Satanic Panic

{{bronze}}{{satanism}}{{conspiracy}}
In sociology, '''Satanic Panic''' is a phenomenon characterized by widespread fear about the presence of [[Satanic ritual abuse]] in one's community, state, or country. The recent phenomenon of Satanic Panic originated during the 1970s<ref group=note>Earlier occurrences are, of course, typified by the [[Salem witch trials]]. Tellingly, many of the claims made about Satanism in the last few decades of the 20th century echoed earlier scares from [[anti-Catholicism]] and [[antisemitism]], all of which share the same claims of ritual child abuse and human sacrifice. See, for example, [[blood libel]].</ref> and gained traction during the 1980s and 1990s, when a widespread belief took hold within [[American]]<ref group=note>Although — as demonstrated by the Meredith Kercher murder case — Christians in other countries are also being influenced by Satanic panic.</ref> [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] [[Christianity]] that a vast [[underground]] network of [[Satanism|Satanists]] is in control of secular society. Satanic Panic seemed to have faded to some extent sometime during the early 21st century, perhaps because [[fundamentalists]] [[Apocalypse|now]] [[Gay Rights|had]] [[Atheism|some]] [[Terrorism|other]] [[Barack Obama|things]] [[Abortion|to]] [[Islam|panic]] [[Birth_control|about]]. In the late 2010s, however, it has seen a resurgence and rebranding as [[QAnon]]. 

==Origins==
[[Image:Onozomg.gif|thumb|[[Satan]], oscillate my metallic sonatas!]]

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 the majority of those who choose to believe in the power of Satan — i.e., [[fundamentalist]] [[Christians]]. During the late 1970s, [[John Todd]] became a brief sensation speaking in fundamentalist churches claiming [[witchcraft|witches]], [[druid]]s, and the [[Illuminati]] were in control of world politics, media, and even most churches. Todd and his claims were likewise exposed as fraudulent, but he continued to be promoted by fundamentalists like [[Jack Chick]]. The scare was given another boost with the popularity of the 1980 book ''Michelle Remembers'' by [[Michelle Smith]], an alleged memoir of [[Satanic ritual abuse]] which was also exposed as a fraud. ([[Lying for Jesus|Seeing a trend here?]])

Other claims proliferated during the early 1980s, including [[backward masking]] of Satanic messages in [[rock music]], ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' and [[heavy metal music]] as occult recruiting tools, disappearing pets and poisoned candy at [[Halloween]] as part of a larger conspiracy, and most significantly, underground movements of Satanists engaged in human sacrifice, "breeding" of children for same, ritual child abuse, and other crimes such as sexual assaults on children.

The 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) are part of a broader [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy]]. Or, worse yet, that these activities are precursors to major crimes like kidnapping, rape, and murder.<ref group=note>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.</ref>

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 and it became the most widely viewed documentary ever aired on NBC,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.holysmoke.org/wicca/satanism-skeptics.htm|work=Los Angeles Times|title=Satanism, Skeptics Abound|date=April 23, 1991}}</ref> even as more responsible media editorials panned it as sensationalistic trash, and panned NBC for airing it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-10-27/features/8802100853_1_satan-geraldo-rivera-devil-worship|work=Chicago Tribune|title=Devil Made 'Em Do It At NBC|date=October 27, 1988}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/28/opinion/topics-of-the-times-nbc-s-obscene-masquerade.html|work=New York Times|title=NBC's Obscene Masquerade|date=October 28, 1988}}</ref> Occasionally, certain popular media outlets will still run a "Did Satanism play a role in this crime?" story.

==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]].
* Organized wide-spread [[pedophilia]].
* Disappearing pets are used for animal sacrifice.
* Ritual child abuse.
* Satanist networks are part of a broader conspiracy, e.g. the [[Illuminati]].
* [[Wicca]]ns and other neopagans are Satanic in nature.
* Wiccan symbols such as the pentacle 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. Warning! There are pentagrams in the American flag and in the [[European Union|EU]] flag.
* Some parts of popular culture are functioning as recruiting tools for Satanism, including [[heavy metal music]] and the game [[Dungeons and Dragons]].
** Even otherwise innocuous celebrities such as Lithuanian-American [[Skateboarding|skateboarder]] {{wpl|Natas Kaupas}} sparked a moral panic amongst parents of skateboarding kids simply because his name sounds like "Satan" backwards. Natas soon clarified that his name is the masculine version of the Lithuanian female name 'Natalija'; he and his sponsors later took the Satanic association in stride and purposely released skateboard decks with demonic iconography, likely to [[troll]] concerned parents and religious groups.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=802251025222544&set=a.520588556722127 Ad for the Natas Kaupas skateboard]</ref>
* Halloween is a Satanic holiday; [[urban legend]]s and scares over poisoned candy were claimed to be the work of Satanic cults.
* Some towns, agencies, or even major corporations (e.g. Procter & Gamble, Guess, and [[Disney]]) are secretly under the control of Satanists.
* Satanist "infiltration" of the military.
* Washington, D.C. is infested with [[Washington, D.C. street design conspiracy theory|Satanic symbols]] designed into the city.
* [[Atheists]] are ''really'' satanists.<ref group=note>Admittedly, some of them ''are'', but their brand of [[Satanism]] is largely harmless (or at least harmless to anybody whose head isn't lodged firmly up their own rectum). [[Satanism#Types of Satanism|See]] [[Anton LaVey]] and [[The Satanic Temple]] for more details.</ref>

