False Memories, Forgiveness and The Satanic Panic - Alice Sebold and Anthony Broadwater

01/31/25 • 48 min

You may know Alice Sebold as the author of The Lovely Bones but you may not know the story of Alice and Anthony. Anthony Broadwater was exonerated in the 1981 rape of Ms.Sebold. Listen to the Truer Crime Season 2 episode 3 for all of the details on the case. Today Emily and Ashley chat about the bigger themes of her episode...False Memories, Forgiveness and The Satanic Panic. Thank you for listening.
TW: SA, Abuse, Child Abuse, Murder
Show notes:
0:00-1:00 intro
1:00-4:00 An Overview of the case
4:30 Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson case
6:30 Eye witness testimony and knowing what's going on around us
7:20 What is the weapon focus effect?
8:20 Working memory and memory in general
10:00 Elizabeth Loftus - False Memories
14:30 False Memory task Dr. Reeder does with her students
19:00 Satanic Panic
20:00 Mcmartin Preschool Trial
25:00 The book The Secret
27:20 Paul Ingram story
37:00 Making a Murderer (Netflix)
39:00 Forgiveness Study and the power of forgiveness and what is the REACH method?
45:00 Who is forgiveness for?
Loftus, Loftus, & Messo (1987) - Weapon Focus Effect https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/bf01044839

Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Automobile accident - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1975-04498-001

Roediger & McDermott (1995) - False memory in word lists - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1995-42833-001

Wright (1993) The New Yorker on Paul Ingram -

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/05/17/remembering-satan-part-i

Picking Cotton book - https://www.pickingcottonbook.com/

Elizabeth Loftus Ted Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_how_reliable_is_your_memory

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/the-power-of-forgiveness
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/forgiveness-your-health-depends-on-it
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/josiah-sutton/id1565741041?i=1000523760385
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2018/06/09/brendan-dasseys-false-confession-supreme-court-column/652915002/
https://www.instagram.com/celisiastanton/?hl=en

Truer Crime https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/truer-crime/id1565741041

Support the show

Subscribe on our patreon for weekly content and behind the scenes content with us at https://www.patreon.com/thecreepybookclub
Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thecreepybookclub
Follow us on TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@thecreepybookclub
Music is Ur Karma (Instrumental Version) by Craig Reever.
The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of Emily and Ashley of The Creepy Book Club alone.

Send us a text

Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Automobile accident - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1975-04498-001

Roediger & McDermott (1995) - False memory in word lists - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1995-42833-001

Wright (1993) The New Yorker on Paul Ingram -

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/05/17/remembering-satan-part-i

Picking Cotton book - https://www.pickingcottonbook.com/

Elizabeth Loftus Ted Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_how_reliable_is_your_memory

Truer Crime https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/truer-crime/id1565741041

Support the show

Previous Episode

Lauren McCluskey and bigger questions around why women aren't listened to

Send us a text

We are thrilled to be partnering with Celisia Stanton, the host of Truer Crime, to bring you our episode which touches on Lauren McCluskey and the themes that are a part of her story: domestic violence, failures of the justice system and why women aren't listened to.

TW: Femicide, Domestic Violence, Rape, Stalking, SA, Murder. Show notes:

1:30-3:15 What is a domestic thriller and what are some we have read? 3:15 - 3:30 Domestic violence as a psychological thriller theme 3:45- 6:00 Why are women often portrayed as dumb? Why do women apologize and/or why are we worried about being seen as rude?
6:00 -9 :30 The Gift of Fear book (linked in show notes) and Dr. Reeder teaches us about pre planned responses
9:30-11:30 Damsel in distress article about female protagonists, what does the movie Frozen have to do with this topic?
11:30 -14:30 Domestic Violence stats (Trigger warnings)
14:30 - 19:00Why don't women get help and Truer Crime with Celisia Stanton - Lauren Mccluskey
19:10-20:00 state laws around DV
20:00 - 25:00 Wendy Maldonado case (linked below)
25:00 - 26:15 How can women expect to be listened to? What are options for women to leave?
26:45-28:00 How many women are killed annually around the globe per day?28:00 - 30:00 What is happening around you? Behind closed doors.
31:30 All men. Why women choose the bear. What does Ashley want the last thing her kids to see be if something happens to her?

Book: The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker - anywhere you shop for books

https://people.com/husband-wife-killed-murder-suicide-divorce-8769233

https://www.katherinemkennedywriter.com/post/the-damsel-in-distress-why-female-characters-are-still-stuck-in-a-tower

Every F-ing Day of my Life: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/every-f---ing-day-of-my-life/umc.cmc.1aq9cocb6lbot0y8a4kkq2aa9

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/truer-crime/id1565741041

https://www.dvsn.org/january-2024-stalking-stats-tactics-impacts/

https://laurenmccluskey.org

https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/UN_BriefFem_251121.pdf

https://unews.utah.edu/timeline-of-events-in-lauren-mccluskey-case/

https://bylinetimes.com/2023/09/21/this-harrowing-study-reveals-why-victims-of-sexual-violence-dont-go-to-the-police/

Support the show

Next Episode

2025 Retreat Rundown

Send us a text

Our 2025 Retreat is over and we are here with the rundown! If you came to retreat hopefully this will make you smile! If you couldn't make it this year hopefully you will listen in, see what it is like day to day and join us in 2026!

Show notes:

0:00-2:00 Getting to AZ

2:00- 7:30 Wednesday: Books, Scary Nail Salon, Perimenopause brain and forgetting items

8:00-11:00 Thursday: Author arrival, Poisoned Pen, Heather's sisters

11:45-14:00 Friday - Reception

14:00 Thank you to our sponsors (see links below)

18:00 Our dinner with the authors Friday evening and What types of conventions we do NOT WANT to go to. Jeneva had us rolling

20:00 Saturday - Panel and Podcast overview

25:30 Behind the scenes stuff shared at the live podcast

28:00 How we MADE a number of podcast episodes we never ever used

28:30 Ashley and Emily and email (lol)

31:00 Wine and Art Walk

32:00 Why our "Down day" was actually spent working and the wink from my dad

34:00 Emily's trip from hell

38:00 2026 plans

Sponsor companies and the links to support them found here:

skinbylovely.com bookclub20

http://mapelboutique.com creepybookclub10

Lagoonsleep.com BOOKCLUB

https://www.seabrookwa.com creepy10 off your vacation booking

www.ksmithx.com/thecreepybookclub no code needed

ever.com CREEPY25

https://livesafely.co/collections/shop/creepybookclub BOOKCLUB

ulike.com Ulike2025

https://www.mitchellandwick.co/

https://www.instagram.com/maidible - Message her for a consultation

Support the show

Books With Your Besties - False Memories, Forgiveness and The Satanic Panic - Alice Sebold and Anthony Broadwater

Transcript

Sebold final edit

Hi, I'm Emily. I'm Ashley, and this is books with your besties. Please check the trigger warnings in our show notes before listening to this episode. Hi, besties. Welcome back. This week we are talking about. We listened to a podcast and we just have to talk about it. So we are doing a listen with us over on Patreon with our Patreon members. We do this kind of thing, read with us or listen with us, and we chose true crime podcast True or Crime? It is h