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The first, and perhaps only, recantation:Decades later, on 2005-OCT-30, the magazine section of the Los Angeles Times published the first retraction from a McMartin student. Kyle Sapp, now known as Kyle Zirpolo, was eight years of age when he made his accusations 21 years previously. He wanted to tell the truth and apologize to the defendants. He says that he made his accusations because of pressure from his family, the community and the social workers who interviewed him. Commenting on his experiences being extensively interviewed at Children's Institute International, now known as Children's Institute, Inc., Zirpolo said:
Later, he said, in part:
Author's note:As of 2016-MAR, over three decades have passed since the McMartin case was launched. I'd really like to see an impact study done on the hundreds of children, now young adults, who were victimized by the child psychologists and police investigators of Manhattan Beach, CA. A ritual abuse disaster like "McMartin" is unlikely to happen again; we simply know too much about memory processes in the brain and interview techniques for young children. I suspect that the Wenatchee WA case will be the last of this type in the U.S. and the Martensville, SK the last in Canada. Still, it would seem that a study which measured the residual emotional damage done to the children of McMartin would be very helpful and illuminating. My guess, based on pure conjecture, is that about 20% of the students who believed that they were ritually abused will be found to have been seriously affected, 10% significantly emotionally disabled, and 1% will eventually commit suicide because of their false memories. Another interesting study would be to determine the current beliefs of the principals involved in the prosecution and interviewing at McMartin. I suspect that many still believe that Satanists were at work in the early 1980s. Society needs to know this information. If data is not collected, then there will be incomplete information available to combat the next disaster of this type. Three hundred years ago, Salem, MA became convinced that the area was infested with witches of the evil kind; about two dozen innocent people were judicially murdered by handing and one was pressed to death. In the 1980's, seven people were tried for imaginary ritual abuse crimes against young children. The next calamity may be sooner than three centuries from now. We need to be on guard. The best defense is to fully understand the past.
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Related essay at this web site:
Articles about the events at McMartin:
Books about the events at McMartin, and the ritual abuse panic generally:
References used in the above essay:
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