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Post by librarylady on Aug 13, 2025 13:48:48 GMT
Letter:
DEAR ABBY: My husband and I have neighbors we are not interested in being friends with. We are a religious family and believe in God. They have a black ram's head hanging in their living room, if you catch my drift. They keep inviting us to events at their home or to spend time with them, and we don't know how to politely decline without making anyone angry. How do we keep our distance? -- STAYING AWAY IN NEW YORK
DEAR STAYING AWAY: Have you and your husband been accepting their invitations? If that's the case, start backing away by having "other plans." However, if they don't take the hint, begin sending them religious tracts from your denomination, and they may disappear in a puff of sulfur.
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I have concluded that the black ram's head must mean Satan and Hell. Is that right?
Since we are friends with several who have heads of animals that they have killed displayed on the wall, why could this not have meant it was a significant kill for the man?
Why did they jump to it means Hell? Is there a Biblical story that is not part of my memory bank?
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pilcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,748 
Member is Online
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Post by pilcas on Aug 13, 2025 13:57:10 GMT
From Google. It can mean leadership and sacrifice or in pagan and occult traditions it is associated with Baphomet a horned God. So it can be associated with a dark Pagan God. Are the people jumping to conclusions? Probably. They could ask a casual question about the rams head.
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Post by withapea on Aug 13, 2025 13:57:31 GMT
What a weird letter. It's very presumptive and the vibes are gross. "The rams head, if you catch my drift", bless her heart. Any "alternative" worship is "evil". A whole lot of reaching with this one.
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Post by Skellinton on Aug 13, 2025 14:51:04 GMT
What a weird letter. It's very presumptive and the vibes are gross. "The rams head, if you catch my drift", bless her heart. Any "alternative" worship is "evil". A whole lot of reaching with this one. Yes, the author of that letter is rather unhinged. They're More than likely people who believe black is the color of Satan and if you have black nail polish you must be a Satan worshiper. They probably don't celebrate Halloween or read Harry Potter or other magical based books. |
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Post by Skellinton on Aug 13, 2025 14:52:50 GMT
My goodness if I knew that letter was about me I would be strongly inclined to start doing some weird stone arrangements, going out at midnight and howling at the moon, muttering incantations while doing the gardening things like to freak the neighbors out even more.
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 13, 2025 15:49:45 GMT
My goodness if I knew that letter was about me I would be strongly inclined to start doing some weird stone arrangements, going out at midnight and howling at the moon, muttering incantations while doing the gardening things like to freak the neighbors out even more. And if I was your other neighbor I would cheer you on and maybe join in lol |
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Post by scrapmaven on Aug 13, 2025 16:03:03 GMT
I wasn't aware that I could only befriend people of certain religions. Now I'm gonna have to cut off some of my friendships. Darn. Skellinton, I'm on my way over to help you w/the garden. |
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snyder
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,493
Location: Colorado
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Post by snyder on Aug 13, 2025 16:04:18 GMT
Not being judgy, but I see their intense need to not associtate with them as pretty non-Christian.
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Post by melanell on Aug 13, 2025 16:23:18 GMT
I swear they make up these letters.
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Post by Merge on Aug 13, 2025 16:26:10 GMT
I would be inclined to put a big black ram’s head out for Halloween.
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Post by alsomsknit on Aug 13, 2025 17:04:15 GMT
The letter writer is Fundamentalist of some type. They see Satan and demons in everything.
Growing up, we could not buy anything second hand lest we brought demons home with the second hand items. Why a demon would choose to live in an item of clothing or piece of furniture is beyond me.
We see it as ridiculous. They see it as deadly serious and a matter of their salvation.
They are fearful of offending their neighbor, lest they have demons sent their way.
