What the historical record shows
Believe the Children was an organization that sought public attention for child abuse, including claims described at the time as ritual abuse. The last documented activity identified in the archive was a conference held in Arlington Heights, Illinois, from 16–18 June 1995. The organization later became inactive.
At that conference, the group circulated a list of 18 convictions that it believed involved ritual abuse. Fifteen were in the United States, with one each in Canada, England and New Zealand. The list was subsequently reproduced on several websites.
Reading this page responsibly
The allegations and conclusions below belong to a historical source. They should not be treated as current legal findings or as proof of events. Some records are incomplete, and later appeals or reviews may have changed the status of individual cases.
Patterns identified in the archive
Available accounts differ substantially. In several better-known cases, later reviews raised concerns about interviewing practices, suggestibility and the reliability of recovered or elaborated memories. In other cases, ritual claims appeared in reporting or courtroom discussion without enough documented evidence to establish what occurred.
The original list marked some entries with an asterisk because the compilers had not obtained supporting information. That uncertainty is important: absence of documentation is not confirmation of either the allegation or its rejection.
Cases named in the 1995 revision
- Santa Rosa, California: Darryl Ball and Charlotte Thrailkill. Ritual-abuse claims were mentioned during the prosecution’s opening statement.
- Akron, Colorado: Philip and Michael Schmidt. A newspaper account referred to allegations involving a child.
- Miami, Florida: Francisco and Iliana Fuster. The Country Walk case involved child-abuse allegations; the archive disputed the ritual-abuse characterization. Case details
- Malden, Massachusetts: The Amirault family, associated with the Fells Acre case. Case details
- Niles, Michigan: Allan Barkman. Case details
- Edenton, North Carolina: Robert Kelly, Kathryn Wilson, Elizabeth Kelly and Willard Privott. The archive records that convictions were overturned on appeal. Case details
- Smithfield, North Carolina: Patrick Figuered and Sonja Hill. Case details
- Roseburg, Oregon: The Gallup family. Case details
- Olympia, Washington: Paul R. Ingram. Case details
- Martensville, Saskatchewan: The Sterling family and Jane Doe. Case details
- Nottingham, United Kingdom: A group of nine adults convicted in 1989 of non-ritual offences against children; the archive describes a later dispute over additional ritual-abuse claims. Case details
- New Zealand: Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis. Case details
Other cases in the original list were recorded only briefly, with limited information available to the compilers. A wider set of allegations is discussed in the archive’s additional case index.
References preserved by the archive
- Believe the Children, historical case list and conference material, 1995.
- SMART newsletter, July 1995, issue 3.
- Archived copies of the organization’s ritual-child-abuse conviction list.