Memoir of an Accused Satanist MIKE MORAN

hen it comes to true-crime autobiographies, readers can Wusually expect one or both of Life After Death. By Damien Echols. New York: Penguin Group, the following items within the pages: 2013. ISBN 978-0142180280. 416 pp. Softcover, $11.88. a guilty-pleasure of tabloid sensation- alism surrounding a real tragic event or a commentary on the social factors leading up to the crime and punish- ment with the writer claiming inno- cence (or not). With Damien Echols’s Life After Death, I was hoping for my guilty-pleasure fix in the form of the younger boys (Steve Branch, Michael a room in his grandmother’s trailer: “I small-town murder mystery of which Moore, and Christopher Byers) in an no longer considered myself poor,” he he was convicted, as well as an opin- alleged Satanic ritual. The shaky evi- admits at the start of Chapter 7, “I was ionated commentary on the American dence, the seemingly prejudiced public now in the lap of luxury.” Satanic Panic of the 1980s and early opinion of the Bible Belt town, and the Echols’s memoirs of his teenage 1990s that many believe Echols to absurdity of the devil-cult hysteria led years will bring readers familiar with the have been a victim of. To my surprise, to a national outcry of unprecedented late eighties/early nineties heavy-metal and ultimate delight, Life After Death proportions. Documentaries were culture back to the days of dubbed offers neither true-crime cliché en filmed, books published, and a gallery cassette tapes, Thrasher skateboard masse but instead transcends the genre of celebrities, including ’s magazine, and late-night viewings of with what may be the best true-crime , actor , MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball. Chapter 8 in autobiography ever written. Shunning and Dixie Chick Natalie Maines, got Life After Death offers his vivid recollec- the conventional formats, Echols drifts involved in the case. The WM3 were tion of this era as well as proving that seamlessly through vibrant childhood finally released from prison in 2011 on Echols’s writing talents extend beyond memories, terrifying prison experi- an “Alfred plea” (a deal that allows the those concerning the murder accusa- ences, and poetic outpourings from a defendants to technically plead guilty tion. In it, Damian recounts a night of thoughtful young man who has had while publicly maintaining innocence adolescent years “sneaking out” with many lonely years to contemplate his in return for a resentencing), and al- friend (and future fellow convict) Jason own existence. Though we of the skep- though theories abound, the identity of Baldwin to explore their small town tical community may be initially a the killers remains a mystery. after dark. Damian brings the reader little turned off by Damian’s fervent Echols’s elegant yet unpretentious along for a “night . . . so cold that ev- endorsements of various religions and telling of his life story begins with his erything seemed crystal clear, magikal, pseudoscience (which he piles under earliest memories of an impoverished and a little scary. . . . The feeling of the repeated term magick), he speaks of childhood in the deep South, growing adventure and absolute freedom was these things with such eloquence and up with a dysfunctional and often-tran- amazing” he recollects on page 106. wonder that even us critical-thinking sient set of family members. His early Recounting the boys’ rural explorations types will accept such ideas as fair living conditions are recounted in in the dead of night, as they terrified game for a young man’s soul searching disturbing detail, sounding not much themselves with discussions of ghost in a desperate situation. better than the prison cells he spent stories and creepy local rumors, includ- If you’re unfamiliar with Echols eighteen years in. He describes one ing one where “some kid had claimed and the (WM3) abode on page 50 as “an honest-to-God to see a dead man hopping back and murder conviction, here’s a quick run- shack . . . no running water or electric- forth across the train tracks on Hallow- down: In West Memphis, Arkan- ity . . . no heat or air conditioner . . . een night” are reminiscent of Stephen sas, in 1994, a trio of impoverished our drinking water came from a well King’s incorporations of early teenage teenage Goth kids (Damien Echols, that crop-dusters regularly sprayed memories into his fictional characters. Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelly) with pesticides.” He later recalls when It’s unsurprising that Damian later were convicted of the murder of three his place of residence was upgraded to admits to a steady diet of King nov-

