The Devil and Mr. Mattox BY DEBBIE NATHAN El Paso HAT IN THE WORLD ‘possessed Jim Mattox to appear fn the "Geraldo" and “Oprah Winfrey” shows ensier this month and to take part in hysterialaden and anti-Semitic discussions of devil worship? From a vantage point that is distant from state capital and Capitol gossip, itis difficult to appraise the claim that Matiox's upstage media role in the Brownsville/Matamoros cult murder incident is a ploy to boost his ratings for next spring's gubernatorial primary race against. Ann Richards, who, turned ina star TV performance at the Demoeratic National Convention last sum= mer. Mattox demurs, claiming he appeared ‘on “Oprah” and “Geraldo” Because of his sineere desire to warn the public about illegal drug consumerism, But whether cynical or well meant, ‘motives hardly matter, We'fe judging mere bad taste here, or mere careevism, oF even ‘major trashiness, The fact s that on national TY, in front of millions of viewers, the Texas Attorney General dignified a hodge- Podge of kooks: Elmer Ganiry-osque funda mentalist Christian revivalists, paranoid crackpots sharing Lyndon LaRouche-style theories that a cabal of international Satanists is out to conquer the world; not to mention incompetent therapists whose ‘reatment™ apparently has ereated another type of media euriosity: mentaly il people harboring delusions that they are murderers and cannibals And to top it all off, as Mattox sat on the “Oprah Winfrey” ‘show, one of his fellow panclists casually resurrected the ‘ood libel” rumor — an ages-old accusa- tion that Jews slaughter babies and eat them, Such a Tine of discussion has litle to do ‘vith educating the public about UT student Mark Kilroy's death in Matamoros. You may be snickering. After ali, those fof us who read the New York Times and tune into NPR and PBS krow thatthe people ‘who killed Kilroy and several otber young men were idiosyncratic erazies — several fof them homosexuals who probably had pathological problems confronting repressed sexuality, We know the carnage i not the fault of Afro-Caribbean folk religion, We Know 2 litle something about Charles Debbie Nathan isa writer living in El Paso. 10 + JuNe2, 1989 ‘Manson and Simi Jones — that psychopathic charismatics who isolate people, either geographically or in some violent outlaw world like the drug trade, can get them to adopt all sorts of magical delusions, to ‘commit unspeakably heinous crimes, ‘We don’t use "devil" and “evil” interchange- ably; we don’t, for instance, believe some Satan. paranoies’ claim’ that Hedda Nussbaum killed Lisa Steinberg because she ‘was ina satanic cult; neither do we believe that Hedda knew ‘Son of Sam or the Nightstalker; nor that the Nightstalker sas in cahoots with Henry Lee Lucas. We don’t believe that our neighborhoods and daycare centers are nests of secret devil worshippers organized into a worldwide network, com ‘iting dhousands of kidnappings, rapes, and ‘murders with impunity, able to cover up every shred of evidence with the complicity of Satanic FBI agents, cops, judges, Politicians, and priests. And we don’t think that exposing what happened in Matamoros blows the cover of the International Conspi acy. “\Geraldo” and “Oprah” may promote such ideas, but they're just daytime house- Wile TV, grocery store tabloid grist. Surely no one ‘of any. consequence takes such nonsense seriously? Wrong. Plenty of people do — people who work in police departments, district atiorneys’ offices, child. proteetion and ‘mental health agencies, People you might expect would demand evidence for such wild allegations, but who don’t. People who nevertheless have the power to. foment ‘mindless paranoia, and worse, translate it into legal actions that deprive citizens of their civil Uberties — and in disturbingly ‘many instances, their physical freedom as well ‘An example: Last year, El Paso and Las Cruces, New Mexico, were the twin sifes for presentations by Californian Joan Chris tianson, a born-again Christian who travels the country and. the trash-TV. circuit, claiming to be an escapee from a cell. of ‘an international, “‘transgenerational”. Sa- tanie cult. Christianson says adults tortured and raped her when she was a small child, impregnated: her, made her bear four Gometimes she Says. five) babies, then forced her to ritually murder the infants, pass out chunks oftheir heats and eat ther, AA self-admitted former prostitute and drug addict, Christianson claims she “forgot” these events until she received treatment from a ‘Baptist