by G. Richard Fisher, Paul R. Blizard and M. Kurt Goedelman
Jack Chick, in Closet Witches 1 says, "These two ladies are experts in the world of the occult." Elaine says she was a trained witch who was married to Satan. In telling their stories to Chick, Elaine and Rebecca refer to satanists as witches and vice versa. Yet, anyone with even a little knowledge about the occult knows that witchcraft and satanism are not the same, nor are they compatible.
Former witch Tom Sanguinet stated in the October-December 1983
Personal Freedom Outreach newsletter that, "There's not a
connection really between witchcraft and Satanism. It's only
been in the neo-system of the occult that witchcraft and
Satanism have taken this melding. Satanists have always
worshipped the negative entities or deities - the temple of
Seth in ancient Egypt, for example. Witches don't fear God and
they don't believe in Satan."
Ex-occultist Johanna Michaelsen concurs with this distinction. On page 316 of her book, Like Lambs to the Slaughter, she states: "There is probably no faster or more efficient way to enrage your average witch than to accuse him or her of devil worship. Their literature and lectures are filled with pleas and/or demands that people stop confusing them with Satan worshipers."
Elaine describes a certain "camp" where she was inducted into witchcraft and satanism. She describes this "camp" in great detail:
"I stepped directly into this cult when I went to that summer camp with Sandy. I was very excited by the time we arrived. With excitement you lose a lot of what you see and hear. We were taken first to the dorms where we were to stay and made to feel very welcome. The camp had many facilities: museums, libraries, different houses where you could go to clairvoyants, hypnotists, palm readers, tarot card readers, voodoo experts, etc. Some of these people lived there year 'round, some didn't. This was the place where the cult officially meets with the unknowing public." (43)
Based upon Elaine's description of the camp and its location, she is probably referring to a spiritualist camp known as Camp Chesterfield (Indiana Society of Spiritualists) in the town of Chesterfield, Ind. The camp was established in 1886 by Dr. J.W. Westerfield. (44)
As with witchcraft and satanism, spiritualism is a distinct
practice not to be confused with the others. Chick calls Elaine
and Rebecca "experts" on the occult, but an expert would not
confuse these three religions. Spiritualists are not witches.
Spiritualism mixes Christianity, Spiritism and lately has taken
on "New Age" terminology. It is by no means Christianity but
neither is it witchcraft or satanism.
A trip to Camp Chesterfield revealed it to be nothing like Elaine describes. There are no dormitories, as Elaine recalled, but there are two motels that look like dormitories to an outsider driving through the camp. No staff member interviewed could remember an Edna Elaine Moses or an Edna Elaine Knost, but all were familiar with the kinds of stories told about their camp.
Elaine says she signed her name in blood and became a part of "The Brotherhood at this camp. She does not say how hold she was when she did this but says it took place during the summer. "School was out at the time and as I had nothing else to do I decided to go." (45) This places the event some time during her youth, probably her teens. Interestingly, the caption next to her senior picture in her high school's 1965 year book mentions that she was member of her school's Bible Club. (46)
Chick's books and tapes on Elaine and Rebecca gloss over Elaine's earthly marriage and divorce, where Rebecca says: "He [God] wanted me [Rebecca] to have Elaine move in with me immediately as she did not yet have faith enough to stand on her own. Her husband had left and remained with the satanists." (47)
Likewise on the tape Closet Witches 1, Rebecca claims: "...Father was quick to answer me, He told me that I must get Elaine and move her into my home with us, because she would commit suicide rather than fall into the hands of the cult, that her faith wasn't strong enough yet, her husband had left her. He remained in the cult.
