Quick Note: The Lingering Damage of the Satanic Panic Scare

April 2, 2009 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 17 Comments

We’d like to think that the age of dangerous life-destroying rumors concerning “Satanic” and “occult” practitioners is long over, but a quick look at the Austin Chronicle’s recent examination of the “Satanic Panic” scare of the 1980′s and 90′s (aka “Satanic Ritual Abuse”) shows how some people are still suffering from the after-effects of this madness.

“Fran and Danny Keller were each convicted of sexually assaulting Christina Chaviers, and each was sentenced to 48 years in prison. For the Kellers, now 58 and 68, respectively, it was effectively a life sentence. They’ve since come up for parole, but neither will acknowledge the remorse that is a requirement of release – after 17 years, the Kellers still fiercely maintain their innocence. And in fact, the Chronicle’s reinvestigation of the Fran’s Day Care case has revealed serious problems with the state’s case against the Kellers – including questions about the quality and reliability of the state’s medical evidence and forensic interviews. Moreover, the sensational nature of the charges themselves, in a period of hysterical national rumors about supposed “satanic ritual abuse” at day care centers, made it virtually impossible for the Kellers to receive a fair or even rational trial.”

In addition to examining the sad lack of real justice for the Kellers, the paper has also published companion pieces on the history of the Satanic abuse scare, and issues concerning children and testimony. People like the Kellers, and the West Memphis 3, are still wasting away in jails thanks in part to a moral panic dreamt up by Christian fundamentalists, unscrupulous “therapists”, various “cult experts”, and media-fueled folk legends (supported in the past by talk-show hosts like Donahue, Geraldo Rivera, Oprah Winfrey, and Sally Jesse Raphael). Sadder still, there remains a hard-core contingent of “survivors” and true belivers who are simply waiting for the cultural winds to shift again so they can peddle their fear and spectral evidence once more. So long as people are prosecuted or remain jailed due to rumors, unfounded beliefs, or misinformation concerning new religious movements the “Satanic Panic” era will never truly end.

Filed Under: Paganism, Religion Tagged With: , , , , , , 17 Comments
  • Aquari

    The 'history of' article brings up what I think is a crucial point – the 'satanic abuse' meme caught on mainly because a critical mass of young mothers were entering the workforce, and feeling anxious and conflicted about leaving their children in the care of strangers. Our delusions, like our dreams, tend to reflect our mundane anxieties back to us in exaggerated form. Classical 'witch hunts' normally come up in bad economic times, for instance – people intuitively feel that some shadowy mysterious force is responsible for their sudden misfortune, but instead of identifying the famous Invisible Hand, they seek enemies they can see and touch – and punish. That makes this article rather uncomfortably timely …

  • http://beweaver.wordpress.com Cynthia

    Hopefully the journalists who have found the evidence that there needs to be at least a new trial will actually do something about it.

  • http://www.terraethereal.com Kat

    Just when I thought there might be a glimmer of rational understanding towards witchcraft and paganism, I get a worried call from my mother the other day telling me all about a favorite new show she watches on TV called "A Haunting." Seems that witches are "devil worshipers" (although they don't know it, that sneaky ol' Satan! Gee whilikers…) and they needed a heroic catholic priest to save a scared family from the entities abusing them. My mother knows that I'm involved in "all that stuff" and was concerned for my safety, since I'm a gullible female, easily open to Satanic influence.

    As long as there's entertainment value in affixing the "devil" onto everything we do, not to mention everything we DON'T do in order to discredit us, this will continue. Hell, it worked for hundreds of years, why should they stop now?

  • StarrySkeyes

    Sad thing is the flavor of "satanic" abuse they panic over- is ironically usually done by christians. Example: Fr Robinson in OH. He was convicted of ritualy murdering a nun 30yrs later (though originally top suspect). Why was it brought back from the cold cases- many many now adult victims of ritual sexual "satanic" abuse by him as children, were trying to address diocese issues with child abuse and sue him and the diocese.

    The same blind eye to truth that put these people in jail, is the same blind eye that keeps priests that do abuse out.

  • http://sari0009.xanga.com/ KarenAScofield

    The U.S. needs an honesty movement, a fierce national inventory, that addresses the still present “Satan vision," the remnants of Satanic Panic, the “Teflon corruption” of the Bush era, and nearly 40 years of strangling public school funds after politicians had to face well-educated freethinkers rocking the boat in the 60s.

    It’s time to put an end to the domino effect of dramatically reduced vocabulary levels, a broken public school system, the ravages of anti intellectualism even in colleges, poor judgment/ rulings (prop 8, marriage “protection” laws, the Republican Party turning into a theocracy, the reaches of the Religious Reich in the power and wealth networks of America and even Canada …), and various forms of injustice.

    It's time to put a focus on cognitive excellence, honesty, and other glues of robust pluralism…and maybe we can raise our American students' rank up from dead last (in the top 20 nations of the world) in their ability to apply knowledge to real life situations, something that speaks of cognitive handicaps that go hand in hand with religionism.

    Naturally anti intellectuallism finds the paths of least resistance…

  • TinktheTank

    This is a travesty! Are there any groups helping to fund their next appeal? Any pagans mobilizing? These people need a damn good lawyer to pick apart all the perversions of justice into a coherent case.

    And that poor little girl was definitely the victim of some form of abuse- though its far more likely it was her father. I hope everyone involved gets the help that they need.

