☠️ Mystery Monday: Anton LaVey, The Church of Satan, and The Curse of Jayne Mansfield

Hollywood has its legends. Some are glamorous, some are tragic, >> [music] >> and some refuse to die. Today's mystery begins with one of the most famous blonde bombshells of the 1950s, a woman often compared to Marilyn Monroe. A woman whose beauty captivated millions, a woman who seemed to have everything. Yet, within a few years, whispers of occult rituals, satanic ceremonies, mysterious curses, and an unexplained fatal crash would forever become attached to her name. Did Jayne Mansfield simply become the victim of a terrible highway accident? Or did she unknowingly step into something much darker? Today, we're separating documented history from decades of rumor as we explore one of Hollywood's strangest [music] mysteries. This is the curse of Jayne Mansfield. Jayne Mansfield wasn't simply another Hollywood actress. She was brilliant. Most people don't realize she reportedly had an exceptionally high IQ >> [music] >> and studied and spoke multiple languages. She was trained in piano and violin and had [music] ambitions that exceeded far beyond the blonde bombshell image that studios promoted. >> [music] >> By the mid-50s, she had become one of the biggest celebrities in America. But, fame came with a cost. >> [snorts] >> Hollywood executives often cast her in roles that emphasized glamour over talent. >> [music] >> Behind the scenes, she struggled to be taken seriously. She constantly reinvented herself through public stunts, appearing at premieres with exotic animals, wearing outrageous gowns, and creating headlines wherever she went. As her career began to cool in the 1960s, she increasingly turned to nightclub performances, television appearances, [music] and publicity opportunities to remain relevant. It would be one of these opportunities that changed [music] everything. But before we go any further, you guys know what to do. Please hit that subscribe button and give us a like. As always, such a great big thank you to all of our patrons, our producers, our Substack donors, as well as our YouTube members. Without you guys, this work would not be possible. If you like what you see here and would like to support the work we do here on Esoteric Atlanta, all those links are down in the description box below. Welcome to Esoteric Atlanta. My name is Bryce, and today we're talking about the curse of Jayne Mansfield. >> [music] [music] [bell] >> Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19th, [music] 1933 in Pennsylvania. She was the only child of Herbert William Palmer and Vera Jeffrey Palmer. >> [music] >> Sadly, in 1936, while driving with 3-year-old Jayne in the car, her dad had a massive heart attack and passed away. [music] In 1939, when Jayne was 6, her mom remarried sales engineer Harry Lawrence Peers and moved the family to Dallas, Texas. Once in Texas, Jayne became known as Vera Jayne Peers. Jayne always had stars in her eyes. As a young girl, she wanted to be just like Shirley Temple. By the age of 12, she was enrolled in dancing classes. She also excelled at both the violin and the piano. [music] At a party on Christmas Eve in 1949, she met Paul Mansfield. Five months later, >> [music] >> they were married. She was 17 and 3 months pregnant. >> [music] >> On November 8th of 1950, Jayne gave birth to her daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield. By 1952, [music] Mansfield was taking classes at the University of Texas. Her husband, Paul, was called into the Army Reserve for the Korean War. So, while he served, she was living at Gordon Camp in Georgia. >> [snorts] >> But in 1954, everything changed [music] when Paul agreed to move to Los Angeles to help Jayne pursue her acting ambitions. >> [music] >> Paul was never super supportive of Jayne's dreams of being a Hollywood starlet. [music] He figured by moving to California and letting her pursue her career, she would eventually grow tired and want to move back to Texas. Once they got to California, they lived in a very small apartment in Venice. Jayne, a pet lover, had her Great Dane, her three cats, her two Chihuahuas, a poodle who was dyed pink, and a [music] rabbit. Once they moved to California, they started to argue a lot about Jayne's ambitions, rumored infidelity, and of course, their animals. And on top of that, both Jayne and Paul were very, very young. At this point, the Mansfields decided to dissolve their marriage. They separated in 1955 and officially filed for divorce in 1956 [music] in California, with Paul filing for divorce in 1957 in Texas. Interestingly enough, >> [music] >> he cited mental cruelty. Now, just a side note for the people listening who are not from the United States, >> [music] >> typically when one files for divorce, it doesn't matter which state it's in, it's upheld federally. But what tends to happen if there is a bitter divorce is that one will file in one state and the other will run and file in another state to try to get a leg up on their ex-partner. And it does seem that this is what Paul was trying to do because before he filed for his own divorce in 1957, >> [music] >> he had in 1956 sought custody of Jayne Marie, alleging that Jayne was an unfit mother because she appeared nude in Playboy. This attempt did fail >> [music] >> and the Mansfields received their divorce papers on January 8th of 1958. [music] Now, I wanted to hop on here with you guys to kind of have a heart-to-heart as we talk about Jayne Mansfield's career in Hollywood. >> [music] >> Because the more I deep dive into Jayne, the more I realize that I think that there's a lot [music] that we misunderstand about her. Now, of course, we're talking about Jayne Mansfield because we're going to be looking into the Kennedys on Wednesday [music] as we go through Fritz Springmeier's information into these bloodline families. And of course, Jayne Mansfield does pop up along with Marilyn Monroe in the Kennedy files. And of course, you know, we [music] can say that Jayne did it to herself, right? If there's no conspiracy here, then why was she parading around with Anton LaVey with the Church of Satan with its inception. We also know that there is a lot of three letter agencies [music] involvement in Hollywood and of course that has to be recognized and honored within the context of this story. However, I think sometimes >> [music] >> what we tend to do is we tend to come at these people with black and white thinking. [music] And the more that I researched a lot of these people and and this work, the more I kind of start to like them. And I know that sounds probably pretty odd. >> [music] >> But there's there's a human quality to each and every person. We're all human beings. And sometimes situations are not black and white. In fact, most of the time they are shades of gray. So I wanted to pause here in the timeline of Jane's life just to have a little bit of a conversation about the early years of Jane in Hollywood. Now again, Jane was allegedly incredibly smart. Um I've seen in multiple places that she had an IQ of about 160. That's really, really high. She spoke about some people claimed seven seven [music] seven different languages and obviously was a pianist as well as played the