Satanic/sadistic ritual abuse (SRA)

2: More indicators of its non-existence

Ritual Abuse is also called SRA, Satanic Ritual Abuse,
Ritualistic Abuse, Sadistic Ritual Abuse, Cult Related Abuse, etc.

This essay is a continuation from Part 1

Indicator 2. Frauds in the SRA industry:

Much of the public's current beliefs about Satanism and SRA can be traced back to four books: Michelle Remembers, Satan Seller, Satan's Underground and He Came to Set the Captives Free. All contain what the authors claim to be personal experiences with Satanism - as victim or perpetrator. All four have been proven to be frauds by various Evangelical and Wiccan investigators. Various television exposes of SRA (20-20, Geraldo, and other talk shows) featured these authors. There are many dozens of additional books which are mainly written by Evangelical authors which appear to use combinations of these four books for source material. A study by the Wiccan Information Network has shown that there is no agreement by these authors on the Satanic seasonal days of celebration. The dates mentioned in these books appear to be guesses by their authors. If Satanic dates are simply invented, one may wonder whether the rest of the books are based on reality.

The most important book (the one which originally triggered the SRA panic) is Michelle Remembers by Dr. Lawrence Pazder and Michelle Smith (Pocket Books 1980; ISBN 0-671-69433-2). An investigation by the Wiccan Information Network revealed that the horrendous rituals described in the book originated in Pazder's personal study of benign African native religious practices.

Ultimately, all of the beliefs about SRA can be traced back to the above four books, to people's imagination and to the Malleus Maleficarum (the text book of the Witch burning times).

If SRA existed, then one would logically expect that a SRA survivor somewhere who had continuously present memories would write a non-fraudulent book describing their abuse experiences, either as victim or perpetrator.

Indicator 3: Lack of documentation prior to 1980:

The term "SRA survivor" is used to describe adults who have memories of SRA. Most survivors had not been aware of these experiences until recovered memories were developed during their therapy. There are no records of SRA survivors having gone public in the 20th century prior to the publishing of Michelle Remembers.

If SRA has been practiced for many generations (as the promoters of SRA believe) then someone should have come forward before 1980 to reveal their abuse.

Indicator 4: Other frauds in the SRA industry:

Some of the SRA authors and lecturers have been investigated by both Neopagan and Evangelical Christian groups and shown to be frauds. Many lecturers in the industry say that they were once Satanists or "black Witches", rose to a position of great power, engaged in horrendous rituals, converted to Evangelical Christianity, and then became an author and seminar leader.

If SRA exists, then one would expect most of the authors and lecturers to have left Satanism as a "plain ordinary member." Some should have converted to mainline Christianity, to liberal Christianity or to a religion other than Christianity. Yet none fitting these profiles has ever been found.

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Indicator 5: Court cases in the early 1980s:

There were dozens of court cases involving SRA in the five years following the publishing of Michelle Remembers. Typically, charges were brought by a young adult against her/his parents, accusing them of SRA which allegedly occurred during the 1960's and/or 1970's. The testimony revealed rituals identical to (or essentially duplicates of) those described in the book Michelle Remembers. But, as has been shown above, that book is fiction; those rituals only existed in the mind of the authors. One must conclude that the survivors were either lying, or were basing their testimony on false memories. (False memories feel like real memories; however they are of events that never happened. The survivor is usually unaware of these memories until they are recovered during Recovered Memory Therapy, which may use hypnotism, age regression, guided imagery and other suggestive therapies). It is very doubtful that they were lying; no known researcher in the field accuses the survivors of perjury. We conclude that they were based on false memories.

If SRA really existed as a secret, inter-generational underground movement, we would have expected court cases to have been brought forward during at least the entire 20th Century. And the testimony given at the trials would not have been based on a fraudulent book.