Even as late as 1992, Dr. Cory Hammond, at the Fourth Annual Regional Conference on Abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder, gave a speech in which he detailed the origins of a massive satanic cult operating with impunity in the United States. He opened his speech stating, “I’ve finally decided—to Hell with it, if the cults are going to kill me, they are going to kill me…” to a round of raucous applause. Hammond detailed a strange story involving satanic Nazi scientists who had been brought into the country following WWII and began to work with the CIA on brainwashing techniques.
This group of scientists brought with them a Jewish boy named Greenbaum, whom they had spared during their experiments because he was able to tell them the secrets of the ancient Jewish mysticism called Kabala, which squared well with their satanic Nazism … Eventually, their experiments would become a massive but secret satanic brainwashing operation headed by Greenbaum, who subsequently changed his name to Green. By the 1980s the operation encompassed much more than just the CIA, including NASA, the Mafia, and many prominent business leaders and media figures.53
Psychiatrists such as Braun, who diagnosed multiple personality disorder and advocated for the repressed memory movement, were actually participating in an ancient, spiritual practice. Bill Ellis, in his book Raising the Devil, cites the similarities between religious exorcism (particularly exorcism in the Pentecostal tradition) and the emergence of MPD and repressed memory. Known as “deliverance” in the Pentecostal tradition, exorcism had gained in popularity as a religious subject during the seventies. An exorcism seeks to identify another being (a demon), which is inhabiting the body of an otherwise normal person and causing them great distress, and then banishes the demon in the name of God. Likewise, MPD psychiatrists sought to identify other “selves” in an afflicted individual and to gradually banish those different personalities from the patient. Much like an MPD patient, the demoniac suddenly changes personalities to reveal his or her affliction. In this role, the psychiatrist acts as the exorcist as he or she confronts multiple personalities (sometimes numbering over 30 in recorded cases), identifies what caused those personalities to emerge, and then frees the patient from the control of those personalities by integrating the patient’s mind back into a whole. MPD and memory repression went hand in hand because doctors believed that when an individual witnessed something too traumatic to handle, their psyche fractured and invented another self in order to repress or deal with the stress that resulted. In essence, the doctors who worked with these patients and led them down these nightmare roads were, unknowingly, steering their patients down a path of ancient spiritual myths that had been part of the European and American tradition since before Christ. The themes of ritual child sacrifice, pacts with the devil, cannibalism, and conspiracy had become part of the Western world’s mythology—part of its own subconscious. Thus, when trying to understand what horrors could possibly have created these multiple personalities—these demons that dwelled within ordinary people—they plumbed the depths of their own psyches and produced the same story that has been told in differing versions for thousands of years. They mistakenly took on the role of exorcist and became entangled in a snare of belief, superstition, religion, and myth, and a lot of people paid dearly for it. The satanic panic resulted in innocent people being put on trial, families and communities being fractured, mental disorders being created through trauma, and, worst of all, memories of ritual molestation being planted in the minds of many, many children. While Satanism had been a part of Western folklore for hundreds of years, it wasn’t until it was institutionalized that it became particularly dangerous and resulted in a public panic.
Institutional mythologies like Satanism are not folklore, even though they appropriate folk ideas and practices that have been preserved in a given community because they have proved functional for that community’s needs. Once appropriated by an institution for a different use, however, such ideas and practices become dysfunctional. Historically, crusades that have been based on appropriated folk beliefs have done more damage than good, whatever truth or good intentions may lie behind them. Sadly, it is easy for institutions to forget this.54
As the “experts” and their institutions began to pass down the “truth” about satanic conspiracies, rituals, and practices to law enforcement, the media took notice, and thus the public became informed that a vast underground satanic cult was at work in the United States. Inundated with information, survivor testimony, media blitzes, high-profile arrests and trials, and doctor testimony, the public came to believe exactly what they were told, and rumors began to circulate among small towns that cults were at work in their communities. Jeffrey S. Victor was on scene to document such a rumor panic in rural New York in 1986 and offers a unique, real-time glimpse at the way the satanic panic influenced communities and law enforcement.
The immense variety of criminal activities attributed to Satanism spanned the spectrum from graffiti to kidnapping, torture, sexual abuse, sadomasochistic rape, murder, ritualistic bloodletting, animal sacrifices, and infanticide; all were given a background narrative under the heading “Satanism.” With that narrative came the belief that there was a vast conspiracy of people within the underbelly of society that caused these diverse and normally pathologically unrelated crimes to be woven into a singular, definitive problem. The institutionalization of Satanism allowed police, psychiatrists, therapists, and activists to summarily place society’s ills into one overarching narrative; a narrative in which they were the key players opening the eyes of the world and saving lives. Unfortunately, while these crimes did occur, the narrative was baseless. The institutionalization of this belief narrative created and fueled the satanic panic until the accusations and stories became too ludicrous for all but the most delusional supporters. The vague definitions of “Satanism” led to the inclusion of nearly everything outside the norm of American beliefs and values.
