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Satanic ritual abuse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satan, the rumored figure of worship in early satanic ritual abuse allegations ... The term "satanic ritual abuse" is used to describe different behaviors, actions ...
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Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA)
Skeptical overview of the phenomena from the Ontario Center for Religious Tolerance.
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Does Satanic/sadistic ritual abuse exist?
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satanic ritual abuse: Information from Answers.com
Satanic Ritual Abuse Satanic ritual abuse is narrowly defined as an assault (either psychological, physical, or sexual) that takes place on an
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The Colin A. Ross Institute
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CULTWATCH
... a FBI Behavioral Science Unit Report into Satanic Ritual Abuse. ... Satanic Ritual Abuse ... In regard to satanic "ritual" abuse, today we may not be ...
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Research resources on Satanic and/or Ritual Abuse and related issues
Apologetics research resources on Satanic Ritual Abuse - Apologetics research resources on ... allegations of ritual abuse, Satanic or otherwise, are ...
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Satanic ritual abuse@Everything2.com
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List of satanic ritual abuse allegations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of satanic ritual abuse allegations. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ... part in Satanic ritual abuse in which a number of deaths occurred in the 1960s, ...
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{{Articleissues| citecheck = October 2007| criticisms = October 2007| unbalanced = October 2007-->

Satanic ritual abuse (or SRA) refers to the sexual abuse of children or non-consenting adults in the context of Satanism rituals.The term sadistic ritual abuse sees some use as a more descriptive synonym that makes no assumption of whether acutal "Satanism" is involved. victimsofviolence.on.ca

Allegations of SRA remain controversy and it has proven to be one of the most incendiary issues in debates over child abuse, memory, and the law.

Prevalence The prevalence of any form of sexual abuse is difficult to quantify, and this is particularly the case in regards to SRA. There is little consensus on a definition of SRA, and it's existence is challenged in some quarters. Nonetheless, there are some research findings that shed some light on the prevalence of SRA.

Research in Australia and United Kingdom suggests that between a third and a quarter of psychotherapists, social workers and counsellors have encountered at least one client who discloses a story of ritualistic abuse see Andrews, B., J. Morton, D. A. Bekerian, C. R. Brewin, G. M. Davis and P. Mollon (1995). "The recovery of memories in clinical practice: Experiences and beliefs of British Psychological Society Practitioners." The Psychologist: Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 8(5): 209-14, Creighton, S. J. (1993). "Organized Abuse: NSPCC Experience." Child Abuse Review 2: 232 – 42, Schmuttermaier, J. and A. Veno (1999). "Counselors' beliefs about ritual abuse: An Australian Study." Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 8(3): 45 - 63.. These findings are supported by a comprehensive survey undertaken in America in the early 1990s by Bottoms, Shaver and Goodman. They found that, among 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association who responded to a poll, one third of psychologists had encountered at least one client telling of “ritualistic or religion-related” abuse, and over 90% believed their clients. Bottoms, B. L., P. R. Shaver and G. S. Goodman (1996). "An analysis of ritualistic and religion-related child abuse allegations." Law and Human Behavior 20(1): 1 - 34. Over 12 000 cases of clients with a history of organised and ritualistic abuse were reported by respondents, however, where the survey asked respondents to detail empirical or corroborating evidence for such histories, the researchers felt that there was insufficient basis to conclude that these histories were based on factual events. A large majority of therapists working with ritual abuse survivors in the early and mid 1990's believed that ritual abuse occurs Noblitt, R. and Perskin, P. (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse - Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America. Westport, Connecticut, Prager. Studies have shown a connection between Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse. Researchers have found ritualistic abuse in substantiate cases of day care sexual abuse. Van Benschoten, Susan C. (1990). “Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse: the Issue Of Credibility” Dissociation, Vol. III, No. 1. Noblitt, R. and Perskin, P. (2000). "Cult and Ritual Abuse - Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America." Westport, Connecticut, Prager. Researchers have also found 185 criminal cases alleging Satanic Ritual Abuse with 113 convictions. Over 12,000 cases of alleged or suspected Satanic Ritual Abuse cases have also been reported. deYoung, Mary (1997). “Sociological Views on the Controversial Issue of Satanic Ritual Abuse: Three Faces of the Devil” The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, Inc.

In the late 1980s, a BBC survey of British police forces found that, of 186 cases of network abuse where either multiple abusers or multiple abused children were known to each other, only five involved claims of ritual or satanic abuse. Brindle, D. (1990) "Ritual abuse occurs 'in 1 in 40 child sex rings'" The Guardian. 19 October, London . In another British study, 29% of the 211 cases of organised child sexual abuse reported to researchers by police, social and welfare agencies from the period of 1988 to 1991 were designated "ritual abuse" cases by respondents Gallagher, B., B. Hughes and H. Parker (1996). "The nature and extent of known cases of organised child sexual abuse in England and Wales." in P. Bibby (Ed.) Organised Abuse: The Current Debate. Aldershot, Arena/Ashgate .

Empirical research on substantiated sexual abuse cases in daycare centres also provides prevalence statistics on ritual abuse claims. Finkelhor and Williams in 1988 collected a sample of 270 substantiated cases of sexual abuse in daycare centres throughout United States, of which 17% involved multiple perpetrators and 13% involved ritualistic elements Finkelhor, D. and L. M. Williams (1988). Nursery Crimes: Sexual Abuse in Day Care. Newbury Park, Sage Publications. Faller’s exploratory study in the same year of 48 children sexually abused in daycare found that half of the victims had been abused by more than one perpetrator, and that multi-perpetrator sexual abuse was associated with ritualistic sexual abuse, the production of child pornography, and a higher number of female perpetrators Faller, K. C. (1988). "The Spectrum of Sexual Abuse in Daycare: An Exploratory Study." Journal of Family Violence 3(4): 283 - 98.. These findings concur with those of Kelly (1989) and Waterman (1993), whose respective studies compared samples of children ritually abused in daycare, children sexually abused in daycare, and a non-abused control group Kelley, S. (1989). "Stress Responses of Children to Sexual Abuse and Ritualistic Abuse in Day Care Settings." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 4(4): 502-13, and Waterman, J., R. J. Kelly, M. K. Olivieri and J. McCord (1993). Beyond the playground walls: Sexual abuse in preschools. New York, Guilford.. These studies have found that, in daycare centres, disclosures of multi-perpetrator ritualistic activity are associated with the most severe forms of child maltreatment and abuse.

