It started in the 1970s and never quite ended, contrary to widespread belief.

The Satanic Panic found its beginnings in the 1970s after the Manson Murders spurred public interest in cults, murder, and occultism. This sense of panic only grew after media such as The Satanic Bible and the novel (along with the film) The Exorcist. The pandemonium only ever grew when false accounts of Satanic kidnappings and murder started flowing to the masses. Kids would falsely claim abuse at the hands of devil worshipers and occultists. We also saw the rise of violent crime at the hands of individuals such as Ted Bundy and acts such as the Jonestown Massacre, which did little to help.

As if the true villains of the eighties weren’t Ronald Regan, the war on drugs, and the AIDS epidemic.

This is where fundamentalists started clutching pearls over the growing fear of Satan. Anti-Satan templars pushed out media warning about the negative influences of the occult. Hell, even 20/20 did an episode on the occult and Catholic exorcisms. fingers began being pointed at people and things in a cheap copy of the Red Scare.

People’s lives were ruined due to this. People went to jail. One of the best examples is the West Memphis Three in 1993. Three boys were falsely accused of murder and forced into false confessions. They lost eighteen years to this. They were kids who listened to heavy metal and were punks but not murderers. Fingers were pointed and people started shouting devil worship. Were they saints? No! They got into some trouble but nothing along the lines of murder. Vandalism and underage drinking maybe. Murder? No.

The three boys were released in 2011.

These people pointed their fingers at heavy metal, Dungeon and Dragons, and other related material. All were accused of luring youth to the sinful hands of hell. I mean how many kids got told no to this media due to the rampant fears around it? I have cousins who are banned from Harry Potter and cartoons such as Ed Edd n Eddy because of the influence of “evil”.

Of course, now we read this all and think “What a joke! Who still thinks this!” A good chunk of people do.

The truth is that the Satanic Panic was never truly over. It simply just simmered down.

There are moments when it tends to flare up. Look at 2021 and the overreaction to Lil Nas X’s “Satan shoes”. Hell, look at the book ban movement in Florida. Texas librarians quit after being branded as the “arms of Satan”.

Can you imagine that? Banning books such as To Kill a Mocking Bird and I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing.

Due to supposed satanic imagery?

It baffles me.

It’s nothing more than a witch hunt. An absolute waste of time witch hunt. The abusive mass hysteria that’s formed from fear and anger.

What’s the next target of this mass hysteria? Gunpla? Warhammer? I honestly don’t know and would be surprised.

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Have a happy Tuesday, everyone! Remember, read banned books!

-J