The Satanists Of Warehouse 31

Warehouse 31 is a bit out there, and for a ghost blog that’s saying a lot. Why? What makes this supposedly haunted spot stand above the rest? Well, the fact that it somehow fell into the chicken or the egg dilemma unintentionally. Is warehouse 31 haunted? or is it just great marketing?

In a paragraph or two, we’re going to delve right into the whole muckety muck of Warehouse 31. A history  so pernicious and insane that it seems as if it was plucked out a James Wann movie. It has everything a good horror story could want, and then, just to be certain that it isn’t missing any angles, someone decided to toss the kitchen sink in.

If you Google Warehouse 31, you’re probably going to stumble onto a couple of websites promoting what could only be described as the haunted house from hell. A pageantry of special effects, teens on speed wearing ghastly costumes, and enough strobe lights to induce a brain aneurysm. Warehouse 31 is a ST. Augustine Halloween attraction sponsored by the likes of Monster Energy Drink, Coors Light, Coca-Cola, Honda and a fickled Chamber Of Commerce that wants to draw in terminally blitz.

It’s nothing more than a roadside attraction meant to scare up some tourist buck. Imagine if Disney World opened its doors on the night the Purge was about to kickoff. That’s what you’d get. Cheap thrills, hundreds of jump scares, and blood-curdling visions to feed your nightmares.

But, and here’s the kicker, the reason why it’s sooo bizarre… Is because the Warehouse might actually BE haunted. It’s as if old Walt decided to build his Haunted Mansion on the remnants of an actual ghost-infested graveyard. According to legend and some rather spotty historical records, Warehouse, 31 might actually be the real deal.

The History of Warehouse 31

Found off of Norcross Drive in St. Augustine, there remains a collection of various huge warehouses used for business interests and storage. Every day, trucks, cars, bikes, pedestrians, and trains make their way through this region. The place a huge site for shipments and storage. Nonetheless, there’s a lonely – almost forgotten –  Warehouse that always draws the eyes. Why? Cause of the wasted potential and why there’s a conscious effort by employes to shy away from it… STORAGE 3-1, also known as Warehouse 31.

Some of the tenants of Warehouse 31.

• Wal-Mart used it to assemble and store furniture on the spot until workers complained of constantly feeling ill. Some started to have nightmares and suffer from insomnia. Others developed stomach ulcers. And, still others, simply felt continually nauseous.
• Mayflower Inc. stayed only 6 months because furniture kept disappearing. They bulked up their security and employed a rather tenacious company… and still, the furniture kept on vanishing. No signs of theft or break-in, no vandalism… one minute here, the next gone.
• At one point a sound studio called the place its home (Skul/Bonz Studio). hip-hop and local music tracks for an independent label were recorded on a daily basis. The place had to shut down operations and move out when studio engineers kept hearing strange hissing noises and static during playback. It was impossible to get a clean recording.

All the other warehouses in the zone seem to thrive, while Warehouse 31 – no matter who owns it, even a powerhouse like Wal-Mart, can’t seem to get any sort of drive. Why? What happened on that spot that turned the place into a pox on the land?

For that, we have to go back to the original tenants. To the people that first used the warehouse… The Church Of The Light Bearer. For those not in the known… Light Bearer refers to God’s angel, The Morningstar, also known to his crew and peeps as LUCIFER.

Very little is known about this peculiar sect. Original members of the church remain nameless, and the memoir is sketchy. The archives go that in 2001 a charismatic minister, Parson Al Whist, made his way through the United States teaching a message of hope. His sermons became remarkably popular, and he developed a following.

 “He was thin, young, but with this beautiful voice. It was strange to hear a preacher like that. He was always chewing a fresh stick of gum. He’d shove one into his mouth only to politely remove it with a tissue a few moments later. There was something that wasn’t right. I have been to many sermons, and there was something wrong with what he was saying. He sounded like he was preaching from the Bible, he kept saying, ‘the Father loves you’ or ‘give up yourself to the Father,’ and people were all shouting amen and all, but he never said the name Jesus. Not once. I guess now we know why, don’t we?”

In 2006, Parson Whist, along with a group of his most faithful members moved to St. Augustine, Florida to break ground and start the Church of the Light Bearer.

The idea was to secure a deed through a donation and create a fundraising campaign to complete the cost of making the new sanctuary. Meanwhile, where would Whilst reside? Where would he preach? Where would he store the vagrant groups’ possessions? The emissary of Lucifer needed a small office and a place to continue his work…

“Hey, look! A Warehouse… Newly built? Economic regression? Cheap? I’ll take one!”

The newly built, shiny as new, Storage 3-1.

Within months, workers at other units began to talk about the outlandish group.

“If you made any sort of eye contact they would come over as a group and start asking you if you were happy and try to get you to come join them for lunch or a meeting. It was really creepy—the way they didn’t talk about anything else. Me and the rest of the guys just stopped going near that place.”

Then, in February the penny dropped and some copyeditor at St. Augustine press went:

“Hey, that weird cult down by that Warehouse, what was Its name again? Light Bearer? Figure they have anything to do with Lucifer??”

The story broke and people began to take notice. They started to delve into the comings and goings of the Warehouse and discovered a treasure trove of activity. Dark rituals, animal sacrifices, orgies, bizarre worship services… you know, what someone would expect from FREAKING Satanists.

The authorities went and evicted the cult, not because they were worshiping “the dreaded old one” but on account that the warehouse didn’t have zoning permission for religious practices.

“It is a group protected by the Constitution. The only charge we may be able to press upon them is trespassing or vandalism. Neither of which are considered Federal crimes. They can just go anywhere and do this again.”

The group left St. Augustine and was never heard from again.

Since that episode, Warehouse 31 has had a string of bad luck. Companies renting this unique property have complained of missing items, increased illness among workers, power outages, even a small fire.

People with deep religious faith tend to feel overly agitated or unwelcome on the spot. Some passing out whenever they circle the vicinity.

The region since then has been plagued by animal carcasses, mostly dogs, and very strange graphitizes. One of the most disturbing episodes occurred when the local police stumbled onto the remains of a mass. An altar with burned red candles, animal skulls, and bloodstained cloths draped in the corners of the warehouse with the words “Ave Satanas” on them.

The Beast of Warehouse 31.

Now comes the knock-out punch.

“It didn’t look like any animal I had ever seen. It looked like some kind of an alligator, but it had wings. I know that sounds crazy, but I know what I saw. “

There are numerous reports of a giant beast or monster moving around the vicinity. The creature eating small animals and the neighborhood’s dogs.

Some people claim that the beast is a manifestation of the Black Masses that occurred in the spot, others that it is the Parson, Al Whist, in demon form haunting the land. The most common interpretation of this gargoyle is that it is a demon.

“Here’s the really odd thing… There are records of the beast way before the Parson and his sect moved into town. A man riding his hog in 1997 spotted a creature with enormous bat-like wings perched in some trees near the road that would eventually lead to the future warehouse. Property owners continually talked among’s themselves of the ‘Devil’ in their back-yard… Way before the sect ever set foot on St. Augustine. Most people think, given that it’s Florida that it is either a bear or a gator… But, and here’s the really off thing, the one thing no one has ever managed to tell us about that sect that invaded St.Augustine: why did they choose this spot? Why St. Augustine in the first place.”

Locals believe that the sect didn’t attract the creature, but that the creature attracted the sect… and the dozen of other trespassers to the area. The region for some time now has become a hot-bed of Satanic activity.