satanic panic

25 posts

The Devil in the Details

The Devil in the Details: Episode 22 The Hampstead Hoax

On this latest episode, the Satanic Skeptic examines a hoaxed (aren’t they all?) case of Satanic Ritual Abuse that went viral after video interviews of police and several children, along with a list of 175 alleged cultists, went online. The hoaxers fled the country, but the story didn’t stop there… Click here to listen.

Skeptical Inquirer: Pastor Claims Demon Revealed Identities of Six "Witches" by JD Sword

Skeptical Inquirer: Pastor Claims Demon Revealed Identities of Six “Witches”

In his latest article for Skeptical Inquirer the Satanic Skeptic, JD Sword, examines the claim by Tennessee pastor Greg Locke that a demon revealed the names (and one address) of six “witches” who had infiltrated his congregation and made some of the faithful sick. Sword relates Locke’s accusations to centuries of witchcraft hysteria and contemporary accounts of violence against accused witches. Click here to read: Pastor Claims Demon Revealed Identities of Six “Witches”

JD Sword: "Get Behind Me Satan! How Decades of Satanic Panic Created Qanon Today."

JD Sword: “Get Behind Me Satan! How Decades of Satanic Panic Created Qanon Today.”

It may seem like the internet conspiracy theory known as QAnon originated with the 2016 election of Donald Trump, but actually, the origins of Pizzagate and QAnon go back much further. JD Sword, the Satanic Skeptic, explores the era known as the Satanic Panic, how skeptics and Satanists fought against misinformation back then, and how those insights inform the ongoing struggle for reason and critical-thinking today. JD is a columnist for Skeptical Inquirer focusing on demonic topics.

Fall River

JD Sword: ‘Fall River’ identifies another victim of the Satanic Panic

Before QAnon spread online conspiracy theories about satanic pedophile elites drinking children’s blood, credulous TV talk show hosts and journalists were causing mass hysteria with stories about child abuse, murder, and animal sacrifice during a period of time often called the “Satanic Panic.” One of these sensational cases is the subject of the latest true crime docuseries from Blumhouse Productions, Fall River. …Ultimately, the Fall River Murders were just one of many examples of alleged cult crimes which have never been substantiated. This isn’t to say that, in some cases, singularly disturbed individuals never commit crimes with ritualistic tableau, but […]

Happy Halloween 2024

Halloween 2020: Be Afraid. Be VERY Afraid

We Satanists generally find Halloween to be a holiday that celebrates the outsider, the other, those who are not like most. It is on this night that the “normals” tend to explore their own quirks and inner-darknesses by wearing costumes that often reveal aspects of themselves typically hidden during the rest of the year. Since Satanism is an individualist religion, we embrace our oddness without stinting, for we don’t require the permission of a special day and night to be honest about our true nature. On this night, we enjoy watching the amateurs dare to try “being themselves,” whether those […]

Anton LaVey Feature CHS

Collinsport Historical Society on American Horror Story & Anton LaVey

Patrick McCray at the Dark Shadows website The Collinsport Historical Society had this to say about American Horror Story’s depiction of Anton LaVey: In the most recent episode of American Horror Story, Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey, is portrayed as one of the villains, literally worshiping the devil, consorting with the fictitious bad guys, and establishing himself as a force of evil in that supernatural universe. None of this, of course, is accurate or even tangentially related to reality. LaVey was a lot of things, and there is still alleged controversy over the verisimilitude of his official biography, but the man was a solid atheist, […]