THE SCARY TRUTH ABOUT SATANISM AND SERIAL KILLERS

The concept of those who worship Satan is hundreds and hundreds of years old and so is the fear associated with them and what they might be capable of.  Often Satanism is connected to torture, murder (serial or otherwise), and child abuse which are all scary prospects, but what's just as frightening is the idea that, under the guise of fighting this "evil religion", many are accused and convicted of crimes they never committed.  From the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 to the West Memphis Three of modern day there is an almost uncontrollable terror in the idea of possible Satanism occurring and, more often than not, it leads to a hysteria that destroys innocent lives.

When In Doubt, Blame Satan

Many people know the generals of this case: a few young girls in Salem, Massachusetts, begin to behave strangely and, because no other reason can be found, the attending doctor suggests that witchcraft is to blame. Upon hearing such a prospect the people in the town begin to worry themselves into a panic about the concept of witches casting spells in the name of Satan and the cases of those “afflicted” steadily increases. Soon the idea of Satan-worshippers living and cursing amongst innocent citizens grew into such a frenzy of terror that efforts to combat the non-existent danger sent 19 people to hang at the gallows, one elderly man to be crushed to death, and numerous others to have their lives ruined.

The Salem Witch Trials happening is relatively understandable given the time and social atmosphere it occurred in.  During Puritanical times, times in which God was truly and deeply believed to be real and ever present, it's only natural that his counter-part, The Devil, would be too.  Once Satan can be believed in he can also be feared as having the potential to do great harm to others; like God he could, presumably, be worshiped and have followers to do his work.  Add to that the lack of real scientific and forensic knowledge at the time the Salem Witch Trials occurred and it's hardly surprise, short of any other obvious explanation, the work of The Devil and his followers causes a hysteria that ends up taking lives in rural 1600s.

Satanic Ritual Abuse Scare

Satanic Ritual Abuse, SRA for short, goes by a number of other different names - ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, sadistic ritual abuse - but all boils down to the same idea.  From the 1980s to the 1990s, across the US and other parts of the world, people seemed panicked over the concept of horrifyingly strange abuses occurring in pre-schools and daycares.  Numerous caretakers were accused, charged, and sometimes even convicted of the sexual abuse of small children based on little more than the panic of parents and often fantastical stories told by small children who were given leading interviews by both parents and psychiatrists.

One instance of SRA panic ruining lives is the McMartin Preschool case in California during the 1980s. Initial allegations came from an acute paranoid schizophrenic and chronic alcoholic parent, Judy Johnson, in 1983 whose son went to the preschool. After her son began having painful bowel movements the woman claimed that her estranged husband and McMartin teacher, Ray Buckey, had sodomized the boy. Upon the claim an investigation was launched and it went forward despite Ms Johnson also claiming such illogical things as that “Ray flew in the air” and the preschool’s administrator “drilled a child under the arms”. Soon the police wrote up a form letter to parents of students at the McMartin school stating that their children might have been abused, to please question their children about certain incidents, and then report their findings to the police via an enclosed form sent with the letter. Given the specific incidents the letter requested the parents ask about and that those children who were questioned by supposed professionals were exposed to highly suggestive questioning tactics (including being told to pretend and speculate) it’s hardly a surprise that the “results” were that approximately 360 children had been abused. This case lasted until 1990 and went all the way to trial based on little more than paranoia and the leading of small children to make false claims...thankfully though, after three years of testimony and nine weeks of deliberation, all those accused were acquitted and cleared of all charges.

While it's understandable that the instinct to protect takes over all thought when someone hears a young child might have been abused somewhere they should be safe, looking back it's hard to believe many of the stories.  Children's stories (in the McMartin Preschool case and other, similar, cases) have included "magic rooms", secret tunnels, flying witches, hot-air balloon rides, and, in one case, even Chuck Norris was fingered by a child as their abuser.  Also of note is that almost none of the children in these preschools and daycares came out saying they'd been abused on their own; it tended to be therapists with an ulterior motive such as proving they could recover repressed memories or parents who, even with the best intentions, would lead their children into saying they had been abused and then come forward. Even in the relatively modern 1980s and 1990s it seemed that, while the more devil-oriented aspects were in the background of the abuse of small children, Satanism was still feared and lives were still destroyed through the panic it caused.

The West Memphis Three

When cases of torture and murder are discovered frequently people search for a reason behind it, they are almost desperate to understand why such a terrible thing was done.  This is never more true when the victims are small children, such as three eight-year-old boys.  The trouble is, sometimes, the fear of some crazed killer running around kidnapping, torturing, and murdering children can cause the reactionary move of arresting the wrong people. This is exactly what happened in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993.

When Stevie Edward Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were found murdered, nude, in a creek in Robin Hood Hills woods the police seemed only to want to close the case as quickly as possible. Initially feeling that the murders had some kind of ritualistic elements to them the police refused the help of state professionals and others in favor of going after who they felt was the most likely suspect to them...a then 18-year-old young man named Damien Echols.  Echols came from a troubled background and, in a conservative and Evangelical Christian-based city, he stuck out rather significantly in his dark clothes, love of "dark" music and fiction, and occasional run-ins with the law.  Within a month the local police arrested Echols and two others, Jessie Misskelley Jr. (then 17) and Jason Baldwin (then 16), claiming that the teens had killed the children as part of a Satanic ritual.

This case was a miscarriage of justice from the start with evidence being poorly treated, stored, and processed, testimony being clearly false or otherwise coerced - including the confession of Misskelley who not only immediately recanted, but was questioned without proper legal guardianship in the room at the time despite being a minor with an IQ of 72 making him borderline mentally disabled - and seeming jury misconduct (for considering Misskelley’s confession though it was not allowed at the trial).  Despite new evidence that clearly showed their innocence and some of the young victims' own family members coming forward saying they believe the men to be innocent and would like the case reexamined to know who truly killed their children these young men spent the next 18 years imprisoned. It wasn’t until August 19, 2011 when, thanks to some legal maneuvering, each of the young men were allowed to enter an Alford plea and be released from jail. This plea is a form of guilty plea in which the defendant admits that there is enough evidence to convict them, but still assert their innocence.

Don't Be Afraid

Serial killer Richard “The Nightstalker” Ramirez proudly proclaimed he was a Satanist and “proved” it in carving pentagrams into some of his victims and drawing the symbol on his hand to show off to the press and court during his trial. This sort of thing, this idea of an evil man stalking the city as he kills and worships Satan, is exactly why things like the wrongful accusations of daycare and preschool staff and convictions of three innocent teens still happens today. When people hear Satan they panic rather than taking a moment to consider this: it’s far more likely that Ramirez was enamored with the assumptions one (possibly including himself) made about Satanists than what the church actually taught...which, if one were to read The Satanic Bible, is more about standing up for yourself and not being a follower than being cruel or violent towards others.

Sadly nothing can be done about what happened in the Salem Witch Trials except for us to learn from those mistakes.  More sadly, however, is that it doesn't seem to always happen as proven by the Satanic Ritual Abuse and the West Memphis Three cases.  It's natural to fear bad things happening to you and your loved ones, to search for reasons behind terrible acts that happen outside "just because", and to go after those you feel are evil in some way. Humans are emotional creatures and sometimes those emotions overrule logic in almost frightening ways, but when other people’s lives are at stake we must try to step back and look at the larger, more logical, picture. It's unwise and even dangerous to fear the concept of Satanism, or anything else, to the point that you ignore facts and your own logic in favor of feeling safer in the moment.