Shriners Secrets

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The veil of secrecy that shrouds the initiation rituals of Shriners continues to be lifted because of a Lexington man's suit against Oleika Shrine Temple.

The outlet from the trial was proven live yesterday by local cable tv, enabling individuals to sit home and discover about what Shriners call their "hot sands session."

Michael G. Vaughan, 44, a brick mason and would-be Shriner, told jurors to be blindfolded and getting a jolt of electricity put on his bare bottom included in the initiation rituals in June 1989 in the temple. Also, he spoke of needing to walk with an electrified pad which was designed to simulate the new sands from the Sahara, to be knocked unconscious and suffering other traumas throughout the initiation.

Vaughan claims he was was humiliated and embarrassed through the ordeal. The humiliation, he stated, causes him to suffer anxiety, a sleep problem and bad dreams.

He's seeking an unspecified amount for hospital bills, lost earnings and punitive damages.

Lawyers for that shrine and 6 of their people state that Vaughn wasn't hurt which he filed the suit from avarice.

The defense lawyers stated they'd generate witnesses who the ritual wasn't painful, but fun.

When a jury was sitting yesterday there is here we are at only one witness to accept stand - Vaughan.

On direct examination by their own attorney, John Hamilton, Vaughan referred to three electrical shocks he received throughout the induction ceremony. The very first - the main one to his bottom - was probably the most painful, he stated. Vaughan stated he was brought blindfolded right into a room in which the blindfold was lifted lengthy enough to allow him visit a in demand branding iron bearing a shrine emblem.

Vaughan ended up being told to put on the table and pull lower his boxers. This is when he was handed an jolt having a stick wired to some 12-volt motorcycle battery. He wasn't top quality using the hot iron.