Years ago, back in the late 80s, the English-speaking world was in the grip of the so-called “Satanic Panic”. Driven by American or American-influenced fundamentalist Christians, we were told that things like heavy metal and Dungeons and Dragons were tools of Satan, and there were baby-sacrificing Satanic cults whose members included powerful figures in the upper reaches of society. It all seemed ridiculously far-fetched and offered a window in what appeared to be a paranoid and warped world-view.
In Britain we saw a moral panic about Satanic ritual abuse of children which parts of the social work profession fell for. This eventually culminated in the Orkney scandal in 1991, where despite the complete lack of evidence large numbers of children were forcibly removed from parents later proved to be completey innocent. Jonathan Calder blogged about in “The devil on South Ronaldsay“. It makes disturbing reading.
Decades later we have the revelations about the activities of Jimmy Saville, Cyril Smith and others, and the realisation that there really was a paedophile ring in the corridors of power in politics and the media, and powerful figures had been covering it up.
All of which make you wonder. How much were those two things were connected?
Were the stories of Satanic ritual abuse inaccurate rumours of what was really going on, like the party game of Chinese whispers? Or was it something more sinister, a manufactured lie from those who were covering up real abuse, to divert attention?
I suspect we will never know the truth.
