Editing Satanic panic (section)

==History==
===Origins===
Among the explanations of why the panic occurred when it did, or "took the shape that it did", include 
*Three films that opened and ran near the beginning of the panic having to do with Satanism, namely ''[[Rosemary's Baby (film)|Rosemary’s Baby]]'' (1968), ''[[The Exorcist]]'' (1973), and ''[[The Omen]]'' (1976).<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6>[[#JPLS2023|Laycock, ''Satanism'', 2023]]: 6 Satanic Panic</ref> According to scholar Joseph Laycock, patients hypnotized by therapists to recover memories of SRA, often "seemed to be recalling scenes from these films".<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6/>
*The reaction against the surge of [[new religious movements]] (NRMs) in the 1960s due to both the immigration reform allowing missionaries for [[Asian religion]]s, as well as new religions, (including the [[Church of Satan]]), arising from the counterculture of the baby boomer generation. Sometimes called the "cult wars" or "cult scare".<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6/><ref>D. G. Bromley, “Satanism: The New Cult Scare” in J. T. Richardson, J. Best, and D. G. Bromley (eds.), The Satanism Scare (Hawthorne, NY: Aldine De Gruyter, 1991), pp. 49–74 (p. 49).</ref> 
*The [[Tate–LaBianca murders]] committed by cult members in the [[Manson Family]] which consisted of "mostly lonely teenagers from broken homes"<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6/>
* [[Mike Warnke]]'s bestselling 1972 memoir ''The Satan Seller'', in which he claimed to have led a group of 1,500 Satanists that engaged in rape and human sacrifice before he converted to evangelical Christianity. The book was praised by ''Moody Monthly'' and ''The Christian Century''. Two decades later the book was [[Mike Warnke#Investigation and debunking|debunked]] by an evangelical magazine, ''Cornerstone''.<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6/>

===Early history===
[[File:Schedel'sche Weltchronik-Sacrifice-of-a-child CCLIII.jpg|thumb|[[blood libel against Jews|Blood libel]] accusations against [[Jews]] are considered historical precursors of the modern moral panic.{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=31}}]]

Allegations of horrific acts by outside groups, including [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]], child murder, [[torture]], and [[incest]]uous orgies can place minorities in the role of the "[[Other (philosophy)|Other]]", as well create a scapegoat for complex problems in times of social disruption.<ref name=Goode/>{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=31}}  The SRA panic repeated many of the features of historical moral panics and conspiracy theories,<ref name=Goode>{{cite book |author1=Goode, Erich |author2=Ben-Yahuda, Nachman |title=Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Cambridge, MA |year=1994 |page= 57 |isbn=978-0-631-18905-3}}</ref> such as the [[blood libel]] against Jews by [[Apion]] in the 30s CE,{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=31}} the wild rumors that led to the [[Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire|persecutions of early Christians in the Roman Empire]], later allegations of Jewish rituals involving the [[Child cannibalism|cannibalism of Christian babies]] and [[host desecration|desecration]] of the [[Eucharist]], and the [[witch trials in Early Modern Europe|witch hunts]] of the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rice |first=Joshua |date=2022-06-01 |title=Burn in Hell |journal=History Today |volume=72 |issue=6 |pages=16–18}}[https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/burn-hell]</ref>{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n226 207–08]}} [[Torture]] and imprisonment were used by authority figures in order to coerce confessions from alleged Satanists, confessions that were later used to justify their executions.{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=31}} Records of these older allegations were linked by contemporary proponents in an effort to demonstrate that contemporary Satanic cults were part of an ancient conspiracy of evil,{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/118 118]}} though ultimately no evidence of [[devil]]-worshiping cults existed in Europe at any time in its history.{{sfn |McNally |2003 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Axi0huzYwC&pg=PA242 242]}}

[[File:Onbekend Heksenverbranding (1878).jpg|thumb|In [[Early Modern Europe]] people accused of being [[witch]]es were stated to be working for Satan and [[burned at the stake]]]]
A more immediate precedent to the context of Satanic ritual abuse in the United States was [[McCarthyism]] in the 1950s.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n226 207–08]}}{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/2 2]}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kent |first=Stephen |year=1993 |title=Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences |journal=Religion |issue=3 |pages=229–41 |doi=10.1006/reli.1993.1021 |volume=23}}</ref> The underpinnings for the contemporary moral panic were found in a rise of five factors in the years leading up to the 1980s: the establishment of [[Christian fundamentalism|fundamentalist Christianity]] and the founding and political activism of the religious organization which was named the [[Moral Majority]]; the rise of the [[anti-cult movement]] which accused abusive [[cult]]s of kidnapping and [[brainwashing]] children and teens; the appearance of the [[Church of Satan]] and other explicitly [[Satanism|Satanist]] groups which added a kernel of truth to the existence of Satanic cults; the development of the [[social work]] or child protection field, and its struggle to have [[child sexual abuse]] recognized as a social problem and a serious crime; and the popularization of [[posttraumatic stress disorder|post-traumatic stress disorder]], [[repressed memory]], and the corresponding survivor movement.{{sfn|Bromley|Richardson|Best|1991 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yt1uw2QOmDQC&pg=PA5 5–10]}}