Historical context The phrase “satanic ritual abuse” first arose in the mid-1980s to describe the disclosures of some children in child protection cases, and some adults in psychotherapy. The early 1980s saw an exponential increase in child protection investigations in United States, United Kingdom and other developed countries, driven by the implementation of mandatory reporting laws and increased public awareness of child abuse. In a small number of investigations, children began speaking about organised and ritualistic forms of sexual abuse by parents and carers see Kagy, L. (1986). "Ritualised Abuse of Children." ReCap: From the Child Assault Prevention Project (Winter), Hechler, D. (1988). The Battle and the Backlash: The Child Sexual Abuse War. Lexington, Massachusetts; Toronto, Lexington Books, Cozolino, L. J. (1989). "The Ritual Abuse of Children: Implications for Clinical Research." The Journal of Sex Research 26(1): 131 - 8.. Adults in psychotherapy were also speaking about similar experiences in childhood Van Benschoten, S. C. (1990). "Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse: The Issue of Credibility." Dissociation 3(1): 22 – 30, Ireland, S. J. and M. J. Ireland (1994). "A Case History of Family and Cult Abuse." The Journal of Psychohistory 21(4): 417-26, Corwin, D. L. (2002). "An Interview with Roland Summit." in J. R. Conte (Ed.) Critical Issues in Child Sexual Abuse: Historical, Legal and Psychological Perspectives. Thousand Oaks; London; New Delhi, Sage Publications: 1 - 26. These disclosures included descriptions of sexual abuse in the context of Satanic cults, rituals and the use of Satanic iconography, garnering the label “satanic ritual abuse” in the media and amongst treating professionals.

Early criminal trials in America and United Kingdom involving allegations of organised and ritualistic abuse were characterised by acquittals, hung juries, and successful appeals. The failure of these high-profile cases generated worldwide media attention, and came to play a central feature in the growing controversies over child abuse, memory and the law. Brown, D., A. W. Scheflin and D. C. Hammond (1998). "The Contours of the False Memory Debate." in D. Brown, A. W. Scheflin and D. C. Hammond (Ed.) Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law. New York; London, W. W. Norton and Company: 21-65., Kitzinger, J. (2004). Framing Abuse: Media Influence and Pubic Understanding of Sexual Violence Against Children. London; Ann Arbor, MI, Pluto Press. Public anxiety that an innocent adult could be subject to prosecution for sexual abuse on the basis of a child’s whim or confabulation was inflamed by the bizarre nature of children’s allegations in ritual abuse cases. Some community groups, such as the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, lobbied the press and policy-makers to contest accounts of organised and ritualistic abuse, whilst clinicians, police and healthcare workers struggled to accommodate cases of satanic ritual abuse within their professional practice Bibby, P. (1996). "Definitions and recent history." in P. Bibby (Ed.) Organised Abuse: The Current Debate. Aldershot, UK; Brookfield, USA, Arena: 1-8.. This controversy was compounded by a number of factors, including the absence of evidence-based forensic interviewing techniques with children, the lack of multi-agency working protocols to facilitate collaboration between police and welfare agencies investigating child abuse, and the failure of the justice system to recognize the special needs of child complainants testifying in court.

By the early 1990s, the phrase “satanic ritual abuse” was featuring prominently in media coverage of allegations of ritualistic abuse, however, it was a phrase used less and less frequently by professionals in the field of trauma and abuse. Researchers and clinicians generally prefer terminology such as “ritual abuse” Hudson, P. (1991). "Ritual Abuse: Discovery, Diagnosis and Treatment." in. Saratoga, CA, R&E Publishers. or “ritualistic abuse” Snow, B. and T. Sorenson (1990). "Ritualistic child abuse in a neighborhood setting." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 5(4): 474 – 87., “organised abuse” Bibby, P. (1996). "Definitions and recent history." in P. Bibby (Ed.) Organised Abuse: The Current Debate. Aldershot, UK; Brookfield, USA, Arena: 1-8., “sadistic abuse” Goodwin, J. M. (1994). "Sadistic abuse: definition, recognition and treatment." in V. Sinason (Ed.) Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse. London and New York, Routledge: 33 – 44, and “multi-dimensional child sex rings” Lanning, K. V. (1992). "A Law-Enforcement Perspective on Allegations of Ritual Abuse." in D. Sakheim and S. Divine (Ed.) Out of Darkness: Exploring Satanism and Ritual Abuse New York, Lexington Books: 109 - 46. which acknowledge the complex morphology of child sexual abuse cases involving multiple perpetrators and victims, and avoids ascribing a motivational framework to perpetrators. The notable exception to this is literature on the subject written by evangelical Christians, which some believe have traditionally stressed the ‘Satanic’ aspects of some sexual abuse cases in order to advance a fundamentalist religious and political agenda.

Similarities between accounts of “satanic ritual abuse” and historical accounts of Satanism and witchcraft have been noted by both those who believe that ritualistic abuse is occurring in the modern world and those who believe otherwise. The earliest claims that organized groups systematically and repeatedly torture and kill others in the context of devil worship can be found in the European witch-hunt. For instance, in 1334 there was a trial of 63 presumed witches in Toulouse, France, who were accused of Satanism, cannibalism, engaging in group sex with others and with Satan himself. Eight of them were Execution by burning and the rest prison. Earlier witch panics are usually not well documented, especially when there was no Witch trial. Witch-hunting in Europe reached a peak in the 16th and 17th centuries, when many mass trials against presumed worshipers of Satan took place.Norman Cohn, Europe's Inner Demons (revised edition 2000) - an account of the centuries-old legend of secret, inhuman, baby-sacrificing cults.

