Carol Felstead: A real look at false memories
The story of Carol Felstead's traumatic journey to forming horrifying false memories
Kevin Felstead's Ted Talk gives a representation of a most brutally extreme case of false memories that has not only been covered within his own book 'Justice for Carol- The True Story of Carol Felstead: The Creation of a Satanic Myth in the United Kingdom' but also gained news coverage in sources such as the guardian.
He tells the story of a mysterious phone call which began the unravelling of Carol's recall of her life unbeknown to any of her family. Following Carol's death in 2005, allegations were made that Carol was the victim of horrific acts of satanic rituals, abuse, and despicable acts that, according to her psychiatric records, traumatised her for life.
Kevin recalls, in this Ted Talk, how this heart-breaking accusation came to his knowledge through his brother Richard receiving a phone call to discuss her funeral. They then claimed her death could be ruled to her 'difficult childhood' and that in an attempt to avoid her past, she changed her name to Carol Myers. This immediately came as a shock to him.
He was told that she left a life assessment document behind yet it was not signed, nor did it include any specific names. It was said in the phone call that Carol claimed that being abused from birth caused her to be mute until age 5, was later prostituted by her parents, and even gave the anecdote of a disturbing incidence. Carol was in the belief that her mother murdered another child and forced carol to sit on top of its corpse as her mother set the house on fire to hide the evidence.
This was later realised to be the twisted fabrication of a false memory that blended real life events into twisted thoughts. There was a house fire in 1963 which carol may have seen on the front page of a newspaper yet it occurred a year before Carol was even born. Yet again, there was another baby, Joan Julie, that sadly died 2 years before Carol was born in front of Carol's father.
On the phone, the woman even said that there was a trial in Manchester about a satanic ritual abuse trial that fell through after 3 days. Carol's family had no idea what she meant by this and had no knowledge of any trial. Richard Felstead was confident in the fact that he could contact the police and disprove any such a trial ever occurred and asked for a copy of the life assessment document that held Carol's supposed side of the story. He then phoned the Coroner's office to cancel Carol's cremation and to his surprise, as it usually isn't so easy to do so, they said yes. A crucial detail and hint to the truth of Carol Felstead's story was then revealed as it was said that Carol's next of kin was her therapist/psychiatrist.
The Felstead family asked for an inquest in 2005 surrounding Carol's death. Carol's psychiatrist's name was Fleur Fisher. Dr Fleur Fisher, head of ethics at the British Medical Association, despite having gone into Carol's flat, taking her property, disposing of it and driving Carol's car, was not once mentioned at the inquest. After getting refused of Carol's medical psychiatric records multiple times, they eventually were given bits and pieces in batches that they soon put together. The Felstead's could then read exactly what had occurred in Carol's later life that they were so unaware of.
In 1985, Carol visited her GP with persistent headaches. They could not find an obvious cause so they referred Carol to psychological help. She was seen by three consultants about the issue- two of which said she was clear with no disturbing family history tormenting her and one explaining her headaches as simply stress related to her nursing exams. Despite this Carol was given treatment- the treatment to be blamed for her disturbing mental regression. She was given hypnotherapy which, in the beginning, still didn't bring up any memories of abuse. This continued and one doctor claimed to have seen her limping in a clinic. The hypnotherapy was continued to a severe level in which Carol was sedated after sessions. Carol was also on heavy medication such as morphine to the point of struggling to distinguish faces. This is where her false memories formed.
Her psych records claim that here is when she revealed the memory of her parents being the leaders of a satanic cult, responsible for multiple murders and forcing Carol to carry six babies of which were murdered. There were no medical records of any pregnancy. Upon first reading, the idea of false memories hadn't even occurred to the Felstead's and there was a second inquest in 2015. For this inquest, Dr Fisher wrote a 106 page statement however the coroner redacted 87 pages. The Felstead family's aim was to quash the allegations and was given permission to do so at the high court for a second time. Only this time, the coroner wished to defend the action of the Felstead's this time.
Grieving families are granted such inferior rights within courts against the state and the Felstead's have an aim to change that. The British False Memory Society was set up in 1993 for those who were being blamed for non-existent abuse in people's childhood. Kevin Felstead knew of one case given to the society in which the allegations were brought from out of a story in a book. The society argues that trauma is likely to be remembered and helps fight for the victims of false memory claims.
