Satan’s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch-Hunt

Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedecker

Answers the question “How could little children invent such horrible stories?” by breaking down the inherent flaws in medical, criminological and interviewing theories used to construct proof of ritual-abuse accusations. Reexamining some individual cases points to a pattern of abuse, not from the accused but from child-protection agencies. The abuse of children is there, but it is in the bullying interview tactics and humiliating medical examinations used to validate the fears of parents that Satanic ritual abuse exists. Homophobic doctors, hysterical career-minded social workers and “cult cops” provide a framework for a “mass sociogenic illness” in the 1980s. Why believe the children? Because the adults have gone nuts? Includes a doctor sweetly referring to incest as a family romance, a social worker who coos “we can have a good time with the dolls,” and a sheriff’s warning of Satanically poisoned watermelons. JEN

Publisher: Basic
Paperback: 317 pages