violin. It appears that Jane wasn't you all all of this this [music] this research material, books written on Jane are very salacious and scandalous [music] and they talk about her love of attention and stardom and I and there might there might be some truth to that, but I don't think that's the full story. [music] I think that Jane was an artist first and foremost. You see a lot of interviews with her where especially in the beginning she really wanted to do serious [music] work. She wanted to be taken seriously as an actress. She didn't really want to play the blonde bimbo. In fact, people said that she was the smartest dumbest bimbo in in Hollywood. She was probably a lot smarter than a lot of the men that she was was working with and working for. And as I was researching Jane, um watching a ton of interviews, people who knew her, digging deep into conspiratorial blogs and evidence, I I felt a lot of empathy. I started to feel a lot of empathy for her. Um [music] simply because as a woman myself, I I started to realize that only by the grace of God was I born in a time period that did not resemble Jane's. [music] And you know, I'm not I'm not a super feminist or anything like that, but back in the '50s and into the [music] '60s and before, during Jane's time, women were were really good for one thing, especially in showbiz. >> [music] >> Yeah, there were great, you know, Shakespeare, great playwrights, and and Jane [music] did do some theater, which we're going to get into, but as far as Tinseltown is concerned, >> [music] >> the only way for her to maintain work was to play the part the men wanted her to play because the men were the ones writing the checks. They were the ones that were [music] giving people jobs. At this point, especially after she divorced Paul, she is a single mother at this point. >> [music] >> Now, I'm not saying Paul was a great guy. In fact, through my research, I I don't really think he was that great of a husband to Jane. [music] Um but again, they were both really, really young, so it could have just been mistakes of youth. But nonetheless, she had this young daughter, and [music and snorts] she was trying to support herself and her child and do what she wanted to do. There are so many interviews out there, archived interviews out there that I've watched with [music] Jane, where in some of the interviews, especially with female interviewers, where you can tell she feels a little bit more comfortable, she's basically saying, "I'm playing the part people want me to play >> [music] >> in order to get a foot in the door." So, she was very well well aware of what she was doing >> [music] >> in order to try to get herself into a position where she could play the parts she wanted to play. Unfortunately, that never really panned out for her. And of course, her life was cut short. >> [music] >> But nonetheless, there are interviews with men where she's trying really hard to have a serious conversation, [music] and the men keep bringing it back to her looks. There is one very famous interview where she is trying to show the interviewee [music] that she can play the violin, and he just says, "Why don't you kiss me?" Like, she never was taken seriously. >> [music] >> And again, as a woman, I can't help but have empathy for her. Oh, but by the grace of God was I born in 1983. Because doing what I do here on YouTube, and doing putting my work and my research out there, [music] I have not had to play the game that Jane had to play at all. And I wonder if if Jane had been born later, like in my timeline, would she have been more successful? But I also wonder if I had been born in Jane's timeline, [music] would I have had to do the things Jane had to do? Now, yes, she did model for Playboy. I don't really have an opinion about that, to be honest [music] with you, cuz there are a lot of people who have done that. And again, I think we have to give her some grace, >> [music] >> give her some mercy, and give her some empathy. As a woman, especially if you're a woman watching this. And I think for men, [music] you can have men today in today's time, you can understand what we're saying. We will see as Jayne goes along her career and her life that it does seem like she does struggle with what we [music] call depression now. Of course, we can't diagnose, but you can definitely start to see through the retelling of her story or different decisions she was making that what she had hoped would happen never happened. Now, as we get to Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan, [music] you know, part of me wonders, was this just a publicity stunt? [music] Was it a publicity stunt in order for her to stay relevant? Because we do know she did do that. [music] She would take every publicity offer that she could get [music] in order to play the game of Hollywood to keep herself relevant >> [music] >> so that she eventually get that role, that role where she wasn't playing the bimbo, where she was playing a serious part. [music] And so, coming into the study of Jayne Mansfield, of course, it's leading to the Kennedys, [music] I have a a very nuanced view of her. I don't know if she was really consciously aware of what she was doing or if she was looking [music] at what she was doing from a different perspective. And if that perspective was possibly to try to get herself more work. But with that being said, let's keep going in the timeline. I just wanted to pop in to ask [music] you to keep an open mind and put yourself in Jayne's shoes as we go through her life story. >> And before we go deeper into Jayne Mansfield, just a brief word from our sponsor, Fusion Body Studio. Looking for a workout that leaves you feeling stronger, more stable, [music] and more grounded in your body? Well, meet the 60-minute all levels Fusion Flow from Fusion Fusion Studio. This class was led by and created by me. I'm a KBJAY authorized teacher and with us we have senior teacher Todd Roderick demonstrating. 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Start your 7-day free trial today at Fusion Body Studio and discover [music] what happens when movement becomes your foundation for living. All right, you guys. So let's once again review Jayne's life and her career before we get into the crux of our story, which is Jayne Mansfield's connection to Anton LaVey, the Church of Satan, and potentially her ties to the three-letter agencies [music] and the Kennedy brothers. Before she was Jayne Mansfield, she was Vera Jayne Palmer. And before Hollywood turned her into one of the most recognizable blonde bombshells of the 1950s, she was something Hollywood didn't quite know what to do with. She was intelligent. [music] She was ambitious. She was musically gifted. >> [music] >> She studied acting. She wanted to become a serious actress [music] and a serious artist. But she was also a young wife and mother. But Hollywood wasn't necessarily interested in Vera Jayne Palmer. Hollywood was interested [music] in creating a fantasy. And Jayne Mansfield would become one of the most successful women of her generation at turning herself into a fantasy. The platinum blonde hair, the tiny [music] waist, the exaggerated curves, the breathy voice, the provocative dresses, the