Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organised abuse, sadistic ritual abuse and other variants) was a moral panic that originated in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout the country and eventually to many parts of the world, before subsiding in the late 1990s. Allegations of SRA involved reports of physical and sexual abuse of individuals in the context of occult or Satanic rituals. At its most extreme definition, SRA involved a worldwide conspiracy involving the wealthy and powerful of the world elite in which children were abducted or bred for sacrifices, pornography and prostitution.

Nearly every aspect of SRA was controversial, including its definition, the source of the allegations and proof thereof, testimonials of alleged victims, and court cases involving the allegations and criminal investigations. The panic affected lawyers', therapists', and social workers' handling of allegations of child sexual abuse. Allegations initially brought together widely dissimilar groups, including religious fundamentalists, police investigators, child advocates, therapists and clients in psychotherapy. The movement gradually secularized, dropping or deprecating the "satanic" aspects of the allegations in favor of names that were less overtly religious such as "sadistic" or simply "ritual abuse" and becoming more associated with dissociative identity disorder and government conspiracy theories.

A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including by a religious community. The term usually refers to actions which are stylized, excluding actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers.

The field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term. One given by Kyriakidis (2007) is that Ritual is an outsider's or "etic" category for a set activity (or set of actions) which to the outsider seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical. The term can be used also by the insider or "emic" performer as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker.

A ritual may be performed on specific occasions, or at the discretion of individuals or communities. It may be performed by a single individual, by a group, or by the entire community; in arbitrary places, or in places especially reserved for it; either in public, in private, or before specific people. A ritual may be restricted to a certain subset of the community, and may enable or underscore the passage between religious or social states.

Jay Parker (July 8, 1874 – June 8, 1935) was a starting pitcher who played briefly for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1899 season. Listed at 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 185 lb., Parker batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was born in Theresa, New York. His older brother, Doc Parker, also pitched in the majors.

Little is known about this player on a Pirates uniform. Parker was 25 years old when he entered the majors on September 27, 1899 with Pittsburgh, starting against the Chicago Orphans. His performance that afternoon at West Side Park, reduced to the bare essentials, matching his career totals: three batters, hit one, walked two, and gave up two unearned runs, without making an out to have an undefined ERA. It is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest ranking ERA when it is more akin to the highest. He played through 1905, but never appeared in a major-league game again.

He had brief stints as a manager in the minor leagues in 1904 and 1914.

Parker died in Hartford, Michigan, at the age of 60.

Theodore L. Gunderson (November 7, 1928 - July 31, 2011) was a retired American Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge and head of the Los Angeles FBI. He was most famous for handling the Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy cases. He was the author of the best selling book How to Locate Anyone Anywhere.

Ted Gunderson was born in Colorado Springs. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1950. Gunderson joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in December 1951 under J. Edgar Hoover. He served in the Mobile, Knoxville, New York City, and Albuquerque offices. He held posts as an Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge in New Haven and Philadelphia. In 1973 he became the head of the Memphis FBI and then the head of the Dallas FBI in 1975. Ted Gunderson was appointed the head of the Los Angeles FBI in 1977. In 1979 he was one of a handful interviewed for the job of FBI director, which ultimately went to William H. Webster.

After retiring from the FBI, Gunderson set up a private investigation firm, Ted L. Gunderson and Associates, in Santa Monica. In 1980, he became a defense investigator for Green Beret Doctor Jeffrey R. MacDonald, who had been convicted of the 1970 murders of his pregnant wife and two daughters. Gunderson obtained affidavits from Helena Stoeckley confessing to her involvement in the murders. He also investigated a child molestation trial in Manhattan Beach Califonia. He claimed to find tunnels. In an interview (see link below), Gunderson discusses incidents U.S. government sponsored terrorism and the reasons behind them. He was a member of the Constitution Party. He died on July 31, 2011 from complications from cancer.

Linda Stone (born 1955) is a writer and consultant who coined the phrase "continuous partial attention" in 1998. Stone also coined "email apnea" in 2008 which means "a temporary absence or suspension of breathing, or shallow breathing, while doing email."

Stone was at Apple Computer from 1986 to 1993, working on multimedia hardware, software and publishing. In her last year at Apple, Stone worked for CEO John Sculley on special projects. In 1993, Stone joined Microsoft Research under Nathan Myhrvold and Rick Rashid. She co-founded and directed the Virtual Worlds Group/Social Computing Group, researching online social life and virtual communities. During this time, she also taught as adjunct faculty in New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program. In 2000, she became a Microsoft vice president, working on industry relationships and improving Microsoft's corporate culture. She left Microsoft in 2002.

Stone served a six year term on the National Board of the World Wildlife Fund and is currently on the WWF National Council. She is an adviser for the Internet and American Life Project, the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force for the Center for Worklife Policy, and is on the Advisory Board of the RIT Lab for social computing.