Skepticism Reports of SRA arose during a period in which the prevalence and harms of child sexual abuse had become a matter of significant community concern across the West. In the 1980s and 1990s, community groups such as Victims of Child Abuse Laws and the False Memory Syndrome Foundation suggested that the increasing rates of child abuse reports were being driven, at least in part, by moral panic around child abuse, as well as professional malpractice on behalf of psychotherapists, counselors and social workers. These groups highlighted the bizarre nature of SRA allegations as evidence that children were being encouraged, or coerced, to confabulate allegations of sexual abuse.

There is a diverse body of skeptical literature on SRA. Sociologists and journalists noted the vigorous nature with which some evangelical activists and groups were using claims of SRA to further their religious and political goals e.g. see Victor, J. "Satanic Panic, Creation of a Contemporary Legend", Open Court Publishing Company, 1993. Other commentators suggested that the entire phenomenon may evidence of a “moral panic” over Satanism and child abuse de Young, M. (1996). "A Painted Devil: Constructing the Satanic Ritual Abuse of Children Problem." Aggression and Violent Behaviour 1(3): 2335-248. Some skeptical explanations for allegations of SRA have been mutually exclusive; for instance, conservative commentators have claimed that allegations of SRA are an attempt by “radical feminists” to undermine the nuclear familyWakefield, H. and R. Underwager (1994). Return of the Furies: An Investigation into Recovered Memory Therapy. Chicago and La Salle, Illinois, Open Court, whilst progressive commentators have viewed claims of SRA as evidence of a conservative backlash against working women Nathan, D. and M. Snedeker (2001). Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt, Authors Choice Pressor gay childcare workers Hood, L. (2001). A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case, Longacre Press. Others have attributed allegations of SRA to a universal need to believe in evil Frankfurter, D. (2001). "Ritual as Accusation and Atrocity: Satanic Ritual Abuse, Gnostic Libertinism and Primal Murders." History of Religions 40(4): 352 – 80, Frankfurter, D. (2006). Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Ritual Abuse in History. Princeton, Princeton University Press, a fear of alternative spiritualities La Fontaine, J. S. (1998). Speak of the devil : tales of satanic abuse in contemporary England. Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press, “end of the millennium” anxieties Showalter, E. (1997). "Hystories: Hysterical epidemics and modern culture." in. London, Picador, or even a transient form of temporal lobe epilepsy Paley, J. (1997). "Satanist abuse and alien abduction: A comparative analysis theorizing temporal lobe activity as a possible connection ebtween anomalous memories." British Journal of Social Work 27: 43-70.

Whether their explanation is "moral panic" or "false memory syndrome", skeptics have tended to treat allegations of SRA as viral agents that can be spread through conferences, seminars, books, television programs and court cases, or through contact with healthcare workers or professionals who believe in SRA. In the skeptical literature, cases of SRA have been described in terms of an infectious illness, such as "rashes" e.g. see Nathan, D. (1990). "Never Forget the McMartin Case." The San Francisco Chronicle. 12 August: 20/Z1, Guilliatt, R. (1995). "Daughter Claims Memory of Ritual Abuse." Sydney Morning Herald. 13 May, Goodlin, L. (2002). "Recovered Memory; Unproven strategy to find evidence of past sexual abuse." The Post-Standard Syracuse. 24 September, New York: A9, Radford, B. (2004). "Canadian Defendants Victorious in Ritual Abuse Case." Skeptical Inquirer 28(2): 12, “psychogenic syndromes" or "hysterical epidemics" Showalter, E. (1997). "Hystories: Hysterical epidemics and modern culture." in. London, Picador., infectious “memetic” agents Ross, S. E. (1999). ""Memes" as Infectious Agents in Psychosomatic Illness." Annals of Internal Medicine 131(11): 867-71., symptoms of a “mediasomatic ailment”Nesvisky, M. (1997). "Mediasomatic ailments." The Jerusalem Post. 22 August: 22., or simply the “madness in the air” Appleyard, B. (1998). "Lost in the dark shadows of child abuse." The Sunday Times. 31 May.. When cases of ritual abuse emerged outside North America, journalists and researchers accused American child abuse researchers of "spreading" the epidemic of SRA allegations by mentioning it at international conferences and training workshops .e.g. see Waterhouse, R. (1991). "Therapists Role in Notts Child Abuse Case." Independent on Sunday. 7 April: 3, Witham, L. (1994). "Satanic ritual abuse: Modern horror or hoax? Credibility of 'survivors' is under attack." The Washington Post. 15 June: A9, Guilliatt, R. (1996). "The Devil's Advocates." Sydney Morning Herald. 31 August, Frankfurter, D. (2001). "Ritual as Accusation and Atrocity: Satanic Ritual Abuse, Gnostic Libertinism and Primal Murders." History of Religions 40(4): 352 - 80.

Children as witnesses In the early 1980s, as the first sexual abuse cases featuring ritualistic allegations were coming to court, there was little understanding of the specific needs of complainant children in sexual abuse trials. Police, social workers or counsellors did not have access to professional training or guidance in relation to forensic interviewing techniques with children. During trial, many defense lawyers emphasized the suggestive or leading nature of some forensic interviews with children, and suggested that children's disclosures of sadistic or ritualistic abuse may have been a product of suggestive interviewing techniques.

During this period, the justice system also failed to recognize the harmful impact of the court process on young children. Whilst screens or CCTV technology are a common feature of child sexual assault trials today, children in the early 1980s were typically forced into direct visual contact with the accused abuser whilst in court. Early efforts to address a young child's anxiety over confronting their accused abuser sometimes provided grounds for a successful appeal. For instance, the convictions of Cheryl and Violet Amirault for offenses relating to ritual child sexual abuse were successfully appealed on the basis that two complainant children, aged 5 and 8, were permitted to angle their chairs away from the defendants after expressing considerable fear at facing them directly Weber, D. and Donlan, A. "Pair in day care molest case get 2nd trial", Boston Herald, 30 August 1995, p 3.