publicity stunts, the laughter, the constant photographs, the deliberate [music] comparisons to Marilyn Monroe. Everything about Jayne Mansfield seemed larger than life. But here's the question I want to ask. >> [music] >> How much of Jayne Mansfield was actually Jayne Mansfield? >> [music] >> And how much of her was a character? Because the woman behind that image was considerably more complicated than the stereotype Hollywood sold to the public. >> [music] >> She was a mother of five. She was married three times. >> [music] >> She studied at multiple universities. She had musical ambitions. She wanted dramatic acting roles that actually meant something. >> [music] >> She was a businesswoman. And she understood publicity at a level that was decades [music] ahead of its time. And eventually the image that made her famous may also have become the very thing [music] that prevented her from becoming the actress she truly wanted to be. >> [music] >> Again, this is the story of Jayne Mansfield. >> [music] >> Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19th of 1933 >> [music] >> in Pennsylvania. Her father, Herbert William Palmer, was an attorney and a musician. Her mother, Vera, had worked as a school teacher. >> [music] >> And when Jayne was only 3 years old, tragedy struck. Her father died of a heart attack while driving with the family. [music] Her mother was left to raise her alone. But eventually, her mother remarried and the family moved to Dallas, Texas. And Dallas is where the girl who would eventually become Jayne Mansfield began dreaming about Hollywood. >> [music] >> She studied. She played violin. She became interested in acting, music, and dance. [music] She was academically ambitious. And according to later accounts, she had an exceptionally high IQ. But one of the problems with looking backwards at Jayne Mansfield is that we tend to see her through the lens of what she eventually became. So, we imagine that she must have always been this exaggerated blonde character. >> [music] >> But she wasn't. The person who existed before the fame was much more complicated. She wasn't simply trying to become famous. She wanted to become somebody. And she understood very [music] early that Hollywood was a place where identity itself could become a commodity. >> [music] >> In 1949, Jayne met Paul Mansfield. She was still a teenager. They fell in love and they married in 1950. >> [music] >> Jayne was only 17 and she was already pregnant. On November 8th of 1950, [music] she gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Jayne Marie Mansfield. Think about that for a moment. >> [music] >> At the very beginning of the story that would eventually produce one of America's most famous sex symbols, Jayne Mansfield was already a teenage wife and mother. [music] She wasn't a single Hollywood party girl. She wasn't [music] simply chasing fame. She was, in fact, raising a child. And yet, she had not abandoned the dream. According to Jayne Mansfield's official biography, Paul believed motherhood might distract her from her Hollywood ambitions. >> [music] >> Well, it didn't. In fact, Jayne continued studying and pursuing acting. The family eventually moved to California, and Paul remained there only a short time before the marriage broke down. The couple divorced, and Jayne kept the name Mansfield. Why? >> [music] >> Because she believed it sounded right. It sounded like a Hollywood name. >> [music] >> And that little detail tells us something about Jayne. She understood branding. [music] Before social media, before influencers, before celebrity branding became an industry, [music] Jayne Mansfield was already thinking about the construction of a public identity. >> [music] >> She wasn't Vera Palmer anymore. No, she was Jayne Mansfield. And Jayne Mansfield was going to Hollywood. When Jayne arrived in Hollywood, she wasn't entering an empty market. Hollywood already understood the power of the blonde bombshell. There had been Jean Harlow, Betty Grable, Lana Turner, and now there was Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn had become the defining blonde sex symbol for the era. >> [music and snorts] >> So, if Jayne wanted to compete, she needed to be noticed. And she understood something incredibly [music] important. Being talented wasn't necessarily enough. Hollywood was a machine. And that machine needed something [music] it could sell. So, Jayne began transforming herself. Her hair became platinum blonde. Her makeup became more dramatic. Her clothing became more revealing. Her body became part of the marketing. Her voice became breathier. Her mannerisms became exaggerated. And gradually, Vera Jayne Palmer disappeared. >> [music] >> Jayne Mansfield appeared. But there was something else happening. She wasn't simply becoming a blonde. >> [music] >> She was creating a character. One of the most fascinating contradiction in Jayne Mansfield's life is the stereotype attached to her. She became famous for playing the dumb blonde. >> [music] >> But she was not an unintelligent woman. She had pursued higher education. She had studied music. >> [music] >> She had an interest in literature and languages. And she had ability. >> [music] >> She was ambitious. And she was extremely conscious of the media. So why would an intelligent woman allow herself to be presented as intellectually vacant? Perhaps because she understood the game. Hollywood had already created a category, the blonde bombshell. And within that category was another character. >> [music] >> The beautiful woman who did not know how beautiful she was. The woman who could barely finish a sentence. >> [music] >> The woman who seemed overwhelmed by her own sexuality. The woman who existed to be looked [music] at. Jayne could play that character. And she played it extraordinarily well. But here's where I think we have to be careful. We can't simply say Jayne was secretly intelligent, therefore everything else was fake. No, that's too simplistic. >> [music] >> People are complicated. Jayne could genuinely enjoy glamour and sexuality while also being intelligent. >> [music] >> She could enjoy being outrageous while also wanting serious acting roles. She could love attention while also wanting respect. And she could deliberately exaggerate her persona without that persona being entirely [music] false. This is what makes her so interesting. Jayne Mansfield understood something that many celebrities of her era didn't fully understand. That the photograph was part of the performance. Maybe even more important than the performance. Every appearance could become publicity. >> [music] >> Every dress could become publicity. Every relationship could become publicity. >> [music] >> Every party could become publicity. And Jane became incredibly good at generating photographs. One of the most famous examples happened in 1957. >> [music] >> Sophia Loren had just arrived in Hollywood and Paramount held a dinner in her honor in Beverly Hills. Jayne Mansfield attended. She arrived wearing a very revealing dress. And photographers captured the [music] now famous moment when Loren looked sideways toward Mansfield's cleavage. The photograph became an international sensation. The Library of Congress actually cataloged