==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.

===McMartin Preschool abuse cases===
In 1983, the mother of a McMartin Preschool student (later discovered to be schizophrenic) 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.<ref>{{wpa|McMartin preschool trial}}</ref>

===Monster of Florence===
''Il Mostro'' was an epithet given to a serial killer who gunned down and mutilated sixteen known individuals in Florence and its surrounding countryside over a period of seventeen years (1968 - 1985). At the height of the killing spree in the early 1980s, hysteria, initially created by the media, was that the serial killings were the work of a satanic cult. Police investigations led to Pietro Pacciani, a Florentine local who had a violent criminal history, and he was later arrested by police after a bullet casing matching those found at the crime scenes was discovered at his home.<ref>Blundell, Nigel (ed.) (1996) ''Encyclopedia of Serial Killers''. North Dighton, Mass.: JG Press, p. 135</ref> Two other individuals, Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti, were also arrested after they confessed to assisting Pacciani. Due to a technicality with the evidence presented by the prosecution, Pacciani was released by the Italian Supreme Court.<ref>Jewell, Keala Jane (ed.) (2001) ''Monsters in the Italian Literary Imagination''. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, p. 69</ref> Pacciani died in 1998 before he could be retried, while Vanni and Lotti were jailed. There has been no conclusive evidence that Pacciani, Vanni, and Lotti were members of any Satanic cult.

===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.<ref>[http://www.wktv.com/news/local/86882037.html "America's Most Wanted to air Kimberly Simon case on March 13"], WKTV website, posted 8 March 2010, accessed 16 March 2010.</ref> Steven Barnes spent 20 years in prison for the crime. He was exonerated in 2009 thanks to DNA testing. Now<ref group=note>As in today, the second decade of the '''''21<sup>st</sup> freakin' century!!!!!'''''</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=69512 "Unknown Kim Simon killer: Cops Seek New Links To Old Case"] ''America's Most Wanted'' website, posted 16 March 2010.</ref>

===West Memphis Three===
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 [[Baptist|Southern Baptists]] who have been preached to for years that many Satanic covens are hidden in plain sight within decent society. A neighborhood teenager named Jessie Misskelley — who had the mental abilities of a ten-year-old — was coerced by the local police into confessing 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 Misskelley, Echols, or Baldwin. However, DNA evidence from the stepfather of one of the victims was found on the ligature that was used to hogtie one of the victims; further investigation revealed that the father had a history of violence against women and children, and his alibi was also discredited. For 18 years, the appeals of the West Memphis 3 remained unsuccessful.<ref>Steel, Fiona. [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html "The West Memphis Three"], TruTV Crime Library website, accessed 28 February 2010.</ref> They were finally released on 19 August 2011 after entering a brokered "{{wpl|Alford plea||"}} deal that allowed them to plead guilty and go free while declaring their innocence of the crimes.<ref>Gray, Madison. [http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/19/west-memphis-3-to-go-free-after-plea-deal/ "'West Memphis Three' to Go Free After Plea Deal"], ''Time Magazine'' website, posted and accessed 19 August 2011.</ref>

===San Antonio Four===
In 1994, Elizabeth Ramirez and three of her friends, all openly lesbian, were accused of gang-raping Ramirez's two nieces. A medical examination concluded that the two girls had been forcibly penetrated with objects, and the examiner testified that this was a common ritual among lesbian Satanists. Despite a lack of evidence identifying any perpetrator and multiple inconsistencies in the girls' testimony, all four women were convicted between 1997 and 1998.

