Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse And The Making Of A Modern American Witch Hunt Cover
Podcast Mentions

Satan's Silence Ritual Abuse And The Making Of A Modern American Witch Hunt

Debbie Nathan

Communities throughout the United States were convulsed in the 1980s by accusations, often without a shred of serious evidence that respectable men and women in their midst—many of them trusted preschool teachers—secretly gathered in far-reaching conspiracies to rape and terrorize children. In this...

Podcasts 3
Quotes 27
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

It was mentioned as a book written by a lawyer and social worker, considered the best account of the satanic daycare panic of the 1980s, and was deemed an amazing book by Zeena Schreck.

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did you ever read satan's silence by any chance do you know that book satan's silence oh well it was written by a lawyer and a social worker and it's the best account that i've ever read by a large ma...

— Episode: Exposing Satanism: Fear, Manipulation, &...

Episode: Exposing Satanism: Fear, Manipulation, & Suffering...

It was mentioned as a book written by a lawyer and social worker, considered the best account of the satanic daycare panic of the 1980s, and was deemed an amazing book by Zeena Schreck.

"

did you ever read satan's silence by any chance do you know that book satan's silence oh well it was written by a lawyer and a social worker and it's the best account that i've ever read by a large margin of the satanic daycare panic in the 1980s it's an amazing book satan's silence yeah

Behind the Bastards

It was described as the defining work on the satanic panic era, and was discussed in relation to the idea of demonology as a cultural narrative.

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And yeah, the authors of Satan's Silence, which is, have you read that book? It's fucking incredible.

— Episode: Part One: The Satanic Panic: America's F...

Episode: Part One: The Satanic Panic: America's First QAnon

It was described as the defining work on the satanic panic era, and was discussed in relation to the idea of demonology as a cultural narrative.

"

And yeah, the authors of Satan's Silence, which is, have you read that book? It's fucking incredible.

the narrative specific to every culture that identifies the ultimate evil threatening the group.

These feminist visions were obscured, however, by an intransigent society-wide insistence that the problem lay merely in the minds of a few troubled men.

Thanks to an alliance among feminists, therapists and law enforcement officials, it was becoming possible for daughters to disclose their victimization and for fathers to admit their guilt.

Ironically then, politicians and child protectionists' fervor to keep fathers in families left many youngsters and women at risk of further abuse.

Episode: Part Two: The Satanic Panic: America's First QAnon

It was referenced multiple times during the podcast episode and described as a well-researched and insightful book regarding the McMartin Preschool trial.

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I'm going to quote again from that book, Satan's Silence.

Satan's silence goes on to note that as this process went on quote other children embellished their stories within days Tanya Merjeeley had talked about being sodomized and some of her classmates said Ray had penetrated both of their rectums and made them fillet him.

Satan's silence goes into very good detail over all this but to be honest it is some of the darkest shit I've ever read.

I'm going to quote again from Satan's silence about like how out of control shit gets in Manhattan Beach.

That's part of what's such a good I mean it also is where I got all the background of like what set this up. I can't say enough about what a good book it is. If you want to understand.

Episode: Part One: The Satanic Panic: America's First QAnon

It was described as the defining work of the satanic panic era and discussed the narrative of ultimate evil threatening a group, particularly during times of social turmoil.

"

And yeah, the authors of Satan's Silence, which is, have you read that book? It's fucking incredible.

The defining work of the satanic panic era.

the narrative specific to every culture that identifies the ultimate evil threatening the group.

During periods of social turmoil and moral crisis, societal preoccupation with its demoniology intensifies.

These feminist visions were obscured, however, by an intransigent society-wide insistence that the problem lay merely in the minds of a few troubled men.

Episode: Part Two: The Satanic Panic: America's First QAnon

It was referenced throughout the podcast as a book that provided insightful details on the McMartin preschool case, specifically detailing the dark aspects of the case involving children's fabricated claims of abuse.

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I'm going to quote again from that book, Satan's Silence.

Satan's silence goes on to note that as this process went on quote other children embellished their stories within days Tanya Merjeeley had talked about being sodomized and some of her classmates said Ray had penetrated both of their rectums and made them fillet him.

Satan's silence goes into very good detail over all this but to be honest it is some of the darkest shit I've ever read.

I'm going to quote again from Satan's silence about like how out of control shit gets in Manhattan Beach.

That's part of what's such a good. I mean, it also is where I got all the background of like what set this up. I can't say enough about what a good book it is. If you want to understand.

Episode: Part One: The Satanic Panic: America's First QAnon

It was described as the defining work of the satanic panic era, detailing the narrative that identifies ultimate evil threatening a group during social turmoil and moral crisis.

"

And yeah, the authors of Satan's Silence, which is, have you read that book? It's fucking incredible.

The defining work of the satanic panic era.

the narrative specific to every culture that identifies the ultimate evil threatening the group.

During periods of social turmoil and moral crisis, societal preoccupation with its demoniology intensifies.

These feminist visions were obscured, however, by an intransigent society-wide insistence that the problem lay merely in the minds of a few troubled men.

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Podcast

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In the episode, Kristen said she had discovered the 1995 work, which compiled 1980s alleged ritual abuse cases and argued they should be re‑examined because of the era’s satanic panic. She explained that reading the book led her to question the accuracy of her own memories, highlighting its role in exposing how social hysteria can shape recollection. The discussion presented the title as a valuable resource for understanding the modern witch‑hunt narrative.

Highly Recommended

Episode: S6 "Satanic Panic" E6: ‘I remember telling them no...

Kristen searched for and found the 1995 book, which listed 1980s cases of alleged satanic ritual abuse and helped her realize many of her memories might have been false.

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for a book that Debbie wrote along with a defense attorney. It's called, Satan's Silence, Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. And on the first page, she has a list of cases that happened in the 80s that need to be re-examined because of social hysteria around satanic ritual abuse.

Note: The book recommendations on this page are discovered automatically from podcast transcripts, and may be incorrect or incomplete.