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.

This is one of the few books published that deals honestly with the whole satanic ritual abuse/cult crime hysteria, and does so in some detail. There are books written by biased people claiming a satanic cult conspiracy but this book lays out the details and seems to leave nothing out. I reccomend this book for those who believe the satanic cult crime/ child sacrifice claims of certain self-proclaimed experts ( biased and geared to promote a certian religious view and not the simple truth) because ignorance of the facts harms themselves. Another good author is Debbie Nathan. The hysteria from SRA did a lot of damage to many people. While I would have mentioned details of the hysteria culprits, the author did a good job. My copy is dog eared.

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.

I have read this book several times since it came out. The process of creating dramatic "fact" from things much less dramatic - or entirely fictional - is well documented. The book may be 20+ years old but the dynamics haven't changed and can applied to many events that have trended over the years. The internet, which was not so promeninent 20 years ago, and the manner in which information - any and all information - can be spread has only added to the problem.

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.

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.