Editing Satanic panic (section)

==Evidence==
The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect conducted a study led by [[University of California, Davis|University of California]] psychologist [[Gail Goodman]], which found that among 12,000 accusations of ritual or religious-linked abuse, there was no evidence for "a well-organized intergenerational satanic cult, who sexually molested and tortured children," although there was "convincing evidence of lone perpetrators or couples who say they are involved with Satan or use the claim to intimidate victims."<ref name="Goleman1994"/> One such case Goodman studied involved "grandparents [who] had black robes, candles, and Christ on an inverted crucifix—and the children had chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease, in their throats," according to the report by a [[district attorney]].<ref name="Goleman1994">{{cite news |last=Goleman|first=Daniel|date=1994-10-31|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/31/us/proof-lacking-for-ritual-abuse-by-satanists.html?sq=satanic+ritual+abuse&scp=1&st=nyt|title=Proof Lacking for Ritual Abuse by Satanists|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=21 May 2018|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521193259/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/31/us/proof-lacking-for-ritual-abuse-by-satanists.html?sq=satanic+ritual+abuse&scp=1&st=nyt |archive-date=2018-05-21}}</ref>

The evidence for SRA was primarily in the form of testimonies from children who made allegations of SRA, and adults who claim to remember abuse during childhood, that may have been forgotten and [[Recovered memory therapy|recovered during therapy]].{{sfn|Edge|2001|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}}{{sfn|LaFontaine|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA3 3]}}{{sfn|Perrin|Miller-Perrin|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AJgxUqce5GcC&pg=PA318 318–20]}}

With both children and adults, no corroborating evidence has been found for anything except pseudosatanism in which the satanic and ritual aspects were secondary to and used as a cover for sexual abuse.{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA3 3]}} Despite this lack of objective evidence, and aided by the competing definitions of what SRA actually was, proponents claimed SRA was a real phenomenon throughout the peak and during the decline of the moral panic.{{sfn |Bibby |1996 |p=18}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Devine |first1=Susan E. |last2=Sakheim |first2=David K. |title=Out of darkness: exploring satanism and ritual abuse |publisher=Lexington Books |location=Lexington, Mass |year=1992 |page=173 |isbn=978-0-669-26962-8}}</ref> Despite allegations appearing in the United States, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia, no material evidence has been found to corroborate allegations of organized cult-based abuse that practices human sacrifice and cannibalism.<ref name=Furies>{{cite book |last1=Underwager |first1=Ralph C. |last2=Wakefield |first2=Hollida |title=Return of the furies: an investigation into recovered memory therapy |publisher=Open Court |location=La Salle, IL |year=1995 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/returnoffuriesin00wake/page/317 317–321] |isbn=978-0-8126-9272-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/returnoffuriesin00wake}}  [https://books.google.com/books?id=iE1-i0umaTsC&pg=PA317 Google books pp. 317–321]</ref>{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/123 123]}} Though trauma specialists frequently claimed the allegations made by children and adults were the same, in reality the statements made by adults were more elaborate, severe, and featured more bizarre abuse. In 95 percent of the adults' cases, the memories of the abuse were recovered during psychotherapy.{{sfn |McNally |2003 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Axi0huzYwC&pg=PA238 238]}}

For several years, a conviction list assembled by the [[Believe the Children]] advocacy group was circulated as proof of the truth of satanic ritual abuse allegations, though the organization itself no longer exists and the list itself is "egregiously out of date".{{sfn|de Young|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_e8ZkJBtz0EC&pg=PA54 54]}}

===Investigations===
Two investigations were carried out to assess the evidence for SRA. In the United Kingdom, a government report produced no evidence of SRA, but several examples of false satanists faking rituals to frighten their victims. In the United States, evidence was reported but was based on a flawed method with an overly liberal definition of a substantiated case.

