Four teenagers were horrifically slain by Satanists \u2014 stabbed 666 times each and then eaten.<\/p>\n
The gang of Devil worshippers butchered their victims and roasted them on a bonfire before devouring their flesh.<\/p>\n
Horrified cops found body parts dumped in a pit beside an upside-down cross, a symbol used in Satanic worship.
\n
\nThe victims all suffered 666 knife wounds \u2014 the number associated with the Beast, or Antichrist, and featured in horror films such as The Omen.
\nThe pals, three girls and a boy aged 16 or 17, were all Goths.
\nThey were lured one by one to a cottage and forced to get drunk before being butchered.
\nHair from them was found in the embers of a fire the gang lit under a tree.<\/p>\n
Police believe the teenagers were cooked in the flames before their flesh was devoured.
\nTheir private parts had also been cut off in the sickening ritual in a rural area of Russia.
\nAfter police arrested eight suspected members of the ring, one boasted how they had previously dug up the grave of a newly-dead girl and eaten her heart.<\/p>\n
Another said he did not expect to be punished, saying: \u201cSatan will help me to avoid responsibility. I made lots of sacrifices to him.\u201d
\nAnd a third said he had got fed up with God for not making him rich and that \u201cthings improved\u201d after he started praying to the Devil.<\/p>\n
The discovery in Yaroslavl, 300 miles from Moscow, sent a shudder across Russia \u2014 where Satanists are feared to have committed a string of mutilations and killings.
\nThe victims, who all disappeared in June, were named as Anya Gorokhova, Olga Pukhova, Varya Kuzmina and Andrei Sorokin.<\/p>\n
The upside-down cross marking what was left of their bones and scalps had a small animal nailed to it.
\nPolice began tracing the gang after finding out that all the victims had made phone calls to alleged leader Nikolai Ogolobyak.
\nLocals said they all knew Ogolobyak, whose grandmother revealed he had sung in the local church choir as a boy.
\nThe rest of the cult were described by ex-teachers as having been of low intelligence and moody at school.<\/p>\n
Three were named by police as Ksenia Kuznetsova, Alexander Voronov and Anton Makovkin.
\nThe dad of victim Andrei said: \u201cMy son said he had Goths and Satanists among his friends.
\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t scared. I thought, \u2018Well, let him spend his time sitting around a cemetery \u2014 there\u2019s not much harm in that, is there?\u2019”<\/p>\n
Russia has seen a series of gruesome murders, rapes and desecrations linked to Satanic cults.
\nMoscow alone has 15 whose worship is thought to revolve around symbols such as 666, an upturned five-pointed star within a circle and the swastika.
\nDevil worshippers believe in putting themselves first and their core values include pride, indulgence, ambition and meeting sexual desires.<\/p>\n
In Britain, about 400 people list their religion as “Satanism”. Followers meet at a \u201cGrotto\u201d for rituals with candles and swords run by witches and warlocks.<\/p>\n