In 2012, one of the alleged victims recanted, saying that her father had pressured her to make the accusation so he could win a custody battle. The medical examiner from the original trial also recanted on the grounds that new research showed that the injuries she'd seen could occur naturally. All four women were released by 2013.<ref>Grinberg, Emanuella. [http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/24/us/san-antonio-four-exonerated/index.html/ "'San Antonio Four' Exonerated in Child Rape Case"], ''CNN'' website, posted November 25, 2016, accessed December 11, 2016.</ref><ref>Lang, Nico. [http://www.advocate.com/crime/2016/11/24/san-antonio-four-exonerated-after-two-decade-fight/ "San Antonio Four Exonerated After Two-Decade Long Fight"], ''The Advocate'' website, posted November 24, 2016, accessed December 11, 2016.</ref>

===Jimmy Savile===
Since his death, numerous allegations about {{wpl|Jimmy Savile|Jimmy Savile's}} apparently extensive paedophilia and bizarre sexual activities (allegedly including [[rape]] and even [[necrophilia]]) have led to a huge number of claims against his estate for every category of sexual crime. Given his rapid metamorphosis from his country's favourite eccentric uncle to Britain's most sinister public memory, it was perhaps inevitable that someone would "[[Confabulation|recall]]" Satanic practices in association with his name. The Daily Express dutifully found one such person under the care of {{wpl|Valerie Sinason|Dr. Valerie Sinason,}} whose work informed the Satanic Panic in Britain of the early 1990s.<ref>[http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/370439/Jimmy-Savile-was-part-of-satanic-ring ''Jimmy Savile was part of satanic ring''], ''[[Daily Express]]'', January 13, 2013</ref> Despite the good doctor's history of pushing this earlier Satanic panic,<ref>[http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=in_the_back&article=99 ''Private Eye In the Back: 20 Years of Satanic Panic''], ''[[Private Eye]]'' (from the Eye archives), September 1, 2009</ref> ''[[Daily Express|The Daily Express]]'' chose to splash its front page with allegations that Savile had abused a girl in a secret vault under Stoke Mandeville hospital<ref>[http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/371936/I-was-raped-at-13-by-Jimmy-Savile-in-satanist-ritual ''I was raped at 13 by Jimmy Savile in satanic ritual''], ''[[Daily Express]]'', January 20, 2013</ref> while chanting in [[Latin]]. Backwards.<ref>[http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/379792/Jimmy-Savile-s-Satanic-ritual ''Jimmy Savile's Satanic Ritual''], ''[[Daily Express]]'', February 24, 2013; in which the headline ignores one of the article's sources who said: "From what I understand, this was not so much serious Satanic ritual, but celebrities and local dignitaries dancing around naked with a Satanic theme going on." Ah, quality journalism, that...</ref>
==Revitalization==
{{expand section}}
The Satanic Panic, in the forms of [[Qanon]] and [[Pizzagate]], has made a comeback in the late 2010s, partly as a result of the election of [[Donald Trump]] in [[2016 United States Presidential Election|2016]]. While he didn’t directly promote the idea, his election gave the fringe right that promoted the panic a platform. Look on social media, and you will see people calling celebrities, brands, and much more as demonic or satanic.

==Satanic Panic denialism==
'''Satanic Panic denialism''' is an informal, critical label used by some commentators to describe arguments that dispute or downplay the scale, significance, or lasting impact of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and early 1990s, including claims that it was not a widespread moral panic or that its social and institutional effects have been exaggerated.

Denialist arguments have taken several forms:
* '''Minimization''': Assertions that the Satanic Panic was limited to "a small number of isolated cases" and "lacked broader social influence". Critics' counterarguments emphasize that numerous investigations occurred across multiple countries and that law enforcement, social services, and judicial practices were affected.
* '''Reframing''': Arguments that the panic represented a legitimate response to concerns about child abuse, with errors attributed primarily to "flawed investigative methods" rather than to moral panic dynamics or conspiracy beliefs. Framing it as a "[[psyop]]" that governments or secret societies manipulated public with it, to control subcultures or test social engineering techniques.
* '''Institutional deflection''': Accounts that emphasize "individual misconduct" while downplaying systemic factors such as suggestive interviewing, prosecutorial overreach, media sensationalism, and ideological influence.
* '''Inversion claims''': Assertions by proponents of satanic ritual abuse theories that the characterization of the period as a panic functions as a cover-up of genuine organized abuse, a position generally regarded by scholars as conspiratorial and unsupported by evidence.
Academic consensus holds that the Satanic Panic constituted a moral panic involving widespread unsubstantiated allegations, unreliable testimony, and significant miscarriages of justice. While scholars continue to debate its precise scale and long-term effects, the existence of a broad social panic is widely accepted.<ref>Young, Mary. (2008). The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic: A Sociological Analysis. Sociology Compass. 2. 1719-1733. 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00169.x.</ref><ref>Wright, Stuart. (2005). Deconstructing a Modern Witch Hunt: Satanic Cults, Ritual Abuse, and Moral Panic.</ref>

