Oh, I wasn't calling you a Satanist, IliaDN. My apologies if it seemed that way. I was just remarking on the dogmatism which attends belief in the accuracy of the book. I've met people who claimed with absolute certainty that Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, which Lovecraft claimed had a copy of the book, actually existed in New England, even though it doesn't, nor does Arkham.

A telling fact is simply that the Necronomicon, as it exists in real book form, has no publish date earlier than the 1970's. That should tell you something. As a reading intensive child in the 1960's and a teenager in the 1970's, I can speak to the fact that Lovecraft's popularity became widespread during this time, with his stories and books appearing in many paperback editions, as well as those of others in his circle, such as August Derleth and Robert Bloch. The horror genre was just getting started and gaining mass appeal. Someone took advantage of that and published a book called the Necronomicon and the gullible soon snapped it up.