Ritual abuse

"Michael Parker" Satanic ritual
abuse case in North Carolina

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It seems from the data that is currently available to us that this is a clear indication of a man rotting in jail for a crime that he did not commit -- in fact for a crime that never happened.

Michael Parker has been imprisoned in North Carolina since about 1991. As in many other cases of child sexual abuse, allegations arose during a divorce case and custody battle. He is alleged to have been the high priest of an underground Satanic cult operating in his neighborhood. Over thirty people were originally accused of ritual abuse of children, including Parker's own mother. According to Robert Chatelle, an advocate for the wrongfully accused: "Only Michael was ever brought to trial. The prosecution evidently came to realize that the case was so ludicrous that they couldn't hope to keep Michael in prison if they proceeded with the other charges." His mother pleaded "no contest."

None of the children had made any allegations of abuse. However, his former wife had been impressed by a book about Satanism, and had taken the children to therapists. During counseling, they disclosed having been abused by Satanists wearing Ku Klux Klan robes. One of the children testified that her father raped her with a big spoon. She said that it filled with blood, and that he poured it into a cup and drank it. One of his daughters, who had been in a mental hospital, said that Parker had molested her. She said that a poster on her bedroom wall, which advertised the "I Love Lucy" show, talked to her and told her that she deserved all her suffering.

Parker was tried in 1993 for ritually abusing his three young children. He was unable to afford a lawyer. The jury only took 55 minutes to find him guilty. He was imprisoned and will not be be eligible for parole until the year 2154 -- a date which is many decades beyond his life expectancy.

One of Michael's children allegedly sent a letter to a newspaper which said that no abuse ever happened and that the children were pressured into making the accusations.

References:

1. Martin Gardner, "Notes of a Fringe-Watcher: Tragedies of False Memories," Skeptical Inquirer, 1994-Fall, at: http://www.skepticfiles.org/false/mgfmsasc.htm

Copyright © 2002 & 2003 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2003-MAY-20
Author: B.A. Robinson