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The Truth Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries

Meine Augen zur Zeit der Erscheinungen (My Eyes at the Moment of the Apparitions)
August Natterer
/
Wikimedia Commons
Meine Augen zur Zeit der Erscheinungen (My Eyes at the Moment of the Apparitions)

It’s the 1970s. President Nixon has declared war on drugs and American society is still reeling from the social revolution of the ‘60s. Enter two published diaries, each written by a troubled teen — one an addict and the other a Satanist. The only problem? They weren’t diaries.

The first, “Go Ask Alice,” published in 1971, details a young girl’s descent into drug addiction and prostitution, and it convinced terrified parents that LSD would ruin the lives of their children. Seven years later, “Jay’s Journal” laid the foundation for America’s Satanic Panic with its depiction of a teenage boy caught up in occult rituals and his eventual suicide. We’ll talk with writer Rick Emerson about his new book “Unmask Alice,” which dives into the truth about who actually wrote these “diaries” and the lasting harm these two books caused. Join us for a conversation about this real-life literary con.

Rick Emerson’s book is “Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries” [Amazon|Indiebound|Bookshop]. @RickEmerson

Airdate: Friday, June 22, 2022 at 12 p.m. and Sat, June 23, 2022 at 11 a.m.

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