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2
MAGONIA 42 (MUFOB9 0)
FEBRUARY 1992
EDDIE Bullarpdi'esc e Butn ewm otidfos
on1 variabiisl ity' occuWrh.e nB ullard
EDITOR beinagn swered compilheidss t udiyn
elsewhienrt eh is 1987 hed ind oth ave
JOHN RIMMER
issbuyeH ilaErvya ns, am otiffo rh ybrid
andIh opteo p roduce babiyeeswt,i thai n
am uchm ored etailed coupolfey eartsh ey
EDITORIAPLA NEL studoyfa bductiino ns ahvbee comteh e
JohnH arney futuirses uoefs centrtahle moef t he
RogeSra ndell Magonia: Howe�vr storiFeusr.t her
NigeWla tson myo wn1 mpress10n developmoeftn hti s
fromB ullarodw'ns thempeo sesso me
catalomgyu oew,n probletmhso,u gh
CORRESPONDIENDGI TORS
INTCA T ando ther meetinbgest ween
PeteRro gerson
sourciests h atth ere middle-aged
MichaeGlo ss isn ol acokf abductaenedts h eir
RoberRta nkin variat\Vieo hna.v e aduhlytb roifdf spring
accouonftp so rpoise seemtsh oeb vious
faceedn tities nexstt e(pac hance
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homogeniascecdo ufnrtosm B udd deamdo theirna c hildhaoboddu ction.
-+ Chequeasn dm oney-orders
HopkiCnass.e wsh icsht ratyo foa rf rom Fora na bductsitoonrn yo wt ob e
shoulbde m adep ayablteo' John typsei mpdloyn otg etth rouignhtt oh e succesiftmu uls stt acyl otsoeb otohl d
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All correspondence, subscriptions and
ac ontacctaesewe h,i cwhi leli thgeor angeolrsi nhabitoaftn htlesa nodf t he
exchanmgaeg azisnheosu bleds entto inttoh wea ste-papero-rbw aislbklee t FishKeirn gT.h ea bductees hasvheo uld
1.;
theE ditor: procesisnetadon a cceptfaobrlmea t. goosdu rreqaule stisouncashs " aryee
"I
Bullaarrdg utehsa atb ductiont hwea tchmoafnt hitso wno"r
John Rimmer
accouenxtpsl oointla y l imitreadn goef "childorfte hnne o rthlwahnodss t umble
JohnD eeC ottage
science fictmiyo rne sipdoeniassse ; inp erpetduaarlk neosrs" "t houI gh
5 JameTse rrace neasisearit dh adno neA"n. ya ttemtpot tarrayt housyaenda rtsh oen lwya teirn
Mortlake Churchyard expantdh oet herworld-ajsopuerocnfte tyh idse sesrhta blelt htye ars". The
thaec couwnitl wli,t hoauctc epttaablleean ctc,o usnhto ubleds poorkayt htehra n
LondoSn\o/,14 8HB 1, ·J
becomaest edioausAs r tuBre rtholi'nsu ts-and-sbhooluitlnsdv, o lhvyep notic
UniteKdi ngdom
sojouornAn c arBte.t Atnyd reasasnedn regresscihoinl,da rnedan c uddflaym ily
RayF owelr h avpeu shtehdes t oraise s petI s.h ouklede pph ilosaonpdh y
Magonia Magazine
!cl 1992 faras t hewyi lglo p,r obaab lliyt ttoloe technidceaslc ripttoia om nisn umum.
Cop�,Jright in signed articles rests
far. lth'usm ainn tertehsastte ltlhse sdea ys!
wit.h t.he out.hors.
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Hilary Evans
The troublaeb outE ddieB ollardh,e lss ucha nicfee llow,
we allw antt o helph im int hisd istresssiintgu atihoenl si n:
the situatiotnh,a ti s,o f not sharingt he same vtew on
abductioansst her esto f us.
He'ss ucha reasonabfleel loww,e feels,u relwye haveo nly
to murmur a few reaosnablew ordst o haveh im come over
to our way of thinkingA?n d when he doesn�tw,e tell
ourselviest 'osn lyb ecauseh e keepsb ad company.L eftt o
himse.l.f.
Should we bother? Why don't we 1: those who favour a psychosocial
leave him with his delusions, if he's happy explanation for the abduction experience
with them? Except he obviously isn't; it ('PS-proponents' from here on) refuse to
clearly distresses him to see the rest of us accept the abductions-are-real hypothesis
so wrong-headed in our ideas. And we, for (AAR from here on) because of the
our part, if we are honest (and we are, parallels with folklore.
chaps, aren't we?) we ask ourselves: if 2: their argument is invalid, because
someone so fair-minded as Eddie Bullard it does not conform to the rules of
doesn't share our ideas, could our ideas folklore.
just possibly be mistaken? 3: therefore, in the absence of any
The fact is that, irrespective of our reasonable alternative, the AAR-hypothesis
concern for Eddie Bullard's peace of mind, is the more probable explanation.
he is the perfect object to bounce our I think he is mistaken on three
ideas off and see if they come back to us counts:
intact. First, I don't think there are any
such rules
.
