“Was this a ritual murder?”

This “Question of the Day” popped up on my television screen as I watched Court TV’s coverage of the “Priest Accused of Nun’s Murder” trial in Toledo, Ohio on April 27th.

I turned to my computer and shot off an email. “Yes. It has the markings of a ritual murder.” Below my signature, I wrote, “I am a retired psychologist who spent a career working with ritual abuse survivors and wrote a novel about ritual abuse and murder in a small town in the Bible Belt.”

A producer telephoned me the next day. “Our anchors, Lisa Bloom and Vinnie Politan, want to know if they can do a live phone interview with you. They’d like you to tell our viewers how survivors get over ritual abuse . . . and give your impressions of the case.”

For seven minutes on May Day, I spoke for survivors to two million viewers about the reality of ritual abuse.

There was no time to tell two million viewers how I have sat with shattered souls as they recover from ritual abuse or how I have often observed the resiliency of a victim’s human spirit. I’m reminded of a successful professional woman, now a grandmother, who at two years old was laid bare on an altar and dedicated to Satan; at eleven, strapped on a gurney while a burgeoning life was ripped from her not-quite-grownup body. How did she even survive childhood?

Understandably, Bloom and Politan were more interested in what I had to say about the satanic ritual aspects of the case. But I did make the point that satanic cults are not the only venue where ritual abuse occurs.

“The same evils reportedly carried out in the name of Satan” I said, “are also ‘perpetrated in perverted Christianity cults, witchcraft, neo-Nazism, KKKism and other destructive ’isms.’”

In summing up the interview, Bloom stated: “Well, it [Satanism] is, as you say, another destructive ’ism.’”

Although there is controversy over the reality of ritual abuse, each element of the ritual pattern has been documented. It’s just that when we combine all the elements of ritual abuse into one scenario, we get overloaded with horror. (1) sadistic sexual abuse by multiple perpetrators, (2) international organizations of pedophiles/ pornographers/traffickers, (3) desecration of religious institutions, (4) electroshock, (5) mind control, (6) bestiality, (7) sensory deprivation, (8) forced drugging, (9) human and animal mutilations/sacrifices . . . even cannibalism.

Among the deluge of emails I received after the interview, the most poignant response came from a 58-year-old woman.

“I was in the fourth grade when my priest scarred me for life. He was naked except for a vestment over his head and prayed in Latin as he sodomized me in the sacristy of my church in Toledo, Ohio.”

She continued, “I am quite certain there are many more silent victims of satanic ritual abuse in Toledo who have not come forward. The heinous nature of these crimes is such that perpetrators escape justice, as no one wants to believe that anyone, let alone a priest, could be capable of such atrocities. This poor nun may have stumbled upon something for which she was silenced, perhaps as a warning to other victims to ‘keep their mouths shut.’”

Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was brutally murdered in 1980 on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter in the Christian faith; on Holy Saturday, the day that satanic calendars refer to as a holiday requiring a human sacrifice. As tragic as the nun’s apparently sacrificial murder was, perhaps her death was not entirely in vain.

The image of a “Bride of Christ” lying posed, partially naked on that cold sacristy floor with an inverted crossed stabbed over her heart has effectively silenced those who say that there is no proof for the existence of ritual abuse.

A priest murdered a nun who was probably his lover or a person he wanted to be his lover but who rebuffed him. Various clergy members are exposed as child molestors - something that has probably been going on since the Middle Ages or earlier. How do these events prove the involvement of national or international satanist networks, or the involvement of satanists at all? Haven't a number of people working in schools, day care centers, and other institutions had their lives ruined after psychologists and social workers pressured six year-olds to say that they had been involved in satanic rituals? They probably could have been pressured into saying that they had been abducted by space aliens as well, but this would hardly make it true.

Contrary to oft-cited statements from False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) spokespersons and advocates, sufficient evidence was found at the McMartin daycare center to verify the claims of many of the child victims' statements. For more information, see Archaeological Investigations of the McMartin Preschool site by E. Gary Stickel, Ph.D. at http://tesserae.org/tess/prose/tunnels2.html.