Elaine's and Rebecca's story puts their first meeting at Ball Memorial Hospital around 1980. Research into court records of Henry County, Ind., found that Edna Elaine Knost was married Dec. 18, 1966, by the minister of the Foursquare Church of New Castle, Ind., (48) and that 2-1/2 months later, her husband filed for divorce, citing her treatment of him in a "a cruel and inhuman manner and that on account of the treatment so received it has made it impossible for said parties to live together as husband and wife." (49)
So, documentary evidence shows that the marriage was dissolved in 1967, some 13 years prior to what is alleged in the book and cassette tape. Shortly after separating from her husband, Elaine returned to live with her mother and step-father. From that time, until the late 1970s, she remained in New Castle working at various jobs which included a car-hop at a drive-in restaurant and a car wash attendant. Also during this time Elaine was continually in and out of hospitals in the New Castle area for assorted surgeries. (50)
Some direction seemed to come into Elaine's life as she received training and was licensed by the State of Indiana as a Practical Nurse (LPN), which allowed her employment at area nursing homes. Thus it can be concluded through a definite verifiable chronology Elaine's claim to have been Satan's international representative on an international level, meeting with foreign governmental representatives who petitioned "for money for arms" and having "been to Mecca, Israel, Egypt, also the Vatican in Rome to meet with the Pope... for the purpose of coordinating Satan's programs with Satanists in other lands," and meeting "many of the wellknown Rock music stars" who "all signed contracts with Satan in return for fame and fortune" are fictitious. (51) The facts clearly demonstrate a life opposite the notoriety she alleges.
The Chick literature tells of "pressure" put on them to stop their "ministry" of exposing satanists and witches at the hospital and surrounding communities. Rebecca says: "I knew that the mayor of that town and the chief of police as well as many of the policemen were satanists so I couldn't go to the police for help." (52) "The cult was furious and they let us know in no uncertain terms they were furious. There was all kinds of harassment." (53) The real story is that officials at Ball Memorial Hospital had had enough of Rebecca's her bizarre behavior which had grown to include rites of exorcism in hospital rooms involving the use of candles and claims "that she was chosen by God as the only physician able to diagnose certain ailments and conditions." (54) Finally hospital officials asked her to leave Ball Memorial Hospital.
The Chick literature never mentions her dismissal from Ball Memorial. Rebecca just says: "After I finished my residency in intern medicine and critical care, I opened a medical practice in a small town about 60 miles from the city in which Elaine was initiated into Satanism. Over the next three years life was intense." (55)
Evidence shows that Rebecca did set up a general practice in Lapel, Ind., with financial support from St. John's Hospital, a Catholic institution in nearby Anderson. (56)
This adds an interesting twist to the story, given Chick's widely known hatred of the Roman Catholic Church and anything associated with it. On Closet Witches 2, Chick asks Elaine: "With your background in the occult and the 'craft, did you sense a 'Trinity of evil' within the church whereby you, the satanists, and the Masons and the Catholics all work together? Is there a harmony some way, could you recognize one another?"
Elaine responds: "Sure Jack ... we did and were able to coordinate all of our efforts so we all worked in sync with one another."
Chick: "In other words, if you were going to take someone out, all three of you would work together?"
Elaine: "Yeah, primarily they would ... Catholics and Masons and satanists, they all use the same abilities of occultism."
In her book, Prepare for War, Rebecca devotes an entire chapter to the Roman Catholic Church called, "Is Roman Catholicism Witchcraft?" There she states: "Anyone who does not live in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ of the Bible is not saved. If you do not tell your Catholic friends this truth, but continue in a false friendship with them, then you are a 'partaker' in the evil of the idolatrous system of Roman Catholicism -- you are practicing witchcraft." (57) Based on that statement and by virtue of her association with a Roman Catholic hospital, Rebecca was practicing witchcraft.
From the outset of their stay in Lapel, Rebecca and Elaine deceived the public. A front-page story in the May 26, 1982, edition of The Lapel Review newspaper said Rebecca was establishing her "general medical practice" there. An article under the headline "Dr. Bayley [sic] to open practice in Lapel," stated, "She and her sister and two friends working with her are very much looking forward to joining the community here." (58) (emphasis added) From this report and others, we learn that Rebecca and Elaine were passing themselves off as sisters. (59) Edna Elaine Moses even took Ruth's last name and called herself Elaine Bailey! Lapel residents confirmed that they claimed such a relationship.
Rebecca claims to have "made contacts during that time and was privileged to bring close to a thousand people out of - satanism while practicing in Lapel and at her farmhouse residence in nearby Pendleton. "We ran sort of an underground railroad," she says. (60) If her claims are true, she would have had to rescue from satanism an average of 1.3 people per day during the 25 months (April 1982 through May 1984) she lived in the area. Any Christian minister or counter-cult worker would agree that such a rate would be phenomenal.