He tells the story of a mysterious phone call which began the unravelling of Carol's recall of her life unbeknown to any of her family. Following Carol's death in 2005, allegations were made that Carol was the victim of horrific acts of satanic rituals, abuse, and despicable acts that, according to her psychiatric records, traumatised her for life.
Kevin recalls, in this Ted Talk, how this heart-breaking accusation came to his knowledge through his brother Richard receiving a phone call to discuss her funeral. They then claimed her death could be ruled to her 'difficult childhood' and that in an attempt to avoid her past, she changed her name to Carol Myers. This immediately came as a shock to him.
He was told that she left a life assessment document behind yet it was not signed, nor did it include any specific names. It was said in the phone call that Carol claimed that being abused from birth caused her to be mute until age 5, was later prostituted by her parents, and even gave the anecdote of a disturbing incidence. Carol was in the belief that her mother murdered another child and forced carol to sit on top of its corpse as her mother set the house on fire to hide the evidence.
This was later realised to be the twisted fabrication of a false memory that blended real life events into twisted thoughts. There was a house fire in 1963 which carol may have seen on the front page of a newspaper yet it occurred a year before Carol was even born. Yet again, there was another baby, Joan Julie, that sadly died 2 years before Carol was born in front of Carol's father.
On the phone, the woman even said that there was a trial in Manchester about a satanic ritual abuse trial that fell through after 3 days. Carol's family had no idea what she meant by this and had no knowledge of any trial. Richard Felstead was confident in the fact that he could contact the police and disprove any such a trial ever occurred and asked for a copy of the life assessment document that held Carol's supposed side of the story. He then phoned the Coroner's office to cancel Carol's cremation and to his surprise, as it usually isn't so easy to do so, they said yes. A crucial detail and hint to the truth of Carol Felstead's story was then revealed as it was said that Carol's next of kin was her therapist/psychiatrist.
The Felstead family asked for an inquest in 2005 surrounding Carol's death. Carol's psychiatrist's name was Fleur Fisher. Dr Fleur Fisher, head of ethics at the British Medical Association, despite having gone into Carol's flat, taking her property, disposing of it and driving Carol's car, was not once mentioned at the inquest. After getting refused of Carol's medical psychiatric records multiple times, they eventually were given bits and pieces in batches that they soon put together. The Felstead's could then read exactly what had occurred in Carol's later life that they were so unaware of.
In 1985, Carol visited her GP with persistent headaches. They could not find an obvious cause so they referred Carol to psychological help. She was seen by three consultants about the issue- two of which said she was clear with no disturbing family history tormenting her and one explaining her headaches as simply stress related to her nursing exams. Despite this Carol was given treatment- the treatment to be blamed for her disturbing mental regression. She was given hypnotherapy which, in the beginning, still didn't bring up any memories of abuse. This continued and one doctor claimed to have seen her limping in a clinic. The hypnotherapy was continued to a severe level in which Carol was sedated after sessions. Carol was also on heavy medication such as morphine to the point of struggling to distinguish faces. This is where her false memories formed.
Her psych records claim that here is when she revealed the memory of her parents being the leaders of a satanic cult, responsible for multiple murders and forcing Carol to carry six babies of which were murdered. There were no medical records of any pregnancy. Upon first reading, the idea of false memories hadn't even occurred to the Felstead's and there was a second inquest in 2015. For this inquest, Dr Fisher wrote a 106 page statement however the coroner redacted 87 pages. The Felstead family's aim was to quash the allegations and was given permission to do so at the high court for a second time. Only this time, the coroner wished to defend the action of the Felstead's this time.
Grieving families are granted such inferior rights within courts against the state and the Felstead's have an aim to change that. The British False Memory Society was set up in 1993 for those who were being blamed for non-existent abuse in people's childhood. Kevin Felstead knew of one case given to the society in which the allegations were brought from out of a story in a book. The society argues that trauma is likely to be remembered and helps fight for the victims of false memory claims.
Source: 'The Carol Felstead Scandal: a true story of false memory'
TEDxNewcastleUniversity
TEDx Talks youtube channel
Published on 23 July 2018
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