====United Kingdom====
A British study published in 1996 found 62 cases of alleged ritual abuse reported to researchers by police, social and welfare agencies from the period of 1988 to 1991, representing a tiny proportion of extremely high-profile cases compared to the total number investigated by the agencies.<ref>Hughes & Parker in {{harvnb|Bibby|1996|pp=215–230}}.</ref> Anthropologist [[Jean La Fontaine]] spent several years researching ritual abuse cases in Britain at the behest of the government, finding that all of the cases of alleged satanic ritual abuse that could be substantiated were cases where the perpetrators' goal was [[sexual gratification]] rather than religious worship.<ref>{{cite web |title=Satanic Disabuser |last=Kitzinger |first=Celia |date=1995-08-28 |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/94959.article |access-date=2014-10-16 |publisher=[[Times Higher Education]]}}</ref> Producing several reports and the 1998 book ''Speak of the Devil'', after reviewing cases reported to police and children's protective services throughout the country, LaFontaine concluded that the only rituals she uncovered were those invented by child abusers to frighten their victims or justify the sexual abuse. In addition, the sexual abuse occurred outside of the rituals, indicating the goal of the abuser was sexual gratification rather than ritualistic or religious. In cases involving satanic abuse, the satanic allegations by younger children were influenced by adults, and the concerns over the satanic aspects were found to be compelling due to cultural attraction of the concept but distracting from the actual harm caused to the abuse victims.{{sfn |Bibby |1996 |pp=205–13}}<ref>{{cite book |last=LaFontaine |first=J S. |title=The extent and nature of organised and ritual abuse: research findings |publisher=HMSO |location=London |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-11-321797-7 |url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=157278}}</ref>

In more recent years, discredited allegations of SRA have been levelled against [[Jimmy Savile]] during [[Operation Yewtree|the posthumous investigation]] into [[Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal|his sexual abuse of children]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=French|first1=Chris|title=Satanic child abuse claims are almost certainly based on false memories|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/18/satanic-child-abuse-false-memories-scotland|access-date=27 February 2017|work=The Guardian|date=18 November 2014}}</ref> as well as against former [[Prime Minister of United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Ted Heath]] (who was previously falsely accused of SRA during his lifetime).<ref>{{cite news|last1=Evans|first1=Martin |title=Sir Edward Heath sex investigation could be shut down as police expert says satanic ritual abuse claims are 'pernicious fabrication' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/26/sir-edward-heath-sex-abuse-investigation-could-shut/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/26/sir-edward-heath-sex-abuse-investigation-could-shut/ |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=27 February 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=27 November 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

====United States====
{{Further|Day-care sex-abuse hysteria}}
[[David Finkelhor]] completed an investigation of child sexual abuse in daycares in the United States and published a report in 1988. The report found 270 cases of sexual abuse, of which 36 were classified as substantiated cases of ritual abuse.<ref name=Finkelhor/> [[Mary de Young]] has pointed out that the report's definition of "substantiated" was overly liberal as it required only that one agency had decided that abuse had occurred, even if no action was taken, no arrests made, no operating licenses suspended. In addition, multiple agencies may have been involved in each case (including the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], local police, social services agencies and childhood protective services in many cases), with wide differences in suspicion and confirmation, often in disagreement with each other. Finkelhor, upon receiving a "confirmation", would collect information from whoever was willing or interested to provide it and did not independently investigate the cases, resulting in frequent errors in his conclusions. No data is provided beyond case studies and brief summaries.{{sfn |de Young |2004 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_e8ZkJBtz0EC&pg=PA102 102]}} Three other cases considered corroborating by the public<ref name=lat87>{{Cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-13-me-28514-story.html |title = Tales of Satanism Mark Molestation Cases : Children's Macabre Testimony Sometimes Derails Prosecutions|website = [[Los Angeles Times]]|date = 13 December 1987}}</ref>—the [[McMartin preschool trial]], the [[Country Walk case]] and the murders in [[Matamoros, Tamaulipas|Matamoros]], by [[Adolfo Constanzo]]—ultimately failed to support the existence of SRA. The primary witness in the Country Walk case repeatedly made, then withdrew accusations against [[Frank Fuster|her husband]] amid unusual and coercive inquiries by her lawyer and a psychologist.<ref name="nr">{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2018/09/10/the-last-victim/|title=The Last Victim|date=August 23, 2018 |publisher=[[National Review]] |first=Rael Jean |last=Isaac |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190330232529/https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2018/09/10/the-last-victim/ |archive-date=2019-03-30 }}</ref> The Matamoros murders produced the bodies of 12 adults who were ritually sacrificed by a drug gang inspired by the film ''[[The Believers (film)|The Believers]]'', but did not involve children or sexual abuse. The McMartin case resulted in no convictions and was ultimately based on accusations by children with no proof beyond their coerced testimonies.{{sfn |Faller |2003 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FkT2wTGTUAoC&pg=PA29 29–33]}} A 1990/1991 survey of clinicians, which reviewed 386 allegations of ritual and 191 allegations of religious abuse, described 10% and under 3% of those allegations, respectively, as unfounded following social service investigation.<ref name=Bottoms1996>{{cite journal |last1=Bottoms |first1=B.L. |last2=Shaver |first2=P.R. |last3=Goodman |first3=G.S. |year=1996 |title=An analysis of ritualistic and religion-related child abuse allegations |journal=Law and Human Behavior |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1007/BF01499130|citeseerx=10.1.1.414.7819 |s2cid=13979744 }}</ref>