In the McMartin ritual abuse case, children as young as ten were subject to hostile cross-examination for over two weeks. Flynn, G. "Parents plead to spare molested kids new pain", The San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 March 1985, p 1-4 The harms caused to child witnesses in the McMartin case sparked a significant program of legislative reform to recognize the vulnerable and intimidated nature of complainant children in the justice system. It also catalyzed a broad agenda of research into the nature of children's testimony and the reliability of their oral evidence in court. The findings of this research is somewhat ambiguous, suggesting that neither children nor adults are immune to suggestive interviewing techniques, however, even extremely suggestive techniques do not inevitably lead to false reports Ceci, S. J., S. Kulkofsky, J. Z. Klemfuss, C. D. Sweeney and M. Bruck (2007). "Unwarranted assumptions about children's testimonial accuracy." Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 3: 311-28. Other research has demonstrated that children can accurately remember and report past experiences over long periods of time, however, this capacity is dependent on developmental differences linked to age Gordon, B. N., L. Baker-Ward and P. A. Ornstein (2000). "Children's testimony: A review of research on memory for past experiences." Clinical Child and Family Psychological Review 4(2): 157-81.

The controversy over multiple personalities and SRA In the 1980s, children and adults with a life history of ritualistic abuse were presenting to healthcare providers with uncanny alterations to their consciousness, memories and identities. They were often unresponsive or resistant to forms of treatment that had proven effective with other survivors of child abuse Bloom, S. (1994). "Hearing the Survivor's Voice: Sundering the Wall of Denial." The Journal of Psychohistory 21(4): 461 - 77, and they demonstrated higher levels of distress and trauma-related symptoms Noblitt, J. R. (1995). "Psychometric measures of trauma among psychiatric patients reporting ritual abuse." Psychological Reports 77(3): 743 - 7. In particular, children and adults with a history of ritualistic abuse were found to be extremely dissociative, and they were increasingly being diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) Van Benschoten, S. C. (1990). "Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse: The Issue of Credibility." Dissociation 3(1): 22 - 30.

MPD was a recognised as a psychological illness in the 1980 publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), but it was a controversial diagnosis that had previously been considered extremely rare. As children and adults disclosing a history of SRA presented to healthcare providers with increasing frequency, diagnoses of MPD increased accordingly. Amongst those sceptical of MPD and/or SRA, the correlation between the two was seen as further evidence that people disclosing a history of SRA were not reliable witnesses to their own lives, and that the professionals providing them with care and support were engaged in malpractice e.g. Pendergrast, M. (1995). Victims of Memory: Incest Accusations and Shattered Lives, Upper Access Books.

Criticisms of MPD (now called Dissociative Identity Disorder) have largely died away following numerous research studies and meta-analyses confirming the construct validity of the diagnosis e.g. Elzinga, B. M., R. van Dyck and P. Spinhoven (1998). "Three Controversies About Dissociative Identity Disorder." Clinical Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy 5: 13-23, and the standardisation of evidence-based treatment for the disorder International Society for the Study of Dissociation, J. A. Chu, O. Van der Hart, C. J. Dalenberg, E. R. S. Nijenhuis, E. S. Bowman, S. Boon, J. M. Goodwin, M. Jacobson, C. A. Ross, V. Sar, C. G. Fine, A. S. Frankel, P. M. Coons, C. A. Courtois, S. N. Gold and E. Howell (2005). "Guidelines for Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder." Journal of Trauma and Dissociation 6(4). However, the reliability of memories of SRA elucidated by clients in treatment for MPD has been a major point of contention in the popular media and amongst clinicians. Some healthcare professionals continue to express ambivalence over the reliability of narratives of SRA provided by patients, although most acknowledge that such a narrative is likely to be indicative of serious victimisation and trauma.

The controversies over SRA and MPD have prompted a significant program of research into the reliability of early memories of extreme trauma, the findings of which suggest that such material is encoded differently in the brain, and that the accuracy of it’s recall is impacted upon by the other consequences of early trauma, including dysregulation of affect and impulses, somatisation, and profound changes to self-perception, psychosocial wellbeing and systems of meaning Van der Kolk, B. A., S. Roth, D. Pelcovitz, S. Sunday and J. Spinazzola (2005). "Disorders of Extreme Stress: The Empirical Foundation of a Complex Adaptation to Trauma." Journal of Traumatic Stress 18(5): 389-99.

Specific cases United States High-profile court cases involving allegations of SRA dominated coverage on child abuse in the United States occurred in the 1980s to 1990s. The first such case occurred Jordan, Minnesota, in 1983, where several children living in a trailer park in Jordan made corroborating allegations of sexual abuse against an unrelated man, and then against their parents. The man confessed and then identified a number of the children’s parents as perpetrators. Twenty four adults were charged with child abuse, however, only three went to trial, resulting in two acquittals and one conviction. All other charges were dropped and the Federal Bureau of Investigations was called in once the children began speaking about the manufacture of child pornography, a well as ritualistic experiences involving animal sacrifice, the eating and drinking of human waste, and the murder of a baby Hechler, D. (1988). The Battle and the Backlash: The Child Sexual Abuse War. Lexington, Massachusetts; Toronto, Lexington Books. No criminal charges resulted from the FBI investigation, and in his review of the case, the Attorney General noted that the initial investigation by the local police and county attorney was so poor that it had destroyed the opportunity to fully investigate the children’s allegations Humphrey, H. (1985). "Report on Scott County investigations." Minneapolis, MN, Minnesota Attorney General's Office. A special commission later reviewed the conduct of the county attorney in dismissing charges against the remaining defendants, noting that it was likely that other charges would have been successfully prosecuted Commission Established by Executive Order No. 85-10 1985. The bizarre allegations of the children, the ambiguities of the investigation and the unsuccessful prosecutions were widely covered by the media. The fact that number of accused parents confessed to sexually abusing their children, received immunity, and underwent treatment for sexual abuse, whilst parental rights for six other children in the case were terminated, was not widely reported Faller, K. C. (2004). "Sexual Abuse of Children: Contested Issues and Competing Interests." Criminal Justice Review 29(2): 358-76..

