David Myatt

David Myatt, born in 1950, is a British writer who has been involved in various political and religious movements throughout his life. He grew up in Tanganyika and developed neo-Nazi views in his youth. Myatt was a member of the British Movement and later founded several neo-Nazi organizations, including the National Democratic Freedom Movement and Reichsfolk. He also led groups like Combat 18 and the National Socialist Movement. During this period, he was imprisoned for violent offenses related to his activism and used pseudonyms such as Wulstan Tedder and Godric Redbeard. Myatt also explored occultism and is widely believed to be the figurehead known as Anton Long, the leader of the Order of Nine Angles (ONA), a theistic Satanist and neo-Nazi organization. He later converted to Islam before renouncing both Islam and extremism.

Myatt's early life included living in Tanganyika and the Far East, where he studied martial arts and academic subjects like Ancient Greek and Sanskrit. His intellectual interests, combined with his political activism, led him to explore occultism in the early 1970s. He led a Satanist group called the Temple of the Sun in Leeds, expressing views on an 'age of Satan' and the subjugation of non-Satanists. While Myatt has historically denied any connection to the Order of Nine Angles or being Anton Long, scholars generally agree on his central role in its formation and leadership, citing his unique date system, biographical similarities, and repurposed writings. He attempted to establish a Nazi-occultist commune in the early 1980s, promoting esoteric neo-Nazi ideologies.

Born in 1950, David Myatt spent his formative years in Tanganyika, where his father worked for the British government. His upbringing also included time in the Far East, during which he engaged in martial arts training. He attended a British preparatory school where he studied classical languages like Ancient Greek and Sanskrit, alongside subjects such as logic, astronomy, and philosophy. These early academic pursuits appear to have shaped his later intellectual and spiritual explorations. Returning to England in 1967, Myatt soon became involved in neo-Nazi circles while still in secondary school.

Myatt became deeply involved in neo-Nazi politics in the late 1960s, joining Colin Jordan's British Movement. He rose within the organization, holding positions such as Leeds Branch Secretary. In 1974, he co-founded the National Democratic Freedom Movement (NDFM) with Eddy Morrison, an organization that engaged in violent actions against political opponents and minority groups. Myatt was imprisoned twice for offenses linked to his political activities. He authored several neo-Nazi publications and utilized pseudonyms, including Wulstan Tedder and Godric Redbeard, to promote his ideology and engage with different factions within the far-right movement. His activism continued through the 1990s with leadership roles in groups like Combat 18 and the National Socialist Movement, and the founding of Reichsfolk, an organization aiming to establish an 'Aryan elite'.

In the early 1970s, Myatt led the Temple of the Sun, a Satanist group in Leeds, espousing a philosophy centered on the rise of Satanism and the subjugation of others. He has been linked to occult rituals, though he denies allegations of animal cruelty in connection with these practices. Myatt is widely regarded by scholars as the likely founder or leader of the Order of Nine Angles (ONA), a theistic Satanist organization. Operating under the pseudonym Anton Long, he is credited with shaping the ONA's ideology, which combines elements of hermeticism, paganism, and Satanism, often incorporating neo-Nazi and Social Darwinist doctrines. Despite Myatt's long-standing denials, substantial evidence, including biographical parallels and the repurposing of his writings, leads researchers to conclude he is Anton Long.

“All this shout about the film The Exorcist finally decided me to bring my own position, at least, into the open. We live at the beginning of the age of Satan where people will be free from the tyranny of Christianity and where Satanists will be as masters and all others slaves. The magic we possess is the magic of the mind, the power to bend minds. The more chaos and upset we cause in the world, the more we can rise above it as Satanists and strengthen our power over the masses. We are not a religion. There is no God by man. Now the new aeon is here its leader will be the Lord 666 (The Beast).”

“Remembering my Occult studies of years ago, I conceived a plan to use or if necessary create secret Occult-type groups with several aims. These groups would be allied to and aid a real covert organization dedicated to the overthrow of the System. One of the aims of these Occult-style groups was to infiltrate people into various positions in society where they could aid our Cause; another was to subvert people in influential positions by drawing them into these secret groups and then gradually converting them to the Cause. Another was to try and establish international links and spread the idea of a world-wide revolution and world-wide National- Socialist renaissance. The final aim was to attract people to these groups and gain information from them, using one obvious means which various other intelligence groups had used over the centuries to gain useful information […] In pursuit of these covert aims I infiltrated several already existing Occult-type groups and created a new one.”