Do you remember the 1980s Satanism scare?

rebel8

http://cultprevention.blogspot.com/2013/08/comedian-makes-up-story-about-satanism.html

What was it like in your area?

Sapphy

Yeah, I remember. Everyone was convinced the demons were uping their activity. Do you remember the AWAKE! with the hooded figure on it in a purple robe? LOL

rebel8

Can't say I remember that--often I do remember once I see them though.

I remember the horrific abuse stories they were telling during talks...about that falsely accused daycare provider. Turns out the accuser was schizophrenic and the defendants were acquitted, but lots of believers never changed their minds.

Dubs really got into the recovered memories thing. We had a pioneer in our area who would recover memories during her alternative medicine sessions.

Watkins

From the article: "The scare was given another boost with the popularity of the 1980 book Michelle Remembers by Michelle Smith, an alleged memoir of Satanic ritual abuse which was also exposed as a fraud."

That was the scariest damn book I've ever read! To this day there are mental imaginings from which I can't quite escape... was relieved then to know it was a fraud. When it was outed in the news it was the first time, I think, that we heard about 'false memories' of patients under hypnosis.

I've only heard of one person in my 57 years that claimed to be a satanist - a guy from highschool. Hung out with him with other friends in his pre-satanist youth, then lost track. Several years passed before i heard the news that he ended up killing his wife, her parents and one brother, and himself. I would say he was mentally imbalanced. I tend to blame the visible bad guy rather than blame the invisible bad guy. :)

I don't remember if other churches I'd attended before becoming a jw talked so much about Satan, but the wt is obsessed with him... and superstitions... and magic. I've heard first-hand accounts of some weird demon goings-on from several jws... and it occured to me that they get something out of it, a 'pay-off'. To them it's a sure sign that "Satan's after you only because you're on Jehovah's side"! However, I have no stories to tell - the old liar has never paid me any mind, and I don't know what that means, if anything, but it's okay...

Satan and 'hell' are simply the best tools of religion; fear stirs up repentant donations, too.

"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."

w

Violia

yes and it was scary. I saw something about this today and ordered that guys book. I got it for 4.00 total/includes shipping. I read this story from cracked.com .

among the medical /psychiatric community there was a huge upsurge in dx of Multiple Personality and Satanic Ritual Abuse , often they went together.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19522_5-insane-scams-that-should-have-failed-but-didnt.html

him on 20/20 lying

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vG_w-uElGbM#t=4m5s

blondie

1980-1981 Start of the "Great Apostasy" at Bethel involving Ray Franz and several other high level and medium level Bethelites.

The power of Satan had almost overcome Jehovah's headquarters.

But then there were also some needy jws always talking about the Devil had singled them out of 3 million jws in the whole world.

The WTS had a flurry of articles in 1989 and 1990 when it was a topic of sensationalism in the US. last brief mention in 2009.

rebel8

I was working in mental health during the SRA days. I believed it was bunk then and the "recovered memories therapy" and MPD made people so much sicker.

There were people genuinely suffering from PTSD and the mental health system, instead of helping them manage their symptoms and work through their pain, told them they were actually victimized a lot more extensively and horrifically then they remembered consciously. Some of them came to believe they had channeled demons!

MPD and recovered memories became a cottage industry. Every time they started getting better, another "personality" would emerge with yet more dramatic memories the therapist found it interesting to explore in a regressive fashion.

I remember a media interview with a woman victimized by FMS. She concluded by saying she had been abused and ended up leaving therapy with exactly the same memories she had originally, but had been terribly traumatized by the therapist and treatment.

Psychiatry really did some harm in those days.

Anyway, back to dubs--they've always been such suckers for urban myths. Interesting link here.

WTWizard

They might call it "Satanism", but it is not. They are actually worshiping evil when they mutilate people and torture animals. Many of these cults are actually started by people working for Christi-SCAM-ity who wish to give Satanism a bad name to scare ordinary people deeper into Christi-SCAM-ity. True Satanism does not condone ritual abuse or torture of animals, or sacrificing people by maiming, torturing, or slaughtering them in the name of Satan. Such acts only blaspheme Satan. Real Satanism is about freeing the soul, not mutilating oneself, taking drugs (which actually damages the very soul one is trying to free), or stupid cruelty to animals for ritual purposes.

Of course, the jokehovian witlesses don't see it that way. Anything they can do to scare the flock back into the jokehovians and lock them in, by making them afraid Satan will mutilate them.

fakesmile

oh, yeah. thanx for the wiki link. i remember an OFFSPRING album that had to burn cuz it had crosses on the cover. i believe it was "ixnay on the hombre" album. while my parents wernt paying the usuall attention, i was listening to GREEN DAY "dookie" and NIRVANA 'in utero'. my life givers were too uneducated or undirected by the holy spit to question "in utero". LOL. wow. the holy spit ony directed them to the album with a few crosses. what a joke. "in utero " was way more graphic than anything the OFFSPRING could write.

LogCon

The wife threw out furniture bought at second hand stores, convinced they were demonized from previous owners. One day she phoned another sister who was into kinesiology. Sister K told my wife to bring a pillow to the phone to see if she could feel any vibes through the wires. Thankfully that pillow was okay. Throwing out things can get expensive.

Do you remember the 1980s Satanism scare?

Share this