the image as part of its Hollywood glamour collection and described the incident as a publicity stunt that generated worldwide attention. And whether every detail of the evening was orchestrated beforehand or simply became a spectacular piece of publicity afterward, the result was the same. Jayne Mansfield had stolen the photograph. [music] Sophia Loren was the international star being welcomed to Hollywood. [music] But the next morning, everyone was talking about Jayne Mansfield. That was the genius of Jane. >> [music] >> She understood attention. And in Hollywood, attention was [music] and still is currency. In 1955, Jane appeared in Playboy. >> [music] >> The exposure helped elevate her profile. But she wasn't satisfied with being a model. She wanted [music] acting. She wanted Broadway. She wanted movies. And she got her opportunity. >> [music] >> She appeared in the Broadway production of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. Suddenly, >> [music] >> she wasn't merely a pin-up. She was a performer. And Hollywood started paying attention. >> [music] >> Then came 1956. The Girl Can't Help It. This was the movie that changed everything. Jayne [music] played Jerri Jordan. The movie was filled with rock and roll performers and was designed partly around the phenomenon of the sexually irresistible [music] woman. And Jayne fit the role perfectly. She was funny. She was exaggerated. She [music] was sexy. She was theatrical. She was impossible to ignore. And the movie became a major success. Now, Jayne Mansfield wasn't simply a woman trying to break into Hollywood. She was a star. >> [music] >> 20th Century Fox saw what it had and the studio began positioning Jayne as a successor to Marilyn Monroe. In fact, Fox marketed Mansfield in relationship to Monroe, famously presenting her as a kind of oversized blonde successor. >> [music] >> And this is where the story becomes fascinating. Because Jayne had not simply entered Hollywood. She had entered into a competition she didn't necessarily create. Marilyn Monroe was already the biggest blonde bombshell in America. And Jayne Mansfield was now being compared to her. And this comparison followed Jayne for much of her career. But Jayne's personality was different. [music] Marilyn could appear vulnerable. Jayne was often deliberately outrageous. Marilyn's sexuality could seem melancholy. Jayne's sexuality was frequently comedic. Marilyn seemed to inhabit the fantasy. Jayne seemed [music] to wink at the audience while performing it. And that distinction matters because Jayne wasn't merely a victim of Hollywood's image machine. She was also extraordinarily good at using it. >> [music] >> She knew what people wanted to see and she gave it to them. Sometimes she gave them even more. But there was another Jayne Mansfield >> [music] >> and she desperately wanted people to see her. After the success of The Girl Can't Help It, she took on more serious material. In 1957, she appeared in The Wayward Bus based on John Steinbeck's novel. She wanted to prove that she could act. >> [music] >> She wanted to move before the bombshell and this became one of the recurring tragedies of her career. The more famous Jayne became for her body and her publicity stunts, the harder it became for audiences and [music] studios to see her as an actress. The public had already decided who Jayne Mansfield was and Hollywood had a difficult time allowing her to become anything else. In 1957, Jayne reprised her role on Broadway in Will Success Spoil [music] Rock Hunter? She played Rita Marlowe and the character was almost a parody of the Jayne Mansfield persona herself. Beautiful, blonde, famous, completely aware of her own image. The movie essentially allowed Jayne to play a woman who understood celebrity culture. And there is something almost meta about that. >> [music] >> Jayne Mansfield was playing a character who was already playing a character. And audiences were watching an actress portray a fictional sex symbol while knowing that the actress herself was one of the most famous >> [music] >> sex symbols in America. It was almost impossible to tell where the performance ended. [music] And this brings us to one of the central theme of Jayne Mansfield's life. Did Jayne create the image? Yes. [music] Did Hollywood encourage the image? Absolutely. Did the public reward the image? [music] Without question. But eventually something happened. The character seemed more famous than the woman [music] and that's dangerous. Because once the public decides who you are, everything you do gets interpreted through that identity. If Jane made a serious film, people saw the blonde bombshell. >> [music] >> If Jane spoke about intellectual subjects, people treated it as a joke. If Jane appeared in a revealing dress, >> [music] >> people saw confirmation of the stereotype. If she behaved outrageously, it became another headline. >> [music] >> She had created a machine that was now feeding itself. And then enters Mickey Hargitay. >> [music] >> Mickey was almost the perfect male counterpart to Jane. He was a bodybuilder. He was Hungarian-American. He had [music] won Mr. Universe. He had the kind of physique that made him almost as visually extraordinary as Jane herself. They met while Jane was performing at the Latin Quarter in New York. >> [music] >> Their relationship quickly became part romance and part Hollywood spectacle. They married in 1958. >> [music] >> And suddenly, Jayne Mansfield had created another image. The glamorous Hollywood couple, Jane [music] and Mickey. The blonde bombshell and the bodybuilder. They looked like they had been invented by a publicity department. But there was a real family developing behind the photographs. In December of 1958, Jane gave birth to her second child, Miklós Jeffrey [music] Hargitay Jr., known as Mickey Jr. And now something interesting was happening. Jayne Mansfield's public image was becoming increasingly sexualized at exactly the same time she was becoming increasingly identified with motherhood. >> [music] >> In 1960, she gave birth to her third child, Zoltan. Then came another transformation. >> [music] >> The family moved into the famous Pink Palace. The Pink Palace became one of the most famous celebrity homes in Hollywood. Pink walls, hearts, Cupid imagery, ornamentation, excess. [music] It looked almost exactly like the public imagined Jayne Mansfield's [music] home should look. And perhaps that's because Jayne understood that her home was part of her image. >> [music] >> The house wasn't simply somewhere she lived. It was part of the mythology. Jayne Mansfield was creating an entire world around herself. A world of [music] pink, a world of glamour, a world of children, a world of Hollywood fantasy. [music] >> [snorts] >> And yet behind those walls, her personal life was becoming increasingly complicated. [music] By the early 1960s, Jayne and Mickey's marriage was beginning to unravel. Their relationship [music] became complicated by career pressures, infidelity rumors, separation, [music] and divorce proceedings. They eventually divorced in 1963. But Jayne's life was already moving into another chapter. And this is where the story of her children becomes especially important. [music] Because