The main aim for my performance was to make my audience understand the mentality of Witch hunts and experience that mob mentality for themselves. But I did not want to do this in a way that was preachy or condescending. Overall, I think I was successful.

For this performance to work, I required people to interact with myself and other audience members. Initially there was some skepticism over whether my audience would co-operate with me. I addressed this in two ways. First, I made sure that I created an environment that encouraged participation. I made sure that the audience were lit just as much as myself to communicate that they were part of the performance, not just passive observers. When the audience entered the room, I would converse with them to warm them up to the idea of interaction within the performance. Second, I would get them to gradually commit to higher levels of interaction as the performance went on. Initially, I would only ask easy questions, but would gradually ask them to become more and more involved.

The MacFarlene interview I conducted went mostly according to plan. I fed them my own description of the crime and the ‘perpetrator’ and the participant took on board all the information I gave him. By the end of the interview, he was able to present the full description of the fictional events I had fed him as though he had done all the work. However, when it came to him naming the ‘perpetrator’, he picked someone who didn’t completely fit the description. This ultimately did not affect my performance as I was able to explain the discrepancy between the description of the suspect and the actual suspect.

One part of the performance that surprised me was how eager people were to build a pyre for our ‘perpetrator’. The only prompt I gave was “Can you lot give me a hand?”, then the group instantly knew what they were supposed to be doing. Before performing, I had imagined that they might have needed a little more persuasion.

There were many aspects and examples of moral panic that I wanted to explore in this performance but couldn’t due to time constraints, such as the Dungeons & Dragons satanic panic and the Zoe Quinn mass harassment case study. I think that the concept for my show could easily be expanded into a full length show. This would have given me more time to get to know my audience, allowed more opportunities for my audience to get involved and allowed me to cover the other two topics I mentioned.

Paper Cells

The pieces of paper used to create a cell for each individual audience member each have written on them either a lie or an accusative statement. This is intended as a visualisation of the point I make at the end of the performance, that “there are two things in this world that divide us. Lies and fear.” I did not want to state this early in the performance as I felt it would be too overt and contrived. I had hoped that maybe my audience would be able to reach their own conclusions about what it meant.

Non-Inclusion of the disabled lighter.

I intended to have a lighter with all flammable liquid removed for my performance. However, I wasn’t able to procure a lighter that had a separate spark wheel and valve operator. The only ones I could find were ones which combined the two. I wanted the components to be separate as these models are harder to light. When I would attempt to light it in the performance, it would appear as though I was struggling to light it. With a combined components lighter, it would be clear that the lighter was disabled.

Another reason for it’s non-inclusion is that the sparks from the lighter may still have posed a risk.

Cape and Beard/Over-Theatrical Introduction

One thing I aimed for in the performance was authenticity. One way in which I tried to create this was to initially introduce my self in an inauthentic, over-theatrical way, then to remove these theatrical items and perform more naturally. The removal of inauthentic elements from the show is intended to highlight how genuine the rest of the performance is.

“Remember the most annoying irritating thing that’s happened to you this past week.”

I tried to apply the psychological theory of ‘Gradual Commitment’ to the performance. By asking an open question near the beginning, I wanted to begin a dialogue with the audience and make them aware that they may be asked for their input. As the performance continued, I wanted them to be more prepared to co-operate when I’d ask them to name a horrific crime and later to be more open to the suggestion of burning another audience member alive.

Due to time constraints, this section was cut from the main body of the performance. Instead, an abridged version was done while the audience were entering the studio.

“Ladies and Gentleman. Among you is a [perpetrator of what ever crime they named]”

This was intended to spark curiosity over who among them it might be.

Salem incident description.

I wanted to present the facts about how one of the most notorious witch hunts began to give some context for my performance and to lead into the interview I did afterwards. However, I didn’t want to fully explain these facts or give my opinions on them because hopefully my audience would be capable of forming their own opinions.

“I’m going to calmly ask this monster if he has anything to say in his defense.”

