Witch hunts and moral panics

The Satanic Ritual Abuse allegations of the 1980s and 1990s were the direct precursors of today’s wild claims by QAnon, but this very belated account could have been so much better, says Mike Dash

Satanic Panic A Modern Myth Rosie Waterhouse Independently published (Amazon) 2023 Pb, 190pp, £6.99, ISBN 9798870691497 The longest and most expensive criminal trial in American legal history was not some sensational prosecution for murder. It was a mostly-forgotten 1980s case from California that lasted for seven years, cost $15m, secured zero convictions – and has a great deal to teach forteans about the topics that interest us. Indeed, looking back from the vantage point of 40 years, it’s possible to argue that the McMartin Preschool trial is foundational to any attempt to explore the intersections between claims and reality, belief and evidence. McMartin was Ground Zero for the great “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and early 1990s – a whole series of cases that occurred across the English-speaking world, from…

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