Customer Reviews

Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author does a wonderful job of dissecting the nature of the "panic" that had many Americans believing in the existence of a Satanic "underground" movement in the eighties and early nineties. Extremely readable and not couched in overly academic language, the book is useful for anyone who needs solid, reasonable information on the subject--the lay public, academics, the clergy, or police officers will all benefit from reading this work and keeping an open mind.

Victor follows the panic from a number of angles; religious, sociologic, folkloric, and so on. For each he presents a balanced case that seeks not to ridicule anyone who "bought into" the stories of widespread Satanism, but simply to understand why they did so. He also shows how some people (psychologists, police, and so on) actually thrived on the notoriety they achieved in their capacity as "witch hunter" and sought to keep the panic alive in order to further their own agendas.

Excellent reading, and a book that shows the danger of blindly believing rumors and unverified conspiracy tales.

I just finished reading this fascinating book and highly recommend it. Everyone should be aware of these FACTS which debunk the whole Christian "Satanic Ritual Abuse" scare campaign. Very thorough and well-researched, this book is a much-needed rational antidote to the current poisonous false accusations against innocent people. Its hard to believe that huge numbers of people will believe such far-out allegations as those of the so-called "experts" (many of which have already been shown to be total frauds) without any evidence except the fantasies of mentally-ill people & small children manipulated into telling tall tales. I became interested in this book from reading about the "West Memphis 3" case, in which 3 youths were convicted of murder (one is on Death Row) without any hard evidence, just the "Satanic Panic" accusations. You think such insane things as the Salem Witch Trials are a thing of the past? Think again! A great non-fiction read---FIVE STARS!

Jeffrey Victor has given form to the nervous dismissal most of us might feel when faced with claims of a massive Satanist conspiracy. He's done fantastic amounts of research and weaves between courtrooms and sociologist themes with a well-tempered ear for detail. In times where we learn to assume that the worst is possible, I'm thrilled to see someone debunk an extreme end of the "regress and confess" school of accusational therapy -- because nobody will take actual abuse as seriously while this Satanic nonsense distracts. Plus, it's a fun read for anyone who digs crime lit or Oliver Sacks books... fine work.

The 1980s and 1990s were a frightening time in America. A seeming wave of child kidnappings had swept the land. Bizarre mutilations, in which all the blood had been drained from farm animals, made many newspapers. Drug use, pornography, marital breakdown and gender wars made it seem that the world was going to hell in a handbasket. Was it crazy to blame for this seemingly unconnected cauldron of woes on the Devil?

Jeffrey Victor trains a sociologist's spotlight on Satanic rumors and reports of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. He meticulously (though not engagingly) lays out the reasons for American's susceptibility to such panics: economic and social stress and fear of the novelty that came with various youth movements like heavy metal music and punk styles of hair and clothing styles. He discusses the carriers of such panics, noting especially the importance of authority figures -- fundamentalist preachers, police and teachers -- in lending credence to otherwise bizarre conclusions.

Victor makes it very clear that there is next to no evidence for the supposed cannibalism, child kidnapping, sexual deviancy and ritual abuse that are the supposed hallmarks of Satanism. Cattle mutilations had prosaic explanations known to ranchers for decades. The rash of kidnappings and abductions were a myth -- most were (and are) the result of run-away children or parental kidnappings during divorces. Victor also discusses research that shows the complete benignity of fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons and the relative harmlessness of heavy metal music. In spite of repeated alarmist rumors to the contrary, D&D and heavy metal do not cause teen suicide.

But since many people did not know the facts, "experts" rushed in to fill the knowledge vacuum. For reasons the author did not explore, a number of men and women made careers and reputations from explaining these events as the result of a new, immense and previously-unknown group of devil worshippers. It would have been interesting had Victor detailed whether these self-styled experts acted out of greed, a desire to bolster their own religious faith or an appalling lack of analytical skills. In any event, Victor quotes enough wild statistics from these people (there are 1-2 million Satanists in America!) to make me wonder about their sanity and that of their listeners.

Victor examines the link between reports of Satanism and SRA with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). One "expert" lecturer claimed that 40% of MPD patients had experienced SRA, implying that the abuse caused the disorder. Left unstated by the author was the perfectly logical (and more likely) scenario that the experts had the causality backwards: mentally ill people report SRA tyhat never occured. Victor also discusses the ritual behavior of some teens, who dabble in occult-oriented behavior as a rite of passage, or in the time-honored game of "Annoy the Parents."

"Satanic Panic" is timely. It is informative and accurate. Unfortunately, it is also a colossal bore. It is repetitive, it does not follow up on threads it takes up, and it as dry as a textbook. After 70 boring pages, I skimmed the rest of the book looking for nuggets of interest, most of which I have discussed here. A good editor or a ghost writer with a decent grasp of narrative would have made this book a better read.

Or did the devil make me say that?

