By Elaine Cassel

In 1988, in the midst of an hysteria some liken to the Salem witch trials, Paul Ingram, a respected deputy sheriff in Olympia, Washington, was accused by his son and daughters of rape, incest, and other acts of sexual abuse; performing abortions on his daughters and dismembering and burying the fetuses; and engaging in acts of cannibalism. Although there was not one shred of physical evidence to support these bizarre allegations, Paul confessed to these "crimes" that never occurred and has served 12 years of a 20-year prison sentence. He is eligible for parole this year. Lawrence Wright explains the psychological, social, and political factors that led to this triumph of hysteria over reason and justice and how and why an innocent person may confess to crimes he did not commit in Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory (Vintage Books, 1994).

For Paul Ingram, it all began when one of his daughters, Ericka, was prompted by a counselor at a church retreat to accuse her father of sexual abuse. This counselor and other therapists became involved in convincing Ericka, her sister Julie, and her brother Paul, that they had been victims of incest and sexual abuse for many years. Rather than investigating the charges, Paul's colleagues at the sheriff's department accepted the astounding reports at face value. Paul was arrested, charged with numerous crimes, and jailed without bail while awaiting trial.

A sheriff's department psychologist interrogated Paul under hypnosis, advised him that most sex offenders "repress" their offenses, planted graphic hypothetical details of what Paul might have done to his children, and suggested that Paul was a practicing Satanist. He urged Paul to try to recover memories on his own, through meditation and dreaming. In the course of dozens interrogations conducted by psychologists (a total of five questioned and "counseled" him) and sheriff investigators, Paul admitted to all that his children accused him of and recounted incidents they never mentioned. Paul's minister was brought in to urge him to recall all of the events so that he could receive forgiveness from God. The more the minister, psychologists, and investigators worked on Paul, the more he "recalled," and the more bizarre the accounts became. The investigators frequently returned to the children and planted new "memories" of events that Paul "recalled," which in turn led them to "recover" more "memories," with even more incredible details.

The authorities told Paul's wife that if she did not confess to knowing about and participating in some of the events that she would be charged just like Paul. Not surprisingly, she began to "remember" events not mentioned by the children or Paul. Paul also implicated some of his sheriff colleague-friends in "memories" that returned to him through the process of suggestive and coercive questioning. In 1989, Paul pled guilty and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. The charges against his colleagues were dropped for lack of evidence.

Later efforts to recant his confession did not impress the trial judge, despite the testimony of psychologist Richard Ofshe. Ofshe explained the psychological mechanism behind false confessions and testified in great detail as to the inconsistencies in the memories of Paul and his accusers. All state and federal appellate courts brushed aside any evidence of innocence or lack of evidence to support the fantastic charges. Innocence usually does not matter when one pleads guilty.

Psychologists explain false confessions as the result of the social influence of internalization. Innocent people who are vulnerable to suggestion can be induced to confess and to internalize guilt by the presentation of false evidence. Ofshe testified that Paul was highly suggestible, making him easily hypnotizable, and adept at inducing trancelike states in himself. Paul, he said, was dangerously eager to please authority figures, even if it meant destroying himself. According to Ofshe, it was likely that Paul's wife and children were as much victims of the investigators and psychologists as Paul was; Ofshe did not believe that they questioned their memories.

Remembering Satan

reads like a novel. Unfortunately, it is not a work of fiction. Wright uses psychological research and interviews with Ofshe and other researchers (such as Elizabeth Loftus) to explain the processes that led to Paul's false conviction. But the book does not address the more worrisome issue of the players in the mental health and criminal justice systems who led Paul to his undeserved doom, including investigators, psychologists, therapists, prosecutors, and judges.

During the same time frame, innocent parents and child-care workers in other states were also being charged with and convicted (many pleading guilty) of child sexual abuse in an emotionally charged sociopolitical climate that sanctioned as truth virtually every allegation that came from a child's lips--no matter that it was obtained by suggestive and fear-inducing tactics. This atmosphere helped to foster unethical practices among therapists and psychologists who were accomplices to children and spouses who fabricated allegations. In the 1980s, divorcing parents obtained leverage in property settlement and custody battles by alleging child sexual abuse. Children could upset the balance of power at home by making false allegations against their parents. These interests could not have been served without willing accomplices in the halls of justice and the offices of therapists.

Fortunately, the abuses of the time were so great that today most courts and therapists take a more critical view towards allegations of sexual abuse. Scientific research into the nature of false memories has aided the restoration of sanity to the legal and therapeutic processes. But not in time to save Paul Ingram from the darker side of himself--and the system.