by professorpan » Wed May 03, 2006 2:08 pm
This is a complicated, unusual case.<br><br>Read, for instance, the summary of some of the evidence at religioustolerance.org:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_ingra.htm">www.religioustolerance.org/ra_ingra.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>And the founder of the Ingram Organization:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://members.aol.com/Ingramorg/">members.aol.com/Ingramorg/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>I'll agree, the case is far from settled, but I don't see it as an open-and-shut case of guilt.<br><br>From the Ingram Organizaton:<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>In 1988, his daughters, Ericka and Julie, accused Paul Ingram of sexual abuse and bizarre claims of satanic ritual abuse. The charges grew out of events at a retreat sponsored by Ingram's church, the Church Of Living Water. At the end of the "Heart To Heart" retreat, Ericka was found sobbing in a corner. Karla Franko, who claimed to have the gift of prophecy and whose ministry was prominent at the retreat, came to "minister" to Ericka. As Franko put it," I am the one who opened the can of worms, all I know is what the Lord told me" in the Ingram case. Karla told Ericka that the Holy Spirit had told her Ericka was a victim of sexual abuse by her father.<br><br>Ericka mutely nodded her head in agreement. This was the third allegation of sexual abuse Ericka had made at three separate Heart To Heart Retreats. The two previous charges, one made in 1983, were made against a church counselor, and then in 1985 both girls made accusations against a neighbor. In both cases, no evidence was found and charges were never pursued. Now, however, in 1988, the charges were against their own father, and the social and religious climate reflected the credulity and naive acceptance many people had developed regarding satanic ritual abuse. Some experts believe this case almost certainly would not have resulted in a conviction if it hadn't happened when it did. Ericka claimed the abuse had been ongoing, but stopped when Paul became a Christian in 1977, Ericka's mother Sandy confronted Paul, who assured her he had never touched either girl inappropriately. Reassured, Sandy went on a long-planned vacation, agreeing when they returned they would meet with their pastor for advice on the bizarre situation.<br><br>The day Paul returned to his work at the sheriff's office, he was asked into Sheriff Gary Edwards office. Under-sheriff Neil McClanahan was present as well. Paul acknowledged he knew of the accusations, but couldn't explain them. All he knew was he repulsed by the idea of molesting anyone, much less daughters, but that, as he put it, "I didn't raise my daughters to lie." If this happened in 1998, there would be an abundance of evidence that under the right suggestive circumstances, people can "remember" events that never happened, but which they believe have happened. But the term "false memory syndrome" didn't then exist. Paul's church taught even a Christian could be invaded by evil, and Paul thought of the only way he could reconcile his daughters' stories and his own ethics and memories..."there must be a dark side of me I don't know about." Sheriff Edwards encouraged Paul to undergo questioning, saying "I hope your not going to make these girls go through trial." Paul willingly agreed to talk without an attorney, he was placed under arrest, and throughout the ensuing interrogation he kept on insisting that he could not remember ever doing anything with which he was charged. The detectives told him it was common for an abuser not to remember and that if he just started to confess anyway, the memories would return.<br><br>The court appointed therapist Richard Peterson, affirmed the assertion that the lack of memory by abusers was common, that suspects tend to be in a "state of denial", and if Paul started to confess, the memories would likely start flooding back. Paul asked for his pastor, John Bratun. Bratun had been counseling the girls and told Paul the abuse did happen, and Paul was "eighty percent evil". Bratun conducted an exorcism with Paul to rid him of the demons Bratun believed were shielding Paul's memory. Bratun told Paul if Paul prayed to the Lord for his memories to return, the Lord would not give him a memory that wasn't true. He used Jesus' analogy about the Holy Spirit from Luke 11:11-12 to make his point--just as a father won't give a stone to a child who asked for bread, so God would honor Paul's prayer. Paul prayed diligently and in his mind he began seeing flashes, pictures, images--images of him abusing Ericka and Julie. The detectives continued to encourage Paul to visualize a detailed picture of the alleged incidents. They asked him to describe a room, and he complied. They asked him to mentally find a calendar on the wall, provide the date of the alleged incident and he would. They asked him to visualize a watch or a clock, and what time it was, and he would provide a time for them. Paul compliantly gave them as much detail as they asked for--and this for events that were allegedly as much as twenty years old. Although the assumptions, procedures, and results were completely contradicted by the broad spectrum of academic and laboratory research on human memory, Paul and his accusers were convinced this was the pathway to truth.<br><br>Encouraged by the detectives, pastor, and therapist, Paul struggled to meet their expectations, but still couldn't quite match his visualizations with historical reality. Instead he described the alleged abuse scenes in subjective terms, "I would have done this," or as though he were an observer, "I see this" or "boy I feel like I'm making this up" "I feel like I'm watching a movie." The detectives, pastor, and therapist all assured Paul these were accurate memories of real history.<br><br>Over the ensuing days the girl's claims got more and more bizarre. They claimed they had been raped in more then 800 satanic rituals and given abortions by their father. When they were pressed to describe what happened at the rituals, all they could say was that the group "chanted". They accused more than thirty members of the sheriff's department of involvement in the satanic abuse circle. Years later Ericka claimed on a national tabloid television talk show she had been given an abortion during a ritual and then forced to eat chopped up pieces of her dead baby. Ericka claimed she was impregnated many times during these rituals, but she could not provide anyone to verify they had ever seen her pregnant. Both girls claimed their bodies were covered with scars from the long-term abuse. Julie claimed she was so scarred, she couldn't change her clothes in front of people in her gym class because she would be embarrassed. Ericka said she spent "half my life" in hospitals because of the abuse, that doctors were shocked at all her scars. When the detectives told the girls there was no way the abuse could have been that pervasive, severe, and long-term without their mother knowing, they accused Sandy.<br><br>Two of the men they had accused, Jim Rabie and Ray Risch, were arrested and charged. Rabie was arrested because of a date Paul was able to provide from one of his "memories". When Rabie was able to prove he was out of the country on the date Paul had visualized, the detectives simply when back to Paul and got him to visualize a different date. Rabie and Risch's attorneys convinced the court to order medical exams for both girls. The medical reports showed the girls bodies had only one scar between them--Ericka's well-documented appendectomy scar. Both girls told the medical examiner they were not sexually active and had never had abortions. The female detective who took the girls to the exams, was so concerned about the outcome of the examinations, she decided to exam the girls herself. Detective Loreli Thompson submitted her report... she found no scars.<br><br>Back with the sheriff's department, the girls drew maps, marking locations where they had said they had witnessed more than thirty murders and subsequent burial of the corpses. The sheriff's department hired an anthropologist to excavate the Ingram properties. None of the far reaching, intensive investigation turned up a shred of physical evidence corroborating the girl's accusations or Paul's "memories." Anthropologist Dr. Mark Papworth's lone find was one cow bone.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>My inclination is to believe that there was some sexual abuse in the family. Maybe. But once the religious-fueled hysteria about Satanic cults entered the case, it got way out of control. Ironically, the inclusion of RA allegations may have worked against uncovering the real extent of abuse.<br><br>Again, I encourage everyone to read all sides of the case before jumping to any conclusions.<br> <p></p><i></i>
