Conviction: American Panic

(Apple Podcasts)

America in the ’80s was a deeply conservative phase.

The Cold War may have been winding down but the US seemed to be looking for fingers to point elsewhere.

A strange movement sprung up across the country, one which saw not Reds under the bed, but the devil hiding around every corner.

Allegations of satanic ritual abuse were made, resulting in several trials. Rumours of devil worshipping child abusers, high-level cover-ups and even the murder of thousands of children began to swirl.

The panic even spread to other countries – in Scotland there were similar accusations made on Orkney.

After a series of high profile trials in the US – which served to further the paranoia – no evidence of widespread satanic abuse was discovered.

Like video game violence or Dungeons And Dragons, it was a moral panic which generated headlines based on a few isolated cases.

When John Quinney was ten years old, he took the stand to testify against his own father. He had come to believe that his dad, Melvin, was the murderous leader of a satanic cult.

It would be decades before John would learn that his family was just one of many swept up in this panic which, by the time it subsided, had left scores of people in prison, convicted on little to no evidence – people like John’s father.

Conviction: American Panic is the second series of the Conviction podcast, which looks at this mass hysteria which gripped the US.