Vicar warns of 'sinister' activity after dead animals left at church by 'Satanists'

The vicar of a countryside church previously targeted by suspected Satanists has warned of 'sinister' goings-on after the bodies of dead animals were discovered deliberately left there.

Reverend David Bacon raised the prospect of 'witchcraft' after a cat was found by congregation members hanging 'horribly' from a flagpole.

This followed the discovery of a dead fox on the doorstep of the 12th century church just a few weeks ago.

Rev Bacon said that the group of women who found the cat when they came to clean St Peter's Church in Bramshaw, Hants, and get it ready for Christmas had been left 'unsettled'.

St Peter's Church in Bramshaw, in the New Forest (Roger Arbon/Solent News)

In 2019, the same New Forest village was terrorised by suspected Satanists who stabbed sheep and sprayed them with pentagrams and graffitied Rev Bacon's 12th-century church with the same occult markings.

The vicar said he isn't sure who is behind this, saying it could be people 'just angry at the world' or it could be people concerned with witchcraft.

He said: "The cat - rather horribly - was found hanging from the flagpole. The fox was left on the doorstep, but it's very unlikely it died there naturally.

"The cat was found by a group of ladies on Monday. They were coming in to clean the church for Christmas but found it on the flagpole. It was really upsetting for them.

A sheep found dead by the church in 2019 (Solent News)

The animals were slaughtered and sprayed with pentagrams (Solent News)

"Every so often we get things like this happening. It makes everybody feel very uncomfortable.

"I can't say definitively if it's linked to the sheep killings from a few years ago.

"We have no idea what motivated this. Are they just angry at life in general, or against the church, or is it linked to witchcraft? I can't say.

"But the sheep killings were much more sophisticated. The dead fox felt a lot less organised.

The sheep found dead on a lane in Cadnam, Hampshire, with a pitchfork and cross left beside it in 2019 (Solent News)

"The sheep killings were much more sophisticated," the unsettled vicar said (Solent News)

"It's really unsettling and sinister for everyone. We're not sure what will happen next, if anything.

"I have no idea why it is happening in our area. If it is connected to witchcraft, then the New Forest has been linked to witchcraft for hundreds of years.

"But it could just be random acts of nastiness. It's all pretty horrible for those who find the dead animals."