Case file · Witch trials
McMartin preschool trial
In 1983 a mother's complaint led to charges that staff at a Manhattan Beach preschool had ritually abused hundreds of children in secret tunnels. The trials lasted until 1990, among the longest and costliest in US history.
1983 CE · 33.88, -118.41 · status: official
The account
Children's claims included flying witches and animal sacrifice. No one was convicted; an excavation for the tunnels found nothing conclusive.
The sceptical view
Interview tapes showed children being led by therapists; the case became the emblem of the 'satanic panic'.