Welcome to H&C,,, where I aggregate news of interest. Primary topics include abuse with "the church", LGBTQI+ issues, cults - including anti-vaxxers, and the Dominionist and Theocratic movements. Also of concern is the anti-science movement with interest in those that promote garbage like homeopathy, chiropractic and the like. I am an atheist and anti-theist who believes religious mythos must be die and a strong supporter of SOCAS.
Bennett Braun was an
integral part in the narrative of the Satanic Panic and the highly questionable organization International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation (ISSTD).
The psychiatrist, Dr. Bennett Braun, has settled multiple lawsuits for millions
after former patients said he convinced them in therapy that they had
engaged in cannibalism, child abuse, satanic rituals and even consumed
meat loaf made of human flesh.
Braun, 78, never admitted wrongdoing when he was sued 11 times for
claims such as that he put women into an Illinois psychiatric hospital,
put them on high dosages of drugs not always tested on animals and
hypnotized them a couple of decades ago. Braun faced some disciplinary
action in Illinois as a result, but was back in good standing by the
time he relocated to Montana.
Police say two middle school girls, who worship Satan, armed
themselves with knives in a foiled plot to violently kill classmates and
drink their blood at school on Tuesday.
The 6th and 7th-grade
girls attend Bartow Middle School, police say. At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the
Bartow Police School Resource Officer assigned to the school was
summoned to the principal's office in reference to an armed juvenile
complaint.
The investigation revealed that the students armed
themselves with knives, and planned on attacking fellow students during
the school day.
As Hemant Mehta notes, " These girls may have claimed to worship Satan, but there is nothing yet
that links them to any major proponent of “Satanism.” In fact, The
Satanic Temple and the Church of Satan — two separate groups — have
issued denunciations on Twitter."
As these groups also point out, if these girls actually believed in
Satan, they were not atheists… which is to say they’re not Satanists in
the mold of those groups since they are secular by nature. If anything,
those who believe in Satan are just practicing a version of Christianity
with an emphasis on a different biblical character.
They were both behind bars for more than 8,000 days — more than half their lives. Now they are free.
After
26 years — and a 10-minute hearing Monday in Meade Circuit Court — a
judge dismissed the murder case against Garr Keith Hardin and Jeffrey
Dewayne Clark, who were convicted in 1995 in a case falsely linked
to satanic worship.
Both hugged their families and
friends. Hardin's lawyers held his hand above his head like a
heavyweight champion celebrating after a long bout.
"I
hope I have done what's right," said Judge Bruce Butler, who granted
the men a new trial in 2016 and freed them from jail after finding no
credible evidence remained again them.
"I know that I've done what the law requires," the judge said.
Note:: The following is background information gathered and not definitive dialogue from the included episode. Basically stuff I personally found pertinent and worth mentioning. Many of the sub issue could be much more thoroughly explored and the links includes provide a starting point.
What's annoying about depiction movies such as Mazes and Monsters, besides the hyperbole, is the "fake science" that came along with it and of course the ensuing "Panic" that followed.
There are at least three aspects to the overall Panic:
1] back-masking of music (Tipper Gore) - in 1985 formed the Parents Media Resource Center (PMRC) - the group responsible for the “Parental Advisory” stickers found on music
Gore also has a hand in the bad press surrounding D&D, in which she links D&D to satanism: (Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society 1987, Chapter 6: Playing with Fire: Heavy Metal Satanism, 118)
"The popular Dungeons and Dragons game has sold eight million sets. The game is based on occultist plots, images, and characters which players 'become' as they play the game. According to Mrs. Pat
Pulling,
founder of the organization Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons, the
game has been linked to nearly fifty teenage suicides and homicides."
4] We could add a fourth in that the SRA also encompassed the Daycare Debacles (ie the McMartin Case)
First major case--
While the movie about didn't come about till 2001 - Just Ask My Children - the Kern County case began in 1982.
Alvin and Debbie McCuan's two daughters, coached by their step-grandmother Mary Ann Barbour, who had custody of them, alleged they had been abused by their parents, and accused them of being part of a sex ring that included Scott and Brenda Kniffen. The Kniffens' two sons also claimed to have been abused. No physical evidence was ever found. The McCuans and Kniffens were convicted in 1984 and given a combined sentence of over 1000 years in prison. The convictions were overturned in 1996 and the two couples were released.