Jayne wasn't simply collecting marriages. She was building a complicated family. [music] During the breakdown of her marriage to Mickey, Jayne became involved with an Italian entertainer named Nelson Sardelli. [music] Their relationship became part of an increasingly complicated story surrounding Jayne's personal life. >> [music] >> And then Jayne became pregnant. The pregnancy would eventually become one of the great family secrets surrounding her daughter. Because on January 23rd of 1964, Jayne gave birth to Mariska Hargitay. >> [music] >> For decades, the public understood Mariska to be Mickey Hargitay's daughter. Mickey [music] raised her. He was her father in the sense that matters enormously to a child. But there was another biological story. >> [music] >> And decades later, Mariska would confront it. This is where we have to leave the sensationalism behind for a moment. >> [music] >> Because this isn't simply Hollywood gossip. It's a family. It's a child. It's an identity. Mariska Hargitay eventually learned that Nelson was her biological father. >> [music] >> She later described the experience of discovering this truth and confronting what it meant to her identity. >> [music] >> The story became part of Mariska's 2025 documentary My Mom Jane. >> [music] >> The documentary is important because it reframes the entire story. For years, Jayne Mansfield was treated as a caricature. But now her daughter was asking, [music] "Who was my mother really? Not the blonde bombshell, not the tabloid celebrity, not the woman in the famous photographs, but the mother, the woman, the person." And Mariska's investigation ultimately brought her the identity of her biological father into the public conversation. Nelson was her biological father. Mickey Hargitay was the man who raised her. [music] Those two facts can coexist, and that distinction is very important. In 1964, Jane married Matt Cimber. [music] Matt was an actor and director who had worked with Jane. Their relationship developed during a period when Jane's career was already changing. Hollywood wasn't offering her the same opportunities it once had. >> [music] >> The blonde bombshell craze was changing, the studio system was changing, the culture was changing. [music] And Jane was trying to find somewhere to go next. In October of 1965, Jane gave birth to her fifth child, Antonio Cimber. Five children, three marriages, multiple relationships, >> [music] >> a Hollywood career, a nightclub career, a business career, and a public image that had become almost impossible to escape. [music] Jane was now living several lives simultaneously. She was an actress, a mother, a wife, [music] a celebrity, a businesswoman, a performer, and someone trying to remain relevant in an industry [music] that was already moving on. By the 1960s, the Hollywood landscape was changing. The studio system was weakening, >> [music] >> the old glamour culture was evolving. The blonde bombshell was no longer the only fantasy available to audiences. >> [music] >> Jayne's career slowed. She increasingly worked outside the major studio systems. [music] She appeared on television. She performed at nightclubs. She worked in Europe. She accepted roles that were increasingly different [music] from the prestigious films she had once hoped to make. And the more serious an actress Jayne had wanted to become seemed increasingly difficult to find. Her image [music] had become her prison. She could still get attention, but attention wasn't the same as respect. >> [music] >> And publicity wasn't the same thing as a career. Jayne continued finding ways to make headlines. >> [music] >> She understood publicity better than almost anyone. She experimented with music. She appeared on television. >> [music] >> She made even more outrageous public appearances. She even became involved in a tongue-in-cheek 1964 presidential campaign. [music] She wasn't going to go quietly. But there is something almost heartbreaking about watching it from the [music] distance of history. Because Jayne Mansfield had spent her entire career making herself impossible to ignore. And eventually it all seemed like Hollywood had stopped looking. This is the point where I think we should step back for a moment. >> [music] >> Because it's very easy to make Jayne Mansfield into a punchline. The hair, the dresses, the voice, the parties, the men, >> [music] >> the marriages, the publicity. But imagine being 34 years old. You've been famous for roughly a decade. You've had five children, three marriages. [music] You've been one of the most photographed women in America. And [snorts] yet the role you wanted most, [music] that of the serious actress, has largely escaped you. What do you do? Well, you keep performing. You keep traveling. You keep creating. You keep trying to make people look at you. And Jayne Mansfield did exactly just [music] that until the final night. On June 29th, 1967, Jayne Mansfield was traveling through Mississippi towards New Orleans after a nightclub performance. She was traveling with her companion and her lawyer, Samuel Brody, her driver, Ronald Harrison, and her three [music] children, Mickey Jr., Zoltan, and 3-year-old Mariska. The vehicle was traveling at night. >> [music] >> It approached a tractor trailer. The car collided with the rear of the truck. Jayne Mansfield was killed. >> [music] >> She was 34 years old. Samuel Brody was killed. The driver [music] was killed. The three children in the rear of the vehicle survived. Again, Mariska was only 3 years old. And suddenly, the woman who had spent her entire life constructing an image became frozen [music] in time. Jayne Mansfield was no longer a living person who could change. She became the photograph. [music] She became the memory. She became the myth. But there was another legacy from the accident. But before we get into the main controversy, the main crux of this mystery [music] Monday, if you like legends and horror stories and unsolved [music] mysteries, then you would love our membership. We are currently now on season 2 of Esoteric Atlanta Members Only, where we are discussing the phenomenon of black-eyed kids. Here's a brief look at what you get in this season 2 deep dive. What if the stories you've heard weren't just stories? This season, Esoteric Atlanta Memberships takes you deep into one of the internet's most chilling mysteries, the black-eyed kids. Are they urban legends, psychological phenomenon, something paranormal, or something else entirely. Join us as we examine eyewitness accounts, medical theories, folklore, sleep paralysis, psychology, and the unsettling patterns that continue to emerge decades after the first report. We'll separate fact from fiction, explore the evidence, and ask the question most people are too afraid to ask. With exclusive investigations, extended discussions, expert analysis, and members-only content, season 2 goes far beyond what we can really share publicly. If you love mysteries, folklore, unexplained phenomenon, and of course critical thinking, this is your invitation. Become a member of Esoteric Atlanta today, unlock season 2, and step into the investigation. But, be warned. The next knock at your door might not be just your imagination. We'd love to