the totally insane true story behind the 1970s film and book Sybil

sybil exposed bookclub countdown :D

started Sybil Exposed yesterday, ploughing through it like nobody's business!

I am completely flabbergasted by the number of drugs Dr Wilbur had Sheila on. Like, beyond levels of crazy oldtimey psychiatry. Like Seconal and Thorazine (!) every kind of barbiturate you can think of *and* oh hi she's totally jacked on pentothal anyway, by the way oh and here have some demerol for your MENSTRUAL CRAMPS.

what the christ

not that I am surprised the drugs themselves were prescribed but the amounts, and the fact that she was on like 10 things SIMULTANEOUSLY
I'm surprised she was functioning at all

Yeah that part was really sad. No wonder she did whatever Dr Wilbur wanted.

i really love how Nathan's focus is not so much gettting to the bottom of the crazy but exploring these 3 women in context of the world they were living in and grew up in, and how that really does underline so much of all of this

Anyone who enjoys sad hoaxes must see The Woman Who Wasn't There (it's on netflix streaming). The last shot has haunted me considerably since I saw it.

Also how was the bookclub?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Esteve_Head

That was a good movie.

There was a story on This American Life that reminded me of her. It was about a guy who gets duped into robbing banks by another guy named who was impersonating a CIA officer conducting an operation to test bank security. The fake CIA guy has delusional disorder, which a doctor describes this way: The big difference is that people with schizophrenia have crazy delusions that nobody believes, like believing that the CIA is using telepathy to read your thoughts or believing that you're Jesus Christ. Whereas the delusions that come with delusional disorder, they could be true. That kind of plausibility plus his conviction about his identity probably helped him be convincing, and I wondered if maybe Ms. Head really believed she was a survivor.

Transcript of the story here http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/506/transcript

she seemed pretty messed up based on the grisly car accident she was in, teasing she had endured, general predilection toward lying/delusion. it reminded me of shirley/sybil -- that she would do whatever it took to be beloved. it was sad, but also scary because actions have consequences, etc.

The eighties were creepy?? I guess if you were very young you might feel that way. I'm not trying to be dismissive...the seventies were way more bizarre.

I watch "TVTerrorland" on YouTube a lot now...eighties horror had a lot of slashing, but 70's relied on the "creep" factor. Sybil was one of those books your mom would leave lying on her nightstand and you would read chapters of it when she was chatting with the neighbors. (I.e., I read it)...Stuff like that was like folklore back then. My theory is that cable tv demystified a lot of things. Politics and talk show fights 24/7!

There was a "reincarnation" fad too back then, my grandma, an Irish Catholic believed in it and had a bunch of fun kooky books on it and "near death"...

Bridey Murphy!

http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1344267955l/455764.jpg

Fran and Dan Keller: freed!
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/01/fran_and_dan_keller_freed_two_of_the_last_victims_of_satanic_ritual_abuse.html

From that article:

"In 1992, folk singer Joan Baez released “Play Me Backwards,” a song in the voice of a victim of satanic ritual abuse who was forced to witness the sacrifice of a baby and is now recollecting her repressed memories."

yup

listening to "play me backwards" - man that thing sounds so 1992 & the second verse is just

Let the night begin there's a pop of skin
And the sudden rush of scarlet
There's a little boy riding on a goat's head
And a little girl playing the harlot
There's a sacrifice in an empty church
Of sweet li'l baby Rose
And a man in a mask from Mexico
Is peeling off my clothes

I've seen them light the candles
I've heard them bang the drum
And I've cried Mama, I'm cold as ice!
And I got no place to run

what the absolute hell

like half the music I listen to has lyrics like that but it's guys from Norway in bullet belts

this has made my day

There's a little boy riding on a goat's head
(That's my soul up there)
And a little girl playing the harlot
(That's my soul up there)
There's a sacrifice in an empty church
(That's my soul up there)
Of sweet li'l baby Rose
(That's my soul up there)

http://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/blogs/av/2011/12/20/1_jc6ueu10_1_9k8m285l.jpg

Haha oh no

Joan, Joan. What the hell.

Did she ever backpeddle on that one? Like "It was a portrait of the times, told in the voice of a kook fundamentalist..."

Wow I cannot wait to get to some wireless so I can hear this

i know debbie nathan's SRA book mentioned that song because i already knew about it, but the fact that it wasn't even among the most batshit things about that book really speaks volumes for the amount of florid bullshit that people are willing to spew in the name of saving the children -- it's unreal.

Some of this may be of tangential interest to folks in this thread, this story reminded me a lot of the old satanic panic stories.