==Major promoters==
{{collist|2|
*[[Amway]]<ref>Jeff Franks. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130310182532/http://rickross.com/reference/amway/amway28.html P&G alleges Amway spread Satan rumors]. Reuters. 1999 May 4.</ref>
*[[Jacob Aranza]]
*[[Rebecca Brown]]
*[[Morris Cerullo]]
*[[Jack Chick]]
*John DeCamp
*[[Mark Dice]]
*[[David Icke]] (though does not believe in Satan)
*[[Jerry Falwell]]
*[[Parents Music Resource Center|Tipper Gore]]
*[[Gary Greenwald]]
*Ted Gunderson
*[[Alex Jones]] (Because devil worshiping pedophiles run the [[New World Order]] and don't you forget it!)
*[[Liberty Lobby]]
*[[Lyndon LaRouche]]
*[[Bob Larson]]
*[[Hal Lindsey]]
*[[Texe Marrs]]
*[[Johanna Michaelsen]]
*[[Sheik Feiz Muhammad]]
*[[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals]]<ref>http://www.holysmoke.org/report/index.htm</ref>
*[[Phil Phillips]]
*[[BADD|Patricia Pulling]]
*[[Mary Stewart Relfe]]
*[[Geraldo Rivera]]
*[[Pat Robertson]]
*[[Michelle Smith]]
*[[Lauren Stratford]]
*[[John Todd]]
*[[Mike Warnke]]
*Terry D. Watkins
*[[Alan Watt]]
}}

==See also==
{{div col|2}}
*[[Satanic ritual abuse]]
*[[New Age]], the subject of a closely related scare within Christendom around the same time
*[[Backward masking]], alleged Satanic messages hidden in rock & roll records
*[[Spiritual warfare]]
*[[Exorcism]]
*[[Demonic possession]]
*[[Legend tripping]]
*[[Moral panic]]
*[[False memory syndrome]]
*[[Temple of Set]]
*[[Ella Draper]] {{---}} promoter of 2015 era Satanic Panic based around Hampstead in London
*[[Pizzagate]] {{---}} An example of a Satanic Panic.
*[[Heavy metal]] {{---}} The hymns of Satanism
{{div col end}}

==External links==
*[http://www.skepdic.com/satanrit.html Entry in the Skeptic's Dictionary]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20031025012607/http://www.pointnet.ca/media/igtaorca.pdf Investigator's Guide to Allegations of "Ritual" Child Abuse], a report by the FBI analyzing and debunking Satanic panic.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110606050502/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/258/satan_in_suburbia.html Satan in Suburbia], ''Fortean Times''
*[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=504969&in_page_id=1811&Satan=Santa 12/29/07 news item]: the Pope orders Catholic bishops to ramp up exorcism efforts to combat the worldwide rise of Satanism.
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20050327065727/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/7069/satanism.html A Pagan view of the Satanic Panic] (archived from [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/parthenon/7069/satanism.html the original,] which is no longer accessible)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110607055859/http://www.answers.org/satan/warnke.html Cornerstone magazine's Selling Satan articles]
*[http://www.rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html The Pulling Report by Michael Stackpole], critical report on BADD (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons) and their claims that D&D was a recruiting tool by Satanists
*[http://ritualabuse.us/ S.M.A.R.T.'s Ritual Abuse Pages]: A website that does its best to promote every known form of ritual abuse panic, including satanic panic.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPMtVjg636E Godlesspanther's Satanic Panic Part I on YouTube], first of a multi part series of videos on the history of the Satanic panic. Good series, worth seeing all of them, especially for documenting how popular media hosts like [[Oprah Winfrey]], Larry King, and [[Geraldo Rivera]] promoted the scare.
*[[The Thinking Atheist|Seth Andrews]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW6UoIjy5F4 lecture on the Satanic panic]
*The following are actual ''categories'' on Wikipedia:
**{{wpl|Category:Crimes_involving_Satanism_or_the_occult | Crimes involving Satanism or the occult}}
**{{wpl|Category:Satanic_ritual_abuse | Satanic ritual abuse}}
**{{wpl|Category:Mass_hysteria | Mass hysteria}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}
[[Category:Conservative deceit]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:Media hysteria]]
[[Category:Moral panics]]
[[Category:Satanism]]

Categories: Conservative deceit, Government incompetence, Media hysteria, Moral panics, Satanism