====The Netherlands====
Dutch investigative journalists from ''[[Argos (radio program)|Argos]]'' ([[NPO Radio 1]]) collected the experiences and stories of over two hundred victims of organized sexual abuse. A hundred and forty victims told Argos about ritual abuse. Six well-known people were mentioned as perpetrators by multiple participants in the investigation, and over ten abuse locations. A warehouse in the Bollenstreek was marked as a location for 'storage' and the production of child pornography. During the investigation the ''Argos'' journalists received an anonymous email stating the journalists had to 'beaware' because "they know about your investigation", remarking "they're going to get rid of evidence{{snd}} just like they did with [[Marc Dutroux|Dutroux]]". The same day as the journalists received the e-mail, the warehouse in the Bollenstreek burnt down. According to Argos, the damage had been classified so severe by the fire department, that a cause of fire could not be determined.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vpro.nl/argos/lees/nieuws/2020/glass-shards-and-dark-rituals-english-transcript-.html |title= Shards of glass and dark rituals (English transcript) |work= VPRO |access-date=2020-10-17 }}</ref>

As a response to parliamentary questions following the ''Argos'' investigation, Dutch [[List of ministers of justice of the Netherlands|Minister of Justice and Security]] [[Ferdinand Grapperhaus]] said on August 27, 2020, that there would be 'no independent investigation into Ritual Abuse' of children in The Netherlands.<ref>Ferd Grapperhaus (August 27, 2020), [https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/kamerstukken/2020/08/27/antwoorden-kamervragen-over-de-uitzending-van-argos-over-ritueel-misbruik Antwoorden Kamervragen over de uitzending van Argos over ritueel misbruik] .</ref> The [[GroenLinks|Green Left]], the [[Socialist Party (Netherlands)|Socialist Party]] and the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] criticized Grapperhaus for his decision.<ref>Sanne Terlingen and Huub Jaspers (September 1, 2020), [https://www.vpro.nl/argos/lees/nieuws/2020/kamerleden-willen-in-debat-over-ritueel-misbruik.html#3d0a651f-4554-4fad-a378-3773e8989a73 Kamerleden willen in debat over Ritueel Misbruik] .</ref>  On October 13, 2020, the Dutch [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|House of Representatives]] approved a motion in which the PvdA, GL and the SP requested that an independent investigation be conducted into the nature and extent of "organized sadistic abuse of children", bypassing Grapperhaus' original refusal to investigate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/203828342/onderzoek-naar-ritueel-misbruik|title=Onderzoek naar ritueel misbruik|date=October 13, 2020|website=Telegraaf}}</ref>

In a ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' article JD Sword discusses the outcomes of a subsequent commission appointed by Grapperhaus and led by Jan Hendriks, professor of criminology from the [[Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam|Vrije Universiteit]] in [[Amsterdam]] and associate professor Anne-Marie Slotboom.  In December 2022 Hendriks returned a report which found there is no evidence of organized abuse with ritualistic features and “Overall, victims are the only primary source reporting this type of abuse and no support for its existence is found from other sources.”<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sword |first1=JD |title=Still No Evidence of Satanic Ritual Abuse: VPRO Argos and the Hendriks Commission |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=6 February 2023 |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/still-no-evidence-of-satanic-ritual-abuse-vpro-argos-and-the-hendriks-commission/ |access-date=19 July 2023}}</ref>

