Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory

This compelling book is well written with great research with interviews and testimonies of all people involved. I do not agree with the author's view that this was a pure case of false memory and an innocent man sent to prison for 25 years.Here's why. SPOILER ALERT.....1.) Both Julie and Ericka came forward with claims of sexual abuse by their father Paul Ingram. When they first came forward they did not mention any form of satanic rituals.2.) Both girls had accused other people in the past of molesting them. This is very common of children who have been molested.3.) When paul was brought into questioning Paul did not deny the abuse at all, then said, well, uh, I may have...or this is what I would have done. This is not behavior of an innocent man. Then described in great detail of how the crime would have occurred.4.) Paul Ingram was the deputy sheriff. He of all people knew how police investigations go.5.) The ritual abuse was first mentioned by....wait for it....PAUL INGRAM. An innocent man would not say the devil made me do it. The girls later told of ritual abuse that they remembered by dreams and nightmares. This is common for sexually abused kids to have nightmares about demons and satanic crap tied in with their abuse.6.) The girls were completely traumatized and were suffering as the events unfolded. If they were lying, they would have recanted.7.) The girls report being abused by their father, Rabie and Risch.8.) Ingram also named Rabie and Risch of being involved, except he made them out as being the instigators of abuse and Paul being controlled by them.9.)As it turns out, Rabie during a polygraph admitted that there was a time when he was a teenager and he had molested a 4 year old girl. Rabie failed the polygraph exam10.) When Rabie was first told he was named as a suspect he did not deny the claim and gave a reaction that looked to investigaters as an "oh no I'm caught" rather than, "OMG!! I didn't do it!"11.) Paul's Oldest son Paul Ross, left home abruptly leaving a note saying he was leaving the country and did not want his parents to find him. Why did he not want contact with his family?? This is common for abused kids to run and hide once they were old enough. Not to mention what an angry young man he was and his intense anger toward his father.12.) When Paul Ross was first interviewed not knowing about his sisters accusations he was asked why he thought his dad might be in jail. His reply, "For molesting my sisters." If paul Ingram were the innocent family man like many believe, paul ross would not have made that odd speculation. It would have been "Does my dad owe money?" "Did he get in a fight?"13.) Paul Ross not knowing about the accusations of his sisters said that he recalled a time that he witnessed his mom being raped by his father and two men. Rabie and Risch. When he was shown Risch's photo he said, "Oh,the gay guy." because he saw Risch and another man masterbating each other. Do I need to say again, he did not know of the accusations his sisters made.14.) When investigators asked Paul Ross about the possibility of him being abused he left to "collect his thoughts" for a few minutes and never returned. Vanished from his home and his job. Again, sign of abuse and not being able to face it.15.) Ofshe, the professional who claimed that it was all a mistake based on false memory sited that when false memory occurs, the "victim" remembers the abuse but nothing of what happened before or after the abuse. This was true with the ingram girls claims of ritual abuse. However....Paul ross said that after he saw his mom being raped and his father hitting him, he went into the kitchen and drank whiskey. Then went into his room and drank some more. He was also able to desribe what he was doing prior to finding his mother being raped. If Ofshe followed his own belief, this would mean that this memory was real. Not to mention its a common reaction for a youth when faced with something like that to immediately try to find a way to self soothe. He decided to drink.17.)When Rabie was told he was named as a suspect, he immediately followed what paul did, and said, ..uh I would have, or could have...nonsense messing with the investigators.18.) When it started to become clear to paul that the Olympia PD was going to throw the book at him, his confessions became even more improbable and just plain impossible. Remember he is a deputy sheriff. He knew how to make his own confession and statements not reliable. Not to mention he immediately started naming the investigators as abusers. A very manipulative move by Paul. "If you guys take me down...I'll take all you with me!" Throughout this whole book, it appeared that paul was manipulating and completely messing with the police department. He would know how. He was a deputy sheriff.19.) When it looked like Paul might get off because of all of his crazy confessions and his daughters accusations became unbelievable and they were becoming less reliable, Julie penned a letter claiming her father sent it threatening her. This is common with abused children to make desperate attempt to keep their abusers locked up where they can't hurt them. It appeared to me that she was scared, desperate.20.) The false memories came after, by meditation and nightmares by the girls. Their father was talking about ritual abuse and confessing to these crimes the girls thought their nightmares had to have been real. I was disturbed by Ofshe calling Ericka a liar.21.) Chad Ingram came forward in 1996 saying he had been sexually abused by paul22.) Paul was not tried or convicted of ritual abuse. He was convicted of raping his daughters. Paul confessed to these crimes.23.) Ofshe's irresponsible statement: If some of the accusations are false that it all must false. Um..no.How can it be all or nothing? Remember, PAUL INGRAM started the whole ritual abuse nonsense. Not Ericka And Julie.I really feel for the entire Ingram family, and I think the author's bias at the end of this book has to be terribly hurtful to the family. Is it still worth the read?? ABSOLUTELY. Its compelling and thought provoking. Hard to put down.

