The Satanic Panic: How a Fear Movement Led to Boycotts and Ruined Lives

The year was 1999 and I was in the 5th grade, attending a Christian school. Pokemon was rising in popularity and already some of my friends were collecting and trading the cards, while I myself enjoyed the TV series. And then, seemingly overnight, something weird happened. I don't remember the exact conversation that started it, but essentially my parents informed me that I was no longer allowed to watch the show, that I could never own any Pokemon cards, buy any Pokemon toys, or play any of the video games. Pokemon was banned from our household and the reason for that was because the Pokemon themselves were demons.

At the time, my 10-year-old brain couldn't understand the logic behind this and frankly, my now 30-year-old brain still gets a headache trying to decipher it. But Pokemon was by far not the first time something had been disallowed in our home because of the implication that it could be something that supported anything representing Satan. And if you understand anything about Christianity, then you know that anything related to Satan is something to be avoided at all costs. However, it stood out the most because of how big of a deal it suddenly became out of nowhere.

Not long after I was banned from Pokemon, several of my classmates were also being told the same thing (remember, we were in a Christian school so they were all from Christian households). Most of us did not understand how on earth these characters, fictional characters at that, could be construed as demons? On top of that, we were all sent home with newsletters one day, explaining that Pokemon are demonic, that they promoted evolution, possibly witchcraft or playing with dark forces, and even went as far as to dissect the theme song from the show and explain all of its hidden satanic messages. I've since tried to find a copy of this but haven't had any luck.

This was one of many instances that I feel only a Christian kid growing up in the 90s can really relate to because when I mentioned this to some friends of mine later on in life, all of whom had not been raised with the same indoctrination that I had, none of them had even heard of this before. This wasn't as publicly broadcast as, just for comparison, the Christian outrage towards the Harry Potter franchise. The Pokemon boycott seemed to be a fairly self-contained incident within the Christian community when it originally started and even trying to explain it now is still hard because, just like back then, none of the logic behind it made any sense to me.

For anyone wondering, yes, I was upset about it when I was suddenly banned from Pokemon. I didn't collect the cards or play the games but I really loved the show and was sad to not see what new adventures Ash, Misty, and Brock would have. But I'd been assured by many other Christians that Pokemon was just a fad and would go away within a year or two...

Spoiler Alert: It didn't.

Now while my history with Pokemon may not have been as widespread an ordeal as, again, Harry Potter was, it was still the most memorable glimpse I had into a trend that had started decades before I was even born and is still somewhat around to this day.

I'm talking, of course, about the Satanic Panic.

The Satanic Panic was a fear movement that began around the 70s and arguably still continues to this day, though is not as prevalent as it once was. The components that drove this trend were a mixture of the beliefs held by Christians clashing with the changing norms in a secular society, the rise of Anton LaVey's Satanic Church, and a general spread of misinformation perpetuated by a lack of research or understanding of what Satanism actually is. Now I need to point out here that Satanism itself has a few different flavors, just as Christianity has different denominations. But for the sake of simplicity, we will be focusing on Anton LaVey's version as it was the version that most commonly fell under public scrutiny. Something else to remember is that, while I'm certain other religions have their own opinions on the subject matter I'm about to discuss, Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the US and was therefore the most influential when it comes to this topic. In other words, I am not focusing purely on Christianity for the sake of mocking it or picking on Christians. In fact many of them do not share the same feelings and beliefs on what I'm about to describe.

During the Satanic Panic, many forms of pop cultural media were closely inspected in order to pin point their hidden satanic agendas. Most commonly, they were things marketed towards children who were considered to be the most vulnerable to Satan's influence. After all, the Christian Bible teaches that the devil is a liar and a master manipulator who "prowls like a roaring lion, waiting to devour its prey." This led some devout Christians to believe that even things as seemingly harmless as toys or cartoons could be easily used as tools by Satan to corrupt their innocent demographic.

