European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 06, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse On the increase in America i question Whitner there is a True increase says Larang supervisory special agents the Fri s behavioural sciences unit in Quantico va., who is frequently contacted by local officials seeking help on cases with cult overtones Bui wedge insists satanists have been thriving on police ignorance and disbelief it does t really matter what you or i believe wedge says it s what they believe that s Connecticut state police have noticed an increase in the number of phone callers reporting satanic act Ity. Particularly around halloween we be Only had incidents of things that could be classified As a Bona fide satanic ritual and those things did not involve any criminal acts except minor things like criminal trespass or illegal says sgt Scott o Mara. O Mara says the reports May be the result of increased Media attention anytime a Bunch of kids got together and built a Bonfire in an isolated area someone a Lew years ago would have called and said. There Are a Bunch of Rowdy kids behind my House with a Bonfire " he said now they Call and say there arc a Bunch of has practising satan san behind my House there is no doubt that occult trappings Are in Vogue among some teens who can be seen wearing Pentagram earrings listening to heavy Metal music with ominous lyrics or even staging mock Black masses. What is in dispute is whether the fad is inspiring crime tanning says teen satanists True believers or imitators probably Are responsible Tor some of the animal mutilations and occult Grafitti police have discovered but though Devil worship is also blamed for teen suicides and some homicides it is not Clear How Many of the people who say the Devil made them do it Are actually cult influenced. If that s a satanic crime then what do we Call the hundreds of crimes committed by people who say god told them to do it. Jesus Lold them to do it an Angel told them to do it Lanning says Are we going to Call them Christian crimes Lanning and others Point to other unsubstantiated allegations made at some police seminars allegations that satanic culls Are engaged in the widespread ritual abuse of children that women Are being bred to produce babies that Are sacrificed in satanic rituals and that cultists Are encouraged even driven to murder cops who Are usually cynical and private detective Michael j. Nelson with items confiscated during his investigation of satanic rituals in Hendricks county ind. Sceptical and have to have everything proved to them some of them go to these conferences and buy this stuff Hook line and sinker Lanning says. Statements of questionable accuracy Are found even in come Law enforcement publications. For example the Massachusetts state police sent its troopers a newsletter on satanism last summer. To help police spot possible outbreaks the newsletter included a Calendar of occult holidays and a Catalon of satanic symbols. And it declared without citing a source that throughout the United states and Canada there has been a dramatic increase in the ritual abuse of children most often by satanic that statement is hype As it relates to Massachusetts said Essex county District attorney Kevin Burke. We have not had a report of ritualistic child David g Bromley a sociologist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond a. Sees not an increase in satanic crime but a cult scare that has More to do with Urban legends and modern psychology than with criminology. I think it s All a says Bromley who investigated allegations of cult brainwashing in the 1970s that were never proven. He is now examining the satanism scare and suspects it May be a similar phenomenon. Bromley says rumours and stories circulating about rings of adults who Start Day care centers for the purpose of finding children to abuse in satanic rituals Are sheer fantasy bul fantasy fed by reports of real child abuse and by today s parents guilt and fears of entrusting their children to strangers. It is not coincidental that allegations of satanic conspiracies Are entered on Day care centers he says. Lanning said statistics cited at police seminars exactly duplicate the wave of reports about missing children in the Early 1980s reports found on closer scrutiny to be greatly exaggerated. In 1983. We were told that 50,000 kids a year were being kidnapped by he said. Now we re told that 50.000 kids a year Are being kidnapped by such explanations do not satisfy Alves. Initially he dismissed As nonsense reports of evil doings in the Woods and Hunters siting of people in red Robes around campfires. But in a stretch of state Forest so secluded that it takes an hour s walk on trails and a Tew Hundred Yards bushwhacking to reach he has found an abandoned Shack Spray painted with pentagrams and other occult symbols. Dolls stuck with pins have been nailed to the remnants of a 6-foot Cross. Nearby is a toddler size throne carved irom a tree stump. It is Only 18 inches tall and has indentations in the seat so Small that no adult could sit on it. Three other huts in the Woods a desecrated grave and several animal mutilations in nearby new Bedford also Point to cult activity in the area Alves says. Law enforcement officials agree that police must be Able to separate fact from fantasy if they Are to investigate such crimes properly or locate the culprits. Because a kid sprays a Pentagram on a building does t mean he s willing to go sacrifice a human o Mara says. But if you have a scene with All the trappings that indicate that someone is very much involved in satanism would they be capable Enre Bombeck one of the Side effects of giving birth to three yuppies has been a ringing in the ears and an automatic huh to everything that is being said parents tend to talk louder have More headaches and Are quite adept at Reading lips. This is because we raised children in music s High Decibel age. If your Teeth Don t Hurt Man. It s not i cannot think of a single Parent who has not come out of this period with some physical damage to his hearing. I can still see president Reagan cupping his hand to his ear when a question was asked As he was preparing to leave on his helicopter. Not Only could he not hear the question he could t even hear the helicopter Blades. And Why do you think president Bush told a generation of voters. Read my lips. No new taxes what else could they do they Loo raised kids in the 60s. 70s and 80s, the old Lino. It s 11 o clock do you know where your children Are is wasted on me. Of course i know where they Are. I always know. I Start hearing the muffled Bass irom my son s car radio when he is four Miles away. That is when i Start to set the table. At two Miles i put food on the table and by the Lime he hits our driveway i am hanging onto the dishes to keep them irom shattering. Consequently Public sounds have had to be hiked up to compensate Lor our loss of hearing. Television commercials Are booted up so you can hear them with the bathroom door closed the sound in movie houses is increased. Emergency sirens sound like a missile being launched in order to compete with car radios. My smoke alarm would make a dead Man gel up and move to another room. I remember the first time i Over saw a Boom Box i was looking at a kid who probably would t Stop to pick a dirty sock off the floor if it spoke to him yet he was balancing a 20-Pound radio on his shoulder Complete with speakers compact disc player and dual tapes. Kids have been known to put them on wheels like Luggage and drag them behind them. I read that a Young Man from Maryland converted his Nissan into a Boom car with no less than eight speakers. He Cranks up his radio usually on a crowded Street and the windows rattle the Rool shakes and Heads turn As the music blasts. With this car he said i can Start a party. I turn up the stereo and it draws the i la just bet it does. It was Only a matter of Lime before a state passed a your car is too loud ordinance. California has such a Law. The Only problem is they would have to shoot off a Cannon to get the Driver s attention. C 1909 Erma Dombeck saturday May 6,1989 the stars and stripes Page 17