The irony, of course, rests in the fact that a science, one that delved into the consciousness of man, became so ambiguous and decidedly dark with religious and paranormal foreboding that it became the very thing it feared—a cult whose absolute faith and belief in its own fantastical worldview superceded any objective inquiry or contrary information. The true Satanists were perhaps the very people conjuring these nightmare worlds in the minds of the trusting patients who came to them for help. The true cult was that of the believer and purveyors of this myth, who would often accuse anyone who dared to question their logic as being part of the satanic conspiracy. The darkness was not found without, in the vast conspiracy of satanic kidnappers and killers, but rather, within—in the fears, fantasies, and myths that created a universal consciousness of gothic tales and evil conspiracies.
CONCLUSIONS
Public fascination with and belief in the paranormal increases during times of social upheaval and change, and few things have caused such dramatic upheaval throughout history as development in the sciences—in particular, the major scientific revolutions that truly upended previous worldviews, such as the Copernican revolution, Darwinism, and the atomic age. These scientific revolutions caused people to question previously held beliefs and practices; in effect, they caused a form of social dissonance in which society had to either adapt their previous beliefs to conform with the new developments in science and technology or reject them completely. It was during these times that paranormal beliefs gained massive support and literally formed social movements: the European witch craze, the Spiritualism movement, the saucer panic, and the satanic panic can all be seen through the lens of social dissonance in reaction to scientific development. Of course, there are many other factors that contribute to these movements; distrust of government and government expansion, gender roles, and economic pressure all play roles in the development of these movements, and different authors assign different amounts of significance to each. What is also noteworthy is the role that societies’ elite play in the different movements. The European witch craze and the satanic panic were sparke
d largely by the educated elite such as doctors, theologians, government representatives, and social activists. However, Spiritualism and the saucer panic began from the ground up; they were movements begun and championed by the poor and working class, and only occasionally championed by the social elites.
What is also interesting to note is that nearly every paranormal movement is somehow reflective of Spiritualism in that they all involve communing with the spirit world or, in the case of the saucer panic, other alien worlds that behave and communicate in much the same way. Both the European witch craze and the satanic panic involved a fear of those who communed with the spirit world in odd practices and beliefs, while the saucer panic produced various UFO cults that communicated with aliens in much the same way as Spiritualist mediums consulted the dead and, very often, had much the same things to say. What would appear to change the way these practices are perceived is not the kind of paranormal activity taking place, but rather the world in which it is taking place. The state of mankind changes with each new age and generation, and depending on the environment, the idea of communing with spirits can seem enlightening or frightening.
As stated in the beginning of this chapter, these paranormal beliefs never go away, but they do experience increases in public interest during times of social unrest. As society and the world change, people seek answers from a different plane of existence that cannot be found on this one. Hence, as the scientific revolutions rocked the religious foundations of many societal structures, people began to look for proof, for evidence that they were not alone and that their religious beliefs were valid and true. Faith, it would seem, was not enough in the scientific age—religion required proof to remain legitimate. The paranormal offers to some people that proof, but it is a dangerous game to play because the paranormal is the world of the trickster and it, by definition defies explanation, categorization, and study; you can be made a prince and made a fool all in the same moment. Thus, the paranormal can be as dangerous to the individual as it is fascinating; it can be a road to ruin as much as a road to revelation, as shown by the sometimes disastrous results of the different paranormal movements.
But what of today’s world? This age that began in approximately 1998 and is only now beginning to fade, in which people are once again, on a large scale, fascinated with the paranormal and pursuing it both for entertainment and the conviction of beliefs. Now televised across the entire world, this ghost hunter age will be addressed. The rise in paranormal belief systems should be seen as a sign for the nation to look within itself and find what spiritual battle is, in fact, being fought.
Artist portrayal of a witches’ sabbat, Francisco Goya (1789). (© M. C. Esteban/Iberfoto/The Image Works)
Dr. Jeff Meldrum examines a Sasquatch cast. (AP Photo/Jesse Harlan Alderman)
Photo of UFOs taken in 1952 by the U.S. Coast Guard. (AP Photo/Shell Alpert)
The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. (© Joseph Callahan IV. Used by permission)
Gettysburg: America’s “Holy Ground.” (© Erin McCullough. Used by permission)
Gettysburg. (© Erin McCullough. Used by permission)
One of America’s Gothic castles: Fairfield Hills Asylum. (© Gary Hodge. Used by permission)
The “Amityville Horror” house as it stands today, peaceful and dormant. (© Gary Hodge. Used by permission)
The Mothman Statue, Point Pleasant, West Virginia. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)
Artist’s depiction of a banshee (1912). (© Mary Evans Picture Library/The Image Works)
CHAPTER 7
The Rise of Paranormal Television
On a cold, dark October night a farming tractor makes its way up a mountain road and turns off the pavement into a field of apple trees and corn that overlooks a valley. The tractor tows a cart loaded with bales of hay and about 30 adolescents and adults, huddled together to stay warm, smiling and laughing in anticipation. As the tractor enters the field screams and howls emanate from an acre of maize, a strobe light is flashing in the center of the cornfield, and a chainsaw can be heard revving its rusty motor.
