The Crazy Real-Life Story Of The Satanic Panic

Michelle Remembers, published in 1980, was the first work to claim that Satanic practitioners were ritually abusing children. Written by Michelle Smith and psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder, the book contained lurid stories of abuse uncovered during Smith's therapy sessions. According to Capital Daily, Pazder began to use hypnotic regression during Smith's sessions.

At first, these were worldly horrors like purportedly witnessing a murder, but, as the sessions continued, the recollections took on a paranormal tinge, with graveyard rituals, consumption of human remains, and the even the Devil himself. At one point, Michelle claims, occultists installed horns and a tail into her own body.

Were Smith and Pazder slowly uncovering her traumatic past, or were they using unproven hypnotic regression to build a story together? Did the deeply religious Pazder use this opportunity to bolster his own faith and career?

Michelle Remembers has now been thoroughly debunked, both because Pazder used unproven methods and because no corroborating evidence was uncovered. For those who believed that well-organized Satanists were wreaking havoc in the world, this was a stark, terrifying confirmation. For others, it was a graphic, compelling story that took hold of their imaginations and made the changing world all the more terrifying. For Smith and Pazder, The Revealer says, it was the ticket to a highly public and lucrative career as speakers and consultants.

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