Odinism and the Delphi Murders: My Interview with WishTV news

On September 19th, 2023 I did a quick interview with Kody Fisher, a reporter with Channel 8 WishTV news in Indianapolis about Odinism. See the video below. 

The Delphi murder case is a horrible and tragic story. One of my students who is from southern Indiana said that she grew up with these murders as part of the trauma of her childhood world. 

So my heart goes out to the families of these young women, all those who were impacted by these murders, and who continue to live without resolution through the legal process of this case. 

Two young teenage girls, Libby and Abigail, had gone for a walk on Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, IN on Feb. 13, 2017. They disappeared from the popular trail and were found murdered in the woods the next day. One of the girl's cell phones was recovered with a "43-second video that showed Abigail walking on the Monon High Bridge toward Libby while a man wearing a dark jacket and jeans walks behind her. The man can be heard ordering the girls 'down the hill.'"  

The case has gone unsolved, but in October 2022, a man named Richard Allen was arrested in connection to the case. There is significant evidence that points toward Allen's involvement including his own confessions, security video placing him and his vehicle at the scene, and a bullet recovered from the scene which matches a handgun found at Allen's home although they believe a knife was used for the murders.

The twist in the case - and the reason for my interview - occurred on September 18, 2023 when Allen's defense team released a 130+ page memorandum alleging that the murders were part of an Odinist ritual human sacrifice. According to Fox News, the defense memorandum claims that "overwhelming evidence in this case supports the following … Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German." 

Religion professor breaks down Odinism and its connection to the Delphi murders

So the reporter reached out to me because of my book Being Viking and my expertise in this area of Norse Pagan Heathen religion. He wanted to know what Odinism is - the defense memorandum uses the term "Odinites," which is a term I've never encountered and showed a glaring lack of familiarity. And he wanted to know if Odinists could have ritually sacrificed these girls as part of a religious rite of human sacrifice.  

I don't particularly want to be defending Odinists, but here I was giving an interview and finding myself pushing back against unsubstantiated allegations that "Odinites" had ritually sacrificed two young white girls years ago in Indiana.

On the surface, the evidence seems to weigh against Heathens. The reporter kept coming back to the fact that Heathens do make sacrifices as part of their ritual cycle. There is both textual and archaeological evidence that ancient Pagans engaged in some human sacrifice.  And he was really interested in Reconstructionism--contemporary Heathens and Pagans who want to restore or revive ancient religious practice as closely as possible for contemporary times. I discuss reconstructionism throughout Being Viking, check the index, but specifically on pages 38-44. Additionally in the last few years Odinists have been tied to various acts of violence and murder. Therefore, as the reporter implied, why not human sacrifice?

The most obvious answer to this question is that Pagans have universally and explicitly rejected human sacrifice. Please see my essay "Do Heathens Practice Sacrifice" in the upcoming release from Equinox Press, Pagan Religions in 5 Minutes, edited by Suzanne Owens and Angela Puca. Reconstructionists have been clear that some things from the past should be left there and not revived. Human sacrifice is at the top of that list. Heathens and Pagans of all stripes have roundly rejected the sacrifice of human beings.

Heathens do make offerings to spiritual beings: Gods, ancestors, spirits of nature. Almost universally, these offerings consist of libations of mead, an offering of sacred beverage charged with the prayers of the faithful, and poured out in honor of the Gods. While the term "sacrifice" may be used, and the Norse religious term "blot" is more directly connected to sacrifice, Heathens and Pagans are more likely to call these gifts or offerings. And while some Heathens have engaged in animal sacrifice, this has been practiced only rarely and with the greatest ethical care. For more on animal sacrifice in Heathenry, see Being Viking: Heathenism in Contemporary America, chapter 6, "Animal Sacrifice and the Blot."

As odious as Odinism is, there is simply no evidence that Odinists in America have ever practiced ritual human sacrifice. Odinism has been around for a hundred years, if you start counting with Alexander Rudd Mills. And in all that time, Odinists have not practiced or advocated for ritual human sacrifice. Odinism does use warrior imagery and presents an aggressive picture of itself. Some Odinists have perpetrated criminal acts of political and racially motivated violence and murder. In fact, if you told me that there was another report of an Odinist attacking a Muslim woman on a train somewhere, I wouldn't be shocked. But to engage in ritual human sacrifice - that would be an aberration even for Odinists. 

Now, as one of my mentors told me, "Never say never." After pushing at all these different angles, the reporter finally said, "But you can't rule it out, right?" That is where he quotes me saying "There are crazy people everywhere." People have excused their heinous actions by claiming that "God told me to do it." The larger context of that quote is this: If someone wanted to claim that Odin told them to sacrifice a human being, then there would be resources in the historical record of Norse Paganism that they could make use of. Just as the Bible and the Qur'an have passages that could be and have been used by criminals and immoral people to justify violence, murder, and mayhem. But that act would not be in keeping with the norms for the contemporary religious practice of Heathenry. That person would be a criminal - not someone living out a religious practice in a socially acceptable way.