Other early cases included the Kern County child abuse cases and the McMartin preschool trial, which garnered significant media coverage around the world. Meanwhile, the courts were hearing cases involving allegations of SRA that attracted less attention from journalists. In 1992 Florida couple were charged with the sexual, physical, and mental abuse against their three children. According to Ohio vs. Estella Sexton, February 13 1995, 1995 Ohio App. Lexis 1413, one of the children stated that family members were involved in satanic rituals, invoking spirits. This testimony regarding Satanic ritual was found by the court to be relevant to the proceedings. The court documented other ritualistic activity by the offenders, including an instance in which one of the children was cut, and forced to sign a contract to the devil.March 9 1998, STATE OF OHIO vs ESTELLA SEXTON, COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, STARK COUNTY, 1998 Ohio App. LEXIS 1302; 1995 Ohio App. LEXIS 1413, Convictions for Complicity to Rape, Felonious Sexual Penetration, Gross Sexual Imposition, Complicity to Gross Sexual Imposition, and Child Endangerment Affirmed. The father, Eddie Sexton, was later convicted of participation in the murder of his son-in-law, Joel Good, and sentenced to death. Good was murdered by Sexton’s 22 year old son, Willie, who strangled him to death under Sexton’s direction. The States proposed motive for the killing was that Sexton's son-in-law knew Sexton was the father of his own "grandchildren." Willie Sexton testified against his father in exchange for his guilty plea to second-degree murder. News reports state that during the second trial, his son, Willie Sexton, said his father convinced him he had Satanic powers and sexually abused him. see “Children Tell of Life of Incest, Violence,” Beacon Journal , February 6 1994; "Court Revisits Murder Case, Son's Fears," St. Petersburg Times, September 2 1998, October 12 2000, EDDIE LEE SEXTON vs. STATE OF FLORIDA, SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA, 775 So. 2d. 923, 2000 Fla. LEXIS 1993; 697 So. 2d. 833 (1997) Conviction and Death Sentence Affirmed

There was another case in Orlando, Florida in 1992press coverage: “Convict's Wife Sentenced for Trying to Molest Kids," Orlando Sentinel Tribune, May 9 1992; "A Family Fears That Satanic Cult will try to Silence their Sons," Orlando Sentinel Tribune, August 10 1991; "Child Abuse Suspect Trades Testimony for Lesser Charges," Orlando Sentinel Tribune, January 31 1992, a 1993 case in Texaspress coverage "Speaking the Unspeakable/Nightmares of Fran's Day Care Stalk Families," Austin American-Statesman, 13 December 1992; "6-yr-old Testifies he Witnessed Abuse of girl," 24 November 1992; "Kellers Found Guilty of Sexual Assault," Austin American Statesman, 26 November 1992; "Therapist Describes Ritualistic Abuse Claims," Austin American Statesman, 20 November 1992., a 1994 case in Arizonapress coverage: “Man Could Get 162 Years in Molestations,” The Arizona Republic, September 10 1994; Ex-Pastor Sentenced On child-Sex Charges, The Arizona Republic, November 19 1994, the 1993 "West Memphis 3", three men charged for the murder of three children in West Memphis, Arkansas, Arkansas, with one man being Capital punishment and the remaining two to life in prison. December 23 1996, DAMIEN WAYNE ECHOLS AND CHARLES JASON BALDWIN v. STATE OF ARKANSAS, SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS, 936 S.W.2d 509; 902 S.W. 2d 781 (1995), and a case in Pennsylvania in the same year “Pa. couple is charged with torturing children: Police say neighbors also took part in abuse,” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, November 26 1991; “Pennsylvania Couple Charged with Brutalizing their children,” The Washington Post, November 26 1991; and “Parents charged with Torturing their Children," Associated Press, 25 November 1991; “Gaddis Released Denied: Judge unmoved by health woes,” Tribune-Democrat, December 9 2006; "Child Abuser Seeks Prison Release,” Tribune-Democrat, September 30 2006

In 1996, a mother and father challenged the decision of a Missouri court to terminate their parental rights to three of their seven children. Both parents had tried to commit suicide and were involved in drug usage, satanic worship, and they sacrificed animals in front of the children. The mother admitted to this activity and to giving the children drugs to forget the ceremonies. The children also stated that this occurred. July 16 1996, IN INTEREST OF P. J. M.,/E. C. M.,/J. W. M., MINORS, MISSOURI COURT OF APPEALS, 926 S.W.2d 223, Termination of Parental Rights Affirmed.

Similar incidents have occurred elsewhere in the United States, including the town of Edenton, North Carolina, North Carolina, but also in Martensville, Saskatchewan. The remains of a small infant girl, first dubbed Baby X and later 'Kristina Angelica James,' were discovered near Rupert, Idaho, Idaho in the early 1990s, and the body was considered evidence of SRA activity, though no unambiguous evidence linking the girl's death to SRA was ever found.

United Kingdom Three widely publicised cases in the United Kingdom were in Rochdale , Orkney, and Nottingham. In the Nottingham case, social services investigations into a Broxtowe Estate family with multigenerational child sexual abuse and neglect became sidetracked into a wild goose chase looking for Satanic cults, with wilder and wilder allegations being investigated. Nottingham council organised an inquiry into the events of this case, which cast so poor a light on the competence of the social services that the council unsuccessfully tried to block distribution of the final report. The authorities in the Orkney investigation were criticised for carrying out dawn raids to 'rescue' suspected victims from their families, without explanation, then taking them by helicopter or boat to the Scottish mainland, only to later have to return them after the accusations turned out to be groundless.