This has descriptions of severe abuse
An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy - James Randall Noblitt, Ph.D. “Michael Newton (cited in Noblitt, 1998a) accumulated data on criminal convictions in the U.S. where allegations of ritual abuse of children were made. He found cases of 145 defendants who were sentenced.” “ Pamela Hudson (1991) assessed 24 children in a case of alleged ritual abuse at Fort Bragg day care center in California. Hudson found five symptoms to be present among many of the children.” “Susan Kelley (1993) compared three groups of children in day care: 35 allegedly ritualistically abused children, 32 children reportedly sexually, not ritualistically abuse, and 67 children without any claims of sexual abuse. She collected data from the abused children’s parents and compared the results of the children with non-ritualistic sexual abuse with ritualistic sexual abuse. She found that ritualistically abused children were more likely to report more incidents, types and severity of abuse relative to the non-ritual sexual abuse victims. She also found that ritualistic abuse was more often associated with multiple victim, multiple perpetrator situations.” “"Jill Waterman, Robert Kelley, Mary Kay Olivieri, and Jane McCord (1993) did a six year longitudinal study of 82 children who had made allegations of ritualistic sexual abuse (RSA) in the Manhattan Beach, California area in comparison with 37 non-abused (NA) children and 15 non-ritualistically sexually abused (SA) children. A variety of standardized and non-standardized questionnaires and interview instruments were employed. They found that both the RSA and SA group reported intrusive and highly intrusive sexual abuse. Additionally the RSA group but not the SA group reported “terrorizing acts..." “Recantations occurred in 25% of the RSA and 23% of the SA children. This was the case even though the perpetrator in the SA group had given a detailed confession. However, 88% of the RSA group that recanted, later redisclosed abuse.” “"Snow and Sorenson (1990) saw 39 children who described abuse in five neighbor-based cults in Utah. In four of the five cults there were alleged incidents of intrafamilial incest, perpetration by adolescents, and features of an adult sex ring. No adolescent perpetration was found in the fifth group....At least two-thirds of the children described multiple locations of abuse, pornography, ingestion or other use of excrement, the espousal of Satanic beliefs, magical spells and use of occult paraphernalia, animal mutilation or killing, and the use of drugs. The abusers were generally viewed as respected members of the community and many were religious leaders. Two of the accused adult perpetrators were convicted and two adolescents pled guilty." “Jonker and Jonker-Bakker (1991,1997) reported a case of the ritual abuse of children in the Netherlands. The authors describe the allegations and their observations regarding this case in Oude Pekela.” “Jonker and Jonker-Bakker (1991,1997) reported a case of the ritual abuse of children in the Netherlands. The authors describe the allegations and their observations regarding this case in Oude Pekela.” http://www.mkzine.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0&POSTNUKESID=a5f4bfbe3c863270e6ff3cc39bd87b5b

Behind the Playground Walls - sexual abuse in preschools - Jill Waterman, Robert J. Kelly. Mary Kay Oliveri, Jane McCord - The Guilford Press, 1993. NY, London - A 6 year study on sexual and ritualistic abuse and funded from a grant through the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) ISBN 0-89862-523-8 This may be out of print, but is available used. “Kelly, 1989....defined ritualistic abuse as “repetitive and systematic sexual abuse, physical and psychological abuse of children by adults as part of cult or satanic worship” (p. 503)....Kelley obtained data on 32 children involved in day care sexual abuse without ritualistic elements and 35 children involved in day care ritualistic sexual abuse. These were compared with 67 nonabused controls....The results of this study indicated that ritualistic abuse was associated with significantly more victims, abused by a significantly greater number of offenders per child....ritualistically abused children experienced more incidents of abuse, more types of abuse, more severe and intrusive sexual acts...more involvement in sexual activity with other children and pornography, more co-occurring physical abuse, and more terrorizing verbal abuse than did the children that were sexually abused without ritualistic elements. Verbal abuse was...violent death threats against the victims (86%) and/or their parents (94%) linked to disclosure of abuse...this study is in agreement with clinical presentations (Crewdson, 1988; Gould, 1987; Kagy, 1986; Strieff, 1988) and previously discussed studies (Faller, 1987; Finkelhor et al., 1988) in documenting ritualistic and Satanic abuse as being marked by a disturbing high level of the most traumatic forms of child maltreatment.” (P. 26 - 27)

"Cultural and Economic Barriers to Protecting Children from Ritual Abuse and Mind Control," Catherine Gould, Ph.D. Dec. 1995, Here are some quotes: "Among 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association who responded to a poll, 2,292 cases of ritual abuse were reported (Bottoms, Shaver, & Goodman, 1993).

"Evidence also continues to accumulate that the ritual abuse of children constitutes a child abuse problem of significant scope." (Studies and numbers are listed.) "Finkelhor, Williams and Burns (1988)...substantiated reports of sexual abuse ...involving 1,639 ... child victims..." Other reports of possible ritual abuse include: Kelly (1988; 1989; 1992a; 1992b; 1993) 35 day care victims, Waterman et al.(1993) 82 children, Faller (1988; 1990) 18 children, Bybee and Mowbray(1993) 62 children, 53 children seeing others being ritually abused, Snow and Sorenson (1990) 39 children reporting ritual abuse, in Utah, and Jonker and Jonker-Bakker(1991) 48 victims of ritual abuse." "..58% of the ritual abuse cases in the Finkelhor(1988) study that went to trial resulted in convictions. In the Kelly (1992b) study, convictions were obtained in 80% of the ritual and sexual abuse cases combined." "convictions were obtained in 11% of all ritual child abuse cases studied by Bottoms et al. (1991; 1993)."

Ritual abuse home page at http://www.xroads.com/rahome . Has lots of links and info.

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/karencuriojonesarchive.htm
Satanism and Ritual Abuse Archive
By Diana Napolis aka Karen Jones © 2000
http://www.newsmakingnews.com
The following cases describe legal proceedings held in Juvenile, Family, Civil and Criminal Courts around the world where there have been allegations of Satanism or the use of Ritual to abuse others.