Notorious extremist charged in vandalism of Satanic Temple display
John Camden, a self-proclaimed right-wing street activist with the New Hampshire Proud Boys, has a 20-year history of involvement with neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.
A Manchester man with a long history of neo-Nazi associations and violent confrontations was one of the men arrested in March for vandalizing the Satanic Temple holiday display outside the State House in Concord last year.
John Camden—once known for his Wolfsangel neck tattoo, a rune symbol heavily associated with Nazi Germany—is the former New Hampshire leader of American Guard, a group the ADL described as hardcore white supremacists. Its founder, Brien James, has been involved with some of the most extreme movements of the last three decades, including the Vinlanders Social Club, labeled “one of America’s most violent skinhead gangs” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Before co-founding American Guard New Hampshire, Camden was a member of Connecticut White Wolves, a self-described white supremacist group, and briefly led a group named Aryan Rebels. Screenshots of his social media posts from that time are filled with neo-Nazi and white supremacist references.
Camden has written that he “was a member of WN NS [white nationalism/National Socialism] for over 20 years.” At the 2018 Boston Free Speech rally, Camden acknowledged his history of white supremacism but told The Boston Globe that he now finds common cause with all political conservatives, regardless of race or sexual orientation.
As leader of the American Guard New Hampshire chapter, Camden regularly provided “security” at New England rallies promoted by far-right Resist Marxism and Super Happy Fun America, the group that organized Boston’s 2019 Straight Pride Parade and has been described as a front group for Resist Marxism.
In this video clip, Camden—wearing an American Guard New Hampshire jacket and a black helmet marked with red spatters—is seen violently shoving a rally-goer during the January 2019 Boston Women’s March (full video/Mike Gamms).
In a video clip from the April 2019 Freedom Rally in Providence, RI, Camden can be seen taunting and threatening counter-protesters with a long wooden stick (full video/David Neiwert). “I will fucking kill you,” he shouts. ”I am John Camden, AG president of New Hampshire.”
By late 2019, Camden had begun covering up his neo-Nazi tattoos—a process he documented in a series of Facebook messages posted under the pseudonym Henry Knox.
Around this time, Camden appears to have moved on from American Guard and joined the New Hampshire Proud Boys Sons of Liberty faction, participating in their rallies and protests. In July 2021, he was seen during a Proud Boys protest outside a school board meeting being held at Nashua High School North.
Camden reached out to We the People NH, the rightwing group led by Christian nationalist Terese Bastarache, in early 2022. In a message he posted on the group’s Telegram channel, Camden introduced himself as a “Right Wing street activist” and wrote, “Hope to make good connections here.”
Within three months, Camden had joined members of the group for an event. “We were happy to attend this event,” he wrote, “and we will be in support of many more!” Later that year, he was spotted at an abortion rights counter-protest in downtown Manchester wearing Proud Boys insignia.
On the morning of April 15, 2023, Camden posted a message on Twitter indicating that he was planning a public protest that day. “Going out to take a stand against child grooming,” he wrote, “Pray for me.” Soon afterwards, a contingent of Proud Boys showed up at Bookery Manchester, an independent bookstore on Elm Street, to protest a Drag Queen Storytime program being held at the bookstore.
Camden’s most recent social media posts, from accounts with names including “sledgehammerdeath4satanists” and “OrthoJihadi,” display images of violent, religious zealotry. Describing himself as an Orthodox Christian in the Moscow Patriarchate (the Russian Orthodox Church), Camden posted a TikTok video in which he wrote, “Do not let evil take root. This is not a request. Destroy the Bolshevik Menace. Fight evil and your ancestors will be so encouraged.”
Followed a months-long investigation into repeated instances of vandalism to the Satanic Temple holiday display outside the New Hampshire State House, Camden and two others were arrested by the Concord Police Department on March 27, 2025. He was charged with criminal mischief, a class B misdemeanor.
The vandalized display featured a statue of a goat-headed Baphomet figure with bright yellow eyes, a bouquet of lilacs in one hand, and an apple in the other. “There was nothing inherently offensive about the display,” New Hampshire state Rep. Ellen Read told Boston.com. “There were accusations that it meant to denigrate Christians, but there was nothing about it that was denigrating Christians,” she said. “We’re standing up for First Amendment principles.”
It's funny how individuals are so proprietary about First Amendment rights. They think it only applies to them and no one else.
Thank you, Tuck, for your research.
Thank you for profiling this menace to our peace and safety! Legal consequences to their hate-filled actions seem few and far between.
I wish there was some way to help them wake up and learn that the hatred they have towards those they classify as "other" hurts themselves more than it hurts us (the "others"). In saying this, I am not trying to diminish the physical threat they pose to the rest of us. They appear to be very damaged human beings who are lashing out in their own fear, advocating violence to appear "strong" to cover their own weaknesses.
I wish they could be reached....