Chuck Norris was accused by one of the children of taking part in satanic molestation at the McMartin Preschool. Flickr
4. Crazy Claims That Fell on Receptive Ears
The McMartin preschool children also said that they had witnessed witchcraft, saw witches fly, that they had been abused in a hot air balloon and in (nonexistent) tunnels beneath the preschool. One child claimed to have been molested by actor Chuck Norris. Other children added that, after they were abused in secret rooms, they were flushed down toilets, then cleaned up and presented to their parents. The accusations were incredible, but they found receptive ears. They came at a time when America was in the grip of widespread fears of ritual abuse of children, connected in some way to satanic worship, witchcraft, and dark magic rites.
Ira Reiner, the Los Angeles District Attorney who led – and lost – an absurd prosecution against the innocent McMartin Preschool staff. Los Angeles Police Reserve Foundation
3. Witchcraft Hysteria Meets an Unscrupulous District Attorney
With elections drawing near, ambitious Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner unscrupulously sought to capitalize on the Satanism and witchcraft hysteria. So he slapped Ray Buckey and his mother Peggy McMartin with 208 counts of child molestation. They were arrested in 1984, and the investigation lasted for three years, until 1987. Mother and son were then put through a three-year trial that lasted from 1987 to 1990. It was the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history. At its conclusion, a jury acquitted Peggy McMartin of all charges, while Ray Buckey was acquitted of 52 of 65 charges, with the jury deadlocked on the remaining counts 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal. Those charges were then dropped, and the mass hysteria and subsequent trial concluded without a single conviction.
2. When British Intelligence Created a Satanism and Witchcraft Scare
On what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday“, January 30th, 1972, British paratroopers shot 26 Catholic protesters in Northern Ireland. Fourteen died. An already tense situation known as The Troubles got orders of magnitude worse. Urban guerrilla warfare erupted, as Catholic and Irish nationalist hostility towards Britain skyrocketed. Many who until then had been content with protests and civil disobedience now flocked to join paramilitaries and fight the state. Before anybody knew it, the British military and police had their hands full trying to keep a lid on things. British military intelligence turned to psychological warfare in an attempt to lessen public support for the paramilitaries. As the violence mounted, Captain Collin Wallace, a British Army psychological warfare specialist, executed a plan to link the armed groups with Satanism, witchcraft, and black magic.
Coverage of satanism, witchcraft, and black magic rituals in the Irish press. Pinterest
1. Northern Ireland’s Demonic Panic
British military intelligence wanted to create the idea that Irish paramilitaries and their violence had unleashed evil forces. Against the backdrop of newfound fears triggered by recent movies like The Devil Rides Out and The Exorcist, Wallace and his men scattered upside-down crucifixes and black candles across war-torn Belfast. Simultaneously, the authorities leaked stories about demonic rituals, witchcraft, black masses, and tied them to run-of-the-mill crimes. In the last four months of 1973 alone, over seventy articles about devil worship and the like were published. As a result, a panic about Satanism, black magic, and witchcraft swept through Northern Ireland. As Collin Wallace explained years later: “Ireland was very superstitious and all we had to do was bring it up to date“. As an added bonus from the authorities’ perspective, the manufactured hysteria helped keep kids home at night, and away from buildings used for undercover surveillance.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