Christian author, Phil Phillips, released books such as "Turmoil in the Toy Box," and "Saturday Morning Mind Control," as a warning against the dangers of Satan's influence through children's media. While some of his claims fell victim to several inaccuracies relating to the very media he was criticizing, they still gained enough momentum to encourage Christian followers to search for the literal devil in the details.

To list off a few examples:

The Smurfs coloring (blue with black lips) could be seen as reminiscent of death and how a corpse typically turns a shade of blue with darkened lips. Their all male community could also be seen as an endorsement toward the homosexual lifestyle, and Phil Phillips, added to this that Smurfette did not count as female, stating that her character began as male only to be transformed into a female later. This, of course, was not accurate as Smurfette, while not originally a Smurf, was always female.

Phil Phillips also claimed that the manufacturers of the Cabbage Patch dolls had a rather disturbing return policy. When a doll was received with a defect of any kind, according to him, the child could send it back to the manufacturer who would then send them a new doll that intentionally looked different from the defective one, along with a death certificate for the doll they sent back. This has been debunked but the rumor argued that this policy could be construed as an endorsement for abortion or eugenics.

While there are plenty of elements of He-Man that could and have been argued as inherently dark or evil (Skeletor's appearance being an easy example), probably the most perplexing source of scrutiny was just in the show's title, "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe." Christianity teaches that God is the true master of the universe, so in a cartoon where He-Man has taken that title, that could only imply he overthrew God.

My Little Pony, along with its magical elements that could be seen as witchcraft or manipulation of dark forces, also included unicorns and flying ponies, both of which could be tied to mythology which contradicts the Bible. Unicorns could also be seen as a symbol of the Antichrist since he is described in the Bible as the "little horn" which rises in the midst of ten horns.

There are several more examples like this within Phil Phillips' writing and while he and his books are now widely discredited as the paranoid ramblings of a nutjob, there were still some claims that were held by others like him. Probably the most notorious example of this was the speculation against the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons.

Dungeons & Dragons was designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and first released in 1974. The game itself is a tabletop role-playing game in which the players create characters that they then navigate and control within a fictional universe and often have their development, fates, and adventures determined by the roll of a dice (or sometimes several dice). Dungeons & Dragons includes elements such as demons, sorcery, mages, spells, and, just as the name suggests, dragons. The game is still popular and continues to have newer, updated versions released to this day.

Because of the magic and demonic summoning within the game, many Christians believed this encouraged players to literally practice magic and dark arts and fear began to spread as to who was beginning to fall victim to it. This led to the creation of various pieces of Christian propaganda, designed with the purpose to warn against the dangers of Dungeons & Dragons. A prime example of this were "Chick Tracts" which included comics that told frightening tales of how Dungeons & Dragons influenced players into committing heinous acts, from cursing family members to committing suicide.

As illustrated above, fear was the main driving force for these beliefs, and cartoons, toys, and games were not the only alleged culprits. Music was a major element to the Satanic Panic as well.

While the belief of rock music being of the devil is no longer as common among Christians as it once was, especially since Christian rock is its own genre, in the 70s and 80s it fell under heavy scrutiny. Bands such as Alice Cooper, Metallica, Iron Maiden, and even Fleetwod Mac were accused of promoting devil worship, witchcraft, and making light of the forces of darkness. The band KISS was accused of having a name that stood for, "Knights In Satan's Service." Stevie Nicks was accused of being a witch. AC/DC was alleged to stand for "Antichrist Devil's Child." Most of the claims followed the same theme of looking for the often obvious "hidden" messages, even if many of the claims were ultimately debunked. However, subliminal messages were also a component in the war against rock music.

Backmasking is the technique of recording a message that can only be heard when the track is played backwards. Playing albums backwards in order to uncover these supposed messages became a common tool to warn children about the evils of rock and roll. For example, the Beatles song "Revolution 9," when played backwards seemed to say, "Turn me on, dead man." Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" had, "Oh here's to my sweet Satan. The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan. He will give those with him 666..." Even Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," was said to have, "It's fun to smoke marijuana." While the above artists all denied the claims of any deliberate subliminal messages, this ironically led to artists mocking the trend by actually hiding messages in their songs. Probably the most hilarious example was Weird Al's song "I Remember Larry," which, when played backwards says, "Wow, you must have an awful lot of free time on your hands."