spiritual cherapist.”” Her presentations typically include descriptions Of being forced to have sex with corpses, accounts of mini-crematoria to explain why no evidence of dead babies is. found, denunciations of the FBI (which doesn’t believe her story), and recommendations that disbelievers call San Francisco Police Department cop Sandi Gallant — who hnappens to be a born-again Christian and former maven in the San Francisco “red squad” intelligence office that used to spy fon the Bay Area left. Finally, Christianson issues dire warnings about what happens 10 teenagers who listen to “Satanic” heavy ‘metal rock music. She also passes out ‘material explaining that Satanists are plan- ning to defeat Jesus Christ at His Second Coming, whieh is supposed to happen any day now. In El Paso, Christianson's gasping avdi- ‘ence included mostly high school and Fort Bliss counselors: psychologists; and Texas, Department of Human Services (DHS) child protection social workers. They were education credits from the University of Texas at El Paso for attending the seminar, which was organized by Susana Martinez, a Las. Cruces-area assistant district attorney. She had_met Christianson earlier in the year at a Texas DHS child protection conference in Acting. ton — where Christianson showed up along with parents of children in California's Rotorious McMartin preschool sex abuse ‘ease, McMartin investigators talked. with children and came up with fantastic allega- ions of ritual animal sacrifice, abuse in helicopters and in graveyards with corpses. But no evidence ever surfaced to suppor such stories; what was clear was that the ple wot, coer dnerived by People convinced of the existence of an “imemnational. Satanic conspiracy.” ‘The case is now falling apart in court, but some of the parents still insist devil worshippers were behind it-all, and they avel the country making speeches, and showing Sataniam paranoia films. Though they ‘dropped in uninvited at Arlington, Christian. son and her companions got a presentation tooth {fom DHS conference organizers, Martinez, who calls Christianson brave,” and a “survivor,” says the Iater’s claims of ritual torture are “absurd, but so fare a whole hell of a lot of other things that happen. And witchcraft has been withus for hundreds of years. Look at Salem!"? ‘She believes child protection workers need to adopt such thinking in order to root out perfectly normal-looking people who secretly practice demonic tortures on kids. JEXAS IS ALREADY rife with such hysteria. In El Paso in 1985, for instance, after a wo:vear-old child made vague comments about his body pars and several adults, DHS social workers, an assistant DA, and a police detective elabo. rated a ease’ against wo women daycare Workers, There was virally no evidence against the teachers, except for what small children muttered after being relentlessly interviewed and bombarded. with. yes-no questions detailing ritual abuse motifs, The women, Gayle Dove and Michelle Noble, were imprisoned after being convicted of sadistic sexual assault and terrorstic threats which prosecutor Debra Kanof believed were the modus operandi of organized, diabolic sex abusers. Bath women had theit convictions overturned on appeal and Noble ‘was quickly acquitted after a retrial last year. One juror suggested that 2 Grand Jury investigate why she was ever indicted in the first place, But many officials persist in. the “international devil. worshipping. conspir acy” theory. One DHS worker here said recently that El Paso is filled with doctors, lawyers, and judges who seeredly practice ‘Satanism and thus railroad the state's abuse investigations. T have heard similar stat ‘ments from a DHS worker in Houston, and like attitudes are not uncommon among sheriff cops, assistant DAs, and civilians ofall stipes, including everyone from born: again Christian housewives to Jewish psychiatrists — and not just in Texas, but Chroughout the country Where did these bizarre beliefs come from? Though this time around they have spread beyond the fundamentalist churches, 1. Gordon Melton, an academic and director Of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California, believes the Satanic conspiracy theory revives a rumor dating back to when Romans accused early Christians of ritually mutilating dead babies, Christians later leveled similar charges against. Gnostcs, whom they called Satan worshippers. Melton points out that Satanism is unlike ‘ther religions in that itis not passed on from parent t0 child; nor does