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Satanic Panic – belief in the devil: conspiracy spreads in the Bernese Oberland – News

14 June 2023

Contents

The conspiracy story about satanic perpetrators and remote-controlled women finds its way into religious circles.

Dark powers, satanic perpetrators and devil brides: the conspiracy story “Satanic Panic” has spread in Switzerland.

Legend:

With “Prayers and God” an evangelical pastor in Switzerland fights against alleged satanic perpetrators.

iStock/Farknot_Architect

It has also taken root in deeply religious circles. This is shown by research by SRF Investigativ. There are evangelical Christians who believe in secret circles. These are said to sexually abuse women in order to program their thoughts and control them remotely. There is no evidence for the existence of such processes.

The Bernese Oberland seems to be a hotspot. Several pastors, therapists and politicians who believe in the conspiracy story and spread it work and live here.

Sometimes I almost do the work of a social worker.

A pastor was willing to provide information to SRF. Paul Veraguth was pastor at the Reformed Church in Wattenwil for 30 years. For several years he has been working as a pastor and also looks after alleged victims of satanic perpetrators. “I work with prayer and God,” he describes his type of care.

The belief in satanic rituals of violence already appeared in the USA in the 1980s under the term “Satanic Panic”. Evidence of such circles and rituals has not yet been found. In Switzerland, too, there is neither evidence nor judgments against alleged perpetrators.

The SRF program “rec.” revealed in December 2021 that the conspiracy narrative had spread in Switzerland.

Among other things, patients were treated in several psychiatric clinics for alleged mind control – psychiatrists and psychologists were taken in by the conspiracy narrative. After the SRF regional journal Bern Freiburg Valais uncovered the events at the Münsingen psychiatric center, the canton of Bern initiated an investigation.

He sees himself as a kind of social worker who accompanies the alleged victims in their everyday lives and helps them get rid of the perpetrators.

A man's hand holding a crucifix at the camera.

The pastor says he has taken care of a dozen women so far. People as religious as Paul Veraguth are convinced that the world is divided into good and evil.

Veraguth believes that people serve Satan by ritually abusing women and programming their minds to make them “devil’s brides.”

Name change due to conspiracy narrative

Alleged victims meet regularly in a self-help group at the pastor’s. His connections extend to Winterthur. There he works with the association “Cara”. Among other things, it trains specialists on the subject of ritual violence. At the request of SRF, it is said that no media inquiries are currently being answered.

Paul Veraguth’s pastoral care has concrete consequences: He helped a woman change her name because she was allegedly being persecuted by satanic criminals. This was made possible by a psychiatric report, on the basis of which the authorities approved the name change.

Religious beliefs mix with judgments of medical professionals and the work of government agencies.

Pastor denies allegations

Experts take a critical view of this: According to forensic psychiatrist Thomas Knecht, this type of care is of little help. “It can be beneficial when you feel a bit relieved of personal responsibility. But it’s not the same as solving a problem.”

Woman leaning against the wall on the left and covering her face with her hands

The conspiracy narrative serves as a kind of template that helps explain why someone suffers mentally.

There are no perpetrators with special knowledge who can control minds.

Most of the alleged victims would have actually experienced sexual violence – but not by perpetrators who could program their thoughts with special knowledge. “There’s no evidence of that. In my 40 years of work, I have never met anyone with such skills,” says Knecht.

That’s why the conspiracy story has no place in the care of mentally ill people: “Therapy should lead patients to self-determination.”

Paul Veraguth rejects any accusation that pastoral care harms women. He evades the question of whether he is a conspiracy supporter. For him it is a question of worldview whether one believes in “dark powers” and their work or not.

It is not disputed that people in Switzerland are victims of the most severe sexual abuse and that organized criminal groups engage in human trafficking and forced prostitution. The victims suffered from the consequences for the rest of their lives, were severely traumatized and needed help, says forensic psychiatrist Frank Urbaniok. For a long time he has been involved in spreading the conspiracy narrative surrounding satanic ritual violence and mind programming. According to Urbaniok, the actual victims of violence are not abused because of an ideology. In the conspiracy narrative, however, this is exactly one of the core elements – that alleged satanic perpetrators abused women in rituals to program their minds.