Spoopy Halloween

"Welcome to our special Halloween episode of Cults, Cryptids, and Conspiracies! Where Chelsea talks about the legend of Slenderman and Cristina talks about the Satanic Panic! With bonus Chelsea's cat messing with everything."

## Slenderman

### Presented by: Chelsea

Category: Hoax

The Slenderman is a fake cryptid created for the Something Awful forums in 2009. In all appearances he takes the form of a tall faceless man in a black suit and a blank or bandaged face. In some incarnations of the story, he has tentacles coming out of his back. He is associated with missing persons, all though it varies between stories whether he kidnaps them or eats them or impales them to a tree. In some versions of the story he has followers called proxies.

The story went viral on line very quickly with the first YouTube series about him appearing in just 10 days after the first post. Slenderman is know the subject of games, movies and other fan works. Folklorists look to the story as a case study in how myths spread.

In 2014, two girls, one diagnosed with early onset of schizophrenia, tried to murder their friend in hopes of being spared by Slenderman. The girl lived and while tried as adults, the two girls were found not guilty and sentenced to mental health facilities.

Takeaway: Teens need to chill.

## The Satanic Panic

### Presented by: Cristina

Category: Conspiracy

The Satanic Panic is the name given to a moral panic from America in the 1980s and 90s, comparable to the witch trials and McCartyism as well as blood libel. The Satanic Panic was was centered around the idea that there were secret societies of Satanists hiding in America and abusing children, known as Satanic ritual abuse.

Signs of the Satanic influence were seen in pop culture such as backwards messages in rock music and Dungeons and Dragons, which is basically Math: The Game. On man came forward claiming to have been a former Wiccan and Satanic priest said the creators of Dungeon and Dragons had come to him to make the rituals in the game as realistic as possible and that they were. There are no rituals in Dungeons and Dragons.

The Satanic Panic led to what was at the time the longest investigation in U.S. history. McMartin Preschool was investigated for at least 360 accusations of abuse. It began when a mother accused a teacher of abusing her son. Other allegations included teachers drilling students and flying. Investigators encouraged students to speculate [read: make up] instances of abuse. One student even claimed that Chuck Norris had abused him. Trial began in 1987 and ended in 1990, with everyone found not guilty.

Another notable example was the West Memphis 3, 3 teenagers who were found guilty of murder in a Satanic ritual. There was numerous instances of police misconduct in the case, such as questioning a suspect who was borderline mentally impaired and coercing confessions. Sentenced in 1994, they were finally released in 2011, but only after the negotiated a plea of innocence while releasing the state of any wrong doing.

There has never been any genuine documented account of Satanic ritual abuse. Far from saving children, the Satanic Panic only served as a distraction from genuine cases of abuse, preventing resources and investigations from taking place.

Takeaway: Satanist are pretty chill. Adults need to chill.

## Trivia

* Chelsea said the intro.
* First mention of Mal and Stitches.
* Cristina eventually returned to the West Memphis 3.