You’re not likely to bump into Elizabeth Hurley in Inglis, Fla. That’s not just because it’s an out-of-the-way hamlet of 1,400 people a good 75 miles from the nearest big city, Tampa, with only half a dozen restaurants and nothing much to attract big-screen stars. It’s also because Hurley’s last big part was as Satan in “Bedazzled,” and in Inglis these days, it could be unhealthy to be mistaken for the devil.
Carolyn Risher, the mayor of Inglis, is not one of those people who laments social ills but does nothing about them. Quite the contrary. Last Halloween, while reflecting on what she regarded as unwholesome trends in her town, she recalls getting a clear message from God Almighty instructing her to decree the banishment of Lucifer from the city limits.
She complied, drafting a proclamation that left no room for doubt: “Be it known from this day forward that Satan, ruler of darkness, giver of evil, destroyer of what is good and just, is not now, nor ever again will be, a part of this town of Inglis.” Invoking “our authority over the devil in Jesus’s name,” the mayor said, “we command all Satanic and demonic forces to cease their activities and depart the town of Inglis.”
The proclamation, signed by the town clerk and stamped with the town seal, was inserted in four posts, one of which was placed at each entrance to the town.
Whether it drove out much wickedness is open to question. Lots of calls came into the mayor’s office from people identifying themselves as the Prince of Darkness, which suggests that the proclamation didn’t sever telephone links from Hades to Inglis. Somebody under a dark influence stole the posts and the messages, forcing the mayor to have them replaced. A police spokesman admitted, “There hasn’t been what I would call a mathematical drop in crimes.”
Some residents expressed embarrassment, with one even comparing Risher to the Taliban–signs, perhaps, that Satan’s hold on local minds has not been broken entirely. After the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to go to court, the town council renounced the decree and had the posts removed from town property. The ACLU says it is acting on behalf of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, but one suspects Risher and her supporters are convinced a certain fallen angel is guiding its actions instead.
In time, though, even the devil may tire of hanging around where he’s clearly not wanted. That possibility may alarm residents of nearby towns who fear he may relocate to their communities. But more likely he’ll go all the way to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. That’s not to say that part of Florida is the embodiment of evil, but he’s got to feel more welcome among folks who cheer for the Devil Rays.
