Satanic Panic Part I

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The Satanic panic is a moralpanic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanicritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualisticabuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in theUnited States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of theworld by the late 1990s, and persisting today. The panic originatedin 1980 with the publication of Michelle Remembers, a book co-writtenby Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his patient (and futurewife), Michelle Smith, which used the discredited practice ofrecovered-memory therapy to make sweeping lurid claims about satanicritual abuse involving Smith. The allegations which afterwards arosethroughout much of the United States involved reports of physical andsexual abuse of people in the context of occult or Satanic rituals.In its most extreme form, allegations involve a conspiracy of aglobal Satanic cult that includes the wealthy and powerful worldelite in which children are abducted or bred for human sacrifices,pornography, and prostitution, an allegation that returned toprominence in the form of QAnon.


Nearly every aspect of the ritual abuseis controversial, including its definition, the source of theallegations and proof thereof, testimonies of alleged victims, andcourt cases involving the allegations and criminal investigations.The panic affected lawyers, therapists, and social workers whohandled allegations of child sexual abuse. Allegations initiallybrought together widely dissimilar groups, including religiousfundamentalists, police investigators, child advocates, therapists,and clients in psychotherapy. The term satanic abuse was more commonearly on; this later became satanic ritual abuse and furthersecularized into simply ritual abuse. Over time, the accusationsbecame more closely associated with dissociative identity disorder(then called multiple personality disorder) and anti-governmentconspiracy theories.


Initial interest arose via thepublicity campaign for Pazder's 1980 book Michelle Remembers, and itwas sustained and popularized throughout the decade by coverage ofthe McMartin preschool trial. Testimonials, symptom lists, rumors,and techniques to investigate or uncover memories of SRA weredisseminated through professional, popular, and religiousconferences, as well as through talk shows, sustaining and furtherspreading the moral panic throughout the United States and beyond. Insome cases, allegations resulted in criminal trials with varyingresults; after seven years in court, the McMartin trial resulted inno convictions for any of the accused, while other cases resulted inlengthy sentences, some of which were later reversed. Scholarlyinterest in the topic slowly built, eventually resulting in theconclusion that the phenomenon was a moral panic, which, as oneresearcher put it in 2017, "involved hundreds of accusationsthat devil-worshipping paedophiles were operating America's whitemiddle-class suburban daycare centers."


Of the more than 12,000 documentedaccusations nationwide, investigating police were not able tosubstantiate any allegations of organized cult abuse.


History


Allegations of horrific acts by outsidegroups—including cannibalism, child murder, torture, and incestuousorgies can place minorities in the role of the "Other,"as well create a scapegoat for complex problems in times of socialdisruption. The SRA panic repeated many of the features of historicalmoral panics and conspiracy theories, such as the blood libel againstJews by Apion in the 30s CE, the wild rumors that led to thepersecutions of early Christians in the Roman Empire, laterallegations of Jewish rituals involving the killing of Christianbabies and desecration of the Eucharist, and the witch hunts of the16th and 17th centuries. Torture and imprisonment were used byauthority figures in order to coerce confessions from allegedSatanists, confessions that were later used to justify theirexecutions. Records of these older allegations were linked bycontemporary proponents in an effort to demonstrate that contemporarySatanic cults were part of an ancient conspiracy of evil, thoughultimately no evidence of devil-worshiping cults existed in Europe atany time in its history.


A more immediate precedent to thecontext of Satanic ritual abuse in the United States was McCarthyismin the 1950s. The underpinnings for the contemporary moral panic werefound in a rise of five factors in the years leading up to the 1980s:the establishment of fundamentalist Christianity and the founding andpolitical activism of the religious organization which was named theMoral Majority; the rise of the anti-cult movement which accusedabusive cults of kidnapping and brainwashing children and teens; theappearance of the Church of Satan and other explicitly Satanistgroups which added a kernel of truth to the existence of Sataniccults; the development of the social work or child protection field,and its struggle to have child sexual abuse recognized as a socialproblem and a serious crime; and the popularization of post-traumaticstress disorder, repressed memory, and the corresponding survivormovement.


