Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

So as soon as I came up here in 86, you know, I started hearing about the devil whispers case.

And, you know, there was this castle and there was the pink room and there were these drugs.

And, you know, so obviously it's probably the most bizarre murder case I've ever encountered.

Welcome to Sword and Scale, Season 4, Episode 95, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.

Yeah. In this episode, we venture back to the 80s and this topic that seems to come back again and again.

The Satanic panic era seems to have produced more strange stories than most would like to admit. But this particular story has overtones that are relevant to this day,

in the form of bigotry versus religious fundamentalism, and how the media can sometimes play

a dangerous role between the two.

Many of us, whether we choose to readily admit it, construct our lives around some form of escapism.

Maybe your escape is a TV show waiting for you when you get home from work,

or a weekend relaxing at a cabin in the woods it could

be watching a football game on Sunday going to the movies reading a book or listening to

your favorite podcast we need these little breaks these escapes to keep us from burning out

and for most of us, that's enough.

But some people take escapism a step further

and seek to turn their escape into a permanent reality.

In 1976, Dr. Charles Scudder did exactly that.

Music Scudder did exactly that. On his 50th birthday, Dr. Charles Scudder quit his job as an associate professor at Loyola

University, Chicago, sold off most of his possessions, and headed out to a rural plot of land

he'd purchased in a remote corner of northern Georgia with his partner,

...