have you around the campfire as we discuss these horrifying stories. If you want to join us around the campfire and talk about the black-eyed kids, you can hit the join button below. There are Hollywood stories that sound too strange to be true. And then there are stories that sound so strange that you almost don't care whether they're true. >> [music] >> You just want to know how the story begins. Jayne Mansfield had already become one of the most recognizable women in America. >> [music] >> Again, she was the blonde bombshell, right? The actress, the mother of five, the woman who lived inside the famous pink palace. [music] But, towards the end of her life, Jayne Mansfield became involved with a very different kind of celebrity. A man who called himself the black pope. >> [music] >> The man who wore black robes, a man who surrounded himself with occult imagery, >> [music] >> a man who established the Church of Satan in San San His name was Anton LaVey. And around Jayne Mansfield and Anton LaVey grew one of the strangest legends in Hollywood history. A story involving Satanism, >> [music] >> a supposed curse, a jealous lover, multiple car accidents, a prediction of [music] death, and finally, a photograph. Because according to the story, and on the very morning Jayne Mansfield died, Anton LaVey was sitting at home cutting photographs out of magazines. He turned the page [music] and realized that his scissors had cut directly through a photograph of Jayne Mansfield's neck. And only a minute later, he received the news. [music] Jayne Mansfield was dead. Was it a coincidence? Was it a publicity story? Was it a curse? Was Anton LaVey one of the most successful myth makers of the 20th century. By the middle of the 1960s, Jayne Mansfield's Hollywood career was no longer what it had been. >> [music] >> The great studio years were behind her. She was performing in nightclubs. She was appearing on television. She was traveling. [music] She was trying to remain relevant. She had developed a reputation for embracing the unusual. It was during this period that she crossed paths with Anton LaVey. LaVey had created an extraordinary persona for himself. >> [music] >> He presented himself as an occultist. He performed rituals. He collected strange artifacts. >> [music] >> He surrounded himself with black clothing, theatrical imagery, and symbols associated with Satanism. In 1966, LaVey formally founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco. And suddenly, he wasn't simply an eccentric occult figure. He was becoming a celebrity himself. And this is important >> [music] >> because LaVey understood celebrity culture. And Jayne Mansfield understood celebrity culture. They were, in some ways, perfect for one another. >> [music] >> LaVey needed famous people around him. Jayne was fascinated by the unusual and both understood the power of publicity. LaVey lived in what >> [music] >> became known as the Black House in San Francisco and Jayne Mansfield visited him. Photographs were taken. >> [music] >> Some of them are extraordinary. There are photographs of Jayne with LaVey surrounded by occult imagery. There are photographs of Jayne with the young Mariska Hargitay. >> [music] >> There are photographs of LaVey in his dramatic robes. And there was one particularly famous photograph of Jayne kneeling over a tiger skin while LaVey stands behind her wearing his distinctive occult regalia. [music] The photographs helped cement the association between the Hollywood bombshell and the self-proclaimed black pope. One documented photo session took place at Jayne's Pink Palace in Los Angeles in 1967 where photographer Walter Fischer photographed Mansfield and LaVey together. From this point forward, the mythology became much harder to separate from the facts. But was Jayne Mansfield a Satanist? [music] This is where we need to slow down a bit because you'll find many sources claiming that Jayne Mansfield was a member of the Church of Satan. >> [music] >> Some go much further. Some describe her as a priestess. Some describe rituals. Some claim she participated in black mass ceremonies. >> [music] >> And Anton LaVey himself later claimed that Mansfield was a member of the Church of Satan and even described her as a priestess himself. But here's the important distinction. >> [music] >> These claims largely came from LaVey and later accounts of the LaVey mythology. We don't have reliable independent evidence establishing every dramatic claim made about Mansfield's participation. What we do know is that she knew LaVey. She visited him. They were photographed together. >> [music] >> And she was sufficiently comfortable with him at their relationship became a significant part of the story [music] surrounding her final years. The rest requires qualification because there's a huge difference between Jayne Mansfield knew Anton LaVey and Jayne Mansfield devoted herself to Satan. Those are not the same claims. We also have to understand again that Mansfield was really good at publicity. Now, before I started deep diving this story again, I had deep dived it before years ago. But this time I took a little bit more of an open-minded approach. >> [music] >> And I really don't know you guys. Like I I Jane was really good at publicity. She was really good at publicity stunts. She was really good at shocking people. >> [music] >> And we know that she deeply, deeply, deeply wanted to resurrect any [music] any career that she could potentially resurrect. And all she really knew how to do with to capture attention was to be outrageous. And looking at Jayne Mansfield's life [music] outside of like gossip and conjecture and mythology, I actually see a woman who is pretty conservative. She loved her children. She was always with her children. >> [music] >> So you're telling me this woman that was really very conservative >> [music] >> was also a woman doing satanic rituals? I don't know. I don't know. Years ago I would have told you that absolutely she was a high priestess. Absolutely. But now I'm not so sure. Now I'm not so sure that she wasn't just doing a publicity stunt. I guess truthfully we'll never fully know though. >> [music] >> But let's continue. Now enters another important character, Sam Brody. Brody was Jane's companion and attorney. >> [music] >> And according to accounts from LaVey and others, Brody did not like LaVey. The two men reportedly clashed. And eventually, according to LaVey's later account, Brody became the target of a supposed magical curse. >> [music] >> This is where the story gets really dark. LaVey claimed that Brody had somehow brought the curse upon himself. He said that Jayne had been warned to stay away from Brody. And LaVey later connected the curse to Brody's eventual death in the automobile crash. >> [music] >> The crucial thing here is that this is LaVey's account of what happened. This is not proof that a supernatural curse even existed. >> [music] >> But it is absolutely part of the historical mythology surrounding the actual crash. >> [music] >> And LaVey talked about it publicly. In his interview with writer Jack Fritscher, >> [music] >> later published in Popular Witchcraft, LaVey explicitly denied that he had intended to curse Jayne