24 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 8, 2017
time,
47F
48 but it led to their acquittal on 52 counts
of child molestation and a deadlocked decision
(leading to a mistrial) against Ray on 13 child-
molestation charges.
48F
49
A major factor contributing to their acquittal
came because the jury heard how McFarlane and
others had coaxed answers out of children,
whose accounts had little if any collaborating
evidence to support them.
49F
50 The allegations
were wide-ranging, and included an account of
what seemed to have been a Satanic ritual in a
church in which Ray Buckey “stabbed a rabbit
to death on an altar, and made the children drink
its blood” and another account of Ray Buckey
beating a horse to death with a baseball bat.
50F
51
Importantly,
Children described tunnels under the floor of the
preschool which led to an outside exit under the
rabbit hutch, and another underground passage
to the neighboring building. They explained they
would be loaded into vehicles in the garage of
that building for transport to other locations of
group ritual. They described also a secret room
accessed by the tunnels under the preschool.
51F
52
Both parents and the district attorney’s office,
however, had sponsored limited digs near the
preschool in 1985 but found no tunnels, which
failed to support the children’s allegations.
52F
53 In
addition, Charles Buckey, who was the father of
Ray and husband of Peggy, testified under oath
that “neither subterranean areas nor tunnels
existed”—which was knowledge based upon his
having designed and supervised construction of
the building in 1966.
53F
54
48 Associated Press, 1990.
49 Associated Press, 1990.
50 Carlson, 1990, p. 32 Kirk Makin, 1990 (January 27), “Listening
to the Children,” Globe and Mail, D1.
51 Christopher Reed, 1989 (May 20), “Diabolical Debauchery or
Mere Stories From the Mouth of Babes?,” Globe and Mail, D5.
52 Roland C. Summit, 1994, “The Dark Tunnels of McMartin.”
Journal of Psychohistory, 401.
53 Roland C. Summit, 1994, “The Dark Tunnels of McMartin.”
Journal of Psychohistory, 402.
54 Norma Meyer, 1989 (April), “Charles Buckey: No Secret Rooms
on Campus,” Daily Breeze, A3.
The accuracy, however, of Charles Buckey’s
testimony became a matter of debate. A group of
persistent parents believed that they found the
kind of collaborating evidence that the
prosecution sorely needed, but it never made it
into court. In 1990, a new owner of the
preschool and its property was about to bulldoze
the building when parents hired forensic
archaeologist, Dr. Gary Stickel, to examine the
preschool and its surrounding land one last time
and he concluded that, in fact, he found
underground structures similar to what the
children had described. He concluded that one
was a 45-foot tunnel that snaked through and
under the preschool another was a 7-foot tunnel
that led to a neighbor’s yard. The switches for
the fire-alarm system apparently did not work as
they were labeled but in fact were part of an
internal alarm system. A plastic bag found while
excavating contained the date 1982, giving a
date when the tunnels may have been hand
dug.
54F
55 By this time, however, the trial against
Ray and Peggy Buckey was long over, and Ray
was amidst a second trial on some remaining
charges (in which he again would receive an
acquittal). It was too late to introduce the
findings about tunnels into the second trial, so
no judge or jury ever heard them. Consequently,
the McMartin case has led to completely
contradictory conclusions about the extent to
which counselors have led children to invent
tales of Satanism and horrific abuse. On the one
hand, many people believe that McMartin
represents a worst-case scenario about unskilled
child welfare workers infusing children’s
memories with events that never occurred. On
the other hand, others insist that McMartin
demonstrates the importance of believing
children when they speak about having been
sexually abused, even if the interview techniques
used to solicit this information had been leading
and directive. Subsequently, a psychologist who
revisited Stickel’s report concluded that he
simply had uncovered an old, buried, family
55 Summit, 1994, pp. 405–409 Doctor Gary Stickel, archaeologist,
(n.d.), “The Tunnels Found at the McMartin Preschool: A
Preliminary Report,” Edmonton, filed in the Stephen A. Kent
Collection on Alternative Religions (Satanism--Articles—
Academic—Summit, Roland C.).
time,
47F
48 but it led to their acquittal on 52 counts
of child molestation and a deadlocked decision
(leading to a mistrial) against Ray on 13 child-
molestation charges.
