The "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s

# Satanic Panic

In this fascinating and disturbing episode, Josh and Chuck dive deep into the Satanic Panic that gripped America from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, exploring how an entire nation became convinced that widespread satanic cults were operating in their neighborhoods and murdering children. They trace the roots of this moral panic back through centuries of religious persecution and artistic depictions of Satan, then show how it exploded in the 1980s through a dangerous combination of recovered memory therapy, sensationalist media coverage, bad medical testimony, and collective parental anxiety about daycare safety. The episode covers real court cases where innocent people spent decades in prison based on false accusations coaxed from children by overzealous therapists, and examines how this hysteria affected American culture and psychology.