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“Michelle Remembers” was a “memoir” written by Michelle Smith and her doctor (later turned lover and husband), Lawrence Pazder.
This work of fiction, sold as fact, recounted Smith’s “recovered” memories of being used and abused by a Satanic cult.
The things that Smith was asserting happened were, putting it lightly, incredibly bizarre.
She claims things like having her teeth knocked out and suffering numerous physical scars from torture.
Why did Smith not retain these scars and missing teeth in the present day?
Well, the Virgin Mary (who speaks French apparently) magically restored her to perfect health.
Other claims range from witnessing babies being eaten and seeing various abuse to both humans and animals.
If you couldn’t guess by now, all these claims have been thoroughly debunked.
Despite this hindsight, this work of fiction’s legacy is far more frightening than anyone could have imagined.
This is the backdrop of the new documentary Satan Wants You directed by Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor, providing audiences with an unflinching look at the origins of what has been dubbed as “The Satanic Panic,” which spread throughout the ‘80s and some of the ‘90s.
Using rare news footage, home movies, audio recordings and candid interviews, Adams and Horlor manage to paint a picture that is as sobering as it is haunting.
The film does an excellent job at laying out this twisted tale in a way that is easy to understand and gives one the proper context leading up to the creation of the book.
For example, it is interesting that “Sybil”, a book and later film also regarding a patient suffering from multiple personality disorder (and later also debunked), served as a blueprint of sorts for Pazder.
It’s this calculating forethought that makes the proceeding events even more unnerving.
Not to mention that, as mentioned above, Pazder ended up marrying Smith after the book was released.
This is of course very icky, and it’s theorized this was done in order to get Pazder out of trouble for having intimate interactions with his patient. Yikes.
Seeing how there are a lot of strange and interesting facets of this case, going all the way up to the Vatican, it’s wise that the scope of the documentary is limited.
As one interview subject clearly put it, Smith was a sort of patient zero for the wave of Satanic Panic.
Having said that, it would have been good to give more context on the lasting impact this had.
For example, there was shockingly no mention of the infamous West Memphis Three case, which was very much a byproduct of Michelle Smith’s trashy book.
The film really benefits from not feeling like it has to provide the viewers with easy answers.
Was Smith the true villain in this story?
She is still very much alive and has never publicly recanted nor shown any remorse for stoking this hysteria.
In fact, she was contacted for this film but refused to give her side of the story.
However, on the other side of it, she was manipulated by a doctor that she trusted with her mental wellbeing.
One fact is not muddied, which is that Pazder was a monster who abused the power dynamic and by every sense of the word was unethical with Smith.
Satan Want You will make your skin crawl and is likely the scariest thing you’ll see this year.
Simply put, it’s not about the monsters under your bed, it’s about the ones nestled safely inside oneself.
We might think we have evolved past the tragedy that befell so called civilized people in Salem, Massachusetts, but chillingly, we have not.
That is the true and naked terror of this documentary.
Satan Wants had its Montreal Premiere at the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/
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