What Bullard be/ieve1
Second, even if there were, I don't
Bullard's argument can be think we would be obliged to respect them.
summarised as follows: Third, PS-proponents do not base
their position solely on the parallels with because they are not j tfolklore but
,
folklore. folklore-piu1,an d it liGis this plus which is
responsible for their unprecedented character.
Ru.Ie1 r Wh.at" .ru.le1I? a eeD O .ruie1.• •
It doesn't surprise me that Bullard, as a Goodbye Goodrife. ..
professional folklorist, wishes to think of his 'Something is clearly peculiar here,' says
subject as possessing what, if it lacked them, Bullard in the course of his paper, bothered by
might leave him feeling improperly dressed: the 'peculiar stability' of the reports. Indeed it
namely rules. So he wags his finger at the PS is. But couldn't it be that abductions - even to
proponents, accusing us of seeking to 'play the the extent that they are folklore experiences
game by half the rules'. at all - are not the kind of folklore Bullard is
But from what I can see of folklore, it is used to? He speaks of the abduction experient
the most amorphous least defined of subjects. as 'seldom forgetting or fumbling the narration
,
School-of-thought after school-of-thought has as most ordinar.,v storytellers do '(my italics)
sought to impose its scheme of things on the conjuring up an image of the old goodwife in
subject, and to no avail. Folklore remains a the chimney corner sending the young 'uns at
free-for-all field where hardly any two players her knee to their beds trembling at the tale of
are wearing the same shirts. johnnie Rimmer's hairbreadth encounter with
We can see this in a matter particularly the Mersey Devil.. .
relevant to abductions, the question of But suppose abductees aren't like that?
diffusion: how does folklore - myth, rumour Suppose they are telling their stories not as
etc. - proliferate? Do they spread by some spine tingling winter's tales but out of some
-
subtle contagion? Do they manifest gut-churning inner need? Why should we
spontaneously here and yon triggered by some expect them to do as 'most ordinary
Jungian archetype mechanism? Is some storytellers' do?
Sheldrakean process at work? See, once again, the pitfalls into which
In her classic work, JlytheG de Guer.re, Eddie-Head-in-Book is liable to trip if he
Marie Bonaparte presents us with a shoal of doesn't look up from his How To Be A
foaftales from WW2, showing how the same Folklorist manual. For when he says 'these
stories (with variations) arose - seemingly reports do not act like folklore' what he is
spontaneously and simultaneously - on both really saying is 'these reports do not act like
sides of the line. She is inclined to account for the folklore I'm used to'.
both the synchronicity and the variations on
psychoanalytic grounds; others will prefer to Not" juatf o.l.kloreb,u t fo.l.k.lore-plus
think that some kind of diffusionist process is But Bullard is on the wrong foot anyway
at work; yet others will have yet other if he supposes the PS-proponents interpret
suggestions. The point is that as thingS' stand, abductions solelyin terms of folklore. This of
it's anyone's guess how myths are created: the course is nonsense, and I can't believe Bullard
field is wide open. really thinks so. But what other conclusion can
And so it is, I suggest, with the sjmHarj�y we draw from his definition of what he
con variazione which so disconcertingly supposes to be the PS position:
distinguishes the abduction experience. There If abduction stories can be traced to the
is no user's guide which presents us with a patterns and motifs of other stories, or to the
handy set of rules. psychological underpinning of all stories, these
very ties identify abductions as folklore pure
,
OD Doth aviDKt oom uch re1pect"f o.r ru.le1 and simple.
Even if there existed a set of rules Neither Vallee nor Meheust - to take the
bearing the imprimatur of the Folklore Society two most prominent exponents - has ever
or some such recognised authority, it is by no offered or would ever offer so simplistic an
means certain that we could, or even should, interpretation.
respect them. Folklore, as Bullard recognises, Rather, folklore is to them as to all PS
is a constantly developing thing; and even if proponents just one of several realms of
rules could be derived from past experience, experience which contribute to our
they might well need to be modified in the light understanding of abduction stories. We look
of later experience. also to other forms of communal fantasy.
