Growing up in the suburbs of upstate New York, I never questioned that Satanists, or "devil worshippers/' as we used to call them, existed out there—somehow, somewhere, someplace. Yet, like my relationships with Zulus, Eskimos, and cowboys, I never found reason to give them much thought, at least until I reached my teens. Then in 1980, through a strange, almost accidental series of circumstances, a high-school-age friend of mine purchased a paperback copy of Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible. We both had hours of fun showing it off and scaring people. Not that LaVey's teachings are particularly dangerous. The first of these was that you should worship Satan. We didn't. The second was that you should do whatever you felt like doing so long as you didn't harm anyone else. This we had been taught at our rather liberal Methodist church and were actively doing already. Unfortunately, the title, if not the book itself, was just a bit too scary for some people, and in 1982 my friend's date, a born-again Christian fundamentalist, tore the book to shreds (not that she'd ever read it). Other things soon took precedence, and we forgot about Satanism and returned to other activities that we could not imagine had any possible connection to devil-worship, for example, playing Dungeons & Dragons and listening to punk-rock music. Over the next few years, Satanism had little importance in my life. Then, in 1986, an interesting thing happened.

Then in 1986, an interesting thing happened. Sparked off by graffiti in the form of "AC/DC rules!!" "Ozzy Osbourne," and a couple of pentagrams, many residents of the nearby rural town of Duanesburg became terrified by rumors of hidden satanic cults that mutilated cattle and perhaps conspired to sacrifice children. Of course, being young, we knew that Ozzy Osbourne was a particularly idiotic and childish rock star who used satanic motifs as an attention-getting device. To us it seemed obvious that some particularly idiotic Ozzy fan, who had felt compelled to spray-paint Ozzy's name on a building, would add a pentagram or two for good measure. Still, the town was terrified and people panicked.

Sensing the pure ridiculousness of the idea of a long-hidden cult, we responded in a natural fashion. We watched the developments on TV and laughed a lot. We did contemplate intervening though. For example, we toyed with the idea of dressing like Satanists and also plotted a hoax recruiting drive in the town. We soon sensed that this plan might involve dodging 12-gauge shotgun blasts fired by misguided farmers and deer hunters intent on protecting their threeyear-olds from an imaginary threat of satanic child-sacrificers. Therefore we did nothing, and ultimately the town calmed down without further event. Then, in 1990, the rumors broke out again in nearby Cobleskill. (I was out of the area that time.) Obviously, there was something quite peculiar at work here. What we didn't suspect was that what we saw in Duanesburg was only one manifestation of a national pattern of similar groundless eruptions of terror. If we had, perhaps we would not have laughed so hard about it all.

In The Satanic Panic, sociologist Jeffrey S. Victor fully describes the mechanisms and effects of these occurrences. Since many readers are familiar with Robert D. Hicks's excellent book, In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult, it seems beneficial to compare the two works. (See SI, Spring and Fall 1990, for Hicks's twopart article "Police Pursuit of Satanic Crime." Can we learn anything from a second book on this fascinating subject? The answer, somewhat surprisingly, is a definite "yes."

As Hicks's work details in page after page, there is little or no evidence of a mounting satanic conspiracy to undermine and disrupt the American way of life. The occasional rumors, hysteria, and panics that break out because of these fears are groundless. When such claims are looked at carefully and systematically they either fall apart completely or have a much more mundane cause than had been suspected. As a sociologist, Victor quickly surveys the facts of the matter but then soon moves beyond that to focus on the reasons such panics find fertile ground. He explains the sociological processes of rumors and describes the way they spread, the effects they have on society, and the systems that propel them. Hicks's work focuses on the "what" of the matter; Victor's, on the "how" and "why." The two books complement each other.

According to Victor, tension in our society is mounting. This is particularly true in rural areas, and especially so in the so-called rust belt (where the events described above took place). As factories close and jobs move out, incomes go down; as the divorce rate climbs, and malevolent outside influences like drugs come into the area, people become more and more insecure and worried about the future. And, as Victor points out, justifiably so. What happens next is that these fears become personified—particularly under the stimulus of local fundamentalists—and the fear of a satanic cult in the area grows. Although not created by them, such rumors are spread quickly by network talk-shows and other mass and local media. Tension continues to rise. Eventually something outside of the experience of the local population comes along, sparks off excitement, by local teenage and adult rumors, becomes labeled as possibly satanic. As the population reacts in an appropriate manner to what they perceive to be a very real threat, further and even wilder rumors find fertile ground. People respond by keeping their children home from school for fear of satanic kidnappers, looking for Satanists everywhere, or calling for increased police action. It's a frightening process.

Victor describes the "moral crusade" that responds to the perceived satanic threat. It is made up of several .disparate and widely divergent groups. Among these are fundamentalist clergy and televangelists, who find the idea of hidden satanic cults quite consistent with their theologically based view of the world; and persons working in mental health, child protection, and law enforcement who have come to sincerely believe in the existence of these cults and unconsciously prompt children to tell stories consistent with their own preconceived beliefs.

Victor's work expands considerably on the content of In Pursuit of Satan. For example, one weakness of Hicks's work is that he ignores many of the "Satanists" who we know exist. The disturbing fact is that many people, such as the above-mentioned anonymous spray-painting Ozzy fan, do find satanic motifs exciting. Seeing "disillusioned youths," teenagers, and others who have a growing interest in Satanism and a constant flirtation with literature, pop music, and much else with satanic themes, one begins to wonder exactly how these youths fit into the overall picture. If nothing else, a group of antisocial delinquents decorated with pentagrams and "666" emblems makes it difficult to convince laypeople that Satanism is nothing to worry about. Victor addresses this troublesome phenomenon. These people do have an interest in Satanism and can be vicious and dangerous. However, they are not really approaching Satanism in the way most people normally approach a religion. If questioned, such individuals generally have only a very crude interest in, and knowledge of, any theology. They are using satanic elements gathered from easily accessible works (such as the above-mentioned Satanic Bible), as well as pop-culture representations of Satanism in motion pictures and rock music. They tend to pick and choose from among these in order to form what Victor describes as a "deviant ideology." They are using crude notions of Satanism to form a justification for their antisocial acts. The end result is not really Satanism in the sense of a religion. Furthermore, there is absolutely no evidence that any effort is being made by adult Satanists to recruit these people into an organized movement or religious group. Their ideology, their organization, and their actions tend to exist at only a local level, and are not indicative of a national conspiracy of any sort.

Victor's work is sweeping in its scope. He cites incident after incident to prove his point. In fact, if his book has a fault it is that at times he gives examples of incidents without providing enough substantive detail to back up his points. For example, in 1988 in Montezuma Creek, Utah, a highschool counselor was dismissed from his position because of allegations that he was promoting Satanism. Victor uses this as an example, but does not explain what it was that the counselor was in fact promoting. This is a trend that crops up in a few places in this nevertheless excellent book. Of course the incident is footnoted so that readers can investigate further, but it remains frustrating.

Victor includes an extensive bibliography and a useful list of experts and organizations that deal with satanic-cult rumors from a skeptical point of view. Satanic Panic is a rational study of beliefs and panics about satanic-cult conspiracies in America. I highly recommend it. Although Victor makes it clear that such panics are likely to continue until the underlying causes of social stress are reduced, a clear understanding of the situation should at the very least reduce the potential for damage when such outbreaks do occur.

Peter Huston has long since stopped trying to scare people, and now attempts to calm them down by occasionally contributing to the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. He is knowledgeable on Asian cultures and hopes to pursue graduate study in that field. His interests include psychology, history, religion, pre-hospital care, and, of course, skepticism.