11/03/2025
The following is a letter sent to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office regarding harassment and vandalism by a radical Christian group against Witchcraft-related tourism businesses in Salem, Massachusetts.
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To the Office of the Attorney General
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
We are requesting assistance from the Attorney General’s Office regarding Philip Renner Ministries, a religious group led by Philip Renner of Claremont, Illinois, that spent the final week of October entering Salem Witchcraft and tourism shops, refusing to leave, hurling sexist, homophobic, and transphobic obscenities, acting physically aggressive, and throwing a substance they referred to as “anointing oil” at business owners and smearing this substance on their private property. These acts appear to violate multiple Massachusetts laws, including MGL c. 266 § 126A (willful or malicious destruction of property), MGL c. 265 § 13A (assault and battery), MGL c. 265 § 39 (assault or battery for the purpose of intimidation), MGL c. 272 § 73 (defacing structures designed to memorialize the dead), and MGL c. 12 §§ 11H–11J (the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act).
Witchcraft has been recognized as a religion by the U.S. Supreme Court in Dettmer v. Landon (1985). The U.S. military recognized it in 2007 with the inclusion of the pentacle on military headstones. Thousands of Witches work and live in Salem, and countless more can be found throughout the globe as part of one of the world’s fastest-growing religions.
On Sunday, October 26, members of Philip Renner Ministries visited our Salem Psychic Fair and Witches’ Market at 176 Essex Street, rubbing their “anointing oil” on photos of our psychics and our tables. The police were called and let the group go with a warning. On October 27, the group visited our shop, Hex, at 184 Essex Street, harassing tourists on the private part of our business under our awning and rubbing oil on our religious altar that memorializes the dead. The police were called again and issued yet another warning, later accompanied by no-trespass orders provided to the group on October 31 on Salem Common. The ministry posted a video bragging about their visits on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQUEYGVjUus/.
On Wednesday, October 29, Tim Maguire’s Halloween Museum and Joanna Thomas’s shop, New England Magic, were both visited by members of the ministry. Its members stood in the doorways of these businesses, casting “anointing oil” at the owners and shouting obscenities, including “whore.” When police were called, they arrived to hear Charlotte Michaels, a trans woman and employee of the Halloween Museum, being called homophobic and transphobic slurs, yet they ignored this. The police then took statements from the group’s members and, despite multiple repeat offenses, let them go with yet another warning. When Mr. Maguire tried to explain to the officer in charge what happened, the officer became impatient, dismissive, and even swore at Mr. Maguire.
On October 30, a staff member of Hex, Sean Kelly, was called a “faggot” and later sucker-punched in the face by someone who was clearly with a Christian religious organization. Given the tone he described, we can only assume that this was a member of Philip Renner Ministries. Mr. Kelly filed a police report, and we are awaiting an investigation.
We are confident that neither Mayor Dominick Pangallo nor Police Chief Lucas Miller condones this conduct, but we also believe that their response has been limited by fear of litigation. A Christian church group previously prevailed in a First Amendment lawsuit against the City of Salem, and similar cases have been won throughout the country. Because of this, municipalities nationwide are often reluctant to address such harassment by radicalized religious groups.
Salem has long been a target for radical Christian groups, but our current polarized sociopolitical climate has dramatically increased this level of harassment. On October 31, 2023, one group brought a large and heavy cross into the center of our annual Halloween ceremony on Salem Common that, if dropped, could have killed one of our hundreds of guests. The police formed a circle around the Christians within the center of our ceremony, effectively ending it. Witches from around America came up to me that evening asking, “Why are the police protecting them and not us? We thought we’d be safe in Salem!” The Salem Police Department has since addressed this particular issue, providing us with barriers for our Halloween ceremony in both 2024 and 2025, and has provided training to their staff to ensure our safety. However, the Philip Renner Ministries group is far more aggressive than any group we’ve experienced in Salem before, and we fear that their annual visits will only escalate to greater violence if left unaddressed.
While the Salem Police Department did not see the application of “anointing oils” as vandalism, we found numerous cases referred to online in which the FBI treated acts such as placing bacon on mosque doorknobs as vandalism and also investigated them as hate crimes due to the religious aversion to pork in Islam.
The one recipe for “anointing oil” that we could find in the Bible, from the Book of Exodus, contains a number of skin allergens such as cinnamon, cassia, and myrrh in a base of olive oil. Olive oil alone can stain and discolor surfaces, weaken sealants, and discolor inks and paint; the addition of the essential oils mentioned above can further etch and mar surfaces.
Bacon is no more damaging or difficult to remove than the oil that the members of Philip Renner Ministries claimed to be using, so we struggle to understand why Chief Miller and the Assistant District Attorney for Essex County—according to Chief Miller—would not follow the FBI precedent regarding bacon and regard the throwing or smearing of this “anointing oil” on private property as vandalism under state law MGL c. 266 § 126A, and possibly even assault under MGL c. 265 § 13A, when you consider that it was thrown at people who may suffer allergic reactions to its ingredients.
We also believe this “anointing oil” may constitute a hate crime. Philip Renner Ministries flagrantly described their oil as something meant to oppose our beliefs, which they classify as “demonic.” By deliberately placing the oil upon our ancestral altar at Hex, it becomes not only a physical act of vandalism but a religiously motivated attack—one that should meet the same hate-crime threshold as placing bacon on the doorknobs of a mosque.
Moreover, if oil is a form of vandalism and defacing, rubbing that oil on an ancestral altar may also violate MGL c. 272 § 73, which prohibits defacing structures designed to memorialize the dead.
Finally, given that their obscenities and hurling of oil at people are accompanied by an intent to disparage our religious beliefs, this may also qualify as Assault or Battery for the Purpose of Intimidation (MGL c. 265 § 39) and as a violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MGL c. 12 §§ 11H–11J).
The First Amendment does not protect criminal behavior such as harassment, trespass, vandalism, assault and battery, or intimidation of religious groups, even when religiously motivated—and especially when directed at other religious groups. We are asking that your office elevate this matter to clarify where constitutionally protected expression ends and criminal conduct begins, so that the Mayor, the Police, and the District Attorney’s Office can act without fear of violating anyone’s rights.
Many Salem businesses rely on tourism to survive, particularly in October, and the fear being stoked by groups like Philip Renner Ministries could impact not only religious freedoms but our local economy as well. We hope your office can bring clarity to this situation and help ensure the safety and religious freedom of all Salem residents and business owners, and those throughout Massachusetts.
Sincerely,
Christian Day and Brian Cain
cc: Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker, Salem Police Chief Lucas J. Miller, Mayor Dominick Pangallo, American Civil Liberties Union – National, American Civil Liberties Union – Massachusetts, WHDH-TV, WCVB-TV, NBC 10 Boston, The Salem News, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Essex District Attorney’s Office, Salem City Council, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, The Wild Hunt News, The Pagan Solidarity Alliance, Starhawk, Oberon Zell, Laurie Cabot, Maxine Sanders, Sharon Day, H. Byron Ballard, Jim Sayers, Davron Michaels, social media platforms