===''Michelle Remembers'' and the McMartin preschool trial===
{{Main |Michelle Remembers |McMartin preschool trial}}
''Michelle Remembers'', written by Canadians Michelle Smith and her husband, psychiatrist [[Lawrence Pazder]], was published in 1980.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-31 |title=The origins and lessons of the ‘Satanic Panic’ of the 1980s |url=https://cei.org/blog/the-origins-and-lessons-of-satanic-panic-of-the-1980s/ |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Competitive Enterprise Institute |language=en-us}}</ref> Now [[Michelle Remembers#Investigation and debunking|discredited]], the book was written in the form of an autobiography, presenting the first modern claim that child abuse was linked to Satanic rituals.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/14 14–15]}} According to the  “memoir”, at the age of five Michelle was tortured by her mother for days in "elaborate satanic rituals". As the torture reached a climax, a portal to hell opened and Satan himself appeared, only to be driven away by the [[Virgin Mary]] and [[Archangel Michael]]. Explanations for a lack of any evidence of abuse on Michelle’s body were that it had been miraculously removed by St. Mary. Not explained was testimony from Michelle’s father and two sisters, contradicting the memoir, as well as a 1955/56 St. Margaret’s School yearbook. The yearbook includes a photo taken in November 1955 showing Michelle attending school and appearing healthy, when according to Pazder’s book Michelle spent that month imprisoned in a basement.<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6/>

Pazder was also responsible for coining the term ''ritual abuse''.<ref name=Donner/> ''Michelle Remembers'' provided a model for numerous allegations of SRA that ensued later in the same decade.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/14 14–15]}}<ref name=Spanos>{{cite book |last=Spanos |first=NP |author-link=Nicholas Spanos |title=Multiple Identities & False Memories: A Sociocognitive Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/multipleidentiti0000span |url-access=registration |publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] |year=1996 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/multipleidentiti0000span/page/269 269]–85 |isbn=978-1-55798-340-4}}</ref> On the basis of the book's success, Pazder developed a high media profile, gave lectures and training on SRA to law enforcement, and by September 1990 had acted as a consultant on more than 1,000 SRA cases, including the McMartin preschool trial. Prosecutors used ''Michelle Remembers'' as a guide when preparing cases against alleged Satanists.<ref name="Commercial Appeal">{{cite news |last1=Downing |first1=Shirley |last2=Charlier |title=Justice Aborted: A 1980s Witch-Hunt |newspaper=[[The Commercial Appeal]] |date=January 17–23, 1988}}</ref> ''Michelle Remembers'', along with other accounts portrayed as survivor stories, are suspected to have influenced later allegations of SRA,{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/14 14–15]}}{{sfn |Brown |Scheflin |Hammond |1998 |p=55}} and the book has been suggested as a causal factor in the later epidemic of SRA allegations.{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/60 60–62]}}<ref name="wenegrat1">{{cite book |title=Theater of Disorder: Patients, Doctors, and the Construction of Illness |last=Wenegrat |first=Brant |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] (OUP) |year=2001 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=o5i5utgOjvgC&pg=PA190 190–92] |isbn=978-0-19-514087-3}}</ref><ref name="Charles">{{cite book |chapter=The Assessment and Investigation of Ritual Abuse |last=Ney |first=Tara |title=True and False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse: Assessment and Case Management |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1995 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=BggJjhbBJzwC&pg=PA304 304] |isbn=978-0-87630-758-8}}</ref>

The early 1980s, during the implementation of [[mandatory reporting]] laws, saw a large increase in child protection investigations in America, Britain, and other developed countries, along with a heightened public awareness of [[child abuse]]. The investigation of incest allegations in [[California]] was also changed, with cases led by [[social work]]ers who used leading and coercive interviewing techniques that had been avoided by police investigators. Such changes in the prosecution of cases of alleged incest resulted in an increase in confessions by fathers in exchange for [[plea bargain]]s.{{sfn|Nathan|Snedeker|1995|p=24}} Shortly thereafter, some children in child protection cases began making allegations of horrific physical and sexual abuse by caregivers within organized rituals, claiming sexual abuse in Satanic rituals and the use of Satanic symbols. These cases garnered the label ''satanic ritual abuse'' both in the media and among professionals.<ref name=Hechler>{{cite book |last=Hechler |first=D |title=The Battle and the Backlash: The Child Sexual Abuse War |publisher=Macmillan Pub Co |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-669-21362-1}}</ref><ref name=Cozolino1989>{{cite journal |last=Cozolino |first=L. |year=1989 |title=The ritual abuse of children: Implications for clinical practice and research |journal=The Journal of Sex Research |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=131–38 |doi=10.1080/00224498909551497}}</ref> Childhood memories of similar abuse began to appear in the [[psychotherapy]] sessions of adults.<ref name=Van1990>{{cite journal |last=Van Benschoten |first=S.C. |year=1990 |title=Multiple personality disorder and satanic ritual abuse: The issue of credibility |journal=Dissociation |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=13–20 |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1492/1/Diss_3_1_5_OCR.pdf |access-date=2008-06-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528205615/https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1492/1/Diss_3_1_5_OCR.pdf |archive-date=2008-05-28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Conte |first=JR |title=Critical issues in child sexual abuse: historical, legal, and psychological perspectives |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Thousand Oaks |year=2002 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qBSuIMgJLNYC&pg=PA178 178–79] |isbn=978-0-7619-0912-5}}</ref>

