How hysterical parents, incompetent therapists and malicious prosecutors
destroyed the lives of seven innocent North Carolinians – and
have yet to admit they were wrong




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Site Archive

 

2013

 

6-19-13 ‘We knew he had a secret’ (so we put Brenda on the case)

6-17-13 What, no applause from Attorney General Easley?

6-14-13 All those bizarre sex crimes – yet not a single witness?

6-12-13 Move along, ‘Frontline,’ nothing to see here

6-10-13 When ‘overwhelming community sentiment’ wins

6-7-13 Retraction won’t kill you, journal editors

6-5-13 Parents gave thumbs down to first ‘Innocence Lost’

6-3-13 Two historic sites, two wildly different outcomes

5-31-13 MPD renamed DID – but it’s still bunk

5-29-13 ‘Very sick....very troubling.... very sad!’

5-27-13 UNC-TV counterprogrammed ‘Innocence Lost’

5-24-13 The unbearable emptiness of “n =”

5-22-13 Sheriff, mayor escaped prosecutors’ dragnet

5-20-13 A rare chance to watch the story unfold

5-17-13 What? ‘A hotel that doesn’t take American Express?’

5-15-13 Unaccountable prosecutors: A familiar story

5-13-13 Investigator still believes Kelly was guilty

5-10-13 Prosecutors' bag held one last trick

5-8-13 ‘Right much training but nothing like she needed’

5-6-13 Chandler’s hopes rest with innocence project

5-3-13 A deal for Betsy? Then why not for Bob and Dawn?

5-1-13 ‘Parents too trusting’? No, magazine too gullible

4-29-13 View from Edenton: ‘I never considered leaving’

4-26-13 'Satanic ritual abuse' loses its place in textbook

4-24-13 The night Koppel redefined ‘objective and reliable’

4-22-13 Why the panic ‘needs to be remembered’

4-19-13 Was there nothing to fear but ‘day care itself’?

4-17-13 Parent said God knew better than ‘Frontline’

4-15-13 Prosecutors went out of way to inflame public

4-12-13 ‘If somebody killed a rabbit at my day care...’

4-10-13 Therapists were naïve in use of dolls

4-8-13 Panics fade, ‘leaving in their wake bewilderment....’

4-5-13 Prosecutors staged revival of ‘spectral evidence’

4-3-13 Oh, those spoilsports, voicing ‘disbelief and skepticism’

4-1-13 The limits of ‘unequivocal and undeniable evidence’

3-29-13 For Little Rascals DA, mum was always the word

3-27-13 Authorities misled parents by cherry-picking evidence

3-25-13 A DA unafraid ‘to go where the truth leads....’

3-22-13 Prosecutor believed he had closed the deal early on

3-20-13 Potent weapon for N.C. DAs: court calendar

3-18-13 Could N&O have thwarted ‘prosecutor gone wild’?

3-15-13 ‘No innocent person should have to endure....’

3-13-13 Edenton newspaper shed little light on case

3-8-13 The unsinkable Ann Wolbert Burgess

3-7-13 An expertise ‘contrary to science and common sense’

3-6-13 UNC sociologist sought to deflate moral panic  

3-4-13 UNC experts failed to bring rationality to case

3-1-13 Weighing the evidence vs. ‘betraying the children’

2-27-13 ‘Make up any old nonsense’ and just watch it spread

2-25-13 ‘Give child’s testimony same weight’ as adult’s?

2-22-13 Double-decker graves, portable crematoriums... and so on

2-20-13 DA Williams to jury: Don’t consider the source

2-18-13 Advising parents ‘one of the damnedest things I ever did’

2-15-13 Police chief deputized McMartin parents

2-13-13 Ritual-abuse therapists, meet UFO debriefers

2-11-13 ‘No abuse until the interviews began....’

2-8-13 McMartin prosecutor’s pitch was certainly graphic

2-6-13 ‘Long history of panic’ extended to day-care cases

2-4-13 Junior Chandler wasn’t asking for much, but got nothing

2-1-13 Beware of parents in search of ‘truth’

1-30-13 By time to testify, children knew their lines

1-28-13 Edenton’s history was no defense against panic

1-25-13 When millions believe in alien abduction....

1-23-13 ‘Burying the memory’: Misconception that won’t die

1-21-13 Less bonding, less crying, more thinking – why not?