Subsequent cases soon followed, one of which was John Stoll, Witch Hunt (2007), which focused primarily on Stoll's case. (MSNBC also made a documentary on John Stoll and the Kern County cases.)
3.1 McMartin Preschool
3.2 Country Walk
3.3 Fells Acres Day Care Center
3.4 Bernard Baran
3.5 The Bronx Five
3.6 Wee Care Nursery School
3.7 Glendale Montessori
3.8 Little Rascals
3.9 Dale Akiki
3.10 Oak Hill satanic ritual abuse trial
3.11 Wenatchee child abuse prosecutions
3.12 Christchurch Civic Crèche
3.13 Martensville satanic sex scandal
What is rather, prior to the start of the Kern County child abuse cases, several local social workers had attended a training seminar that foregrounded satanic ritual abuse as a major element in child sexual abuse, and had used the now-debunked memoir Michelle Remembers as training material.
Patricia Pulling, mother of a another D&D "victim" who went on to form BADD “Bothered About Dungeons &
Dragons" and "The Devil’s Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children For Satan?" (1989). In 1984, she became the president of the National Coalition on TV Violence (See::Summary - Thomas Radecki), but her crusade against D&D continued; died 1997
Founder National Coalition on TV Violence, psychiatrist Thomas Radecki ("local" boy) WHY IS ALL THIS IMPORTANT
It lays the foundation of what is to come. It sets the group think that was over-running the country.
Before we delve in, one point that needs to be stressed. Behind the scenes there was a whole lot of money to be made - lecture tours, consulting, books - in essence a whole cottage industry arose.
THE MOVIE & THE BOOK
The film was adapted from a novel of the same name by Rona Jaffe (d. 2005) Mazes & Monsters was based on a fictional case, and this has led many people to believe that the book (and the subsequent movie) was a true depiction of the Dallas Egbert case
William Dear, the private investigator on the case, explained actual events and the reasons behind the media myth in his 1984 book The Dungeon Master.
Treats the playing of role-playing games as indicative of deep neurotic needs BUT while D&D is a role-playing game, it is NOT a LARP Although as Professor Stephen notes it can be with creative enough players.
Basically Dallas was a confused 16-y/o child prodigy with too much on his plate. His plan quickly spiraled out of control, most likely fuel by his self-reported drug use. D&D played no part in the events that transpired over the course of a month. Sadly on the 11th of August 1980, James Dallas Egbert III shot himself in the head in the living room of his apartment. He died at Grandview Hospital on the 16th August, just over a year after his disappearance.
RAMIFICATIONS
As one who has followed the whole SP issue, and has personally dealt with the mind-set behind such, it is frustrating to realize how large Jaffe's influence ranged. RPGs was in its infancy, Jaffe's account was read by many as a legitimate depiction of RPGS and the culture surrounding it. But then you get fucktards like psychiatrist and anti-television violence activist Thomas Radecki of the National Coalition on Television Violence citing a fictitious letter written by a character in this novel as "proof" that D&D had caused the death of gamers.
As I wrote in a video/blog posting concerning Zachary King,
It is this sort of Christianist masturbatory fantasy that is still extant, that its promulgators think that "the rubes" will actually believe it. As Deb and I found, the religious fucktards soak this shit right up; and I'm not just talking the Christo-fascists either.
What may remain obscure, even now, is why people would choose to play D&D, all night, night after
night, for years. Why intelligent human beings would find the actions of imaginary fighters,
thieves, dwarves, elves, etc., as they move through a space that exists only notionally, and consists
more often than not of dimly lit corridors, ruined halls, and big, damp caves, more compelling than
books or movies or television, or sleep, or social acceptance, or sex. In short, what’s so great about
Dungeons & Dragons?
While he does compare it to a written book of fantasy, he does not take his analogy far enough. D&D is
not a book. I think it can be better compared the passion an athlete has; why continue playing your
chosen sport year after year. Think about, there is a senior league even for pros.
On Aug. 12, she called police to say that her son had been sodomized by
a teacher at the McMartin preschool, the daycare he had been attending
for about two weeks.
Johnson told investigators that her son said a McMartin teacher named
Ray taught him to play doctor and forced him to wear women’s clothes.
Other children, she said, had told their parents stories of similar
abuse.
Ray Buckey, 25, was the only male teacher there. He was the grandson of
Virginia McMartin, 76, who had founded the school in 1966. By 1983,
Peggy McMartin Buckey, Virginia’s daughter and Ray’s mother, was in
charge of the school, which, until Johnson’s accusation, had a sterling
reputation.