This is especially likely to be true of Meheust's first book, after all, was about flying
abductions, because for all the parallels with saucers and science fiction, an avenue which
folklore, they display many features which have Kottmeyer too has explored with convincing
no precedent in the past. Bullard concludes this results. Science fiction has much in common
is because abductions are not folklore at all, with folklore, but it cannot possibly qualify aG
but real experience. But this conclusion is not folklore despite the obvious links and
the only one possible. There are at least two relevancies.
valid alternatives. Abductions may not conform Other parallels have been drawn with
to traditional folklore for either, or both, of witchcraft, with convent hysteria, with the
two reasons: first because they represent a convulsionaries and the visionaries, with
new development in this constantly demon possession and revivalist epidemics,
developing field of study; and/or second, with all kinds of communal fantasy
.
5
So - and I think I speak for all who Bullard also, albeit only implicitly, seems to be
prefer some kind of PS explanation, however making Clark speaks of the PS hypothesis, but
much we may diverge as to which particular this is a: s much an abstraction as the
form of it we may espouse - the abduction stereotype abduction.
experience is never aimp ly folklore it is What there is, is a psychosocial
always folklore with an admixture. : approach: but though there are many who
favour that approach, there are probably as
4rJ�Ta�.ml of Y1l�i;�ntl' many PS-hypotheses as there are PS
Bullard states - and surely we all agree - proponents.
that 'swarms of variants are the living As I see it, the abduction experience is
manifestation of folklore'. It could hardly be an admixture of folklore - in the form of a
' '
otherwise: for what is fol.klore, but the shared myth - with a deep and often very
accumulation and distillation of lots and lots of serious individual need. The individual draws
bits of .ind.iv.idu;�JJ.ore. From a host of one-of on the folklore themes to give his private
a-kind instances, the individual elements are experience the necessary public 'credentials'.
filtered out and the shared elements retained, By creating a fantasy scenario whose broad
so that a stereotypical communal experience outline will be recognised by the consensus as
can be abstracted and defined. But this 'an abduction story', he obtains a degree of
stereotype is no more than a convenient fiction: legitimacy for the experience as a whole and
it is a Platonic ideal, which never exists in its therefore for those elements which are purely
pure form except in the minds of those who personal to himself: just as in other forms of
fabricate it, never more than a part of the behaviour such as seeing visions, dissociation
overall experience - the highest common of the personality, trance communication and
factor' as we were taught 'at school. channeling, stereotypes have come into being,
Each abduction is at once a shared 'story', which serve as sustaining structures for
broadly conforming to a pattern, and an individual experiences which lack the strength
individual experience, whose relevance is only to stand on their own.
to the individual's needs, preoccupations, hopes
and fears. To suggest that the individual ...4 choice of ac�ipt1
abduction is a 'folklore experience' would be Some see visions, some are possessed by
nonsense - but then no one is making any such demons, some are abducted by aliens. Each of
suggestion. What the PS-proponents are these behaviours is chosen, subconsciously,
suggesting is that the composite abduction because it is felt by the individual to be an
experience - the depersonalised and sanitised appropriate way of externalising an internal
abstraction- can be paralleled with certain dilemma, crisis or whatever. And it is this
folklore themes, and that this can help us internal, personal core which causes the
understand what is happening in individual variations, so the abduction experience of
instances. Kathie Davis will conform to the folklore
In the section devoted to the PS approach model only so far as it is necessary for it to
in his Encyclopedi. a of UFOa, Jerry Clark was qualify as something that others will recognise
both fair and perceptive. It is an excellent (or, it may be argued, where she herself can
position statement, particularly since it is made feel justified in distancing herself from the
by someone who does not share that position. experience, in effect saying it wasn't me, it was
But he makes a fundamental error which THEM). r:c=-:o_n_t -P---:1 -:4 :- :-�
_
.........
6
reluctance to report uncanny experiences,
Seeing usually put down to simple fear of ridicule ... )
However, I didn't get you here to show
off my profound grasp of existentialism. I just
want to suggest that Val had the kind of
experience we all have at some time, especially
as children: that of seeing a world we had been
told was dead, as alive, intelligent, watchful (we
Thingsall remem ber the sinister dressing-gown, up to
no good on the back of the bedroom door). In
other words, that way of seeing the world, and
being seen by it, which has been derisively
labelled 'animism', is not the prerogative of
poor benighted primitives (or even of children),
but an experience of reality which can strike at
any time, just as it struck a couple (one of
whom was, of all things, a scientist) who were
Patrick Harper
d.riv ing from Shropshire to Cheshire one night
in October 1983. They were lengthily and
systematically hounded by an aerial object
I have always felt uneasy about the complacency with
which shone menacing beams of light into their
which ufologists repeat the assertion that 90% (or 95%) of UFO
car, terrifying them. In a state of shock, and
sightings are misidentifications of ordinary aerial objects such
after much thought, they reported it to (of all
as stars, planets, birds, clouds, aircraft, etc. (I don't believe in
things) the Jodrell Bank .radio telescope, who
weather balloons); or else of natural phenomena such as patches
passed the report on to Jenny Randles, who
of light, optical reflections etc. (whatever they are). I don't like
kindly wrote it down for us. It turned out that
the superior air which creeps into reports of UFOs which turn
the couple had misperceived the moon.
