Church of Sacrifice
Small church that performed up to 35 human sacrifices in an attempt to become immortal
early 20th century
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Clementine Barnabet
In the early 1900s, Clementine Barnabet joined the Church of Sacrifice and quickly rose through the ranks to become their high priestess. In a quest for immortality, she believed that the key to everlasting life was through human sacrifice, so she began her killing spree at the young age of 15. But unlike other murderers who targeted individuals, she took it one step further. Her victims were entire families, including children, so that she could spare them the misery of growing up as orphans.
Local residents remained shrouded in fear as the killings continued for years without explanation. Even after Barnabet was finally caught and thrown into jail, her loyal followers continued to carry out her deeds on her behalf. Overall, she admitted to a staggering 35 murders over just a few short years, and no one knows how many additional killings were carried out by her followers.
In 1923, Barnabet managed to slip out of jail, leaving behind nothing but a trail of unanswered questions. The mystery of her disappearance only added to the legend of her infamy, and to this day, no one knows what became of her.
Religion: Voodoo; Christianity
Denomination: Syncretist
Leader: Rev. King Harris (some accounts call him "King Harrison")
Founded: exact date unknown; events described here took place in the early 20th century
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
Offshoot of: Christ's Sanctified Holy Church
Clementine Barnabet admitted to axe-murdering 35 people as human sacrifices. Additional murders were carried out by other church members and continued to happen while Clementine and her father were in jail (source)
Believed that a person could become immortal by sacrificing another human (source)
Mutilated bodies and spread body parts around the house in at least one case (source)
Clementine claimed she committed her first sacrifice when she was 15 (source)
Clementine's murders followed a pattern of killing the entire family with an axe, chopping off their heads, then laying the bodies together in a bed (source)
Necrophilia: Clementine admitted to fondling the dead bodies, regardless of their gender (source p. 59)
Other info:
Other info:
Clementine Barnabet claimed to possess an object that protected them from punishment (source)
In 2002, an online presence called "voodoogal11" suggested that her great-grandmother could have been Barnabet, claiming that she knew several details of the killings and that pictures of her as a young woman resembled pictures of Barnabet (source)
Some of the victims were church members (source p. 56)
Church members were reportedly inspired by Old Testament sacrifices (source p. 56)
One of the murder scenes had a Bible passage written in blood saying, "when he maketh the inquisition for blood, he forgetteth not the cry of the humble" (Psalm 9:12) (source p. 57)
The leader of the church claimed that they do not preach an acceptance of random killings but instead taught people should "follow in the footsteps of Christ, believing in the Holy Ghost and [in] fire and not immersion, pouring, or sprinkling" (source p. 57)
Amateur Documentary on the Church of Sacrifice
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