1-18-13 Grandmother blames ‘Kelly magic’ for outlandish tales

1-16-13 ‘Subculture’ of therapists blamed ritual abuse

1-14-13 For Junior Chandler, yet another long shot

1-11-13 Oh, to see ourselves as others see us – ouch!

1-9-13 If only reality had offered such vivid details....

1-7-13 Betsy Kelly: Still innocent, but no longer believing
1-4-13 Piaget experienced reality of false memory

1-2-13 Perdue removes one stain, leaves another

 

 

2012

 

12-31-12 ‘A state lost the ability to see clearly’ – again

12-28-12 In search of ‘clues or indicators’ for ritual abuse

12-26-12 A bit of doubt creeps into claims of ritual abuse

12-24-12 Attached to their convictions – and then some

12-21-12 Oh, those consequences of imaginations run amok

12-19-12 Skeptics not welcome where ‘awareness’ rules

12-18-12 Gun lobby hunkers down after Newtown

12-17-12 A real head-scratcher: Diagnosis or job description?

12-14-12 Santa, I know this is an unusual request, but...

12-12-12 Moral panic drove men from day-care careers 

12-10-12 Journal editors find excuses to avoid retraction

12-7-12 How one journal editor went very, very wrong

12-5-12 ‘Satan’ issue was 100% baloney – but so what?

12-3-12 In Raleigh, even justice delayed is hard to come by

11-30-12 Is clinging to error really ‘how science progresses’?

11-28-12 Prosecutors’ dream: Day-care den of evil-doers

11-26-12 Reality notwithstanding, ritual-abuse report lives on

11-23-12 When did Little Rascals myth become lie?

11-21-12 How to get attention: Why, ‘It’s getting worse every year’

11-19-12 'Conditions that would lead to a retraction’? Sorry, no

11-16-12 One thing led to another ... boy, did it ever!

11-14-12 Who do that voodoo? Why, prosecution's 'experts'

11-12-12 Did prosecutors sell out for name recognition?

11-9-12 Sex-abuse journalism raises ‘strange question’ 

11-7-12 ‘Yawning gaps in evidence’? Sounds familiar

11-5-12 A children’s book not appropriate for children

11-2-12 McMartin case brought emulation, not illumination

10-31-12 ‘Belief in a devil’ is essential to fanatics

10-29-12 'With fewer accounts of human sacrifice....'

10-26-12 We believe them, we believe them not

10-24-12 Abuse primer was big seller for county

10-22-12 'Fear of closets'? Get that child to a therapist!

10-19-12 When ‘backlash spewed,’ Judy Abbott blamed ‘falsehoods’

10-17-12 How to uncover ritual abuse: a foolproof recipe

10-15-12 National borders were no barrier to panic

10-12-12 ‘You don’t just brush off 24 years of a man’s life’

10-10-12 Oh, those ‘anxious parents, well-meaning child advocates’

10-8-12 Counselors gotta counsel – but about what?

10-5-12 N.C. justices to Junior Chandler: Drop dead

10-3-12 Exoneration depends on catching eye of media

10-1-12 'Evidence too compelling to dismiss'? Really?

9-28-12 How to demonize 'quite ordinary women'

9-26-12 27 million chances to provoke mass hysteria

9-24-12 Faller, Everson resist trend toward skepticism

9-21-12 Abuse theory didn't fit, but what the heck

9-19-12 North Carolina's bull market in hysteria

9-17-12 What prosecutors didn’t (want to) know

9-14-12 Working ‘seven days a week’ in wrong direction

9-12-12 ‘How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?’

9-10-12 Edenton Seven could’ve used a Johnny Depp

9-7-12 City sidewalks, busy sidewalks: An upbeat dispatch from the DNC

9-5-12 Predigital advocacy for the Edenton Seven

9-3-12 Postcard from the bumpy path to exoneration

8-31-12 There was good reason children weren’t eager to accuse

8-29-12 What caused ‘inability to think straight’?

8-27-12 ‘Prosecutors’ Overreaching’? Edenton had it in spades

8-24-12 'I knew right then it couldn't be true'

8-22-12 Even Betsy Kelly believed something happened

8-20-12 Beware the next generation of Indian captivity tales

8-17-12 Day-care prosecutors become like a torturer

8-15-12 Court cracks door – can Junior fit through?