it develop ite own traditional’ literature. Instead, through the ages, Christian churches have continually generated purported ‘descriptions of the evil practices. and rituals of Satanists — witness the rich detail supplied to interrogators and torturers during the European and American witch crazes. And apparently — in a manner similar to how the Matamoros cult studied the 1987 Hollywood slasher film ‘“The Believers” — isolated groups have at times ‘used Chureh instruction to learn how to be “Satanists" and kill people Historically, a group consistently vietim- ized by the rumor has been Jews. Beginning in the Middle Ages, they were accused of Kidnapping Christian children, ritually slaughtering them, and using their blood (0 nuake Passover matzo, Such “blood libel” allegations accursed in Europe as late as the 19th century, sometimes in towns where no childten were even missing, Resulting Pogroms are still within the memory of the fiving "The most recent Satan hysteria doesn’t directly single out Jews as culprits — at least, na yet. Arthur Lyons, author of Saran Wants You, isa longtime researcher of cults tnd witch hysteria, He dates the reappear- ance of the devil worshipping. conspirac rumor in the U.S. £0 the late 1970s, when various “urban myths” cropped up; among them, that Proctor & Gamble's farmer moon and stars logo represented the company’s secret pact with the devil. In 1980, the trend was formalized with the book’ Michelle Remembers, by Michelle Smith and Cana- dian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder. Smith, in therapy for severe emotional disturbance, was repeatedly hypnotized by Pazder and thea “'remembered" intricate details of horrible, sado-masochistic rituals she was forced into by her Sotanist parents, including the killing of babies. Pechaps not surpris- ingly, her “memories” echoed stories of some of Sigmund Freud's 19th-century French female “hysterics,” during Freud's ‘early carcer before he replaced hypnosis With free association, Freud, who believed his patients might actvally be mystifying recall of real childhood incest, recognized the simikuity of Satan memories to the testimony of religious women being exor- PND KEATING ised by priests. Freud was pleased that his ‘work tended to remove descriptions of the ‘mind from the domain and rhetoric of the Chureh Both Pazder and his patient are religious Catholics, and Smith's “memories” are not Independent recollections at all, according to University of Paris psychiatric anthropol- gist Sherill Mulhern. While studying ‘modern-day claims of people like Smith, Mulhern looked at the records of ber ssions with Pazar. She found that Smith's memories" were constructed over a long. period of time and incorporated the sugges- tions of Pazder. Mulhern describes hypnosis as a dynamic between the hypnetizer and the hypnotizee in which iC is extremely dlifficlt for the former to avoid suggesting terial. IF that happens, once the patient ‘comes out of a trance, Mulhern says, be ‘of she “will have an unshakeable belief” inthe story constructed during the session, ‘ho matter whether i¢ describes real events or fantasy. She believes Smith's “memories represent the later. Nevertheless, Michelle Remembers, with its paeans 10 the Virgin Mary and group photos of Smith, Pazder, and an angel, became a bestseller, After the couple (sans angel) appeared on Christian TV and secular talk shows, other women began contacting the FBI with similar stories. Kenneth Lanning, the FBI agent who monitors such claims at the Bureau's Behavioral Science Unitin Virginia, now gets a call a day from ‘women — and sometimes men — claiming the same thing, Despite. allegations that thousands of children have been butchered by 2 clandes- tine national be worldwide Satanic nexwork, Lanning says no claim has ever been ‘Tue Texas OBSERVER 11substantiated. Michelle Smith imitators used to say babies were buried in fields, but now that several excavated sites reveaied noth. ing, the corpses are said to be bummed in crematoria or buried in concrete. Any remaining evidence is suppressed, the rumor ‘goes, because so many cops and politicians are Satanists. And for the past five years, the story has it chat the Satanists are taking Jobs in daycare centers in order to molest, torture, and recruit ehild Lanning says that the reason a growing ‘number of people tell an essentially identical story of ritual abuse is because the tale is 30 easy to learn from slasher movies and books like Michelle Remembers. Psychiatrie