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 | 2008-JUN-18: MT: Allegations of SRA surface from the 1980s: In
2005, Leon Lloyd Whitcher, 46, was charged with raping of two girls
between 1987 and 1989. He admitted raping one of the plaintiffs who was
7-years-old at the time. One of his demands during the abuse was that she
dance naked on a star -- presumably a pentagram. Prosecutors agreed to
dismiss the second charge as part of a plea bargain in which he was given a
30 year suspended prison sentence for felony sexual intercourse. In an earlier case, he had been convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl who stated that he gave her alcohol and a black robe, and had raped her on a pentagram that was painted on the floor of a house outside Shepherd, MT. Details of the abuse were not reported in the media. The case was complicated by statements from two girls two decades ago in which they denied being victims of sexual abuse. One of the girls testified in court that the "Satanic" paraphernalia associated with Whitcher was really only Halloween decorations. Yellowstone County lead prosecutor Ann-Marie McKittrick said: "This woman's memory is very sketchy. She was a little girl, and she just has flashes of things happening. And some of the evidence is long gone." These cases appear similar to three UK cases that ocurred between 1988 and 1991. They were examined by Professor Jean La Fontaine in a national study of ritual abuse in England. The study found that the child molesters pretended to be Satanists in order to better control their child victims. In addition, the perpetrators believed that a victim reporting Satanic ritual abuse might not be believed. The perpetrators were found to not be Satanists. |
| 2008-JUL-30: Paranormal powers to be evaluated: Colin A
Ross, MD, an author, psychiatrist, and leading advocate of multiple
personality disorder claims that he has a superpower. He believes that he
can send a beam of energy from his eyes that will generate a tone in an
audio system. 3 He has applied to win a the
James Randi Educational Foundation prize of $1 million for anyone
who can prove a paranormal power. The first step is for Dr. Ross and the
Foundation personnel to jointly develop a test protocol to prove or disprove
his ability. The Wall Street Journal states:
There have been many attempts in the past, ranging from therapeutic touch
practitioner who believe that they can feel energy radiating from bodies, to
a European who claimed that he could see objects even though blindfolded.
All have failed. |
| 2008-SEP-10: UK: Studies of false memories: Three
months after the Tavistock Square terrorist bombing in London, Dr. James Ost,
a psychologist at the University of Portsmouth, gave questionnaires to 300
students -- half British and half Swedish -- to determine their memories of
the event. He asked the students what they remembered about the TV coverage
of the event, about TV images of the bus exploding, and about a computer
reconstruction of the event. In reality, there was no video coverage of the
explosion itself and no reconstruction. Yet 40% of the British subjects
recalled the former and 28% recalled the latter. The equivalent data for the
Swedish subjects were 16% and 6%. Dr. Ost said: "Taken as a whole, this is further evidence that our memories are not perfect. They are not like a videotape you can rewind and replay for perfect recall. Because of this, memory alone is not reliable enough to form the basis of legal decisions." |
References:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Greg Tuttle, "Prosecutors say difficult rape case led to deal," Billings Gazette, 2008-MAR-20, at: http://www.billingsgazette.net/
- Greg Tuttle, "Deal made in '80s rape case," Billings Gazette, 2008-JUN-19, at: http://www.billingsgazette.net/
- The home page of the James Randi Educational Foundation is at http://www.randi.org .
- "Dallas Psychiatrist's Paranormal Abilities to Be Tested by Noted Debunker James Randi Dr. Colin Ross Can Send a Beam of Energy From His Eyes; Aims for $1 Million Prize," Wall Street Journal, 2008-JUL-30, at: http://www.marketwatch.com/
- James Randerson, "Study shows how false memories rerun 7/7 film that never existed," The Guardian, 2008-SEP-10.
Copyright © 2008 & 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance.
Latest update: 2009-JAN-27
Author: B.A. Robinson
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