Panic

During the Depression, economic anxieties found an outlet in a series of child murders that triggered an irrational nationwide hysteria: the conviction that pedophiliac psychopaths were overrunning the country.

As America was brought to rage and fury by the press and the FBI, lynch mobs took to the streets and reason gave way to doomsday scenarios. One father was even driven to murder his three daughters to 'save' them from a degenerate crime wave.

A cautionary essay, Panic explores the combustible mix of unfounded fears, moral crusades, and the dangers of collective thinking. It is part of Bloodlands, a collection of short historical narratives from true-crime writer Harold Schechter.