke into my pool hall was a customer who knew the layout of the business. I started sleeping in the pool hall at night all night long with the gun. I wanted to catch the thief in the act. Looking back on this years later, it's probably a good thing that person never robbed my store again. The last time I slept at my pool hall was on a Friday night and it was raining as it is most of the time in Seattle. I closed my pool hall that night about eleven PM and I fell asleep about one in the morning. As I was sleeping, I heard people talking. I didn't know if this was a dream or not, and I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it seems like a small group of people all talking at once. Like there were several conversations going on at the same time. I fully woke up and realized that this was not a dream. There were in fact a small group of people standing outside the front door of my pool hall, and I remember thinking what in the hell are these people doing and why are they standing outside of my business at two in the morning? I peeked around the corner of the room that led to the front door, and I could see several adults wearing robes standing in a line like they were waiting for something. Then the owner of the wicker shop showed up and unlocked the shop next door and all the people entered into the wicker shop, and within about five minutes another small group of people arrived and entered into the shop. There must have been about fifteen people total. I thought to myself, what in the hell is this all about? I could hear the people gathering in the business next door, all of them talking, several conversations going on at the same time. My business had a common wall with the Wicca shop, and we had a vent that opened up into both businesses because we shared the electric bill and the heater. I could hear these people just as though I were in the room with them, as clear as a bell. However, they had no idea I was even there. I was as quiet as a mouse, just sitting on the bare wooden floor in total darkness, listening to the conversations next door. The only light I had was a small amount coming through the shared air vent between our two businesses. I recognized the wickershop owner's voice and I heard him say lock up when you're done. So I assumed it was not the first time that this has happened, but it was the first time for me, and I wondered why are these people here at two in the morning. I continued to listen, and finally they all stopped talking, and they turned their attention to a spokesperson who said Okay, let's get started. I noticed the lights through the air vents dimmed as they turned off the overhead lights and lit candles. It was a flickering light that was very dim. I realized at that moment that these people were about to do some kind of religious ritual. I overheard them talk about Satanism. I could hear the wooden chairs sliding on the floor as people adjusted their chairs around the room. I envisioned them putting their chairs in a circle, but I couldn't really see anything. I heard one person say join hands, and then he started talking in a language that I didn't recognize. I also felt that if I were to leave they would hear me locking my door, so I just stayed. Now I know they were burning some kind of ritual sage because I could smell it through the air vent. It was a musty, sick, sweet smell. Even today, forty five years later, sometimes I come across that same smell when people burn certain kinds of incense. The smell triggers me into an uneasy feeling of quiet terror. I heard one person talking about bringing Satan into the circle, and while she was talking, the other people were chanting in a very low voice. I heard her voice change into deep throated multiple voices, as though someone or something was taking over her body. I could hear sounds coming from the room and it sounded like wind. I noticed a green cloud type silhouette hovering in the corner of the room that I was in. It looked like a ghost or it was something watching me as to say, why are you here? I felt the room get cold, and I was getting cold. I was starting to shake in fear. What in the hell am I doing here? How do I get out of here without being noticed? A lot of thought ran through my head as I listened to the satanic ritual. I sat on the floor for so long my legs were falling asleep, and they were tingling. I remember trying to adjust my legs to get the feeling to come back, but at the same time trying to be totally quiet. Then I heard a voice that ran ice water through my veins. There is someone here who does not belong. There is someone here over and over again, the same message. But I was too scared to even move. I didn't know what to do. I don't even remember getting up and leaving, but I must have left because I do remember driving back home in the rain, trembling all the way. I didn't go back to the pool hall for several days. Regular customers who knew me were calling me to see if I was okay, and I told them that I was sick, but the fact was I was scared. I never went back into the wicker shop again. I sold my pool hall to an investor a couple of weeks later. I paid back the loan to my mom, and I never told her what happened. For weeks after, I had very strange dreams. I kept having the same dream over and over. I kept hearing the same voice in my dreams. There was someone here who does not belong. Then I would suddenly wake up and look over at the clock three fourteen AM Just for a split second, I swear that I could see the same green silhouette cloud, then it would quickly disappear. Whatever that was, I knew I didn't like it. Now I am sixty six years old, I have a respect for other people's religious faiths, even if I don't understand them. I know to leave some things alone and not to provoke or cast doubt on other people's beliefs. Some people are looking for attention, others are looking for answers. I enjoy bringing mysteries and unsolved questions into the light and presenting them to you on the Creepy Show Podcast. Thanks for listening to Creep Radio. Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. For more links to other creepy content, visit us at creepradio.com. Oh, but wait, we're not done yet. Listen to this.