Michelle Remembers and the McMartinpreschool trial


Michelle Remembers, written byCanadians Michelle Smith and her husband, psychiatrist LawrencePazder, was published in 1980. Now discredited, the book was writtenin the form of an autobiography, presenting the first modern claimthat child abuse was linked to Satanic rituals. Pazder was alsoresponsible for coining the term ritual abuse. Michelle Remembersprovided a model for numerous allegations of SRA that ensued later inthe same decade. On the basis of the book's success, Pazder developeda high media profile, gave lectures and training on SRA to lawenforcement, and by September 1990 had acted as a consultant on morethan 1,000 SRA cases, including the McMartin preschool trial.Prosecutors used Michelle Remembers as a guide when preparing casesagainst alleged Satanists. Michelle Remembers, along with otheraccounts portrayed as survivor stories, are suspected to haveinfluenced later allegations of SRA, and the book has been suggestedas a causal factor in the later epidemic of SRA allegations.


The early 1980s, during theimplementation of mandatory reporting laws, saw a large increase inchild protection investigations in America, Britain, and otherdeveloped countries, along with a heightened public awareness ofchild abuse. The investigation of incest allegations in Californiawas also changed, with cases led by social workers who used leadingand coercive interviewing techniques that had been avoided by policeinvestigators. Such changes in the prosecution of cases of allegedincest resulted in an increase in confessions by fathers in exchangefor plea bargains. Shortly thereafter, some children in childprotection cases began making allegations of horrific physical andsexual abuse by caregivers within organized rituals, claiming sexualabuse in Satanic rituals and the use of Satanic symbols. These casesgarnered the label "satanic ritual abuse" both inthe media and among professionals. Childhood memories of similarabuse began to appear in the psychotherapy sessions of adults.


In 1983, charges were laid in theMcMartin preschool trial, a major case in California, which receivedattention throughout the United States and contained allegations ofsatanic ritual abuse. The case caused tremendous polarization in howto interpret the available evidence. Shortly afterward, more than 100preschools across the country became the object of similarsensationalist allegations, which were eagerly and uncriticallyreported by the press. Throughout the McMartin trial, media coverageof the defendants (Peggy McMartin and Ray Buckey) was unrelentinglynegative, focusing only on statements by the prosecution. MichelleSmith and other alleged survivors met with parents involved in thetrial, and it is believed that they influenced testimony against theaccused.


Kee MacFarlane, a social workeremployed by the Children's Institute International, developed a newway to interrogate children with anatomically correct dolls and usedthem in an effort to assist disclosures of abuse with the McMartinchildren. After asking the children to point to the places on thedolls where they had allegedly been touched and asking leadingquestions, MacFarlane diagnosed sexual abuse in virtually all theMcMartin children. She coerced disclosures by using lengthyinterviews that rewarded discussions of abuse and punished denials.The trial testimony that resulted from such methods was oftencontradictory and vague on all details except for the assertion thatthe abuse had occurred. Although the initial charges in the McMartincase featured allegations of Satanic abuse and a vast conspiracy,these features were dropped relatively early in the trial, andprosecution continued only for non-ritual allegations of child abuseagainst only two defendants. After three years of testimony, McMartinand Buckey were acquitted on 52 of 65 counts, and the jury wasdeadlocked on the remaining 13 charges against Buckey, with 11 of 13jurors choosing not guilty. Buckey was re-charged and two years laterreleased without conviction.


Conspiracy theories


In 1984, MacFarlane warned acongressional committee that children were being forced to engage inscatological behavior and watch bizarre rituals in which animals werebeing slaughtered. Shortly after, the United States Congress doubledits budget for child-protection programs. Psychiatrist Roland Summitdelivered conferences in the wake of the McMartin trial and depictedthe phenomenon as a conspiracy that involved anyone skeptical of thephenomenon. By 1986, social worker Carol Darling argued to a grandjury that the conspiracy reached the government. Her husband BradDarling gave conference presentations about a Satanic conspiracy ofgreat antiquity which he now believed was permeating Americancommunities.


