Explosive thrown at Satanic Temple in Salem, police say

Front of building scorched, but no injuries reported

Police responded to the Satanic Temple in Salem on Monday after someone threw an explosive device onto the building’s porch, officials said.

Officers responded to the temple at 64 Bridge St. at about 4 p.m., Salem police said in a statement. Investigators believe the device was thrown at the porch around 4:15 a.m., but no one was at the temple at the time, and it wasn’t found until afternoon, police said.

“State Police bomb technicians ensured that the device was no longer a danger and explosive ordinance detection K9s swept the location for secondary devices,” police said.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office also responded and is assisting with a “suspicious device investigation,” a spokesperson for the office said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives also provided support, police said.

Residents were initially told to avoid the area of Bridge Street between Beacon and Osgood streets while police investigated the incident, Salem police said in a post on Facebook. Police stressed that the situation had been contained and that there was no ongoing threat to the public. The on-scene investigation concluded at about 7:15 p.m., and the surrounding roads were reopened to traffic.

Lucien Greaves, cofounder and spokesperson for the Satanic Temple, said in an email that the improvised explosive was hurled at the building around 4 a.m. and “fizzled out, scorching some of the front of the house.”

Once the device was found, “law enforcement swarmed the scene and gathered all the evidence, including security footage,” Greaves said. “We have confidence that they will soon locate the perpetrator.”

Greaves said in a phone interview Monday night that he had given an informal private tour of the temple to two people around noon, before the device was found. He said he showed them the current exhibit in the temple, they looked at some books, and they socialized for about an hour.

“We came in through the back and did the whole tour, and all the while, on the front deck, I guess, was this bomb,” Greaves said.

He said he left the temple, and the device was found by a woman who manages the property. Greaves called the incident deplorable.

“This is certainly a terroristic threat,” Greaves said. “People could have been hurt . ... People come and visit from all types of different places, [and] people come and bring their families. We have family-friendly events.

“I don’t know how anybody could feel that they are justified in doing anything like this,” Greaves said.

He said the temple is a nontheistic organization, and that science should be the arbiter of claims of truth.

‘This is certainly a terroristic threat. People could have been hurt.’

LUCIEN GREAVES, Satanic Temple cofounder, said of the incident.

“We find a real power in the mythology of Satan, but from a Miltonian perspective in which Satan is the ultimate rebel against tyranny,” Greaves said, referring to John Milton, the writer of the 17th-century epic poem “Paradise Lost,” a retelling of the biblical Book of Genesis.

“So to that end, we’re often fighting to preserve free speech liberties and equal access liberties, and true religious freedom, which means government neutrality insofar as religious perspective is concerned.”

Authorities have previously investigated bomb threats and hate crimes at the temple. In June 2022, a Chelsea man was arrested and charged with arson for a fire at the temple, and in January, a Michigan man was arrested and charged in that state with planning to bomb the temple.

“Salem Detectives have worked closely with temple staff on investigating these threats and incidents,” the statement said.

Anyone with information about the incident can contact Salem police at 978-745-9700.