The same could not be said of Johnson. She was a deeply troubled woman,
an alcoholic with a history of mental illness who was going through an
ugly divorce at the time.
It was, quite simply, a case of temporary global insanity. And it all started with a single lurid Canadian book.
“You never see him all at once—he’s always distorted and he’s not
quite substantial, more like a vapor … It turns to look at me and it’s
all uhhh l-l-l-like all black …I’m scared! Scared. I’m scared!” goes the
passage in Michelle Remembers describing Michelle Smith’s encounter
with Satan.
Published in 1980 and written by Smith’s psychiatrist, Lawrence
Pazder, it is the purported “true story” of Smith’s childhood as the
prisoner of a Satanic cult in Victoria in the mid-1950s.
The entire book comes from 600 hours of Smith’s testimony in Pazder’s
office, delivered in the voice of a child while she was in a
trance-like state.
Dan and Fran Keller, who spent more than 21 years in prison after
they were accused of sexually abusing children during supposed satanic
rituals at their South Austin day care facility, will receive $3.4
million from a state fund for those wrongly convicted of crimes.
Shortly
after receiving the news Tuesday, an ecstatic Fran Keller said they
will no longer have to live on the brink of destitution, unable to find
jobs at their ages and with their convictions, even if overturned by the
state’s highest criminal court.
“This means we don’t have to worry about pinching pennies on Social
Security, and late bills. It means we will actually be free. We can
start living — and no more nightmares,” said Fran Keller, 67.
The decision will resolve all outstanding criminal issues for the
Kellers, who were convicted in 1992 and served more than 21 years in
prison in a case that generated national headlines amid allegations that
they performed satanic rituals on the children. The couple, now elderly
and described by their lawyer as destitute, has been free on bond since
2013 and will each be able to apply for $80,000 for every year
mistakenly spent in prison.
“I believe under the law that I am
charged with this responsibility — and it is my personal decision,”
Moore told the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV.
Unfortunately for the Kellers, an overturned conviction is not
exoneration, which prosecutors oppose, though no evidence supports the
case against the Kellers. There’s a fine legal distinction at play here,
and possibly compensation for the more than 20 years the Kellers spent
in prison. In short, the Kellers are no longer guilty of anything, but
the charges against them remain in place. For the time being, they are
in the position of having to prove their innocence. In other words, they
are stuck having to prove, as Fran Keller has said, a negative.
Beginning in 1991, Fran and Dan Keller, who ran a day care out of their
Austin home, committed unspeakable acts against their charges — they put
one in a swimming pool with a baby-eating shark; they forced the kids
to watch as they dismembered an infant; they flew the children to
Mexico, where they were raped by soldiers, before flying them back to
the day care in time to be picked up by their parents.
Except,
possibly, just maybe, perhaps, none of that ever happened. Incredibly,
even though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday overturned
the charges against Fran Keller because of "false evidence," the court
denied her claims of actual innocence.
[,,,]
The Kellers were convicted just as the "Satanic panic" — a tide of
accusations of ritualized sexual abuse often coinciding with "recovered
memories" — was winding down. The Kellers' trial took place two years
after the debacle of California's McMartin Preschool trial, the
touchstone flagship Satanic panic case that should have put the nail in
the coffin of this most unfortunate and embarrassing period of American
jurisprudence. But, unfortunately for the Kellers, word hadn't reached
Travis County prosecutors in time.
The Kellers appealed, and Fran
was released on bond in 2013, at age 63. By that time, Michael Mouw, the
physician who testified to the evidence of sexual abuse, had recanted,
saying he was mistaken. And it's because of that that the Texas CCA finally tossed Fran's conviction. Not because of the complete lack of evidence of baby-eating sharks.
Judge
Cheryl Johnson was apparently baffled by her colleagues' reasoning —
she wrote in a concurring opinion that the court should go ahead and
find Keller innocent. (We'd like to see Johnson's rough draft, which
almost certainly had to include the phrase "Are y'all fuckin' nuts?")
Boston seems especially vulnerable to the kinds of moral panic that has gripped the archdiocese. Boston became the epicenter of one of the most notorious panics surrounding the Satanic Ritual Abuse day care claims of the 1980s. Boston’s
Fells Acres Day Care panic promoted a false narrative that once-loving
and nurturing day care workers had mysteriously become demonic monsters
who had raped children with knives, slaughtered large animals in magic
rooms and underground tunnels — sacrificing babies to Satan — all
without leaving a bit of evidence. In that panic, Boston’s
Fells Acres Day Care workers spent more than a decade in prison despite
the fact that they had done nothing wrong. It was only due to the
tireless efforts of The Wall Street Journal’s Dorothy Rabinowitz that
the innocent day care workers were released from prison.