In 1983, charges were laid in the [[McMartin preschool trial]], a major case in California, which received attention throughout the United States and contained allegations of satanic ritual abuse. The case caused tremendous polarization in how to interpret the available evidence.{{sfn |Brown |Scheflin |Hammond |1998 |p=58}}<ref name=lat87/> Shortly afterward, more than 100 preschools across the country became the object of similar sensationalist allegations, which were eagerly and uncritically reported by the press.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |p=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/117 117]}} Throughout the McMartin trial, media coverage of the defendants (Peggy McMartin and Ray Buckey) was unrelentingly negative, focusing only on statements by the prosecution.{{sfn |Eberle |Eberle |1993}} Michelle Smith and other alleged survivors met with parents involved in the trial, and it is believed that they influenced testimony against the accused.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |p=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/15 15]}}{{sfn |Bibby |1996 |pp=205–13}}{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=89}}

[[Kee MacFarlane]], a social worker employed by the [[Children's Institute International]], developed a new way to interrogate children with [[anatomically correct doll]]s and used them in an effort to assist disclosures of abuse with the McMartin children. After asking the children to point to the places on the dolls where they had allegedly been touched and asking [[leading question]]s, MacFarlane diagnosed sexual abuse in virtually all the McMartin children.{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |pp=79–80}} She coerced disclosures by using lengthy interviews that rewarded discussions of abuse and punished denials. The trial testimony that resulted from such methods was often contradictory and vague on all details except for the assertion that the abuse had occurred.{{sfn |Eberle |Eberle |1993}} Although the initial charges in the McMartin case featured allegations of Satanic abuse and a vast conspiracy, these features were dropped relatively early in the trial, and prosecution continued only for non-ritual allegations of child abuse against only two defendants.<ref name=Intimate>{{cite book |last=Jenkins |first=P |title=Intimate enemies: moral panics in contemporary Great Britain |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers|Aldine de Gruyter]] |location=New York |year=1992 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JQQWfqtES5MC&pg=PA151 151–76] |isbn=978-0-202-30435-9}}</ref> After three years of testimony, McMartin and Buckey were [[acquittal|acquitted]] on 52 of 65 counts, and the jury was deadlocked on the remaining 13 charges against Buckey, with 11 of 13 jurors choosing not guilty. Buckey was re-charged and two years later released without conviction.{{sfn |Eberle |Eberle |1993}}

===Conspiracy theories===
In 1984, MacFarlane warned a congressional committee that children were being forced to engage in [[scatological]] behavior and watch bizarre rituals in which animals were being slaughtered.<ref>{{Citation |last=MacFarlane |first=K |title=Child Abuse and Day Care: Joint hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee of Ways and Means, and Select committee on Children, Youth, and Families" (testimony by Kee MacFarlane) |date=1984-09-17 |pages=45–46|title-link=Kee MacFarlane |publisher=House of Congress. United States}}</ref> Shortly after, the [[United States Congress]] doubled its budget for child-protection programs. Psychiatrist [[Roland Summit]] delivered conferences in the wake of the McMartin trial and depicted the phenomenon as a [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy]] that involved anyone skeptical of the phenomenon.{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |pp=102–03}} By 1986, social worker Carol Darling argued to a [[grand jury]] that the conspiracy reached the government.{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |pp=102–03}} Her husband Brad Darling gave conference presentations about a Satanic conspiracy of great antiquity which he now believed was permeating American communities.{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/60 60–62]}}

