User:Neil Brick/Sandbox/Hell Minus One

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"Hell Minus One" is the memoir of Anne Johnson Davis published by Transcript Bulletin Publishing in December, 2008. In the book, Ms. Davis alleges that she suffered child abuse, specifically satanic ritual abuse and gives graphic details about reportedly repressed memories of incidents that she endured and the recovery process that followed. Confessions from her mother and stepfather were released by police and news media, and there are media reports, but no details, of physical abuse. The matter has never been adjudicated in a court, and no details are available about the circumstances under which the confessions were made.

Author's statements about book

Davis wrote that her faith in God gave her the courage to write her book, which took her seven years to write. She stated she felt good about telling her story under her real name. She hoped that the book would empower other abuse victims.

Editor's statements about book

The editor in chief for Transcript Bulletin Publishing, David Bern wrote that as a journalist, he found her story to be "beyond compelling" and that it was unlike anything he had ever heard before. The original form of the manuscript was more than 120,000 words. From September 2007 until August 2008 Davis and Bern wrote and rewrote the material until the book reached its final form. He wrote that "her choice not to live in the past, or have her character and soul defined by it, is a lesson from which all of us are students."

Background

Ms. Davis' story began at age of three, when she states she was forced to endure child sexual abuse and torture, as a part of alleged satanic ritual abuse. The abuse continued well into her teens and included being forced to hurt her siblings. At the age of 17, she ran away from her home and began a long road to recovery, which included recovered memories outside of therapy in her 30's. Ms. Davis went public with her story in 1995, just as an investigation by the Utah Attorney General's Office on ritual abuse was taking place. Her mother and stepfather, who participated in the abuse, corroborated her story and agreed to pay for her therapy bills..

Presently, Ms. Davis runs an advocacy site for victims of ritual abuse and the book.

Reported confessions

Reports from the author and media sources claim that both Anne’s mother and stepfather confessed in writing to Matt Jacobson, Lieutenant, Detective, Utah State Attorney General’s Office and his partner Mike King, with Jacobson stating “we found the contents of their confession letters to be true.” Her mother and stepfather also confessed to the leaders of the church they went to.

One media article, by Paul Murphy, who interviewed Davis as a news reporter for station KTVX, reports that:

One woman who came forward to tell about ritual abuse brought something no one else has - a confession from the perpetrators. “Jenny” (Jenny is an alias) was only three years old when her parents started sexually abusing her.” “And most people would be skeptical of Jenny’s story of satanic ritual abuse, except for one thing - her parents confessed. In these letters the parents ask for forgiveness and describe the abuse in detail." "Her father wrote: ’The sexual abuse in our home was a repeat of the ritual.’"

Media coverage

Anne's story has been discussed in the Utah media. She testified to investigators of the Ritual Abuse Task Force of the Utah State Attorney General’s Office investigating ritual abuse.

News reports described it as

From age 3 until she ran away at 17, she states she was sexually abused, tortured...and forced to hurt her siblings in Satanic rituals

Another news account alleges

The confessions offer much greater detail of events Rachel (Rachel Hopkins is an alias) could not have ever known. Hopkins’ parents also confessed in detail to two investigators from the Utah Attorney General’s Office and to the leaders of the church they attended.