What makes it a false one, it is agenda driven. Anne Hendershott is director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life. In essence, Hendershott is an apologist for the Catholic Church and to equate pedophile priests, a legitimate well documented issue, with the false narrative of the Satanic Panic is dubious at best.
The “zero-tolerance” policies that remain bereft of common sense at the
archdiocesan offices have promoted yet another panic in Boston — one
that ensnares innocent men and women in Revere — and puts the church once again at risk. Perhaps it is time to reconsider those policies that end up hurting those they are designed to protect.
Zachary King is a Catholic wannabe version of Mike Warnke and believes that Satanic rituals are being performed at your "local" abortion clinic (in other words, Planned Parenthood).
Why does he believe so, according to Hohmann:
King said he was hired to be there, casting his spells, by the abortionists.
“You have to be part of the procedure,,,They have hired you to perform a satanic spell and, in order for that to happen, your hands have to get bloody.”
,,,
“My left hand guided the way, and the right hand had a scalpel. The woman never winced or anything. Both hands were bloody. I participated in 141 abortions. I doubt my actions actually killed any children, but I was still there.”
,,,
He said [referring to King] the women whose abortions he attended would get pregnant with the intent of killing their unborn baby as a sacrifice to Satan.
“So the women knew why I was there,,,,King said. “They know there’s a satanic ritual going on.
“In 1987 (at the age of 19), I became a high wizard, and I did my last abortion in 1997,,,,From the time I was 14 to age 19, I did probably five of them.”
So I did a bit of digging,,,
The interview originated with Michal Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute; it was then "reported" on by LifeNews.com, ”an independent news agency devoted to reporting news that affects the pro-life community." And finally reached Leo Hohmann of WND. His article is just a repetitious bunch of junk with no fresh perspective or novelty.
Now I'm not going to get into the differences between theistic and atheistic forms of Satanism (not to discount The Satanic Temple) nor any of the other batshittery that always surrounds this topic (ie Hitler, Manson, Mengele and Margaret Sanger always make an appearance from the religious fucktards). But I want you to think about what he said, and how fucking stupid he is. It is a point our very own Heretic Woman made before she was banned and her comments deleted.
Satanists don't have covens
Although not mentioned in Hohmann's article, King states in the original interview, "I had been in the World Church of Satan,,," I have never seen reference to such and organization nor have I been able to FIND any reference to such
There are no substantiated claims of human sacrifice by any Satanic groups,,,EVER
And WTF is a non-medical person doing in an operating theater
Exactly what type of abortion was he providing - My left hand guided the way, and the right hand had a scalpel
This last one is self explanatory - I doubt my actions actually killed any children, but I was still there
So dude can't even seem to get his terminology correct. Let alone provide any evidence that these "Satanic" rituals are occurring besides the fact that abortions do take place. The author doesn't do much better, relying on innuendo and rumor: "In December 2010, Life Site News, a pro-life website, published a profile of Abigail Seidman, who from the age of 10 was working in an abortion clinic managed by her mother, a nurse."
[Side::King can't even seem to get his narrative correct either, one minute he is in an operating room; next it is some, "farm house that was surprisingly more sterile than many of the other abortion clinics I had done abortions in." Also note this comment is referencing his "first [abortion] one I did was about 3 months before turning 15."]
BUT that is not my interest,,, It is the hyperbole and god awful rhetoric being spouted by these insane lunatics that bother me.
So with said, a little back story for context and understanding my interest.
Flash back to the early 80s and the mentality that originally sucked me; a bit of:
Seventies-era “former Satanic High Priest” John Todd, "but no one had to take Todd down: Pleading guilty to rape and child molestation ended his career as a Satan-chaser. Todd alienated many mainstream Christian groups by accusing them of being Illuminati fronts. Todd’s teachings still have a following in conspiracy circles and fundamentalist Christian religious sects."
And last but not least, Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore, who in 1985 formed the Parents Media Resource Center (PMRC) - the group responsible for the “Parental Advisory” stickers found on music because of back-masking
It is this sort of Christianist masturbatory fantasy that is still extant, that its promulgators think that "the rubes" will actually believe it. As Deb and I found, the religious fucktards soak this shit right up; and I'm not just talking the Christo-fascists either.
