Satanic Panic

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Ack! Devil bunnies! I snort the nose, Lucifer!

The recent phenomenon of Satanic panic originated during the 1970s[1] -- and gained traction during the 1980s and 1990s -- when a widespread belief took hold within American[2] evangelical Christianity that a vast underground network of Satanists is in control of secular society.

Contents

[edit] Origins

The 1972 publication of The Satan Seller by Mike Warnke played a large part in launching this scare. Warnke continued to be referenced by the mainstream media as an "authority" on Satanism until his story was exposed as fraudulent in 1992. Unfortunately, this revelation has had little effect on majority of people who choose to believe in the power of Satan -- i.e., fundamentalist Christians.

Satanic panic spread to society at large when law enforcement agencies began taking the wild claims made by evangelical Christians at face value. They used -- and, on occasion, still use -- such allegations as a basis for investigations of occult activity on the assumption that these activities (often committed by harmless neopagan groups or teenagers) is part of a broader conspiracy. Or, worse yet, that these activities are precursors to major crimes like kidnapping, rape and murder.[3]

As law enforcement linked more and more crimes to Satanic rituals, the popular media took notice. Something that would have been considered ridiculous a decade or two earlier now had the authority of government behind it. Soon, hundreds of books, newspapers articles and TV stories helped spread Satanic panic throughout North America. An early example of this was when Geraldo Rivera did a 1988 TV special on alleged Satanic activity. Occasionally, certain popular media outlets will still run a "Did Satanism play a role in this crime?" story.

[edit] Stereotypical characteristics of Satanists and Satanism

Evangelicals and the police and prosecutors that they influence usually believe that the network(s) of Satan worshipers are characterized by the following:

  • There are families of devil worshippers, and they tend to be multigenerational.
  • Teenagers are enticed to join Satanic cults.
  • Human sacrifice.
  • Disappearing pets are used for animal sacrifice.
  • Ritual child abuse.
  • Satanist networks are part of a broader conspiracy, e.g. the Illuminati.
  • Wiccans and other neopagans are Satanic in nature.
  • Wiccan symbols such as the pentagram are signs of Satanic activity. Some Christian books on Satanism (and materials provided to law enforcement) included the peace symbol and the anarchy symbol in their lists of "Satanic symbols" to watch out for.
  • Some parts of popular culture are functioning as recruiting tools for Satanism, including heavy metal music and the game Dungeons and Dragons.
  • Halloween is a Satanic holiday; urban legends and scares over poisoned candy were claimed to be the work of Satanic cults.
  • Some towns, agencies, or even major corporations (i.e. Procter & Gamble) are secretly under the control of Satanists.
  • Satanist "infiltration" of the military.

[edit] Recent crimes blamed on Satanic rituals

Since the 1970s, many people have been officially accused of crimes linked to the practice of Satanic rituals. Some have been tried and convicted.

[edit] McMartin Preschool abuse cases

In 1983, the mother of a McMartin Preschool student accused her estranged husband and a teacher at the preschool -- located in Manhattan Beach, California -- of molesting her son. The arrests, investigations and trials lasted until 1990, when all charges were dropped. There were no convictions in this trial, the most expensive in history at the time. Among the allegations were that the preschool staff practiced Satanic rites where they flew through the air and drilled holes in the children. One child even accused "actor" Chuck Norris of being one of the abusers.[4]

[edit] Murder of Kimberly Simon

Teenager Kimberly Simon was last seen walking near her home in Oneida County, New York on 19 September 1985. Her body was found soon afterwards.[5] Steven Barnes spent 20 years in prison for the crime. He was exonerated in 2009 thanks to DNA testing. Now[6] the Oneida County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) is focusing on -- drumroll, please -- a coven of Satanic teenagers. This story comes from a witness who testified against Barnes in 1989. She now says that (1) the OCSD coerced her original testimony; (2) she was the girlfriend of one of the boys in the coven; (3) after her boyfriend ditched her, she snuck up on the group at night and could clearly see a drugged Kimberly laying on the ground by the bonfire. Honestly!

Anyway, America's Most Wanted is on the case of them dirty Satanists.[7]

[edit] West Memphis 3

At about 6 p.m. on 5 May 1993, three young boys who lived in West Memphis, Arkansas, disappeared from their neighborhood. Their bodies were found the following day in a nearby drainage ditch. The population of West Memphis includes a rather large contingent of Southern Baptists who have been preached to for years that a many Satanic covens are hidden in plain sight within decent society. A neighborhood teenager named Jessie Misskelley -- who has the mental abilities of a ten-year-old -- confessed to the crimes. He then implicated two other neighborhood teenagers, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, claiming that the murders were part of a Satanic rite. Misskelley and Baldwin were sentenced to life without parole. Echols received the death penalty. Later, evidence showed no traces of DNA from the Misskelley, Echols or Baldwin. However, DNA evidence from the stepfather of one of the victims was found on the ligature that strangled that boy. So far, the appeals of the West Memphis 3 have been unsuccessful.[8]

[edit] Murder of Meredith Kercher

On 1 November 2007, British university exchange student Meredith Kercher was murdered in Perugia, Italy. Because her death occurred the day after Halloween, local prosecutor Giuliano Mignini believes that her murder was due to a Satanic rite that got out of hand. In fact, Mignini believes that many major crimes are due to Satanic rites that get out of hand, thanks to the fact that he is a dedicated follower of Satanic panic blogger, Gabriella Carlizzi.

American exchange student Amanda Knox, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guédé, a local laborer, were convicted of the crime. But Guédé was the first to go to trial because the physical evidence pointed to him, not to Knox or Sollecito.

At first Guédé claimed that after he had had sex with Kercher, an unknown man with a knife broke into her flat and killed her. Then, he confessed to accidentally killing Kercher.[9] Then he said he was at the scene with Knox and Sollecito, but he didn't kill Kercher.[10] Then he claimed that Knox and Sollecito weren't present when Kerchner was murdered.[11] (Maybe Guédé is demon possessed. Those darned demons can be pretty inconsistent, don't you know.)

[edit] Major promoters

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ↑ Earlier occurrences are, of course, typified by the Salem witch trials.
  2. ↑ Although -- as demonstrated by the Meredith Kercher murder case -- Christians in other countries are also being influenced by Satanic panic.
  3. ↑ In reality, most violent crimes are not committed by strangers but by people who know the victims: lovers/spouses, friends, business partners, even casual acquaintances and family members.
  4. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on McMartin preschool trial.
  5. ↑ "America's Most Wanted to air Kimberly Simon case on March 13", WKTV website, posted 8 March 2010, accessed 16 March 2010.
  6. ↑ As in today, the second decade of the 21st freakin' century!!!!!
  7. ↑ "Unknown Kim Simon killer: Cops Seek New Links To Old Case" America's Most Wanted website, posted 16 March 2010.
  8. ↑ Steel, Fiona. "The West Memphis Three", TruTV Crime Library website, accessed 28 February 2010.
  9. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Murder of Meredith Kercher.
  10. ↑ Owen, Richard. "Meredith Kercher suspect Rudy Guede incriminates other suspects", Times of London website, 27 March 2008, accessed 16 March 2010.
  11. ↑ Adams, Cindy. "Amanda Knox news: Convicted murderer Rudy Guede says Knox not present when Meredith Kercher killed", Examiner.com website, 8 March 2009, accessed 16 March 2010.
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