This was changed in the performance to, “do you have anything to say in your defense?” I did this after I realised that asking an individual to answer an open question with no preparation time and a lot of pressure to give an answer usually leads them to giving a basic answer despite the fact the question called for more. In this case, “I didn’t do it” was the answer I received. By pressuring the ‘perpetrator’ into a weak defense, I’m able to make a stronger case against them on an emotional level, not a logical level, that this person was the villain they were hunting.

Masks.

When people have something that obscures their identity, even slightly, they are more likely to act irrationally, aggressively and violently, eg. wearing a hood, tribal war paint, Guy Fawkes mask. This isn’t just because they are less likely to face repercussions, but because the anonymity the mask brings makes people ignore social conventions and societal norms, they are more likely to make decisions based on emotion rather than reason. So when a group come together who anonymised by masks or something similar, they operate on a pack mentality.

Although I knew I could not truly replicate the effect, I thought that by giving each member of my ‘angry mob’ a mask to wear, they would gain an insight into what was like to be part of such a group.

The lack of a joker card.

Because I never gave out a joker to anyone, nobody was assigned the role of the ‘perpetrator’. The point I tried to make was that despite the fact there was no ‘perpetrator’, some one got persecuted anyway. As with many moral panics, this persecution was kick-started by a lie.

Click below for PDF of my script.

Josh Curran – Malefica

Branching out from the moral panic about Satanism came a new perceived enemy of society: Dungeons & Dragons. As the role-playing game features sorcery, witches, demons etc., some people conclude that this led to Satanic worship. One popular Christian tract depicted the game to be a method of training people in Satanic worship.

The beginning of the panic is detailed below:

Once again we see that moral panics may hatch from people with too much time on their hands, but lazy journalism gives them their wings. In 1979, James Dallas Egbert disappeared in a series of steam tunnels under Michigan State University. Assuming he was a nerd after hearing his name, local newspapers reported that he had committed suicide (or was killed) during a real life session of D&D.

Their phones apparently broken, they failed to discover that he was in fact not dead, but was hiding at a friend’s house after a failed suicide attempt. Reporters also failed to learn that he was addicted to drugs and clinically depressed.

The story might have died there, but a columnist for Cosmopolitan named Rona Jaffe saw an opportunity and wrote a thinly fictionalized version of the events in a book called Mazes and Monsters. (Shakespeare, 2009)

The book suggests that the game stops players from being able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. In 1982, it was then adapted into a TV movie starring Tom Hanks.

Later, Patricia Pulling whose son, Irving Pulling, committed suicide in 1982. Irving occasionally played D&D, so his mother assumed that this was what had caused the suicide. She formed the group ‘Bothered about Dungeons and Dragons’ (BADD) and toured America, lecturing people about the dangers claiming it was:

A fantasy role-playing game which uses demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, prostitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism,desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination and other teachings. (Waldron, 2005)

She then sued the publishers of the game and also her son’s school principal as she believed that he had placed a “D&D curse” on her son before he died. Pulling lost both cases. She then went on to publish a book called The Devil’s Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children For Satan?

These events caused the game to be banned in many schools and community areas. While this panic did relatively little damage compared to other moral panics, it serves to demonstrate the common themes in a moral panic:

• Fear of the unknown.
• Scapegoating.
• A vendetta to purge an element from the community.

Shakespeare, G. (2009) ‘The 6 Most Insane Moral Panics in American History’ [Online] Cracked. Available from: http://www.cracked.com/article_17040_the-6-most-insane-moral-panics-in-american-history_p2.html [Accessed 27 April 2016]

Waldron, D. (2005) ‘Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic’, Journal Of Religion And Popular Culture, 9

In 1980, a book by Lawrence Pazder and Michelle Smith was published called Michelle Remembers. The book details sessions of hypnotherapy between Michelle Smith and her psychiatrist, (later her husband) Lawrence Pazder. In these sessions, Michelle “recalls” that at the age of five, she witnessed numerous Satanic rituals performed by her mother and a worldwide secret Satanic cult. She then “recalls” being subjected to said rituals, and being raped and tortured.  She claimed “she had witnessed debauchery, murder and the sacrifice of babies, the mutilation of snakes and kittens… She was made to drink blood at the altar of Satan” (Allen and Midwinter, 1990). Her final documented “repressed memory” was an eighty-one day ritual that succeeded in summoning Satan himself the the earthly realm. She claims that Satan’s rising was stopped by the sudden appearance of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Michael. She claims that after defeating Satan,  Jesus healed her physical scars that were a result of her torture and erased her memories of the abuse so that she could live a happy life.