She claims to be a victim of child abuse, therefore every word she speaks is the objective truth and I don't know why the cops don't close all those cases now. /irony

Yeah, already posted these links in the "posts you had second thoughts about and decided not to post" thread - since I don't know how much or little to believe of her story.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20140216_ap_c3ff99fc4eb54cb6a30ca4bb31f44c24.html
http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/x1708329322/BODY-COUNT-AT-22/?mobRedir=false

Yeah, it's doubtful that much of her story will pan out, but I just thought it interesting to see a news story in 2014 with the "satanic cult made me kill!" hook.

I suspect there's a delightful bouillabaisse of real truth, utter delusion, and show-offy bullshit that no one will ever be able to get to the bottom of. This is a sad and ugly story no matter what the real story is.

i was showing my class this website (won't explain why, too boring) but look what the new story is!!!
http://retroreport.org/mcmartin-preschool-anatomy-of-a-panic/

Yay, added to Pocket without further ado.

Horrifying stuff

omg
http://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/dont-make-go-back-mommy-creepy-childrens-book-satanic-ritual-abuse/

Where did all these crazy activists go? Are they still out there? I would love to see a follow up documentary on some of the 80s TV specials talking to the police officers, doctors, politicians, journalists, etc and finding out how many now accept this was bunkum.

There was some of that in Witch Hunt, which shows how some of the last unjustly convicted folks finally get out of prison. At least in that case it seems most of the law officials still believe there was some truth to SRA, even if they admit that the whole hysteria got out of hand. I don't think any of the SRA activists (except for activists who tried to question the whole thing) are interviewed in that doc though, it'd definitely be interesting to hear how they feel abot the whole thing now.

I'd like to know that too! How did they come to accept that they were extremely wrong? Also, how is it that witch hunts still work?! Because people lack critical thinking skills and are scared? Would anyone say that out loud?

How did they come to accept that they were extremely wrong?

I'm not sure if they do? IIRC in both "Capturing the Friedmans" and "Witch Hunt" it's only (some of) the supposed kid victims who eventually change their mind about what happened, all the adults who believed in those things back in the day still seem to think something inappropriate happened then, even if it they admit it was exaggerated the media.

"even if they admit it was exaggerated in the media"

seems kinda satanic panicky:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/12-year-old-Wisconsin-girls-charged-in-stabbing-5522521.php

Visited my mum today and she was about to give the original Sybil book away to a charity shop, so I took it off her hands instead as it's been years since I last read it. Good train reading for my trip home, but I'd like to read the Sybil Exposed one even more now.

whoa whoa did anyone scroll all the way to the end of that article about the creepy children's SRA book?

That being said, every time this book – or SRA in general – are mentioned online (i.e. this BuzzFeed article or the book’s Amazon reviews) there are tons of comments insisting on the fact that SRA does not exist and that it is a myth that was propagated in the 80′s. My question is : How can one be so sure and convinced that something DOES NOT exist? Why would someone even take the time to stress the fact that something DOES NOT exist? What’s the interest behind this? Is this a case of “doth protest too much, methinks”?

Is it possible that some internet commentators are being paid to make sure that any references to SRA is fully discredited and ridiculed online? One thing is for sure, when one researches the history and the mechanisms of Mind Control, combined with the functioning of the occult elite, the existence of SRA is far from being a myth. It is a documented fact.

Despite the hysteria and confusion in and around the case, Capturing The Friedmans' delving and peeling does incl. Pa Freidman's belated admission of guilt, as discussed upthread.

one of the best docs ever, if you can stand it.

I don't think it's a matter of standing it...I have tried to show Capturing the Friedmans to over 20 people, and all have fallen asleep within the first half hour. It's just an excellent soporific to people who hate...primary documents?

I don't remember that movie being boring at all?!

Me either – at all – on fact, when I first saw it in the theater, I was *dying* for the DVD to come out, hoping the extras would add more layers. Which: they did. I devoured them, too. I have watched the movie so many times, but it fits in with my obsessions. I guess semi - party atmosphere, several drinks in, "Hey guys, let's watch this movie I love!" And the first 20 minutes is the 20% well-trimmed lawns of suburban New York, and news footage...I love it, but it has put everyone to sleep, while I just stay up and rewatch it. #anecdata

Pa Freidman's belated admission of guilt

but not of what he was accused of

great sentence there

Thanks. This (with Jesse's accusers recanting, saying they were coerced, why his father falsely confessed, apparently, and how the 2010 relaunch was cooked too, doc director long since convinced that the Friedmans were railroaded) rounds up the most recent info I could find, from June 24 (updates?)

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/capturing-the-friedmans-subject-seeks-to-overturn-1988-conviction-1201245697/

And this, from last summer, before the DA's O HE'S GUILTY AWRITE report, gives more detail, incl the director's "evidence reel," increasingly favoring Jesse, compiled since the DVD release. No doubt there's enough material for a sequel, or at least an extended reissue.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-05-29/news/jesse-friedman/

Since Michelle Remembers has been mentioned here...

http://idontevenownatelevision.com/michelle-remembers-w-poncho-martinez