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Post by librarylady on Aug 13, 2025 17:14:29 GMT
The letter writer is Fundamentalist of some type. They see Satan and demons in everything. Growing up, we could not buy anything second hand lest we brought demons home with the second hand items. Why a demon would choose to live in an item of clothing or piece of furniture is beyond me. We see it as ridiculous. They see it as deadly serious and a matter of their salvation. They are fearful of offending their neighbor, lest they have demons sent their way. That must be an awful way to live. No peace in any day or any situation. |
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Post by Zee on Aug 13, 2025 17:16:16 GMT
A black goat's head on the wall is most likely going to indicate some kind of pagan or Satanic leanings to most anyone, let's be honest. We didn't grow up in the 80s Satanic Panic just to not to have learned this! So I can see why it would make some Christians feel uncomfortable, but they could also be very nice people who just enjoy the goat head as part of their quirky decor. I have a goat skull on the wall but it's more because I find it an amusing way of honoring my husband and myself as being capricorns. I 100% know it would make some dedicated Christians feel uncomfortable. But, it came from a farm and there is no evil associated with it. I personally would not mind someone having that as decor if I know they're fun people who just like oddities but if I got a hint that they were weirdos who do in fact like to sacrifice animals, I'd avoid them too. There are all kinds of weirdos in the world, most the good kind.  I have met some weird people at the Oddities & Curiosities Markets but there are mostly just some really cool people there. |
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Post by lucyg on Aug 13, 2025 18:25:27 GMT
Dear Abby is Jewish, so she probably laughed her ass off at that letter. We don’t pay much attention to fundamentalist Christian fears of Satan. You guys sure did mess around with our Tanakh (the original version of your Old Testament).
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Post by alsomsknit on Aug 13, 2025 19:07:50 GMT
A black goat's head on the wall is most likely going to indicate some kind of pagan or Satanic leanings to most anyone, let's be honest. We didn't grow up in the 80s Satanic Panic just to not to have learned this! So I can see why it would make some Christians feel uncomfortable, but they could also be very nice people who just enjoy the goat head as part of their quirky decor. I have a goat skull on the wall but it's more because I find it an amusing way of honoring my husband and myself as being capricorns. I 100% know it would make some dedicated Christians feel uncomfortable. But, it came from a farm and there is no evil associated with it. I personally would not mind someone having that as decor if I know they're fun people who just like oddities but if I got a hint that they were weirdos who do in fact like to sacrifice animals, I'd avoid them too. There are all kinds of weirdos in the world, most the good kind. I have met some weird people at the Oddities & Curiosities Markets but there are mostly just some really cool people there. The 80s Satanic Panic was hysteria and destroyed many people’s lives. The goat’s head on the wall was a trophy piece for the hunter in the family. People do trophy hunt wild rams/goats. Occam’s razor! |
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Post by librarylady on Aug 13, 2025 19:24:09 GMT
I don't pay attention to a lot of nonsense in the world so was clueless that it was supposed to mean something.
I would have marked up as a hunting trophy and never gave it another thought.
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Post by sassyangel on Aug 13, 2025 19:27:13 GMT
What a weird letter. It's very presumptive and the vibes are gross. "The rams head, if you catch my drift", bless her heart. Any "alternative" worship is "evil". A whole lot of reaching with this one. Yes, the author of that letter is rather unhinged. They're More than likely people who believe black is the color of Satan and if you have black nail polish you must be a Satan worshiper. They probably don't celebrate Halloween or read Harry Potter or other magical based books. Yeah, I thought Dear Abby aimed to be less or non judgmental in their responses usually. |
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Post by Zee on Aug 13, 2025 20:26:14 GMT
