Gunderson is well known for his claims that an archaeological dig under the
McMartin preschool showed evidence of tunnels, through which the children
were allegedly spirited to other buildings to be prostituted in the
community (Summit 1994). The results of this dig have for years gone
unpublished while calls for funds to self-publish the results have been
issued in newsletters such as the Survivor Activist (1994). Meanwhile, the
integrity of the dig has been strongly disputed (Earl 1995). Gunderson
presented what he called "new evidence" in the 1984 McMartin preschool
sex-abuse case in Manhattan Beach, California. He produced a number of
photographs of the foundation of a house in the hills above San Bernadino,
California, that had burned down, he claimed, the night the charges were
filed in the McMartin case. He alleged that the McMartin children were flown
to this house and ritually abused, and that the house was torched to destroy
evidence. The sum total of the evidence he presented to support this
allegation was the existence of spray-painted satanic graffiti on the
foundation stones and on boulders on the property. Apparently, several years
had gone by between the time of the alleged fire and the time Gunderson
snapped the photos. Yet Gunderson was dismissive of the idea that the house
foundation on the lot, with its hillside vista of San Bernadino, had been
used by teenagers who might have painted the graffiti after the fire. The
therapists were enraptured and later asked if Gunderson was planning to
publish his photos or if there was any chance of using this evidence in a
new trial. The McMartin preschool case resulted in the longest criminal
proceeding in American history and failed to produce any convictions (see
e.g., Nathan and Snedecker 1995).
Gunderson then described a conversation he had with a witness, Paul Bonacci,
from an alleged satanic-ritual abuse case in Nebraska that was detailed by
former Nebraska state Sen. John DeCamp (1992), who was also a speaker at
this conference. The grand jury of Lincoln described this case as an attack
by DeCamp "for personal political gain and possible revenge" (Dorr 1991, p.
1), a "smear campaign," and a "carefully crafted hoax" (United Press
International, September 18, 1990). The grand jury jailed one and indicted
two others (including Bonacci) for perjury, and was so critical of DeCamp
that he sued the grand jury for ridicule, though he quickly lost (Dorr
1991). A church in the area, the Nebraska Leadership Conference, responded
by publishing a tract (no date) named The Mystery of the Carefully Crafted
Hoax, with a foreword by Gunderson, in which he continued the allegations of
satanic-ritual crime. At the conference Gunderson related Bonacci's
description of a slave auction in Las Vegas in which 25 to 30 vans pulled
up, airplanes landed, and foreign men with turbans bought children and took
them away. According to Gunderson: "Nobody knows what happened to those
kids. They use them for several things: body parts, they use them for
sacrificing, for sex slaves. But this is a big market. Does anybody have any
idea what a blue-eyed, blond-haired eleven- or twelve-year girl would sell
for? Fifty thousand dollars."
Gunderson claimed that there are currently 500 satanic cults in New York
City alone, each averaging eight sacrificial murders a year, for a total of
4,000 human sacrifices every year. Gunderson did not explain how the cults
remove bodies in the asphalt jungle of New York.
Gunderson believes in the threat posed by the New World Order, as do Marqui
and militia members. Gunderson has appeared on Dateline NBC, at militia
conferences (Witt 1995), on Michigan Militia member Mark Koernke's shortwave
radio program, and on the cover of Spotlight (May 13, 1995), stating that
the U.S. government intentionally bombed the Oklahoma City federal building
in April 1995, in order to remove our rights through anti-terrorism bills.
Gunderson informed the audience that Spotlight "tells it like it is," and
urged audience members to call the subscription number, which he read aloud.
On top of this, Gunderson gave an interview to Lyndon LaRouche's Executive
Intelligence Review (May 25, 1990), in which he described FBI special agent
Ken Lanning as "probably the most effective and foremost speaker for the
satanic movement in this country, today or at any time in the past."
Gunderson and Marqui seem to me to be attempting to introduce therapists to
racist conspiracy theories and reactionary propaganda, while at the same
time groups such as the LaRouche organization endorse satanic conspiracy
theories to draw in new members.
Political analyst Chip Berlet's argument that radical right elements are
seducing the left should be taken seriously. In his monograph Right Woos
Left (Berlet 1994), he describes, among other examples, how the LaRouche
organization has persistently destabilized legitimate leftist activist
organizations by infiltrating these groups and then claiming that these
groups endorse LaRouche. The LaRouchians also gain credibility through their
association with legitimate political activists, which enables them to draw
new converts. The cult-ritual abuse field is a prime example of such
infiltration. Many therapists who specialize in treating ritual or other
forms of abuse identify to some degree with feminism and other liberal
ideals. When radical right conspiracists get such liberals to believe in the
New World Order or "Operation Monarch" (a similar movement, described later)
they gain a boost in credibility far beyond what they could expect by
printing their stories in Spotlight or the Executive Intelligence Review.
Former Nebraska state Sen. John DeCamp, mentioned earlier, has been on the
ritual-abuse circuit for some time now, talking about his 1992 book The
Franklin Cover-Up, which purports to document a satanic organization in
Nebraska that abused children and prostituted them within the White House.
DeCamp gives a favorable mention to a fact-finding mission sponsored by
LaRouche (DeCamp 1992, p. 241). The editors of the Executive Intelligence
Review repeat DeCamp's claims and praise his book as "important" in their
virulently anti-Semitic party tract titled The Ugly Truth About the ADL
(Anti-Defamation League) (Editors of the Executive Ingelligence Review
1992). The July 27, 1990, issue of the Executive Intelligence Review stated
that the FBI in Nebraska covered up child abuse and murder.
On June 15, 1995, DeCamp appeared before a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing
on domestic terrorism chaired by Arlen Spector. DeCamp appeared as a lawyer
representing the American militia movement and the four militia leaders
testifying that day. At a Washington, D.C., news conference, DeCamp
glowingly described the militia movement as "a political movement in the
birthing . . . painful, joyous, confusing, and exciting" (Janofsky 1995, p.
10). DeCamp also has clear ties with the Nebraska Leadership Conference. A
call to the church office confirmed that the Nebraska Leadership Conference
had "contributed significantly" to DeCamp's book.
DeCamp delighted the therapists at this conference during a luncheon session
in which he described the allegations put forth in his book.
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