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                   Why I Don't Believe The "Survivors" Of Occult Groups 
                                    by Rowan Moonstone

              Recently onthis echo, several people have taken Pagans to task for
          naysaying the  Christian sources dealing with  former practitioners of
          various occult disciplines. I have researched this area thoroughly for
          the past  five years. I've bought  or read all the  Christian books on
          the subject that I can get my hands on. I have over 1,000 clippings in
          the files dealing with this subject, I've got over 100 audio tapes and
          20 videotapes on this subject, and I've got reams of Christian litera-
          ture, and police training material to  draw from. In addition to this,
          I grew up as a Southern Baptist and was a Sunday School teacher at the
          age of 16. I know whereof I speak when it comes to Christian sources.

              I've also  been a Witch for nigh on to  8 years now, and have net-
          worked with other Pagans all across the country, attended festivals in
          various states, and subscribed to many Pagan publications both in this
          country and abroad. I've read  many books on modern and ancient  Pagan
          religions, and can  furnish a complete bibliography  for anyone that's
          interested.

              After a concentrated search through this material, I must conclude
          that most of  the allegations  of the "survivors"  are fabricated  and
          insupportable.  In the  rest of  this report,  I will  give documented
          reasons why I believe this to be true.

              6-17-82 -Province Victoria Bulletin - "A misunderstanding appeared
          to be  the root of  a satanic scare  in Victoria this  weekend, police
          sources said Wednesday. Police, hospitals and human resources ministry
          workers had gone on the alert following a report that  a satanic group
          was  planning Tuesday  to  sacrifice a  human  baby. The  report  came
          through the  child abuse prevention  HELP line in  Vancouver. Victoria
          police said they had traced the source of the report to a church group
          in  Vancouver.  The group  apparently had  heard rumors  of a  rise in
          satanic activities in Victoria and had prayed that no atrocities would
          occur. Somehow someone interpreted  that to mean that a  sacrifice was
          actually  planned, police  said. That was  the report that  got to the
          HELP  line. However, Tuesday passed peacefully with no evidence of any
          satanic activity. "
            
              5-4-86 - New York  Times-" Derry Knight told an  astonishing story
          about his  membership in  a secret  Satanic  cult called  the Sons  of
          Lucifer and his heroic efforts to take over the leadership of the cult
          to free himself and  2,000 members from the coils of the  devil. As he
          told it, it was an incredibly dangerous  mortal struggle he was waging
          against  the most  evil forces  in the  universe, personified  by some
          prominent politicians,  including Viscount Whitelaw, the  deputy Prime
          Minister, who were, he  said, the secret masters of  Britain's Satanic
          orders ... In little  more than a year, before Mr. Knight's activities
          aroused the suspicions of  Bishop Eric Kemp of Chichester,  who called
          in  the police  fraud squad,  the support  group contributed  at least
          $313,000  to the  anti-Satanism  struggle. A  jury that  convicted Mr.
          Knight April  25 of 19  counts of fraud heard  that much of  the money
          raised by Mr. Baker had been spent by his supposedly struggling friend
          on call girls, fast cars,  and a life of dissipation."


                                                                            1720
          


              January 1988 New York Folklore"Satanism, Where are thefolklorists?
          by  Phillips Stevens, Jr. p 12 (  Mr. Stevens is referring to a murder
          of a 13-year  =old girl in this incident) "While  preparing me for the
          taping of some commentary  to be aired locally following  the National
          Geraldo Rivera  TV special on  Satanic cults  on October 25,  1988, an
          investigative reporter  for a Buffalo  TV station was  discussing That
          incident [the murder].  There were 13  people at that party,  he said,
          the  murdered girl being the 13th. Since  the murder, six of the party
          goers had committed suicide.....I  noted that it was strange  that six
          suicides  with such a  factor in common  had not been  reported in the
          news;  how did  he know  the details?  The mother  of the  most recent
          suicide had told him. ...I advised him to wait and check out the facts
          before airing this story; he called me a few days later saying no, the
          other suicides could not be confirmed."

              1-19-89 Joplin Missouri  Globe News (front page) -  "Jasper County
          Sheriff Bill Pierce said he had no figures available on  how much time
          and money that department  has spent investigating claims. He  cited a
          November case as an  example of the fruitless searches  that have been
          undertaken  because of  claims  eventually  fount  to be  false.  ...a
          Blytheville, Ark. woman told authorities there she had watched satanic
          cultists cut  the stomach of an infant, pour gasoline on the baby, and
          set  it on fire....After agreeing to take a polygraph examination, the
          woman  admitted the story  was false. She  told deputies she  made the
          false accusations to get attention."

              3=6=89 - HoustonChronicle - "A Houston -area womanwho claims to be
          a  former satanic priestess and  has told audiences  she witnessed the
          ritualistic murder of an 8-year-old Tomball girl has left law enforce-
          ment officers  frustrated in their attempts to investigate her allega-
          tions. 'We have  no homicide to link  it to. Why she  would make those
          claims and  then be  hesitant to  talk with  authorities is  reason to
          question  her motives,'  Harris  County Assistant  D.A. Casey  O'Brien
          said"
            
              The previous three messages should tell you why I don't believe in
          the  hysteria being  generated.  If anyone  wants  to see  the  entire
          articles that these quotes were taken from, send a SASE  with 3 stamps
          to P. O. Box 1842, Colorado Springs, Co 80901. BB Rowan
            
           


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