Lenore Terr, a noted "trauma researcher" and clinician testified in
George Franklin's murder trial. Her testimony helped convince the jury
to convict Mr. Franklin solely on his daughter's claim that she repressed
her memory of witnessing the murder of Susan Nason and then recovered it
over twenty years later. This case is discussed in Terr's recent book,
"Unchained Memories." Her discussion includes numerous distortions,
including her discussion of how Eileen Franklin recovered the memories.
Below are two of the most outrageous: Her claim that sperm was found
in a decomposed body and her distorted psychoanalysis of Stephen King,
which confuses speculation with observation. One cannot help concluding that
Terr may have this problem with her other research and testimony:
As for the citation to where Terr claims sperm was found in the vagina
of Susan's decomposed body. It is on the bottom of page 22 of "Unchained
Memories". It is Terr's parenthetical remark in her transcription of a
recorded conversation between the inspector and Eileen. The dialogue is
Eileen: But he was definitely on top of her. he was definitely doing a,
you know, a physical thrust.
Inspector: Uh-huh.
Eileen: Of a sexual nature. But I can't say that penetration was made.
[There was sperm in Susan's vagina.]
Lenore Terr wrote in Uchained Memories (1994, p. 55):
You can't always guess the nature of a trauma from a series of
symptoms, but sometimes you can. I answered his question with an
anecdote: Several years ago, my husband and I went to the movie
"Stand by Me,", and as we watched the scene in which a train
suddenly appears behind four boys on a railway trestle I whispered
to him, "Whoever made this movie is playing post-traumatic games with
me!" We stayed in our seats at the end and watched the credits. The
screenplay had been taken from a story called "The Body," by
Stephen King. In Danse Macabre, King's 1981 book about the horror
genre, I found an autobiographical passage that explained the scene
to me. When King was four years old, he and another boy were playing
on the railroad tracks, and a freight train hit and killed his
little friend. The boy's severed body parts were brought home in a
wicker basket. In his book, King claims not to remember the episode
itself, but only what his mother told him of it. Nonetheless, it
influenced much of his writing. Directly from his work, one can
guess his trauma.
... Yes, I said, a story can be suggested. But it won't usually
create a cluster of symptoms and signs. After the accident at the
railroad tracks, Stephen King wander home alone. He had wet his pants.
and for the rest of the day he was mute. Those are both signs,
King's mother could not have suggested those behaviors to him, just
as someone who tells you that you ahve tuberculosis cannot alter your
chest X rays or your skin tests. I was using Stephen King as a metaphor
for people like Eileen. But the metaphor itself had captured the
courtroom.
Now where does Danse Macabre claim that Stephen King was ever known to have
seen the accident, that Stephen King actually played on the tracks, or that
Stephen King wet his pants? It only mentions the POSSIBILITY that he
witnessed the accident. Terr could have written the same passage with
minor changes had his friend been hit by a car! King also denies that
the incident had any influence on his writing. Remember this summaries
testimony that captivated a courtroom and led to a man getting a life
sentence based on a "recovered memory"
Stephen King wrote in Danse Macabre p. 83:
During the course of the panel discussion. I told a story that my mother
had told me about myself -- the even occurred when I was barely four,
so perhaps I can be forgiven for remembering her story of it, but not
the actual event.
According to Mom, I had gone off to play at a neighbor's house --
a house that was near a railroad line. About an hour after I left
I came back (she said), as white as a ghost. I would not speak for
the rest of that day; I would not tell her why I'd not waited to be
picked up or phone that I wanted to come home; I would not tell her
why my chum's mom hadn't walked me back but had allowed me to come
alone.
It turned out that the kid I had been playing with had been run over
by a freight train while playing on or crossing the tracks (years
later, my other told me they had picked up the pieces in a wicker
basket). My mom never knew if I had been near him when it happened,
If it had occurred before I even arrived, or if I had wandered away
after it happened. Perhaps she had her own ideas on the subject.
But as I've said, I have no memory of the incident at all; only of
having been told about it some years after the fact.
I told this story in response to a a question from the floor.
The questioner had asked, "Can you recall anything in your
childhood that was particularly terrible?" -- in other words, step
right in, Mr. King, the doctor will see you now.
Robert Marasco, author of Burnt Offerings and Parlor Games, said
he could not. I offered my train story mostly so the questioner
wouldn't be totally disappointed, finishing just as I have here,
by saying that I could not actually remember the incident. To
which Janet Jeppson (who is a psychiatrist as well as a novelist),
said: "But you've been writing about it ever since."
There was an approving murmur from the audience. Her was a pigeonhole
where I could be filed.. Here was a by-God motive. I wrote Salem's Lot,
The Shining, and destroyed the world by plague in The stand because
I saw this kid run over by a slow freight in the days of my
impressionable youth. I believe this is a totally specious idea -- such
shoot - from - the hip psychological judgments are little more than
jumped-up astrology.
(
geocities.com/jgharris7)