===Patients' allegations===
The majority of adult testimonials were given by adults while they were undergoing [[psychotherapy]], in most cases they were undergoing therapy which was designed to elicit memories of SRA.<ref name=Frankfurter2003/>{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA5 5]}} Therapists claimed that the pain which their patients felt, the internal consistency of their stories and the similarities of the allegations which were made by different patients all proved the existence of SRA, but despite this, the disclosures of patients never resulted in any corroboration;{{sfn |Victor |1993 |p=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n105 86]}} The allegations which were obtained from the alleged victims by mental health practitioners all lacked verifiable evidence, they were entirely [[anecdotal evidence|anecdotal]] and they all involved incidents which occurred years or decades earlier.<ref>{{Citation |title=Final Report of the Task Force Studying Ritual Crime |publisher=Crime Commission Task Force Studying Ritual Criminal Activity |location=Richmond, VA |year=1991| url = https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n290}} cited in Victor, 1993, pp. 263-264.</ref> The concern for therapists revolved around the pain of their clients, which is for them more important than the truth of their patients' statements.{{sfn |Bibby |1996 |pp=27–28}} A sample of 29 patients in a medical clinic reporting SRA found no corroboration of the claims in medical records or in discussion with family members.<ref name=Coons>{{cite journal |last=Coons |first=PM |title=Reports of satanic ritual abuse: further implications about pseudomemories |journal=Perceptual and Motor Skills |volume=78 |issue=3 Pt 2 |pages=1376–78 |date=June 1994 |pmid=7936968 |doi=10.2466/pms.1994.78.3c.1376|s2cid=46126363 }}</ref> and a survey of 2,709 American therapists found the majority of allegations of SRA came from only sixteen therapists, suggesting that the determining factor in a patient making allegations of SRA was the therapist's predisposition.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n284 257–58]}} Further, the alleged similarities between patient accounts (particularly between adults and children) turned out to be illusory upon review, with adults describing far more elaborate, severe and bizarre abuse than children. Bette Bottoms, who reviewed hundreds of claims of adult and child abuse, described the ultimate evidence for the abuse as "astonishingly weak and ambiguous" particularly given the severity of the alleged abuse. Therapists however, were found to believe patients more as the allegations became more bizarre and severe.{{sfn |McNally |2003 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=88Axi0huzYwC&pg=PA238 238]}}

In cases in which patients made claims that were physically impossible, or in cases in which the evidence which was found by police is contradictory, the details which are reported will often change. If patients pointed to a spot where a body was buried, but no body was found and no earth was disturbed, therapists resort to [[special pleading]], saying that the patient was hypnotically programmed to direct investigators to the wrong location, or the patient was fooled by the cult into believing that a crime was not committed. If the alleged bodies were cremated and police point out that ordinary fires are inadequate to completely destroy a body, stories include special industrial furnaces. The patients' allegations change, and they creatively find "solutions" to objections.{{sfn|Showalter |1997 |p=[https://archive.org/details/hystorieshysteri00show_0/page/179 179–180]}}

===Children's allegations===
The second group to make allegations of SRA were young children. During the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, the techniques used by investigators to gather evidence from witnesses, particularly young children, evolved to become very leading, coercive and suggestive, pressuring young children to provide testimony and refusing to accept denials while offering inducements that encouraged false disclosures.<ref name=Frankfurter2003/><ref name="Schreiber et al."/>{{sfn|Nathan|Snedeker|1995}} The interviewing techniques used were the factors believed to have led to the construction of the bizarre disclosures of SRA by the children{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA5 5]}}{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/56 56ff], [https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/61 61–65], [https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/n94 73f] & [https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/192 192–95]}} and changes to forensic and interviewing techniques since that time has resulted in a disappearance of the allegations.<ref name=Donner/> Analysis of the techniques used in two key cases (the McMartin Preschool and [[Wee Care Nursery School]] trials) concluded that the children were questioned in a highly suggestive manner. Compared with a set of interviews from [[Child Protective Services]], the interviews from the two trials were "significantly more likely to (a) introduce new suggestive information into the interview, (b) provide praise, promises, and positive reinforcement, (c) express disapproval, disbelief, or disagreement with children, (d) exert conformity pressure, and (e) invite children to pretend or speculate about supposed events."<ref name="Schreiber et al."/>