A black goat's head on the wall is most likely going to indicate some kind of pagan or Satanic leanings to most anyone, let's be honest. We didn't grow up in the 80s Satanic Panic just to not to have learned this! So I can see why it would make some Christians feel uncomfortable, but they could also be very nice people who just enjoy the goat head as part of their quirky decor. I have a goat skull on the wall but it's more because I find it an amusing way of honoring my husband and myself as being capricorns. I 100% know it would make some dedicated Christians feel uncomfortable. But, it came from a farm and there is no evil associated with it. I personally would not mind someone having that as decor if I know they're fun people who just like oddities but if I got a hint that they were weirdos who do in fact like to sacrifice animals, I'd avoid them too. There are all kinds of weirdos in the world, most the good kind. I have met some weird people at the Oddities & Curiosities Markets but there are mostly just some really cool people there. The 80s Satanic Panic was hysteria and destroyed many people’s lives. The goat’s head on the wall was a trophy piece for the hunter in the family. People do trophy hunt wild rams/goats. Occam’s razor! How do you know it was a trophy piece? It's a Dear Abby letter, it's not even real. But I was responding to the question as if it was real. I totally remember the "fear" over "devil worshippers" when I was a kid/teen! We used to laugh about it honestly, it went part and parcel with heavy metal. But I wasn't raised as an evangelical or whatever the Bible thumpers consider themselves. ETA and let's not pretend that there AREN'T people who are, umm, a little "off". No one just has a wild hunted black goat's head on the mantle. (I guess maybe they could have got it on a safari perhaps) There are no native black goats. That's Baphomet. Which can be good or evil, can very well be Satanic because there are actual Satanists and all aren't actually evil, but some people identify with that and they're not all just fun misunderstood people. I HAVE MET SOME. Some people I keep a wide berth from. These people might be just a fun bunch OR they might be actually creepy. We don't actually know because it's just a Dear Abby letter in the first place. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Aug 14, 2025 0:34:22 GMT
I don't pay attention to a lot of nonsense in the world so was clueless that it was supposed to mean something. I would have marked up as a hunting trophy and never gave it another thought. This is where I sit too. We have mounted deer heads, a huge sailfish and some big trophy bass hanging on our walls, so… yeah. When we were house shopping we toured one house that had to have been owned by an avid hunter. There must have been over a hundred different taxidermy animals and fish all over that house and it was more than a little unsettling even for DH. It was so over the top. |
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Post by melanell on Aug 14, 2025 10:54:15 GMT
Thanks to this Dear Abbey letter, I now have the Church Lady's voice in my head asking "Could it be....SATAN?"  |
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Post by librarylady on Aug 14, 2025 13:58:32 GMT
Thanks to this Dear Abbey letter, I now have the Church Lady's voice in my head asking "Could it be....SATAN?" This gave me a hearty laugh.  |
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oh yvonne
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Jun 26, 2014 0:45:23 GMT
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Post by oh yvonne on Aug 14, 2025 14:01:04 GMT
I would be inclined to put a big black ram’s head out for Halloween. ooh yeah, line them up alongside the property line all facing the neighbors  |
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Post by melanell on Aug 15, 2025 10:54:20 GMT
So I was driving my kid home from camp yesterday and as I drove by a house that I pass all of the time, something in their yard made me think of this thread. About 3 years ago they put out an arch made of skulls for Halloween. It sat in their front yard over the sidewalk that led to their front door. It looks a lot like this: Skull ArchwayWell they never took it down. At Christmas it gets lights wrapped around it, and the rest of the year it just sits there as an unusual welcome to their house. So yesterday I saw it and wondered if that rates higher or lower on the "freak out your neighbor scale" than a black ram's head inside the house. |
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Post by quinmm14 on Aug 15, 2025 11:02:44 GMT
So I was driving my kid home from camp yesterday and as I drove by a house that I pass all of the time, something in their yard made me think of this thread. About 3 years ago they put out an arch made of skulls for Halloween. It sat in their front yard over the sidewalk that led to their front door. It looks a lot like this: Skull ArchwayWell they never took it down. At Christmas it gets lights wrapped around it, and the rest of the year it just sits there as an unusual welcome to their house. So yesterday I saw it and wondered if that rates higher or lower on the "freak out your neighbor scale" than a black ram's head inside the house.  I'd just think it was too much work to handle removing it and putting it out again each year. I'm lazy that way, so I'd vibe with those neighbors. lol |
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I have met some weird people at the Oddities & Curiosities Markets but there are mostly just some really cool people there.
