By: David Bloomberg
Re: Satanic Panic Lawsuit

(File: SP-SUIT.ZIP)

From: romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu!u.washington.edu!RJB
To: MIT.EDU!witchhunt

Subj:   lawsuit against Jeffrey Victor, author of Satanic Panic

 19 Jan 1995 08:51:56 -0800 (PST)

For your interest:

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 January 1995, A12:

          Jeffrey S. Victor probably thought he was doing
          some good when he wrote his 1993 book, Satanic
          Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend,
          debunking the existence of organized satanic
          cults.  Sensational charges of satanic ritual
          abuse of children had surfaced with alarming
          regularity in recent years, but an investigation
          by Mr Victor of more than 60 reports of such
          activities found no firm corroborating evidence.
          In the book, he blames the recurrence of
          satanic-cult scares on the work of "moral
          crusaders" and others.

          For his labors, Mr Victor, a sociologist at
          Jamestown Community College, and his publisher,
          Open Court Publishing Company, have been slapped
          with a lawsuit by two women named in the book.

          In Satanic Panic, Mr Victor describes the work of
          Pamala Klein, a counselor based in St Louis who
          works with children allegedly abused by satanists,
          and Norma Howes, a British social worker who has
          collaborated with Ms Klein in her anti-cult
          efforts, as an example of the kind of activity
          that can foment unwarranted belief in satanic
          cults.  The two women have charged Mr Victor and
          his publisher with libel and invasion of privacy.

          Mr Victor refused to speak publicly about the
          lawsuit, except to say of his book that
          "everything is fully documented."  Ms Klein could
          not be reached for comment.