Specific allegations from the cases included:
* Seeing witches fly; travel in a hot air balloon; abuse and travel through tunnels;{{sfn |Eberle |Eberle |1993 |pp=172–73}} identifying actor [[Chuck Norris]] from a series of pictures as an abuser;<ref name=cl>{{cite news |first=Katherine |last=Ramsland |author-link=Katherine Ramsland |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/mcmartin_daycare/5.html |title=McMartin Daycare Case |access-date=2007-08-26 |publisher=[[Crime Library]]}}</ref> orgies at car washes and airports, children being flushed down toilets to secret rooms where they would be abused, then cleaned up and presented back to their unsuspecting parents{{sfn |Eberle |Eberle |1993 |pp=172–73}}<ref name=longest>{{cite news |first=R |last=Reinhold |title=The Longest Trial – A Post-Mortem. Collapse of Child-Abuse Case: So Much Agony for So Little |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5D9113BF937A15752C0A966958260 |work=[[New York Times]] |date=January 24, 1990 |access-date=2008-10-24}}</ref><ref name=NYT1>{{cite news |title=Los Angeles Presses Inquiry Into Sexual Abuse of Children |url=https://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F50E1EFC345D0C728CDDAD0894DC484D81 |work=[[Associated Press]] in [[New York Times]] |date=1984-04-01 |access-date=2007-07-29}}</ref> ([[McMartin preschool trial]], no forensic evidence was found to support these claims)
* Being raped with knives (including a 12-inch blade<ref name=Garcia/>), sticks, forks, and magic wands; assault by a clown in a magic room; being forced to [[drinking urine|drink urine]]; tied naked to a tree<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Commonwealth v. Amirault, Middlesex |vol=424 Mass. 618 |access-date=2007-12-09}}</ref> ([[Fells Acres day care sexual abuse trial]]; no forensic evidence was found to support these claims)
* [[Ritual murder]] of babies; children taken out on boats and thrown overboard; trips in [[hot air balloon]]s;<ref name=Mayfield>{{cite news |last=Mayfield |first=M |title=Man convicted in N.C. child sex abuse case |newspaper=USA Today |date=April 23, 1992 |url=http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T2751467195&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T2751468205&cisb=22_T2751468204&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=8213&docNo=23 |access-date=2007-12-22}}</ref> babies were thrown against walls; children were penetrated with knives and forks; the walls and floors of the center's music room were spread with urine and feces{{sfn |de Young |2004 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_e8ZkJBtz0EC&pg=PA140 140]}} ([[Little Rascals day care sexual abuse trial]]; no forensic evidence was found to support these claims)
* Forced to act in [[child pornography]] and used for [[child prostitution]]; tortured; made to watch [[snuff film]]s<ref name=Garcia>{{cite book |last=Garcia |first=E |year=2007 |publisher=Global Media |title=Child Day Care Management |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IKFyt628JScC&pg=PT22 22–24] |isbn=978-81-89940-39-3}}</ref> ([[Kern County child abuse cases]]; no child pornography was ever found to substantiate these accusations)
* The mentally disabled abuser with [[Noonan syndrome]] drank human [[blood]] in satanic rituals; abducted the children despite being unable to drive;<ref name=Frontline>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/innocence/etc/other.html |title=Frontline: innocence lost: Other Well-Known Cases |publisher=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]] |year=1998 |access-date=2010-02-28}}</ref> forced the children to eat urine and feces; abducted the children to secret rooms; committed violent sexual assaults and beatings; killed a [[giraffe]], [[rabbit]] and [[elephant]] and drank their blood in front of the children.<ref name=Stoesz1996>{{cite book |last1=Stoesz |first1=David |last2=Costin |first2=Lela B. |last3=Karger |first3=Howard Jacob |title=The Politics of Child Abuse in America (Child Welfare) |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |year=1996 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B70rt3SyhtkC&pg=PA14 14–15] |isbn=978-0-19-511668-7}}</ref> ([[Faith Chapel Church ritual abuse case]]; no forensic evidence was found to support these claims)

A variety of these allegations resulted in criminal convictions; in an analysis of these cases [[Mary de Young]] found that many had had their convictions overturned. Of 22 daycare employees and their sentences reviewed in 2007, three were still incarcerated, eleven had charges dismissed or overturned, and eight were released before serving their full sentences. Grounds included technical dismissals, constitutional challenges and prosecutorial misconduct.<ref name=deYoung2007/>