How did these claims of a ‘Satanic Panic’ victim go unquestioned?
Satanic Panic has largely been acknowledged as nonsense. Apart from this case
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EDITORIAL NOTE: I’ve decided not to name the person in question as I believe them to be mentally unwell rather than malicious. I’ve changed some aspects of their life for that reason. Everything in this piece is my opinion and should not be read as accusatory in nature.
Martha White appears neat, unassuming, and soft spoken. She folds her hand in her lap and begins her story, one thousands of abuse survivors initially would find similarities in. A violent father who killed her pet dog. A cold mother who looked the other way. Strange visitors who did bad things. Nothing I, or I hope anyone with any decency, would question in the confidence of a person speaking about their trauma. But that is where my sympathy ends.
Because here, things get really, really crazy.
Because here, Martha’s story goes full 1970s B-horror. Actually, her dad didn’t just kill her pet: he repeatedly forced homeless black men on to crucifixes and slowly killed them as part of a satanic cult snuff film, while she was forced to watch naked and perform sex acts on them. A little girl was murdered in front of her too, but Martha wasn’t, at the last minute. The police never looked into it, it seems. Then the whole barn was set alight to…destroy the evidence? And she was forced to climb into her dead sister’s coffin, naked, and fondle her. It escalates with every interview, new ‘details’ of her ‘satanic abuse’ becoming ever more extreme. The Zoomer TikTok crowd were enthralled, taking in every word, totally unquestioning. Because, I feel, they don’t know where these impossibly detailed, dramatic tropes come from. They haven’t seen this all before…and seen it debunked.
