Satanic Panic! Occult Hysteria and RPGs in the 1980s

Leading up to what would become a nationwide panic of Satanic Panic of the 1980s, a 16 year old child prodigy by the name of James Dallas Egbert the III would disappear from Michigan State University dorm room in 1979.

Egbert’s parents hired a Dallas, Texas private investigator by the name of William Dear. Though Detective Dear knew next to nothing of Dungeons and Dragons, he suspected that the popular role playing game had a part to play in the prodigy’s disappearance, as Egbert and his friends would LARP (Live Action Role Play) in the steam tunnels below the school.
Detective Dear theorized that Egbert was injured or somehow disappeared in the tunnels below.
Meanwhile, Egbert had gone into hiding at a friend’s house, it was revealed later by numerous eyewitnesses that he <Egbert> may have attended GenCon XII.

The news media latched onto the idea that Dungeons and Dragons somehow had a part to play in the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert, III.

The search for Egbert continued for two weeks unsuccessfully, while Egbert kept on the move in in East Lansing before finally departing by bus for New Orleans.

It wasn’t until Egbert contacted Detective Dear that he revealed that the day of August 15, 1979 he attempted to commit suicide by consuming an excess of methaqualone (popularly known as Quaaludes) but the attempt was unsuccessful; he detailed that he attempted suicide a second time by consuming a cyanide compound, but that attempt also failed. It was only after working an oil field four days in Morgan City, Louisiana that Egbert agreed to allow Detective Dear to retrieve him.

After turning himself over to Detective Dear for retrieval, Egbert was released into the custody of his Uncle, Marvin Gross.

August 16, 1980 James Dallas Egbert, III died of a self inflicted gunshot wound.

Mr. James Dallas Egbert, III

The circumstances and death of James Dallas Egbert, III planted the seeds that would eventually lead to hysteria surrounding D&D.

In 1981, Rona Jaffa’s book Mazes and Monsters (based loosely around the events of James Dallas Egbert, III) published and within a year was produced into a movie by the same name starring actor Tom Hanks. 

The hysteria continued to build, and with help from a self proclaimed Occult Investigator by the name of Patricia Pulling whose tragic suffering at the 1982 suicide of her son would lead to a lifelong crusade.

 In 1984 Patricia Pulling founded BADD (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons), which she was the only dedicated member. 

Patricia Pulling’s son, Irving Lee “Bink” Pulling, was an avid Dungeons and Dragon’s gamer who according to Patricia Pulling, committed suicide (self inflicted gunshot wound) shortly after a “D&D curse” was put upon him during a game at his high school.

Pulling initially sued the principal (Robert A. Bracey, III) of her son’s high school, and then set her sights on TSR, INC.

Both the cases against her son’s principal, and the case against TSR, INC. were thrown out of court, but the grieving mother’s failure to litigate against those she felt were responsible did not stop her from speaking out.

In an interview on 60 Minutes Pulling tore into Dungeons and Dragons, accusing the game as a veiled path to luciferian witchcraft. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons defended his games on the same episode.

Chick Publications latched onto the fear campaign in 1986, releasing a prayer tract called Dark Dungeons which Dungeons and Dragons is depicted as a method for recruiting witches. 
 

The main character of the tract first succumbs to the power she gains through her path into darkness, and later rejects the game for salvation in her faith. 
According to Chick Publications, tabletop role players - D&D specifically - was a non-negotiable path to hell.

Pulling made numerous television appearances in addition to 60 Minutes, including Geraldo, newspaper interviews, radio interviews (such as the Jim Bohannon Show) and gained support from various church organizations. 
As a self proclaimed Occult Investigator, Pulling obtained a private investigator’s license to legitimize her position. She aided numerous police investigations, and appeared in numerous court cases surrounding Tabletop RPGs as an expert witness. 
Though the cases were all thrown out, the coverage surrounding them made their mark in society.

In 1984, Pulling became the Director of the National Coalition on Television Violence, and would go on to co-author and release the book The Devil's Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children For Satan?

The book makes no distinction between H.P. Lovecraft’s book The Necronomicon, and the Simon Necronomicon. While the Simon Necronomicon makes allusions of Lovecraft's work, Lovecraft’s work is written as fiction, and the Simon Necronomicon is written as a factual grimoire, and appears to borrow heavily from Lovecraft, Allister Crowley, R.C. Thompson and James B. Pritchard.

The book additionally urges law enforcement to interrogate suspected teenager Satanists beginning with the question: “Have you read the Necronomicon, or are you familiar with it?”.

In 1989 much of Pulling’s crusade began to crumble around her as more news media questioned the logic surrounding her claims on Satanism in America. 
In a specific interview with a newspaper reporter, Pulling claimed that 8% of the population in Richmond, Virginia were involved with Satanism.

When asked how she was able to determine the percentage, Pulling explained that she was on good authority that four percent of adults, and four percent of teenagers were actively engaged in satanic activities. 
When the reporter explained that the math was wrong, that it summed to four percent, Pulling dismisses his statement and explained that the percentage was a conservative figure.

Patricia Pulling’s crusade ended in Henrico, Virginia, September 18, 1997 when she died of lung cancer. After more than a decade’s crusade against Tabletop RPGs (Dungeons and Dragons especially), her fight was over. Following her death, BADD dissolved.

I don’t know that I believe Patricia Pulling was intentionally an enemy of the gaming community, regardless what it seems. 

Her crusade to wipe out what she viewed as evil had less to do with the games we play, the movies we watch, and the music we enjoy than it did with her trying to make sense of something horrible.

She was a grieving mother who missed her son with all her heart.

As we progress forward, we’ll discuss the 1990 Pulling Report by Michael Stackpole, and how his efforts led to a return to sanity as he and other pioneers on the tabletop revealed that much of the fear and hysteria of the 1980s was unfounded.