Satanic Panic historical overview
Although books and memoirs were written about multiple personality disorder prior to
1980, none had attributed the development of the disorder specifically to Satanic ritual abuse.
That changed in 1980 with the publication of Michelle Remembers, a memoir co-written by
Michelle Smith and her therapist, Lawrence Pazder. Nearly every news article and researched
journal article cites the book, Michelle Remembers, as the catalyst for the events following the
book, (Enns, C., 2002, & Gerson, J., 2020 & Andrade, G. & Camp Redondo, M., 2019). The
narrative starts out innocently enough. Michelle Smith had done extensive psychoanalysis work
with Lawrence Pazder finding healing for a difficult childhood, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981).
The therapeutic relationship terminated appropriately and Michelle Smith moved on with her
life, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). She married her husband, built a home in the wooded
mountains of British Columbia, and she and her husband felt ready to bring children into their
family, (Smith, M. & Pazder, L., 1981). Michelle did get pregnant, but met with some
complications causing the baby to miscarry, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). Michelle, who was
very afraid of hospitals, had considerable difficulties mentally and emotionally recovering from
the experience of the miscarraige, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). Her doctor called in Lawrence
Pazder for therapy consultation in the hospital, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981).
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Eventually Michelle was discharged from the hospital, but Michelle still felt she needed
therapy, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). In one of the first sessions in his office after the
miscarriage, Michelle told Pazder that there was something she needed to tell him, that it was
scary and big, but she felt blocked, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). Pazder allowed his patient to
free associate, a Freudian technique that had been in use for over 40 years, (Smith, M & Pazder,
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L., 1981). Michelle relaxed and little by little, over a period of years, a horrific story of
ritualistic sexual abuse unfolded, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). Michelle, for her part, never
called it Satanic ritual abuse as her family of origin was not particularly religious, (Smith, M &
Pazder, L., 1981). Pazder, however, was Catholic and as Michelle’s story unfolded, sought
consultation with a Catholic priest to make sense of Michelle’s story, (Smith, M & Pazder, L.,
1981). Pazder had Michelle meet with a Catholic priest on several occasions so the priest could
confirm with Michelle that what she was experiencing was a real thing and did exist, (Smith, M
& Pazder, L., 1981). The priest told Pazder and Michelle that this was Satanic ritual abuse, that it
was widespread and had to be denounced, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). After a conclusion to
therapy some years later, Pazder and Smith did just that by writing the memoir, Michelle
Remembers, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). Following the publication of the book, they went on
speaking tours to raise the alarm of the existence of Satanic ritual abuse with Pazder portraying
himself an expert in the healing of ritual abuse, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981).
However, Pazder and Smith’s story was a bit more complicated. During the second
course of therapy with Michelle, Pazder relaxed professional boundaries by meeting with
Michelle outside of office hours for extended periods of time, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981).
Michelle became solely focused on therapy to the detriment of her friendships and which
strained her marriage, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). Pazder began limiting patients to
accommodate Michelle’s extensive appointment schedule and hours in his office, (Smith, M &
Pazder, L., 1981). Pazder also related in the book that he never allowed touch between himself
and clients, but as Michelle seemed to need comfort, he made an exception for her, (Smith, M &
Pazder, L., 1981). Many of their extensive sessions were spent inches apart and touch, such as
holding hands and Pazder comforting Michelle with touches on the shoulder and back, became
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commonplace in their sessions, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). At this time, in the 1970s, when
these sessions were taking place, there were no guidelines or rules about touch between client
and therapist, however, the prevailing wisdom, even in that time, was that it was a bad idea and
had the potential for blurring boundaries between therapist and patient, (Frager, R., & Fadiman,
J., 2013). Eventually, Pazder would leave his wife and Smith would leave her husband so they
could marry, (Smith, M & Pazder, L., 1981). They stayed married until his death in 2004.
Within the climate of a new openness to discussing child abuse even sexual molestation
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in the 1980s, Pazder and Smith were extremely effective in raising the watchcry against Satanic
ritual abuse. The influence of Pazder and Smith was not found immediately in the number of
ritual abuse memoirs published, but in daycare centers.