out to have one of these simple explanations. It reminds me of a
Perhaps ufology should be less
school seniority system: the scientists look down on the
concerned with the nature of the object than
ufologists for believing in UFOs, and the ufologists, who want to
with the nature of perception. Here, for
become (of all things) scientists, look down on poor benighted
instance, is another well-known case of
passers-by who mistake simple weather balloons (o.r whatever)
misidentification:
fo.r what they a.re pleased to call genuine UFOs.
" ...d o you not see a ound disk of fire
At a Mago.11ia conference in Mortlake somewhat like a Guinea? 0.r no, no, I see an
lib .rary some years ago we listened briefly to a Innumerable Company of the Heavenly Host
r
radio phone-in on UFOs which happened to crying 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God
coincide with the conference. How we all Almighty.'"
hooted when Val of Peckham rang in to say The percipient is of course the visionary
that she had been disturbed by a weird light in poet and artist William Blake. The 'disk of fire'
the sky! It had seemed to be watching her, it is the sun. Blake insisted that his poems were
was definitely intelligent, she had come over not mere figures of speech but true accounts
all funny, etc. It was obvious from her of the natural world, transformed (invariably
description that the light in question was a personified) by the power of the creative
planet. John Rimmer, ou.r kindly host, quelled imagination. He could see the sun perfectly
the derision by reminding us that Val's well as everyone else does, as a golden Guinea;
experience was in a sense the very stuff of but he could also see its deeper reality as a
ufology -- indeed, that many of the eminent heavenly host. He distinguished between seeing
ufologists present had been seized by the �'ith the eye and seeing th.J•ou�h it.
subject through just such an encounter, I'm not saying that there are no such
mistaken or not. We were suitably chastened. things as visual errors. We've all seen lights in
And so we should be. After all, if I may the sky which might have been UFOs, but which
lapse for a moment into fancy existentialist on closer inspection turned out to be aircraft
talk, Val had been confronted in her fallen lights or whatever. But even such simple
inauthentic condition with a sense of the misidentifications are not wholly neutral or
uncanny. This idea plays a key part in without significance. They are like visual
Heidegger's philosophy, for uncanniness is the equivalents of Freudian or, more accurately,
hallmark of those moments in one's life when, Jungian slips they point for a moment to the
as he says, angst brings .Daaein (being-there) Unknown whi: ch lies both in our depths and in
face to face with its terrible freedom -- either the heights of the sky. Even when we see with
to dwell in inauthenticity or to make a bid for and not through the eye, as it were, we a.re
self-possession. (More particularly, the already imagining what we see. Blake's
uncanny is the summons of conscience, at description of the normal sun is already
which we experience a primal guilt -- Sohuld embroidered by a simile, 'like a Guinea'. The
- at the fact that the source of our being is a whole world is an imaginative construct.
nothingness or, rather, that our being There's no such thing as a simple unadorned
necessarily implies the possibility of non perception, no.r a simple misperception -- let
being. Guilt, then, may play a part in people's alone Val of Peckham's sighting, charged as it
7
' I o• '0 o •o •o •o •o •0•'• • • • •
was with potentially frightful significance. reduced to a kind of cine-projector which .• •. .•. • '•. •. • • • • •. •. • 0. • • •
tnhoatt mhaeWdre sa itsgo h Vftaeilne lsg aawt ilasistf ti'leoedn flwoyoi talhi sp thlha, ene evetxe'?np lWaa nlaiatstt ilsoehn e miamffeaecgchetaisnn -gic -valailsnyid ot nhtosr eohwfe lpolo uwoti rtf hrba etuhndeiug phleotnewdte vbrifysusulta aln ders. ..•·.·•..· ..·. •·· . •.··. •.• ..I .•.. B• .f·0 .. .•l.. a •· .k0 .. . •.. . e. •.· .•· ...·. .•.· ..·· .•. ·. •...·. ·
cheated? And what of 'Mrs A' of Hollington, I suggest that the idea of projection
:::::::bad: :tleel{::::::
West Sussex, who was watching television on 4 won't wash. It's simply the corollary of Locke's .• 0 .• •.•..• .'• •..•..•..•. •. . . . .' . .. . ..