herself. Instead, [music] he said the supposed curse was directed at Sam Brody, and that Mansfield had been warned to avoid him. And this is where the story takes a rather bizarre turn. Because LaVey wasn't simply saying Brody was cursed. >> [music] >> He was saying, essentially, I told him this would happen. There is another strange element to the story. >> [music] >> According to later accounts, Jayne Mansfield and Brody had survived a number of automobile accidents before the final crash. Some sources describe multiple crashes during 1966 and 1967. >> [music] >> And that became part of the legend. Imagine the narrative. A famous actress, >> [music] >> a controversial occultist, a supposed curse, a warning about automobile accidents, [music] repeated crashes, and then finally, one fatal collision. >> [music] >> It's almost too perfect as a Hollywood horror story. And that's precisely why we have to be careful with [music] it. The number and circumstances of the earlier accidents vary considerably [music] between accounts. So, rather than saying Jane survived seven crashes before the curse killed her, the more responsible way to say it is later accounts emphasize a series of automobile accidents involving Mansfield and Brody turning the final crash into part of a larger curse narrative. >> [music] >> That distinction matters because the story became bigger than the evidence. Now we arrive at the final night. Jane had been performing in Biloxi, Mississippi. She was traveling towards New Orleans. She had a television appearance scheduled. In [music] the front vehicle were Jayne Mansfield, Sam Brody, and the driver Ronald Harrison. >> [music] >> In the back were Jane's three children, Mickey Jr., Zoltan, and the young Mariska. The children were asleep. >> [music] >> And sometime around 2:00 in the morning, the car approached a tractor-trailer. The vehicle collided with the rear of the trailer. The front of the car was crushed. >> [music] >> Jayne Mansfield was killed. Sam Brody was killed. The driver was killed. >> [music] >> The three children survived. And the story of Jayne Mansfield's death becomes almost immediately surrounded by sensationalism. >> [music] >> This is one of the most disturbing myths surrounding Jayne Mansfield. For years, people repeated the claim the accident had decapitated Jayne Mansfield. >> [music] >> Newspapers and later retelling helped perpetrate the imagery. But this is not an accurate description of what happened. Her injuries were catastrophic, [music] including severe head injuries, but she was not decapitated. The rumors appear to have been fueled in part by photographs and reports involving a blond object found near the wreckage commonly described as simply a wig. >> [music] >> The image of a blond head lying beside the wreck became part of the mythology. >> [music] >> And once the story entered popular culture, it was almost impossible to remove. Jayne Mansfield became known as the blonde bombshell who had been literally separated from her head. It was a grotesque ending to an already grotesque mythologized life. >> [music] >> And this is where Anton LaVey's photograph story becomes especially eerie because LaVey had his own story about Jayne's head. According to the story later associated with LaVey, he was at home in San Francisco on the morning of June 29th, [music] 1967. He was working with photographs. Specifically, he was cutting out photographs for a scrapbook. One of the photographs was of LaVey himself. >> [music] >> It had something to do with Marilyn Monroe. LaVey was cutting around the image and then something strange happened. >> [music] >> He turned over the page. On the other side was a photograph of Jayne Mansfield >> [music] >> and his scissors had cut directly through the photograph at the level of her neck. According to the account, LaVey hadn't intended to cut the Mansfield photograph. It had simply been on the reverse side of the page. But then came the coincidence that made the story legendary. Shortly afterward, LaVey received a telephone call telling him that Jayne Mansfield was dead. >> [music] >> The time was extraordinary close. The scissors, the photograph, the neck, the death, the occultist, the curse. It was almost as somebody had written a horror movie. >> [music] >> The story appears in later accounts of LaVey's life including Blanche Barton's authorized biography and it was also dramatized and discussed [music] in the documentary Mansfield 66/67. But here's the question. [music] Did the photograph actually cause anything? No evidence established that. What we have is a bizarre coincidence that Anton LaVey himself incorporated into the mythology surrounding Jayne Mansfield. And here's another strange detail. The photograph LaVey had been cutting reportedly associated with Marilyn Monroe. Think about the symbolism. Jayne Mansfield had spent much of her career living in Marilyn Monroe's shadow. Both were blonde bombshells. Both were sexualized by Hollywood. Both became symbols of a particular era, and both [music] died young. Marilyn Monroe died in 1962. Jayne Mansfield died 5 years later. And now, according to the LaVey story, LaVey was cutting around the image connected [music] to Marilyn when he accidentally cut through Jayne's neck. It sounds almost like mythology, was closing a circle. >> [music] >> Marilyn, Jayne, the blonde bombshell, the occultist, the photograph, the death, but again, that's symbolism. It isn't evidence of a supernatural causation. Now, [music] we get to the bigger question. According to LaVey himself, yes. He claimed that a curse had been placed [music] on Sam Brody. He also claimed that Jayne had been warned, and he later connected the curse to Brody's death. [music] But here's what we don't have. We don't have scientific evidence that a supernatural force caused the accident. >> [music] >> We don't have evidence that LaVey could have caused automobile crashes through magic. And we don't have [music] evidence that Jayne's death was anything other than a tragic highway accident. What we do have is something arguably more interesting. >> [music] >> We have a man who helped build an entire public identity around Satanism, [music] and then found himself connected to the death of one of Hollywood's most famous women. And rather than rejecting the story completely, [music] LaVey became part of the story. He told it. He repeated it, and people remembered it. >> [music] >> This is where Hollywood mythology does what Hollywood mythology does [music] best. It takes a coincidence and turns it possibly into a narrative. Jayne knew LaVey, LaVey supposedly cursed Brody, [music] Brody died in the car accident. Jayne died in the same crash. Well, they accidentally cut a photograph of Jayne across the neck shortly before learning of her death. >> [music] >> And suddenly all three separate events become one story, the curse of Jayne Mansfield. The story became so compelling that eventually inspired the documentary Mansfield 66/67, [music] which deliberately explores the line between fact, rumor, satire, and mythology surrounding [music] the actress's final years. Vanity Fair described the film as an exploration of the rumors and the legends around Mansfield and LaVey, rather than a