But New York's Westchester County has had several recent glimpses of this secret realm:
-- Headless goats and birds found in Yorktown near the New Croton Reservoir.
-- A bag with headless goats and chickens found in Long Island Sound in New Rochelle.
-- A black bird wrapped in colored fabrics in Mount Vernon.
To make some kind of sense of the disturbing discoveries, the Westchester SPCA called in New York City's Marcos Quinones. For almost three decades, Quinones has been helping law enforcement agencies worldwide sort through clues to determine what type of practitioners were at work – and what they might have been seeking.
"I eliminate what's normal," he said. "If I'm left with occult aspects, is that a ritual of some sort?"
He looks for clues like candles, symbols, money, colored fabrics, and pieces of paper bearing names.
"Ultimately, you have to dissect it," he said of the scene. "The symbols within a ritual are a road map for the entity you worship, they tell what you want the entity to do for you – for someone or against someone, or a group of people."
Locations give a hint at what deities are being petitioned: Someone leaving their offering near water, for example, is likely trying to get the attention of an ocean god or goddess.
Not all magic is meant to harm someone. Sometimes it is seeking to bring good fortune, like a promotion at work or more money.
Quinones consults for free with agencies in North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa between 100 and 150 times a year. He's written three books on the occult, both fiction and nonfiction.
Many of the cases involve Palo Mayombe, a "black magic" melding of Congo-based practices and Cuban traditions brought to the New World by African slaves.
Santeria is a mix of West African, Caribbean and Roman Catholic traditions, but is not considered a dark religion, though animal sacrifice is part of its rituals.
Quinones also comes across Satanism. He estimates there are 100,000 people worldwide involved in the practice.
Ernie Lungaro, director of humane law enforcement for the SPCA, has been investigating animal abuse cases in Westchester for four years but only recently called on Quinones for advice after a streak of such cases in quick succession. He said experts can save local investigators time.
Depending on the case, Quinones offers to conduct interviews, interrogation, crime scene evaluation, or expert court testimony. The worst cases he's seen involving violence against children – considered the "ultimate sacrifice" – in the name of a religion.
Animal sacrifices happen in every state, Quinones says. He believes Westchester's recent cases are probably not related to each other, and might involve all three of the black magic and underground religious practices mentioned.
For example, Quinones suspects Santeria was behind the bags of animals found in New Rochelle and Yorktown, though they're not likely to be connected.
Sacrifices are usually made somewhere other than where they are later found. So, for example, in the case of the bagged animals found near the reservoir in Yorktown, the offering was either for a water god, or was placed in proximity to a location important to the practitioner.
The black bird wrapped in cloth in Mount Vernon was clearly Palo Mayombe, he said. It contained a telltale symbol: two circles intercepted by arrows.
Another local animal death case, the mass killing of cats decapitated, bludgeoned and hung from trees in Yonkers is less easy to pin down. Quionones said hanging the bags of cats was ritualistic in itself.
"It could be anything from Satanism to Santeria to Palo Mayombe," he said. Or, it could just be "someone who wanted to rid of cats."
"The key question is, and we may never have an answer, is why hang the cats?" he said. "You're drawing attention to yourself."
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