In 1985, [[Patricia Pulling]] joined forces with psychiatrist [[Thomas Radecki]], director of the National Coalition on Television Violence, to create B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |last2=Maier-Katkin |first2=Daniel |date=1992-01-01 |title=Satanism: Myth and reality in a contemporary moral panic |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00190171 |journal=Crime, Law and Social Change |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=53–75 |doi=10.1007/BF00190171 |issn=1573-0751|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Pulling and B.A.D.D. saw [[role-playing game]]s generally and [[Dungeons & Dragons]] specifically as Satanic cult recruitment tools, inducing youth to suicide, murder, and Satanic ritual abuse.<ref name="web.archive.org">{{Cite journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104131941/http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art9-roleplaying-print.html|url=http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art9-roleplaying-print.html|title=Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic|author=Waldron, David|journal=Journal of Religion and Popular Culture|archive-date=January 4, 2013|volume=9|date=Spring 2005|page=3|doi=10.3138/jrpc.9.1.003|hdl=1959.17/44257}}</ref> Other alleged recruitment tools included [[heavy metal music]], educators, child care centers, and television.<ref name="web.archive.org"/> This information was shared at policing and public awareness seminars on crime and the occult, sometimes by active police officers.<ref name="web.archive.org"/> None of these allegations held up in analysis or in court. In fact, analysis of youth suicide over the period in question found that players of role-playing games actually had a much lower rate of suicide than the average.<ref name="web.archive.org"/>

Among the conspiracy theories alleged by the panic were that thousands of people a year were being killed by a network of Satanists, what one psychiatrist writing in a psychiatric journal called “a hidden holocaust”.<ref>R. P. Kluft, “Reflections on Allegations of Ritual Abuse,” Dissociation 3.4 (December 1989), pp. 191–3 (p. 192)</ref><ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6/>

Explanations for how Satanists covered up this slaughter included their infiltrating media and law enforcement, as well as morticians and crematorium operators to make sure 
no bodies were ever found.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |last2=Maier-Katkin |first2=Daniel |date=1992-01-01 |title=Satanism: Myth and reality in a contemporary moral panic |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00190171 |journal=Crime, Law and Social Change |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=53–75 |doi=10.1007/BF00190171 |issn=1573-0751|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other versions claimed that there were no missing persons because Satanists used certain women as breeders, providing Satanists with thousands of babies for human sacrifices.<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.6/>

By the late 1980s, therapists or patients who believed someone had suffered from SRA could suggest solutions that included [[Christian psychology|Christian psychotherapy]], [[exorcism]], and support groups whose members self-identified as "anti-Satanic warriors".{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/69 69]}} Federal funding was increased for research on child abuse, with large portions of the funding allocated for research on child sexual abuse. Funding was also provided for conferences supporting the idea of SRA, adding a veneer of respectability to the idea as well as offering an opportunity for prosecutors to exchange advice on how to best secure convictions—with tactics including destruction of notes, refusing to tape interviews with children, and destroying or refusing to share evidence with the defense.{{sfn|Nathan|Snedeker|1995}} Had proof been found, SRA would have represented the first occasion where an organized and secret criminal activity had been discovered by mental health professionals.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-1-55798-521-7 |editor=DeRivera J |editor2=Sarbin T |title=Believed-In-Imaginings: The Narrative Construction of Reality |publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] |year=1998 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=203 |chapter=Construction of Satanic Ritual Abuse and the Creation of False Memories |last=Victor |first=J}}</ref> In 1987, [[Geraldo Rivera]] produced a national television special on the alleged secret cults, claiming "Estimates are that there are over one million Satanists in [the United States and they are] linked in a highly organized, secretive network."{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/32 32–33]}}<ref name=ocrt/> Tapings of this and similar talk show episodes were subsequently used by [[Fundamentalism|religious fundamentalists]], [[Psychotherapy|psychotherapists]], [[social work]]ers and police to promote the idea that a conspiracy of Satanic cults existed and these cults were committing serious crimes.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/45 45], [https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/69 69], [https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/166 166], [https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/254 254] & [https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/343 343]}}

In the 1990s, psychologist D. Corydon Hammond publicized a detailed theory of ritual abuse drawn from [[hypnotherapy]] sessions with his patients, alleging they were victims of a worldwide conspiracy of organized, secretive [[Clandestine cell system|clandestine cells]] who used torture, [[Brainwashing|mind control]] and ritual abuse to create [[Dissociative identity disorder|alternate personalities]] that could be "activated" with code words; the victims were allegedly trained as assassins, prostitutes, drug traffickers, and child sex workers (to create [[child pornography]]). Hammond claimed his patients had revealed the conspiracy was masterminded by a Jewish doctor in [[Nazi Germany]], but who now worked for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] with a goal of worldwide domination by a Satanic cult. The cult was allegedly composed of respectable, powerful members of society who used the funds generated to further their agenda. Missing memories among the victims and absence of evidence was cited as evidence of the power and effectiveness of this cult in furthering its agenda. Hammond's claims gained considerable attention, due in part to his prominence in the field of [[hypnosis]] and psychotherapy.{{sfn |McNally |2003 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Axi0huzYwC&pg=PA235 235–37]}}

