Case File Spoiler Do Not Unseal Dupont Investigations Spoilers Ahead - Do Not Unseal
The Deceiver
When Nige returned to the Cairo, he discovered something unexpected after Lilah Barr hired men to clear Phillip's "Oddball Horde."
Nige phoned about some "spooky" symbol maked on the flooring. He didn't recognize it, but when I returned after our ordeal, I sure as heck did.
The symbol harkens back to the Carthaginian pantheon of gods. Wife of Ba'al Hammon.
Tanit: The Lunar Goddess
Her symbol looks like it could mark the ladies' room. Sometimes they added a crescent and sphere.
Sometimes the crescent is up or otherwise depicted turned down, or absent.
Her image seems to vary widely.
I'd bet this is her true form. A beast!
Gustave Flaubert's novel Salammbo involves some fools who steal a magic veil (Zaimph) draped around Tanit's statue in her temple at Carthage.
Everything went south from there.
In desperation, Carthage sacrificed their children to the deity Moloch.
The first issue with Flaubert's yarn is ancient Carthage didn't worship Moloch! Guess who?
Second, French archeologists in the 20's discovered a trove of children's remains at the the same spot where they think Carthaginians sacrificed animals to their gods. Put two and two together...
Roman historian Diodorus Siculus confirms Carthage's sick child sacrificing ritual. Statute of Tanit with babe in arms, they omitted scraggin the Kiddies.
A Christian scholar and contemporary of Perpetua, named Tertullian, claims nere a Christian in Carthage was unaffected by a demon. He also asserts demons diSguised themselves as souls of the dead, driving folks to premature deaths.
Clement of Alexandria posits the Greco-Roman gods were never gods but demons in disguise. Demons tricked the masses into making sacrifices in their names through their incredible abilities.
So, back to Perpetua. Roman Emperor Septimius Severus allegedly attended Perpetua's martyrdom.
The early Christian historian Eusebius compares the wrath of Severus's persecution against Christians to the coming of the Antichrist. So, I'm guessing the old gods (demons) of Carthage got miffed when the Romans soon converted to Christianity-cuttin
What if Phillip saw an imposter of Perpetua—some ancient evil from Carthage out for revenge...
9. The Solution
Once, a plague afflicted the ancient city of Ephesus in modern Turkey. Many died before they discovered the source of their woes...
Apollonius of Tyana discovered the Ephesians suffered not from some malady, but by a demonic presence preying on the population.
Apollonius found the demon hiding as an old beggar near Ephesus's theater.
They stoned this beggar to death, but when they uncovered the stones a mangy, rabid dog crawled out from the beggar's mouth. Vile.
Philostratus of Lemnos claims a statute of Hercules at Ephesus marks the spot where they stoned the beggar. But I found more than one. Still, stoning isn't the best option.
Josephus mentions God imparting wisdom onto king Solomon to drive out demons, which he passed onto others. And it worked!
There's only one place I'd find it, and its right next to the damn Cairo Bldg. Gultekin's Antiques 1603 Seventeenth Street NW
Article Reads: NINE-YEAR-OLD MURDERS PARENTS, TAKES HER OWN LIFE IN DEMONIC HORROR Catholic Archdiocese Approved Exorcism events have thrust the demonic possession. normally quiet streets of Somersby's meticulous Dupont Circle into a state of invest
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Part V - The Lover