Devil Worshipers All Around-Hooded Robes in the Woods-Occult Cemetery Damage-Scary or Silly?

There’s an area located in an upscale Cleveland suburb called the MetroPark Polo Field. This particular area is a beautiful huge field surrounded by a winding river and beautiful mature woodlands. Horse shows and dog shows are featured there every year. The area is patrolled by the Cleveland Metro Park Rangers. The Ranger Department's jurisdiction comprises more than 21,000 acres of land, 100 miles of connecting parkways and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. The rangers patrol mainly by vehicle but they also rely on horse patrols to patrol areas that are hard or impossible to reach by vehicle.

About 30 years ago, a Ranger was patrolling the field on horseback one very foggy night. He was just about in the center of the huge field when he heard whistling. He knew there were rumors the area was supposed to be a gathering ground for devil worshipers but cops have to go where others do not. Cops had heard the rumors for years but as far as I knew, they were just rumors even though cops who worked the area said they were true.

The Ranger told me he took his big horse towards the sound of the whistling. He couldn’t see very far in front of him as the fog was thick but he edged his horse forward. He was starting to sweat, he was nervous. He said the whistling started out in front of him and then the sound started to surround him. He heard whistling behind him and to the sides now. He licked his lips, grabbed the reins tighter and touched his sidearm to assure himself it was there in case he needed it. He told me that the whistling started closing in on him and his steed. He started to panic—he couldn’t really see anything, knew there might be devil worshipers nearby, and back then, horror movies showcased devil worshipers as violent, bloodthirsty, heathens. You could cut the tension in the air with a butter knife. The Ranger called out identifying himself and demanding who ever were out there to identify themselves. He got no response, just whistling coming closer and closer to him and his horse. The Ranger grabbed the horse’s reigns with both hands, kicked the beast hard in its sides and thrust the horse into a full run straight ahead. He said he didn’t care what happened, that he was getting out of there no matter what and if something got in their way, oh well.

He made it out of the field without running anything over and without seeing anyone. When he got to an area where he felt safe he called for back up for officers to come to the area. When the fog lifted, they did not find anyone or anything unusual.

I’m not sure if that Ranger kept on doing mounted patrols or if he was able to patrol in a nice heated and air conditioned cruiser—at least at night. That night turned out benign, no crazy cult like issues, however, as the years went on some worshipers came closer to the surface and some right smack in the middle of where I worked as a cop. It started with some folks reporting seeing people running through the woods at night in black hooded robes. At first we took these reports with a grain of salt—either exaggerations or lies. However, shortly thereafter, we started finding continuous damage at an old cemetery and as explained by our departments “occult expert” there were definite occult signs in the damage.

We started investigating these sightings and damage. We had stakeouts at the cemetery, used intelligence (talked to people who may have known people involved), and were even going to use electronic surveillance equipment at the cemetery.

One pitch-dark night we received a call of lights seen in the cemetery. I sped to the scene, shut my lights off as I pulled in and shut the cruiser off. My back up was about five minutes away. I told Dispatch that I’d be out and I would not wait for backup because we had been trying to get to the bottom of this for so long. I started walking towards where most of the damage had been centered. It was just about completely dark in the cemetery. Old mature trees blocked most of the moonlight. I had my semi automatic Glock 40 caliber in my right hand and flashlight in my left hand. If anyone would have touched me they would have had cold steel an inch from their head with a bullet a fraction of a second from discharging. Tense—you bet . . . afraid—no—but really ready! Back up units arrived and we didn’t find anyone. Nevertheless, vandalism continued at the graveyard.

Finally a break: One midnight shift while patrolling we noticed unusual lights coming from a home. We sat on it and watched closely trying to figure out what the lights were. We were able to determine that someone in the house had about 100 candles burning. Wow! That’s a lot of candles! I’m not a genius but it sure seemed we stumbled on a big break. I was correct. The next morning after some surveillance and intelligence detectives and some brass went to the home. It turned out that some neighborhood teenagers were dabbling in the occult and were running the woods with hoods and chanting and messing with candles. They however, denied doing any damage at the cemetery—yeah, sure! I’m not sure what happened to them or how many teenagers were involved. I do know that all cemetery damage stopped and all calls about devil worshipers roaming at night, ceased.

As for the Polo Field, I heard rumors that it was an actual meeting place for those involved in the occult. Not bloodthirsty people as some feared but folks getting into what they believed in or wanted to be involved with. To each its own, I suppose. Luckily, they weren’t in the cemetery that night whistling around me though—it might have gotten ugly.