ABSTRACT
Researchers and clinicians from many backgrounds have noted, with some dismay, that a bizarre, improbable, or fantastic element within an allegation of child physical or sexual abuse is not a rare event (Everson, 1997). Recently reversed convictions in high-profile day-care center cases
(in which an initially charged defendant was released) have almost uniformly included allegations that most would find questionable, with children reporting attacks by sharks, abuse aboard ships and airplanes, stabbings that leave no marks, or multiple child murders (cf. Ceci & Bruck, 1995). A random sample collected by Dalenberg (1996b) yielded an estimate that 3% of initial allegations of severe abuse by children between the ages of 3 and 17 might include a fantastic element. The 800 interviews transcribed to date were chosen from among 6,000 videotapes that constituted the records of a child protection facility. “Gold standard” cases were randomly chosen from among those children whose abuse was verified by confession, and whose injuries were judged medically consistent with the allegations. Additional evidence was available for over 80% of these cases. “Questionable” cases were randomly chosen from among children whose charts indicated a denial by the perpetrator, contradictory physical evidence, and no supportive medical evidence. All tapes were transcribed and evaluated in a three-stage accuracy check process and a six-stage coding of content and demeanor (with interrater reliabilities on coding categories ranging from .77 to .98). Results indicated that fantastic elements were most frequently found in reports from children ages 4 to 9. Fantastic elements were defined by reference to fantasy figures, by impossible or extremely implausible features of the story (as assessed by raters), and by descriptions of extreme abusive acts that should have been (but were not) supported by external evidence.
