Finally there are the therapists. Bromley, the skeptical Virginia sociologist, estimates that 250 therapists are working on Satanic ritual-abuse cases. She denies that the stories could be planted. The therapist has to struggle to believe. In the widely publicized McMartin Pre-School case, Satanic practices and ritual abuse were alleged by some children, but no one was ever convicted.
Critics say some therapists are helping to cause the problem.
Other skeptics say reports of a Satanic conspiracy are neurotic fantasies conjured up in stressed-out communities that want a simple explanation for everything from drugs to moral decline. This is not the first time that stories of human sacrifice were widely believed. Romans accused early Christians of child sacrifice. Today's Satanic stories resonate eerily with something that happened in 1836. A woman named Maria Monk stirred fears in the United States and Canada with a book recounting her supposed escape from a cult that bred babies for sacrifice.