In Lewis, Scotland eight people, including a 75 year-old grandmother, were accused of raping and sexually abusing children in black magic rituals in 2006. The court was told of orgies and the sacrifices of animals, whose blood was drunk. The primary witness later confessed to lying to the police.

The Netherlands In 1984 and 1985 the founders of the mpd movement, the psychiatrists Bennett G. Braun, Roberta G. Sachs and Richard P. Kluft, held workshops in the Netherlands about the multiple personality disorder. On that occasion Braun c.s. also talked about their clinical experiences with cult curvivors. From that moment on, a small group of Dutch psychotherapists diagnosed more and more of their patients as suffering from multiple personality disorder. They also alleged that a few of these mpd patients had developed this mental disorder due to satanic ritual abuse in their childhood.Boon, Suzette and Nel Draijer, Multiple Personality Disorder in the Netherlands: A Study on Reliability and Validity of the Diagnosis, Amsterdam/Lisse, Swets en Zeitlinger, 1993, p. 6; Boon, Suzette and Onno van der Hart, Dissociëren als overlevingsstrategie bij fysiek en seksueel geweld: Trauma en dissociatie 1, in: Maandblad Geestelijke volksgezondheid, Jrg. 43, Nr. 11, 1988, p. 1197-1207.

A few years later the idea of satanic ritual abuse had found its way to the conservative religious community in the Netherlands. In 1989 some parents alleged in newsmagazine Tijdsein published by the religious broadcasting company Evangelische Omroep that their children had witnessed satanic ritual abuse in school and that children were ritually abused in Oude Pekela in 1987. In that case only ‘normal’ sexual abuse was reported then to the authorities, who where not able to find any proof of the alleged abuse. According to Tijdsein, the parents, as well as psychiatrist Gerrit Mik, who examined 25 of the 70 allegedly abused children in Oude Pekela, told the investigating officers about the ritual slaughter of children and adults, but the authorities in Oude Pekela would have denied that.Beetstra, Tjalling A., Massahysterie in de Verenigde Staten en Nederland: De affaire rond de McMartin Pre-School en het ontuchtschandaal in Oude Pekela, in: Peter Burger and Willem Koetsenruijter (Eds.), Mediahypes en moderne sagen: Sterke verhalen in het nieuws, Leiden, Stichting Neerlandistiek Leiden, 2004, p. 53-69; Tijdsein (EO), 14 June 1989. Fred Jonker and Ietje Jonker-Bakker, two general practitioners from Oude Pekela, alleged in several articles that the children were both sexually and ritually abused,Jonker, Fred and Ietje Jonker-Bakker, Experiences with Ritualist Child Sexual Abuse: A Case Study from The Netherlands, in: International Journal on Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol. 15, Nr. 3, 1991, p. 191-196; Jonker, Fred en Ietje Jonker-Bakker, Onderzoek in Oude Pekela, in: Maandblad Geestelijke volksgezondheid, Jrg. 49, Nr. 3, 1994, p. 251-276. but their findings were heavily criticised by American and Dutch scholars.Beetstra, Tjalling A., Massahysterie in de Verenigde Staten en Nederland: De affaire rond de McMartin Pre-School en het ontuchtschandaal in Oude Pekela, in: Peter Burger en Willem Koetsenruijter (red.), Mediahypes en moderne sagen: Sterke verhalen in het nieuws, Leiden, Stichting Neerlandistiek Leiden, 2004, p. 58-62 and 65; Crombag, Hans F.M. en Harald L.G.J. Merckelbach, Hervonden herinneringen en andere misverstanden, Amsterdam/Antwerpen, Contact, 1996, p. 183-186; Putnam, Frank W., The Satanic Ritual Abuse Controversy, in: International Journal on Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol. 15, Nr. 3, 1991, p. 175-179; Wessel, Ineke en Harald L.G.J. Merckelbach, Onderzoek in Oude Pekela (2), in: Maandblad Geestelijke volksgezondheid, Jrg. 49, Nr. 5, 1994, p. 554-556.

In 1991 both the Youth Protection and Probation Branch from the Justice Department and the Chief Inspectorate for the public health service of the Netherlands were for the first time officially informed about satanic ritual abuse by a child custody agency.Fauwe, Loes de, Ritueel misbruik van kinderen voor satan, in: Het Parool, 12 June 1993. On 17 September 1992 the Youth Protection Inspectorate wrote to the minister of Public Health and the state secretary of Justice that until August 1992 youth protection agencies in the provinces Noord-Holland and Utrecht have reported the satanic ritual abuse of eleven juveniles. Aanh. Hand. II, 1992-1993, Nr. 770. Although the authorities now officially knew about satanic ritual abuse, no further steps were taken. Only when secular media on account of the findings of the psychotherapists Suzette Boon and Nel Draijer reported that satanic ritual abuse is prevalent in the Netherlands,Boon, Suzette and Nel Draijer, Multiple Personality Disorder in the Netherlands: A Study on Reliability and Validity of the Diagnosis, Amsterdam/Lisse, Swets en Zeitlinger, 1993; Fauwe, Loes de, Ritueel misbruik van kinderen voor satan, in: Het Parool, 12 June 1993; Nova (NOS/VARA), 28-29 June 1993. the state secretary of Justice appointed the multidisciplinary Workgroup Ritual Abuse.Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, Rapport van de Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, Directie Staats- en Strafrecht, April 1994, p. 65-66.

On 21 April 1994 the Workgroup Ritual Abuse concluded that satanic ritual abuse probably not takes place in the way it is described in the stories and it is unlikely that these stories are wholly true.Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, Rapport van de Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, Directie Staats- en Strafrecht, April 1994, p. 53-54. The workgroup suggest that the stories could be a replacement for other traumatic occasions. The victim would use the story then as a defence mechanism to process other, less extreme traumatic experiences. According to the Workgroup Ritual Abuse it is also possible that some patients through suggestive questions of their mpd therapist wrongly got the idea that they were a victim of satanic ritual abuse. Finally, the workgroup thinks it is possible that these stories are contemporary legends, which disperse as an epidemic through a network of mpd therapists and victims.Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, Rapport van de Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, Directie Staats- en Strafrecht, April 1994, p. 32-36.

