Satanic Ritual Abuse

[Woods Of Ypres]

I remember as a kid watching some documentary about the heavy metal band Judas Priest going to court over some kids suicide. The parents blamed the 'satanic music'

Also you are probably familiar with the 'West Memphis Three' - basically a town of god-fearing rednecks blamed the murder of a few boys on some teenagers who were into black clothing and metallica. they were convicted and imprisoned despite evidence.

[think positive]

Jones town, and those weird people led by Anne Hamilton on the blue mountains I think it was.

Wackos led by evil,

[David]

I remember as a kid watching some documentary about the heavy metal band Judas Priest going to court over some kids suicide. The parents blamed the 'satanic music'

Also you are probably familiar with the 'West Memphis Three' - basically a town of god-fearing rednecks blamed the murder of a few boys on some teenagers who were into black clothing and metallica. they were convicted and imprisoned despite evidence.

Only vaguely familiar with them when I posted this, but I just watched West of Memphis the other night. Not the greatest documentary ever made (the middle bit where the celebrities come to the rescue, reminiscent of the 'Film Actors Guild' scenes from Team America, is pretty unintentionally hilarious), but it did provide a fairly concise overview of the case. The fact that post mortem animal interference was unquestioningly presumed to be evidence of ritual slaughter tells us a lot about the case and the way cases like this were interpreted at the time. Medieval paranoia is never far around the corner, it seems.

[David]

[Wokko]

I once knew someone who was raised in this setting. The people involved are very powerful and any attempt to 'out' it usually ends badly. He was in counselling for years and didn't really want to go into detail but it's pretty horrifying the things that go on behind closed doors in our communities. And yes it was judges, politicians, health professionals etc that were involved in both the activities and subsequent cover ups. This guy eventually ran to Tasmania (from SA where it was happening) to get away. He had to see a cult deprogammer and everything.

[Wokko]

From what I've heard and read over the years the whole Satanic cult claims were found to be totally false by the F.B.I

Considering the people involved here (I was told of a Judge, politician and some high ranking police. I'm not stupid enough to name names in public though, even here) it doesn't surprise me that an 'official' investigation would prove fruitless. People who chase up these things face as much trouble as insiders trying to expose it from what my acquaintance told me.

[David]

I once knew someone who was raised in this setting. The people involved are very powerful and any attempt to 'out' it usually ends badly. He was in counselling for years and didn't really want to go into detail but it's pretty horrifying the things that go on behind closed doors in our communities. And yes it was judges, politicians, health professionals etc that were involved in both the activities and subsequent cover ups. This guy eventually ran to Tasmania (from SA where it was happening) to get away. He had to see a cult deprogammer and everything.

I understand that this is a sensitive issue and there's a limit to what you can discuss openly, but was your friend by any chance a victim of 'repressed memories' which emerged in therapy? Many allegations seem to follow this pattern.

To return to the woman in the OP, she made similar allegations but, having read her book I'm convinced that a) she genuinely believes that she experienced what she did and b) that her memories have been implanted through questionable therapeutic practices.

[David]

For me, the most difficult thing to accept is that supposedly 'satanic' practices could be commonplace in our predominantly post-religious society, particularly amongst educated people. It doesn't quite seem credible. What's the motivation?

[Wokko]

I once knew someone who was raised in this setting. The people involved are very powerful and any attempt to 'out' it usually ends badly. He was in counselling for years and didn't really want to go into detail but it's pretty horrifying the things that go on behind closed doors in our communities. And yes it was judges, politicians, health professionals etc that were involved in both the activities and subsequent cover ups. This guy eventually ran to Tasmania (from SA where it was happening) to get away. He had to see a cult deprogammer and everything.

I understand that this is a sensitive issue and there's a limit to what you can discuss openly, but was your friend by any chance a victim of 'repressed memories' which emerged in therapy? Many allegations seem to follow this pattern.

To return to the woman in the OP, she made similar allegations but, having read her book I'm convinced that a) she genuinely believes that she experienced what she did and b) that her memories have been implanted through questionable therapeutic practices.

I don't know, but I don't think his memories were repressed, I could be wrong or he may just not know the difference. The human mind can be quite suggestible, there's a show where a British magician/hypnotist programs someone to kill Stephen Fry and while they were blanks in the gun, the guy didn't know that and went through with it.

Of course it's a great way to discredit credible witnesses by saying that what they remember was implanted during therapy.

[stui magpie]

^

I've always understood that you can't be hypnotized to do something against your will. You could only be hypnotised into killing someone if that didn't fundamentally conflict with your wiring.

eg, you could probably hypnotise me into killing someone I didn't really know or have any affection for, but no chance you could get me to do one of my kids.

[Wokko]

^

I've always understood that you can't be hypnotized to do something against your will. You could only be hypnotised into killing someone if that didn't fundamentally conflict with your wiring.

eg, you could probably hypnotise me into killing someone I didn't really know or have any affection for, but no chance you could get me to do one of my kids.

It was a fairly elaborate process and the man they chose was determined to be highly susceptible to suggestion. It was done through escalating triggering events so in the end he did it and didn't remember. He was shown a video afterwards of himself shooting Fry.

Article on the show:

http://merovee.wordpress.com/2011/10/22 ... -assassin/

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc9y1UYI ... EE&index=1

[David]

Of course it's a great way to discredit credible witnesses by saying that what they remember was implanted during therapy.

Yep, there's that component too. What should be made clear is that the existence of false memories is objective fact. Consider this article here, for instance:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-n ... ories.html

The problem, as you point out, is that this could be used to undermine the testimony of genuine abuse victims. I think you have to give people the benefit of the doubt when they say they remember something, though I'd treat recovered 'repressed' memories with a grain of salt. Many of the recovery methods (hypnosis, past-life regression therapy) seem quite dubious and likely to influence the creation of new memories.

[Wokko]

All eye witness evidence is shaky when you look at studies into its accuracy, and repressed memories seem to be even worse, going from just a bit shaky to completely fabricated. I don't think the guy I was talking to had 'repressed' memory though, I think he remembered all too well but then, people suffering psychosis do legitimately believe the crazy shit they're saying.

[David]

[stui magpie]

Interesting bump as only a couple of months back I was made aware of a cult that happened not that far from where I grew up and was quite prominent in the 80's. The family.

https://www.thefamilysect.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famil ... Age_group)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-14/ ... s/11210142