Beyond the Neon Episode 10 – Satanic Panic Part One: Storm in the USA
In the first of a two-part special, Beyond the Neon digs into the 1960s and 70s, to explore the history of Satanic Panic, and try to understand how and why it exploded across the United States in the 1980s.
The show looks into the real-life criminal cases, dubious media reports, exploitative publications and TV shows, foaming religious fanaticism, and outrageous claims of ‘experts’ and authors, to expose the hilarious and terrifying world of Satanic Panic that consumed American popular culture in the 80s.
Listen via iTunes, Spotify, using the player below, or search ‘Beyond the Neon’ in your usual podcast app or provider.
In part two (to be released in November), I’ll build upon all of this to look at how the Satanic Panic eventually spread to the UK and how music was used to help keep the madness alive through the 1980s and beyond.
All clips and music used is done so under fair use, for the purposes of historical record, criticism, scholarship and research. Beyond the Neon is a non-profit academic research project and all rights for these inclusions remain with their original creators.
References, citations and further reading/viewing (for parts one and two)
Books and publications
Baddeley, Gavin – Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship, and Rock’n’Roll, 1999 Plexus Publishing Ltd
Beck, Richard – We Believe the Children: A Moral Panic in the 1980s, 2015 PublicAffairs
Bromley, David G; Best, Joel and Richardson, James T – The Satanism Scare Social Institutions and Social Change Series), 1991 Routledge
Critcher, Chas – Critical Readings: Moral Panics and the Media, 2006 Open University Press
Hebditch, David and Anning, Nick – A Ritual Fabrication, 1990 Independent on Sunday (Sunday 30th December)
Jenkins, Philip – Intimate Enemies: Moral Panics in Contemporary Great Britain
Laycock, Joseph – Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic Over Role-Playing Games Says About Religion and Imagined Worlds
Nathan, Debbie and Snedeker, Michael – Satan’s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt, 1995 Basic Books
Partridge, Christopher and Christianson Eric S – The Lure of the Dark Side: Satan and Western Demonology in Popular Culture, 2009 Equinox Publishing
Victor, Jeffrey S – Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend, 1993 Open Court Publishing Company
Online publications
https://history.com/news/babysitters-accused-of-satanic-crimes-exonerated-after-25-years
https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/exorcist-curse-horror-movie-506425
https://io9.gizmodo.com/when-geraldo-rivera-took-on-satanism-and-a-very-confus-5829171
http://ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_2_1.htm
https://latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-01-mn-828-story.html
https://mentalfloss.com/article/504972/13-devilish-facts-about-rosemary’s-baby
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/26/business/program-on-satan-worship-spurs-controversy-at-nbc.html
https://pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/lessons/outcomes.html
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1997-43521-006
https://ranker.com/list/rosemarys-baby-curse-facts/jacob-shelton
https://swallowingthecamel.me/2011/06/10/the-prodigal-witch-part-vii-bill-schnoebelen/
https://swallowingthecamel.me/2011/07/29/the-prodigal-witch-xi-audrey-harper/
Film and television
Cook Report, The – The Devil’s Work (1989, ITV/Central Independent Television)
Deception of a Generation (1984, Eagle’s Nest Ministries)
Devil Worship: The Rise Of Satanism (1989, Jeremiah Films)
Doorways to Danger (1990, Sunrise Video Productions)
Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance vs. Judas Priest (1992, KNPB Channel 5)
Exorcists: The True Story (2004, Cream Productions)
Exorcist, The (1973, Warner Bros./Hoya Productions)
Fire by Nite: Satanism Unmasked (1988, Willie George Ministries)
Geraldo Rivera Special – Devil Worship: Exposing Satan’s Underground (1988, Investigative News Group)
Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995, HBO Pictures)
In Satan’s Name (1994, ITV/HBO)
In the Name of Satan (1990, Compassion Connection/Communications Consultants Group)
Law Enforcement Guide to Satanic Cults (1994, Lenny Magill Productions)
McMartin Preschool: Anatomy of a Panic (2014, The New York Times)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968, William Castle Productions/Paramount Pictures)
Satanic Cults and Ritual Crime (1990, Syndistar Inc.)
YouTube assets/credits
The 700 Club on rock music, D&D, cartoons (1989):
Satanic Cults and Ritual Crime (1990):
The Victim’s Body from Law Enforcement Guide to Satanic Cults
In the Name of Satan
Seth Andrews: The Satanic Panic – The Witch Hunt of the Late Twentieth Century
Anton LaVey on The Joe Pyne Show
Fire by Nite: Satanism Unmasked – Mike Warnke interview
Deception of a Generation – Phil Phillips interview
Exorcists: The True Story
Doorways to Danger
McMartin Preschool: Anatomy of a Panic