New York Folklore: Volume 15, No.1-2: A Rumor-Panic About a Dangerous Satanic Cult in Western New York

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NEW YORK FOLKLORE
Vol. 15, Nos. 1-2, 1989

A RUMOR-PANIC ABOUT A DANGEROUS SATANIC CULT
IN WESTERN NEW YORK
by Jeffrey S. Victor

In the Spring of 1988, rumors about a dangerous satanic cult spread throughout the rural areas of Western New York, Northwest Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. The rumor stories made claims about secret ritual meetings, the killing of cats, dogs and other animals, and the drinking of animal blood, and predicted the imminent kidnapping and sacrifice of a blond, blue-eyed virgin. The stories focused upon specific, local circumstances from town to town, yet they carried remarkably similar symbolic content. These rumors began to appear in different, distant locations at about the same time (mid-winter) and evolved to a peak of hysteria on Friday the thirteenth of May. Police investigations required hundreds of man-hours of work, yet nothing of any substance was found to verify any of the rumors.

The hysterical collective behavior of the rumor-panic was expressed as fearful and angry behavior, in response to a perceived threat in the community. However, the response was far out of proportion to any real threat. There were abundant examples of such behavior on Friday the thirteenth in Jamestown. Many parents, for example, held their children home from school out of fear that they might be kidnapped by “the cult.” Absences from elementary schools were three to four times greater than average. Over 100 cars showed up at a rumored ritual site in a wooded area, where they were stopped by police barricades. Some of the cars had weapons in them: clubs, knives and hunting guns. Several teenagers who were falsely rumored to be in “the cult” received telephone death threats from adults. At a warehouse rumored to be another meeting place of “the cult,” about $4,000 of damage was done to musical equipment and interior walls. The police, school officials and the youth bureau received hundreds of telephone calls reporting bizarre incidents. People reported seeing things that did not exist and having knowledge about events that did not occur. Obviously, the community was collectively over-reacting to a perceived threat, for which there was no concrete evidence in people’s immediate experience....

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