Podbit · Last Podcast On The Left
In 1987, a 3-year-old accused Michael Aquino of Satanic ritual abuse at a Presidio daycare. He wasn't even in San Francisco when it happened — he was provably in Washington DC. He won every lawsuit. It didn't matter. The accusation followed him until he shot himself in 2019 facing terminal cancer.
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At 1:03:30 · chapter starts 1:00:00
The Satanic Panic was a machinery of false accusation built from leading questions posed to small children who wanted to please adults and be rewarded. Investigators treated every wild claim as evidence, and a nationwide Satanic underground that never existed was constructed entirely from the statements of 3-year-olds. Michael Aquino became one of its most prominent victims when 58 children were allegedly abused at the Presidio Army Base daycare in San Francisco, and a 3-year-old daughter of an Army chaplain named Aquino as her abuser. [1] — Marcus Parks "In 1987, a 3-year-old accused Michael Aquino of Satanic ritual abuse at a Presidio daycare. He wasn't even in San Francisco when it happene…" 1:03:30 Police raided his San Francisco home, found nothing, and it was eventually proven in court that Aquino was in Washington DC when the alleged abuse occurred. He sued every author who named him as a suspect and won every case. It didn't matter. The accusation followed him for the rest of his life, and Marcus notes with some bleakness that even now, the hosts still receive emails calling Aquino a child molester. He died in 2019 by self-inflicted gunshot, facing terminal cancer.
The entire satanic underground that terrified America didn't exist. It was constructed from leading questions asked to kids who just wanted to please adults. Children kept saying yes because they got rewarded for saying yes, and investigators took every wild statement seriously until a nationwide moral panic was born.
Aquino was proven innocent of the Presidio abuse allegations — he wasn't even in San Francisco at the time — won his lawsuits, but the stigma followed him until his 2019 death.
Michael Aquino died in 2019 by self-inflicted gunshot while facing terminal cancer, capping a life defined by ideological battles and false accusations.
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