This is truly unbelievable, that people would allow themselves to be so over taken by the devil that they would make human sacrifices to satan, but after seeing what PP does, selling babies by the piece, I guess anything is possible, I still have a hard time understanding how people can be so depraved and evil. Their days in eternity will be long and hot, and they deserve it.
When I was an LEO, I researched this crap to find out more about a coven
working in my district. What I found was so repulsive I almost threw
up. Baby Sacrifices, Group Rape, Eating Feces, Kidnapping Children in
other states and forcing them into this sick lifestyle and the list goes
on forever. They had a nation wide network from coast to coast and this
was in the late 70s. I could only imagine what they have now.
I agree. Whether or not there is a Satanist there performing a spell,
it's still offering up a child, a human life, on the altar of pleasure
and convenience. And given that truth, should it be any great surprise
that the enemy of our souls, the enemy of all human souls and life
itself, would wish to be present, cheering the practitioners on? Of
course they wish to remain in the shadows, because evil hates the light,
so also don't be surprised by the many naysayers who will flock to this
article to leave their mocking comments, seeking to discredit the man's
truthful testimony. [Article's author]
Do you mean evidence as in hearing it on the main stream media? I have
heard testimony from many different ex-satanist that state child
sacrifice is a common practice among them. I was told i was crazy years
ago for stating that baby parts were being harvested and sold on the
black market. Guess what? Its main stream news now. Also, thats not
the worst of it. Those baby parts are being used in our food, cosmetics
and other areas. Sounds crazy huh! That will come out too. My
evidence is discernment. Any a people without God will do evil beyond
imagination. Grace is available for those people if they just trust in
Jesus and repent.
Imagine being 19 year old, away from home in a heavily fundamentalist atmosphere. Imagine having a mental illness, but not knowing you have a mental illness. Imagine having psychotic episodes, delusions of grandeur, uncontrollable moods swings all fueled by an addiction to Tylenol 3s (codeine) which eventually led to Oxycontin. Imagine being a cutter but not knowing why.
Now add to that a culture where mental illness is perceived as a spiritual issue that can be solved by prayer and Bible study. (Sound familiar) That it is Satan and his minion demons and those he controls that are the cause of all your woes. Then add to that a jackass named Bob Larson. (Yes, the current master of Skpye exorcisms (for the low price of $295) and the brains behind teenexorcists.) I think without much help you can see where this is going to lead because it is still happening today. I am an "exorcism" survivor
[SIDE::Now there is a lot of small detail in discussing Larson and my experience. Larson actually performs, in modern parlance, "Deliverances" not the Rite of Exorcism. No he was not present, but his early teachings along with the hype mention above were influential. Yes I have "met" Larson and have heard him speak. I was also and avid fan of his two-hour weekday call-in show "Talk Back" (no, I don't think I ever called in at least I don't remember ever doing so). Yes I have read many of his books and so on,,,
I say survivor because, it didn't kill me. But the aftermath nearly did. I say survivor, because, today many individuals subjected to this type crazy talk don't. That fucks me off!!
Over the course of the past 5 years, I have posted numerous stories concerning "Demons, Deliverance and Exorcism" and the false narrative behind it. People say that religion does not result in harm but I beg to differ.
These are just some of the stories I haven't published...
"Christianity" is dying a slow death and the Christianists don't like it. They don't like the idea of their way of life is, their dominance of the way things ought to be, their beliefs are becoming extinct.
Zachary King said satanism, in the same way abortion and homosexual rights activists have mainstreamed their ideas, is unveiling its true agenda in increments.
"It's becoming more popular, because, remember, Satan has removed himself from the picture in many respects, trying to prove he doesn't exist [18],,,,So many people think of Satan as this character the church invented to keep people in line, and then you look at everything else that's ramped up.
,,,
It's the same with abortion and satanism,,,
"Everything satanic is coming out in the open, they're not denying it anymore. They're not hiding it in the basement and out in the woods anymore," King said. "It's just out in the open like everything else." [19]
And that my friends is the crux of the whole matter. The political agenda aside, they do not want their beliefs challenged. They do not want people to think for themselves. They want happy little sheep.
