The Memory Hole Podcast
Why do we believe the unbelievable? A look back at the mental health crisis known as the Recovered Memory Movement of the late 1980's and early 90's, from the perspective of a bystander. Our narratives and culture can lead us astray.
Jena with 1 n · Jena Martin
Show overview
The Memory Hole Podcast has been publishing since 2023, and across the 3 years since has built a catalogue of 20 episodes. That works out to roughly 9 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a roughly quarterly cadence.
Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 22 min and 35 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Society & Culture show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 2 days ago, with 5 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2023, with 8 episodes published. Published by Jena Martin.
From the publisher
A look back at the mental health crisis known as the Recovered Memory Movement of the late 1980's and early 90's, from the perspective of a bystander. Complete show notes can be found at www.memoryholepodcast.com jenamartin.substack.com
Latest Episodes
S3. Episode 4: The Image of the Hysteric
S3. Episode 3: If it's hysterical, it's historical
S3. Episode 2: Bound by Culture
S3. Episode 1: The Symptom Pool is Cerulean Blue
The Memory Hole Podcast, Season 3: Trailer
Listen now: my July 2025 conversation with Dan Savage
I’ve migrated my podcast to Substack, and am working out the kinks in that process. Which brings me to episode #975 of the Savage Lovecast, when Dan Savage and I discussed a caller’s question about repressed memories and sexual trauma. The photo promoting his podcast featured a series of phrases I never expected to find in combination with my name, so please enjoy! As 2025 draws to a close, I’m hard at work on Season 3 of the podcast. This next season will be about a fundamental question I have about the recovered memory movement - why did those ideas make sense to me in 1989, but would not have been offered as an explanation in 1999? Why and how does culture shape and explain our innermost selves? I’m talking to experts in psychology and history to help sort it out, launching in early 2026.Thanks for listening! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
S2. EP.5 Fictional Memories: Past, Present, and Future
Nicholas Dames https://nicholasdames.org/contact-2/Pride and Prejudice Inside Out 2 - Nostalgia Dan Chaon https://danchaon.com/Olivia Gatwood https://www.oliviagatwood.com/ Kat Rosenfield https://katrosenfield.comElif Batuman The Elif Life: A Great Time for Personal Narrative Gen Z is not readingRecursion, a novel by Blake Crouch This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
S2.EP4. The Mirage of the Zeitgeist
Twin PeaksThe Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, by Jennifer LynchKatie Roiphe's Harper's article about incest-related fiction can be accessed here, on my website:https://www.memoryholepodcast.com/aboutA Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
S2. EP3. In Search of Lost Time
Featured in this episode:Kate St. Vincent VoglAndromeda Romano-Lax-Andromeda's novel, now in paperbackThe Tell by Amy GriffenRemembering Molly - Immediate and delayed false memory formation after acute MDMA exposure. Kloft, Otgaar, Blokland, Toennes, Ramaekers. Eur NeuropsychopharmacologyThe Courage to Heal, as featured in Season 1, Episode 3 Professor Patrick Bray-Article: Proust and the neurosciences-According to Marcel Proust: new guidebook focusing on Proust's writingFran Mason - 73 NotebooksJanet Malcolm Still Pictures This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
S2. EP2. Remember the Memory, Solve the Crime
Why do people still believe in repressed memories? It's a mystery.In this episode:The first detective novel: The Moonstone Wilkie Collins and the Birth of Amnesia; Nicholas Dames Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund FreudAndromeda Romano-Lax Before I go to sleep by SJ WatsonKat Rosenfield'Elizabeth is Missing'Black Eyed Susans In the Woods This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
S2. EP1. Tell Me A Story
Tell Me A Story; an introduction to Season 2Memory's misuse in storytellingI made a second season because I wondered - why, if the recovered memory movement is over, do so many people still believe in repressed memories?Season 2 is for you if:-you love books, movies or otherwise escaping into a story-you think about memory and forgetting-you think about why we think about what we think about...-you liked Season 1-you like learning about debunked beliefs.Please join me, won't you, once again, in The Memory Hole. FeaturingAndromeda Romano-Lax-Her Present Tense Substack, featuring the recent post Do We Care About How Memory Really Works? Amnesia, "useful" unreliability, and the return of the Memory Wars-Her novel, The Deepest Lake Kat Rosenfield-Her Substack -Her novel, You must remember this SourcesJonathan Lethem’s Vintage Book of Amnesia The Girl on the Train by Paula HawkinsThe Bourne IdentityMementoRepressed memories in film This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Trailer for Season 2
Welcome back to the Memory Hole.This trailer features interviews with authors Andromeda Romano-Lax and Kat Rosenfield. Complete links to guests and sources will be provided in upcoming episode notes at www.memoryholepodcast.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Ep. 6: What did we learn?
