Hull’s Satanic Panic

What enables a society to function well?

Some may argue that its laws set in place by a higher authority, be that the government or a “deity”, that stop society from crumbling at our feet. On the other end of the spectrum, some believe that society functions well when we have the freedom to fulfil our individual desires, so long as we don’t hurt others. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle because, believe it or not, some people are pure cockwombles and can’t be trusted to live autonomously as nobody nevermind govern an entire society. That’s even if they do believe God is their ride or die.

Throughout history, there have been examples of all kinds of societies and social systems in action, and despite how different they are they all had one key element in common: for societies to function, the united majority need a scapegoat. This may be one person such as a hermit or foreigner, or it could be an entire group of people who don’t share the same religious beliefs or common values as those in power.

Satan: The OG Scapegoat

Evidence of Satan as a scapeGOAT stretches back as far as 38AD when the Hellenised Egyptian sophist Apion led a campaign against - wait for it, can you guess it, that’s right - the Jewish communities *air horns* of Alexandria for not erecting statues and praising the emperor Caligula. Other examples throughout the centuries include rumours spread by the Roman Empire demonising Christians and, of course, the witchhunts of the 16th and 17th centuries. Throughout history, councils, committees and sometimes even entire communities from all around the world have been accused of dabbling in satanic ritual abuse, with elements such as cannibalism, torture and child murder creeping into the narrative early on.

Though they certainly died down for a little bit, these ideas about satanic rituals didn’t get lost in the emerging industrial landscape or among the technological advancements we made in the 20th century. Long after the ye olde witchhunts, but before batty mums began blaming video games for their psychopathic children, what we now know as Satanic Panic reared its ugly head.

Chaos Reigns

To recount the entire story of Satanic Panic would take quite a long time, so let’s just stick to the basics. In 1972, former high priestess of Satan Doreen Irvine released From Witchcraft to Christ, and parents across the USA went nuts. A decade later, the country was overtaken by the McMartin Preschool debacle and then the Kern County abuse trials, which began in 1983. Soon, fear of Satanic cults had taken over the Western hemisphere, with nations including Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands and South Africa all hosting their own trials.

The United Kingdom was no exception, and in 1988 Hull became one of the first cities in the country to be gripped by Satanic Panic.

Hull’s Satanic Panic: The Beginning

March 1988 - Reverend Michael Vernon has worked with Christian communities within Hull for a number of years and yet, it’s only in the last few months that he’s started mentioning some of the more niche hobbies among his flock. Clearly shooketh, Vicar Vernon begins to tell stories about adults indulging in black magic and is deeply concerned that the children of Hull are being lured into witchcraft.

“They can get involved in some sorts of evil practices,” Vernon tells onlookers, “and the effects can be quite frightening. When dealing with evil, you are dealing with a slippery area.” I don’t think anyone uses the phrase “slippery area“, so that in itself is worth noting as odd.

Not long afterwards, Humberside Education Committee member Eric Wilkinson comes forward to admit he been knowing of the satanic hobbies of children, telling parents that black magic was a common problem among school children. “They were letting the power of evil into their lives,” the former teacher claims. “In many cases, they are terrified and I believe lives are being destroyed.”

Now, as a well-adjusted individual, I’m sure you’ll agree that these claims from both the Reverend and Mr Wilkinson seem balls-to-the-wall bonkers, right? Surely these men should not be taken seriously, and in fact, may have fit in better in a South Park episode than in 1980s Hull? Well sure, but their claims weren’t completely and utterly without cause. Before their statements, horses had been found mutilated in fields while rumours of rabbits, beheaded and hung in trees around a Hull school, persist to this day. Between the priest, the teacher and the massacred animals, it’s no surprise that Humberside charity Childwatch soon got involved.

Led by founder Dianne Core, Childwatch released a report detailing a number of scary stories. According to the study, children all around the city were scared, and not only because their parents were asking them about Satan and rewarding them for telling terrifying tales. The report claimed that paedophiles were joining well-established occult groups around Hull in order to gain access to children who were “too terrified to talk.” There were even cases of youngsters under the age of twelve being kidnapped, drugged, made to drink blood and tied upside down to inverted crosses, All the while, according to Childwatch, 4,000 babies were being killed every year in ritual sacrifices. That is a good chunk of babies and certainly cause for concern.

Hull’s Satanic Panic became so big that journalist Roger Cook visited the city to investigate the claims for The Cook Report.

Not long after his visit, Childwatch’s report was even taken to the House of Commons, where MP Geoffrey Dickens claimed that Satanic child abuse was leading to the deaths of around fifty young children per year. I don’t know about you, but I can’t deal with all these conflicting child-death statistics, PICK AN AMOUNT.

Hull’s Satanic Coven Leader: Scorpio

Every story needs a villain, a physical one that the public can throw vegetables at rather than a creation of imaginations running wild like Satan. In this case, it was a supposed coven leader who went by the name Scorpio, a satanist accused of stealing truant children and conducting rituals on them. Scorpio was not alone though, as white witch Beth Gurevitch was also said to be “introducing youngsters to occultism” and performing exorcisms.

Not Today Satan

As months turned into years, the idea of a Satanic cult operating in Hull began to become more ridiculous. Stories that had once seemed deeply disturbing were soon unravelled to reveal nothing more than childish ploys. For instance, in October 1988 a group of 25 boys were said to have been lured from East Mount Junior School to perform gay black magic rituals. This led to three arrests, though two of the men were quickly set free and the third was given a conditional discharge. However, it was soon revealed that the kids, aged between 8 - 11, just liked to skip school because apparently, parents in the 80s weren’t paying attention.

As the 1990s began, there was a brief flare-up of Satanic Panic as children with similar truant pasts started coming forward with stories of Scorpio. However, in 1991 a police investigation found there was no hard evidence to support any of the claims that had been made over the past few years.

Life After Hull’s Satanic Panic

In 1996, a study revealed that 62 cases of satanic ritual abuse had been reported to the police, social services and welfare agencies in the UK between 1988 and 1991. Though we can’t say for certain how many of those were made in Hull, I’m 99% sure we have white telephone boxes to ward off the goddamn devil. During that same period, anthropologist Jean LaFontaine had been looking into the claims and found no evidence of cults, satanic activity or rituals taking place in UK. Her findings were eventually revealed in her 1998 book Speak of the Devil, which I might read at some point I’m not making any promises.

Now, over twenty years since the outbreak of Hull’s Satanic Panic first began, the idea of our city being held in the claws of the devil or daft children who don’t want to go to school seems ridiculous. In fact, a 2015 study revealed that of all the cities in the UK, Hull was the tenth most Satanic, with a whopping twenty Satanists. If you’re one of those Satanists I’d love to know whether you’ve been low-key stealing children because we may need to go to the police, but for now I’m just going to assume that the children are safe from Satan.