The publication of the report of the Workgroup Ritual Abuse caused a short discussion in the media and in scientific literature. In this discussion, critics and sceptics had a dominant role. Only in a few scientific magazines mpd therapists gave their opinion on multiple personality disorder and satanic ritual abuse. Thanks to the scant role of the mpd movement in the Netherlands and the strong counter movement of critics and sceptics, satanic ritual abuse has never been seen by the authorities, the media, legal practice and the public as a big social problem. Because of that relatively few books and articles on the phenomenon satanic ritual abuse that have been published in the Netherlands. So far Hervonden herinneringen en andere misverstanden by Hans Crombag and Harald Merckelbach, which contains a chapter on satanic ritual abuse, has been the most influential book on the subject.Crombag, Hans F.M. and Harald L.G.J. Merckelbach, Hervonden herinneringen en andere misverstanden, Amsterdam/Antwerpen, Contact, 1996, p. 153-194.

While the debate about satanic ritual abuse has caused both a moral panic and a modern witch hunt in the United States,Cohen, Stanley, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers (1972), London, Routledge, 2002, p. XV; Goode, Erich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance, Cambridge, Mass., Blackwell, 1994, p. 57-63; Nathan, Debbie and Michael Snedeker, Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt, New York, NY, Basic Books, 1995; Victor, Jeffrey S., Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend, Chicago/La Salle, IL, Open Court, 1993. in the Netherlands the issue satanic ritual abuse was hardly more than a storm in a tea cup. According to criminologist Tjalling Beetstra, the similarities and differences in the social, religious and political structure of the United States and the Netherlands seems to a certain extent have been decisive for the way in which these societies have responded to satanic ritual abuse and other moral issues. www.tjallingbeetstra.eu

Italy In April of 2007, six people were arrested for sexually abusing fifteen children in Rignano Flaminio. The suspects were accused of filming the children engaged in sexual acts with 'satanic' overtones.

Germany Several "mass child abuse" scares took place in Coesfeld, Worms, Germany and Nordhorn, where violent rituals and underground tunnel networks were alleged; all the accused were later acquitted.

Australia In Perth, 1991, police claimed to have proven a link between "organised child sexual abuse and devil worship" following the confession of a self-confessed Satanist and former Boy Scout leader to the sexual abuse of number of young boys in the context of Satanic rituals. The defence claimed that Scott Gozenton, 20, had been sexually abused as a child before being drawn into a group of people who practiced "Satanic" and ritualistic sex with adults and children. Gozenton's lawyer alleged that numerous "covens" were operating in Perth, and that Gozenton had sexually abused the boys in his Boy Scout troop in order to recruit them for the group. Gozenton's defence also claimed that Gozenton had been followed and threatened by "coven" members throughout the court proceedings. David Humphries, "Child Sex Abuse Linked With Satanism: Police", Sydney Morning Herald, 1991

South Africa Ritualistic child sexual abuse has been a feature of numerous sexual assault and homicide cases in South Africa over the last twenty years, in both 'satanic' and traditional tribal contexts.

In 1990, the prime suspects in the disappearances of several young girls, Gert van Rooyen and his partner, Joey Haarhoff, committed suicide whilst on the run from police. Van Rooyen's son Flippie, arrested a year later for the mutilation and murder of a Zimbabewean teenager, claimed that his father had abducted several young girls, sexually abused them in Satanic rituals, murdered those who weren't obedient and sold the others into sexual slavery overseas IOL, "The sins of the father: a dark legacy", August 08 2007, retrieved on October 16 2007. His bizarre claims were lent some credibility when animal bones were found buried at van Rooyen's house in accordance with Flippie's claims of animal sacrifice "Police take down paedophile's "house of horrors" brick by brick", 13 May 1996, Agence France-Presse and the recent discovery of human remains in a location where Flippie had claimed his father had buried two of the abducted children Clark, L. "van Rooyen spotlight on 'confession", Cape Argus, April 8 2007, retrieved on October 16 2007. The similarities between the van Rooyen case and the Marc Dutroux scandal in Belgium sparked speculation from the South African police, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the European Union regarding links to an international smuggling ring in prostituted children and body parts South African police probe possible body-part smuggling ring, Agence France-Presse, 21 August 1996.

In 2003, Robin Classen was found guilty of sexually assaulting and torturing three children in the context of satanic rituals. The children disclosed being abducted by Classen, sometimes drugged, tortured, indecently assaulted, forced to eat insects and drink Classen's blood and animal blood see Man accused of torturing children appears in court, 31 July 2002, SAPA (South African Press Association, and Children identified alleged satanist abductor, 27 September 2002, SAPA (South African Press Association).

In August 2007, Theunis Olivier was sentenced to life in prison for the murder to six-year-old Steven Siebert. IOL, "Theunis Oliver sentenced", August 08 2007, retrieved on 16 October 2007. He had previously served a jail term in Zimbabwe for indecent assault and rape before entering South Africa, where he kidnapped, raped and murdered Stevem Siebert in 2005. In his testimony, Olivier claimed to have been abused in a Satanic cult from a young age Hawker, D. "Theo made me do it, says Olivier", IOL, August 2 2007, retrieved on October 16 2007, that he suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder and that the murder had been undertaken by one of his personalities, Theo. IOL, "Olivier no stranger to jail, August 4 2007, retrieved on 16 October 2007.

Brazil In 2003, five members of a Satanic cult in the Amazonian town of Altamira were convicted for the ritualistic murders of three children and the castration of two others. The victims were aged between 8 and 13 years, and they were kidnapped, tortured or killed between 1989 and 1993. Their genitals were removed and used in Satanic rituals by 75-year old village clairvoyant, Valentina de Andrade, the leader of the Superior Universal Alignment cult Gamini, Gabriella, "Seer for trial in voodoo murders", The Times, 9 September 2003. de Andrade had previously been sought by police in Argentina and Uruguay prior to her arrest in Brazil on suspicion of involvement in other satanic ritual killingsThe Cult Observer (American Family Foundation), Vol. 10 No. 5, 1993.