===Religious roots and secularization===
Satanic ritual abuse brought together several groups normally unlikely to associate, including psychotherapists, self-help groups, religious fundamentalists and law enforcement.<ref name = DeYoung1994/> Initial accusations were made in the context of the rising political power of the conservative [[Christian right]] within the United States,<ref name=Donner/> and religious fundamentalists enthusiastically promoted rumors of SRA.<ref name=Intimate/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cleary |first=Sarah |date=2022-07-01 |title=Better the Devil you Know: The Myth of Harm and the Satanic Panic |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/gothic.2022.0132 |journal=Gothic Studies |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=167–184 |doi=10.3366/gothic.2022.0132 |issn=1362-7937|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Psychotherapists who were actively Christian advocated for the diagnosis of [[dissociative identity disorder]] (DID); soon after, accounts similar to ''Michelle Remembers'' began to appear, with some therapists believing the alter egos of some patients were the result of [[demonic possession]].<ref name=Spanos/> [[Protestantism]] was instrumental in starting, spreading, and maintaining rumors through sermons about the dangers of SRA, lectures by purported experts, and prayer sessions, including showings of the 1987 Geraldo Rivera television special.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/46 46–47] & [https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n87 68–70]}} Secular proponents appeared,{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA2 2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA12 12], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA18 18] & [https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA19 19]}} and child protection workers became significantly involved. Law enforcement trainers, many themselves strongly religious, became strong promoters of the claims and self-described "experts" on the topic. Their involvement in child sexual abuse cases produced more allegations of SRA, adding credibility to the phenomenon.<ref name=Donner/> As the explanations for SRA were distanced from [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] Christianity and associated with "survivor" groups, the motivations ascribed to purported Satanists shifted from combating a religious nemesis, to mind control and abuse as an end to itself.<ref name=Frankfurter2003>{{cite journal |last=Frankfurter |first=David |year=2003 |volume=50 |journal=Numen |title=The Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic as Religious-Studies Data |pages=108–117 |doi=10.1163/156852703321103265 |issn=1568-5276}}</ref> Clinicians, psychotherapists and social workers documented clients with alleged histories of SRA,<ref name = Donner/><ref name=VS>{{cite book |last=Sinason |first=V |title=Treating survivors of satanist abuse |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=New York |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-415-10543-9}}</ref><ref name=Jonker1991>{{cite journal |last=Jonker |first=F |author2=Jonker-Bakker P  |year=1991 |title=Experiences with ritualist child sexual abuse: a case study from the Netherlands |journal=Child Abuse and Neglect |volume=15 |pages=191–96 |url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ429991 |access-date=2007-10-20 |pmid=2043971 |doi=10.1016/0145-2134(91)90064-K |issue=3|url-access=subscription }}</ref> though the claims of therapists were unsubstantiated beyond the testimonies of their clients.<ref name=Lanning/>{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n105 86–87]}}{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/192 192–95]}}