October 1981, when she felt 'compelled' to go to equally erroneous description of the mind as a
tohbej ewcitn idno twh,e o snklyy ?t oJ osienee da blayr ghee rb rdiaguhgth yteelrl-oiwn t'bhlea nskta smhpe eotf oefx ptearpneral' wsehnicseh ipmaspsrievsesliyo rnesc.e Wivee s ·.··.:·:.· ·.:·r·..·u·..·n.··.n·.n.·.·ig.. <>.·· ·.··:·:.
lfaowr hjaanlfe attne ,h tohuer tawso t hweo mobejne cwta wtcohbebdl eads,t opnuilsshateedd slihnoeusl odf r ae tBhliankke ,o uunrd eeprissttaenmdionlgo gtyh aatlo onugr the -··:····:'·.t . 'L..· u .· ··�·.c··<· p·· · . h ·.·o· ..·.n··.···.e· -.·:·-··:.· ·: ··- · :
and repeatedly changed shape. Several times, as primary mode of perception is imaginative. We
an aircraft passes nearby, the object emitted simultaneously see and transform the world. ::::::in: :when::::::::
slimghotkse o ann, da nhdid s ittrsuecltfu breahli snidd eas ctloo,u tdh. eJ aonbejtetcet .s aw bAasr trheen apnlcaineentt bs uktn ae wda, nthgeer mouoso ngo idsd neosts jluiasbtl ea to .:.:' :: .::. : v: a:l.:o::. .:t: :::::
Both women suffered severe recurrent induce delusions or revelations, madness or
ehsxiegapnde aorcifeh ane cscel oodvs aee r1e 4tn-hcheo oufuonrltl eobrwl a-icn-kgoa wnutde efMkoruss r- A-d aay ss uarfete r maryes atnicyWatlh eeixn hgpa etvroei egbnoec ebeny; ,ab snrhodeu i gfph mott yeu npttw iwaoil lteyhx saat milliplt elierssa. l .-· .·:.:··.·p.-.:.e ··c.'k· . ·. ·b.:'' .' m·a'..':.':·' '-
the sighting. The witnesses were convinced they minded world-view. We demand that objects
had seen a spacecraft piloted by aliens. have only a single identity or meaning. We are
Investigation revealed that the object had been educated to see with the eye only, in single .............
the moon. vision. When the preternatural breaks in upon :::::w.ouw:::m;:t::::::
The usual 'explanation' for such lunatic uG, transforming the profane into something
experiences is 'projection'. The term, derived sacred, amazing, we are unequipped for it.
:: liave:: �Ql4::::::
from Freud and the early jung, is taken to mean Instead of seizing on the vision, reflecting on it
that images from the unconscious are thrown -- writing poetry if necessary -- we react with
forward, by-passing consciousness, on to the fright and panic. Instead of countering like :::her: :that:::::::·
world or on to objects in the world (the night with like, that is, assimilating through
sky makes a particularly handy screen) where imagination the complexity of the image ::s:iiaheCi:::::::::
they are perceived as something external. This presented to us, we feebly phone scientists for .... .... ....'
has come to mean that the images are 'only reassurance. We are told we are only 'seeing .. '
subjective' but are wrongly seen as objective. things' and so we miss the opportunity to grasp ::::::.·.·: : :m is :-:-:::::::::::::
• • • • ' • • • • • ' • • • • 0
(Jung became much more equivocal about that different, more primordial order of
projection as a result of his alchemical studies.} reality which lies behind the merely literal.
However, as Lee Worth Bailey, among I'm not suggesting that we strive only to
oSpptshryecinrhg,so, l o1h9ga8isc6 aa)lr, gptuhreoed jie d(cietnai o 'oSnfk au'pnlrld'os tj hLeeac ntMitoeanrg'ni ci:s L aa ntern', saheeereai vtaehln eol bywj ohercoltsdst aasssu nvai nsagnieodlns na -ro-ite ttsoh. eTs eogeu p ionenreclaye sitvuhene - all .·- ::.-·::. ·p··: ·.I·. a. ·....·..n·....·..e·..·t-···.·:··:.: �.·h-.- ·e....: :.:· :·. <:: - ·
metaphor drawn from the model of the magic leads to the m.adhouse. It is just as literal
.
lanterns which caused so much excitement in minded as seeing a light in the sky as only a
.
the 19th century. While the common people ball of hot gas or a barren planet, or an ' ... ......
were astounded and terrified by the slide extraterrestrial spacecraft. This, too, is a kind
shows which tended to project images of ghosts of madness, albeit established and called ' •. •. 0 •.• •.•.•.
