Fears of satanic worship spread across the United States in the 1980s, fueled by public accusations against heavy metal albums, Dungeons & Dragons, and day care workers.

Evidence

What Sparked the Satanic Panic of the 1980s? (History.com)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Folktales can escalate into moral panics in troubled times. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 77; The Satanic panic was a moral panic of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse, starting in the 1980s and persisting today. — Satanic panic — Wikipedia; Satanic Panic cultural cues like heavy metal framed innocent people as killers — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 278 (+1 more)

Related

• The Satanic panic was a moral panic of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse, starting in the 1980s and persisting today. (similarity 0.82)
• Satanic ritual abuse panics and UFO abduction tales both peaked in the 1980s. (similarity 0.81)
• Satanic Panic cultural cues like heavy metal framed innocent people as killers (similarity 0.81)
• QAnon has revived fears from the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, borrowing from its playbook and deploying similar folk devils. (similarity 0.79)