===International spread===
In 1987, a list of "indicators" was published by Catherine Gould,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gould |first=C |title=Satanic ritual abuse: child victims, adult survivors, system response |journal=California Psychologist |year=1987 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=9–14}}</ref> featuring a broad array of vague symptoms that were ultimately common, non-specific and subjective, purported to be capable of diagnosing SRA in most young children.<ref name=Intimate/> By the late 1980s, allegations began to appear throughout the world (including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and [[Scandinavia]]), in part enabled by English as a common international language and in the United Kingdom, assisted by Gould's list of indicators. Belief in SRA spread rapidly through the ranks of mental health professionals (despite an absence of evidence) through a variety of continuing education seminars, during which attendees were urged to believe in the reality of Satanic cults, their victims, and not to question the extreme and bizarre memories uncovered. Support for these claims was offered in the form of unconnected bits of information such as pictures drawn by patients, heavy metal album covers, historical folklore about devil worshippers, and pictures of mutilated animals. During the seminars, patients provided testimonials of their experiences and presenters stressed that recovering memories was important for healing:{{sfn |McNally |2003 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Axi0huzYwC&pg=PA244 244]}}
* In 1986, the largest symposium on child abuse in history was held in Australia, with addresses by vocal SRA advocates Kee MacFarlane, Roland Summit, [[Astrid Heppenstall Heger]], and [[David Finkelhor]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Guillatt |first=R. |title=Talk of the Devil: Repressed Memory & the Ritual Abuse Witch-Hunt |publisher=The Text Publishing Company |year=1996 |location=Melbourne |page=31 |isbn=978-1-875847-29-7}}</ref>
* In 1987, writings on the phenomenon appeared in the United Kingdom along with incidents featuring broadly similar accusations such as the [[Cleveland child abuse scandal]]; [[List of satanic ritual abuse allegations#Broxtowe|allegations of SRA in Nottingham]] resulted in the "British McMartin", advised in part by the British journalist Tim Tate's work on the subject.<ref name=Intimate/> Along with the list of indicators, American conference speakers, pamphlets, source materials, consultants, vocabulary regarding SRA and allegedly funding were imported, which promoted the identification and counseling of British SRA allegations.<ref name=Intimate/>{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA2 2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA12 12], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA18 18] & [https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA19 19]}} The [[Nottingham]] investigation resulted in criminal charges of severe child abuse that ultimately had nothing to do with Satanic rituals, and was criticized for focusing on the irrelevant and non-existent Satanic aspects of the allegations at the expense of the severe conventional abuse endured by the children.<ref>{{cite web |last=Thorpe |first=W. |author2=Gwatkin, J.B. |author3=Glenn, W.P. |author4=Gregory, M.F. |date= 1990-06-07 |title=Revised Joint Enquiry Report |url=http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dlheb/jetrepor.htm |access-date=2007-10-23 |publisher=Nottinghamshire Social Services}}</ref>
* In 1989, [[San Francisco Police]] detective Sandi Gallant gave an interview with a newspaper in the United Kingdom.{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA165 165]}} At the same time, several other therapists toured the country giving talks on SRA, and shortly thereafter SRA cases occurred in [[Orkney]], [[Rochdale]], [[London]], and [[Nottingham]].{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=230}}
* In 1992, charges were laid in the [[Martensville satanic sex scandal]]; charges were overturned in 1995 on the grounds of improper interviewing of the children.<ref>{{cite news |title=Satanic Sex Scandal |url=http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/martin/scandal.html |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=February 12, 2003 |access-date=2007-10-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/satanic-panic |title=Satanic Panic |first1=Emily |last1=Pasiuk |first2=Lisa |last2=Bryn Rundle |first3=Ilina |last3=Ghosh |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=2020-03-15 |access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref>
* A wave of SRA accusations appeared in New Zealand in 1991, and in [[Norway]] in 1992.{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=231}}
* In the mid-nineties in Egypt, tabloids such as [[Rose al Yusuf (magazine)|Rose Al Youssef]] started publishing articles about an alleged subculture of Satan worshipping and rituals spreading among the teens and youth of the middle and upper-middle class and associating it with [[heavy metal music]], bands, symbolism, and graffiti. The original article published on 11 November 1996 was written by Abdallah Kamal, but soon other writers and journalists, including Adel Hammuda and others. The public intrigue eventually led to the security apparatus raiding the homes of some young people in the music scene and their friends, confiscating posts and tapes and CDs, forcing short hairstyles on them and subjecting them to religious reformation sessions, before releasing them,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://almanassa.com/stories/535 | title=أسطورة عَبَدَة الشيطان: أرشيف القضية الصحفي.. بدايات "الأمنجية" }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://almanassa.com/stories/502 | title=أسطورة عَبَدَة الشيطان: إكويليبريوم 1997 }}</ref> but the scare continued to be stirred from time to time until the mid 2000s, and became books and talk shows.
* In 1998, Jean LaFontaine produced a book indicating allegations of SRA in the United Kingdom were sparked by investigations supervised by social workers who had taken SRA seminars in the United States.
* In 2021 and 2022, two consecutive reports by [[Swiss Television]] journalists Ilona Stämpfli and {{interlanguage link|Robin Rehmann|de}} presented evidence that conspiracy theories closely related to the Satanic panic were still held by various groups and individuals in Switzerland, among them teachers, psychotherapists, high-ranking police officers, and a senior physician of ''Clienia'', the largest private psychiatric clinic group in Switzerland.<ref>{{cite AV media | people =Robin Rehmann, Ilona Stämpfli | date =December 12, 2021| title =Der Teufel mitten unter uns | trans-title =The devil in our midst | type =documentary | language =gsw, de | url =https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/rec-/video/der-teufel-mitten-unter-uns?urn=urn:srf:video:9a8844a9-fa58-4a7e-a6df-144f336d55f0 | access-date =May 22, 2022| archive-url = | archive-date = | format = | time =| location = | publisher =srf/dok  | id = | isbn = | oclc = | quote = }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media  | people =Robin Rehmann, Ilona Stämpfli  | date =May 17, 2022  | title ="Rituelle Gewalt / Mind Control" - An Schweizer Kliniken wird mit Verschwörungstheorie therapiert  | trans-title =“Ritual Violence / Mind Control“ – Swiss clinics use conspiracy theories in their therapies  | type =documentary | language =gsw, de | url =https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/dok/rituelle-gewalt-mind-control-an-schweizer-kliniken-wird-mit-verschwoerungstheorie-therapiert  | access-date =May 22, 2022  | archive-url =  | archive-date = | format = | time =| location = | publisher =srf/dok | id =  | isbn =  | oclc =  | quote =  }}</ref> As a reaction to the first documentary, two of the interviewed teachers as well as the senior physician were let go by their employers.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schmalz |first=Sarah |date=February 24, 2022 |title=Der Teufel im Therapiezimmer [The devil in the therapy room] |url=https://www.woz.ch/-c2f4 |work=[[WOZ Die Wochenzeitung]] |location=Zürich |access-date=May 22, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Röthlisberger |first=Remo |date=January 6, 2022 |title=Satans-Lehrer im Kanton Baselland unterrichten nicht mehr [Satan teachers in the Canton Basel-Country no longer teaching |url=https://www.nau.ch/news/schweiz/satans-lehrer-im-kanton-baselland-unterrichten-nicht-mehr-66080372 |work=Nau.ch |location= |access-date=May 22, 2022 |archive-date=2022-08-03  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803002314/https://www.nau.ch/news/schweiz/satans-lehrer-im-kanton-baselland-unterrichten-nicht-mehr-66080372 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Skepticism, rejection, and contemporary persistence ===