  • http://ferngreenrunes.com Fern Green

    Hel, I know a gal who is afraid of Wiccans because she "knew some people that had been sacrificed by Witches". Hence I have to make sure my pentacle stays under my shirt because I don't wanna put the fear of God (ha ha, no pun intended) into her. Of course, I can't explain to her that Witches don't typically go in for blood sacrifice; I'm sure I'd just hear that I better look out or I'll soon be inhabited by demons myself. Kinda sad really.

    • Bjorn Odinsson

      I would say, Fern, that it should be your duty to educate this woman about the reality of witchcraft, instead of pandering to and tolerating her paranoid delusions. I highly doubt she "knows people who were sacrificed by witches". A statement like that smacks of the pseudo-myths and urban legends running around. "I know a guy who. . .(insert sensational statement here …". Mike Warnkey is a prime example of these tellers of tall tales. In the Xtian circles my family runs in, Mike Warnkey used to be a popular comic and minister. His story was that he was allegedly a Satanic high priest who regularly performed abortions and sacrificed the fetuses. He would go into grisly details about these Id fantasies, telling breathless crowds how Satanists believe that the more pain someone is put through before dying, the more majik power can be harvested.

      • Bjorn Odinsson

        These stories got repeated in slightly altered ways by many of my fellows in youthgroup, and inspired us to go "wage spiritual warfare" at certain places we deemed "demonic". These places were harmless locales such as Manitou Springs here in Colorado, or farmers' fields out east in Peyton that we believed to be the haunt of some nefarious demonic activity.

        Any time a Pagan is met by someone who spouts this sort of spurious tripe, they should be compelled to dismiss these rumors. I am still in contact with my old friends from the aforementioned youthgroup, and I have been a great resource for their education on Pagan matters. They now understand that most of these reports are false and no longer jump to the "Satanist Conclusion" any time something strange happens, thanks entirely to my undying devotion to exposing the truth.

      • http://ferngreenrunes.com Fern Green

        Some folks are hard to educate. Below you go on to say: "Any time a Pagan is met by someone who spouts this sort of spurious tripe, they should be compelled to dismiss these rumors." I wish it were that easy. People cannot be "compelled" to dismiss rumors. We can only do our part to try to educate, and it is up to the listener whether or not to receive that education. And sometimes people have to be met in communication at the level where they are or our words of education will be wasted.

        To say nothing of the fact that in some areas of the world, the broom closet is still an unpleasant necessity for those who would preserve their jobs, families, and even lives. Slowly we are improving the lot of Pagans but it is still a slow go.

        • http://ferngreenrunes.com Fern Green

          Bjorn's latest reply came to me via email but I have not been able to view it here. I would like to reply but sadly this technology does not seem to allow me to do so. In any event I applaud those who are in whatever way dismissing and dispelling rumors and falsehoods in our society. I try to do the same where I think it will do some real good for all those involved. Unfortunately this world has a long way to go before there will be true freedom of religion, and given human nature, I am uncertain whether that day will ever come for us all.

  • DeeSparks

    I feel obliged to mention Law & Order: SVU's recent episode "Hell" which pointed out (through the characters of Munsch and Olivia Benson) that the Satanic Panic in the Eighties was false, and went further to illustrate that Afro-Catholic practices (drumming and ritual slaughter of goats and chickens for food) were not Satanic either. They also pointed out the plight of child soldiers in Africa.

  • Bjorn Odinsson

    I didn't mean that the person who believes fallacies should be compelled to not believe them, but rather a Pagan's conscience should compell the Pagan to dismiss the rumor in any way possible. I myself have encountered a lot of persecution for my religion, but that has never caused me to hide my hammer inside my shirt, or to cover my runic tattoos up. At my last job I was asked by an ignorant supervisor who was a retired sheriff if I was a neo-nazi based on my tattoos. I laughed heartily and said. . .NO! I didn't pussy-foot around the issue, I told him point blank that I was a Heathen and my beliefs had nothing to do with White Protestant Supremacy.

  • Bjorn Odinsson

    <continuing>
    I have also experienced a lot of persecution from friends and family that I left behind when I turned my back on Christianity. My family has told me I am going to Hell, that I am unconsciously worshipping the devil. . .name the propaganda and I can guarantee you I have heard it. However my devotion to the truth and to educating the willfully ignorant has reaped results. . .but only after years of hard work and bloodying the "wall" (of ignorance) by banging my head against it. Now my father, a freak fanatic Jesus lover, has actually come to my defence while in debate where my brother will say something untrue about Paganism. It doesn't mean he believes what I believe, but it does mean that he understands that there is a difference between my beliefs and Satanism. It boils down to a matter of commitment. My Heathen faith compells me to stand in defiance of ignorance and to be proud, not to hang my head in shame, veil my religious jewelry behind my clothing or to "grin and nod" along with society.

  • Peg

    Thanks for continuing to give attention to this issue, Jason. I think we certainly can't discount the influence both fictional and "news" media had on peoples' willingness to believe in this stuff. Charlie Manson and his killing sorority lent credence to fictional texts such as Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist. The Omen, and The Believers, and of course our friendly misinformed talk-show pundits you mentioned helped to inflame the imaginations of many Americans who felt the country "lost its way" in the Sixties and Seventies, that increasing secularism and experimentation with alternative spiritual paths was somehow inevitably linked with "evil." It certainly helped that these fictional and true stories were usually portrayed in the most titillating manner possible. Satanic soft-porn, anyone?

  • http://ritasite.com Rita Rippetoe

    Indeed the scare is still on. A Randy Noblitt, PhD is giving a talk on "Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century" April 25 in Davis, CA. The listing for the event specifically mentions "efforts to discredit survivors" as a topic. This is sponsored by the California Protective Parents Association and Incest Survivors Speakers' Bureau.

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