And as devil worshipping charges faded away in the early '90s, the three doctors began promoting a new danger: Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Satanic Ritual Abuse and Shaken Baby Syndrome are more similar than they sound. In both cases, the expert speak for the victim. The discredited Satanic Ritual Abuse cases proved that adults were able to pressure children to swear to all sorts of falsehoods. (One child identified Chuck Norris as his abuser.) The infants and toddlers who are alleged victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome are either dead, or too young to explain what happened. Thus a doctor's educated opinion becomes crucial—even if that doctor is adhering to incorrect “proof” of abuse.
Northwestern University Law Professor Deborah Tuerkheimer estimates that approximately 95 percent of defendants are found guilty once formally accused of maiming or killing babies through violent shaking, and that 1,000 innocent people may be in prison right now. Public belief in Shaken Baby Syndrome is so strong that Congress has long deemed the third week of April National Shaken Baby Awareness Week, and 18 states require hospitals to instruct new parents about the threat to infants from Shaken Baby Syndrome.
In The Syndrome, Goldsmith reveals that the doctors who frothed up Satanic Panic moved on to shape the next crisis. Chadwick, Reece and Jenny have all served as advisors to, or on the board of directors of, the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome in Farmington, Utah. They've defined new medical terminology in medical books which they've promoted to doctors, hospitals, and law enforcers. With hundreds of doctors following their lead, Goldsmith's documentary argues, the three helped trigger a surge of Shaken Baby Syndrome prosecutions — convictions now increasingly discredited by multiple media investigations, outspoken scientists and doctors, and attorney-led innocence projects that seek to free condemned baby shakers from U.S. prisons.
“When I put it all together, it was like being electrocuted,” says Goldsmith. “It's pretty damning.”
[,,,]
The Syndrome interviews several medical experts who openly
dispute the once-undisputed Shaken Baby Syndrome theory. Three major
skeptics are Dr. Patrick Barnes of Stanford, who once believed it and
now testifies in court against it, Dr. Ronald Uscinski of Georgetown who
decries the hysteria as “pure Hell,” and pathologist Dr. John Plunkett,
who tested bio-mechanical dummies to determine how much shaking was
needed to scramble the brains of an infant or toddler.
Plunkett's
findings have sparked a growing acceptance that the thin science
underlying Shaken Baby Syndrome theory is wrong. For one, the three
hidden symptoms such as blood behind the eyes can't be created without
causing whiplash to the neck. Yet, The Syndrome points out that
there has never been any serious neck damage in any of the Shaken Baby
Syndrome cases, according to records from hundreds of prosecutions.
[,,,]
It's important to pin down exactly what Plunkett and the other experts
do and don't believe. They do believe that child abuse exists. They do
believe that shaking babies is injurious. They don't believe that the
definition and diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome is accurate or useful.
And they don't believe that everyone convicted of it is guilty, or got a
fair trial in court or the media.
Dr.
Jenny admits during a lecture in the documentary that “the assumptions
we're making really cannot be validated at this time by the scientific
literature.” Adds Chadwick, “Let's let it be controversial for awhile —
until we find better data.”
If the situation is different this time and there exists forensic evidence to support the claims being made, it is vital that such evidence is passed to the police as soon as possible. But this looks unlikely. As Lumbasi says in the Scottish Express, “In most cases, we can’t blame the police for not taking action. If they have no actual evidence such as names, times or places to go with, what can they do?”
Keep in mind as you're reading this article that French is raising doubts about the specific claims made by the charities. These claims state that satanic abuse, involving child and animal sacrifice and other extreme behaviors, is rife in Scotland and has been for decades. Very similar to claims that were widespread in the US in the 1980s and 90s (the Satanic Panic) but were never substantiated with physical evidence. Instead, there is strong evidence to support the idea that the claims were either based upon the use of inappropriate dubious memory recovery techniques or inappropriate child interview techniques
“EXCLUSIVE: Charities claim that the satanic abuse of children is rife” screamed the headline in the Express on Sunday earlier this month. The piece reports that two charities, Kilmarnock-based Break the Silence and Dundee-based Izzy’s Promise, believe satanic abuse to be rife in Scotland and that it has been for decades. They say children are forced to take part in satanic rituals involving the sacrifice of babies and the making of snuff movies. According to Kate Short of Break the Silence, “Victims are so brainwashed they don’t dare to speak out.” These are obviously extremely serious allegations – but are they true?
