Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991, Page 28
Are the Accounts of Adults Who Claim to Have Experienced “Cult Ritual Child Abuse”
as Children Accurate?
There is some debate about the accuracy of reports by adults who claim to have been
childhood victims of Satanic cults decades ago.
Those with doubts argue that if these cults were in existence 20 and 30 years ago, at the time
these adults were children, we should have heard the same rumors of child maltreatment that
we hear today. Instead, there is little or no evidence of their existence --no corpses, Satanic
paraphernalia, or diaries by participants --and there have been few identified survivors who
could independently corroborate each other‟s accounts of experiences in the same location.
Further, these individuals frequently suffer from multiple personality disorder or from post-
traumatic stress disorder as a result of some traumatic childhood experience, but state that
they had no conscious memories of these events until they had undergone hypnosis. A
number of forensic experiments with hypnotic suggestion raise doubts about the accuracy of
recall of events after hypnotic trances.
On the other hand, since the effects of psychological intimidation can be long-lasting,
survivors of ritual child abuse may not have felt safe in coming forward until recently, when
the public has been more able to accept the reality of child sexual abuse. In addition, we
have only learned about post-traumatic stress disorder and multiple personality disorder
within the last few years. It is possible that those children and adults in previous decades who
dared to report their childhood victimization were disbelieved and sent to mental health
professionals where they were misdiagnosed as psychotic, without any meaningful
investigation by law enforcement officials.
Conclusion
Since we lack consensus as to the nature of the phenomena we are faced with, including a
lack of consensus regarding terms and criteria to measure incidence and validity, it is likely
that the controversies will continue. In the meantime, we should exercise our critical
judgment in evaluating what we see and hear from those who deny the existence of ritual
child abuse and those who claim that it is widespread.
Selected Bibliography on Ritualistic Abuse of Children
Cozolino, L.J. (1989). The ritual abuse of children: Implications for clinical practice and
research. Journal of Sex Research 26:1, 131-138.
Crewdson, J. (1988). By Silence Betrayed: Sexual Abuse of Children in America. Boston:
Little, Brown.
Faller, K.C. (Spring 1990). Sexual abuse of children in cults: A clinical perspective.
Roundtable Magazine 2:2, 11-13.
Finkelhor, D., Meyer Williams, L., &Burns, N. (1988). Nursery Crimes: Sexual Abuse in Day
Care. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ganaway, G.K. (1989). Historical versus narrative truth: Clarifying the role of exogenous
trauma in the etiology of multiple personality disorder and its variants. Dissociation, 2,
209-220.
Hollingsworth, J. (1986). Unspeakable Acts. Chicago: Congdon &Weed.
Kelley, S.J. (1988). Ritualistic abuse of children: Dynamics and impact. Cultic Studies
Journal, 5:2, 228-236.
Kelley, S.J. (1989). Stress responses of children to sexual abuse and ritualistic abuse in day
care centers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 4:4, 502-513.

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991, Page 29
Lanning, K. (1989). Child Sex Rings: A Behavioral Analysis. For Criminal Justice Professionals
Handling Cases of Child Sexual Exploitation. Arlington, VA: National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.
Lanning, K.V. (October, 1989). Satanic, occult, ritualistic crime: A law enforcement
perspective. Police Chief.
Lloyd, D.W. (Spring 1990). An exploration of our vocabulary: Ritualistic victimization.
Roundtable Magazine 2:2, 17.
Mulhern, S. (1990). Ritual abuse: Creating a context for belief. Paper presented at the
International Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Hamburg, Federal Republic of
Germany, October, 1990. Copies available from Sherrill Mulhern, D.E.A., at the
Laboratoire des Rumeurs, des Mythes du Futur et des Sectes, U.F.R. Anthropologie,
Ethnologie, Sciences des Religions, Universite de Paris, VII, 10 rue Charles V, Paris, 75004
France.
Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. (November, 1988).
Protocols Developed by the Multi-Victim, Multi-Suspect Child Sexual Abuse Subcommittee.
Manshell, L. (1990). Nap Time: The True Story of Sexual Abuse at a Suburban Day-Care
Center. New York: William Morrow.
Marron, K. (1988). Ritual Abuse: Canada’s Most Infamous Trial on Child Abuse. Toronto: Seal
Books.
Pence, D. (1989). Investigating macro cases. The Advisor (Newsletter of the American
Professional Society on the Abuse of Children) 2:4, 5-7, 14.
Pettinati, H.M. (Ed.). (1988). Hypnosis and Memory. New York: Guilford.
Smith, B., Bulkley, J., &Jackson, J.A. (1988). Improving the Coordinated Response of
Agencies to Child Abuse in Out-of-Home Care Settings. Washington, DC: American Bar
Association, Center on Children and the Law.
Wilson, C. (1986). Investigation of Sexual Abuse in Daycare. Washington, DC: Child Welfare
League of America.
************
An abridged version of this article appeared in the Family Violence Bulletin, Vol. 6, Issue 4,
Winter 1990, published by the Family Violence Research and Treatment Program, University
of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Boulevard, Tyler, TX 75701. A variant of the same article,
entitled “Ritual Child Abuse: Where Do We Go From Here?” appeared in the Children’s Legal
Rights Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1991, published by William S. Hein &Co., Inc., 1285
Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14209. This article is reprinted with their permission.
The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views or policy of the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, the Administration on
Children, Youth, and Families, or the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Dept. of
Health &Human Services.
************
David W. Lloyd is Director of the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, U.S.
Department of Health &Human Services, Washington, D.C. At the time he wrote this article,
he was Project Director at the National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse.
This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1981, Volume 8,
Number 2, pages 122-133. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the
bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.