I have read that 15 million dollars were spent on pursuing a witch hunt in the 80's. There was no evidence, only heresey, and the alleged Satanists were released after 5 years in jail without a conviction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial#Initial_allegations
"When you once believed something that now strikes you as absurd, even unhinged, it can be almost impossible to summon that feeling of credulity again. Maybe that is why it is easier for most of us to forget, rather than to try and explain, the Satanic-abuse scare that gripped this country in the early 80's — the myth that Devil-worshipers had set up shop in our day-care centers, where their clever adepts were raping and sodomizing children, practicing ritual sacrifice, shedding their clothes, drinking blood and eating feces, all unnoticed by parents, neighbors and the authorities."
I wish our society could advance beyond paranoia in the paranormal.