62 Volume 39 Issue 6 | Skeptical Inquirer REVIEWS ] els throughout his life. He even adds: The most eloquent of Echols’s Noble. “Sometime later I saw the movie Stand prose is found in Chapter 17, where he With Life After Death, Damien by Me (based on a King story) and was beautifully blends a daily journal entry Echols manages to go far beyond the overcome with nostalgia because of into an abstract critique of small-town autobiographical, true crime writing as how much it reminded me of us.” Southern intolerance and blandness we know it and instead blind-sides the Despite intentionally leaving much and then into a childhood memory often-predictable genre with a beauti- of the detail of the trial and conviction of a local urban legend. “In this part fully written account of a unique life. to the many other sources on the sub- of the world, all shrines are built to Though we in the critical-thought com- ject, Damien is able to offer alarming honor the great spirit of mediocrity,” munity may be slightly disappointed commentary on the state of the Arkan- Damien writes on page 209. “This is with the lack of Satanic cult-hysteria sas death row system without being too where the calluses on a man’s hands are in Life After Death (the term “Satanic bigger than his conscious, and dreams Panic” isn’t used even once), Echols is preachy. “The people here are all men- are drowned in sweat and tears.” The such a masterful writer that the reader tally defective in ways that range from chapter then drifts ethereally into rem- is not only left satisfied but also craving mild retardation to severe schizophre- iniscence of a West Memphis mass future writings even on subjects outside nia,” he writes on page 280, reflecting panic of Damian’s youth where “people the world of skepticism. n his strongest observational commentary were claiming to have seen a man with on the prison system; he repeatedly as- a dog’s head.” Echols suggests that this serts that not most, but all, inmates he’s hysteria may have laid the foundation Mike Moran is a Baltimore-based co- seen put to death suffer from intellec- for the Satanic anxieties that later led median, writer, and musician. He does tual disabilities. to his arrest, as he goes on to explain: stand-up comedy all over the Balti- more/D.C. area, as well as improv with the I’ve waited for someone to walk “A vague atmosphere of dread and dan- through the door whom I could gerous fear seemed to hover like a fog Baltimore Improv Group and cohosts a have a conversation with, but it just for the next decade.” Though we skep- podcast called Digression Sessions, part doesn’t happen. . . . Most not only tics would want to hear more about the of the Thunder Grunt Podcast Network. are culturally illiterate, but also can dog-man rumors and Satanic cult hys- He also writes a regular column for D.C.’s barely manage to express themselves BrightestYoungThings.com titled BYTi- in English. . . . I’ve never met a pris- teria, the writing is so well-done that it leaves little to complain about, for it’s more. Mike also plays music with Mike Mo- oner with a college education and ran’s 100% Original Cover Band. Find him can count the high school graduates not often you find this caliber of prose on one hand. in the true crime section of Barnes and on Twitter @MikeMoranWould. INBOX ]

down-to-earth chat with Char lie Scientific Celebrity,” the author Dr. Roger Morris Rose on 60 Minutes, there has Declan Fahy lists eight promi- Queensland, Australia certainly been a shift in the way nent scientists who he considers scientists reach the masses (“A to be “The New Celebrity Scien- Good grief, folks. How could Brief History of Scientific Ce- tists.” you have left out E. O. Wilson? lebrity,” July/August 2015). As A notable and regrettable ex- R. W. Loesch social media amplifies their mes- clusion from this list is the En- Big Rapids, Michigan sage, it is only fitting that some of glish physicist and professor of the most brilliant thinkers of our particle physics, Professor Brian Ah, Celebrity! Ah, Science! time enjoy a celebrity spotlight Cox. Cox’s engaging yet informa- Sir Isaac Newton: “I do not that has often been reserved for tive style, the almost inspirational know what I may appear to the athletes, actors, and politicians. feel of his productions, and the world, but to myself I seem to After all, it is through dialogue sheer volume of his media work have been only like a boy play- and debate of great ideas that in the area of the public under- ing on the seashore . . . whilst the they are able to teach us, enter- standing of science, clearly puts great ocean of truth lay all undis- Celebrity Scientists tain us, and inspire us to achieve him head and shoulders above covered before me.” more. those in the author’s list. Fame is fickle, and oh, so Whether it is Stephen Hawk- Michael Aaron Gallagher One can only assume that fleeting! For instance: Crick ing’s guest-starring role on the Syracuse, New York latent Americano-centrism con- and Watson (Watson-Crick as CBS sitcom The Big Bang The- tributed to the glaring admission their model is identified) starred; ory or Neil deGrasse Tyson’s In the article “A Brief History of of Cox from this list. Maurice Wilkins tagged along

Skeptical Inquirer | November/December 2015 63