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172 McMartin Ritual Abuse Case
The case turned a corner after one of the prosecutors
became convinced of the innocence of the
Buckeys, particularly after watching the videos. He
noted that an interviewer would assert:“‘You’re not
being a very bright boy. Your friends have come in
and told us they were touched. Don’t you want to
be as smart as them’ What kind of a way is that to
interview children” (Hicks 1991, 193). After
resigning from the case, he “disclosed material that
had been withheld from the trial, such as claims by
the mentally ill original accuser that people had
flown through windows, killed lions and had
sexual encounters with giraffes” (Kilian 1995,
website). Although the trial wound on, it was only
a matter of time before the accused were acquitted.
After the acquittal, suits were filed by some of
the former defendants against the city, the county,
the CII, and an ABC TV station. Despite the
merits of their grievances, these cases never went
anywhere because state law granted immunity
from prosecution to workers involved in child
protective services.
At various points throughout the case, a group
of parents became involved in the investigation by
combing the schoolyard for remains of sacrificed
animals and infants, as well as for signs of underground
tunnels and underground rooms that the
children had described as sites of abuse. During
one such search, parents found a turtle shell. This
appeared significant at the time because Ray
Buckey had supposedly executed a sea turtle with
a knife as an example of what would happen to
them if they told. However, a professional examination
of the shell found that the sand inside was
not from the vicinity, indicating that it had been
planted, likely by someone anxious to supply hard
evidence for the case.
Investigators also conducted archeological
excavations of the schoolyard to discover evidence
of underground rooms and tunnels. These investigations
revealed nothing unusual at the site. The
parent group hired another archaeologist to go
back over the site, using the McMartin parents as
their excavators. As one observer noted,
these were people who not only had an
agenda about finding something, but who had
a history of apparently implanting phony
artifacts. This is significant in light of the fact
that the artifacts they present now as their
chief evidence are two small (easily
implantable) items: a Mickey Mouse plastic
sandwich bag and a saucer with five-pointed
stars painted on it. The McMartin parents also
claim that the tunnels they found are about
five feet high, 30 inches wide, with no
flooring, wall or ceiling material, and
completely filled with dirt and paint chips.
Compare this to claims the children made
back in the 1980s: for example, about a “secret
room” 10 feet by 10 feet, filled with sofas and
flashing lights, leading to an triplex residence
inhabited by a little old lady. Construction
and contracting professionals whom the
media contacted during the 1990 dig pointed
out that the McMartin site had been
continuously built on since the 1920s (it used
to be a stable) and that what was found
sounded like the channels dug for plumbing
that are normally found under any such site.
(Nathan 1994)
Though the case is closed, the McMartin
school tunnels issue has been kept alive to this day
by Satanic ritual abuse believers—especially
certain groups of conservative Christians—who
continue to believe that the tunnels were real but
that the evidence was ignored or covered up.
See also Crime; Satanic Ritual Abuse
For Further Reading:
Charlier, Tom, and Shirley Downing. “Justice Abuse:
A 1980s Witch-Hunt” (6-part series). Memphis
Commercial Appeal (January 1988).
Hicks, Robert. In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and
the Occult. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books,
1991.
Kilian, Michael. “Criminal Injustice.” Chicago
Tribune, May 18, 1995. Source online.
Nathan, Debbie. “False Evidence: How Bad Science
Fueled the Hysteria Over Child Abuse.” L.A.
Weekly. April 8–13, 1989.
———. “Preschool Tunnel Claims: Evidence of a
Hoax.” 1994.
http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc44406/smware/Mc
Martin4.htm.
Nathan, Debbie and Michael Snedeker, Satan’s
Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a
Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic
Books, 1995.