Show notes for Episode 6:Carrie Poppyhttps://maximumfun.org/about/team/carrie-poppy/Historian Edward ShorterFrom Paralysis to Fatigue; a history of psychosomatic illness in the modern eraIdioms of distresshttps://www.brightfutures.org/concerns/culture/cultural-concepts.htmlArticle in The Cut:The Memory War; Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexual abuse. Her parents’ attempt to discredit her created a defense for countless sex offenders.Carrie’s response: The Letters New York Magazine Hasn’t Printed. Meredith MaranInterview 5/23/2023My Lie; A True Story of False MemoryForward to the second edition Diana Russell’s book, The Secret Trauma, published in 1999. https://www.dianarussell.com/the_great_incest_war.htmlCover art collage by Jena Martin, using Solitude by Frederick Leighton 1890 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Ep. 5: Forget Me Not; how we don't remember
Opening: The Confessions of St. Augustine, AD 401https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3296/3296-h/3296-h.htmInterviews:Dr. Henry OtgaarPersonal WebsiteMaastricht University Interview 9/21/2023Dr. Sophie ScottThe Brain: 10 things you should knowX/TwitterInterview 9/22/2023Mentions:Bart Simpson: Oh boy, time to repress another memorySeason 14, Episode 17Dr. Scott mentions the 'Lost in the Mall' studyContext: https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/XQze2hIAAGYP8cklBeyond Lost in the Mall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOpMhYGPajUExplaining memories in the movie Inside Out - where they went wrong: https://theconversation.com/does-pixars-inside-out-show-how-memory-actually-works-43311 Cover art collage featuring Mnemosyne, also titled Lamp of Memory and Ricordanza.Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1881. “We look at the world once, in childhood. The restis memory.”Louise GluckAny and all background music from the free YouTube Audio LibraryThe Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by ELPHNT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Bonus: Crews on Freud
This is a bonus episode, to bring you more from my interview conducted on June 28 2023 with Dr. Frederick Crews, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California at Berkeley. If you listened to Episode 4 you heard a lot from him aboutFreud. But he had lots more to say during our interview and I don’t want to condemn those words to a file on my computer. Plus he doesn’t have a lot of accessible interviews on the internet. I believe his voice needs to be heard. About the guest:Frederick Crews is a professor emeritus of English at the University of California at Berkeley. His many books include The Critics Bear It Away: American Fiction and the Academy, The Random House Handbook (currently in its sixth edition), and Postmodern Pooh.Interview, 6/28/2023Freud: The Making of an Illision Episode cover art featuring Amalia Freud, Sigmund's mother. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Ep. 4: The Fog of War; believing the unbelievable.
From Freud to GeraldoShow Notes:Frederick Crews is a professor emeritus of English at the University of California at Berkeley. His many books include The Critics Bear It Away: American Fiction and the Academy, The Random House Handbook (currently in its sixth edition), and Postmodern Pooh.Interview, 6/28/2023Freud: The Making of an Illision The Freudian Cover Up https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/10040046----Mark PendergrastInterview 6/14/2023Quotes from Prodigy, early internet chat room, taken from his book Victims of Memory.His more recent and comprehensive book on this subject is Mind Warp: https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Warp-Repressed-Arose-Refuses/dp/0942679415----Ms. Magazine Cover Story - Believe it. Cult ritual abuse existshttps://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawn-to-purpose/about-this-exhibition/magazine-covers-and-cartoons/disturbing-content/The article is unavailable on the Ms. Magazine website archives; a PDF copy can be accessed on the Memory Hole Podcast website, www.memoryholepodcast.com Reaction to the article: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/All+the+babies+you+can+eat.-a013566129 ----Melody Gavigan’s story of retraction appears in Time Magazine, in an article Lias of the Mind from 1993https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,979691,00.html----Statements from professional organizations disavowing recovered memory therapies:Americal Medical Associationhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207149508409955American Psychiatric Association https://www.psychiatry.org/getattachment/930fb215-2147-40e9-9d44-f06d84fc64de/Position-2013-Memories-Child-Abuse.pdf----Decision in the Holly Ramona legal case: https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/14/us/father-who-fought-memory-therapy-wins-damage-suit.html----Geraldo Rivera, as quoted in The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic, 2004 -from CNBC 12/12/1995----The False Memory Syndrome Foundationhttp://www.fmsfonline.org/War of Remembrance, Philadelphia Magazine, January 1994Pam Freyd Interview with David Calof in Treating Abuse Today 1994Clips from the Documentary Making Memories used with permission of Patrick ClancyAccess it here: False Memories: Remembering What Never Occurred? (TW: Child Sexual Abuse)Pam Freyd’s article, published anonymously: How Could This Happen? Coping with A False Accusation of Incest and Rape, Jane Doehttp://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume3/j3_3_3.htmThe Cut chooses Jennifer Freydhttps://www.thecut.com/article/false-memory-syndrome-controversy.htmlRebuttalshttps://carriepoppyyes.medium.com/four-letters-new-york-magazine-hasnt-printed-88e08e94db5fBeware the Incest Survivor Machine, New York Times, Carol Tavris 1993https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/03/books/beware-the-incest-survivor-machine.htmlCover image collage by Jena Martin featuring the Sphinx from the painting Oedipus and the Sphinx Francois-Xavier Fabre, 1808The tragic story of Oedipus https://www.thecollector.com/oedipus-rex-artworks/Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio LibraryThe Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by ELPHNT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Ep. 3: "Suspicion to Confirmation"; the promise of The Courage to Heal
All quotes come from the 1st Edition of The Courage to Heal; a guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse, 1988For more audio background about the book, please check out the Conspirituality podcast's two brilliant episodes on this text.Meredith Maran Interview 5/23/2023Mark Pendegrast Interview 6/14/2023Frederick Crews Interview 6/28/2023The cover image for this episode is of Cassandra (Cassandra. 3307: Bust by Max Klinger, 1857-1920. Hamburger Kunsthalle) "Have I missed the mark, or, like true archer, do I strike my quarry? Or am I prophet of lies, a babbler from door to door?" (Cassandra. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1194).Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio LibraryThe Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by ELPHNT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Ep. 2: “Every tear was an incest-driven tear”; child sexual abuse comes to light in the 1980s.