anthropologist Mulhern has interviewed ‘many self-styled cult “survivors” and their therapists and found faulty hypnosis tech niques and other contaminating suggestions in virtually all cases. Conferences such as the one starring Joan Christianson bring together “cult survivors,” clergy, and self proclaimed “born-again” ex-Satanists with DAs, police, child protection officials, and mental health professionals, allowing them to swap intricate detals about the alleged network and its “rites.” Such conferences hold @ religious attraction for many pastici- ants. Otber attendees, such as psycholo- fists and social workers, take Satanic abuse stories literally because they don't realize it takes a lot of training to do responsible ‘age-regression” hypnosis, and because of 4 facile reading of Freud that condemns him and his followers as anti-feminist betrayers ICTURE THESE future Texas Scenes: It’s the harvest season, and a knife- Wielding group of the faithful chase a terrified animal, slaughter it, cook i then dismember the corpse while mutter- ing prayers. Nearby, others surround an infant. Aman, chanting in a strange language, lifts a sharp tool and ritually rutilates the screaming child's genitals, Suddenly, police nish in, “Y'al're ‘under arrest!” they shout tothe Thanks siving diners and the Jewish circumcision Celebrants. The cops congratulate each ‘ther. “Caught us some of them ritehul abusers,” they grin, ‘Absurd? Not according tothe paranoid spirit and leter of three bills introduced in the Texas Legislature this. session SSB 1832 and companion HB 3202, spon- sored by Buster Brown, R- Lake Jack- son, and Sam Johnson, R-Plano, would have made it a third degree felony to participate in a “diabolic™ cult practicing rituals to “glorify” the devil — including everything from cannibalism to mutila: tion, from sacrifice of animals 10 “psychological abuse.” Brown's office says the bill attemp to address the Matamoros problem. Tronic, given that nobody inthe Mataruo- ros gang has said they were glorifying the devil. According to what the suspects have told authorities, they practiced a perverted mishmash resembling palomayonbe, an Afro-Caribbean black- magic sect that traditionally neither worships Satan nor sacrifices humans. The cults homicidal activity suggests that their leader invited rituals to express ion but his own psychosis, Can these bills attack psychosis? Probably not. But what about constitutional nice tis like separation of Church and State, ‘or due process? Laws and Rituals ‘Since our lawmakers don't seem much interested in studying any religions ‘except certified Judeo-Christian varie~ ties, we can’t expect them to be very punctlious about defining “glorifying the devil.” Under Brown's bill observing Thanksgiving or a b'ris probably ‘wouldn't get You arrested. If you're a fundamentalist who believes the Bible says beat your kids, oF if you're a lunatic who practices incest because you think you're Jesus — hoth clearly documented and not terribly uncommon erimes — you probably wouldn’t be indicted either. But ifyou're a selfrespecting wicea, pagen, fora Cuban immigrant who pleases yout gods by offering them chickens, wel, Lordhelp you if Buster, Sam, and friends mistakenly labeled you a Satanist, Another bill, SB 803, passed the Senate and is lie better, ‘Sponsored by Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, it raises Criminal penalties for child abuse, includ ing injury and sexual assault, if commit- ted as part of a “ritual.” What’s a ritual? According 10 Abilene policeman Lee Reed, the mover and shaker behind the bill, i's things people do when they gather in groups to terrorstically molest children. Reed, an “expert” schooled by books like Michelle Remembers, tours Texas with people like Greg Reid (see article) and tells cops ritual child. abuse is widespread. He admits that noc even fone allegation has produced material evidence to support this claim. “But we're working on finding some in Abilene,” Reed says. “In a case involv ing a babysiter. He needn't worry about such «rifles. When it comes to witch hunting, you don't need real crimes — much less evidence — to prosecute. If Texas’ devil bills were to become law, the Crusade ‘would be even easier DN. 12 + JUNE 2, 1989 cof women for not unquestioningly believing the objective accuracy of every “memory” of childhood sexual abuse, But whatever the reasons for such conferences’ popularity, they are “spreading like wildfire” across the country, Lanning says. ‘The biggest “conferences” these