Recommendations: Week of 10/28/24

The Satanic Panic, explained

I’ve mentioned before that the Satanic Panic of the 1980s interests me, but I wanted to do a bit of a deeper dive for those who may be unacquainted with this strange period in history. The Satanic Panic began in the early 1980s in America (and later, internationally) and lasted through the 1990s, with some elements still persisting to this day. It was a moral panic concentrated around the idea that Satanic ritual abuse of children was happening across the country, mainly in preschools and daycares. There was a genuinely widespread belief that people were becoming Satanists and using children in dark rituals. This belief has persisted to this day, although somewhat de-Satanized, in the conspiracy theories that posit wealthy elites are abusing and murdering children to solidify their power, stay young, or curry favor with other elites. In pretty much every instance, the accusations were completely unfounded.

Moral panics have cropped up throughout history (Salem being the most famous), but the Satanic Panic of the 1980s happened at such a technically and culturally advanced period in human cultural development that it is particularly fascinating. Television news reports were a huge factor in spreading unsubstantiated stories of missing children, but the spark that set off the whole thing was a 1980 memoir from a woman named Michelle Smith called Michelle Remembers. In it, she claims to have recovered memories through the now-discredited technique of recovered-memory therapy with her psychiatrist (and future husband) of physical and sexual Satanic abuse. In 1983, accusations were made against members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California. They were later charged with hundreds of counts of abuse. The trial ultimately lasted for seven years, resulting in no convictions and all charges eventually dropped. It remains the longest and most expensive series of criminal trials in American history and, though resulted in no convictions, ruined a lot of innocent lives. It’s also only the most famous case; many others resulted in the conviction of innocent people.

A 1994 article in the New York Times claimed that: "Of the more than 12,000 documented accusations nationwide, investigating police were not able to substantiate any allegations of organized cult abuse." This kind of insanity has inspired a lot of interesting fiction and nonfiction. It is a haunting example of how good intentions can be twisted, how “think of the children” can be turned into a weapon against the vulnerable, and of how ripe the human mind is to suggestion, conspiracy, and weirdness. Here are some of my favorites:

You’re Wrong About: The Satanic Panic: The podcast “You’re Wrong About” does a great job of debunking things we have socially set opinions about. This episode dives deep into this weird period in history and gives you a great foundation for understanding it while also connecting it to current-day analogs. Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it, after all, and ingrained beliefs can be extraordinarily dangerous. This podcast cuts through them neatly.

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson: In 1971, Go Ask Alice was published. It purported to be the authentic diary of a teenage LSD addict. It became a sensation and sold widely, but it was later discovered to be an entire fabrication by a woman named Beatrice Sparks who also published a Jay’s Journal in 1979, which claimed to be the posthumous memoir of a teenage Satanist. The book explores the context around these two diaries, asking questions about why these two documents had such an impact on our culture and why we were gullible enough to believe them authentic. It also explores our prurient obsession with teenagers and their inner lives and our fears that our children are really strangers to us.

Devil House by John Darnielle: This novel is a bit of a bait and switch. Its cover and plot summary purport to be about two ghoulish Satan-inflected murders but it is really a deconstruction of the Satanic Panic. Gage Chandler is a true crime writer looking for his next story, so he moved into “the devil house” where those murders took place. But what does it mean to tell true crime stories for an audience hungry for all the dirty details? Who were these murderers and how did they become not only murderers but Satanic ones? What do we owe to the victims and who really are the victims? Are any of us reliable narrators of our own stories?

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn: This is probably the least well-known of Flynn’s three novels, likely because it has not had a big splashy adaptation (it has been adapted, but into a little-seen film). It is the story of Libby Day, whose brother was involved in a Satanic-inflected murder when she was a child. Now that Libby is an adult, she begins to reexamine what happened with the help of a group trying to prove her brother’s innocence. This novel looks back on the Satanic Panic with adult eyes, providing a unique perspective that matches well with how we as a culture have been reexamining it. Flynn is a phenomenal writer and if you haven’t read this one, don’t sleep on it.

Hysteria! (Peacock): Eventually you have to make a comedy out of every dark point in humanity’s long history. What Derry Girls is to The Troubles, Hysteria! is to the Satanic Panic. The show is set in 1989 and loosely follows a high school band that decides to knowingly capitalize on the Satanic Panic to get attention on their band. They all pretend to be Satanists, but there’s also real supernatural shenanigans happening in this show and the two storylines are bound to collide. This is a weird but incredibly interesting show and draws maybe the most explicit connection between the atmosphere of the 80s and our current politics of conspiracies, fear, and demagoguery.