Media coverage of SRA began to turn negative by 1987, and the "panic" ended between 1992 and 1995.<ref name=Lewis>{{cite book |editor-last=JR |editor-first=Lewis |last=Jenkins |first=P |title=The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements |isbn=978-0-19-514986-9 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wpqKdDvLV0gC&pg=PA221 221–42] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |chapter=Satanism and Ritual Abuse}}</ref>{{sfn |Clapton |1993 |p=1}} The release of the [[HBO]] [[Television film|made-for-TV movie]] ''[[Indictment: The McMartin Trial]]'' in 1995 re-cast Ray Buckey as a victim of overzealous prosecution rather than an abusive predator, and marked a watershed change in public perceptions of satanic ritual abuse accusations.<ref>{{cite book |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pOrmZAFrx1UC&pg=PA71 71] |last=Baringer |first=S |title=The metanarrative of suspicion in late twentieth century America |isbn=978-0-415-97076-1 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2004}}</ref> In 1995, [[Geraldo Rivera]] issued an apology for his 1987 television special which had focused on the alleged cults.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Matthews|first=David|date=October 29, 2015|title=Revisiting the Satanic Panic television specials of the 1980s and '90s|url=https://splinternews.com/revisiting-the-satanic-panic-television-specials-of-the-1793852408|access-date=January 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name=ocrt>{{Cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/geraldo.htm|title=Geraldo Rivera's Influence on the Satanic Ritual Abuse and Recovered Memory Hoaxes|website=www.religioustolerance.org}}</ref>  In 1996 astrophysicist and astrobiologist [[Carl Sagan]] devoted an entire chapter of his final book, ''The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark'' to a critique of claims of recovered memories of [[alien abduction]]s and satanic ritual abuse, citing material from the newsletter of the [[False Memory Syndrome Foundation]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Sagan|first=Carl|title=The Demon-Haunted world: Science as a Candle in the Dark|url=https://archive.org/details/demonhauntedworl00saga_056|url-access=limited|year=1996|publisher=Ballantine|location=New York|isbn=9780345409461|page=[https://archive.org/details/demonhauntedworl00saga_056/page/n177 166]}}</ref> By 2003, allegations of ritual abuse were met with great skepticism, and belief in SRA was no longer considered mainstream in professional circles;{{sfn |Faller |2003 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FkT2wTGTUAoC&pg=PA29 29–33]}}{{sfn |Perrin |Miller-Perrin |2006 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AJgxUqce5GcC&pg=PA321 321]}} although the sexual abuse of children was and is a real and serious problem, allegations of SRA were essentially false. Reasons for the collapse of the phenomenon include the failure of criminal prosecutions against alleged abusers, a growing number of scholars, officials and reporters questioning the reality of the accusations, and a variety of successful lawsuits against mental health professionals.<ref name=Donner>{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=JM |last2=Nathan |first2=D |last3=Nezworski |first3=MT | last4 = Uhl | first4 = E | chapter = Child sexual abuse investigations: Lessons learned from the McMartin and other daycare cases |editor1= Bottoms BL |editor2=Najdowski CJ |editor3=Goodman GS  |title=Children as Victims, Witnesses, and Offenders: Psychological Science and the Law |publisher=[[Guilford Press]] |location=New York |year=2009 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=I4Oof79nUhUC&pg=PA81 81–101] |isbn=978-1-60623-332-0}}</ref>