days, though, are tabloid TV broadcasts such as the “Oprah Winfrey” and “Geraldo” shows. To get an idea of who Attorney General Mattox was keeping company with fn these programs, a roll call is in order. On “Geraldo,” a panelist wearing. sun" lasses and pseudonymed “David” told the ation that devil worship is a major problem, ‘throughout the Southwest and Texas: he also described witnessing. at age five, the sacrifice of a teenage boy by organized cultists. “David” is actually Greg Rei, 35, fan El Pasoan raised in California whom I interviewed twice during the past year. Reid says he was raised ina fundamentalist ‘Christian family and developed childhood fears of using public restrooms, of needles, and of doctors. Between the ages of seven and 15, he became obsessed with the Ouija oards, seances, and astral projection Eleven years ago, he suffered multiple nervous breakdowns and major depression He dreamed of a wolt's head. He began seeing a "Christian therapist.” In 1981, 2s result of studying Biblical history and reading Michelle Remembers, he began remembering” being kidnapped for a day atage five and being drugged with Nembutal by members of a Satanic cult. He is now a member of the fundamentalist Christian ‘anti-cult, anticheavy-metal-music WATCH Network in El Paso. WATCH members believe El Paso is a center of Satanic activity inthe U.S. Reid, a self-styled minister who preaches fo teenagers about Jesus. passes ‘Out business eards describing himself as an “Occult Research & Crime Consultant,” ‘and says he frequently “advises” law enforcement personnel, Another “Geraldo” guest was Ted Gun- erson, formerly head of the Dallas and Los ‘Angeles FBI offices. Since retiring from the Bureau in 1979, Gunderson has several times claimed to have evidence of national Satanic cult crimes or of plots to kill him. He has never produced evidence, His most colorful pronouncement has been to call the FBI “Satanic,” rhetoric similar to that of Lyndon LaRouche, sho, from his federal prison cell, issues'clnims that the Satanic (Ordo Templi Orients is ritually mordering and raping children, conspiring to conquer the world, and planning to kill Lyndon LaRouche, On the “Geraldo” show that Matiox appeared on, Gunderson stated that hhage Satanic killing fields would be un- earthed within the month in Mason County, Washington. Authorities there expressed shock at the claim — Gunderson had nat notified the police or sheriff there of any such information; and to date, no bodies have been unearthed. Plenty of local parents and children have been thrown into nearpanic, though, ‘These were Mattox’s co-panelists. Granted, when Geraldo Rivera. started spewing about how Matamoros wasn’t an iBolated ineident and asked him for a nod, the Attorney General was noncommittal. On the other hand, he uttered hardly a peep fof disagreement when Oprah Winfrey said “What happened to Mark [Kilroy] happens. throughout this couatry 10 children who are being snatched from the streets.” (In the entire U.S., other than custody dispute Snatehes. fewer than 100 children are missing. Nevertheless, belief to the contrary periodically causes panics in which parents needlessly remove their children from school.) ‘And why didn’t the Attorney General protest against the statements of Oprah's mental patient panelist, a Jewish woman ‘who claimed that her family and other Jews have been sacrificing babies “since the 1700s"? This woman is in treatment for multiple personality disorder which means she has almost certainly been through extensive hypnosis as part of her therapy. ‘That a Jew would make such a dangerous, anti-Semitic claim only shows how bad devil hysteria has gotten in this country. Because so many Jewish therapists now believe in the rumor, the chances are good that this ‘patient picked up her blood libel story from f coreligionist, Even so, Mattox should hhave noisily distanced himself from such malignant lunacy 'So why did he go on trash TV? Was it ‘naivete? Or the dark lure of the False Profit? For whatever reason, Mattox’s stardom is, no joke. The chances are that you didn’t ‘catch his tabloid performances, But the next {ime you hear about some nice, midkile-aged schoolmarm accused of sexually torturing ber daycare students and leaving not a shred of evidence: the next time you hear of one fof those conferences where a lady tells everyone hiow she carved up multiple infant hnearts, ask yourself a few questions. Like, hhow many’ Satan conferences have. the ‘daycare investigators been to? And, how ‘come