Tears of the Silenced: An Amish True Crime Memoir of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Brutal Betrayal, and Ultimate Survival (Amish Book, Child Abuse True Story, Cults) - Softcover

Griffin, Misty

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1642502502 ISBN 13: 9781642502503

Publisher: Mango, 2019

Synopsis

Surviving Severe Child Abuse, Sexual Assault and Leaving the Amish Church

In May 2022 Misty Griffin released the Child Rights Act petition calling on Congress to take action and help abused children in religious communities. It is currently gaining momentum and national media attention.

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A gripping story that takes you on the journey of a child abuse and sexual assault survivor turned activist. (Photo gallery included).

True story of child abuse. When Misty Griffin was six years old, her family started to live and dress like the Amish. Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch and subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse, and physical violence. Their step-father kept a loaded rifle by the door to make sure the young girls were too terrified to attempt escape. No rescue would ever come since the few people who knew they existed did not care.

Sexual abuse among the Amish. When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community. Devastated to again find herself in a world of fear, cruelty, and abuse, Misty was sexually assaulted by the bishop. "...I knew I had to get help, and one freezing morning in early March, I made a dash for a tiny police station in rural Minnesota. After reporting the bishop, I left the Amish and found myself plummeted into a strange modern world with only a second-grade education and no ID or social security card." Ultimately Misty graduated nursing school and currently works as an activist for abused children.

Inside learn how:

• A cycle of abuse can be broken
• Abuse was not your fault
• Moving forward is possible

Read true crime books and child abuse true stories like Educated, A Child Called It, The Family Next Door, or Etched In Sand? Then Tears of the Silenced is a must-read.

About this title

About the Author

In spring of 2005 Misty Griffin left the Amish, she left with nothing but the clothes on her back, a few other belongings and with barely a third-grade education. For years Misty suffered severe PTSD which was caused by the horrifying abuse she suffered as a child, and later when being effectively “given away” to the Amish and put in the hands of the very abusive Amish bishop. Today, thirteen years later Misty is a nursing student, a Child Sexual Abuse activist, wife and successful author of several books, including this one. For more on Misty and her current books, please go to www.tearsofthesilenced.com

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From the Prologue

I trembled as I walked into the small police station. It seemed to have only two or three rooms in it. The town had fewer than two thousand residents, so I figured its size was due to a low crime rate. I walked through the front door and went over to a heavy wooden counter where a middle-aged policewoman sat at a computer. She looked up and her expression turned to surprise as she took in my appearance.

I imagined I was very different from most of the people that normally walked up to her desk. I was a young Amish woman, just a little over five feet tall, wearing an ankle-length, plain, teal-colored dress and apron. I had on knee-length black socks and black shoes, and my coat was of homemade denim with a high collar and hooks and eyes to hold the front closed. On my head, a stiff, white Amish Kapp covered nearly all my hair; it was tied in a small bow under my chin. I was shaking as I stood there, trying to get up enough courage to say something, but my mouth was so dry I could not form any words.

“Can I help you with something, honey?” the woman asked as she took off her reading glasses.

Her bright blue eyes crinkled up on the sides when she smiled. She seems like a nice lady, I thought, and I felt a little better.

“Um,” I swallowed hard. I tried to block out the mental image of being put in the Bann—shunned. “Um,” I repeated. I placed my trembling hands on the countertop.

“Yes, dear. What is it?” the woman asked.

“Um... I would like to talk to the police, please,” I said, pressing my hands down on the counter to stop them from shaking.

“Okay, in regard to what?”

I hesitated. “I need to talk to someone because the bishop of my church attacked me and is threatening to kill me, and I think he is also poisoning his wife and molesting his daughters.”

The woman raised her eyebrows in shock. After looking at me for another moment, she got up and came around the counter.

“Are you okay, honey?” she asked as she reached out to put an arm around my shoulders.

I backed up, not wanting her to touch me. I saw her nod as if she had seen this reaction before.

I was not sure I was doing the right thing. I had witnessed so much abuse and pain in my life, and I just felt I could no longer keep silent.

If an Amish man in my church confessed to rape or molestation, he would only be shunned for six weeks. Going to the police was strictly frowned on and anyone who did so was risking being placed in the Bann or would at least be permanently stigmatized as untrustworthy.

I trembled; the Bann never worked for these sort of crimes. The offenders would usually continue to offend after the dust settled or sometimes while still in the Bann. If I did not report the bishop to the authorities, I knew there would be many more victims.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mango
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1642502502
• ISBN 13: 9781642502503
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 342