This series contains adult language and depictions of graphic violence.

Listener discretion is advised.

So far, we've covered that first spark of the satanic panic with the doctor patient relationship between Dr. Pasder and Michelle Smith, a relationship that resulted in the groundbreaking book Michelle remembers, a book that chronicled the 14 months of intensive treatment where Michelle was able to unlock memories from her past.

Painful and disturbing memories of satanic ritual abuse

at the hands of a sex cult that had been operating in Victoria, British Columbia

for generations.

Then, the disturbing string of preschool satanic abuse cases that saw thousands of young victims and hundreds of arrests across the country starting in the early 1980s.

Many of these cases featured staff trained in new techniques that helped to identify signs

that children were in fact being abused by Satanists.

The book Michelle remembers was often one of the training tools,

along with Dr. Paster himself serving as a consultant to several law enforcement agencies.

Then things got the federal treatment with the formation of the Parents Music Resource

Center, the PMRC, which successfully lobbied Congress to pass legislation that required music with lyrics deemed detrimental to young listeners be tagged with a warning sticker to help parents make better choices. Those warning

stickers have stuck around and are still an unavoidable component of the music

industry to this day. It seems all that was left was for the mainstream media to throw

their head into the ring. So they did. Not just local news media, but also yes all local news media. No, this crisis required two of the biggest names in media during the 1980s to swoop in and save the day.

Geraldo Rivera and save the day.

Geraldo Rivera and Oprah Winfrey.

Welcome back to the Devil Within.

You're listening to Back to School,

a history of the Satanic panic, part four.

Whether a Satan exists is a matter of belief, but we are certain that Satanism exists to sum it's a religion

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