Man carves pentagram into son’s back for 12/12/12: police
An electronic clock displays the date 12.12.12 at a traffic intersection in New Delhi on December 12, 2012. The once in a century date is being hailed as an auspicious day by astrologers, and many couples are getting married and expectant parents are flooding maternity homes, inundating doctors with requests to deliver their babies.
A Texas man has been charged for allegedly carving a large pentagram into his son's back in honor of 12/12/12.
Brent Troy Bartel, 39, allegedly told a 911 dispatcher that he did it because "it's a holy day," reported The Dallas Morning News.
"I shed some innocent blood," he told the dispatcher.
"I inscribed a pentagram on my son."
Around the world, Wednesday's date has been celebrated and honored because 12-12-12 is a once-in-a-century event.
But police were shocked at Bartel's alleged crime.
The boy's mother ran to a neighbor's house in north Texas to call police, telling them Bartel had cut a pentagram, a five-pointed star inside a circle that is most commonly associated with the occult and satanism, into her son's back.
The boy was taken to Cook Children's Hospital and was expected to make a full recovery as the cuts were not deep enough to scar.
A local policeman, Sergeant Nathan Stringer, told WFAA: "This is something you normally hear about in the movies, not something you expect to see."
Bartel faces charges of aggravated assault with a weapon.