THE "LITTLE RASCALS" RITUAL ABUSE CASE, EDENTON NC
Robert "Bob" Kelly, Kathryn Wilson, Elizabeth "Betsy" Kelly and
Willard Privott in Edenton, NC, were charged with engaging in various
sexual activities with children in the Kellys' day care in 1989. Mr. Kelly
was convicted on 99 counts of sexual abuse and given 12 consecutive life
sentences. Ms. Wilson was charged with 5 offenses and was given life in
prison. Faced with the probability that she would be found guilty and face
decades in jail, Ms. Kelly pleaded "no contest" to 30 charges involving 16
children and was given a 7 year prison term. Mr. Privott had been kept in
prison for many months without being able to raise bail. He pleaded "no
contest" to over 30 charges (some sources say 37) and was released with time
served. 90 children accused a total of 20 adults of abuse, including the
sheriff and mayor. Allegations included a baby killed with a hand gun, being
hung upside down from a tree and being set on fire. Nobody in town reported
a baby missing. A number of other adults have been charged but not tried.
Charges were never laid against the mayor or sheriff. Various appeals
are being made at this time.
These charges relate to the Little Rascal's Day Care in Edenton. It
is perhaps the second most famous day care ritual abuse case in North
America (after the McMartin Preschool in CA. The
PBS program Frontline produced a powerful documentary episode on this
case, called Innocence Lost. (1) It showed that the various
ingredients of a typical MVMO abuse case are present in Edenton:
- no physical evidence
- public hysteria
- lack of evidence which would have been present if the children were
abused
- testimony from children who have been extensively interviewed using
manipulative, suggestive techniques
- testimony describing a long string of impossible or highly improbable
events
Some of the children's disclosures included:
- being taken to the back room of a store and sexually abused. There is
a very wide opening between the back room and the rest of the store, so that
any sexual abuse would have been perpetrated in the full view of customers
- being taken on board a space ship and flown into outer space where they
were abused
- seeing a large fish tank where sharks were trained
- being taken on board a ship into the ocean and abused; trained sharks
swam around the boat.
During the winter of 1988-1989, Edenton police attended a Satanic Ritual
Abuse (SRA) seminar. The first allegation of abuse followed shortly
afterwards. One theory is that the first mention of abuse followed the
slapping of a child at the day care; another story has the first
allegation following intensive questioning of a child by his mother under
the guidance of a SRA attendee.
As in other MVMO cases, the children initially denied abuse at the school.
However, after repeated interrogations, they started to reveal sexual and
then ritual abuse. Children were criticized or rewarded in accordance with
the abuse content of their stories.
We will not describe the various proofs that ritual and sexual abuse did
not happen in Edenton. For more information, see a WWW page by Dr. Jonathan
G. Harris (2).
"Little Rascal's" is a most important case, because it demonstrates how
the "pro-abuse" mind set of the interviewers can be transmitted to the
children and persuade them to disclose events that never happened. A San
Diego grand jury which investigated child abuse said (3):
"Of particular interest is the information the Jury received about
the Little Rascals pre-school case in North Carolina. Eighty-five
percent of the percent of the children received therapy with
three therapists in the town; all of these children eventually
reported satanic abuse. Fifteen percent of the children were
treated by different therapists in a neighboring city; none of
the children reported abuse of any kind after the same period of
time in therapy."
(emphasis added).
It would appear that in this case, the memories of Satanic abuse were
accidentally implanted by sincere Edenton therapists who believed in the
reality of Satanic abuse. The out-of-town therapists, who had no such belief,
found no abuse at all: Satanic or otherwise. Again, we conclude that no
ritual abuse occurred in Edenton.
References
- Frontline TV show, "Innocence Lost" (July 1993). Transcripts are
available from Journal Graphics, 1-303-831-9000; a video tape is available
from PBS video 1-800-424-7963)
"SBFAQ (Should Be Frequently Asked Questions) about Little Rascals, the
Ritual Sexual Abuse Hoax and its costs" was written by Dr. Jonathan
G. Harris (2), a MIT Professor of chemical engineering. See:
http://www.vix.com/pub/men/falsereport/satanic/lilrasc.html
- 1991-92 San Diego County Grand Jury, Report #8 "CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE,
ASSAULT, AND MOLEST ISSUES" (San Diego County, CA). See:
http://www.vix.com/pub/men/falsereport/satanic/sandiego.html
- S.J. Ceci & M. Bruck, "Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific
Analysis of Children's Testimony", American Psychological Association,
Washington DC (1995)
- Debbie Nathan & Michael Snendeker, "Satan's Silence", BasicBooks,
New York NY (1995),
- Mark Pendergrast, "Victims of Memory", 2nd Edition, Upper Access
Books, Hinesburg VT (1996), P. 366
Return to the OCRT home page;
"Not so Spiritual" page;
"Believe the Children" essay;
Does Ritual Abuse Exist? essay