Ritual Abuse - From the Child Abuse Wiki

copied with permission

http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse

Ritual abuse exists all over the world. There have been reports, journal
articles[1][2][3], web pages[4][5][6][7][8][9] and criminal convictions of crimes
against children and adults [10][11][12].

Contents
* 1 Definition
* 2 Origins of the term
* 3 Evidence
* 4 References
* 5 Bibliography
* 6 External Links

Definition

Ritual abuse has been defined as:

a brutal form of abuse of children, adolescents, and adults, consisting of

physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and involving the use of rituals.
Ritual does not necessarily mean satanic. However, most survivors state that they
were ritually abused as part of satanic worship for the purpose of indoctrinating
them into satanic beliefs and practices. Ritual abuse rarely consists of a single
episode. It usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The
physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual
abuse is usually painful, sadistic, and humiliating, intended as means of gaining
dominance over the victim. The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the
use of ritual/indoctrination, which includes mind control techniques and mind
altering drugs, and ritual/intimidation which conveys to the victim a profound
terror of the cult members and of the evil spirits they believe cult members can
command. Both during and after the abuse, most victims are in a state of terror,
mind control, and dissociation in which disclosure is exceedingly difficult.[13]

and as

WHAT IS RITUAL ABUSE? (BROAD DEFINITION) Ritual abuse is the abuse of a child,
weaker adult, or animal in a ritual setting or manner. In a broad sense, many of
our overtly or covertly socially sanctioned actions can be seen as ritual abuse,
such as military basic training, hazing, racism, spanking children, and partner-
battering. Some abuse is private...some public. Public ritual abuse may be either
open or secret. WHAT IS RITUAL ABUSE? (NARROW DEFINITION) The term ritual abuse is
generally used to mean prolonged, extreme, sadistic abuse, especially of children,
within a group setting. The group's ideology is used to justify the abuse, and
abuse is used to teach the group's ideology. The activities are kept secret from
society at large, as they violate norms and laws.[14]

Origins of the term

Pazder introduced the term "ritualized abuse" in 1980, describing the experiences
of an adult survivor that was disclosing satanic abuse memories. He defined the
phenomenon as "repeated physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual assaults
combined with a systematic use of symbols, ceremonies, and machinations designed
and orchestrated to attain malevolent effects." Later definitions came mostly from
professionals addressing ritual abuse in child care settings. Finkelhor, Williams,
Burns, and Kalinowski elaborated on Pazder's definition, defining ritual abuse as
"abuse that occurs in a context linked to some symbols or group activity that have
a religious, magical or supernatural connotation, and where the invocation of
these symbols or activities are repeated over time and used to frighten and
intimidate the children." Kelley referred to ritual abuse as the "repetitive and
systematic sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of children by adults as part
of cult or satanic worship"[15].
Evidence

There is a great deal of evidence supporting the existence of ritual abuse crimes
as a worldwide phenomenon. Bottoms, Shaver and Goodman found in their 1993 study
evaluating ritual abuse claims that in 2,292 alleged ritual abuse cases, 15% of
the perpetrators in adult cases and 30% of the perpetrators in child cases
confessed to the abuse[16]. "In a survey of 2,709 members of the American
Psychological Association, it was found that 30 percent of these professionals had
seen cases of ritual or religion-related abuse (Bottoms, Shaver & Goodman, 1991).
Of those psychologists who have seen cases of ritual abuse, 93 percent believed
that the reported harm took place and 93 percent believed that the alleged
ritualism occurred....The similar research of Nancy Perry (1992) which further
supports (the previous findings)…Perry also conducted a national survey of
therapists who work with clients with dissociative disorders and she found that 88
percent of the 1,185 respondents indicated ”belief in ritual abuse, involving mind
control and programming”[17].

Recently an online survey[18] of over one thousand people answered questions about
ritual abuse and extreme abuse crimes. In a summary of the survey [19], it was
found that ritual abuse/mind control is a global phenomenon. Fifty-five percent
stated they were abuse in a Satanic cult. Seventy-seven percent of the adult
survivors that responded "had been threatened with death if they ever talked about
the abuse." Also, "257 respondents reported that secret mind control experiments
were used on them as children." Eighty-two percent reported being sexually abused
by multiple perpetrators.