8-13-12 Mr. Attorney General, here's chance to do right

8-10-12 How hard it was to say, ‘Boy, was I wrong’

8-9-12 Blogger Bill Lucey writes about Lew Powell's writing about LIttle Rascals case. Text cache.

8-8-12 Why there's a littlerascalsdaycarecase.org

8-6-12 Bill Hart used day-care moms as dating pool

8-3-12 ‘If he made such a statement, it was not a threat’ (!)

8-1-12 Mondale Act set up bonanza for therapists

7-30-12 R.I.P., Alexander Cockburn, ritual-abuse skeptic

7-27-12 Why have historians overlooked day-care mania?

7-25-12 A tormented wait for prosecutors to admit defeat

7-23-12 Interviews defective? Irrelevant, DA insisted

7-20-12 Honk if you believe that....

7-18-12 Suppose you gave a lynch party, and nobody came?

7-16-12 Betsy Kelly wouldn't succumb to state's torture

7-13-12 When skepticism is set aside for outrage

7-11-12 Prosecutors claimed to see ‘coherent package’

7-9-12 Another expert unfazed by being completely wrong

7-6-12 Why we want to forget the day-care abuse craziness

7-4-12 Prosecution waited futilely for defendant to roll

7-2-12 What made Mark Everson an expert witness?

6-29-12 Nancy Lamb has an explanation for everything

6-27-12 Ritual-abuse mania contaminated legitimate prosecutions

6-25-12 Oh, for the ability to recognize something 'odd'

6-22-12 Holocaust child-survivors needed no coaxing

6-20-12 Little Rascals: A 'travesty of justice' for the ages

6-18-12 Children 'got mixed up'? Believe them anyway

6-15-11 All molesters, please gather now on E. Eden Street

6-13-12 For therapist, creating memory is an easy task

6-11-12 Innocence, alas, doesn't guarantee exoneration

6-8-12 Bill Hart played by his own (poker) rules

6-6-12 A mother to fear at your day-care door

6-4-12 Citing self, professor finds ‘false allegations quite rare’

6-1-12 A funny story about the Little Rascals case (really!)

5-30-12 If anyone deserves pardon, why not Edenton Seven?

5-28-12 'Understanding and Assessing' ritual-abuse mythology

5-25-12 Children don't remember, but sure abuse happened

5-23-12 'The most innocent man I have ever defended'

5-22-12 Prosecutors grudgingly loosen grip on Bob Kelly – a 15th anniversary

5-21-12 'They saw themselves as the good guys'

5-18-12 An encore for ritual abuse panic? 'You can bet on it'

5-16-12 When therapists ignore what researchers have learned....

5-14-12 Kathleen Coulborn Faller: 'Though others' perceptions have changed...'

5-11-12 Surviving tape undercuts officer's testimony

5-9-12 Prosecutors have upper hand in plea bargains

5-7-12 Prognosis uncertain for misled child-witnesses

5-4-12 Leading questions, not spontaneity, marked interviews

5-2-12 Children abused, but not by Edenton Seven

4-30-12 Prosecutors turned on by nonexistent porn tape

4-27-12 One less platform for ritual-abuse fantasizers

4-25-12 McMartin interviewers showed way for Little Rascals

4-23-12 Lamb 'continues to hold herself out as an expert'

4-20-12 Scholarship minus skepticism = academic sham

4-18-12 Parents saw nothing amiss until rumors took hold

4-16-12 ‘Juvenile renderings of grownups’ anxieties’

4-13-12 'Overzealous intervenors' muddy waters in abuse cases

4-11-12 The ideal prosecution child-witness

4-9-12 Who killed the ritual abuse day care panic?

4-6-12 Parent-experts found meaning where there was none

4-4-12 French prosecutors erred – and admitted it!

4-2-12 What jurors learned from 'Every Mother's Worst Fear'

3-30-12 ‘We’ve learned a lot....’ (Too bad it took so long)

3-28-12 Prosecutors learned wrong lesson from McMartin

3-26-12 McMartin: Patient Zero in day-care abuse contagion?

3-23-12 Forensic evaluator or therapist? A distinction not made

3-21-12 Tracey Cline, Mike Nifong and H.P. Williams

3-19-12 ‘The right man’ was the wrong man? No way!

3-16-12 Court finds Hart's ploy 'grossly improper'

3-14-12 The ugly truth about ‘Nancy Lamb’s state of mind’

3-12-12 Was it really Dawn Wilson who 'had no character'?