A similar, although more detailed, story ran on the same day in the Scottish Express. Both stories point out that Police Scotland has said it is taking the allegations “incredibly seriously”. Following the Jimmy Savile child sex abuse scandal, it would be very surprising if they had said anything else. We now know that many of Savile’s victims had complained of being abused at his hands at the time the abuse was taking place and that they were ignored by those in authority. That this happened is a disgrace and the result was that Savile was free to abuse dozens, possibly hundreds, more victims.
Have complaints of extreme satanic abuse been routinely made over the years and similarly ignored or suppressed by the authorities? A comment from Short suggests otherwise. She is quoted as saying that “survivors often suppressed their memories of such harrowing childhood events and therefore the specific details are vague, meaning they can be written off as suffering from of ‘false memory syndrome’ or mental illness.”
Similarly, Joseph Lumbasi, project coordinator with Izzy’s Promise, states that, “People who talk to us are relating us their experiences from when they were maybe just eight, nine or ten – kids really.” In other words, it appears highly likely that many of these claims are based upon “recovered memories”. As I have written in the past in these pages, the use of various dubious techniques by therapists and counsellors aimed at recovering allegedly repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse can often produce detailed and horrific false memories.
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In fact, there is a consensus among scientists studying memory that traumatic events are more likely to be remembered than forgotten, often leading to posttraumatic stress disorder. So despite widespread acceptance among the general public, legal professionals, and those working in mental health, the very notion of repression as described by Short is doubted by the majority of memory researchers.
The sad truth is that we have been here before. On 13 March 1990, the headline of the Daily Mirror read, “Kids forced into satan orgies”. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children had reported that satanic abuse was widespread in the UK.
This is another article that appears to follow a re-current theme of late and may be likened or reminiscent of the "satanic panic" experienced here in the US. As with other articles there seems to be a tendency to lump the occult with Paganism and Witchcraft calling it satanism and then throw in local religious beliefs and mythologies. I think it is troublesome that in the 21st century we are still fighting against supernatural beliefs whether it be as a victim or perpetrator.
__
Some call them the Ghost Busters. Other call them the X-Files. They’ve even been dubbed the Vampire Cops.
But for the Harmful Occult Related Crimes unit, their cases are every bit as real - and the victims every bit as violated - as any other.
Colonel Dr Attie Lamprecht’s job is to see beyond the tokoloshes, zombies, curses, muti and witchcraft to gather evidence that will stand up in court.
It’s also his job to know about new trends such as “more and more young people drinking each other’s blood”.
[,,,]
“Satanism is not a crime,” he emphasised. It’s only if religious or spiritual beliefs result in a legally defined crime that his officers will make an arrest.
But every supernatural report has to be taken seriously.
“In certain parts of South Africa, if a person is identified as a witch… they will be killed, and sometimes their family too. In the northern parts of the country women seek shelter in police stations because they have been pointed out as a witch.”
Satanic panic not just a US phenomenon and it is not "old news" as many believe. It is recent and always has the potential to repeat itself,,,
Occult-related crimes are on the increase across Gauteng, and now police are warning parents to be on the lookout for the telltale signs that their children are dabbling in the dark arts.
The provincial Harmful Religious Practices (Occult Crimes) Unit of the SAPS said it had 78 occult-related enquiries in the past three months, 48 of which were connected to a crime.
Investigator Lieutenant-Colonel Hennie de Jager said his unit had seen an increase of occult-related crimes in Gauteng, particularly among black youth.
“Occult-related crimes are increasing, especially in black areas where boys and girls are promised fame and riches.”
He said his unit had recently received calls from parents who had told investigators their children were drinking blood.
[,,,]
The national head of the Harmful Religious Practices Unit, Colonel Attie Lambrecht, said he believed that the increase in occult-related crimes had to do with urbanisation, and greater access to smartphones and computers. He said Hollywood had its influence, too.
Lambrecht said people were turning to witchcraft in the hope of finding quick wealth.
People wonder why I do not sleep so well, my mind never shuts down enough for that to happen. But that aside, there were a few sidebars that came to mind which I couldn't quite fit into either "story." It nagged at me so much I couldn't sleep,,,
1] Two highly rated resources regarding Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) and false memory
2] One issue that surfaces in regards to both of these case is the possibility of "prosecutorial misconduct" and whether charges should be considered against the lead attorney in the case. Considered by some in the legal community to be a loaded term and very nuanced in actuality. There is a broad spectrum of behaviors (ie. actions by the police during an investigation or something said during opening/closing statements) that fall under this "charge" especially when used in the appeal process. What I am thinking in regards to both cases above, is if the prosecutor(s) knowingly withheld information that would have indicated the persons on trial where innocent should it be a crime?