The war on rock music had an ugly side to it as well with very serious consequences. 

In 1990, Judas Priest faced a lawsuit, alleging that their music had led to the deaths of two men. Raymond Belknap and James Vance had been drinking beer and smoking pot while listening to Judas Priest when the two wound up shooting themselves with a 12 gauge shotgun in a suicide pact. Belknap died instantly from his injuries but Vance survived long enough to claim the song, "Better by You, Better than Me," had "programmed" the both of them into committing the act. Vance eventually slipped into a coma three years later and died. The parents of both men filed a civil action against the band, claiming that they had uncovered the subliminal message "Do it," which had supposedly motivated the suicide attempt. The case, however, was dismissed though not before the band had to testify in court.

In 1999, two Columbine High School students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, committed one of the most notorious school shootings in American history, killing 13 people and then themselves. The shooting horrified Americans and it was only natural to search for the reason behind the students' actions. Unfortunately, this led to false accusations that the boys had been listening to the shock-rock artist, Marilyn Manson, who is known for his dark music, satanic themes, as well as his ties to Anton LaVey and the church of Satan. 

Though the claims as to his influence were ultimately debunked, the accusations stuck and led to the artist receiving numerous death threats and the need for heightened personal security until the outrage died down. Manson went on to release the album "Holywood" with songs such as "Disposable Teens" and "The Nobodies" written as inspiration by the tragedy. In a later interview, when asked about the shooting and what he would say to the survivors and their families, Manson responded with, "I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did." Unfortunately, while other bands were blamed alongside him, his name continues to remain well associated with the tragedy.

EDIT: While Manson was not responsible for Columbine, it would be negligent of me not to mention that in February of 2021, Manson was named by actress Evan Rachel Wood as her abuser. He has since been accused of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and a number of other horrifying crimes by multiple women. The cases, however, are still under investigation so I need to stress that so far these are only allegations. We'll have to wait and see how the investigations/trials turn out but I feel the need to note this.

Musicians, however, were not the only ones who became targets.

In 1994, three West Memphis teenagers (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin) were accused and convicted of the satanic ritual killings of three young boys. The case was infamous for the complete lack of evidence behind the convictions and the town's belief that satanic practices were behind it. The three boys were known for their a shared distaste for the Bible Belt-like climate of their home town, their interest in the occult, and were known to listen to religiously criticized bands like Metallica. Despite the lack of any evidence, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were sentenced to life in prison while Damien Echols was given the death sentence. In 2007, new forensic evidence was presented, further proving the complete lack of evidence against the three, who were now adults, and in 2010, after serving over 18 years in prison, the three were released after taking an Alford Plea. The plea allowed them to assert their innocence while also acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. Though they are now free, their convictions serve as examples of coerced confessions and moral panic.

In the 80s, a technique known as "recovered-memory therapy" began to spread in popularity. The therapy was believed to help unlock repressed memories that led to many accusations of satanic ritual abuse. The biography, "Michelle Remembers," was widely used to spread awareness, though her testimony was later debunked. Other authors, such as Mike Warnke of "The Satan Seller," also wrote biographies, detailing their experiences and active involvement with satanic cults in attempts to expose Satanism. However many of these were also debunked (Warnke being one of them).

But what probably led to the most notorious case, were the claims of satanic ritual and sexual abuse in the McMartin Preschool trial. In 1983, a woman by the name of Judy Johnson reported that her toddler had been molested by the owner of the McMartin Preschool, Ray Buckey. Though the boy was unable to identify his alleged abuser through photographs and further medical examinations showed no signs of sexual abuse, Buckey was still arrested and put in jail. Parents of children who attended the preschool were then asked to question their kids to find out if any of them had also been abused, causing knowledge of the case to quickly spread. 