48F
49
A major factor contributing to their acquittal
came because the jury heard how McFarlane and
others had coaxed answers out of children,
whose accounts had little if any collaborating
evidence to support them.
49F
50 The allegations
were wide-ranging, and included an account of
what seemed to have been a Satanic ritual in a
church in which Ray Buckey “stabbed a rabbit
to death on an altar, and made the children drink
its blood” and another account of Ray Buckey
beating a horse to death with a baseball bat.
50F
51
Importantly,
Children described tunnels under the floor of the
preschool which led to an outside exit under the
rabbit hutch, and another underground passage
to the neighboring building. They explained they
would be loaded into vehicles in the garage of
that building for transport to other locations of
group ritual. They described also a secret room
accessed by the tunnels under the preschool.
51F
52
Both parents and the district attorney’s office,
however, had sponsored limited digs near the
preschool in 1985 but found no tunnels, which
failed to support the children’s allegations.
52F
53 In
addition, Charles Buckey, who was the father of
Ray and husband of Peggy, testified under oath
that “neither subterranean areas nor tunnels
existed”—which was knowledge based upon his
having designed and supervised construction of
the building in 1966.
53F
54
48 Associated Press, 1990.
49 Associated Press, 1990.
50 Carlson, 1990, p. 32 Kirk Makin, 1990 (January 27), “Listening
to the Children,” Globe and Mail, D1.
51 Christopher Reed, 1989 (May 20), “Diabolical Debauchery or
Mere Stories From the Mouth of Babes?,” Globe and Mail, D5.
52 Roland C. Summit, 1994, “The Dark Tunnels of McMartin.”
Journal of Psychohistory, 401.
53 Roland C. Summit, 1994, “The Dark Tunnels of McMartin.”
Journal of Psychohistory, 402.
54 Norma Meyer, 1989 (April), “Charles Buckey: No Secret Rooms
on Campus,” Daily Breeze, A3.
The accuracy, however, of Charles Buckey’s
testimony became a matter of debate. A group of
persistent parents believed that they found the
kind of collaborating evidence that the
prosecution sorely needed, but it never made it
into court. In 1990, a new owner of the
preschool and its property was about to bulldoze
the building when parents hired forensic
archaeologist, Dr. Gary Stickel, to examine the
preschool and its surrounding land one last time
and he concluded that, in fact, he found
underground structures similar to what the
children had described. He concluded that one
was a 45-foot tunnel that snaked through and
under the preschool another was a 7-foot tunnel
that led to a neighbor’s yard. The switches for
the fire-alarm system apparently did not work as
they were labeled but in fact were part of an
internal alarm system. A plastic bag found while
excavating contained the date 1982, giving a
date when the tunnels may have been hand
dug.
54F
55 By this time, however, the trial against
Ray and Peggy Buckey was long over, and Ray
was amidst a second trial on some remaining
charges (in which he again would receive an
acquittal). It was too late to introduce the
findings about tunnels into the second trial, so
no judge or jury ever heard them. Consequently,
the McMartin case has led to completely
contradictory conclusions about the extent to
which counselors have led children to invent
tales of Satanism and horrific abuse. On the one
hand, many people believe that McMartin
represents a worst-case scenario about unskilled
child welfare workers infusing children’s
memories with events that never occurred. On
the other hand, others insist that McMartin
demonstrates the importance of believing
children when they speak about having been
sexually abused, even if the interview techniques
used to solicit this information had been leading
and directive. Subsequently, a psychologist who
revisited Stickel’s report concluded that he
simply had uncovered an old, buried, family
55 Summit, 1994, pp. 405–409 Doctor Gary Stickel, archaeologist,
(n.d.), “The Tunnels Found at the McMartin Preschool: A
Preliminary Report,” Edmonton, filed in the Stephen A. Kent
Collection on Alternative Religions (Satanism--Articles—
Academic—Summit, Roland C.).