In 1985, Patricia Pulling joined forceswith psychiatrist Thomas Radecki, director of the National Coalitionon Television Violence, to create B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeonsand Dragons). Pulling and B.A.D.D. saw role-playing games generallyand Dungeons & Dragons specifically as Satanic cult recruitmenttools, inducing youth to suicide, murder, and Satanic ritual abuse.Other alleged recruitment tools included heavy metal music,educators, child care centers, and television. This information wasshared at policing and public awareness seminars on crime and theoccult, sometimes by active police officers. None of theseallegations held up in analysis or in court. In fact, analysis ofyouth suicide over the period in question found that players ofrole-playing games actually had a much lower rate of suicide than theaverage.


By the late 1980s, therapists orpatients who believed someone had suffered from SRA could suggestsolutions that included Christian psychotherapy, exorcism, andsupport groups whose members self-identified as "anti-Satanicwarriors." Federal funding was increased for research onchild abuse, with large portions of the funding allocated forresearch on child sexual abuse. Funding was also provided forconferences supporting the idea of SRA, adding a veneer ofrespectability to the idea as well as offering an opportunity forprosecutors to exchange advice on how to best secure convictions—withtactics including destruction of notes, refusing to tape interviewswith children, and destroying or refusing to share evidence with thedefense. Had proof been found, SRA would have represented the firstoccasion where an organized and secret criminal activity had beendiscovered by mental health professionals. In 1987, Geraldo Riveraproduced a national television special on the alleged secret cults,claiming "Estimates are that there are over one millionSatanists in [the United States and they are] linked in a highlyorganized, secretive network." Tapings of this and similartalk show episodes were subsequently used by religiousfundamentalists, psychotherapists, social workers and police topromote the idea that a conspiracy of Satanic cults existed and thesecults were committing serious crimes.


In the 1990s, psychologist D. CorydonHammond publicized a detailed theory of ritual abuse drawn fromhypnotherapy sessions with his patients, alleging they were victimsof a worldwide conspiracy of organized, secretive clandestine cellswho used torture, mind control and ritual abuse to create alternatepersonalities that could be "activated" with codewords; the victims were allegedly trained as assassins, prostitutes,drug traffickers, and child sex workers (to create childpornography). Hammond claimed his patients had revealed theconspiracy was masterminded by a Jewish doctor in Nazi Germany, butwho now worked for the Central Intelligence Agency with a goal ofworldwide domination by a Satanic cult. The cult was allegedlycomposed of respectable, powerful members of society who used thefunds generated to further their agenda. Missing memories among thevictims and absence of evidence was cited as evidence of the powerand effectiveness of this cult in furthering its agenda. Hammond'sclaims gained considerable attention, due in part to his prominencein the field of hypnosis and psychotherapy.


Religious roots and secularization


Satanic ritual abuse brought togetherseveral groups normally unlikely to associate, includingpsychotherapists, self-help groups, religious fundamentalists and lawenforcement. Initial accusations were made in the context of therising political power of conservative Christianity within the UnitedStates, and religious fundamentalists enthusiastically promotedrumors of SRA. Psychotherapists who were actively Christian advocatedfor the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID); soonafter, accounts similar to Michelle Remembers began to appear, withsome therapists believing the alter egos of some patients were theresult of demonic possession. Protestantism was instrumental instarting, spreading, and maintaining rumors through sermons about thedangers of SRA, lectures by purported experts, and prayer sessions,including showings of the 1987 Geraldo Rivera television special.Secular proponents appeared, and child protection workers becamesignificantly involved. Law enforcement trainers, many themselvesstrongly religious, became strong promoters of the claims andself-described "experts" on the topic. Theirinvolvement in child sexual abuse cases produced more allegations ofSRA, adding credibility to the phenomenon. As the explanations forSRA were distanced from evangelical Christianity and associated with"survivor" groups, the motivations ascribed to purportedSatanists shifted from combating a religious nemesis, to mind controland abuse as an end to itself. Clinicians, psychotherapists andsocial workers documented clients with alleged histories of SRA,though the claims of therapists were unsubstantiated beyond thetestimonies of their clients.