Some [[Feminism|feminist]] critics of the SRA diagnoses maintained that, in the course of attempting to purge society of evil, the panic of the 1980s and 1990s obscured actual child-abuse issues, a concern echoed by author Gary Clapton.{{sfn |Clapton |1993 |p=1}} In England, the SRA panic diverted resources and attention away from proven abuse cases; this resulted in a "hierarchy" of abuse in which SRA was the most serious form, physical and sexual abuse being minimized and/or marginalized, and "mere" physical abuse no longer worthy of intervention.{{sfn |Clapton |1993 |pp=14–18}} As criticism of SRA investigations increased, the focus by social workers on SRA resulted in a large loss of credibility to the profession.{{sfn |Clapton |1993 |pp=23–28}} SRA, with its sensational narrative of many victims abused by many victimizers, ended up robbing the far-more-common and proven issue of [[incest]] against children of much of its societal significance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Armstrong |first=L |title=Rocking the Cradle of Sexual Politics |publisher=[[Addison–Wesley]] |year=1994 |location=Reading, MA |url=https://archive.org/details/rockingcradleofs00arms |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/rockingcradleofs00arms/page/257 257–259] |isbn=978-0-7043-4460-0}}</ref> The [[National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect]] devised the term ''religious abuse'' to describe [[exorcism]], [[ordeal poison|poison]]ing, and [[Trial by ordeal#Cold water|drowning]] of children in non-satanic religious settings in order to avoid confusion with SRA.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodman |first1=G |last2=Qin |first2=J |last3=Bottoms |first3=BL |last4=Shaver |first4=PR |title=Characteristics and Sources of Allegations of Ritualistic Child Abuse |publisher=Center for Abuse and Neglect |year=1994 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=99–114}}</ref>{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/223 223–224]}}

Some groups still believe there is credence to allegations of SRA and continue to discuss the topic.{{sfn |Perrin |Miller-Perrin |2006}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=McLeod |first=K |author2=Goddard CR  |year=2005 |title=The Ritual Abuse of Children: A Critical Perspective |journal=Children Australia |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=27–34|doi=10.1017/S1035077200010555 |s2cid=147638448 }}</ref> Publications by [[Cathy O'Brien (conspiracy theorist)|Cathy O'Brien]] claiming SRA was the result of government programs (specifically the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s [[Project MKULTRA]]) to produce [[The Manchurian Candidate|Manchurian candidate]]-style [[Brainwashing|mind control]] in young children were picked up by conspiracy theorists, linking belief in SRA with claims of government conspiracies.<ref>{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Peter |title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |location=Santa Barbara, Calif |year=2003 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qMIDrggs8TsC&pg=PA487 487] |isbn=978-1-57607-812-9}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In the 2007 book ''[[Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)]]'', authors [[Carol Tavris]] and [[Elliot Aronson]] cite an ongoing belief in the SRA phenomenon, despite a complete lack of evidence, as demonstration of [[confirmation bias]] in believers; it further points out that a lack of evidence is actually considered by believers in SRA as ''additional'' evidence, demonstrating "how clever and evil the cult leaders were: They were eating those babies, bones and all."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aronson |first1=E |author-link=Elliot Aronson |last2=Tavris |first2=C |author-link2=Carol Tavris |title=Mistakes were made (but not by me): why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts |publisher=[[Harcourt (publisher)|Harcourt]] |location=San Diego |year=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mistakesweremade00tavr/page/20 20] |isbn=978-0-15-101098-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/mistakesweremade00tavr}}</ref> A [[Salt Lake City]] therapist, [[Barbara Snow (therapist)|Barbara Snow]], was put on probation in 2008 for planting false memories of satanic abuse in patients.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/news/ci_8332832 |title=Embattled therapist agrees to probation|work=The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=2018-11-16}}</ref> One notable client of hers was [[Teal Swan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://greyfaction.org/how-teal-swans-therapist-instigated-a-satanic-panic/|title=How Teal Swan's Therapist Instigated A Satanic Panic|website=greyfaction.org|access-date=2018-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019230759/https://greyfaction.org/how-teal-swans-therapist-instigated-a-satanic-panic/|archive-date=2018-10-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation]] (ISSTD), a professional nonprofit organization, is known for its advocacy of contemporary narratives surrounding alleged satanic conspiracies. Historically, the organization has convened annual conference presentations dedicated to the exploration and discussion of these topics.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grey Faction |date=2023-04-15 |title=International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation Conferences |url=https://greyfaction.org/wiki/isstd-conferences/ |access-date=2024-03-09 |website=Grey Faction |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[Radical right (United States)|far-right]] conspiracy theory movement known as [[QAnon]], which originated on [[4chan]] in 2017, has adopted many of the tropes of SRA and Satanic Panic. Instead of daycare centers being the center of abuse, however, liberal [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] actors, [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] politicians, and high-ranking government officials are portrayed as a child-abusing cabal of Satanists.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sommer |first=Will |date=July 7, 2018 |title=What Is QAnon? The Craziest Theory of the Trump Era, Explained |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-is-qanon-the-craziest-theory-of-the-trump-era-explained |access-date=October 2, 2020 |website=The Daily Beast}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Jennings|first=Rebecca |date=2020-09-25|title=We're in the middle of another moral panic. What can we learn from the past? |url=https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/9/25/21453036/save-the-children-qanon-human-trafficking-satantic-panic|access-date=2020-10-12|website=Vox}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-09-20 |title=QAnon conspiracists believe in a vast pedophile ring. The truth is sadder |first=Moira|last=Donegan |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/20/qanon-conspiracy-child-abuse-truth-trump|access-date=2020-10-12|website=The Guardian}}</ref>