The Memory Hole Podcast

A look back at the mental health crisis known as the Recovered Memory Movement of the late 1980's and early 90's, from the perspective of a bystander. The podcast is 6-episodes in length and deals with a mature subject. It is not appropriate for children and some adults. Complete show notes can be found at www.memoryholepodcast.com Do you have an experience from the recovered memory movement you'd like to share? You can leave a voicemail at 1-612-888-3742, which may be used in a future episode.

S2.EP4. The Mirage of the Zeitgeist

Twin PeaksThe Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, by Jennifer LynchKatie Roiphe's Harper's article about incest-related fiction can be accessed here, on my website:https://www.memoryholepodcast.com/aboutA Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley

05-18
28:03

S2. EP3. In Search of Lost Time; Memoirs and Memory

Featured in this episode:Kate St. Vincent VoglAndromeda Romano-Lax-Andromeda's novel, now in paperbackThe Tell by Amy GriffenRemembering Molly - Immediate and delayed false memory formation after acute MDMA exposure. Kloft, Otgaar, Blokland, Toennes, Ramaekers. Eur NeuropsychopharmacologyThe Courage to Heal, as featured in Season 1, Episode 3 Professor Patrick Bray-Article: Proust and the neurosciences-According to Marcel Proust: new guidebook focusing on Proust's writingFran Mason - 73 NotebooksJanet Malcolm Still Pictures

04-29
35:45

S2. EP2. Remember the Memory, Solve the Crime

Why do people still believe in repressed memories? It's a mystery.In this episode:The first detective novel: The Moonstone Wilkie Collins and the Birth of Amnesia; Nicholas Dames Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund FreudAndromeda Romano-Lax Before I go to sleep by SJ WatsonKat Rosenfield'Elizabeth is Missing'Black Eyed Susans In the Woods

04-21
32:31

S2. EP1. Tell Me A Story

Tell Me A Story; an introduction to Season 2Memory's misuse in storytellingI made a second season because I wondered - why, if the recovered memory movement is over, do so many people still believe in repressed memories?Season 2 is for you if:-you love books, movies or otherwise escaping into a story-you think about memory and forgetting-you think about why we think about what we think about...-you liked Season 1-you like learning about debunked beliefs.Please join me, won't you, once again, in The Memory Hole. FeaturingAndromeda Romano-Lax-Her Present Tense Substack, featuring the recent post Do We Care About How Memory Really Works? Amnesia, "useful" unreliability, and the return of the Memory Wars-Her novel, The Deepest Lake Kat Rosenfield-Her Substack -Her novel, You must remember this SourcesJonathan Lethem’s Vintage Book of Amnesia The Girl on the Train by Paula HawkinsThe Bourne IdentityMementoRepressed memories in film

04-14
22:42

Trailer for Season 2

Welcome back to the Memory Hole.This trailer features interviews with authors Andromeda Romano-Lax and Kat Rosenfield. Complete links to guests and sources will be provided in upcoming episode notes at www.memoryholepodcast.com

03-30
02:44

Ep. 6: What did we learn?

Show notes for Episode 6: Carrie Poppy https://maximumfun.org/about/team/carrie-poppy/ Historian Edward Shorter From Paralysis to Fatigue; a history of psychosomatic illness in the modern era Idioms of distress https://www.brightfutures.org/concerns/culture/cultural-concepts.html Article in The Cut: The Memory War; Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexual abuse. Her parents’ attempt to discredit her created a defense for countless sex offenders. Carrie’s response: The Letters New York Magazine Hasn’t Printed.  Meredith Maran Interview 5/23/2023 My Lie; A True Story of False Memory Forward to the second edition Diana Russell’s book, The Secret Trauma, published in 1999.  https://www.dianarussell.com/the_great_incest_war.html Cover art collage by Jena Martin, using Solitude by Frederick Leighton 1890

11-01
40:44

Ep. 5: Forget Me Not; how we don't remember

Opening: The Confessions of St. Augustine, AD 401 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3296/3296-h/3296-h.htm Interviews: Dr. Henry Otgaar Personal Website Maastricht University  Interview 9/21/2023 Dr. Sophie Scott The Brain: 10 things you should know X/Twitter Interview 9/22/2023 Mentions: Bart Simpson: Oh boy, time to repress another memory ⁠Season 14, Episode 17⁠ Dr. Scott mentions the 'Lost in the Mall' study Context: https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/XQze2hIAAGYP8ckl Beyond Lost in the Mall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOpMhYGPajU Explaining memories in the movie Inside Out - where they went wrong: https://theconversation.com/does-pixars-inside-out-show-how-memory-actually-works-43311 Cover art collage featuring Mnemosyne, also titled Lamp of Memory and Ricordanza. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1881. “We look at the world once,  in childhood. The rest is memory.” Louise Gluck Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio Library The Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by  ELPHNT  