But as they did at Ball Memorial, circumstances in Lapel surrounding Rebecca and Elaine grew strange. First, Rebecca's version: "...the battle escalated, becoming even more intense. (61) The Satanists were instruments of my mother's death. (62) Elaine was by then in a semi-coma from her leukemia and was totally bedfast for over 6 months. (63) Satan struck me one of his final blows to our ministry in that area. The Satanists swept in, and in one night, while Elaine and I were out of the house for a couple of hours, destroyed everything we had. They axed everything in my home, even death our precious pets. They also destroyed my office and everything we had. Elaine and I escaped with our lives and the clothes on our backs, that is all. Satan's attack was so well-planned that at the same time everyone turned against us. Our church decided we were serving Satan and refused to help us. My own father and the rest of my family turned against us. Elaine's family helped destroy everything we had. Members of both our families moved to try to get us permanently committed to a mental institution. We had no choice but to flee the state." (64)
Rebecca concludes: "Many other events happened which I do not have the space to detail." (65)
Documentary evidence shows a different story.
First, there is no ground for Rebecca's claim that "Satanists were instruments of her mother's death." According to the official copy of the "Medical Certificate of death from the Marion County [Ind.] Health Department," Lois M. Bailey died Dec. 31, 1982 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis of a heart attack. She was 75 years old. (66) Rebecca says she was 74. (67)
Another detail Rebecca fails to mention is allegations that she abused Elaine. Documents show that she indeed did abuse Elaine. On Oct. 17, 1983, officer Samuel E. Hanna of the Madison County [Indiana] Police received a phone call from a social worker at St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis. The reason for the call: A woman had been admitted into the hospital whose entire body was covered with lesions. She was incoherent, had received an overdose of drugs and was near death. The patient's name was Edna Elaine Moses. A preliminary investigation found the prime suspect to be Dr. Ruth Bailey (Rebecca). (68) Officer Hanna, a born-again Christian, was the party responsible for spear heading the major investigation of Rebecca. Several months of investigative work followed which involved the Attorney General's office, the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, St. John's Hospital, the Indiana Medical Licensing Board and others.
Based on the investigation, the Indiana Medical Licensing Board issued an "Emergency Suspension" of Rebecca's license, which barred her from practicing medicine in Indiana for 90 days." (69)
More investigation followed, additional affidavits were taken and a "Request For Admissions" by Rebecca was secured. Among other findings, the exploration revealed that Rebecca, in less than six months' time had issued to four different pharmacies a total of more than 100 prescriptions for Demerol, which authorized purchase of 330 vials of the highly addictive, painkilling drugs. (70)
Following that discovery, the licensing board issued an order filed May 22, 1984, extending Rebecca's suspension for 90 more days. The order further stated, "That Respondent [Rebecca] continues to represent a clear and immediate danger to the public health and safety if she is allowed to continue to practice medicine, and that the reasons enumerated for the prior order of suspension in this matter have not changed." (emphasis added) The order further called for Rebecca to "submit to a complete physical and mental examination at the board's expense."
By this time, Rebecca had fled Lapel. A copy of the board's order had to be forwarded to her by certified mail to a post office box in Niles, Mich., where she signed for it on May 29, 1984. The investigation continued and resulted in a hearing in September 1984. The Sept. 21, 1984, edition of the Indianapolis News reported that "She [Rebecca] did not attend the six-hour hearing of her case yesterday, and by law her failure to appear meant the state had proven her guilty by default." The paper further reported that 19 witnesses gave testimony during the hearing, several of whom "declined to reveal their current addresses, saying they feared retaliation from Dr. Bailey. The physician carries a handgun and has threatened to harm people she claims are possessed, they said."
The newspaper article went on to report that "Several witnesses said that they saw Dr. Bailey [Rebecca] inject herself, Mrs. Moses [Elaine] and Mrs. Moses' teen-age daughter with Demerol and morphine. Great quantities of drugs were kept on hand, and the Bailey home was littered with used needles and syringes, witnesses said." Further, a former live-in housekeeper for Dr. Bailey testified that "the home was 'filthy' when she and her daughter moved in. 'I hauled out 18 bags of trash,' she said. In the room where Dr. Bailey and Mrs. Moses shared a bed, there were overflowing ashtrays, plates of leftover food and animal feces, she testified. The house was full of demonology books."
...continued.
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