straightforward [music] factual account. Here's another possibility, too. Maybe the real story isn't whether Anton LaVey had supernatural powers. >> [music] >> Maybe the real story isn't that Anton LaVey understood the power of mythology. Think about the man himself. [music] He deliberately constructed a theatrical identity. The black house, the black robes, the rituals, the [music] symbols, the title Black Pope, the Church of Satan. He understood spectacle. >> [music] >> He understood controversy. He understood fear. And he understood celebrity. Jayne Mansfield understood exactly the same [music] thing from the Hollywood side. She spent her career constructing an image. LaVey had spent his career constructing an [music] image. They were both performers. They were both fascinated by publicity. And they both understood that people don't necessarily remember facts. >> [music] >> They remember stories. But here's one detail about this entire story that I think gets lost. [music] Jayne Mansfield was a mother. Three of her children were sitting in the backseat of that car when she died. >> [music] >> They survived. Mariska Hargitay was 3 years old. Just like Jayne was 3 years old when she was in a car accident with her father when he also died. [music] So, when we tell the story of the curse, the Satanism, and the photograph, we have to remember that they are three real human tragedies underneath [music] all of it. Three children survived the accident. Their mother didn't. Whatever anyone believes about Anton LaVey, Satanism, curses, or coincidences, >> [music] >> that part isn't mythology. That part is real. And yet the photograph remains. A pair of scissors, a magazine, a photograph [music] of Jayne Mansfield, a cut across the neck, and then a telephone call. It's one of those stories that seems almost designed to make you uncomfortable, [music] because if you believe in coincidence, it's an extraordinarily disturbing coincidence. But if you believe in the supernatural, like I do, you interpret it very differently. >> [music] >> And if you believe that LaVey was a master of self-promotion, you might see it as another piece of mythology attached [music] to his public persona. Three interpretations, one photograph, one death, and no definitive answers. So, what actually killed Jayne Mansfield? Well, the simplest answer is a car crash. Her vehicle collided with the rear tractor-trailer during an overnight journey from Biloxi towards [music] New Orleans. The accident killed Jayne, Sam Brody, and Ronald Harrison. The children survived. >> [music] >> There is no credible evidence that a supernatural curse caused the crash, but the circumstances create a perfect environment for mythology and wonder. And the mythology was then reinforced by people surrounding the story, >> [music] >> including Anton LaVey himself. But there's almost a perfect irony here. Jayne Mansfield spent her entire career creating an image. Anton LaVey spent his career creating an image. >> [music] >> Jayne became famous by exaggerating reality. LaVey became infamous by exaggerating reality. Jayne understood the power of publicity. [music] LaVey understood the power of fear. And after Jayne's death, their two worlds collided. The Hollywood bombshell, the black pope, the actress [music] and the occultist. The blonde and the dark. And somewhere between those two worlds emerged one of the strangest legends in Hollywood history. >> [music] >> So, was Jayne Mansfield cursed? I don't know. Was Sam Brody cursed? [music] I don't know. Did Anton LaVey actually possess supernatural powers? I don't know. But, did LaVey later claim that the curse had been placed on Brody? Yes, he did. Did he claim that he accidentally cut through a photograph of Jayne Mansfield's neck shortly after learning of her death? >> [music] >> Yes, he did. Did Jayne Mansfield actually know Anton LaVey? Yes, [music] she did. Were they photographed together? Yes, she did. Did Jayne Mansfield die in a horrific car accident? Absolutely. And did the combination [music] of those facts create one of the strangest celebrity legends of the 20th century? >> [music] >> Without a question. But maybe the most fascinating part isn't whether Anton LaVey's curse [music] was real. Maybe it's why we want it to be real. Because Jayne Mansfield's life already reads like a Hollywood script. >> [music] >> A beautiful young woman, a teenage bride, a mother, a struggling actress, a blonde bombshell, a Hollywood star, three marriages, five children, [music] a pink palace, a relationship with an occult celebrity, a supposed curse, a photograph cut across the neck, and then a fatal [music] crash in the middle of the night. It's almost too perfect. And perhaps that's [music] exactly why the legend refuses to die. Because Jayne Mansfield didn't simply leave behind movies. She left [music] behind mythology. And somewhere in that mythology is a photograph, a pair of scissors, and a question that no one has ever been able to answer. >> [music] >> Was it simply a coincidence? Or was something else happening behind the scenes? [music] That is where the legend of Jayne Mansfield and Anton LaVey begins. [music] All right, you guys. There's even more to this story. As you guys know, we have connections again with [music] Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe being associated with the three-letter agencies. [music] We also know that there is a lot of speculation and questions around Marilyn Monroe's passing. [music] And we also know that there's a lot of speculation around Mariska Hargitay. Mariska Hargitay seems to be pretty close [music] to Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift looks eerily similar to Anton LaVey's daughter. And so, there's a lot of other spinning wheels around this whole legend of a curse. >> [music] >> And so, it since this week we're most more focused on the Kennedys, I'm going to wait until next Monday to do a live with you guys, a Mystery Monday live, where we look at the story even deeper, and we look at the other issues [music] surrounding Jayne Mansfield. But again, I do say, you know, two things can be true. Whether or not Jayne Mansfield was a part of this celebrity [music] satanic culture or not, I have a lot of empathy for her after studying [music] her so intensely over this last few weeks. Um I've watched all the documentaries quite [music] a few times. And um my heart goes out to her and to her children. And um regardless of whether there's a cultist or not, they're still human beings. >> [music] >> And so, with that being said, guys, Kennedy the Kennedy episodes will be coming out on Wednesday. Make sure you are subscribed to our Rumble channel as well. That's where you can find all the Esoteric Atlanta uncensored episodes. >> [music] >> And do your research yourself because next Monday we're going to be going live for our Mystery Monday. And who knows? I might just drop the link in the chat so that you guys can hop up on the panel with me. And you can talk live on the to the audience as well. So, with that being said, have a wonderful day, guys. Be kind to people. Don't judge people too harshly, always choose mercy [music] over judgment. And with that being said, I'll talk to you guys very, very soon.