10-22
35:09

Bonus: Crews on Freud

This is a bonus episode, to bring you more from my interview conducted on June 28 2023 with Dr. Frederick Crews, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California at Berkeley. If you listened to Episode 4 you heard a lot from him about Freud. But he had lots more to say during our interview and I don’t want to condemn those words to a file on my computer. Plus he doesn’t have a lot of accessible interviews on the internet. I believe his voice needs to be heard. About the guest: Frederick Crews is a professor emeritus of English at the University of California at Berkeley. His many books include The Critics Bear It Away: American Fiction and the Academy, The Random House Handbook (currently in its sixth edition), and Postmodern Pooh. Interview, 6/28/2023 Freud: The Making of an Illision Episode cover art featuring Amalia Freud, Sigmund's mother.

10-17
29:39

Ep. 4: The Fog of War; believing the unbelievable.

From Freud to Geraldo Show Notes: Frederick Crews is a professor emeritus of English at the University of California at Berkeley. His many books include The Critics Bear It Away: American Fiction and the Academy, The Random House Handbook (currently in its sixth edition), and Postmodern Pooh. Interview, 6/28/2023 Freud: The Making of an Illision  The Freudian Cover Up  https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/10040046 ---- Mark Pendergrast Interview 6/14/2023 Quotes from Prodigy, early internet chat room, taken from his book Victims of Memory. His more recent and comprehensive book on this subject is Mind Warp:  https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Warp-Repressed-Arose-Refuses/dp/0942679415 ---- Ms. Magazine Cover Story - Believe it. Cult ritual abuse exists https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawn-to-purpose/about-this-exhibition/magazine-covers-and-cartoons/disturbing-content/ The article is unavailable on the Ms. Magazine website archives; a PDF copy can be accessed on the Memory Hole Podcast website, www.memoryholepodcast.com  Reaction to the article: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/All+the+babies+you+can+eat.-a013566129  ---- Melody Gavigan’s story of retraction appears in Time Magazine, in an article Lias of the Mind from 1993 https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,979691,00.html ---- Statements from professional organizations disavowing recovered memory therapies:Americal Medical Association https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207149508409955 American Psychiatric Association  https://www.psychiatry.org/getattachment/930fb215-2147-40e9-9d44-f06d84fc64de/Position-2013-Memories-Child-Abuse.pdf ---- Decision in the Holly Ramona legal case:  https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/14/us/father-who-fought-memory-therapy-wins-damage-suit.html ---- Geraldo Rivera, as quoted in The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic, 2004  -from CNBC 12/12/1995 ---- The False Memory Syndrome Foundation http://www.fmsfonline.org/ War of Remembrance, Philadelphia Magazine, January 1994 Pam Freyd Interview with David Calof in Treating Abuse Today 1994 Clips from the Documentary Making Memories used with permission of Patrick Clancy Access it here:  False Memories: Remembering What Never Occurred? (TW: Child Sexual Abuse) Pam Freyd’s article, published anonymously: How Could This Happen?  Coping with A False Accusation of Incest and Rape, Jane Doe http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume3/j3_3_3.htm The Cut chooses Jennifer Freyd https://www.thecut.com/article/false-memory-syndrome-controversy.html Rebuttals https://carriepoppyyes.medium.com/four-letters-new-york-magazine-hasnt-printed-88e08e94db5f Beware the Incest Survivor Machine, New York Times, Carol Tavris 1993 https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/03/books/beware-the-incest-survivor-machine.html Cover image collage by Jena Martin featuring the Sphinx from the painting Oedipus and the Sphinx Francois-Xavier Fabre, 1808 The tragic story of Oedipus  https://www.thecollector.com/oedipus-rex-artworks/ Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio Library The Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by  ELPHNT  

10-17
39:52

Ep. 3: "Suspicion to Confirmation"; the promise of The Courage to Heal

All quotes come from the 1st Edition of The Courage to Heal; a guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse, 1988 For more audio background about the book, please check out the Conspirituality podcast's two brilliant episodes on this text. Meredith Maran Interview 5/23/2023 Mark Pendegrast Interview 6/14/2023 Frederick Crews Interview 6/28/2023 The cover image for this episode is of Cassandra (Cassandra. 3307: Bust by Max Klinger, 1857-1920. Hamburger Kunsthalle) "Have I missed the mark, or, like true archer, do I strike my quarry? Or am I prophet of lies, a babbler from door to door?" (Cassandra. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1194). Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio Library The Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by  ELPHNT  

10-10
35:32

Ep. 2: “Every tear was an incest-driven tear”; child sexual abuse comes to light in the 1980s.

