Reinstalled Satanic Temple ‘Holiday Display’ Damaged Again At Concord’s City Plaza

CONCORD, NH — The newly reinstalled so-called “holiday display,” “occult deity,” “demonic presence,” or “demon goat god Baphomet” at Concord’s City Plaza by the Satanic Temple on Monday has been damaged again.

Only this time, a suspect was quickly caught.

For the last 10 days, Brian Blackden, the organizer of the Christmas Tree Lighting event downtown, has been spending his evenings guarding the Nativity scene at Concord’s City Plaza, after several threats of vandalism online. He hangs out in his truck on North Main Street, has video cameras recording, and sometimes walks the grounds.

During this time, he has had several encounters with men, mainly during the early morning hours, scoping the plaza. Some of the vehicles have out-of-state plates. But they see Blackden, and then, they leave the area.

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Blackden, on Tuesday night, however, was in the right place at the right time.

Around 8 p.m., a man, who appeared to be disheveled or homeless, walked over to the Satanic Temple display, stood there for a short period, and then began to destroy the display. Blackden called the police, and the suspect was stopped about a block away. The suspect was questioned and then arrested.

On Monday, Blackden said after seeing the threats online, he decided to commit to protecting the Nativity scene.

The potential vandals, he said, “are ratcheting up the presence … I think they are just trying to gaslight me as they have not tried anything.” Blackden added, “But I am allowing them no time to do anything also.”

Last week, someone left a sign on the creche stating, “Do Not Go After Evil, That Path Leads To Destruction.”

Vandalism against spiritual displays during the holidays tends to be rare in Concord.

In December 2007, the Baby Jesus was stolen from a Nativity display outside St. Peter’s Church. Other figures in the display were not taken or damaged.

At some point, the Knights of Columbus installed mesh covering the current Nativity scene to keep the figurines, which are quite expensive, from being stolen or damaged.

Concord NH Patch will update this post when more information becomes available.

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