3-9-12 Lessons from a Windshield Pitting Epidemic

3-7-12 Nancy Lamb goes mum but 'has most to answer for'

3-5-12 Why prosecutors can't admit they're wrong

3-2-12 What happens to kids programmed with lies?

2-29-12 'Believe the children!' unless they deny being abused

2-27-12 Nancy Lamb takes up career in 'quality control'

2-24-12 Hit-and-run prosecutors, therapists don't look back

2-22-12 Constitution prohibits 'punishment in limbo'

2-20-12 A pediatrician looks back at 'ritual abuse'

2-17-12 Therapists were ‘overzealous... inadequately trained... unethical’

2-15-12 A last chance at freedom: An update on the Junior Chandler case.

2-13-12 UNCG professor showed no tolerance for skepticism.

2-10-12 An antipodal view: What would Charlotte Bronte have thought?

2-8-12 The long goodbye: ‘See you in a million years!’

2-6-12 Therapist, prosecutor worked 4-year-old as tag team.

2-3-12 Privott's allies found way around $1 million bail

2-1-12 That’s our case, and we’re sticking to it (cont.) 

1-31-12 Junior Chandler victimized by overreaching experts

1-27-12 Montaigne and St. Augustine, of course, were never DAs.

1-25-12 Did fear of Bob Kelly keep women in jail?

1-23-12 25 years of wrongful imprisonment – and counting.

1-20-12 Prosecutors' motto: But they're still guilty!

1-18-12 Why would prosecutors let 'monster' walk?

1-16-12 The darkness that lurks behind Darkness to Light.

1-13-12 Geraldo Rivera: "I am now convinced I was terribly wrong."

1-11-12 How much like Penn State were day-care cases?

1-9-12 Among the costs of incarceration: a marriage; an update on Scott Privott.

1-6-12 Does convicting innocent people count as crime'?

1-4-12 Journalists, too, suffer 'incurable blind spots'.

1-2-12 “You believe a dozen little kids just made up lies?”

 

2011

 

12-30-11 Nifong had sympathizer in H.P. Williams.

12-28-11 Testimony gone awry noted in "Jeopardy in the courtroom."

12-26-11 Reader Clarence Lankford comments.

12-23-11 “Overwhelming power” in the worst possible hands.

12-21-11 “Is it not plain that people had frightened their children?”

12-19-11 Case was boon to DA's team of therapists.

12-16-11 “Facts in direct conflict with charges by parents.”

12-14-11 Doug Wiik compares Rascals case with hysteria involving his Pennsylvania day care.

12-12-11 How one DA refused to yield to madness.

12-9-11 Imagining my part of a chat with H.P. Williams Jr.

12-7-11 Ex-D.A. H.P. Williams Jr. “not in a position to talk about it”?

12-5-11 Professional child abuse: Creating false memories.

12-2-11 How Bill Hart got better at playing dirty.

11-30-11 How were defendants so skillful at dressing kids?

11-28-11 Parents ill-prepared to practice psychology.

11-25-11 Parents' gullibility "grounded in anxiety."

11-23-11 Imprisonment 'without having to prove a thing' – a 1997 editorial.

11-21-11 Raymond Lawrence writes a memoir about his involvement in the case.

11-18-11 Good sense proved no match for gossip.

11-16-11 Prosecutors couldn't buy off “depraved” defendants. A Norfolk Virginian-Pilot editorial.

11-14-11 Anonymous sympathizer gave $750,000.

11-11-11 In the beginning, there was a paranoid schizophrenic.

11-9-11 Parents stake claim to 'years of trauma and persecution'

11-7-11 Brent Adams & Associates begins to clean up its act.

11-4-11 Prosecutors followed playbook from the 16th century.

11-2-11 Chapel Hill therapist Ann Earle was nothing if not certain.

10-31-11 Brent Adams & Associates, clean up your act.

10-28-11 The prosecution's failures.

10-26-11 A theory on the “seeds of this case.”

10-24-11 Other victims of the “decade of moral panic.”

10-21-11 Bob Kelly used hard work to survive hard time

10-19-11 Carol Tavris: Children showed courage not to 'remember' abuse.

10-17-11 Mark Montgomery: N.C. law stacked against defendants.

10-12-11 Why we could see another Little Rascals case.

10-11-11 Bob Kelly: “I had nothing to be ashamed of.”