Around a bonfire, more young people are laughing and behind them is the gaping entryway to the “Haunted Corn Maze,” one of many local Halloween attractions that host thrill-seeking children, teens, and adults every year. My wife and friends and I have come for a night of fun—to be given a brief scare and some laughs and the possibility of experiencing something that is beyond our realm of normal life—fear.
Naturally, there is nothing to actually fear. We have purchased tickets to engage in a willing suspension of disbelief and allow ourselves to be startled and scared by a teenager in a mask and some creepy music. But why? Why do some people go out of their way to experience a sensation that, for all intents and purposes, should be considered unpleasant? Fear is a natural, biological response to something that is threatening and potentially harmful. It reminds us to run or fight in order to preserve our lives. It is an evolutionary response to dangerous stimuli meant to ensure the survival of the individual and, hence, the species. In the case of Halloween attractions, when someone jumps out at us from behind a doorway or from stalks of corn, we get the initial rush of adrenaline with the knowledge that, in the end, we will be safe.
If fear is the response to dangerous situations that is designed to ensure our survival, wouldn’t the haunted maze be more frightening if stocked full of actors dressed as gang members, diseased and poverty-stricken third world villagers, and teenagers with driver’s licenses? These present real-world fears with real-world consequences. Instead of a corn maze on the top of a rural hillside, would it not be more frightening to go to the ghetto? Naturally, we want the jolt of fear without the consequences of potential harm. So instead, we travel to a farm with corn and are frightened by actors wearing masks of monsters, ghosts, ghouls, and supernatural killers like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.
However, why would we find the prospect of ghosts, monsters, and the supernatural frightening at all? It does not represent any biological threat that humanity has ever known, so why would we seek those paranormal figures as a source of fear? Shouldn’t they be completely unknown to our sense of fear? Joseph Campbell uses the example of newly hatched chicks that instinctively know to hide at the sight of a hawk or even the shadow of a hawk. “Furthermore, even if all the hawks in the world were to vanish, their image would still sleep in the soul of the chick—never to be roused, however, unless by some accident of art…”1 Is our fear of ghosts, demons, and monsters actually deep-seated memories from ancient times that have left their mark on the human consciousness?
For many people, the haunted maze and other Halloween attractions encompass their experience with and use for the paranormal. It is nothing more than a fun way to have a fright around the harvest. It is something for Stephen King books and John Carpenter movies. It encapsulates a brief jolt—a moment of fun—and nothing more.
But for some others these representations of the paranormal are so much more. They, in fact, represent a worldview, an economy, a source of inspiration, a religion, a dream, and a nightmare. If religion is considered paranormal (which for this work it is), than one can instantly see the influence that the paranormal has on society and the individual. There is often resistance to classifying religion as paranormal; a more accurate interpretation is that religion is a belief system based on the paranormal. Religions are defined by the supernatural, whether it is Christ rising from the dead, Moses parting the Red Sea, or Mohammed splitting the moon. All of these events would be considered supernatural, in other words paranormal, and the belief systems that have developed from those miracles have influenced and continue to influence the world in varying degrees of peace and destruction.
The United States of America is a young nation that hosts a variety of different cultural belief systems held over from people’s homelands. But the United States may be developing a mythology all on its own, and the paranormal plays a role in that mythology. The fear that the paranormal creates in an
individual is not a real-world fear; rather, it is an otherworldly fear, one that is rooted in the unknown, the darkness, and the mythological divine. It is a more primal fear; not a fear of being hunted by a predator but rather a fear that has its roots in ancient man, when the world itself was the great mysterious. In her book on the history of Halloween, Lesley Pratt Bannatyne writes, “The Celts believed that the dead rose on the eve of Samhain and that ancestral ghosts and demons were set free to roam the earth … Samhain marked the start of the season that rightly belonged to spirits—a time when nights were long and dark fell early. It was a frightening time for a people who were entirely subject to the forces of nature, and who were superstitious about the unknown, with only a primitive sympathetic magic system to rely on for comfort.”2 With only the firelight in the darkness by which to see, these peoples believed that just outside the flickering light were ghosts and demons, which were let loose during the darkest of days. This change in season also represented a time of hunger, cold, and death. While our practices of celebrating Samhain have changed over the millennia, the recognition that the darkness descending on the land is a time of an unsettling fear remains. It is a fear of the unknown. The darkness represents the great unknown and, in our efforts to conceive of that which cannot be known, the mind creates supernatural figures of frightening proportions. These ghosts, demons, and monsters are symbols, whether real or imagined, of all that cannot be known.
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