During the investigation, Judy Johnson's allegations continued to grow, accusing Ray Buckey's mother, Peggy Buckey, had taken the toddler to a church where he was forced to watch a baby being beheaded and then made to drink its blood. She also said that Ray Buckey sodomized her son and that other teachers in the school had taken part in animal sacrifices. Eventually this led into a full-scale investigation where parents brought in their children for questioning that typically lasted for over two hours. During the interrogations, the children underwent coercive questioning in which, though they initially denied having been abused in any way, were then given a series of leading questions and offered rewards for their answers. This led to 384 former students claiming they'd been sexually abused and in 1984, Ray, Peggy, Ray's sister Peggy Ann, the founder Virginia McMartin, and three more teachers were indicted on 115 counts of child sexual abuse, though later an additional 93 were added on. 

Though the parents of the alleged victims claimed their children had been abused, photographed explicitly, forced to partake in satanic rituals including animal sacrifice and drinking blood, and taken to secret rooms and tunnels within the school to be sexually abused, thorough investigation found absolutely no evidence of any of this. No photographs or satanic materials were ever uncovered, and even a digging effort to uncover the alleged hidden rooms and tunnels turned up nothing. However, incriminating evidence against the prosecution was surfaced, including the shady interrogation methods used on the children, and the deliberate withholding of evidence that would have shown Judy Johnson's mental instability due to paranoid schizophrenia, as well as her son's inability to identify Ray Buckey as his abuser even when presented with photographs. Seven years and $15 million dollars later, there were no convictions though the emotional damage to the children who had to endure the process as well as the emotional and financial damage to the McMartin staff who were falsely accused, had already been done.

Looking through all these instances where Satanism and its followers have been accused of being at the heart of some disturbing acts, this leads to the question everyone should have been asking in the first place: What does Satanism actually teach?

According to the "Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth," penned by Anton LaVey prior to his writing of the Satanic Bible, there are three rules in particular relevant to everything I've described above.

Rule #5: "Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal."

Rule #9: "Do not harm little children."

Rule #10: "Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food."

Along with this, it should also be addressed that Satanism and the Church of Satan, which were widely attributed to everything I've described above... don't actually believe in Satan. As in, they don't believe Satan actually exists. At least not as a supernatural entity like what's written in the Christian Bible. Instead, Satan merely stands as more of a symbolic figure. As detailed in the Nine Satanic Statements, Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence (though it does go on to explain how indulgence and compulsion are not the same thing), kindness to those who deserve it, responsibility to the responsible, wisdom instead of "self-deceit," and acknowledging that mankind are animals but with the capacity to be responsible for themselves.

While the Satanic Bible does detail certain rituals that can be performed for various reasons, it is prefaced by a warning to never practice any curses on someone who does not deserve it or do anything you may regret later or else, "...in each case you will see a reversal of your desires which will harm, rather than help, you!"

Obviously, there is even more to Satanism and this is an extremely simplified overview, but this at least covers its actual responses to the very things it's been accused of.

"Entertaining as they might be, most stories and plays about Devil worship must be recognized as the obsolete absurdities they are." -The Satanic Bible

While the height of the Satanic Panic seems to have passed and what remains seems to be once again contained within religious communities, the era still serves as a reminder of what following fear, rather than research and information, can lead to for a society. So to wrap up this entry, I'll simply close with a quote from my favorite episode of the Twilight Zone:

"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy. And a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own, for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone."

Sources:

• Seth Andrews: The Satanic Panic- The Witch Hunt of the Late Twentieth Century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW6UoIjy5F4
• "Turmoil in the Toybox," by Phil Phillips (book)
• Cabbage Patch Death Certificates: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cabbage-patch-death-certificates/
• Top 10 Famous Cases of Backmasking: https://listverse.com/2011/08/28/top-10-famous-cases-of-backmasking/
• West Memphis Three: http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=3039
• Marilyn Manson's Bowling for Columbine Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeQ4HWhPEdA
• The McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial: An Account: https://www.famous-trials.com/mcmartin/902-home
• The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth: https://www.churchofsatan.com/eleven-rules-of-earth/
• "The Satanic Bible," by Anton LaVey (book)