Satanic Panic... We've Heard it all Before...

We've Heard It All Before: The Satanic Panic and Custody Battles

Another day, another baseless accusation. A mother, seeking sole custody of her children, throws out the oldest trick in the book: accusing the father of being a Satanist. It’s a tactic as old as the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, a manufactured hysteria that ruined lives, destroyed families, and wasted countless hours in courtrooms. And yet, decades later, the same false narratives are still being weaponized in custody battles.

The accusations often follow a predictable pattern. A mother, desperate to keep her children away from their father, doesn’t just claim that he’s unfit—no, that wouldn’t be enough. Instead, she escalates it to something so heinous, so horrifying, that it’s bound to get attention. Suddenly, the father is accused of sacrificing babies, drinking blood, or engaging in some shadowy network of ritual abuse. Never mind that no evidence exists. Never mind that these claims have been debunked time and time again. The mere mention of “Satanism” is enough to whip up a storm of outrage, and before you know it, the internet is flooded with trolls sharing the false claims as if they were gospel truth.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. The 1980s saw the rise of the so-called Satanic Panic, a moral hysteria that led to wrongful convictions, destroyed reputations, and devastated families. From the McMartin preschool case to the West Memphis Three, the same formula played out: baseless accusations, sensationalized media coverage, and the complete erosion of due process. It took years—sometimes decades—for the truth to come out, but by then, the damage was already done.

And yet, despite all the lessons history has taught us, people still fall for the same con. A bitter custody battle turns into a public spectacle, with social media fueling the flames. Internet trolls, many of whom don’t even know the people involved, gleefully spread the lies, reveling in the drama. They don’t care about the truth; they care about the spectacle. The father—an innocent, loving parent—is left to pick up the pieces, his reputation in tatters, his relationship with his children irreparably damaged.

It’s time to call this out for what it is: a malicious tactic designed to manipulate the legal system and destroy an innocent person’s life. The justice system should not be swayed by sensationalism and lies. And yet, time and time again, it is.

We’ve heard it all before. And we’re tired of hearing it again.