Anne Johnson Davis in her book Hell Minus One reported that her parents confessed
to her abuse in writing and verbally to clergymen, and to the detectives from the
Utah Attorney General’s Office. Her suppressed memories started when she was in
her mid-30s, which were fully substantiated by her mother and stepfather[20][21].

Ritual abuse and mind control crimes have also been confirmed in other
books[22][23].

A study which identified 270 cases of sexual abuse in day care settings found that
allegations of ritual abuse occurred in thirteen percent of the cases[24].
Additional evidence of ritual abuse in day care and child abuse cases has been
found in news reports, journal articles and legal
transcripts[25][26][27][28][29][30].

Ritual abuse occurrences have also been found in the Netherlands[31]and

England[32]. Reports of ritual abuse have also been found in multiple personality
disorder sufferers[15]. Kent believes that intergenerational satanic accounts are
possible and that rituals related to them may come from a deviant interpretation
of religious texts[33][34].

References

1. ^ Satanic Ritual Abuse evidence

http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-
information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
 2. ^ 2008 Publications on Ritual Abuse and Mind Control
http://www.endritualabuse.org/citation%202.htm
3. ^ Lacter, E (2008-02-11). “Brief Synopsis of the Literature on the Existence
of Ritualistic Abuse”. http://endritualabuse.org/Brief%20Synopsis.htm
4. ^ http://ritualabuse.us
5. ^ http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/
6. ^ http://www.ra-info.org
7. ^ http://www.survivorship.org
8. ^ http://theawarenesscenter.org/ritualabuse.html
9. ^ http://www.endritualabuse.org/
10. ^ Believe the children (1997). “Conviction List: Ritual Child Abuse”.
http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml
11. ^ The Satanism and Ritual Abuse Archive
http://www.endritualabuse.org/ritualabusearchive.htm
12. ^ Noblitt, PhD, J. R. - An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy
(2007) http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/an-empirical-look-at-the-ritual-
abuse-controversy-randy-noblitt-phd/
13. ^ Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force - Los Angeles County Commission for
Women http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/ra.htm
14. ^ Survivorship - Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.survivorship.org/faq.html
15. ^ a b Van Benschoten, Susan C. (1990). Multiple Personality Disorder and
Satanic Ritual Abuse: the Issue Of Credibility Dissociation Vol. III, No. 1 "A
large number of adult MPD patients in psychotherapy are reporting memories of
explicitly satanic ritual abuse beginning in childhood. The authors of two limited
surveys, conducted with a select group of MPD therapists, suggest the percentage
of reported satanic ritual abuse in the MPD population to be 20% (Braun & Gray,
1986) and 28% (Braun & Gray, 1987). A survey by Kaye and Klein (1987) reveals that
20 of the 42 MPD patients in treatment with seven Ohio therapists describe a
history of satanic ritual abuse. Ilopponen (1987) states that 38 of the more than
70 MPD patients she has treated report memories of "satanic-type ritualized abuse
" (p. 11). Two inpatient facilities specializing in the treatment of MPD report
that approximately 50% of their patients disclose memories of satanic ritual abuse
(Braun, 1989a; Ganaway, 1989). Similar accounts of satanic ritual abuse are being
reported by personally unrelated MPD patients from across the United States
(Braun, 1989b; Braun & Sachs, 1988; Kahaner, 1988; Sachs & Braun, 1987). In
addition, according to Braun (1989b), the reports of patients in this country are
similar to data collected from adult survivors in England, Holland, Germany,
France, Canada, and Mexico...Brown (1986), noting many similar allegations in
child and adult satanic ritual abuse accounts, suggests that reports are not only
comparable across geographical and personal boundaries, but across generations as
well."
http://www.empty-memories.nl/dis_90/vanbenschoten_sra.pdf
16. ^ Data from Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998).”Memory, Trauma Treatment,
And the Law” (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5 (p.62) Bottoms, B. Shaver, P. &
Goodman, G. (1993) Profile of ritual abuse and religion related abuse allegations
in the United States. Updated findings provided via personal communication from B.
Bottoms. Cited in K.C. Faller (1994), Ritual Abuse; A Review of the research. The
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children Advisor , 7, 1, 19-27
17. ^ Noblitt, J.R.; Perskin, P. (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History,
Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America p. 269, Greenwood
Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C
18. ^ Extreme Abuse Survey http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/
19. ^ Understanding ritual trauma: A comparison of findings from three online