Please note: between minutes 3:30-4:56 on some platforms there is a blank space. This was a YouTube clip of an Oprah Winfrey program in 1986, included to demonstrate the pervasiveness of this topic in popular culture. If this is missing in your feed, please accept my apologies. Here is the incident referred to: In addition to physical abuse, young Winfrey was sexually assaulted by more than one family member when she was just nine years old. She was also molested by a family friend while still a little girl. Oprah shared these traumas with the public very early on in her career. The New York Times reported in 1986 that during an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show about battered women and incest. She started to cry when a guest talked about her experiences of abuse and sexual assault, asking for a station break and hugging the woman, at which point she revealed her own experiences as a victim and survivor. She later said “For the longest time, I carried this burden around with me and was afraid to tell anybody because I thought it was my fault.” Prime time movie night Something about Amelia After school special: Don’t Touch Rosanne Barr During an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the comedian admitted that she is ashamed to have levied allegations of sexual abuse against her mother and father in 1991."I think it's the worst thing I've ever done," she said. "It's the biggest mistake that I've ever made." https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/roseanne-barr-incest-156910/ Oprah Winfrey https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9604633/Oprah-recalls-repeatedly-raped-19-year-old-cousin-age-nine.html Meredith Maran Interview 5/23/23 Dan Rather CBS Evening News, March 1988, Television Archive Playboy magazine comic, quoted from The Best Kept Secret, Florence Rush 1980 Quotes from: John Money, Wardell Pommeroy, Larry Constantine from The Best Kept Secret, Florence Rush 1980 More about Florence Rush Love’s Baby Soft Commercial, 1975 “Because innocence is sexier than you think.” Mark Pendergrast Interview 6/14/23 Laura Pasley https://www.stopbadtherapy.com/retracts/pasley.shtml Laura Pasley appeared in documentary: Making Memories, from the False Memory Foundation (Patrick Clancy) Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio Library The Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by  ELPHNT https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-trailblazer-of-trauma-studies-asks-what-victims-really-want

10-04
28:23

Ep. 1: Forgetting about remembering

How on earth did I become interested in this topic? That's what this episode is about. Interview with Meredith Maran, conducted 5/23/2023 You can request a copy of her memoir, My Lie, A True Story of False Memory on her website https://meredithmaran.com/ You can hear an interview she conducted about this book here. Dead Can Dance https://www.deadcandance.com/ The charm of prostitution: Risky Business https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1017641-risky_business ‘Alternative’ in the 1990s was about more than music. https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Alternative Obsession commercials. Are you obsessed? I still am. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/03/14/ah-the-obsession-with-it-all/ebd515cd-0c94-451a-a55d-0402448ad81a/ More Calvin Klein and the zeitgeist. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/style/ck-one-fragrance-cologne.html Heather Locklear and viral social concepts https://www.retroist.com/p/and-they-told-two-friends-how-faberge-organics-shampoo-explained-virality Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio Library The Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by  ELPHNT  

09-26
21:40

Trailer

Coming Soon: The Memory Hole Podcast, a 6-episode series about the Recovered Memory Movement of the late 1980's and early 90's, told from the perspective of a bystander. The Memory Hole Podcast is intended only for mature audiences and deals with topics of childhood sexual abuse and incest. Please do not listen with children. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse, please call RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) at their 24-hour hotline 1-800-656-4673. More information is available on their website ⁠www.rainn.org⁠ Sound clips: Meredith Maran (Interview 5/23/2023) Mark Pendergrast (Interview 6/14/2023) Questions from ‘Taking Stock’; The Courage To Heal, First edition 1988 More information can be found at www.memoryholepodcast.com The Memory Hole Podcast is created and produced by Jena Martin.

09-16
02:25

S2. EP.5 Fictional Memories: Past, Present, and Future

Nicholas Dames https://nicholasdames.org/contact-2/Pride and Prejudice Inside Out 2 - Nostalgia  Dan Chaon https://danchaon.com/Olivia Gatwood https://www.oliviagatwood.com/ Kat Rosenfield https://katrosenfield.comElif Batuman The Elif Life: A Great Time for Personal Narrative  Gen Z is not readingRecursion, a novel by Blake Crouch

06-02
42:27

Mary Zelie

I'm fortunate to not have been sexually abused by a family member or anyone for that matter. I can imagine how much more painful hearing this podcast would be for those who truly have been sexually abused. Their story may be questioned and scrutanized more since this phenomenon. Resources are spread thin to include "repressed memory of sexual abuse victims." How harmful this whole thing turned out to be. And, the daycare sexual abuse hysteria.

08-07 Reply

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