The book states this account as literal fact. After the book was published, some people began to investigate some of the claims in the book:

“Smith’s stories were false, of course. Evidence confirms that Smith had been attending school over the course of the supposed 81-day ritual where many of these unholy experiences reportedly took place. But until the early 1990s, Smith’s revelations were widely accepted as fact. “For her it was very real,” Dr. Pazder said in a 1990 interview with the Daily Mail on Sunday newspaper. “We are all eager to prove or disprove what happened, but in the end it doesn’t matter.”” (Bronca, 2015)

“Mr Proby [Michelle’s Father] itemised, as examples, three specific points where he says Michelle lied.

BOOK: Michelle said she had no religious upbringing.

FATHER: `She went to church every Sunday with her mother and sisters. The three of them were confirmed together.’

BOOK: Michelle said she was twice poisoned during Satanic rites.

FATHER: `She was treated for poisoning, but it had nothing to do with devil-worship. Once she drank turps and paint mixture while I was cleaning my brushes. Another time she ate shoe polish.’

BOOK: Michelle describes a horrible car accident which was re-lived by the devil-worshippers, in which Satan himself appears.

FATHER: `What I do recall was us once coming across a fatal crash in our car. We saw two cars smashed together, and a woman lying in the road bleeding to death. Her intestines were hanging out, and it was a horrible sight. Michelle started to scream and we could not stop her for ages.'” (Allen and Midwinter, 1990)

However, the extreme claims and lack of supporting evidence in the book did not deter mass panic. Over the next few years, thousands of people made claims that they had abused by Satanic cults at a young age. As a result, Parents became more suspicious of adults who had responsibility for their children.

In 1983, Judy Johnson accused Ray Buckley, one of her son’s preschool teachers at McMartin preschool, of raping her son because he was experiencing painful bowel movements. The police arrested Ray Buckley, and suspicious that he may have abused other children, they sent this letter to parents with children at the school:

“Dear Parent:

This Department is conducting a criminal investigation involving child molestation (288 P.C.) Ray Buckey, an employee of Virginia McMartin’s Pre-School, was arrested September 7, 1983 by this Department.

The following procedure is obviously an unpleasant one, but to protect the rights of your children as well as the rights of the accused, this inquiry is necessary for a complete investigation.

Records indicate that your child has been or is currently a student at the pre-school.  We are asking your assistance in this continuing investigation.  Please question your child to see if he or she has been a witness to any crime or if he or she has been a victim.  Our investigation indicates that possible criminal acts include: oral sex, fondling of genitals, buttock or chest area, and sodomy, possibly committed under the pretense of “taking the child’s temperature.”  Also photos may have been taken of children without their clothing.  Any information from your child regarding having ever observed Ray Buckey to leave a classroom alone with a child during any nap period, or if they have ever observed Ray Buckey tie up a child, is important.

Please complete the enclosed information form and return it to this Department in the enclosed stamped return envelope as soon as possible.  We will contact you if circumstances dictate same.

We ask you to please keep this investigation strictly confidential because of the nature of the charges and the highly emotional effect it could have on our community.  Please do not discuss this investigation with anyone outside your immediate family.  Do not contact or discuss the investigation with Raymond Buckey, any member of the accused defendant’s family, or employees connected with the McMartin Pre-School.