Recently two cases have been in the news that bare this out, the David Camm trial(s) in Indiana and the recent fallout of the Michael Morton trial in Texas. I am not aware of charges being levied against the prosecutor in the Camm debacle as of yet, but in the Morton case former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was sentenced to (IMHO a laughable) 10 days in jail and loss of his law license. Going back a bit further we have the Martha Coakley fiasco. The now Attorney General of Massachusetts, has been "accused" (I use that term very loosely) of misconduct that vaulted her from DA to her current position.
I know our justice system has for many years been accused of being clunky, slow and biased. I have always believed that in the end, the truth is out there, it just takes the right people to hear it. Maybe now, with these cases and many more we don't read about, advances will be made and people will start to listen.
This second article deals with another SRA case that never should have gone to trial,,,
Nearly 21 years to the day that she was sent to prison for a crime that few still believe ever actually happened, Frances Keller on Tuesday evening walked out of the Travis County Jail, freed on a personal bond, and was greeted by a grown daughter eager to hug her mother after more than two decades of separation.
Keller and her husband Dan were each convicted and sentenced on Nov. 30, 1992, to 48 years in prison for the alleged sexual abuse of 3-year-old Christy Chaviers, who in the summer of 1991 was an infrequent drop-in at the couple's home-based daycare near Oak Hill. After a day in care at the home that summer Christy told her mother, Suzanne Stratton, that Dan had spanked her. With a bit of pressing, first by her mother and then by therapist Donna David Campbell, that initial allegation soon morphed, first into an allegation of sexual abuse and then, by the fall, into far more fantastic allegations – including that the Kellers took Christy and other children on plane rides to Mexico where they were abused by various individuals, that Fran cut off the arm of a gorilla at Zilker Park, that the Kellers performed a satanic bone-replacing ritual on one child, and that the Kellers forced the children to watch them sacrifice babies and small animals. Ultimately, Campbell concluded that Christy was a victim of "ritual abuse."
The Kellers were among hundreds of child-care workers across the nation who, in the Eighties and Nineties, were accused of being part of a network of satan worshippers who abused children taken to daycare. In 2008, the Chronicle began a reinvestigation of the case against Fran and Dan Keller, discovering that Austin Police and prosecutors were embarrassingly credulous in their belief that the children had been abused in all manner of impractical – if not simply impossible – ways and despite the fact that there was scant evidence to suggest any crime ever happened at all.
This is one of two articles that got lost in the shuffle (actually buried behind other news I was following) but I have not seen it commented on by others except for local coverage. This case originally was a travesty of justice and I am glad to see the innocent finally freed.
For those that may not remember, it began in 1983 (my sophomore year of college) with the McMartin Preschool case out of California.* Fuel was added by the likes of Mike Warnke, John Todd, Jack Chick, Michelle Smith and of course my buddy Bob Larson; the list is an endless whose who of Christian fundamentalism. Though the flames began to die down in the 90s, the 'San Antonio 4' was one of the last big cases to sweep the nation. About damn time that some true justice has come for Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh and Cassandra Rivera. Now all they need is a declaration of innocents to complete the process.
The remaining three of four San Antonio women imprisoned for sexually assaulting two girls in 1994 have been freed after a judge agreed that their convictions were tainted by faulty witness testimony.
[“Faulty eyewitness testimony” in other words, "We fucked up, so sorry. Now don't sue our asses."]
Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh and Cassandra Rivera were released on bond Monday after a judge decided to recommend that an appeals court vacate their 1998 convictions. They were convicted of assaulting two of Ramirez’s nieces, ages 7 and 9, in successive attacks during a week in 1994. The girls testified that the women held them by their wrists and ankles, attacked them and threatened to kill them.
A fourth woman, Anna Vasquez, has already been paroled, but under strict conditions.
“It’s a breath of fresh air,” Vasquez told reporters after defense attorney Mike Ware announced that the three women would be released on their own recognizance later in the day. “It’s an awesome feeling. It’s like a dream come true.”
While the women were not formally declared innocent of the crimes, prosecutors in Bexar County have said they do not intend to retry them if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacates the convictions. Ramirez was given a 37-year prison sentence. Mayhugh, Vasquez and Rivera were given 15-year sentences.
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*To give you and idea of the absurdities of this case it is the one were one child even accused actor Chuck Norris of being one of the abusers.