It ought to be required reading in every introductory class in psychology, sociology, and social psychology. It's that important.Not just because "recovered memories" are so often the results of suggestion. That's the benign interpretation of unjustified accusation. Lawrence Wright deals with only that motive -- false memories -- using Freud's psychoanalytic theory as an intrument of analysis. What Wright doesn't mention is something else besides repression that Freud also noted.Of course a person who has been a victim gets public attention and sympathy but Freud called these "secondary gains," secondary, that is, to the relief accompanying the recovery of the repressed memory.Those secondary gains are probably more important today because, while repression has been pretty much disregareded, moral panics have occupied more and more public attention. What Wright doesn't say is that being a victim brings its own rewards. You don't even have to have been the victim yourself. Your ancestors may have suffered, which justifies your search for revenge or your demands for reparation.In many ways it's GOOD to be the victim. Wright doesn't bring up Münchausen's syndrome or Münchausen-by-proxy but he could have. In these cases a person wounds himself or secretly injures his child in order to gain love, even if it's love gained the hard way. Memory has nothing to do with it because the payoff is immediate.Of course, his topic is more limited that that, and Wright has put an enormous amount of research into it. I believe this material was first presented in a two-part New Yorker article. He ought to be applauded for having performed a public service.Not that most of us are likely to apply any of its lessons to our own behavior. It's always the other person who pulls off these destructive stunts. As I write this, at the opening of 2016, there are more than a score of women accusing the once-popular comedian and actor Bill Cosby of having drugged and raped them. All the incidents took place many years ago -- all except one, which supposedly took place recently enough that the statue of limitations hasn't yet expired.Cosby is being charged with criminal behavior. He'll make a good target. He's in his 70s and faltering, and he's not only a celebrity but a rich celebrity. Oh, Freud; oh, Schadenfreude. Look at these "secondary gains." Thirty-five of the victims were assembled and appeared on the cover of New York Magazine. He's ripe for destruction -- he's black but he also publicly criticized the black community for not assuming more responsibility for the behavior of their children -- so members of all races can find him a proper target if they like. And, of course, civil suits are settled and often a great deal of money changes hands. The comments on news boards are filled with vicious condemnations of Cosby -- "viper," "sadist," and the like.I don't mean to get into Bill Cosby's case except that it's such a good example of the community response described in Lawrence Wright's book. "Guilty until proven innocent," my foot. If a person is accused, he's already been judged by too many of us. As for Cosby himself, I'd be surprised if he hadn't had drinks and shared drugs with some of his groupies. Every other celebrity has.So, alas, this book makes fascinating reading. It's almost impossible to believe that people could think in terms so lacking in logic, that they would strive to this extent in order to believe the worst about their neighbors and, in the case of the accused, about themselves. Yet, though Satanism has had its day, the motives that prompted all those allegations remain. But we never see them in ourselves, only in others.The dynamics are all pretty dark and await another Freud for a fuller explanation.

****Spoiler Alert****A disturbing book about supposed family sexual abuse involving a Satanic cult. The Ingram family and the investigators must be the stupidest people on the planet to have believed these "memories" of abuse were real. And if Satan was involved, he was right there in the evil Julie (and the family's minister). She and Erika destroyed their own family with their malicious lies. They are a parent's worst nightmare! I don't believe there was any repression or hysteria--IMO, Julie knew she was lying all along and possibly made Erika believe these lies. I believe she did it for attention, power, and for the thrill of it all. I feel sorry for the victims who were falsely accused and drawn into her malevolent web. Their lives were ruined. I wonder if she feels any remorse for these lies, but I wouldn't be surprised if she's incapable of that.Satanic hysteria at the time or not, it amazes me that the investigators didn't see through this utter nonsense! The stories and embellishments just keep growing and didn't add up, and there was zero evidence.Overall, the book started out good, but I found this book to be very upsetting. It was dry and repetitive and seemed to go on forever. It doesn't take too long to realize how ridiculous the girls' stories were.

A sad but interesting story!

A disturbing book in two ways.The first is how willing people are to form instant opinions based on shallow thinking and thereafter try to make their prejudices stick. Thus it was that this deputy sheriff got hounded..The second, and more disturbing is how the book attacks the very process of recovering memories. To be a counsellor who uncovers abuse memories in victims is to live a dangerous career, attacked and undermined by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.S*** happens, and we have to use best judgement.The book was well written and fairly well researched, and I am sanguine about it.