Session 9 and Satanic Ritual Abuse

There is a very underappreciated Brad Anderson film out there that didn't enjoy a wide release but deserves a real historical look. This film doesn't directly deal with the Occult, perse, but this film makes a direct refernce to the hysteria that surrounded the Satanic Ritual Abuse craze of the 1980s (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261983/). This film follows a group of asbestos removers trying to save the real life Danvers State Mental Hospital from condemnation (http://www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com/home.html). Within the film, the characters are conversing and having lunch outside when one inquires as to why the Mental Hospital was closed down. One of the characters, Mike, claims that it was mostly due to budget cuts, "The Feds call it deinstitutionilization" (Script, Session 9). Mike doesn't stop here however, he claims that a large portion of mental institutions collapsed due to the "Patricia Willard Scandal". I wasn't able to find any concrete information on a person fitting Patrcia Willard's description in the film, so I am left to believe that this case is a hodgepodge of many cases that resulted from the fallout of the Satanic Ritual Abuse hysteria. Mike claims that a young girl, Patricia Willard:

"was committed by her parents, Maniac depression, that sort of thing. But in the 80's this repressed memory therapy took off. The shrinks figured these new techniques would release hidden memories of traumatic events like rape, incest. So Patricia,with the help of her doctors, recalls that when she was ten, her father raped her. But not once, right? No, three times a week. And he didn't just rape her, he came into her room at night wearing a black robe. He drove her to a wooded area where her grandparents and mother were. They wore black robes. When they took them off, orgies ensued. And then they brought out the newborn. She was forced to watch as her mother cut a baby's heart out with a stone dagger. She'd drink the blood, others would eat the flesh. The grandfather and fatherwould fuck her repeatedly--She was forced to have abortions."

After Mike says this, the listeners are completely disgusted and ask him to stop. Mike, however, is not finished with the story. He goes onto say that Patricia was ready to sue her parents, but then all of a sudden--the suit is dropped. The listeners are baffled. The suit is dropped, as it turns out, because, before going to trial, Patricia has a gynecological checkup, where it is determined that she is still a virgin. Mike wraps up his anecdote by saying that this type of thing happened around the country, and with absolutely zero bodies found as a result of supposed SRA, the mental health establishment takes a hard hit by countersuites..."That, and the budget cuts" (http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/session-9-script-transcript-caruso.html)

I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen this film to do so. The horror is completely psychological, and although it hasn't been widely viewed, it has set the groundwork for subsequent films (like Anderson's La Machinasta and Jose Balaguero's Darkness) and other aspects of media (the picture used above is appropriated into the Occult-centric video game Silent Hill 3) SEE IT! I COMMAND THEE!!!