Prior to the late 1800s, mothers and fathers found informal ways of watching their
children while they performed their work such as creating a wooden bin that hung off the plough
to keep the baby confined while they turned the soil, white mothers would watch the black slave
children playing in the yard while their mothers toiled in the cotton fields, and farmers tethered
children onto a short rope line on the edge of the fields or near the house to keep them safe while
they worked, (Michel, S., 2021 & Shdaimah, C & Palley, E, 2020). It was not until the agrarian
life elided into factory work in the late 1800s that people had to find more formal solutions for
childcare, (Shdaimah, C & Palley, E, 2020). The first daycare centers began as a charity
enterprise in Jane Hull’s settlement houses which included nurseries so factory workers could
work and their children would stay safe from harm, (Shdaimah, C & Palley, E, 2020). The first
government sponsored child care centers would be a temporary solution during WWII when the
women were encouraged to work while the men fought in the war, (Shdaimah, C & Palley, E,
2020). Money allocated for these child care centers through the Lanham Act ended in 1946 when
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the men came back from war and women went back into the home, (Shdaimah, C & Palley, E,
2020). Then, in the 1970s, the Women’s Liberation Movement brought the problem of what to
do with the children to the forefront again when many women demanded the opportunity to
work, (Michel, S., 2021). Commercial daycare centers began to pop up all over America from
the mid to late 1970s and became a new way of life for many parents and children by the 1980s.
Perhaps the insecurity of a new institution in the American way of life contributed to
what is known as “The Satanic Panic”, but the idea that ritual abuse was a widespread
phenomenon that must be eradicated swept the nation via the ensuing controversies surrounding
daycare centers and mass media. It is difficult to find definitive numbers for how many daycare
centers had ritual abuse allegations lodged against them in the 1980s, but in a six-part
investigative series of newspaper articles written for The Commercial Appeal newspaper out of
Memphis, reported that more than 100 communities were affected by investigations into alleged
widespread ritual abuse on children, (Charlier, T & Downing, S., 1988). The investigative series
went on to detail 36 of those cases across the country and in the end determined that between
overzealous and untrained social workers and therapists in the techniques of child interviews for
sexual abuse, inappropriate techniques used by police in gathering information, and parents
concerned for their children and swept up in a “moral panic”, a modern day “witch-hunt” took
place and innocent daycare providers were wrongly convicted and imprisoned as a result,
(Charlier, T & Downing, S., 1988). The other outcome was that the plausibility of the existence
of ritual abuse was called into question. With a more historical perspective available after 30
years, it may be useful to take a look at a few of the 1980s and 1990s daycare cases to
understand the impact they had on the ritual abuse narrative.
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The McMartin Preschool: The spark for a moral panic
The McMartin Preschool case is considered to be the spark which ignited an explosion of
hysteria regarding allegations of sexual abuse by daycare workers and daycare centers being
accused of ritual abuse on children across the United States, (Charlier, T., 1988 & Downing,
S.,1988 & Cheit, R. E., 2016). In August of 1983, a mother of a two and a half year old boy
called the police saying that she believed her son had been abused by Ray Buckey,(Charlier, T.,
1988 & Downing, S.,1988). Ray was arrested by police. The mother of the boy continued to
lodge allegations against Ray Buckey citing her son’s anus was red and sore. The police then
wrote letters to over 200 parents of current and former students of the McMartin Preschool
requesting that the parents question their children about possible abuse that may have occurred
and the children started talking, (Charlier, T., 1988 & Downing, S.,1988). The children came out
with stories about being touched wrongfully, pictures taken of them naked, being forced to
engage in anal and oral sex, and that they played a game called “Naked Movie Star”, (Charlier,
T., 1988 & Downing, S.,1988). Therapists were brought in to interview the children about their
experiences, (Charlier, T., 1988 & Downing, S.,1988). Apparently after the interviews,
sometimes repeated interviews, the children’s stories became more bizarre and more aligned with
ritual abuse themes, (Charlier, T., 1988 & Downing, S.,1988). Peggy Ann Buckey, the owner of
the McMartin Preschool and other teachers were accused and arrested, (Charlier, T., 1988 &
Downing, S.,1988). The first trial of Peggy Ann Buckey and Ray Buckey was a deadlocked jury
because the jury felt that some of the children had been abused but their testimonies had been
coerced by the therapists interviewing them, (Charlier, T., 1988 & Downing, S.,1988). The
second trial also deadlocked and the district attorneys involved after the acquittals decided not to
retry the cases, (Charlier, T., 1988 & Downing, S.,1988).
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The legacy of the McMartin Preschool trial looms large. Many newspaper articles,
research journal articles in psychology, forensic psychology and law, and even books have been
written about this one case. It is generally thought that the therapists, who had recently attended
a seminar on Satanic ritual abuse, were overzealous in their interviews of the children and were
looking for ritual abuse when there wasn’t any, (Charlier, T., 1988 & Downing, S.,1988). The
techniques they used, such as using anatomically correct naked dolls, to interview the children,
although standard practice in that time period, are no longer used today because of the
suggestibility of the techniques employed is thought to incite inaccurate testimony from children,
(Cheit, R.E., 2016). Another criticism levied against therapists is the length of time the children
spent in interviews with the therapists and that the children were called in for repeated interviews
which was thought to perpetuate false or exaggerated testimony from the children, (Charlier, T.,
1988 & Downing, S.,1988).
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