International spread


In 1987, a list of "indicators"was published by Catherine Gould, featuring a broad array of vaguesymptoms that were ultimately common, non-specific and subjective,purported to be capable of diagnosing SRA in most young children. Bythe late 1980s, allegations began to appear throughout the world(including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, theNetherlands, and Scandinavia), in part enabled by English as a commoninternational language and in the United Kingdom, assisted by Gould'slist of indicators. Belief in SRA spread rapidly through the ranks ofmental health professionals (despite an absence of evidence) througha variety of continuing education seminars, during which attendeeswere urged to believe in the reality of Satanic cults, their victims,and not to question the extreme and bizarre memories uncovered. Proofwas provided in the form of unconnected bits of information such aspictures drawn by patients, heavy metal album covers, historicalfolklore about devil worshipers, and pictures of mutilated animals.During the seminars, patients provided testimonials of theirexperiences and presenters stressed that recovering memories wasimportant for healing.


In 1986, the largest symposiumon child abuse in history was held in Australia, with addresses byvocal SRA advocates Kee MacFarlane, Roland Summit, Astrid HeppenstallHeger, and David Finkelhor.


In 1987, writings on thephenomenon appeared in the United Kingdom along with incidentsfeaturing broadly similar accusations such as the Cleveland childabuse scandal; allegations of SRA in Nottingham resulted in the"British McMartin," advised in part by the Britishjournalist Tim Tate's work on the subject. Along with the list ofindicators, American conference speakers, pamphlets, sourcematerials, consultants, vocabulary regarding SRA and allegedlyfunding were imported, which promoted the identification andcounseling of British SRA allegations. The Nottingham investigationresulted in criminal charges of severe child abuse that ultimatelyhad nothing to do with Satanic rituals, and was criticized forfocusing on the irrelevant and non-existent Satanic aspects of theallegations at the expense of the severe conventional abuse enduredby the children.


In 1989, San Francisco policedetective Sandi Gallant gave an interview with a newspaper in theUnited Kingdom. At the same time, several other therapists toured thecountry giving talks on SRA, and shortly thereafter SRA casesoccurred in Orkney, Rochdale, London, and Nottingham.


In 1992, charges were laid inthe Martensville satanic sex scandal; charges were overturned in 1995on the grounds of improper interviewing of the children.


A wave of SRA accusationsappeared in New Zealand in 1991, and in Norway in 1992.


In the mid-nineties in Egypt,tabloids such as Rose Al Youssef started publishing articles about analleged subculture of Satan worshipping and rituals spreading amongthe teens and youth of the middle and upper-middle class, andassociating it with the Metal and Heavy metal music, bands,symbolism, and graffiti. The original article published on 11 Nov.1996 was written by Abdallah Kamal, but soon others writers andjournalists, including Adel Hammuda and others. The public intrigueeventually lead to the security apparatus raiding the homes of someyoung people in the music scene and their friends, confiscating postsand tapes and CDs, forcing short hairstyles on them and subjectingthem to religious reformation sessions, before releasing them, butthe scare continued to be stirred from time to time until the md2000s, and became books and talk shows.


In 1998, Jean LaFontaineproduced a book indicating allegations of SRA in the United Kingdomwere sparked by investigations supervised by social workers who hadtaken SRA seminars in the United States.


In 2021 and2022, two consecutive reports by Swiss Television journalists IlonaStämpfli and Robin Rehmann [de] presented evidence that conspiracytheories closely related to the Satanic panic were still held byvarious groups and individuals in Switzerland, among them teachers,psychotherapists, high-ranking police officers, and a seniorphysician of Clienia, the largest private psychiatric clinic group inSwitzerland. As a reaction to the first documentary, two of theinterviewed teachers as well as the senior physician were let go bytheir

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