'
and demons, experts and debunkers delighted normal. The remedy is to cultivate a sense of
:::::::::::::was:::::::::::::
in exposing the 'fraudulence' of these images. metaphor which, as its etymology suggests, is
Scientists like David Brewster (d. 1868) the ability to 'carry across' -- to translate one
published widely read descriptions of how the view of the world in terms of another. Sanity is
magic lanterns worked and went on to claim the possession of what Blake called 'double
that all so-called visions and apparitions were vision', which allowed him, for example, to see
:::::::::to:::have::::
attributable to them. He asserted that ancient "with my inward eye ... an old man grey I With ...'..... ' .....
'
priestcraft employed similar devices to trick my outward a thistle across the way."
people into believing that gods and daemons If Blake had been running the phone-in
exist when they were, in fact, only projected when Val of Peckham rang in, he would not
delusions. have told her that she had misidentified a :::::::·::::::th:e:::::::::::::
This notion was to influence Freud who planet; he would have said she was privileged to ... . .... .' ....
deprecated visions as 'nothing but projections'. have glimpsed the awesome form of foam-born ' '
And, naturally, just as we tend to model the Venus rising in splendour from the sea of ·::awesome:::::::
psyche on our own machines (it's computers night. She might then have been emboldened to
now), so it was not long before the magic prise wider that momentary cr?-ck in literal
lantern became the model for our own heads reality and to enter that other, imaginative
oobunect a ao msfo ewu rhlleiecsshtsr iswcutoberjdle dct otoi fvt heoe bi mjsekacugtlesls., Tawnheder eap nspyyr coohjfee i cttse d bRinee aaolurittdyye rawn thdoi c tehenr atreloorrn t.e hW ainte fR udesoaenlsi't tty hn bee eewcdao turosld es ,ew teio tU htFh Oe s ..·.'··..· .. ·r '. . ... .o· a 'm· .·.·. .·. - '··.. · b. .'. . o ·. r·.n'· . ' ·.·..· ...·· ·. . .
images encountered outside became delusions poetic imagination, everything in the sky -
::::::::::venus::::::::::
which had to be withdrawn back inside. Thus stars, birds, clouds, balloons -- is a UFO whose
the autonomous myth-making imagination was final reality can never be known. -
8
des ately
Roger Sandell outlines
recent developments
in the Satanism scare,
and reviews new
books on the subject.
In November 1991 the old Bailey's first Satanic
human sacrifice trial took place. Two girls, ten
and fourteen, accused their parents and two
other people of having forced them to take part
in ceremonies in Epping Forest, on the eastern
fringes of London, at which babies were killed
and buried. In spite of the sensational
headlines that greeted the opening of the case
it was clear from the start that it had very
curious aspects. Despite the unambiguous
claims made against them, not one of the
accused faced a murder charge but were
instead charged with child abuse. The
prosecution admitted that digging by the police
had produced no buried babies and there was
no evidence of any accompanying epidemic of
missing babies. After four days the case
collapsed when one of the girls stated that she
was unsure whether the events described had
really happened or were nightmares, and that
her grandmother, with whom she was living,
has stopped punishing her when she told her
about them.
A few weeks before this case took place,
the nazi activist Lady Birdwood had been found
guilty at the Old Bailey of inciting racial hatred
by distributing material accusing Jews of ritual
murder, a coincidence which highlighted the
way this trial seemed to exploit similar images
of Gipsies as child stealers and wizards.
the Satanist ceremonies were said to
have taken place at a memorial to Gipsy Smith,
the Romany evangelist of the 1930's and 40's,
and the defendants included Gipsy Smith's
grandson George Gibbard, an Evangelical
Christian and South Eastern representative on
the National Gipsy Council. 1
Meanwhile hearings into the official
handling of the Orkney Satanism case continue.
A parent has been cross-examined to explain
why she bought a child a video of The Witches
(for non-cinemagoers, the recent film of the
Roald Dahl children's story).
Meanwhile in the USA, bizarre trials
continue. In North Carolina a day-care centre
owner stands accused of sexual abuse and
9
Satanic ceremonies. The evidence includes these murders, that of an American tourist
As is the
testimony from children describing the named Mark Gilroy, does seem to have been
usual custom in
presence of lions and elephants at these seen as a sacrifice to confer magical powers
such cases, Mr
ceremonies. In Chicago a judge has dismissed a (the gang was exposed after a member drove
Gibbard's name
case against a man accused by a five-year-old through a police check, believing himself to be
was not given in
girl of murdering five identical girls in a invisible) but it is not clear where religious
the press. Jt is
human sacrifice. The defence centred on beliefs began and the general casual violence
given here
allegations that the child had been coached by of drug gangs towards rivals and informers
because he has
Barbara Klein, a counsellor who apparently stopped.
chosen to make
gave advice to the prosecutors in the recent The evidence for the alleged ill-effects
a. public as part.