that confessed baby butcher hasn’t been arrested? ‘You might also ask, how is any of this insanity going to help solve drug abuse? How is it going to help Mark Kilroy? Or anyone else besides a bunch of Kooks, incompetents, anti-Semites ‘And Jim Mattox? o a POLITIGAL INTELLIGENCE 7 JOHN CONNALLY’S ‘ole as Campaign manager in. liberal Fred Hofteinz's race for mayor of Houston ‘against incumbent Mayor Kathy Whitmire nas astounded political observers throughout the state. When in due time we come upon fn accounting ofthis anomaly, we will pass it along. Billie Carr, now a_member of the executive committes of the Democratic National Committee and a leading Houston liberal for decades, has sided with Hofheinz She says she has no brief against Whitmire, but that her personal alliances and allegiances with Hofteinz go back a long ‘way. Cart ran into Connally in a public place recently; he greeted her. She said she {old him she never thought she"d be on the same side with him in an election, He replied, as she rocalled, that when you're around for 25 years, such things happen. [7 WHEN WILL EXXON ever Karn? One might expect the giant corporation's oil spill in. Prince William Sound would begin to cause a change in the way Exxon executives. perccive. the ‘But apparently it hasn't — at east as far as Exxon executive Robert Young, who also holds a seat at the American Petroleum Insite, is concerned, Young turned up at a Reno, Nevada, National Wikderness Conference recently to make the case against the setting aside of federal wilderness land Billed asthe second annual conference, the Reno gathering was baakrolled by the tiber industry, the mining industry, and manufac turers of off-oad recreational vehicles. For two days in April (one of the days ‘was Earth Day) speakers from such groups asthe gon-partisan Citizens Against Wilder- nes in North Carolina, the American Pulpwood Associaton, the American Farm Bureau, and the American Motorcyclist Association all railed against the federal ‘wilderness program. And dere wes Exxon, ‘under the flag of the Petroleum Institute, making the case for a diminished national tnilderness, Always ready to do their par. j WHEN CONSERVATIVES in the state House were amending the Texas Department of Agriculture sunset bill to take away some of Commissioner Jim Hightower's power to regulate pesticides, Bentsen and 14 SENATOR Lioyd Benisen, who fas decided 10 go for the Democrats? 1982 Presidential nomination (see page 4), gave a ringing speech to the Texas AFL-CIO COPE. kickoff banguet in ‘Austin before 300 trade unionists and others. ‘As excerpted in the May Labor News, Bentsen sald: On polities: “Politics means the difference be- tween getting 2 paycheck or @ welfare check; between celebrating Christmas ‘with your children at home... or having them off at war. ‘On Bush's opposition to she minimum wage increase: id the President object when the CEO of the Brunswick Bowling Chain got $2,630,000 in 1986 — a 147 percent increase? No. But he complains Ivhen we ty to raise the wages of those people setting the pins, Did he complain ‘vhien the CEO of Giant Foods went from $601,000 in 1981 to $3,436,000 in 1986 — a 472 percent increase? Not at all Bot he complains when we want 19 restore the purchasing power for stockoys. ‘On the deficit: “The last administration rolled up rove debt than every administration from George Washington to Jimmy Carter Labor combined, It increased about $150,000 justin the time jt took to say those last On trade "South Korea sold us 488,000 Hyundai last year. You know how many ‘American cars they Tet in? Sixty. (On government: “We don't need politicians that knock. workers down, but ones that will lend them a hand, We don’t need an adminis tration that saddles our kids with debt but one that helps put that new generation of Americans in the saddle.”” On labor's role in the 1990 elections: “Nobody's going to be more insiru- ‘meatal than the people inthis oom. You kknow how to organize. And next year that's exactly what you have to do, all around this state... The steps are smal Find somebody who says yes. I'll get registered. Yes, I'll go door to door. ‘Yes, I'll lick some envelopes or make some phone calls. That's how we win elections. And that's how we build a futuee for our children, nt just in Texas but all over America ‘The state labor paper also reported: “The Senator's speech had a strong Demacratic flavor and played very well with the crowd, who interrupted. him several times with applause. ‘THE TEXAS OBSERVER + 13