Please note: between minutes 3:30-4:56 on some platforms there is a blank space. This was a YouTube clip of an Oprah Winfrey program in 1986, included to demonstrate the pervasiveness of this topic in popular culture. If this is missing in your feed, please accept my apologies. Here is the incident referred to:In addition to physical abuse, young Winfrey was sexually assaulted by more than one family member when she was just nine years old. She was also molested by a family friend while still a little girl. Oprah shared these traumas with the public very early on in her career. The New York Times reported in 1986 that during an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show about battered women and incest. She started to cry when a guest talked about her experiences of abuse and sexual assault, asking for a station break and hugging the woman, at which point she revealed her own experiences as a victim and survivor. She later said “For the longest time, I carried this burden around with me and was afraid to tell anybody because I thought it was my fault.” Prime time movie night Something about Amelia After school special: Don’t Touch Rosanne BarrDuring an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the comedian admitted that she is ashamed to have levied allegations of sexual abuse against her mother and father in 1991."I think it's the worst thing I've ever done," she said. "It's the biggest mistake that I've ever made."https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/roseanne-barr-incest-156910/Oprah Winfrey https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9604633/Oprah-recalls-repeatedly-raped-19-year-old-cousin-age-nine.htmlMeredith Maran Interview 5/23/23 Dan Rather CBS Evening News, March 1988, Television ArchivePlayboy magazine comic, quoted from The Best Kept Secret, Florence Rush 1980Quotes from: John Money, Wardell Pommeroy, Larry Constantine from The Best Kept Secret, Florence Rush 1980More about Florence RushLove’s Baby Soft Commercial, 1975 “Because innocence is sexier than you think.” Mark Pendergrast Interview 6/14/23 Laura Pasley https://www.stopbadtherapy.com/retracts/pasley.shtmlLaura Pasley appeared in documentary: Making Memories, from the False Memory Foundation (Patrick Clancy)Any and all background music from the free YouTube Audio LibraryThe Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by ELPHNThttps://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-trailblazer-of-trauma-studies-asks-what-victims-really-want This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Ep. 1: Forgetting about remembering
How on earth did I become interested in this topic? That's what this episode is about. Interview with Meredith Maran, conducted 5/23/2023You can request a copy of her memoir, My Lie, A True Story of False Memory on her website https://meredithmaran.com/You can hear an interview she conducted about this book here. Dead Can Dancehttps://www.deadcandance.com/The charm of prostitution: Risky Businesshttps://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1017641-risky_business‘Alternative’ in the 1990s was about more than music.https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/AlternativeObsession commercials. Are you obsessed? I still am.https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/03/14/ah-the-obsession-with-it-all/ebd515cd-0c94-451a-a55d-0402448ad81a/More Calvin Klein and the zeitgeist.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/style/ck-one-fragrance-cologne.htmlHeather Locklear and viral social conceptshttps://www.retroist.com/p/and-they-told-two-friends-how-faberge-organics-shampoo-explained-viralityAny and all background music from the free YouTube Audio LibraryThe Memory Hole Podcast theme is: A Great Darkness Approaches, Can You Feel It? by ELPHNT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com
Trailer
Coming Soon: The Memory Hole Podcast, a 6-episode series about the Recovered Memory Movement of the late 1980's and early 90's, told from the perspective of a bystander.The Memory Hole Podcast is intended only for mature audiences and deals with topics of childhood sexual abuse and incest. Please do not listen with children.If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse, please call RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) at their 24-hour hotline 1-800-656-4673. More information is available on their website www.rainn.orgSound clips:Meredith Maran (Interview 5/23/2023)Mark Pendergrast (Interview 6/14/2023)Questions from ‘Taking Stock’; The Courage To Heal, First edition 1988 More information can be found at www.memoryholepodcast.comThe Memory Hole Podcast is created and produced by Jena Martin. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jenamartin.substack.com