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE TO INDICATED THAT THE MANAGEMENT OF VIRGINIA MCMARTIN’S PRE-SCHOOL HAD ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THIS SITUATION AND NO DETRIMENTAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF THE SCHOOL HAS BEEN DISCOVERED DURING THIS INVESTIGATION.  ALSO, NO OTHER EMPLOYEE IN THE SCHOOL IS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR ANY CRIMINAL ACT.” (Kuhlymeyer and Wehner, 1983, original capitalisation)

Unsurprisingly, this caused mass panic. 384 separate allegations of abuse were made against Ray Buckey, his mother Peggy Buckey, the preschool founder Virginia McMartin, and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Betty Raidor, and Babette Spitler. Judy Johnson made further claims about what happened at the school: “Johnson told police that Ray pranced around the preschool in a cape and a Santa Claus costume, and that other teachers at the school chopped up rabbits and placed “some sort of star” on her son’s bottom.” (Linder, 2003). Accusations were made that the staff would regularly take nude photographs of the children and that there were secret rooms built into the school where they would molest the children. No such photographs or rooms were found.

The children involved were interviewed by Kee MacFarlane. She used techniques such as leading questions and rewarding children with praise if they “recalled” abuse that happened to them. Additionally, she would tell the children what other children had reported. This led to contradictory statements and bizarre claims such being abused in a hot air balloon, literally being flushed down the toilet, and the school having a giant tunnel network where the teachers could take children. The lawyer for the defence, Daniel Davies, demonstrated how easy to manipulate a child’s testimony using these methods. Using various photographs, Davies managed to make one of the children identify Chuck Norris as their abuser.

The first trial ended in 1989, 6 years after Ray Buckey’s arrest, when the jury acquitted the defendants on most counts and were hung on the others. Ray Buckley was retried in 1990 and acquitted again.

“The McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial was costly in many ways.  In monetary terms, it cost taxpayers over $15 million dollars.  For the defendants, the costs of the trial included long terms in jail (Ray Buckey spent five years in jail before being released on bail), loss of homes, loss of jobs, loss of life savings, and a stigma that might never leave.  The children too were victims.  Ray Buckey in a CBS interview said: “Those poor children went through hell,…but I’m not the cause of their hell and neither is my mother..The cause of their hell is the …adults who took this case and made it what it was.”  Parents, too, suffered.  Many felt betrayed by the justice system.  The community of Manhattan Beach was another victim, left uneasy and polarized by the long investigation and judicial proceedings.

The effects of the McMartin trial even extended beyond the state of California.  Across the country, day care providers resisted the temptation to hug or touch children–contact almost all child experts say children need–out of a fear that their actions might be interpreted as signs of abuse.  Many day care centers were forced to close their doors after insurance companies, fearing molestation lawsuits, dramatically raised liability insurance rates.  Early publicity surrounding the McMartin investigation also spawned a rash of charges against day care providers elsewhere, many of which proved to be unsubstantiated.

There are many lessons to be learned from the McMartin Preschool Trial.  There are lessons for police and prosecutors, but there are also lessons for the media.  It was “pack journalism”–slanted heavily toward the prosecution, providing sensational headlines day after day, almost never seriously questioning the allegations–that turned the McMartin trial into the expensive and damaging fiasco that it became.” (Linder, 2003)

Allen, D. and Midwinter, J. (1990) ‘Michelle Remembers: The debunking of a myth.’ The Mail on Sunday. 30 September, p. 41

Bronca, T. (2015) ‘The Canadian doctor behind the ‘satanic panic’ of the 1980s’, Medical Post, 51, 13, p. 34

Kuhlymeyer, H. and Wehner, J. (1983) ‘Letter to McMartin Preschool Parents from Police Chief Kuhlmeyer, Jr.’ [Online] University of Missouri-Kansas City.  Available from: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcmartin/lettertoparents.html [accessed 18 April 2016]

Linder, D. (2003) ‘The McMartin Preschool Abuse Trial: A Commentary.’  [Online] University of Missouri-Kansas City.  Available from: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcmartin/mcmartinaccount.html [accessed 18 April 2016]