Following the castration of victims, two doctors involved in the sect removed the victim's other organs for sale on the international black market Doctor gets 56 years for Brazil sect killings, 11 September 2003, Reuters News and Five. Other people sentenced in relation to the murders included a former police officer, a businessman and the son of an influential landowner. The charges related to the murders of three young children and the attempted murder of another, however, victim's families say that there were at least nineteen other murdered children. The cult is based in Argentina and has branches in Holland More information on allegations of satanic child sacrifice in the Superior Universal Alignment cult can be found at the Apologetics Index.

Belgium At least six girls were abducated and sexually assaulted by Marc Dutroux in Belgium between 1992 and 1996, and four of them were murdered. Police connected Dutroux with the disappearances of 15 other young girls throughout the 1980s. He had two convictions for the abducation, rape and torture of six women over this period, however, he served a fraction of his two jail terms. Dutroux was convicted on the new charges in 2004, and sentenced to life in jail. Dutroux's claim that he worked for a larger network that abducated young girls to order, and the repeated failures of police investigations into Dutroux's many crimes, sparked widespread speculation in Belgium and across Europe that Dutroux enjoyed the protection of a network of high-powered individualsLiz Kelly, Confronting an Atrocity: The Marc Dutroux Case, Trouble and Strife, 1998, no 36.

During the investigation, a number of women approached police claiming to be adult survivors of a network of sexual offenders. The disclosures of these women, known as the "X Witnesses", became the infamous "X-Dossiers", and they included accounts of SRA, child murder, child pornography and child prostitution by a number of men, including Dutroux. The X-Witnesses were widely dismissed by the Belgian media, although they solved a number of missing person's cases by directing the police to the bodies of murdered children and women and they knew unpublished details about a number of unsolved murders.

In relation to SRA, Regina Louf (Witness X1) stated in interview, " When they received new victims into their network, it was extremely important that they shouldn’t speak to anyone about what had happened to them. That’s why they organised ‘ceremonies’. They took the victim to a heavily guarded house and convinced her that it was ‘her’ party. There would then be a great performance with masks, candles, inverted crosses, swords and animals. Rabbits were disembowelled, the blood was poured on naked girls, and some men and women worshipped the devil ... The only aim of these rituals was to totally disorient the victims. They plagued these kids with a load of nonsense - ‘Now you are the wife of Satan’ – and also gave them coke, LSD or heroin. I can assure you that after that you feel completely outside the real world. That was the aim – that the victim herself should begin to doubt the fact that all this had really happened. The result was that the victims didn’t dare speak to anyone."Annemie Bulté and Douglas de Coninck, Interview With Regina Lou, Witness XI at Neufchateau, De Morgen, 10 January 1998, retrieved October 19 2007

Ireland In 2006, a jury at Dublin Country Coroner's court unanimously ruled that the infant found stabbed to death over three decades ago belonged to Cynthia Owen. The court found that the infant Noleen was fathered by Owen's father and murdered by Owen's mother shortly after birth.

During the trial, Owen detailed her childhood history of incest, organised abuse, and satanic ritual abuse orchestrated by her parents involving at least nine other men and her account was supported by her psychologist Darren Boyle, Alleged Abusers 'still risk'. She claimed that her brother and sister Michael and Therese were also abused, a charge that was denied by her older brother and father. Michael and Therese both committed suicide in 2005, and Therese's detailed 37-paged suicide note corroborated Cynthia's account.Jim Cusack, A horrifying past that society seems unable to confront, The Independent, June 11 2006 A friend of Therese's testified at the trial, stating that Therese had spoken to him at length about her sexual abuse in childhoodBreaking News, Childhood sex abuse caused woman's suicide, inquest told, Sept 30 2006. It also emerged in trial that Therese was the child of one of Owen's older sisters by Owen's father.

Following the findings of the Coroner's Court, Owen has raised questions regarding the disposal of her daughter's body and the failure of the police to investigate the murder. In particular, she has highlighted the fact that no blood or tissue samples were kept, that the bag and sanitary towels found alongside the murdered child have gone missing, that the records of the first inquest into the murder have gone missing, and that her daughter was buried in a mass grave alongside other infants that, it has recently emerged, were subject to illegal experimentation.

Literature The earliest modern account of child sexual assault in a ritualistic context can be found in Sigmund Freuds letters regarding his therapeutic work with a patient named Emma Eckstein. Eckstein described to Freud experiences similar to the ritual abuse survivors of the last few decades, which included sexual abuse and ritual bloodletting. Freud was so disturbed by these disclosures that he theorised "we may have before us a residue of a primaeval sexual cult".

More substantive accounts of SRA were amongst the first wave of autobiographical literature on child abuse that emerged in the early 1980s. One of the most well known is the book Michelle Remembers, written by Michelle Smith (author) and her psychiatrist (and later husband) Lawrence Pazder and published in 1980. It was accompanied by features in People (magazine) magazine and the National Enquirer, as well as numerous appearances on radio and television. Smith claims to have memories of seeing ritual human sacrifice, various forms of torture, and contact with supernatural beings. She has not produced corroborating evidence of these allegations, and both of Michelle's sisters and her father have denied everything in her book.

Since the publication of Michelle Remembers, there have been a number of autobiographies published which detail the author's history of SRA. Other survivors have written books which gather life histories, stories and creative reflections on organised abuse and living with multiple personalities. Over the last twenty years, a number of clinicians, psychotherapists and social workers have documented their encounters with clients with a history of SRA, and these accounts emphasise their shock and confusion when faced with their client’s disclosures, their lack of prior knowledge of such subjects, and their persistent vicarious traumatisation in their work with such clients.Corwin, D. L. (2002). "An Interview with Roland Summit." in Hudson, P., "The Clinician's Experience", in