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The 1970s Witchcraft Trial and Other Oddities in Witch History

Khalid Elhassan March 15, 2022 25 min

5. Bizarre Allegations of Witchcraft Were Taken Seriously

Ray Bucky and his mother Peggy McMartin at their trial. How Stuff Works

Soon, the accusations of molestation at the McMartin preschool turned into a flood. Wild, weird, and increasingly incredible claims were made of satanic abuse and witchcraft that stretched credulity amidst a mass hysteria of false accusations. Social workers were brought in to gather more information.

Between a combination of incompetence and leading questions, the children’s accusations grew steadily wilder and more bizarre. In addition to being molested by Ray Buckey and his mother Peggy McMartin, the children alleged that they had been made to participate in satanic rites. In those dark rituals, they were forced to drink the blood of a baby whom they had witnessed being sacrificed in church.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.