surveys http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/eas-studies/understanding-ritual-trauma-
a-comparison-of-findings-from-three-online-surveys/
20. ^ Johnson Davis, Anne Hell Minus One: My Story of Deliverance From Satanic
Ritual Abuse and My Journey to Freedom Transcript Bulletin Publishing - ISBN 978-
0-9788348-0-7 - 2008 http://www.hellminusone.com/
21. ^ Hell Minus One - signed verified confessions of satanic ritual abuse
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/survivor-stories/hell-minus-one-signed-verified-
confessions-of-satanic-ritual-abuse/
22. ^ Secret Weapons - Two Sisters’ Terrifying True Story of Sex, Spies and
Sabotage by Cheryl and Lynn Hersha with Dale Griffis, Ph D. and Ted Schwartz. New
Horizon Press, P O Box 669 Far Hills, NJ 07931 - ISBN0-88282-196-2 "“By the time
Cheryl Hersha came to the facility, knowledge of multiple personality was so
complete that doctors understood how the mind separated into distinct ego
states,each unaware of the other. First, the person traumatized had to be both
extremely intelligent and under the age of seven, two conditions not yet
understood though remaining consistent as factors. The trauma was almost always of
a sexual nature…” p. 52 “The government researchers,aware of the information in
the professional journals, decided to reverse the process (of healing from
hysteric dissociation). They decided to use selective trauma on healthy children
to create personalities capable of committing acts desired for national security
and defense.” p. 53 - 54
23. ^ Rutz, Carol (2001). A Nation Betrayed. Grass Lake, MI: Fidelity
Publishing. ISBN 0-9710102-0-X. http://my.dmci.net/~casey/
24. ^ Sexual Abuse in Day Care: A National Study - Executive Summary - March
1988 - Finklehor, Williams, Burns, Kalinowski
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1
c/82/61.pdf "“The study identified 270 “cases” of sexual abuse in day care meaning
270 facilities where substantiated abuse had occurred involving a total of 1639
victimized children….This yielded an estimate of 500 to 550 reported and
substantiated cases and 2500 victims for the three-year period. Although this is a
large number, it must be put in the context of 229,000 day care facilities
nationwide service seven million children…allegations of ritual abuse (”the
invocation of religious, magical or supernatural symbols of activities”) occurred
in 13% of the cases.”
25. ^ Day Care and Child Abuse Cases Information on the McMartin Preschool Case,
Michelle Remembers, the Fells Acres - Amirault Case, the Wenatchee, Washington
Case, the Dale Akiki Case, the Glendale Montessori - Toward case, the Little
Rascals Day Care Center case, Fran’s Day Care case, the Baran case and the Halsey
case http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
26. ^ McMartin Preschool Case - What Really Happened and the Coverup
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/mcmartin-preschool-case-what-really-
happened-and-the-coverup/
27. ^ Archaeological Investigations of the McMartin Preschool Site
http://www.scribd.com/doc/10252626/Archaeological-Investigations-of-the-McMartin-
Preschool-Site-by-E-Gary-Stickel-PhD
28. ^ deMause, Lloyd, Why Cults Terrorize and Kill Children The Journal of
Psychohistory 21 (4) 1994 [4]" http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/whycult.htm
29. ^ Summit, R.C. (1994). The Dark Tunnels of McMartin Journal of Psychohistory
21 (4): 397-416. http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/mcmartin.htm
30. ^ Tamarkin, C. (1994a). Investigative Issues in Ritual Abuse Cases, Part I.
Treating Abuse Today, 4 (4): 14-23. Tamarkin, C. (1994b). Investigative Issues in
Ritual Abuse Cases, Part II. Treating Abuse Today, 4 (5): 5-9.
http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/investigative-issues-in-ritual-
abuse-cases-part-1-and-2-1994/
31. ^ Jonker, F.; Jonker-bakker, P. (1991). “Experiences with ritualist child
sexual abuse: a case study from the Netherlands”. Child Abuse and Neglect 15: 191-
196. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(91)90064-K. PMID 2043971 "The case of apparent ritual
sexual abuse of children in a community in the Netherlands is described in terms
of the children's stories, behaviors, and physical symptoms and the community's
reaction to reactions of police and other professionals."
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfp
b=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ429991&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=
EJ429991
32. ^ Sinason, V (1994). Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse. New York:
Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10543-9. Major publications by Valerie Sinason
http://www.valeriesinason.com/PublicationsVSinason.htm
33. ^ Kent, Stephen. (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse
Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences”. Religion 23(23):229-241.
34. ^ Kent, Stephen. (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse.
II: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences”. Religion 23(4):355-
367