Satanic Panic should be required reading for all educators and police officers. The book debunks the myth of a world-wide multi-level satanic cult, explains spates of satanic fears, and does so with humorous insight into the human condition. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because each chapter seems to reiterate too much of the preceeding text; this is probably so any chapter could be used as hand out in a sociology class. The author writes in an uncluttered style, bereft of clinical language that would confuse the pedestrian reader. Satanic Panic, a must for anyone who enjoys reading about deviant group behavior.

I was at SUNY JCC in 1996 and regret not taking Victor's sociology class. I refused to take this because I thought "Satanic Panic" was an attack on Christians. "Satanic Panic" should be required reading for Christians, and should serve as a wake up call. Christians need to refuse feeding the crazy rumors that often infect our circles. (M.M O'Hare and the FCC) I grew up believing in SRA and it was not until I read things from Christian Research Institute and Bob & Gretchen Pasatino and continued to see Dr. Victor being cited. Please accept my apology for refusing to think and refusing to take your class.

Part skeptical review of the Satanic cult scare, part analysis of the history of witch hunts throughout history, Victor's book is a breath of fresh air.

For years we have been told that there are Satanists among us. We have been told that our children are at risk of recruitment. We have been told that babies are being sacrificed, demons are taking over human bodies, and that children are being sexually assaulted. Victor takes a careful look at these claims, and finds that there is not much evidence supporting them.

Victor then turns his attention to why these claims exist. He traces the Satanism myth back to the publication of Michelle Remembers, the first in a long series of books about recovered memories of ritual abuse. He then goes back another step, and shows that claims of Satanism have been around for years, and that the recent activity is just another cycle in a long and tired story.

The real danger comes not from the Satanists, who are pretty harmless if they exist at all, but from the Satan hunters, who often forget rational thought in their pursuit of Satan, the ultimate embodiment of evil. Those who get hurt are the Cathars, the Salem defendants, and the McMartin preschool defendants. Victor suggests that the best solution to the problem is rational thought, not knee-jerk reaction

I lived in Jamestown at the time. Took classes (Human Sexuality) from Jeffrey Victor at Jamestown Community College. Good guy, good teacher, but he doesn't have all the facts in this book on the Jamestown events. Not many do, actually. Though it is a good general study on the manifestations of crowd hysteria. We do need to thank Jeffery for making a decent start at bringing calm to a county (and country) that still shivers over this stuff. It's an impossible task, but ya gotta start somewhere.

As for the facts, for one, the cat impaled on the stake was a prank by some stupid rich kids who were not satanists. And they didn't kill it. It was found road kill.

The "Jamestown Satanists" were not the Manson Family. The "Jamestown Satanists" were bored wannabe punk rockers on welfare passing the time in a very very boring town....People who didn't have the life skills to move elsewhere. They still live there. And several of them took classes from Jeffrey Victor, before dropping out of JCC.

I hung out with those people. I left the state because even those people bored me, and they were slightly more entertaining than most other people in Chautauqua County. If Dungeons and Dragons had been invented then, they would have played that instead of playing Satanists. There was no true satanic scene in Jamestown.

Most "satanists" are just Catholics with poor potty training who want to shock their parents.

"Chautauqua" is said to be Native American for either "bag tied in the middle" (the shape of the lake) or "place where one was lost" or "place of death". These all fit. The whole county probably IS a cursed Indian burial ground. But breeding ground for Satanists? Nope.

Victor has written a compelling read for something based on entirely second- and third-hand research. But if you weren't at that keg party on the broken-down flatbed truck in Panama, New York, you don't have all the facts. If you never hung out at a rehearsal of the punk/death metal bands Flat Head Dog, The Accused, Mutanis, or the Ice Cream Demigods [sic], you don't REALLY have the whole story.

And the real danger wasn't the "satanists" in their silly purple capes, but the rednecks showing up everywhere with shotguns saying "Where the satanists at?" The only murder in the 80s in Chautauqua County even remotely connected with Satanism was the redneck who murdered a self-professed Satanist punk rocker because the redneck was in a panic about the Satan talk. And if it's really true what they say that the killer did write "666" on the wall with blood, it wasn't because he was a Satanist, but probably because he wanted people to know his victims were Satanists. He was terrified of that sort of talk. And so sure of what he did that he turned himself in that night, but only after stopping off for a hot chocolate. (It's been 24 years, is that guy out of prison yet? I'd recommend you interview him for an appendix in the second printing. It would prove your whole thesis.)

-- Two recovering metalheads who were there.

p.s. The "punk rockers" were rednecks too, albeit rednecks with funny haircuts and clothes.

We aren't in the middle ages. Englightened people shouldn't believe "survivors" who have "incredible" (literally) excuses for why there is no physical evidence for this allegedly commonplace phenomenon. Using comparisons to "real" secret societies, Victor makes it clear that it would not be possible to hide "all" evidence of a "ritual abuse organization". His conclusive and insightful research is presented with riveting examples in a very logical manner.

Jeffery Victor methodically dissects the overblown hysteria-ridden Satanic panic with clear writing, documented facts, and the right touch of humor. A must-read for anyone who's ever played D&D and been accused of being a Satanist, or for people who believe in SRA.