Old Bailey case. I for Dungeons and Dragons seems similarly
of his campaign
The Satanism scare has now been with inconclusive. Although some press stories
for
us long enough to have produced several have featured allegations of teenage murders
compensation
books. Patricia Pulling's The Devils Web 3 a US and suicides by the game's devotees, further
for wrongful
publication sold in Britain in evangelical investigation has revealed violent homes or
imprisonment.
bookshops, gives a good idea of the different other factors that seem at least as relevant
See New
components of the scare. 'Dungeons and than the fact that those involved had played a
Statestman,
Dragons' and similar occult-type games are game with a US following of several million
Nov. 29 1991.
controlling teenagers minds to the point where other players.
they murder each other or commit suicide (the Patricia Pulling's account of her son's
book opens with an account of the allegedly D & suicide after a curse was placed on him in a D
D- related suicide of Patricia Pulling's teenage & D game is certainly a sad tale, but according
son). Records by heavy-metal rock bands not to local press accounts he was also depressed
only contain pro-Satanist lyrics, but also by his failure in a school election (and one can
subliminal Satanic messages only audible when only be astonished by the fact that his mother
played backwards. Many unsolved murders are had left a pistol freely available while he was
the work of Satanists. alone in the house). The only other evidence
When examined in detail the evidence for the Satanic effect of D & D games seems to
for most of these claims evaporates pretty be some cases of adult D & D players being
rapidly. The alleged backwards messages in convicted of sexual offences against younger
TATE, Tim.
heavy metal records seem to be contemporary players, but these fall into a long established
Children For the
versions of tales dating back to the 'sixties of pattern of paedophiles cultivating activities
Devil
great secrets hidden in rock records of their and interests liable to bring them into contact
sleeves. Nothing that is known about record with children.
production or the psychology of perception Reading Pulling's book suggests that one
makes them plausible (if it was possible to reason for the current US anti-Satanist scare
influence people in this way, why are there no is the fact that it has connected a wide variety
messages like "Buy our next album"?) The of current American fears. Serial killers, the
whole argument has been reduced to total increasing rate of suicide among young people,
absurdity by claims of Satanic messages in such the violent messages of some types of popular
places as 'The Mr Ed Song (the theme from the music, drug gangs, and the increasing presence
TV series about a talking horse, not the UFO in the US of immigrants from the Caribbean
witness). and Latin America, some of whom maintain
Stories of groups of Satanists traditional non-Christian religious practices,
committing random murders appear to have all are linked together in the same way that a
originated with the US wave of alleged cattle few years ago Armageddon theology managed
mutilations in the 1970's when the mutilations to link a variety of late '70s and early '80s
gave rise to rumours of cults carrying out concerns about the US and its place in the
sacrifices. Patricia Pulling's evidence relies on world.
two cases of the last few years. the first is The fact that most of these scares are
Henry Lee Lucas, a Texas murderer who in specific to the USA probably accounts for the
1983 confessed to murdering 360 people as failure of the scare to achieve such resonance
part of the rites of a cult called 'the Hand of in Britain. However Children for the Devil by
Death'. Although Lucas's confessions were Tim Tate, researcher for the highly
widely publicised and were seized upon by unconvincing Cook Report TV programme on
police forces anxious to improve their clear Satanism, attempts to make out a case for the
up rate, the only supporting evidence linked reality of Satanism in Britain and the US. 4
Lucas to just one murder, that of his mother, Tate attempts to distance himself from
and his claims are now generally discounted by Evangelical Christian anti-Satanism. He rejects
law-enforcement authorities. such manifestations of the scare as campaigns
The second case is rather more against Halloween celebrations, and heavy
substantial: the Matamoros (Mexico) slayings metals bands, and accepts modern nee
of 1989 in which at least twelve people were Paganism as a valid religious belief. Indeed he
murdered by a drug smuggling gang led by give some interesting information on the
Adolfo Constanzo, a practitioner of the sort of background to US anti-Satanism that I was not
supernatural beliefs held by many poor but previously aware of.
otherwise respectable Mexicans. At least one of Especially striking is the fact that one
10
organisation involved in spreading the anti version of the witch trial era, arguing that tales
Also wort.h
Satanist scare is the so-called US Labor Party of human sacrifice and sex orgies confirm
considering in
led by the now-jailed political cultist Lyndon similar modern tales. He does at one point
this context are
Larouche (Diane Core of 'Childwatch' the concede that tales told under torture should be
the 1li Hie Uri
charity backed by Geoffrey Dickens MP that has treated sceptically, but promptly disregards his
Gellers' of the
publicised anti-Satanist tales, has also spoken own proviso by treating the trials of the
1970's: children
at Larouchist meetings). What is significant Knights Templar, Gilles de Rais and Father
who, foil owing
about this is that this organisation was Grandier of Loudon without mentioning that
Geller's TV
spreading similar tales in other contexts long torture was employed in all these cases.