Bibliography

* Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998).”Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law”
(W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5
* Cook, C. (1991). Understanding ritual abuse: A study of thirty-three ritual
abuse survivors. Treating Abuse Today, 1(4), 14-19.
* Gould, Catherine. (1992) “Ritual abuse, multiplicity, and mind-control.”
Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of
Psychology and Theology 20(3):194-6
* Hersha, C.; Hersha, L.; Griffis, D.; Schwarz, T (2001). Secret Weapons. Far
Hills, NJ: New Horizon Press. ISBN 0-88282-196-2.
* Johnston, Jerry (1989). The Edge of Evil - The Rise of Satanism in North
America. Dallas: Word Publishing. ISBN 0-8499-0668-7.
* Jonker, F and Jonker-Bakker, I. (1997). “Effects of Ritual Abuse: The
results of three surveys in the Netherlands.” Child Abuse & Neglect 21(6):541-556
* Kent, Stephen. (1994). “Diabolic Debates: A Reply to David Frankfurter and
J. S. La Fontaine,” Religion 24: 135-188.
* Kent, Stephen. (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part
One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences”. Religion 23(23):229-241.
* Kent, Stephen. (1993). “Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse. II:
Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences”. Religion 23(4):355-367
* Leavitt, Frank. Measuring the impact of media exposure and hospital
treatment on patients alleging satanic ritual abuse. Treating Abuse Today 8(4)
1998 pp. 7-13 "This study provides evidence that clients who report SRA exhibit a
set of associations to SRA-related words that cannot be explained by exposure to
the popular media or from inpatient treatment."
http://web.archive.org/web/20000306224228/http://idealist.com/tat/leavitt.shtml
* Neswald, D., Gould, C., & Graham-Costain, V. (1991). Common programs
observed in survivors of Satanic ritual abuse. The California Therapist, 3 (5), 47
50. http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/sracp.htm
* Noblitt, J.R.; Perskin, P. (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History,
Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America p. 269, Greenwood
Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C
* Noblitt, R.; Perskin, P. (2008). Ritual abuse in the 21st century p. 552,
Bandon, OR: Reed Publishers.
http://www.rdrpublishers.com/catalog/item/6339393/5820690.htm
* Sachs, A. & Galton, G. (Eds) (2008). Forensic Aspects of Dissociative
Identity Disorder London: Karnac. Chapters include discussions on ritual abuse,
dissociative identity disorder, mind control, extreme abuse, survivor accounts and
criminal convictions http://www.karnacbooks.com/product.php?PID=25876
http://books.google.com/books?id=upHtL9lual0C&dq=Forensic+aspects+of+dissociative+
identity+disorder+|&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=caNy__6-
zt&sig=VwIOryBkcSN0nh24CJR3aJkS_gs&hl=en&ei=702fSbmpOo_ftgfe5eSVDQ&sa=X&oi=book_re
sult&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA142,M1
* Scott, S. (2001). The politics and experience of ritual abuse: beyond
disbelief. Open University Press. ISBN 0335204198. http://www.amazon.com/Politics-
Experience-Ritual-Abuse/dp/0335204198
* Smith, Margaret. (1993). Ritual Abuse: What it Is, why it Happens, and how
to Help by Margaret - HarperCollins
* Waterman, Jill; Kelly, Robert J.;Oliveri, M. K.;and McCord, Jane (1993).
Behind the Playground Walls - Sexual Abuse in Preschools. New York, London: The
Guilford Press, 284-8. ISBN 0-89862-523-8.
* Young, Walter C., Sachs, Roberta G., Braun, Bennett G., and Watkins, R. T.
(1993) “Patients reporting ritual abuse in childhood: A clinical syndrome. Report
of 37 cases.” Child Abuse and Neglect 15(3):181-9

External Links

* An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy

http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/an-empirical-look-at-the-ritual-abuse-
controversy-randy-noblitt-phd/
* Ritual Abuse articles http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-
ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
* Ritual Abuse Cases http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml
* Extreme Abuse Survey http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/
* http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/
* http://www.ra-info.org
* http://www.survivorship.org
* http://theawarenesscenter.org/ritualabuse.html
* Ritual Abuse Statistics & Research
http://web.archive.org/web/20071210161357/http://home.mchsi.com/~ftio/ra-stats.htm