Park City Television, Mountain Morning Show
December 12, 2008

Fox13 News, December 11, 2008

ABC News, Salt Lake City, coverage of Anne's story.
April 1995 (Pseudonym "Jenny")

News article
Published 12-11-2008
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin

Memoir of satanic abuse a first for Transcript-Bulletin
by Sarah Miley

Anne A Johnson Davis stood in front of the steps leading to the Utah Attorney General’s Office in the Utah State Capitol Rotunda yesterday and sketched out a harrowing childhood of satanic ritual abuse. Her story, told to the attorney general’s office and subsequently reported in part under conditions of anonymity by media outlets in the mid-1990s, is now being told in full in a new memoir being published by Transcript Bulletin Publishing.

Hell Minus One: My Story of Deliverance From Satanic Ritual Abuse and My Journey to Freedom is the tale of the atrocities Davis suffered as a child, as well as how she was able to triumph over that past.

“The project was a major undertaking for Transcript Bulletin Publishing, and unlike any other work the company had produced in its 115-year history,” according to Hell Minus One editor Dave Bern.

“This is the first venture we’ve done where we have taken a manuscript, worked with the author, provided editing, printed the book and been in charge of distribution. We’ve done this basically in alignment with our journalistic excellence.”

Scott Dunn, president of Transcript Bulletin Publishing, added, “The uniqueness of her story caught our attention in June 2007. During our initial review of her manuscript, we knew that ‘Hell Minus One’ was a story that must be told.”

The broad outline of that story was unveiled by Davis at the press conference yesterday.

“I was tortured and terrorized physically, sexually and mentally,” she said.

Davis said memories of the abuse were suppressed until she reached her mid-30s. She said she was threatened with her life if she ever told of what she’d endured. But in 1994, she came forward nonetheless.

“I came into the beautiful Utah State Capitol wearing a hot pink jacket for empowerment,” she said, remembering her initial approach to the attorney general’s office.

She shared her story with detectives, one of whom was Lt. Detective Matt Jacobson (now retired), the lead investigator with the Utah Attorney General’s Office on Davis’ case. Jacobson wrote the foreword to Davis’ book.

Davis’ story is unique among satanic ritual abuse crimes in that her story is substantiated with verbal and written confessions from her parents. Her parents confessed to religious leaders and to investigator’s from the Utah Attorney General’s Office. In addition, Davis’ half-siblings confirmed what had happened to her.

Davis said it felt good to tell her story under her own name, and hopes the book will empower other victims of abuse.

“My hope and prayer is my story in Hell Minus One can also be a beacon of light for others,” she said. “My gift to you is my story of conquering captivity.”

Dunn said the same solid journalistic principles that underlie the Transcript-Bulletin helped give life to Hell Minus One.

“It’s that commitment to excellence and accuracy that fueled our interest in publishing and promoting Hell Minus One — not as a newspaper story or even as a series of newspaper stories, but as a memoir. This is a book of substance and truth that blows the door open on satanic ritual abuse, and reveals the power of the human spirit to heal from an abusive past.”

Hell Minus One is available for purchase at the Transcript Bulletin offices, Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore and The King’s English Bookshop. It is also available online at HellMinusOne.com and Amazon.com.