appearances,
before its present anti-Satanist campaign. In neither does he point out that all these people
fooled para
1974 it claimed to have uncovered a CIA-KGB had made powerful enemies beforehand. He
psychologists
assassination plot against Larouohe. Dissident accepts clearly absurd details such as the eight
with simple
members of the group were subjected to hundred or so child victims as cri bed to de Rais
lricks.
debriefing sessions, which later resulted in - enough under medieval demographic
' '
charges of kidnapping against their accusers. As conditions to depopulate quite a large area. He
COHN,
• a result the victims told tales, promoted by the quotes the alleged Satanic pact given in
Norman.
Larouche organisation, of CIA brainwashing that evidence at the trial of father Grandier without
£urope·s Inner
involved details identical to those 1nade later in mentioning that it was supposedly
Demons, Sussex
tales of Satanic child abuse. These involved sex countersigned by a devil.
University
with animals, exposure to pornography and He totally fails to mention many
Press/Hein n
eman scatological humiliations. One detail especially important areas of the witch-mania that are
Educational,
reminiscent of US day-care canter Satanism highly relevant to the Satanism scare. He is
197S; Paladin,
tales is the claim made in the confession of one totally unaware that British witch-trials were
1976.See
victim who had been living in London that these very different from those on the continent.
chapter 4.
events took place in an Islington school when it The systematic use of torture and centralised
was closed over the weekend (Incidentally inquisitional bodies were not a feature of
.
Larouche has been accused of sexual abuse by British trials. As a result the tales of mass
female former disciples). sacrifice and huge witches sabbaths are found
While Tim Tate rejects many feature of almost entirely on the continent. the British
US anti-Satanism, he nonetheless devotes n1ost cases involve fewer defendants and much less
of his book to defending the validity of charges spectacular organisations.
of Satanic child abuse (SCA). he begins his There is no discussion of the role played
argument by claiming that; "Ritual crime. abuse in the witch mania by child accusers who
and murder have been reported, investigated, testified to manifest impossibilities, and in
proven and recorded for nearly five hundred some cases resorted to conjuring tricks to
years". create the impression of being bewitched, a
To prove this he devotes nearly fifty subject highly relevant to contemporary SCA
pages to a resume of the history of Satanism cases S Neither does he discuss the identical
and witchcraft. It is difficult to speak of this accus.a tions of ritual child murder that were
section of the book with restraint. Tate gets commonly made against Jews. If modern SCA
just about every historical fact wrong and claims are vindicated by similar claims made
clearly has not the faintest idea of what he is hundreds of years ago, are modern neo-nazi
writing about. He shows no sign of having read claims vindicated by similar medieval claims?
any serious books on European witchcraft such Not content with relying on discredited
as Norman Cohn's Europe� h1ner Den1ons, ideas from other writers Tate makes some
Keith Thomas's Religion and the .Decline of' insupportable claims of his own. He sees
magic, or Hugh Trevor Raper's the European modern witchcraft as being largely a
l·Vitoh c;a ze of the JGth a.11d 17th Ce.JJ!U.J'.f'· creation and supports this by quotingx txh x ex x
Instead th.. e only historical sources cited are Dr confessions of two Cathar witches who
Margaret Murray's discredited writings, H. T. F. confessed to worshipping Satan in fourteenth
Rhodes equally unreliable the .Satanic A-lass, and century trials. The only problem with this is
a Peter Haining pot-boiler (Were these the only that neither of the witches quoted ever existed.
books on the subject in his local library Their confessions are both nineteenth century
perhaps?) forgeries, as Tate would have know had he
He begins by distinguishing Satanism troubled to read Norman Cohn. 6 So much for
from witchcraft, and follows Margaret Murray Tim Tate as a judge of evidence.
in seeing witchcraft as a primitive nature Like many dubious writers on witchcraft
religion involving the worship of a horned god he seems especially fascinated by the Black
and moon goddess. He states that: "By the time Mass, and devotes several pages to the 1680's
of Christ this rural pantheistic religion was 'Affair of the Poisons' and allegations of Black
well established throughout Europe." Oh yes? Masses at the court of Louis XIV. Although, as
Where exactly? Such a cult bears no relation to usual, most of the more bizarre allegations in
classical or Nordic Paganism, or Celtic Druidism, this case come from confessions made under
the main religious systems of immediately pre torture, the affair seems to have some factual
Christian Europe basis. However the Black Mass of the period
From this .u npromising beginning Tim bore little resemblance to later fantasies. In an
Tate jumps a millenium to give us his bi2arre age when the Mass was seen as an almost
